liC
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
michigandaily.con
SWATTED BY THE SPARTANS
'U' called on
to sever ties
with Russell
Michigan forward DeShawn Sims was a huge presence in the paint, turning in almost half of Michigan's total offensive output. But his game-high 18 points wasn't enough for
the Wolverines, who lost 54-42 to No. 9 Michigan State last night in Crisler Arena. For more coverage of the game, see Sports, Page 8.
T H E EcCONOMICS OF GE LIFE
Athletic apparel
company allegedly
fired employees who
tried to unionize
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily Staff Reporter
The University's Advisory
Committee on Labor Standards
and Human Rights is calling on
University officials to end their
licensing agreements with Rus-
sell Corporation, an athletic
apparel company that has come
under criticism for allegedly firing
employees for unionizing.
In a letter sent Monday to Kris-
ten Ablauf, director of licensing for'
the University, the committee cited
practices from two of the compa-
ny's facilities that allegedly failed to
properly communicate and respect
the right to association.
The committee is asking the
University not to renew its licens-
ing agreements with Russell Corp.
when the current license expires
on March 31.
The committee's letter to Ablauf
said it would not be advisable to
continue a relationship with the
Russell Corp. because the compa-
ny has not respected the employ-
ees' right to association.
"Even if top management at Rus-
sell firmly and strongly believes in
respect for every human being and
respects the right to association,
the committee concluded they did
a poor job of communicating those
ideals to people at the two plants and
of implementing/enforcing appro-
priate practices," the letter said.
The letter recommended the
University sever ties with Russell
Corp. and that monitoring the sit-
uation closely would not be suffi-
cient to prevent further instances.
"Because of the company's pre-
vious failure to adhere to its own
standards of conduct, we do not
feel that continuing the license,
even under strict monitoring of
any new code of conduct, is appro-
priate," the letter said.
University spokeswoman Kelly
Cunningham said the commit-
tee's letter was received and will
be reviewed by the Office of the
President and the Office of the
General Counsel.
Russell Corp. has been linked to
two separate instances of abusing
workers' freedom to association.
The original investigation by
the Worker Rights Consortium, a
University affiliate that is paid to
monitor anylabor or human rights
violations by Universitylicensees,
found that Russell Corp. dismissed
virtually all of its unionized
employees in its Jerzees de Cholo-
ma facility in Choloma, Honduras,
in March, shortly after a union
was formed there.
Russell Corp. had originally
refused to comply with WRC's
investigation and rejected remedi-
ation plans to reinstate the union-,
ized employees. But the company
ultimately relented and agreed to
See RUSSELL, Page 7A
F
cou
pro
Thor
to dip,
Office
that th
cause a
ures ne
'irst-year dues Though both the Panhellenic
Council and the Interfraternity
Id be too high for Council saw an increase in recruit-
ment from last year, Mary Beth
spective Greeks Seiler, the director of the Office
of Greek Life, said the economic
next fall downturn could affect students'
decisions to be part of the Greek
By NICOLE ABER community, especially given the
Daily StaffReporter cost of first-year dues to join a fra-
ternity or sorority.
ugh their numbers have yet She added that though recruit-
officials in the University's ment numbers for the National
of Greek Life are concerned Multicultural Greek Council and
te economic recession may the National Panhellenic Asso-
decrease in recruitment fig- ciation are not yet available, new
'xt fall. organizations are still trying to join
both councils, indicating that they
have yet to be affected by the cur-
rent economic downturn.
While students can look to need
and merit-based scholarships,
which are available through the
individual fraternities' and sorori-
ties' national organizations, most of
these scholarships are not available
to first-year members.
Seiler said it is still too soon to
tell whether the economic down-
turn will affect Panhel's numbers
for this semester and the upcom-
ing academic year. Seiler said she
is concerned that the recession will
affect rush next fall.
"Right now, there's no affect on
numbers. Nationally, everyone's
concerned. We've talked about
working with the chapters and how
they spend money so they keep the
costs as reasonable as possible,"
Seiler said.
Despite the country's economic
troubles, Seiler said there ape no
plans to increase scholarship funds
that are currently available through
Panhel and Junior Panhel - an
organization that prepares students
to be a member of Panhel.
