The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com GV 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. Teachers of Color Job Fair Learn Meet Discover about the faculty, the variety of experiences students, and teaching and benefits of administrators positions teaching in an from Metro available in independent Detroit and independent school. Ann Arbor schools. independent schools. 00000> Inspire > April 4 2 - 4:30 pm http://tocjf.greenhillsschool.org Sponsored by the Assn. of Independent Michigan Schools Hosted by Greenhills School, 850 Greenhills Dr., Ann Arbor the michigan daily 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 INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 1 (CaRSIP) 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- loaded at the following site: http:llwww.cancer.med.umich.edu/pro- fessionals/summerinternship.shtml 2009 SUMMER/FALL INTERNSHIP Beer Distributor located in Ypsilanti, covering territories in Washtenaw, Liv- ingston, Western Wayne and Monroe Counties. Looking for a hard working Business Student, must be 21 and have a car. Flexible hours, evenings and weekends especially during Football - Hockey Season. Fun, hands-on experi- ence in Sales, Special Events and Mar- keting. Apply in person at O&W, Inc. 3003 William St. Ypsilanti. 734-480- 4012. Child Care" J95 PART-TIME ITALIAN speaking babysitter needed for 7 year old child. email: mamarc@comcast.net WANTED: CHILD CARE for infant and 2 yr old. Part/full time. Exp. req. Education in related prog pref. Will per- form background check. 248-231-9264. 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. I Questions about the program? Please HAPPY 21ST BIRTHI email La Cheryl Wicker at RYAN MARK BUSINSKI lwickerp~umich.edu I WORK ON MACKINAC Island this Summer - Make life long friends. The Island House Hotel and Ryba's Fudge Shops are looking for seasonal help in all areas: Front Desk, Bell Staff Wait Staff, Sales Clerks, and Baristas. Hous- ing, bonus, and discounted meals avail- able. Call Ryan 1 (800) 626 - 6304. SOMEONE HELP PAY p www.theislandhouse.com ition. Call Mike 734-377-79t art of my tu- 993.