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L '''D I fL C D The everyday struggles of
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
TIP-CUP FOR A CAUSE
michigandaily.com
THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
'U' official
surprised'
by study's
results
JAKE FROMM/Daily
Evan Doering, a trainee at Comet Coffee in Nickels Arcade, hands coffee to a customer yesterday. The coffee shop was collecting money on Monday and Tuesday to send to
Doctors Without Borders to aid the relief efforts in Haiti. The country was ravaged by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake last week.
CITY SERVICES
Firefighters take o
Contract passed
at last night's City
Council meeting
postpones layoffs
By DEBJANI MUKHERJEE
For the Daily
In an effort to cope with the city's
mounting budget deficit, Ann Arbor
* firefighters will take a four percent
wage reduction, according to their
new contract, which was passed at
last night's Ann Arbor City Council
meeting.
City Council and the Ann Arbor
firefighter station - Firefighters
Local 693 - came to an agreement
on the contract last Wednesday,
after weeks of negotiations. The
new contract, which had previously
been ratified bythe Ann Arbor Fire-
fighters Union, is effective through
June 30, 2010.
Though the contract guarantees
that there won't be any layoffs dur-
ing the period covered by the con-
tract, the pay cuts didn't escape
criticism from the union.
"We cannot take any more pay
cuts," Matt Schroeder, president of
the Ann Arbor Firefighters Union
told The MichiganDailyin aninter-
view last week, after the agreement
was reached.
The contract also includes a
1-percent increase in employee pen-
sion contributions and a)50 percent
reduction in the city's contribution
to employee health care reimburse-
ment accounts.
The union membership has
asked the City Council to also take a
pay cut, and in response, Ann Arbor
Mayor John Hieftje wrote a check
to the city for 3 percent of his sal-
ary of $42,432. Many City Council
members followed his lead, offer-
P aycut
ing to write checks for the same
amount or less. Three percent of
each City Council member's salary
amounts to about $450.
"I think we need to respect what
the fire department has done,"
Hieftje said at last night's meeting.
Though the city's firefighters
received a cut in their salaries, they
were able to maintain their current
health benefits.
City Administrator Roger Fraser
said he was disappointed the fire-
fighters union wasn't willing to
accept reductions in its health
insurance packages,as other unions
See CONTRACT, Page 7A
Findings showed
that the University
was failing in
its public mission
By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
Lester Monts, senior vice pro-
vost for academic affairs, said he
was "surprised" to see the Uni-
versity ranked near the bottom of
a recent report assessing the level
of access public universities offer
to underrepresented minority
students.
Monts, said he was taken aback
by the results of a study released
late last week by The Education
Trust. The report, called "Oppor-
tunity Adrift," rated one public
school in each of the 50 states in
terms of access for underrepre-
sented minority and low-income
students, and compared changes
in the figures from the 2004-2005
to 2007-2008 school years. The
study also reported on the suc-
cess of those students in attaining
their diplomas throughout these
time periods.
The study found that flagship
universities have, for the most
part, recently given more finan-
cial aid to more affluent students
while neglecting to give aid to
students in need. The report
explicitly mentioned that the
University of Michigan ranked
near the bottom in all categories.
Monts said he was surprised by
the results of the report, especial-
ly given the University's typically
high ranking in similar studies.
Monts added that the College
Board - the Board of Trustees of
which Monts was the chair from
2006-2008 - gave the University
a relatively high ranking ina sim-
ilar survey.
"The University of Michigan is
usually at the top of these nation-
al surveys and assessments," he
said. "I was frankly surprised to
see that we were characterized in
that manner. I think we can put
forth evidence to say we actually
do go to great lengths to recruit
and retain underrepresented
minorities."
"The University of Michigan
stands tall in terms of its commit-
ment to diversity, not only racial
and ethnic diversity, but socio-
economic diversity as well," he
continued.
According to the study, the
University is one of six flagship
public schools nationwide whose
composite rating of low-income
See REPORT, Page 7A
MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY t
MSA, WOLV-TV scratch plan e
tttk Tyvek
to broadcast weekly meetings~,g
Station says it
doesn't have enough
manpower to
film, edit footage
By ELYANA TWIGGS
Daily StaffReporter
After more than a dozen hours
of editing film from last week's
Michigan Student Assembly meet-
ing, WOLV-TV staffers realized the
broadcast would never appear on
television.
At the beginning of this semes-
ter, WOLV-TV agreed to broadcast
MSA's weekly meetings. As part of
the agreement LSA junior Matthew
Dupree and LSA senior Angela Sul-
tani - students who work for the
television station - filmed each
MSA representative that spoke at
the meeting.
But after 15 arduous hours of
editing the footage, Dupree said
WOLV-TV realized it didn't have
enough cameras or manpower to
participate in the project.
"We want to put outa public ser-
vice, but we have limited resources
and personnel, and it was really
getting difficult," Dupree said.
Ifthe projecthadgone as planned,
MSA Chambers would have been
equipped with two cameras and
two cameramen that would film
each meeting. Immediately follow-
ing the meetings, WOLV-TV would
have broadcast the meetings online
and played the broadcast on Chan-
nel 55 every day of the week after
See MSA, Page 7A
CAMPUS RADIO
Student-run radio station looks to expand
JAKE FROMM/Daly
The entrance of the Delta Upsilon fratnerity house. The house is undergoing renovations after it was gutted by a fire last summer.
Delta U.house gutted
by fire to be restored
WCBN needs more
funding before it can
take advantage of
FCC permission
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
Tucked away in the basement
of the Student Activities Building,
WCBN - the University's student-
run radio station - is hoping to
bring its programming to a wider
range of listeners.
The Federal Communications
Commission gave the station per-
mission last month to increase
its wavelength from 200 watts to
3,000 watts. But in order to take
advantage of the expansion, WCBN
has to raise enough money to buy a
new transmitter antenna.
Kristin Sumrall, University alum
and WCBN program director, said
the station, which was founded in
1971, has been at 200 watts since
1981 and has been interested in
expanding for the past several
years. But that wasn't possible until
recently when television waves
went digital, making more wave
space available.
"There was a lot of scrambling
from low-power radio stations to
acquire space right after TV went
digital," she said.
Sumrall said the station is
"exploring options" for how to raise
enough money for the new antenna,
including its annual fundraiser in
March and listener donations.
"It's only permission," Sumrall
said. "Until we can actually get the
transmitter, it doesn't mean much."
The FCC permission to increase
WCBN's coverage has a three-
year expiration date. If the station
See WCBN, Page 7A
Renovations to
historic landmark to
match original plans
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
Brothers of the Delta Upsilon
fraternity, whose house caught
fire about a year and a half ago,
will finally have the opportunity
to move back into the restored
abode come fall.
Built in 1903, the Delta Upsilon
house - the first fraternity house
built on campus - was ravaged by
flames in late May 2008 but is now
being reconstructed to meet the
exact specifications of its original
fagade.
John Markiewicz, president
of Delta Upsilon's alumni board,
said the fraternity house will look
the same as it did before on the
outside, as the construction team
is using the original blueprints
renowned architect Albert Kahn
used to build the house.
Kahn also designed Hill Audi-
torium, the Fisher Building, the
Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
and the Phi Delta Theta fraternity
house on campus.
While the outside of the house
- which is located on 1331 Hill
St. - is being refurbished, parts
of the building's interior are also
being revamped, like making the
first-floor bathroom handicap
See FRATERNITY, Page 7A
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