Putting the pressure on Penn State Football Saturday, inside e idiigan 4Batly Ann Arbor, Michigan Friday, September 21, 2007 michigandaily.com PROTECTING GENDER IDENTiTY AND EXPRES ION Regents approve addition to clause After four years comment. The decision is a victory for change comes with activists who have long argued that the non-discrimination split vote policy didn't adequately protect transgender faculty and students. By GABE NELSON The issue gained steam in 2003 Daily News Editor when then-provost Paul Courant created a task force to investigate The University Board of conditions for transgender stu Regents voted yesterday to add dents on campus. The taskforce gender identity and gender issued a report in 2004 encour- expression as protected catego- aging the Regents to consider ries in the non-discrimination revising the non-discrimination -clause of the University bylaws, policy to include gender identity ending a four-year dehace. and expression. The vote was 5 to 2, with In 2005, the University began Regents Andrew Richner (R- adding an asterisk next to the Grosse Pointe Park) and Andrea word sex with a footnote that Fischer Newman (R-Ann Arbor) said the protection of students voting against the proposed and faculty based on sex encom- change. Richner and Fischer passed gender identity and gen- Newman could not be reached for See CLAUSE, Page 7A THE UNIVERSITY'S NON-DISCRIMINATION CLAUSE The language added yesterday is in bold. The University of Michigan is committed toa policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportu- nity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, nationalorigin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or Vietnam era veteran status. The University also is committed to compliance with all appli- cable laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. BENJI DELL/Daily After falling into disrepair last year, Jones House co-op has since been gutted and renovated. A co-op gets a makeover Most Jones House residents are now graduate students By Andy Kroll For the Daily The graffiti in the bathrooms of the James R. Jones Cooperative House co- op have been covered by fresh coats of green and blue paint. The shattered windows have been replaced. The carpet that once smelled of beer and cigarettes has been ripped out. After extensive renovations this summer, Jones House bears little resemblance to the decaying structure that once occupied 917 and 923 S. For- est Ave. The Inter-Cooperative Council, which oversees campus co-ops, shut it down at the end of the last school year to renovate the property. Cindy Christiansen, director of maintenance services for the ICC, said the house received approximately $193,000 worth of renovations, paid for by the ICC. This involved remodel- ing several of the house's bathrooms, installing new flooring and adding two new rooms. Travis Jones, an LSA senior and house manager, said the complete renovation of the house was necessary because all previous attempts at fixing it up were unsuccessful. "Everything that we had tried before, was very piecemeal," said Jones, a for- mer ICC president. Christiansen said the large amount of money previously spent on See CO-OP, Page 7A PAYING THE RESIDENT Coleman gets salary hike THEY WANT THEIR MONEY BACK Regents give The voters of Michigan nixed another. A plan to renovate the Big president 3 percent House has been met with contro- versy and even a lawsuit. raise; she gives it back But as labor activists stood out- side yesterday's University Board By GABE NELSON of Regents meeting, criticizing Daily News Editor Coleman's openness to student and faculty concerns, Regent Martin It was a tough first five years Taylor (D-Grosse Pointe Farms) for University President Mary Sue read a letter signed by the regents Coleman. praising Coleman's performance State funding crumbled. Michi- and dedication to the University. gan basketball lost a championship Then they voted to give her a 3-per- banner to scandal. The Supreme cent raise. Court tossed out one of the Univer- "Whether we are standing sity's affirmative action programs. See SALARY, Page 7A THE REGENTS' PRAISE FOR COLEMAN From a letter read at yesterday's meeting: ! Showing a commitment to diversity both before and after Proposal 2 * Creating the Residential Life Initiative, which spurred the construction of North Quad and the renoation of Mosher-ordan and Stockwell Residence Halls. * Overseeing major construction projects like Weill Hall, the Mott Children's and Wom- en's Hospital and the businessschool. . Hiring an excellent set of administrators " Leading the Michigan Difference fundrais- ing campaign Woodruff to be spring grad speaker KELLYN JACKSON/Daily LEO Campus Council Co-Chair Ian Robinson speaks speaks yesterday at a press conference to ask University President Mary Sue Coleman to pay the fines incurred by 12 protesters who were arrested in her office in April. See story, page 3 2,000 college students amon Jena protesters Genome project director Collins to speak at winter ceremony By AIMEE BOWEN For the Daily ABC News reporter Bob Wood- ruff, a University Law School alum, will speak to graduates at this year's spring commencement. At winter commencement Human Genome Project Director Francis Collins, a former Univer- sity professor, will speak. The University Board of Regents approved honorary degrees for the pair at its monthly meeting yester- day. "Both of these men have close ties to the University and both have had life changing experiences and changed the world," University President Mary Sue Coleman said in a phone message yesterday. Woodruff began his journal- ism career as a Chinese transla- tor during the protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. He later covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, as a foreign correspondent in Iraq, he suffered serious injuries -when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle. He has since become an advocate for veterans' health issues. Collins, a University faculty member for more than 20 years, is now the director of the Human Genome Project, which sequenced the 3 billion base pairs of DNA in the human genome. Coleman, who is a biochemist, See SPEAKERS, Page 7A A Southern town now emblematic of racial injustice From staffand wire reports Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism - a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree - thousands of protest- ers rallied yesterday in Jena, La. against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites. The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demon- strations inyears. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. old-guard lions like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joined scores of college students bused in from across the nation who said they wanted to make a stand for racial equality just as their parents did in the 1950s and '60s. "It's not just about Jena, but about inequalities and disparities around the country," said Stepha- nie Brown, 26, national youth director for the NAACP, who esti- mated about 2,000 college stu- See JENA, Page 7A TODAY'S $ H 1:86 WEATHER LO: 62 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY ULOGS Columnist Kennelly responds tocritics MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THEPODIUM INDEX NEWS ...............................2A ARTS ................................6A Vol,C h an Dao.t4 SUDO KU ..........................3A SPORTS...........................8A ©20gThegMichianD ailp OPINION .........................4A FOOTBALL SATURDAY.......... 1B mirhigandoiiy.com I f,