The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 13, 2011 - SA
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, October13, 2011 - 5A
NURSES
From Page 1A
willing to refuse to appreci-
ate and bargain in good faith
with the very people who work
so tirelessly - so compassion-
ately - and who help make the
University health system such a
highly recognized and premier
health care institution in our
nation," Oppenheim said.
MNA President Jeffrey Bre-
slin also spoke at the event and
compared the union's nego-
tiations with the Occupy Wall
Street movement, in which pro-
testers across the nation are
voicing their discontent with
politicians and corporations.
"Wall Street caused this cri-
sis, and we demand Wall Street
pay us back. It wasn't Wall
Street that bailed out the banks.
It wasn't us that crashed the
economy. Yet we are the ones
that are suffering," Breslin said.
"Because nurses are America's
most trusted profession, and
because of our deep commit-
ment to patient advocacy, we're
demanding that our legislators
support (the) nurses' version
of the Occupy Wall Street cam-
paign."
Susan Ahlstrom, who has
worked at the University Hos-
pital as a nurse on the surgical
floor for three years, echoed
Breslin's sentiments regarding
the Occupy Wall Street move-
ment.
"The public has to realize
that nurses have jobs that are
demanding physically, emotion-
ally and intellectually," Ahl-
strom said. "... I think that the
money needs to be spread more
evenly when 1 percent of the
people are taking care of 90 per-
cent of the wealth."
Ahlstrom added that the pro-
posed benefit cuts hit close to
home considering the sacrifices
nurses make to care for their
patients like staying overnight
despite having families of their
own.l
"Health care workers want to
be able to receive the same kind
of care I give my patients," she
said.
Union leaders and local politi-
cians like State Rep. Jeff Irwin
(D-Ann Arbor) and Yousef
Rabhi, a commissioner on the
Washtenaw County Board of
Commissioners and recent Uni-
versity graduates also addressed
the crowd yesterday and empha-
sized the importance of nurses
and the necessity of contract
negotiations.
Tom Mallon, a UMHS nurse
since 2004, said he's supporting
MNA because he is displeased
with how nurses are being treat-
ed.
"I've historically never been a
pro-union guy, but whenIsee the
University giving their adminis-
trators and giving their execu-
tives substantial pay increases
and then asking me - as a staff
nurse - to work more hours but
reduce my access to overtime
and increase my healthcare cost,
it's a slap in the face," Mallon
said.
TERESA MATHEW/Daily
The dining hail in tast Quad will go trayless after the residence halt is renovated nest year.
TRAYLESS
From Page 1A
taking more food - and some of
that food goes directly into the
garbage," Coleman said in her
speech last month. "Knowing we
serve 2.5 million meals a year,
wasting less food and washing
far. fewer trays will deliver real
benefits."
Mike Lee, director of Residen-
tial Dining Services, added that
the University isn't able to collect
data on whether going trayless
will conserve water in the dining
halls.
The new plans for East Quad
dining hall include a dining area
designed specifically for trayless
dining after the residence hall
undergoes a $116 million renova-
tion next year. The dorm will be
closed for the 2012-2013 school
year and is scheduled to reopen in
fall 2013.
Lee said Coleman's announce-
ment will help shed light on sus-
tainable practices already in use
in dining services and other areas
of the University.
Trayless dining was imple-
mented as a pilot program in East
Quad in 2010 after students in an
Environment 590 class presented
the option. The students, along
with the help of University Hous-
ing officials, organized and moni-
tored East Quad going entirely
trayless for a few days. East Quad
was picked for the pilot, Lee said,
because it was thought that many
of the residents would be accept-
ing of the change.
"You always have some stu-
dents that may not be so positive,
but in East Quad the majority real-
ly support (sustainable options)"
Lee said.
In 2009, students attempted to
create a similar trayless pilot pro-
gram, over the course of 15 meals,
in Mary Markley Residence din-
ing Hall, but their project was
unsuccessful.
Upon completion of the 2010
pilot, East Quad became "tray-
light" by giving students the
option of using trays or not. LSA
sophomore Hannah Pearlman
and Art & Design sophomore
Hannah Nathans, both current
East Quad residents who also
lived there last year, said they
rarely use trays.
"It makes more sense," Pearl-
man said. "You've got two hands
- you can just carry it (without
trays)."
However, trayless dining poses
some challenges in larger dining
halls. University Housing spokes-
man Peter Logan said it is difficult
to implement the trayless model in
large dining halls where the serv-
ing areas are far from the dining
areas, or in dining halls with mul-
tiple levels like Hill Dining Center.
"There are some situations
in which trayless doesn't work
so well and where we have to be
first and foremost attentive to our
mission to provide a good din-
ing experience for the students,"
Logan said. "Where we can, we
do, and where it may not be prac-
tical, then we won't comprise the
primary mission of Residential
Dining Services."
Nathans said she notices a dif-
ference when she eats at Hill Din-
ing Center, which is not designed
to be trayless. She said she thinks
it would be an inconvenience to
not use a tray there because once
she finished eating, it would be
hard to know what to do with only
a plate.
To educate residents on the
trayless dining initiative in East
Quad, Dining Services provides
information to residents to make
them aware of trayless dining
procedures.
"I think it's a good idea," Pearl-
man said. "It comes to a point
where I think people need to
learn to be more aware of the
environment and deal with the
fact that you have to adapt to cer-
tain things to make the world a
better place, because that's what
it's about."
In addition to trayless dining,
the dining halls also incorporate
other sustainability efforts such
as using napkins made from recy-
cled materials and implementing
a pre-consumer waste compost,
in which excess food from cook-
ing meals is composted.
"Sustainability is certainly
something that we're trying to
fold into what we do, as long as it's
also consistent with or achieves
our responsibilities to provide a
quality residential experience for
students," Logan said.
{
PUBLISHERS
From Page 1A
dence in book retail.
"I sell books for a living, so
I'm charged with being eternally
optimistic," he said.
Jim Edwards, publisher and
CEO at Ann Arbor Editions, said
his company had a "fantastic"
relationship with Borders, but
it wasn't always sure about the
chain's long-term security.
Before Borders went out of
business, Ann Arbor Editions
published books produced by
Borders. Edwards explained that
while Ann Arbor Editions has
always made a small share of its
revenue from independent book-
stores, it relied on Borders as a
large source of business.
Foreseeing Borders's financial
decline starting about two years
ago, the company began to diver-
sify its sales and marketing strat-
egies through increasing online
sales and the use of social media.
Edwards added that though sales
are not as substantial as they pre-
viously were, Ann Arbor Editions
is a "healthier" company after
Borders's collapse.
"The uncertainty of (the) eco-
nomic realities of Borders is no
longer part of our day-to-day
decisions," Edwards explained.
He noted that the publishing
industry can learn a lesson from
Borders's mistakes and its subse-
quent closure.
"We really believe that with
the closing of Borders, it's a
wake-up call to everybody in
this business (that) we need to
be understanding our customers
and reaching them better direct-
ly, and in many ways reaching
around traditional booksellers,"
Edwards said.
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