NEWS

Friday, September 15, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3

ON CAMPUS SWank U: Posh
Prof to speak on dorms, amenities
Shakespeare's . .
medical side a rising trend

NONE FOR THE VERSE

University Musical Society
and the Department of Internal
Medicine will host a lecture by
acclaimed English Prof. Ralph
Williams on the political subtext of
Shakespeare's writing about medi-
cine. The lecture will begin today
at noon in the Ford Auditorium of
the University Medical Center.
Group to tie-dye
at the CCRB
Peers Utilizing Leadership Skills
for Education will offer free tie-dye-
ing and a chance to converse with
group members about the campus
community and student-life issues
today from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the
CCRB. All supplies, including t-
shirts, will be provided.
Japanese films
come to 'U'
The Center for Japanese Stud-
ies will show a series of films that
offer an overview of Japanese film
industry from the Frankfurt, Ger-
many Nippon Connection Film
Festival. They range from subtle
dramas to explosive fantasy spec-
tacles. The screening will begin at
7 p.m. in Lorch Hall's Askswith
Auditorium.
CRIME
NOTES
Ambulance
makes rescue
A Huron Valley ambulance
rushed a female student from her
residence in West Quad Residence
Hall to the hospital emergency
room Wednesday at about 3 p.m.,
the Department of Public Safety
reported. She had been eating in the
dining room when she felt signs of
an oncoming heart attack.
Sign stolen from
Diag preacher
A man holding a large sign read-
ing "Obey Jesus or Perish" on the
Diag Wednesday afternoon placed a
call to DPS reporting that someone
had taken his sign. While he was
still on the phone, the man recov-
ered the sign. The man declined to
file a report.
Can collector
escapes
A trespasser was collecting
empty cans from recycling bins
on the seventh floor of Haven Hall
Wednesday at about 4 p.m., DPS
reported. When police arrived,
the trespasser had disappeared.
THIS DAY
In 'U' History

I
City in throes of
financial crisis
Sept. 15, 1974 - The Ann Arbor
city administration has released a
report stating that because of an
extreme budgetary deficit, the city
may not be able to pay employees.
In the last fiscal year, which
ended June 30, the city drove its
debt from $308,500 to an unprec-
edented $1 million. The source of
its current economic woes is the
original March 1972 budget, which
relied heavily on indeterminate rev-
enue sources and underestimated
departmental spending.
Local opinions about the severity
of Ann Arbor's fiscal crisis vary.
Kenneth Sheehan, assistant city
administrator of finance, foresees
"pay-less paydays" for city workers,
exhorting that Ann Arbor "just can-
not afford to be a first-class city:"
City Administrator Sylves-
ter Murray disagrees, saying that
though severe, the fiscal situation is
not yet threatening payroll.
Sheehan has come under fire
from other council members who
believe he neglected to monitor the
state of finances and warn against
continued expenditures.
Murray has indicated he will con-
front Sheehan at next Monday's City
Council meeting to allow the council
to further learn about the causes and
possible solutions of the crisis.

Gourmet dishes,
plasma TVs, pool tables
POp Up on campuses
CHICAGO (AP) - Somewhere
along the way, college life has got-
ten a whole lot more posh.
On a number of campuses, stu-
dents are able to hire personal
maids to clean and do their laundry.
They pay moving crews to pack
and transport their stuff - plasma
TVs and other high-end electronics
included. And they're living large
in housing that looks like anything
but a dorm.
"You know it's good when your
parents walk in the room and
say 'Can I live here?"' says Niki
Pochopien, a 21-year-old senior
who just moved into swanky new
living quarters for students at
DePaul University in Chicago.
Known as Loft-Right, the
mod-looking structure has all the
amenities: expansive city views,
granite countertops in the kitchen
and bathrooms, modern designer
furniture and satellite TV hook-
ups. The lobby lounge - like
something out of a hip hotel - has
a pool table and fireplace, and soon
will have a Starbucks and tanning
and hair salons next door.
Living at a place like this isn't
cheap.
Students at Loft-Right each pay
more than $1,000 a month for a pri-
vate bedroom inatwo- or four-bed-
room unit, with bathrooms shared
by no more than two people.
"It dovetails with their vision of
what it is to be a grown-up," says
Robert Bronstein, a student hous-
ing consultant and president of the
Scion Group, which manages the
building and university-affiliated
residences in other states.
Upscale housing and other perks
also fit with some parents' expec-
tations, especially those whose
children attend the priciest private
schools.
"It makes the $40,000 tuition
worth it," says Brian Altomare, the
25-year-old president and founder
of Madpackers, a Manhattan-based
moving company for students.
This fall, his company added
one-off limousine rides so student
customers can arrive at school
"like a rock star." The company
also plans to offer grocery delivery
and cleaning and laundry services
- something other companies,
such as Valet Today and DormAid,
already do.
At East Coast schools, DormAid

