Thai, Indian and Indonesian interpretations of the legendary tale
come to campus. The B-side.
1Iie10hdpgn 4hi
Ann Arbor, Michiga
www.michigandaily.com
Shutdown
could
hurt 'U'
State gov't faces MICHIGAN'S MONEY
$940 million MESS
INTRODUCING A COACH
John Beilein, the new Michigan men's basketball coach, yesterday at Crisler Arena during his first press
conference in Ann Arbor. Beilein's hiring was announced on Tuesday. See sports, page SA.
'U' revises hotline for whisteblowers
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ulty decried first view last week. If all goes accord-
ing to plan, employees will be able
proposal to call or e-mail the hotline with
anonymous complaints as early as
this summer, she said.
ByGABE NELSON The hotline will now only take
Daily News Editor calls for allegations of financial
wrongdoing - like fraud or embez-
as an accident. zlement - or safety violations, Nor-
t's what University adminis- gren said.
said last spring when they Thee-mailsentlastyear - signed
rtenly unveiled a hotline by University President Mary Sue
could allow employees to Coleman, University Chief Finan-
mously report wrongdoing cial Officer TimSlottowand Robert
mpus. The hotline drew an Kelch, the University's executive
ring of criticism from fac- vice president for medical affairs -
ho said it would encourage didn'tsay whichtypesofcomplaints
to tattle on fellow employ- employees should use the hotline to
ettle grudges. report. University officials said the
, a year later, the hotline e-mail was an early draft acciden-
en reworked to manage only tally sent by information technol-
al and safety complaints. Its ogy employees who thought it was
U-Talk, has been changed to the final version. Norgren said the
iversity Compliance Hotline. e-mail was vague and made it seem
gh administrators have made as if employees could report any
s to the hotline that may trivial concern to the hotline. She
e some employees, the hotline said that wasn't what the hotline
ely rekindle the old debate. was meant for.
versity officials are preparing "The reaction was 'Big Brother's
ounce the hotline's launch looking,'" Norgren said. "You saw
his month, said Peggy Nor- your neighbor playing a game on
he University's associate vice the computer? I don't want to hear
ent for finance, in an inter- about it."
At the time, many employees
voiced concerns that the hotline
would encourage employees to
report unimportant complaints or
settle personal scores.
Law School Prof. Richard Fried-
man sent Coleman a letter last May
opposing the idea of an anonymous
whistleblower hotline.
"It would make it easy for any-
body with a grudge against anoth-
er employee of the university to
file a complaint with no backlash,"
Friedman said in an interview
yesterday. "The whole system was
contrary to the values of openness
and fairness that should be central
to the University."
Friedman said he doesn't support
thenewversionofthehotline,inpart
because the University hasn't proven
that it needs one. Norgren said the
University receives less than 100
"I still think the idea of a sys-
tem inviting anonymous tips is a
bad one, at least in the absence of a
demonstration that it's necessary,"
Friedman said.
Law School Prof. Brian Simpson,
who also sent an e-mail to Cole-
man last May to complain about the
hotline, said he originally feared it
would be used to voice petty com-
plaints about fellow employees.
But Simpson said he thinks the
revised hotline policies will pre-
vent employees from snitching on
their peers for small infractions
and guarantee that the important
concerns are reported.
"What I didn't like was the idea
that any sort of tittle-tattle about
anybody could be sent in," he said
in an interview yesterday. "But if
you don't have some sort of thing
like this, people can get away with
murder and dangerous practices
and so on."
The University's hotline will be
operated by a company called The
Network, which takes calls from
many companies and colleges, Nor-
gren said.
The Network will electronically
transmit information on every
report to the University, which will
investigate the allegations internal-
ly. The service will cost the Univer-
sity about $50,000 per year.
Although that mightseemexpen-
sive, it's cheaper than creating an
office at the University to handle
calls, Norgren said. The University
receives about two dozen reports
of financial wrongdoing or unsafe
conditions each year, she said.
budget shortfall
By ALESE BAGDOL
Daily StaffReporter
Unless Gov. Jennifer Granholm
can reach a deal with Republi-
cans in the state Senate to fix the
state's $940 million budget short-
fall soon, the state will run out
of money on May 20, leaving it
unable to make its scheduled pay-
ments to the University.
A government shutdown would
delay or possibly even eliminate
the $29.6 million - almost $1 mil-
lion aday- the University receives
from the state every month except
for September and may force it to
take dramatic measures to make
up for the funding shortfall.
