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Friday, April 3, 2009 - 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 3, 2Q09 -]
CENSUS
From Page 1
"Groves is an excellent choice
for this important job," Jackson
wrote in the statement, "and he
will be sorely missed at ISR if con-
firmed for the job at Census."
With an extensive background in
survey research, Groves, who served
as associate director of the Census
Bureau from 1990 to 1992, will take
up his new position amid some polit-
icalconcernaboutpossiblestatistical
adjustments tothe2010 census.
To some, Groves is a controver-
sial pick for the position. As the
Census Bureau's associate direc-
tor during the 1990 census, Groves
proposed a statistical adjustment
that would make up for an esti-
mated 5 million undercounted
people, made up mainly of urban
minorities who typically support
the Democratic Party.
Congress denied the statistical
readjustment in 1990, after critics
of the change claimed it was politi-
cally motivated. Members of the
} Republican Party feared that such
readjustment would factor into
reapportionment of seats in the
House of Representatives:
Despite the renewal of such con-
cerns, Commerce Secretary Gary
Locke - who oversees the census
- said there are no current plans
FINAL FOUR
From Page 1
as clear as some have predicted,
he noted the city's economy will
receive some benefit.
"Hotels will be booked, the
event will bring outside business-
es, and it will give Detroit good
publicity," he said. "It could have
positive long-term effects."
He added: "It is a good political
move."
In addition to the economic
role of the games, Kinesiology
Prof. Bettina Cornwell said that
the event is great for community
building.
"All events of this magnitude
are good for the community," she
said. "It will be an upbeat, positive
event, and during a time of eco-
nomic downturn for the state -
this is just what the city needs."
for district reapportionment, and
that sampling adjustments would
he more geared toward measuring
the accuracy of the current census,
according to The Associated Press.
Vincent Hutchings, a Political
Science professor and research
associate professor for the Cen-
ter for Political Studies, said in an
interview yesterday that he believes
Groves is likelyto include the statis-
tical adjustments that he has pro-
posed in the past if appointed.
"I know that as a survey
researcher, he is very familiar
with and isvery sensitive tounder-
counts," Hutchings said. "At the
end of the day, the census is just a
survey and it doesn't count every-
one, it has its flaws."
Hutchings said that although
"the people who are typically
undercounted are racial minori-
ties, and these are often consid-
ered voters for the Democratic
Party," he doesn't think that is the
sole motive for the appointment.
After being nominated, Groves
awaits approval from the Senate. If
appointed, Groves will oversee the
distribution and collection of the
2010 census. The Census Bureau
has not yet notified the public of
any plans to change the methods of
statistical collection for next year.
- The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
Cornwell said both local and
national businesses will spend a
lot of money within Detroit's bor-
ders this weekend, which should
help the city in the long run.
"The city will get local involve-
ment by the business community,
as well as corporate sponsorship
such as AT&T, Statefarm, and
others," she said. "And the more
successful a region is in pulling
off events like these, more of
these events will come to that
region."
Cornwell said that while this
event won't revitalize Detroit's
economy, it will be a bright spot for
a city in desperate need of a some
good news.
"You're not going to solve
Detroit's economic woes by an
event, but it is definitely a positive
step," she said. "A lot of the com-
munity is already coming forward
- it's great."
Students ready for Relay for Life
Organizers hope to the many researchers across the
country who receives funding from
raise $300,000 with the ACS to study cures for cancer.
O'Riordan studies proteins and
this year's event molecules affected by bodily infec-
tions. She said proteins altered by
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG infections innormalcells are changed
Daily StaffReporter in similar ways by cancer cells.
O'Riordan suggested that
Starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. researchers might be able to use
thousands of University students the infectious disease model sys-
will gather to participate in Relay tem to try to understand how the
For Life and spend the day walking proteins work.
around the track at Palmer Field to "If we knew more about how
raise money for the American Can- they worked inside the cell, then we
cer Society. And while the ACS will might have a better understanding
distribute the money to researchers of how they might work differently
across the country, University sci- in cancer," she said.
entists will put some of it to use in O'Riordan has been able to pur-
labs not too far from Palmer Field. sue her research because of fund-
Relay for Life - a 24-hour fund- raisers like Relay for Life. The ACS
raiser sponsored by the ACS has gave O'Riordan a $600,000 grant
raised more than $lSbillion for can- to study proteins during the next
cer researchsince it began in 1985. four years.
At the University, Relay for Life During this first year, O'Riordan
raised $276,000 last year. As of Fri- has used the money to study a
day morning at 2:00 a.m., Univer- water channel called aquaporin-1,
sity teams had raised $213,234.43, whose functions are affected by
but Relay for Life organizers lung, breast and colon cancer.
believe they will reach their goal of O'Riordan said the goal of her
$300,000 by the end of this year's research is to understand more
event. about aquaporin-1 and its function
Mary O'Riordan, assistant pro- inside the cell. She added that so far,
fessor in the department of Micro- her findings have been successful.
biology & Immunology, is one of "We have a really nice easy test
now that we can use to screen for
drugs that might alter the function
of aquaporin-1," she said.
