Friday, April 14, 2006
News 3 Former 'U' radio exec
pleads no contest
to embezellment
'M'-NINE TO FACE ', T .PYE . FORTSPAGE 8
u4aii
Opinion 4
Andrew Bielak calls
for BTB revolution
Arts 5 Seussical the Musical
hits Power Center
One-hundred-sAteen years of editorifreedom
www.midzigandady.com Ann Arbor, Michigan . Vol. CXVI, No. 113 62006 The Michigan Daily
SACUA urges
regents to add
. clause to bylaws
Regents have long refused
to add 'gender identity
0 and expression' to non-
discrimination clause
By Neil Tambe
Daily Staff Reporter
The pressure is mounting on the University
Board of Regents to add a clause to the Univer-
sity bylaws prohibiting discrimination on the
basis of gender identity and expression.
This time, the prodding is coming not only
from the LGBT community on campus, but
from University faculty.
The faculty senate Assembly will vote Monday
on a resolution passed 6-1 last week by the Sen-
ate Assembly Committee on University Affairs,
the executive arm of the faculty senate.
Proponents say the clause would protect
transgender individuals from discrimination
and would be a symbolic sign of recognition
and respect.
The resolution also requests that policies
in the University's Standard Practice Guides
- separate from the bylaws - also be changed
to describe gender identity and expression as a
distinct protection. The SPG policy on nondis-
crimination currently footnotes gender identity
and expression as subcategories under the gen-
eral category of sex.
"(The University administration) has moved
to change the language everywhere they are
able," University spokeswoman Julie Peterson
said.
Peterson said the decision to footnote gen-
der identity and expression stemmed from the
University general counsel's interpretation
of a 2004 case in which the 6th Circuit Court
ruled that discrimination of gender identity and
expression is assumed to be "expressly" pro-
tected along with sex.
In a Februrary 2005 letter that followed,
then-University Provost Paul Courant informed
the campus community of the University's posi-
tion.
"Discrimination against members of the Uni-
versity community based on gender non-con-
forming behavior, gender expression or gender
See BYLAWS, page 7
Students protest
Coke reinstatement
FOREST CASEY/Daily
A firefighter walks through the ruins of the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Store last night. A fire started in the employee break room and spread
throughout the entire store, destroying the building and the inventory.
Fire destroys PTO Thrift Store
Coalition members claim 'U'
left students out of decision-
making process when bringing
Coke back to campus
By Kelly Fraser
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite Tuesday's announcement that the
University would resume purchasing Coca-
Cola products following the company's
agreement to two independent investigations
into its alleged human rights and enivorn-
mental violations, the Coalition to Cut the
Contract with Coca-Cola hasn't canned its
protests.
About 20 disgruntled coalition members ral-
lying on the Diag yesterday provided a sharp
contrast to students and participants in cam-
pus tours happily soaking up the atmosphere
of Goodness Day, a festival of student groups
attracting passersby with everything from free
pencils to cotton candy.
Protesters gathered on the steps of the Hatch-
er Graduate Library to display their opposition
to Coke's return before meeting with University
representatives at noon.
The students then met with Peggy Norgren,
associate vice president for finance, and Dan
Sharphorn, the University's deputy general
counsel.
Coalition members said they felt blindsided
by University administrators who did not notify
them before reaching an agreement with the
soft-drink giant.
"We haven't just been betrayed as consum-
ers, now we have been betrayed as students,"
coalition member Ashwini Hardikar said.
Norgren said administrators attempted
to inform the coalition of the decision on
Tuesday morning but downed e-mail serv-
ers delayed the correspondence. When asked
why Norgren didn't call coalition leaders,
she said she didn't because the last time she
called them they were "terse" and asked her
See COKE, page 7
Store loses all its
merchandise; employees
escape flames unscathed
By Christina Hildreth
and Ashley Dinges
Daily Staff Reporters
One of Ann Arbor's most popular places
to buy second-hand soccer T-shirts and resale
dishes lay in smoldering ashes last night after
a fire destroyed the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift
Shop on State Street.
The blaze was sparked when a lamp in
the employee break room caught fire, store
employees said. Several employees who were
in the store when the fire broke out called 911,
and Ann Arbor Fire Department trucks were
at the scene by 6:30 p.m. According to AAFD
Battalion Chief Mike French, no one was
injured, but all the merchandise in the store
was lost.
All of AAFD's six engines responded to
the scene, and 19 firefighters struggled to put
out the flames. Twelve additional AAFD units
were called to the scene.
Firefighters had the blaze under control in
about an hour.
By about 10 p.m., street maintenance crews
were using bulldozers to clear the collapsed
roof out of the building's charred shell so fire-
fighters could extinguish any remaining hot
spots.
Firemen expected to work throughout the
night and into the morning to ensure the small
spot fires buried under debris would be com-
pletely extinguished.