'The only way the scholarships
from Junior Panhel would increase
See GREEK LIFE, Page 7A
INTERDISCIPLINARY FACULTY
Hiring plan adds first 25
Despite freezes
elsewhere, 'U' forges
ahead, filling tenure-
track positions
By CAITLIN SCHNEIDER
Daily StaffReporter
While many universities are
freezing hiring because of an unsta-
ble economic climate, the Univer-
sity is pushing through the first
phase of its $30 million initiative to
hire 100 new faculty members.
In 2007, the Utiversity launched
the program to create tenure-track
positions in interdisciplinary fields.
A year into the program, 25 positions
had been approved and the search
for individual faculty is underway.
Those 25 positions will be from
six specific interdisciplinary groups
suggested by faculty members to
the Office of the Provost.
Despite the suffering economy,
University Provost Teresa Sullivan
said the initiative hasn't slowed.
"Over half of all American col-
leges and universities now have a
hiring freeze," Sullivan said. "So
people who are on the job market
this year are being funneled to an
increasingly smaller set of schools.
We're one of those schools, so it's
actually good for us - perversely."
Oneofthealreadyselectedgroups,
which will focus on the global HIV/
AIDS epidemic, will be bringtogeth-
er medical and social scientists to
research infection prevention.
Other groups include: Global
Change: Cryosphere and Sea-Level
Impact; Data Mining, Learning and
Discovery with Massive Datasets;
See HIRING, Page 7A
STUDENT GOVERNMNT ECTIONS
LSA Student Government to
drop party labels from ballot
Khaled Abu Toameh presents "Another Angle: Reporting Conflict in the Middle East" in the Michigan League last night.
Israeli-Arab journalist paints bleak
picture of situation in Middle East
Officials say they
want election to be
about the issues
By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporter
Last night LSA Student Gov-
ernment President Leslie Zaikis
announced that in the next round
of student government elections,
members wouldn't run with any
party affiliation.
"We've decided as a govern-
ment that we are going to run on
a non-partisan election," Zaikis
announced. "That means we will
not be running with the two parties
in this election."
Zaikis's announcement came
after the recent formation of the
Michigan Vision Party and word
that the Michigan Action Party, the
most powerful Michigan Student
Assembly party, was going to dis-
solve. She said that the announce-
ment also came after a number of
discussions between the heads of
LSA-SG.
"We have talked with both par-
ties to ensure that they will respect
our wishes to run a non-partisan
campaign," Zaikis explained at
the meeting. "We don't want to get
caught up in the party politics."
Previously, candidates for stu-
dent government ran either as
independents or as part of a party
like the Michigan Action Party. In
past years, candidates who were
affiliated with a particular party
' received campaign assistance dur-
ing the election.
Though LSA-SG candidates will
no longer have a party to help them,
See LSA-SG, Page 7A
Abu Toameh tells
crowd that there are
no viable solutions
By ELYANA TWIGGS
For the Daily
Israeli-Arab journalist, Khaled
Abu Toameh told a packed Vanden-
berg Room at the Michigan League
that there's no simple solution to
neutralize the conflict in the Mid-
dle East, calling both a two-state
and one-state solution impractical.
The event, called "Another
Angle: Reporting Conflict in the
Middle East" was co-sponsored by
the American Movement for Israel
and Israel Initiating Dialogue,
Education and Advocacy, two pro-
Israel campus groups.
Abu Toameh said though a two-
state solution to the conflict is
ideal, it would not be viable.
"The concept of the two-state
solution is wonderful," he said.
"Although I think it's not practical
and will never work."
He added that the power strug-
gle between Hamas and Fatah in
the West Bank and Gaza is hinder-
ing the chance for peace.
"We are stuck, there's no way
to move forward." he said. "This is
not a power strugglebetween good
guys and bad guys. It is between
bad guys and bad guys who are
fighting over money or power."
Abu Toameh also said to resolve
the conflict, both Israel and the
Palestinian territories would have
to make internal changes them-
selves first.
"The change has to happen
from within, you can't send the
marines or armed soldiers to
enforce democracy," he said. "I
would focus on repairing conflict
of Arabs and Jew within Israel."
In addition to sharing his opin-
ions on the conflict, Abu Toameh
See JOURNALIST, Page 7A
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Vol. CXIX, No. 92 OPINION....
(12009 The Michigan Daily- ARTS ..........
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..............2A CLASSIFIEDS ...................... 6A
4A THORSP T .............................8 A
.............. 5A T HE STA TE M EN T................. ..1B