O'Riordan said the drugs may lead
to a potential therapy for cancer and
that she hopes to make further devel-
opments within the next three years.
LSA junior Christine Schepeler
and LSA senior Kaylin Connors,
co-chairs of Relay for Life, said the
purpose of the relay is to not only
remember and honor loved ones
lost to cancer but to fight back by
raising funds for researchers like
O'Riordan.
"We have one day - 24 hours
- we're out on the field," Connors
said, "and we want to stretch that
out into 365 days a year and let
everyone know you can partici-
pate, and you can prevent cancer
365 days a year."
Connors said in addition to
raising much needed money for
researchers, Relay for Life also cre-
ates a support network.
"With every year that I do Relay
you see more and more people that
struggled with cancer or who have
been affected by cancer in one way
or another," Connors said. "That
makes you just want to find a cure
more and more."
As of Friday morning at 2 a.m.,
2,956 participants from 193 teams
have registered for the event, sur-
passing the 161 teams that partici-
pated last year.
Education sophomore Ari Beers,
who is a co-captain of a team with
11 of her friends, said she decided to
participate in Relayfor Life because
her mom had a breast cancer scare
at the beginning of the year.
While her mother's results came
back negative, Beers said the expe-
rience motivated her to reach out
to others going through similar
situations.
"She didn't even have it so I can't
imagine what other people who are
actually battling the actual disease
are going through," she said.
Schepeler said she has partici-
pated in Relay for Life the pastnine
years because "it is a cause that is
near and dear" to her heart, and
she couldn't see her life without it.
"Every year you kind of reach
this epiphany where you're stand-
ing on the field, you're looking out
at thousands and thousands of peo-
ple, and you just realize that in any
other day you wouldn't be connect-
ed to themby any means," she said,
"but you can look at someone and
just smile and nod and say 'We're
here for the same reason, we're
fighting back,' and for that moment
you're connected."
CONTRACT
From Page 1
0.3 percent of the college's entire
compensation for 2005 and 2.8
percent for 2007, the value of the
"Super C Fund" shot up to 30.4 per-
cent of LSA's total compensation
in 2008 and 20.6 percent in 2009.
Awards from the "Super C Fund"
are also recommended by the
department and must be approved
by the dean.
American Culture and History
Lecturer Catherine Daligga, co-
chair of LEO, said in an interview
yesterday that LEO determined
University officials were switching
money from the "A Fund," where
money for salary increases is usu-
ally housed, to the "C Fund," which
University officials say they use for
retention, promotion and equity.
The categories of retention, pro-
motion and equity are excepted
from consideration in pay raises for
lecturers according to the union's
contract with the University.
Because the University moved
money to the "C Fund" and "Super C
Fund," lecturers' salaries increased
by 2 percent, instead of by 4.1 per-
cent, Daligga and LEO contend.
Frumkin described the conten-
tion between the two parties dif-
ferently.
The University's position, Frum-
kin said in an interview yesterday,
is that officials admittedly did not
take into account the "C Fund"
because money in that fund falls
under three categories that are
exempt from consideration accord-
ing to the LEO contract.
Thus despite LEO's objections,
he said, University officials are
abiding by the contract they agreed
upon with LEO.
As stipulated in the labor agree-
ment, which expires in 2010, the
University must increase lecturers'
pay at the same rate it raises pay for
professors, or tenure-track faculty.
"All Employee full-time salary
rates shall increase by the average
annual percent increase, excluding
retention, promotion, and equity
increases, for tenured and tenure-
track faculty of the respective arts
and sciences college at each cam-
pus," the agreement reads.
Therefore if the University were
taking money that should be con-
sidered in pay raises, and putting
it into an eiempt fund, as LEO
suggests, they would be breaching
their contract with the union.
Daligga saic-LEO-officials dis-
covered what they contend is a dis-
crepancy in the funds in a Freedom
of Information Act request, which
they submitted in August.
"We found out that they were in
fact making use of some creative
accountingsystems, using a variety
of funds that had been established,
using them in a different way than
they had been explained to us," she
said. "The A Fund balances started
to dwindle and the money in the C
and Super C (another of the four
fund pools) fund were growing."
Following their finding in the
FOIA request, Daligga said LEO
filed a grievance claiming the Uni-
versity breached the contract.
On Wednesday, LEO mem-
bers and University officials were
scheduled to meet in hopes of set-
tling the dispute, but the meeting
was cancelled after University offi-
cials determined that a settlement
would not be the best way to resolve
the conflict, Frumkin said.
LEO officials filed the demand
for arbitration on Wednesday.
Though Frumkin reiterated sev-
eral times the high variability in the
schedules of arbitration hearings, he
said he hoped the hearing would be
held in late May or early June, add-
ing that neither side has any interest
in "having this linger." He also said
a decision by the arbiter is usually
made within 30 days of the hearing.
Frumkin said LEO scheduled a
teach-in for Tuesday and Wednes-
day of this past week, which Uni-
versity officials said would be a
violation of the union's contract.
LEO officials told Frumkin they
would suspend the teach-in if Uni-
versity officials would agree to talk
about a possible settlement.