charges $60 for a two-hour room
clean and about $40 to wash and
fold three bags of laundry. Mad-
packers' rates start at $289 for an
in-state move, with extra charges
for packing services and supplies
and the limo trips.
Students who take advantage of
the perks tend to shrug off comments
from college alumni who scoff at the
pampering they never had.
"Going to school today and liv-
ing as a young adult in this world
is completely different than when
they grew up. Whatcould be looked
at as spoiled for them, is not nec-
essarily spoiled for us," says Josh
Hoffman, a 19-year-old sophomore
in New York University's jazz
performance program. He took a
Madpackers limousine to school
this semester.
"I just feel like we have so much,
with technology and computers.
We have everything at our hands,"
he says. "It's just a matter of choos-
ing."
Many students say housing ame-
nities, in particular, play a big role
when deciding which school to
attend.
That worries some education
watchdogs, who believe the focus
on living the good life is driving
up the already burdensome cost of
college - and causing some stu-
dents to ask for more grants and
rack up more debt than they nor-
mally would.
"Students and school employ-
ees are living in increasing lux-
ury while taxpayers are getting
soaked" says Neal McCluskey, a
policy analyst for the Center for
Educational Freedom at the Cato
Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Still others think there's some-
thing to be said for basic communal
living, especially for underclass-
men.
"The traditional college dormi-
tory with two students to a room
and a bathroom and common room
down the hall is a pretty good way
of getting students out of their
rooms and away from their comput-
ers;" says Tom Kepple, president of
Juniata College, a liberal arts school
in Huntingdon, Pa. "In this environ-
ment, it's pretty hard to avoid get-
ting to know your fellow students
and how to live in a community."
Some students agree.
"It's a crash course in conflict
resolution,' says Renita Young, a
20-year-old senior at DePaul who
started off in a cramped dorm and
only recently moved to Loft-Right.
She feels she's earned the perk.

Ford to offer buyouts

to all
Employees'
departure hoped
to stem Ford's
hemorrhaging buds
DETROIT (AP) - FordI
Co. will offer buyout and
retirement plans to all of its
ly U.S. employees - mor
75,000 of them - as par
broad restructuring plan ait
cutting its costs in light of s
ing sales.
Ford confirmed the
yesterday after union of
disclosed the company
make the buyout offers of
$140,000 each to workers.
The automaker had
82,000 workers represent
the United Auto Workers
end of last year, but about
have taken previous buyou
early retirement offers
mainly at plants slated fo

hourly NN
sure, company spokeswoman
Marcey Evans said. The new
offer would cover the remaining
unionized workers.
The news came a day before
get the nation's second biggest auto-
maker was to reveal details of
Motor a restructuring plan that likely
early will include massive job cuts and
hour- additional plant closures.
e than The buybacks are aimed at
t of a helping Ford cut costs as its sales
med at shrink under fierce competition
lump- from more fuel-efficient models
from Asian automakers.
plans The UAW announced the pro-
ficials posal in a statement to its members
would Thursday, saying that the offers are
up to available to all active Ford workers
represented by the union.
about "Once again, our members are
ed by stepping up to make hard choices
at the under difficult circumstances,"
6,500 UAW President Ron Gettelfinger
ut and said in a statement. "Now, it's
made Ford Motor Co.'s responsibility
r clo- to lead this company in a positive

roikers
direction - which means using
the skills, experience and dedica-
tion to quality that UAW mem-
bers demonstrate every day in
order to deliver quality vehicles
to customers."
The buyouts are part of a larger
restructuring plan approved by
the Ford board of directors dur-
ing a two-day meeting that ended
Thursday. Ford said Thursday
that it would announce details of
the new plan tomorrow morning.
Ford shares fell 10 cents to
close at $9.09 on the New York
Stock Exchange. Its shares have
traded in a 52-week range of
$6.06 to $10.09.
Separately, Ford said that
Anne Stevens, an architect of the
restructuring effort at Ford and
one of the auto industry's high-
est ranking women, is retiring.
Stevens, 57, had been at the cen-
ter of Ford's turnaround efforts
since October 2005 when she was
named executive vice president.

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UIIVERSITY OIFIAN SHIRT ai LE SLEEVE T*SI

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