French said the owners have not yet deter-
mined the estimated financial loss from the
fire, but said more information should be
available today.
Police blocked off State Street from Stim-
son Street almost to Oakbrook Street so fire-
fighters could stretch their water hose across
the road to a water supply.
PTO employee Megan Hildebrandt, an art
and design senior who has worked at PTO
since February 2005, said because the store
obtains its merchandise solely from donations,
it might be hard to restock the inventory.
"I imagine that because it's not a business
- it's a community, and it's connected to the
public schools - I think it will be not easy, but
not horribly difficult to get new stuff," Hildeb-
randt said.
She said the store was scheduled to be
moved to a new location on May 1, but that
this plan will probably be halted because the
store lost its entire inventory.
"I think it will end up taking us a little lon-
ger to start things back up when we move into
the new space'" she said.
Closely tied to the Ann Arbor Public
School system, the store provides a place for
middle and high school students to work and
earn money for school programs. As Hildeb-
randt explained, students earn about $8.50 an
hour for doing tasks around the store, such
as tagging or hanging clothing. This money
directly funds specific programs and trips at
their schools. A board of parents whose chil-
dren attend public schools in the community
oversees the store.
See FIRE, page 7
Group aims for
Guinness record
for organ donation
Greek houses look
to return to campus
145 is the number
to beat for most organ
donor registrations in
an eight-hour period
By Layla Aslani
For the Daily
A new group of students is trying to
save lives. And they might break a Guin-
ness world record along the way.
Students for Organ Donation, which
encourages students and community
members to register to donate their
organs, joined more than 50 other col-
lege campuses Wednesday in a nation-
wide attempt to break the Guinness
World Record for registering the most
organ donors in eight hours.
The current record is 145. It was set at
a rugby match in Wales in 2003.
At the University alone, 51 students
registered, pledging to donate every-
thing from ligaments to livers.
Although Guinness World Records
will not verify the results for another
four weel- aronn memher were nnti-
while registering donors in the basement
of the Michigan Union.
"You catch (students) by surprise
when you ask them if they want to be an
organ donor," Patel said.
Despite being caught off-guard, many
students were receptive.
"If I were to die, I wouldn't want my
body to go to waste if it could help peo-
ple," said Meera Arghal, an LSA fresh-
man who registered.
Gift of Life Michigan, an organiza-
tion that serves as a liaison between
donor hospitals and transplant centers,
will enter the registered donors into a
national computerized database that
links donated organs to patients in need
of transplants.
Christy Hammond, the group's pub-
lic relations chair, said although many
people believe signing the back of their
driver's licenses is enough to ensure their
organ donation, registering for the data-
base is the most certain way to become
a donor.
Hospitals don't always check licenses
and often the deceased do not have their
licenses with them at the time of their
deanths. she said.
Sigma Pi, Delta Tau
Delta left 'U' because
they lacked members
By Carissa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
Thirty-six years after closing its
doors because of insufficient resources
and membership, Sigma Pi will get a
second chance when it returns to cam-
pus this fall.
The Interfraternity Council unani-
mously voted last week to approve the
return of the fraternity, placing it on
expansion status beginning this fall.
Sigma Pi follows in the expansionary
footsteps of the Pi Lambda Phi inter-
national fraternity, which founded a
University chapter last semester and is
currently an IFC expansion chapter.
"The Greek community continu-
ally welcomes strong chapters that look
to further the ideals of brotherhood,
philanthropy and scholarship," IFC
spokesman Brian Millman said.
Representatives from Sigma Pi's
national organization began commu-
nicating with the University last year.
Last week's vote finalized plans to set
up a colony on campus, said Jim DiVi-
ta, Sigma Pi's senior expansion consul-
ing for a diverse group of individuals,"
DeVita said.
DiVita, an alum of Sigma Pi's chap-
ter at Michigan State University, said
the national organization will officially
declare the University organization a
colony when it meets the goal of 20 to
25 new recruits.
To form a new chapter on campus,
the national fraternity, or a group of
students representing the national
organization, must engage in a multi-
step process outlined by the IFC. If
approved by the IFC executive board,
the representatives present their plan
for expansion to the 27 campus frater-
nity presidents.
The initial stage of the process is
the expansionary period, during which
the group recruits new members and
attends IFC meetings without voting.
After a semester, IFC evaluates the
progress of a fraternity's expansion
efforts and votes on whether to move
the group to probationary expansion
status. At this point, members must
pay dues, attend meetings and vote on
issues brought before the council.
At the conclusion of this phase, typi-
cally a semester in length, the frater-
nity presidents conduct a final vote to
determine whether to bring the colony
to active status. If the vote passes, the
JEREMY CHO/Daily
LSA sophomore Shaun Patel sits outside the University Medical Center
yesterday. Patel is a member of Students for Organ Donation, which registered
i i