Superman in lecture. Valentine's Day ninjas.
An exterminator under attack from a giant fly.
What's the deal with the UM Patriots?
THE STATEMENT
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 14,2007
Avoiding a Greek tragedy
PODCASTING LECTURES
CLASS GETS
PORTABLE
With fires up,
inspectors look to
improve safety
By TARYN HARTMAN
Daily StaffReporter
The morning of May 12, 1996,
was full of promise at the Uni-
versity of North Carolina in Cha-
pel Hill. It was Mother's Day,
and families were gathering to
celebrate with their soon-to-be-
alumni children on the day of the
University of North Carolina's
spring commencement.
But it was also the day that five
UNC students died in an early-
morning blaze at the Phi Gamma
Delta fraternity house.
In the aftermath, the city of
Chapel Hill mandated that all
Greek houses be fitted with life-
savingsprinkler systems.
Four years later, New Jersey
passed a similar law for both off-
campus structures like Greek
houses and on-campus housing
in the wake of a Jan. 19, 2000 fire
that killed three Seton Hall Uni-
versity students. The law, which
covered the entire state, also pro-
vided funding for the installation
of sprinkler systems.
Columbia, Mo., Lawrence, Kan.
and State College, Penn. - homes
to some of the largest Greek sys-
tems in the country - have also
required their Greek houses to
implement sprinklers.
Here in Ann Arbor, though,
only four ofthe University's soror-
ity houses and three of its fraterni-
ty houses have sprinkler systems,
Firstin a three-part
series about fine danger
in student housing
according to Ann Arbor Fire
Inspector Doug Warsinski.
Two of the 18 student deaths
that have occurred on or near
college campuses since Aug. 1
have taken place in Greek houses.
According to Ed Comeau, pub-
lisher of the monthly newsletter
Campus Firewatch and a former
director of the Center for Campus
Fire Safety, this academic year has
been the deadliest for students
since his organization began col-
lecting data in January of 2000.
Of the 107 total fire deaths that
Campus Firewatch has tallied over
the last seven years, 10 of them
have been in Greek housing.
Since 1971, there have been 71
fire fatalities in fraternities com-
pared with just one fire death in
a sorority house at universities
around the country, Warsinski
said.
"Overall, they're not that com-
mon," Warsinski said of frater-
nity and sorority fires. "But when
they do happen, they bring a lot of
national attention from the press
to the (fire) department, the uni-
versity."
Warsinski said fraternity fires
typically cause multiple deaths,
killing three, four or five mem-
bers.
Comeau said that there are two
major insurance organizations
that handle policies for Greek
houses. Indianapolis-based M-J
Insurance insures sororities and
See FIRE, page 7A
RE
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nology Officer Ed Adams, though,
catch on said the technology has yet to catch
on with business school professors.
Dentistry student James Skours-
By JAKE HOLMES en said the recordings are a huge
DailyStaffReporter benefit. He reviews recordings of
his lectures late at night to help
some students, listening to him keep on top of his heavy course
in iTunes is a way to unwind load.
studying. For others, those "I wouldn't pass school without
have become an essential podcasting," Skoursen said.
classes. Listening to podcasted lectures
r the past year and a half, lets Skoursen pause and rewind
sted lectures have increasing- sections of a lecture that he didn't
ome a part of academic life at understand or wants to focus on.
iversity. Since early 2005, the He said that making notes on a one-
I of Dentistry has uploaded hour podcast can sometimes take
sts of almost all of its lectures him over two hours.
ivate directory on the iTunes While he admits it's no replace-
store called ItunesU. ment for seeing the professor, Den-
re than 125 LSA classes use tistry student Harold Anderson
ting on CTools, said CTools said the podcasts give him the flex-
:tmanager JohnLeasia.InFeb- ibility to learn the material on his
LSA students downloaded an own schedule, without necessarily
e of 2,500 podcasts per week, attendinglectures in person.
said. The business school has Anderson said podcasts are
ed a website to with video pod- "majorly beneficial" when he has
f speakers and has purchased busy schedules and that he listens
tingequipment. See PODCASTS, page 3A
BY THE NUMBERS
Approximate number of podcasts LSA
students download each week, according to
CTools product manager John Leasia
Year the School of Dentistry launched a pro-
gram to podcast lectures. It has since been
joined by LSA and the business school.
CAMPUS ACTIVISM
Groups want
to make 'U' a
republic
People participate in the first Great Diag Pillow Fight on yesterday. Organized on Facebook.com, this was the first of many pillow fights organizers are planning to
hold. LSA sophomore Cayden Mack (not pictured) started the group after seeing a pillow fight in Union Square in New York City over Spring Break.
More students
paying to get work
THE FIRST WARM DAY
Company charges
students thousands
to set up internships
By SARA KASE
For the Daily
Can't find an internship? Uni-
versity of Dreams, an internship
consulting program that claims to
find internships for 99 percent of
applicants, will help you out - for
a price.
Students pay between $6,179 and
$8,239 as well as a $500 or $1,000
deposit if the company finds them
a two-month internship program
- about as much as a year's room
and board at the University.
One hundred and eight Univer-
sity of Michigan students - more
than from any other college in the
country - have paid for the ser-
vice.
Amy Hoag, coordinator of
internship services at the Universi-
ty's Career Center, said the service
isn't worth it.
She said students shouldn't have
to pay to find an internship, though
she acknowledged that programs
like University of Dreams are effec-
tive.
Hoag said the Career Center
will help students find that perfect
summer job - whether at a televi-
sion show in New York or a wildlife
organization in Nebraska.
"We are willing to coach stu-
dents," she said.
Eric Lochtefeld, CEO of the
See INTERNSHIP, page 3A
SDS, BAMN, other
groups band
together
By JOEY GOLDSHLACK
For the Daily
To protest what they say is a
University administration out of
touch with student concerns, six
prominent left-wing campus activ-
ist groups have united to form a
coalition.
The umbrella group, which calls
itself Campus Unite!, plans to stage
a protest Thursday afternoon out-
side of the Fleming Administra-
tion Building while the University
Board of Regents meets inside, said
Blase Kearney, a member of the
MEMBERS OF
'CAMPUS UNITE!'
Anti-War Action:
Works to protest the Iraq War and the Patriot
Act.
Michigan Student Assembly Envi-
ronmental Issues Commission:
Requests that the University use renewable
energy and encourages environmentalism
Graduate Employees Organization:
Graduate Student labor union. Asks the Uni-
versity to offer benefits to same-sex couples.
anti-sweatshop campus group Stu-
dents Organizing for Labor and
Economic Equality. -
Kearney said the rally's location
will ensure that University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman and the
regents are aware of the group's
concerns.
"It's to scare them," he said.
While SOLE has confronted
University administrators at
times - last year, several SOLE
members cornered Coleman in a
Fleming building stairwell and
demanded a meeting - its public
demonstrations haven't been well
attended by people outside the
organization.
Kearney said he expects at least
100 people to attend Thursday's
rally, though.
See PROTEST, page 3A
By Any Means Necessary:
Focused on minority enrollment. Tryingto
ensure protectionfor minority studentsafter
the passage of Proposal 2.
Students for a Democratic Society:
A liberal group with a wide range of goals,
like pushing for better working conditions for
University employees to opposing military
research.
Students Organizing for Labor and
Economic Equality:
Pressurer the University to adopt certain labor
standardsfor the productionof itsapparel.
Aimed at eliminating sweatshop manufactur-
ers.
PETER sCHOTTENFELS/Daily
Students sunbathe on the Diag yesterday. The nearby crosses were
put up by the Veterans for Peace in memory of American soldiers
killed in Iraq.
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