University spokeswoman Relly
Cunningham said the idea of a
government shutdown is entirely
speculative at this point, but the
University is anticipating that
the state will postpone half of its
August payment to the Univer-
sity.
Last week Granholm directed
state agencies to begin making
contingency plans for a potential
government shutdown in May.
State Treasurer Robert Kleine
said in an interview yesterday
that the state might be forced to
delay scheduled payments to all
public universities in case of a
shutdown.
Granholm's spokeswoman Liz
Boyd said a government shut-
down is a real possibility.
"We're going to have unprec-
edented cash flow problems in
May," Boyd said.
University officials said they
are taking steps to keep the Uni-
versity open during a shutdown.
"If it did come to pass, we
would do everything possible to
avoid major impact to the Univer-
sity's operations," Cunningham
said.
But Cunningham said she
could not elaborate on what Uni-
versity services might be cut or
where administrators might find
additional revenue.
The stateotMichiganfaces a rapidly-
growingt$940 million budget deficit. It is in
danger of running out of cash on May 20,
when it is supposed to pay more than $1 bil-
lion to school districts around the state.
The state has been grappling with how
to plug the budget deficit since Gov. Jennifer
Granholm's State ofsthe State address in
February. Granholm has issued an executive
order cutting $344milliontfrom the state
budget and delayingtpayments to public uni-
versities. She also proposed implementing a
2 percent service tax.
But Republicans in the Senate have
rejected Granhoim's service taoandsthe
Democatic-controlled Stae House has not
approved her executive order. But even if
the House did approve Granholm's cuts, the
state will still not have enough cashlto meet
its obligations this summer.
The Senate has passed more than $900
million in cuts, which Granholm has saidshe
will notsupport.
The currenttalks do not even include a
replacementothe $1.9 billion Sinle Bsi-
ness Tathat the legislaae eliminated last
year and has not yet found a replacement
for. If that revenue is not replaced, that $19
billion will be addedlto the state's budget
deficit next year.
In recent years, University
administrators have made budget
cuts in an attempt to offset losses
in state funding without raising
tuition.
The University cut its costs by
about $37 million in 2004 and $20
million in 2005.
But increases in tuition might
be necessary if the state delays
funding for the University, said
University Chief Financial Offi-
cer Tim Slottow in a written
statement.
Cunningham said that the Uni-
versity has been able to maintain
a high quality education despite
cost-cutting and decreasing state
spending.
"This is not a sustainable
model, however, so we are work-
ing on strengthening our income
from additional sources," Cun-
ningham said.
While the University is con-
sidering other ways to obtain
funding, state appropriations still
comprises 25.2 percentofthe Uni-
versity's general fund this year.
See SHUTDOWN, Page 3A
U ADMISSIONS
Study:
Legacies
struggle
By ALESE BAGDOL
Daily Staff Reporter
A Princeton University study
released last week found that
students who are given an edge
in college admissions because
they have legacy status per-
form worse academically than
minorities and athletes who are
also given preferences.
Princeton Sociology Prof.
Douglas Massey, who conduct-
ed the study, concluded that the
more preference a college gives
a legacy applicant - as mea-
sured by the gap between that
See LEGACY, Page 3A
Fireproofing
the dorms
In deadly year Firc and housing
nationwide, U' Second in a three-part
series about tine danger
continues building i tdn osn
MEN IN BLACK
sprinklers
By TARYN HARTMAN
Daily StaffReporter
Coinciding with what a nation-
al watchdog group is calling the
deadliest year on record for fires
at colleges across the country,
University of Michigan residence
halls are in the midst of extensive
fire safety reforms.
According to Campus Fire-
watch, a monthly newsletter
published by Ed Comeau, former
director of the Center for Campus
Fire Safety, 19 deaths have been
caused by fires on or near college
campuses since Aug. 1.
Since Comeau began collect-
ing fire death statistics in 2000,
fires have caused 10 deaths in
residence halls across the coun-
try across the country. However,
Comeau said there is no longer a
method for accurately measur-
ing the number of non-fatal fires
in residence hails because the
National Fire Incident Reporting
System began including college
residence halls in the same cat-
egory such structures as military
See FIRES, Page 3A
Music School students William Lea and Scott Lindroth perform at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and
Dance's 7th and 18th century opera workshop at the McIntosh Theater yesterday.
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