Frumkin said that while a settle-
ment was discussed in advance of
Wednesday's scheduled meeting,
University officials decided that the
settlement would not be the best
way to solve the dispute. He said he
communicated his decision to LEO
officials Wednesday morning.
"This is not something that hap-
pens often. In fact, to the best of my
knowledge it is the first time in the
11 years I've been here'that I have
cancelled a meeting and said that
we're not going to go forward with
the agenda we had planned," he
said. "It's unfortunate, I wish that
it hadn't played out the way that it
played out, but it did."
Yesterday LEO staged a rally on
Regents' Plaza featuring speakers
from student groups Stop the Hike
and Students Organizing for Labor
and Economic Equality to call
attention to the union's demands.
Surrounded by about 40 lectur-
ers and students, Marc Ammer-
laan, co-chair of LEO and a Biology
lecturer, lamented the University's
handling of the situation.
"The University writes one set of
words on paper, and goes in some
windowless office and makes up a
different set of rules," he said. "If
it's a good year, we'll take good
pay; if it's a bad year, we'll take low
raises, but we don't want to see the
scales tipping based on who the
administration favors."
- David Taylor contributed
to this report.
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ATTENDANCE
From Page 1
that he thinks the incoming execu-
tive board can help ensure repre-
sentatives attend and contribute
to meetings by making them more
productive and conducive to open
dialogue.
"I think a lot of getting atten-
dance up has to do with the way
the meetings are carried out," he
said. "We need to make them more
efficient, more open and make
people feel comfortable in them
where they feel comfortable speak-
ing up."
Mahanti said many absences are
accumulated by representatives
from schools where it's more dif-
ficult for MSA to recruit replace-
ments, like theSchool of Nursing
and Rackham Graduate School.
It's often easier for executives to
excuse the issue than to find new
representatives to replace them,
which is a separate and concerning
issue, he said.
Mahanti said it's "absolutely
inexcusable" to delay replacing
seats that are more difficult to get,
like Engineering and LSA, once
representatives holdingthem reach
the maximum number of absences.
He said that it is the executive
board's responsibility to ensure the
seats are replaced in a timely fash-
ion.
"It's definitely a problem, and I
think it becomes a delegation prob-
lem," Mahanti said. "(Representa-
tives) need to be held accountable
for their absences and know the
consequences."
To increase visibility and raise
attendance, Mahanti said the
executives will be more hands-on
in informing individuals who have
accrued too many absences. They
will also place the Google docu-
ment, which records attendance,
on MSA's website so individuals
know where they stand.
summer employme
CANCER RESEARCH SUMMER
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As part of its Cancer Biology Training
Program, the University of Michigan
Comprehensive Cancer Center, in part
with funding from the National Insti-
tutes of Health (NIH)is providing expo-
sure to cancer research for highly moti-
vated and talented college undergradu-
ates. This program will give the suc-
cessful applicants an opportunity to ex-
plore potential careers in the field of
cancer. Interns are paid a stipend of
$4,500 for ten weeks during the sum-
mer and are aimed at students who are
completing their sophomore or junior
undergraduate year this spring. In
keeping with the terms of the NIH
grant, we especially encourage applica-
tions from individuals from minority
groups that are currently underrepre-
sented in biomedical and behavioral
research.
The deadline for application is 17 April
2009. Your application must be up-
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http:llwww.cancer.med.umich.edu/pro-
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2009 SUMMER/FALL INTERNSHIP
Beer Distributor located in Ypsilanti,
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Child Care"
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Though MSA's Constitution
and compiled code lay out spe-
cific guidelines for removing
representatives who do not par-
ticipate enough and accumulate
a large number of absences, few
representatives are actually dis-
missed from the assembly for this
reason.
"More often than not, indi-
viduals find a way to get some of
those absences excused from their
record so that they aren't directly
kicked out," Benson said. "Actual
removal does not happen very
often."
MSA's compiled code states that
after representatives accumulate
12 absences, the Rules and Elec-
tions Committee must notify them
in writing, detailing the type and
date of each absence and the proce-
dure to excuse absences.
Representatives then have two
weeks following this notification
to have their absences excused. If
they remain absent or do not have
the absences excused, they maybe
removed from the assembly.
Absences can be excused in the
event of illness, if the representa-
tive has an exam at the same time
as the MSA obligation or if there is
a death in the family. Exceptions to
this can be granted by a two-thirds
majority vote from the assembly or
from the Steering Committee.
Representatives can appeal
each absence after they collect 12
absences. Benson said occasionally
individuals who accumulate more
than this maximum will go to the
Steering Committee to have them
excused, usually they resign.
"People come and fight it or they
just resign," he said. "It's pretty
rare that someone who hits 13,
14, 15 absences will just keep on
going."
According to MSA's Constitu-
tion, representatives are required
to take part in multiple activities
on a weekly basis, with extra duties
during election time. Represen-
tatives must attend MSA weekly
meetings, participate inat least one
committee or commission meeting
a week, hold one office hour a week
in the MSA office and work for four
hours at a polling site during elec-
tions.
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