The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 22,2011 - 7
SACUA
From Page 1
ated standards like peer reviews
of faculty members' perfor-
mances.
"Long-term, I think what we
need to do is come up with a
standard that we have control
over," Rothman said.
He added that since faculty
members have no control over
fluctuations in. the economy,
tenure shouldn't be determined
by economically-driven fac-
tors such as obtaining research
grants or publishing materials.
According to an e-mail Han-
Ion sent to faculty members on
Friday, the proposal was made
available for public comment
yesterday. The SACUA members
present at yesterday's discussion
agreed that public commentary
is important for moving forward
with changes to tenure stan-
dards.
"It is really important for fac-
ulty to respond to the provost's
call for comments," Poe said.
In the e-mail, Hanlon wrote
that he hopes to bring the pro-
posal to the University Board of
Regents for a vote this spring.
If the regents vote in favor
of the proposal to change the
bylaw, it wouldn't alter the abil-
ity of the governing faculty at
any school or college to decide
to change the tenure probation-
ary period in any school or col-
lege.
Medical School faculty mem-
bers spoke in favor of the pro-
posal at the regents' monthly
meeting last Thursday. The
Medical School, Ross School of
Business, School of Dentistry,
School of Education and Taub-
man College of Architecture
and Urban Planning are the only
schools and colleges that cur-
rently use the full eight years for
tenure probationary periods.
Rothman said yesterday that
Medical School faculty mem-
bers are in favor of changing the
bylaw because they lack the time
needed to meet requirements for
tenure.
"I contend that that's not a
problem - that's the symptom
of a problem," Rothman said.
"The symptom of the problem
is what's being treated with the
changing of 5.09."
Poe and Rothman's short-
term solutions would allow each
faculty member to choose to
extend his or her tenure proba-
tionary period twice for reasons
like pregnancy or illness.
Rothman said lengthening
the period for all faculty mem-
bers would be a disservice to
many because not making ten-
ure after 10 years could damage
to a career or delaytheir plans to
raise a family.
"Waiting 10 years is cruel and
unusual punishment," Rothman
said.
Kim Kearfott, SACUA mem-
ber and Engineering profes-
sor, said Poe's counterproposal
could help all faculty members.
"The idea of transparent and
ubiquitously applicable, flexible
tenure clock stoppage - a policy
like that - is something that is
potentially beneficial to every-
one across the campus," Kear-
fott said.
Poe said she thinks other uni-
versities will follow suit if the
changes suggested in her coun-
terproposal are implemented.
However, Rothman said the
University should be concerned
with maintaining standards of
excellence and attracting new
faculty in lieu of the imminent
retirement of many baby-boom-
ers.
"We should be worried about
getting new faculty," Rothman
said.
TENT CITY
From Page 1
munity to move multiple times
in the past, first from the woods
behind Toys 'R' Us at Arborland
Mall, then to an area of public
land near 1-94 off Ann Arbor-
Saline Road and finally to its
current location, where kCTN has
been based since last May.
The idea for CTN was based
on a homeless living community
that began in Seattle, Wash. in
the 1990s. The name Camp Take
Notice refers to the residents'
hope that they will be recog-
nized as human beings, rather
than having camp itself be rec-
ognized.
"What we are saying is take
notice of the situation ...," camp
resident Nate Williams said.-
"First of all, take notice that the
problem of homelessness isn't
going away. Take notice that
there is a big gap in services that
are being provided compared to
what should be provided."
The camp is a self-governing
organization in which resi-
dents have assigned roles. Camp
responsibilities include main-
taining security, keeping track
of donations and serving on
an executive committee that
determines if a resident should
be kicked out of the camp for
infractions such as drug or alco-
hol use or the threat of violence.
Besides camp duties, camp
residents' work daily, seek work
outside of the camp or look into
disability benefits and other
social services. Current CTN
residents said the average stay at
the tent city is a period of several
months, though residents will
occasionally stay within the tent
community for more than a year.
CTN co-founder Caleb Poirier,
who spent time in a Seattle tent
community, said one of the best
benefits of living in the camp is
the relationships he developed.
"Having friendships ... that.
is why I am excited at this as
a model," Poirier said. "Often
times when you are in this situ-
ation, you are in it by yourself.
There is not an easy accessed
social community for people
who are on the bottom of soci-
ety."
Poirier added that the feeling
of being accepted by a commu-
nity often draws people to tent
cities.
Brian Nord, president of the
Michigan Itinerant Shelter
System Interdependent Out of
Necessity (MISSION) - a non-
profit group that supports CTN
- said the relationships formed
in the community help residents
handle hardships they're facing.
"The folks have dedicated
themselves, at least for the time
they are there, to take care of
each other," Nord said. "The
social connections are one of the
things that keep these people
alive."
With official non-profit sta-
tus, MISSION facilitates funding
and advocates on behalf of CTN.
