Wednesday, March 29, 2006
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One-hundred-sixteen years ofeditorialfreedom
www.michikandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 101 02006 The Michigan Daily
Granhoim
approves
Minimu
wage hike
After announcement that
wage will jump to $6.95 in
October, campus activists
declare victory
By Leah Graboski
Daily Staff Reporter
Raise the Wage Coalition members say
victory is finally theirs.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill
into law yesterday to significantly raise the
state's minimum wage.
The wage will be hiked to $6.95, effective
Oct. 1. It will climb to $7.15 in July 2007.
The final increase to $7.40 is slated for one
year later.
Michigan has not increased its minimum
wage since 1995, when it adopted the lowest
federally required wage of $5.15.
About 600,000 Michigan workers will
benefit from the wage increase, said Sha-
ron Parks, vice president for policy at the
Michigan League for Human Services, a
non-profit organization that advocates for
Michigan's low-income citizens.
Parks said the increase is a "significant
step forward" for improving the economic
situation of families that depend on mini-
mum-wage earners.
But critics say the higher wages will result
in fewer jobs.
Scoopers at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream
store on in downtown Ann Arbor make
$6.50 an hour plus tips, a wage that will be
affected by the new legislation.
"We'll probably use less labor," owner
Mark Prince said.
The Raise the Wage Coalition collected
more than 5,000 signatures since January.
LSA senior Ryan Bates is credited with
mobilizing the movement to raise the mini-
mum wage on campus. His impassioned plea
at the year's first College Democrats meet-
ing convinced the group to join the coali-
tion, said Peter Borock, a member of the
College Democrats executive board. Bates
introduced the petition to several campus
groups, including Students Organizing for
Labor and Economic Equality, Student for
Public Interest Research Group in Michigan
and the Michigan Progressive Party.
All politics set aside, "this was definitely
a victory," Bates said. "People seemed to
understand raising the minimum wage is a
basic issue of justice."
An alternate means to the campaign's
goal was giving state residents the choice
to vote on raising the minimum wage in an
initiative on November's ballot. The initia-
tive would was expected to pass. It would
have tied minimum increases to inflation, a
provision not included in the bill Granholm
signed.
Some are concerned that wage hikes
would make it difficult for employers to hire
as many workers. Teenagers are most likely
to suffer because of the new wage, accord-
ing to Rebecca Blank, dean of the Ford
School of Public Policy.
Blank served as an economic adviser to
former President Bill Clinton from 1997 to
1999.
Blank said she is happy to make the trade-
off to benefit adults who earn the minimum
wage even if it means losing some teenage
workers.
One legislator disagreed.
"I really think it will (negatively) affect
more adults than it will teenagers in our
See WAGE HIKE, page 7
lidh.xa fx. 8, TH E
MOON
Johnson
rejects
NHL
offer
If he had signed, freshman
standout could have joined
Carolina next month in its
hunt for the Stanley Cup
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
Much to the surprise of many Michi-
gan hockey fans, freshman standout Jack
Johnson will remain a Wolverine for the
time being.
Johnson declined an offer yesterday
from the Carolina
Hurricanes that
would have allowed
him to play for the
team during its Stan-
ley Cup playoff run
starting in April, his
mother, Tina John-
son, said.
Since they drafted
him with the third
overall pick in lastohnson
year's NHL Entry
Draft, the Hurricanes have been pressing
Johnson to sign a contract, even promis-
ing positions in their lineup the follow-
ing night, another source close to Johnson
said.
But Johnson resisted the temptation of
a large contract and the right to play at
the world's highest level, instead finish-
ing the season with his Michigan team-
mates.
With the rash of Michigan players who
have left the University early in the past
few years, the team's loss Friday night
to North Dakota in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament begged one obvious
question: What will become of Johnson's
college career?
Once the Wolverines were eliminat-
ed from the NCAA Tournament, many
expected Johnson to sign immediately.
"Our phone was ringing with people
asking what Jack was going to do before
he had his skates off in North Dakota,"
Tina Johnson said.
The Hurricanes clinched a postseason
berth Monday night and are considered a
contender for the Stanley Cup.
"We support Jack in whatever deci-
sion he makes," Tina Johnson said. "We
value his education, and Jack really loves
Michigan."
Johnson has been a Michigan fan his
entire life. His mother and grandfather are
University alumni. He has attended Michi-
gan games for as long as he can remember, a
fact thatlikely informed his decision to stay.
The Hurricanes will likely make another
pitch to Johnson once their season ends.
Three former Wolverines - goaltender
Al Montoya and forwards Jeff Tambellini
and Mike Brown - left the University
late last summer when NHL franchises
offered them chances to sign.
Because Hurricanes General Manager
Jim Rutherford said he would fit into their
lineup immediately, Johnson can expect
another offer in July or August.
"Jack is a high-skill defenseman that
can really play in all aspects of the game,"
Rutherford told The Michigan Daily last
October. "From the Hurricanes' point of
view, he's an ideal fit. We needed some
younger players to balance out the guys
we have right now."
DA~VID UMN/Daily
Harm Buning, professor emeritus of aerospace engineering, holds a montage of Apollo 15 memorabilia Including a University flag that orbited
the moon In Apollo's command module, in the Franeois-Xavier Bagnoud Building yesterday. The montage, personally dedicated to Buning by
the mission's crew, also includes a mission patch and a photo of Apollo 15 commander James Irwin on the moon.
Cotrrytoleed, no 6''flag- on Moo
By Leah Graboski I
Daily Staff Reporter
You know the campus legend that
says there's a Michigan flag on
the Moon?
It's not true.
Here's what is: Two alumni set foot on
the lunar surface on the Apollo 15 mis-
sion in 1971. They established a chapter of
the University's alumni association on the
Moon. They carried with them about 20
flags into orbit.
But according to Harm Buning, a retired
aerospace engineering professor who
knows the Apollo 15 astronauts personally,
rumors of an extraterrestrial block M flag
being only one of two along with the U.S.
flag are misguided.
Buning said he thinks the rumor start-
ed because of the 20 miniature Michigan
flags that accompanied the astronauts as
they broke the bounds of Earth but never
left the spacecraft. Upon their return to
Earth, some of the flags were given to the
aerospace engineering department. Buning
keeps one at his Ann Arbor home. None of
the flags ever made it to the lunar surface.
University lore, though, insists one did.
The rumor has been passed down through
the years. It showed up recently in the plan-
ner the University distributes to freshmen.
It is also a staple of Campus Day tours.
The Facebook.com group "Oh Ya? Well
We Have a Flag On the Moon Bitches" has
more than 500 members.
Aman Sharma, a member of the
group, said he was shocked to hear the
See MYTH, page 7
Objects astronaunts have
left on the lunar surface:
Two yo-yos
Hammocks
Bags of waste
Lunar Rover
Golf ball
USA flags
Stallings
sworn in as
MSA president
With new president's hand planted on
Robert's Rules of Order, chaos of last week's
election debacle appears to be finally over
Lecturers set April 11
as date for picket
No strike planned, but LEO
votes to hold informational
picket to protest alleged contract
violations by administration
By Ekjyot Saini
Daily Staff Reporter
require that lecturers teach additional classes next
year without extra pay, though the University dis-
putes this claim.
Lecturers have been told by their departments
that there is a move to standardize across LSA the
numbersofclasses lecturers are responsible for,
Herold said.
Currently, workload varies from department to
department. In some, lecturers teach two classes
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