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 Fac It w Tha trators inadve that w anonyn on carr outpou ulty, ws faculty ees to s Now has bee financi name, the Un Althou change appeas will lik Univ to ann later t grent preside 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. TODAY'S WEATHER HI: 34 HAVE A NEWS TIP? LO: 21 Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michgandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY'S BLOGS The winner of the Daily's bracket challenge MICHIGANDAILYCOM/THEGAME INDEX NEWS.......... ......2A SPORTS.................., 200 TheMichigan Daly SUDOKU.............................3A CLASSIFIED.......... michigandaiy.com O PINIO N ...........................4A B-SID E.................... ..SA ..6A ..I B 5' r