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CNI 1K 1icTiE anRa LE
)NE-1HU/NDRE-1D-EIGHTEEN YEARS OF EDITORIA L FR EEDOM
Friday, February 22, 2008
michigandaily.com
GEO NEGOTIATIONS
Contract
talks.to
continue
after break
Scheduled negotiations
between GEO,'U' ended
yesterday without
a deal in place
By JACOB SMILOVITZ
Daily Staff Reporter
The final regularly scheduled contract negotiation
session between the Graduate Employees' Organiza-
tion and the University concluded yesterday with both
sides still unable to agree on major contract terms like
salary increases and health care benefits for graduate
student employees.
Although yesterday's bargaining session was the
final meeting before the union's contract expires on
March 1, GEO members, which includes all gradu-
ate student instructors on campus, voted Wednesday
night to extend its current contract until March 17.
The move gives negotiators additional time to agree
on contract terms and delays the possibility of a strike
by GEO membera.
Both idea alan agreed to hold twice-weekly nego-
tiationa - on Mondaya and Thuradaya - when they
return from spring break on March 3.
One of the sticking points in the negotiations was
the extentof the salaryincreases planned forthe next
three years.
In response to GEO's latest salary proposal, which
called for a 9-percent increase in the first contract
year, followed by increases in the final two years
that matched changes in the cost of living, Univer-
sity negotiators proposed yesterday a 3-percent
increase for the first year, a 2.5-percent increase for
the second year and a 2.25-percent increase for the
third year.
"We think that they are a realistic response to
the needs the University has to remain competitive
with respect to graduate student instructors," said
Jeff Frumkin, senior director of Academic Human
Resources.
Frumkin, an assistant provost who has participat-
ed in contract negotiationswith the GEO and the Lec-
See GEO, Page 3A
SAM WOLSON/Daily
Nina Totenberg. a legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio, described the Supreme Court's shift towards conservatism last night at the Mendelssohn Theater.
Totenberg notes rightward shift on Court
Award-winning NPR correspondent discusses effect of court decisions on women
By DAVID KINZER
For theDaily
To begin her lecture yesterday, Nina
Totenberg, an award-winning legal
affairs correspondent for National
Public Radio, described the lighter side
of the U.S. Supreme Court and its jus-
tices.
Totenberg recalled when Supreme
Court Justice Anthony Scalia noticed
fellow Justice Harry Blackmun nod-
ding off in court one day and told him
to "Stay awake!" in front of the other
justices.
"They are very interesting people,
but they are still people," Totenberg
reminded audience members at the
Mendelssohn Theater.
Totenberg'slecture, co-sponsored by
the Institute for Research on Women
and Gender and the University's wom-
en's studies department, focused on
the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on
women's rights and its increasing con-
servatism.
Totenberg, who began working at
NPR in 1975, made a name for herself
with her coverage of the 1991 Clarence
Thomas confirmation proceedings,
which earned her a Peabody Award
- a prestigious honor for excellence in
electronic media reporting.
In discussing the Supreme Court's
influence on women, Totenberg said
she was mentored by ex-Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor starting in 1971 about
topics like whether the Fourteenth
Amendment, which mandated equal
protection under law and due process
to all Americans, could be applied to
women.
"I got a lecture from the future
Supreme Court Justice, and the
answer was that those words apply to
women as much as men," Totenberg
said.
Totenberg also discussed cur-
rent power dynamics in the Supreme
Court, and how the imminent resig-
nations of justices could impact the
balance of power in the court.
She said she has seen the court
grow more and more conservative
over recent years.
"This court is light years more con-
servative than in the 1970s when it was
populated by Nixon and Ford nomi-
nees," she said.
See TOTENBERG, Page 7A
THE ICEMAN CUTTETH
UNIVERSITY REEARC
Socializing may
boost memory,
brain funct ion
According to be quick responses are
complex intricate procet
University study, the brain.
"Even in the simplest
interaction helps tion when you know
fairly well, you have to
people stay sharp these things into accou
Eiapt B in.tein- anotl
actually
ss within
interac-
someone
take all
nt," said
her Uni-
By ELAINE LAFAY
Daily StaffReporter
When relaxing with friends
after a string of midterms, it's
probably safe to say that improv-
ing your brain function is the last
thing onyour mind. But according
to a study, you're already doing it.
The study concluded that
socializing helps people sharpen
their wits, meaning going to par-
ties could help you do better in
school.
"Social interaction is critical
for building a knowledge base
and important for helping peo-
ple stay mentally sharper," said
Oscar Ybarra, an associate psy-
chology professor and the study's
lead researcher.
During conversation, the brain
rapidly analyzes cues, like wheth-
er a person is being ironic or hon-
est. These factors that appear to
Eugene u DUs~e , 1L1_1 11
versity researcher who worked
on the study. "When I'm talk-
ing to you, I have to think about
what you have in mind and kind
of mind-read in order to answer
you."
Two studies shaped the
researchers' recent conclusion.
One involved participants rang-
ing in age from their mid-twen-
ties to mid-nineties, while the
other study was conducted in Ann
Arbor with University students.
Ybarra said the first study was
a survey intended to determine
whether there was a relation-
ship between social interaction
and cognitive function. It showed
that people with a fuller social
life performed better on memory
tests and simple recall questions
like naming 10 presidents of the
United States.
That study found that,
See STUDY, Page 3A
TEXTBOOK PRICES
'U'to add book exchange
feature to CTools site
Officials will also The University will remind
professors of deadlines for pub-
push instructors lishing the lists, but professors
won't be required to post required
to make book lists texts online.
alable Weir, a member of the Univer-
available sooner sity's Textbook Task Force - a
committee made up of students,
By GABE RIVIN faculty, staff and bookstore own-
Daily StaffReporter ers - said the new programs will
help students know whether their
In an effort to address the ris- used textbooks will be in demand
ing cost of textbooks and course the following semester and keep
materials, the University will them from feeling cheated by low
host an online book exchange buyback prices at bookstores.
and begin a push for professors Weir said local bookstores
to publish early listings of their often offer low buyback prices
required course textbooks this partly because they can't predict
fall. which books will be in demand
The book exchange will have the next semester.
features similar to websites like "Book sellers currently don't
Half.com and Amazon.com, make money on used books," she
which feature listings of books said. "They don't know if the book
and seller-set prices, . and will is going to be used again."
likely be integrated into CTools. The result is a high-risk invest-
Assistant Vice Provost Gretch- ment for most of the books a store
en Weir said the book exchange, buys back.
to be called uBook, will allow stu- Weir said most local bookstore
dents to exchange books in per- ownersdon'tthinkuBookwillsig-
son rather than wait for them to nificantly affect their stores. She
be shipped from online sellers. said they still prefer to buy their
Officials hope it will also books in conventional stores.
encourage professors to list Shaman Drum Bookshop
required textbooks earlier. Now, owner Karl Pohrt declined com-
many professors release their ment for this story.
reading lists to campus book- Some professors have already
stores too late for students to be been trying to help students fight
able to buy them anywhere else. See TEXTBOOKS, Page 7A
BENJI DELL/Daily
Thomas Kulczymski, a sous chef for University Catering, carves an heart ice sculp-
ture outside the Union yesterday afternoon. "Every real chef knows how to carve
ice," Kulczymski said.
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