MISSION assists in communica-
tion between the camp and the
surrounding communities, along
with helping camp residents
take advantage of the social ser-
vices offered to them.
"We're making these incre-
mental steps to help folks live
more safely (and) a little bit more
comfortably so they can focus on
other things," Nord said.
He said people's ignorance
of what homeless individuals
to experience fuels misunder-
standing of homeless communi-
ties.
"The misconception is that
they just want to live off what-
ever the system is willing to give
them," Nord said. "They're list-
less, have no sense of direction
and have no interest in being a
positive part of society.'
Jeffrey Albanese, a graduate
student in the University's joint
doctoral program of anthropol-
ogy and social work, has sat on
the board of MISSION and stud-
ied tent communities. He said
media coverage too frequently
portrays tent cities as growing in
number or appearing because of
the recession.
"There are a number of tent
cities that predate the recession
by a decade or more," Albanese
said. "These sort of things hap-
pen in good economic times and
bad."
Albanese added that he feels
it is important to recognize the
diversity of the causes behind
the creation of tent cities. Some
tent cities tarise because home-
less individuals are frustrated
with the way they have been
treated by shelter' "a lack of
low-income housing.
In the case of CTN, residents
were careful to note that they
appreciated the work Washt-
enaw County's Robert J. Delo-
nis Center does, yet they wish
people noticed the lack of low-
income housing in Washtenaw
County,
The Delonis Center is the
main resource for single, home-
less adults and links individuals
with social services, according
to Ellen Schulmeister, the execu-
tive director of the Shelter Asso-
ciation of Washtenaw County.
The Delonis Center offers beds
year round and expands its offer-
ings during the winter months.
However, the availability of beds
doesn't always meet the demand.
Schulmeister said she believes
housing prices in Washtenaw
County are higher than in neigh-
boring counties, which increases
the problem of homelessness
here.
"There are never enough ser-
vices for everybody no matter
where people live," she said. "I
believe the tent city has the same
goal that we have, which is to get
people housed."
Living outside in tents is a
long way from a permanent solu-
tion, Schulmeister said.
"To me, the only perma-
nent option is housing. There
wouldn't be a tent city if we had
enough housing,"-she-said. "The
problem. is that the money is
going away faster than we know
what to do."
GREAT LAKES
From Page 1
cy from gathering data on indus-
trial greenhouse gas emissions,
controlling greenhouse gases
released by stationary sources
and increasing gasoline's ethanol
amount from 10 to 15 percent.
The origins of the GLRI
stretch back to 2004 when for-
mer President George W. Bush
issued an executive order for the
EPA and other federal agencies
to form the Great Lakes Inter-
agency Task Force to coordinate
and prioritize restoration efforts
in the Great Lakes region.
In 2010, when Obama
announced he would allocate
$475 million to jumpstart the
GLRI, the work done by the
IATF over the previous five
years translated into an EPA-led,
interagencyinitiative thatwould
target the most critical prob-
lems in the Great Lakes region,
including invasive aquatic spe-
cies, non-point source pollution
and contaminated sediment.
Jennifer Read, assistant
director and research coor-
dinator for the Michigan Sea
Grant - a partnership between
the University of Michigan
and Michigan State University
aimed at conserving the Great
Lakes - said in an interview
last week that she anticipated
that the U.S. House would most
likely pass the Continuing Reso-
lution by the end of the week.
"I would say the budget cuts
GOOGLE BOOKS
From Page 1
to a digital copy of essentially
every bound published work in
our libraries within a couple of
years," Courant said.
Though it is difficult to gauge
the exact progress of the digiti-
zation process, Courant said he
doesn't think the University is
more than two years away from
completing the first phase of the
digitization.
Since the start of the Google
Books Library Project, the Uni-
versity has been in the process
of building a collective digital
library called HathiTrust Digi-
tal Library that uses books made
digital by Google. HathiTrust,
which is a collaboration with
52 other libraries, is part of
the development of the largest
library in the world, according
to Courant. The University was
one of the first institutions to
work with Google on the proj-
ect along with Stanford Univer-
sity, Harvard University, Oxford
University and the New York
Public Library.
The Google Books Library
Project intends to digitize all
bound materials from the Uni-
versity's main library system,
as well as those of the William
L. Clements Library, Bentley
Historical Library, Law Library
and the Kresge Business Admin-
istration Library. In total 8 mil-
lion volumes will be digitized,
according to Courant.
Ben Bunnell, manager of
Library Partnerships for Google
Book Search, wrote in an e-mail
that so far Google has digitized
more than 15 million books,
we're looking at are not unex-
pected, but they're still sort of...
short-sighted because of what it
is we're turning down in train-
ing the next generation of scien-
tists, understanding restoration
science better, faster and restor-
ing our natural resource base
here, which is going to be the
basis of our next economy," she
said.
No current Michigan Sea
Grant projects will be affected
by federal budget cuts, Read
said. Having received $1.5 mil-
lion from the GLRI, the Michi-
gan Sea Grant is currently
leading two restoration projects.
