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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, December 10, 2007
michigandaily.com
TENURE
Profs to
students:
Get
involved
Faculty members say
process often murky,
hard to understand
By ANDY KROLL
and ELIZABETH LAI
Daily StaffReporters
At a forum on Friday at Palm-
er Commons, a panel of experts
encouraged students to learn more
about the University's tenure pro-
cess and dispelled certain beliefs
expressed by students about its
complicated nature.
The event was titled "No Prof
Left Behind" and was co-spon-
sored by multiple minority student
groups.
The forum's speakers encour-
aged students to get involved
with what some students felt was
a secretive process by becoming
more informed about how tenure
works at the University.
"The tenure process affects stu-
dents' education in profound ways,
and it is important students have
an active role in learning aboutcthat
process," said panel member Scott
Kurashige, an associate professor
in the American culture and his-
tory departments.
Ifilgo de la Cerda, an RC lecturer
and panel member, said students
could have a lot of leverage in mak-
ing the tenure process by organiz-
ing and writing letters of support
to the administration on behalf of
professors.
"If students decided that they
want to get involved, there's a pos-
sibility that they could make the
tenure process more transparent
and more democratic," de la Cerda
said.
The process begins at the
departmental level, where a profes-
sor must undergo review by other
tenured professors who work in the
same field. If a professor applying
for tenure holds a joint appoint-
ment in two departments, he or she
is reviewed by both departments.
If the candidate earns positive
reviews at the departmental level,
he or she is then reviewed by a
See TENURE, Page 7A
ACCOMMODATION ON CAMPUS
In scandal's
wake, a
chance for
progress
Students question University's
role in aiding students with
learning disabilities
By SCOTT MILLS
Daily Staff Reporter
Students met yesterdayinthe Michigan Union Tap
Room to discuss ways to make the University more
accessible for students with learning disabilities.
Central to the discussion was this question: What
is the University's responsibility to students with
learning disabilities?
The meeting comes just days after Zack Yost
stepped down from his post as Michigan Student
Assembly president after an MSA representative
made public a secret Facebook.com group Yost cre-
ated a year and a half ago mocking an MSA represen-
tative and referencing his Asperger's syndrome.
Yesterday's meeting was led by LSA senior Aghog-
ho Edevbie, who also organized a meeting a week
earlier intended to force Yost from the presidency.
Among the 20 or so in attendance were Yost and
at least eight MSA members. Edevbie had tried to
launch a campaign last Sunday to force Yost's resig-
nation.
Division of Kinesiology senior Thatiana Tavarez
said she attended the meeting because she thinks
faculty members need more education on the prob-
lems students with learning disabilities face in the
classroom.
"A lot of teachers just aren't educated on the issue
of disabilities," Tavarez said.
MSA Rep. Tim Hull, the LSA senior who was the
subject of Yost's Facebook group, said the level of
understanding varies from professor to professor.
Hull said some professorsagive him the extra time he
needs occasionally for projects and tests while oth-
ers do not.
"It is somewhat hard to look for various accom-
modations," he said. "There are some areas where
there aren't very many resources, and you just have
to advocate for yourself."
Students at yesterday's meeting agreed that
increasing awareness among faculty and staff should
be the group's primary goal.
Edevbie said the group plans to incorporate itself
into MSA's newly revived Students with Disabilities
Select Committee at tomorrow's MSA meeting. He
said he might volunteer to co-chair that committee.
Yost, quiet for most of the meeting, suggested that
someone contact the chair of SACUA, which repre-
sents the University's faculty.
Other students suggested that the group focus
first on smaller, more approachable issues. MSA Rep.
See FORUM; Page 7A
The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in October, will speak at the University in April.
DalaiLamato visit' '
Nobel winner to
speak at Crisler
By LISA HAIDOSTIAN
Daily StaffReporter
The Dalai Lama will visit the
University in April.
During a two-day event, he will
deliver a lecture called "Engag-
ing Wisdom and Compassion" at
Crisler Arena and will present the
School of Natural Resources and
Environment's Peter M. Wege
Lecture on Sustainability to mark
Earth Day, University spokeswom-
an Kelly Cunningham said.
Tenzin Gyatso - the 14th Dalai
Lama's birth name - is the spiritu-
al leader of Tibetan Buddhism and
serves as one of the world's most
prominent teachers of peace and
compassion.
Jewel Heart, an Ann Arbor-
based Buddhist cultural center, The
Tibet Fund and the Garrison Insti-
tute are co-sponsoring the visit.
"The University is excited to
welcome the Dalai Lama to campus
in April," Cunningham said.
Gelek Rimpoche, a Tibetan
teacher and the founder of Jewel
Heart, said Gyatso's visit will make
a great impact on the Ann Arbor
community.
"His visit will uplift us during
difficult times and be like the great
fortune of a blue moon for spiritual
practitioners of all disciplines,"
Rimpoche said.
The Dalai Lama won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1989. He was award-
ed the Congressional Gold Medal
in October.
The Chinese government, which
is at odds with Tibet and claims
that the Dalai Lama supports an
independent Tibetan state, criti-
See DALAI LAMA, Page 7A
DOWN FOR THE COUNT
Alum gives inside look at Google
Matossian describes
company's vertical
integration
By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporter
A Google official gave a behind
-the-scenes look Friday into the
workings of the company at a con-
ference held in the Michigan Union.
The conference, titled the Global
Operations Conference, was put on
by the University's Tauber Insti-
tute for Global Operations, and was
meant to open a dialogue between
companies at the forefront of their
field, students and faculty.
Representatives from Gen-
eral Motors, UPS and Cisco made
speeches alongside Mark Matos-
sian, a University alum who over-
sees the company's data center,
which ensures the company's appli-
cations - including Gmail and You-
Tube - are functioning properly.
The rapidly growing company,
which was co-founded by Universi-
ty alum Larry Page, has undertaken
alot oflarge projects in recent years,
including the GoogleBooks project
that began digitizing the Universi-
ty's entire library in 2002 - the first
of several library partnerships.
Matossian said projects like this
fit into the company's goals.
"We have a very simple mission
statement, which is organizing all
the world's information," Matossian
said. "The tricky part about it is that
there's a whole lot of it, and it's in a
lot of different forms."
Matossian said that to accommo-
date the fast growth and change, the
company is built as a self-sustaining,
vertically integrated operation. For
instance, Google constructs its own
servers instead of buying them from
another company.
Matossian continually pointed out
during his speech that Google is a
rapidly growing company that has to
facilitate its ownneeds,such as build-
ing its own servers and server sites.
"If you're going to build the
world's largest supercomputer you
need some really, really good tools
to manage it and they don't exist on
the market," he said.
Business Prof. William Lovejoy,
another speaker at the conference,
said he was not surprised by Matos-
sian's description of Google's hard-
ware needs.
Mark Matossian, who oversees Google's data center, described some of the compa-
ny's internal processes at the Michigan Union on Friday.
"Google wouldn't even exist it proprietary," he said.
unless you found it convenient to Later in his speech, Matossian
use them as your search engine, said rapid growth of the company's
which means they have to protect earnings has shaped its internal
that ability, so it. makes sense to workings. Google's revenue rose by
make their own hardware but make See GOOGLE, Page 7A
CLIF R EEDER/Daily
Chris Csont tries to revive fellow University alum Trevor Stone after he was tack-
led dring Giant Animal Badminon, part of a fandraisine campaign for he Ann
Arbor Film Festival, in front of Alpha Delta Phi on Slate Slreet.
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