Why the federal government needs to step in and stop the migration of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. )) PAGE 4A L '''D I fL C D The everyday struggles of 1 I those with invisible disab ities.- SEE THE ~be fiidiian 0i~ 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 WEATHER HI: 32 TOMORROW LO:28 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM INDEX NEWS ...............................2A CLASSIFIEDS.. ..A.........6A The story behind the Daily's new top tease. Vol CXX, No.76 OPI NION ............................4A SPORTS...............A....8A MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE EDITORS c2010 The MichiganDaly ARTS....................NA THE STATEMENT.................1B michigondaily.comw" " "