The Green Marina Education
and Outreach project focuses on
reducing pollution by develop-
ing better training instruments
for people partaking in boat-
ing and marina activities. The
Restoring Native Fish Habitat
in the St. Clair River project
aims to increase spawning areas
fpr native fish species in the St.
Clair River, according to Read,
who is a co-principal investiga-
tor on the St. Clair River project.
The Michigan Sea Grant is
also collaborating on five other
projects funded by the GLRI,
including one aimed at con-
taining the spread of invasive
aquatic species and another
monitoring beach contaminants
through laser technology.
While these initiatives will
continue, Read said, budget cuts
will take a toll on future GLRI
endeavors to investigate unex-
plored issues in restoration sci-
ence.
"(Restoration science) requires
a lot of adaptive management -
that is, being able to monitor and
understand what's happening
in the result of your restoration
activity and tweak it as you need
to and follow up in later years,
so having less dollars to do that
activity means ... we're able to do
less," she said.
The Continuing Resolution -
known as H.R. 1 - is an indica-
tion of the strong anti-spending
sentiment among the Republi-
can majority in the House. The
bill needs to pass in the U.S. Sen-
ate and then be signed by Obama
to be turned into law. The feder-
al government is at risk of shut-
ting down if an appropriations
bill isn't passed by March 4.
After the bill passed in the
House on Saturday, Hal Rogers
(R-KY), chair of the U.S. House
Appropriations Committee,
expressed his firm support for
the bill in a statement that day.
The bill passed with a 235-189
majority and addresses the need
for the nation to reduce its defi-
cit.
"We held no program harm-
less from our spending cuts,
and virtually no area of gov-
ernment escaped this process
unscathed," he wrote in the
statement. "While these choic-
es were difficult to make, we
strived to spread the sacrifice
fairly, weeding out waste and
excess, with a razor-sharp focus
on making the most out of every
tax dollar."
which accounts for nearly 10
percent of books across the
globe. Google aims "to scan just
about all of the world's books"
and will continue on its quest by
pursuing further collaborations,
Bunnell wrote.
"Since we're scanning col-
lections from so many libraries,
all students are able to benefit
from multiple library collections
directly, whether their own
institution is a direct participant
in the project or not," Bunnell
wrote.
In addition to more typical
texts, Google has been working
with NASA to digitize aeronau-
tical material, according to Bun-
nell.
To make information more
accessible, some of the fully
readable digitized texts have
been converted to an electronic
publication, or EPUB, which
allows for the text to be read on
digital readers such as Kindle
and E-Book, Courant said.
"Basically, you'll be able to
carry the library around in your
pocket," he said.
University students will also
have the option to print course-
packs for classes using the digi-
tized library collections after
copyright concerns are resolved.
Courant said he believes this
option will be available within
the next few years. Addition-
ally, he said he thinks people
will eventually choose to view
the coursepacks on their mobile
devices like iPads and iPhones
and only print certain sections
they want in paper form.
Courant said he believes
access for students to older
works of literature will improve
with the digitization of library
collections, as well as provide an
efficient method of record keep-
ing for collections.
"I think it makes the printed
literature of the 20th century
able to compete for student
attentionconthe same terms
as the new literature, which is
born digital, and I think that's
extremely important because
there's a remarkable amount of
very important work that was
done in the past," he said.
The complete digitization of
library collections is the most
significant technological change
for libraries to date, Courant
said.
"I really think (it) is the big-
gest transformation in the work
of libraries ever," he said.
But not all the volumes are
currently readable because of
problems with copyright law,
according to Courant.
The Google Books Library
Project is in the midst of a class
action lawsuit with the Authors
Guild regarding issues with
copyrights. The lawsuit was
initially filed against Google
in 2005. The case has yet to be
settled in court, according to
Bunnell.
"It's a class action, so the
court has to approve any settle-
ment proposed by the parties,"
Bunnell wrote. "The parties
have in fact proposed a settle-
ment, but the judge has not
approved it yet."
This is the only lawsuit
regarding copyright laws with
which the project is currently
involved, Bunnell added.
"We are confident that Google
Books is fully compliant with
U.S. and international copyright
law," he wrote.
ERNST&YOUNG
QualityinEverything We Do
Day one
and you've set your sights
At Ernst & Young, even day one is a chance to focus on your next step.
To set your goals and make plans to get there. In fact, we've developed
a unique framework with your career development in mind. It's called EYU -
and it offers formal learning, experiences and coaching sgyou can jump
right in. Find a mentor. And discover future opportunities. It's everything
you need to grow and succeed.
Explore your career options in assurance, tax, transaction or
advisory services.
Want to learn more with a chance to win an iPad?
Download your OR code reader by texting EYQUIZ to 22333.
Then snap a pic of the code and take our quiz.
C U
{
k