Ann Arbor, Michigan
REGENT S MEE TING
Board
approves
athletic
upgrades
Yost Ice Arena,
Schembechler Hall to
be renovated
By PETER SHAHIN
Daily News Reporter
The University's Board of
Regents unanimously approved
a host of projects at its first meet-
ing of the year yesterday, includ-
ing renovations to Yost Ice Arena,
Schembechler Hall, the Edward
Henry Krause Building Auditori-
um and Northwood Apartments I,
II and III.
At the meeting, Stephen Forrest,
the University's vice president for
research, also detailed the uncer-
tain future of research funding for
the University during a presenta-
tion to the regents on the Univer-
sity's annual report on research.
Athletic Director Dave Brandon
and Timothy Slottow, the Univer-
sity's executive vice president and
chief financial officer, wrote in a
communication to the regents that
Yost will receive new luxury boxes,
a new press box location and an
expansion of fire suppression sys-
tems, all of which were approved
unanimously.
See REGENTS, Page S

The ffikI~igari 0,7aig

Friday, January 20, 2012

michigandailycom

PTL A NTHROPTC FTN

GRADUATE EMPLOYEES
Provost,
GSRAs say
dismissal
warranted

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
LSA junior Kelly Ketthun, member of the University's chapter of the Foundation for International Medical Relief
of Children, describes the organization to a student at Philanthrofest in the Michigan Union yesterday.
EV E N T PRoEVeIsEW

Glass to restage for an international tour 20
years after its last produc-
seminal work at tion. The
tour's first Einstein on
Power Center stop, and the Beach
the opera's
By JON ODDEN and first per- Tonight and
DAVID TAO formance tomorrow at 7
DailyArts Writer and in North p.m., Sunday
SeniorArtsEditor America at 2p.m.
outside of
Heralded as one of the 20th New York Power Center
century's greatest examples City, will From $22
of artistry, "Einstein on the take place
Beach," the radical five-hour tonight in Ann Arbor.
opera that elevated director While the opera involves
Robert Wilson and composer the titular physicist as a char-
Philip Glass to international acter and incorporates many
prominence, is being revived elements from his life, Glass

and Wilson intentionally
focused upon Albert Einstein
as a historical figure instead
of a cultural icon. In place of
biography, Glass and Wilson
actively embrace a lack of
narrative, incorporating sym-
bols such as repeated num-
bers, syllables of solfege and
abstract dance sequences.
They, along with the produc-
tion's original choreographer,
Lucinda Childs, are involved
with the opera's new tour.
"In the (university)
remounting, the original cre-
ative team ... is in residence to
pass on their innovative aes-
See EINSTEIN, Page 8

GEO, Dibbern claim
firing was due to
unionization effort
By PAIGE PEARCY
Daily News Editor
Following the termination
of former graduate student
research assistant Jennifer
Dibbern, University officials
and GSRAs who worked with
her claim the act was justified,
while Dibbern and the Graduate
Employee's Organization assert
she was fired for advocating for
unionization rights for GSRAs.
A group of five GSRAs who
worked with Dibbern under
Engineering Prof. Rachel
Goldman's supervision in the
Department of Materials Sci-
ence and Engineering sent an
e-mail Wednesday to University
President Mary Sue Coleman,
University Provost Philip Han-
lon and Assistant Vice Provost
Frances Mueller, stating that

Dibbern's claims were defama-
tory.
"These allegations are all
COMPLETELY FALSE (sic),"
Adam Wood, Justin Canniff,
Emily Robb, Mike Warren and
Eric Zech wrote in the e-mail,
which was obtained by The
Michigan Daily.
"As students that are advised
by Professor Goldman, and for-
mer academic colleagues with
Ms. Dibbern, we can attest to
the complete dishonesty with
which these accusations are
being made," the GSRAs wrote.
GEO and Dibbern said at a
press conference yesterday that
she was fired from her research
work after speaking openly
about supporting the unioniza-
tion. Dibbern claims that her
research work was how she sup-
ported herself and she would
not have been fired if GSRAs
were allowed to form a union.
In the e-mail, the GSRAs
wrote that the University shoul-
publicly denounce GEO and
See GSRAS, Page S


"I"CHGAN Fl&CTF

TFA CEO lauds program on campus

TERESA MATHEW/Daily
LSA sophomore Tatiana Hofmans MCs at the FOKUS' Music Metaphysics show in the Michigan Union yesterday.
LOCAL BUSINESSES
The Brides Project fundraises for Cancer
Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor

Kopp encourages
students to assist
ailing schools
By CECE ZHOU
Daily Staff Reporter
Teach for America founder
and CEO Wendy Kopp encour-
aged an audience of more than
300 University students to teach
in rural and urban districts that
struggle to provide quality K-12
education in an event at the natu-
ral science auditorium last night.
In 1989, Kopp successfully
made her senior-year thesis at
Princeton University into reality
by creating the non-profitorgani-
zation, TFA. Kopp was inspired
to found TFA because she was
surprised by the number of
recruiters encouraging students
to work in "money-making" cor-
porations instead of disadvan-
taged communities. In a recent
visit to Detroit, a newly created
TFA site, she discussed her early
ideas about the organization.
"This label about our gen-
eration (that) we supposedly all
just wanted to go work on Wall
Street and make a lot of money, I
thought that it was a little crazy,"
she said. "Everyone I knew was
just searching for a way to make
a real difference in the world and
they weren't finding it. I came to
the conclusion that the problem
wasn't really the generation but
rather, the recruiters."
She explained that one-fifth
of American children grow up in
poverty, adding that they have an

TyREA MATHEW/Daily
Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, speaks at the University yesterday.

Local boutique
sells discounted
gowns to brides
By CHELSEA LANDRY
Daily Staff Reporter
Though delicate folds of
Chantilly lace and dainty
pleats of cream-colored tulle

may seem out of place at Mid-
dle Earth - the eclectic gift
shop located at 1209 S. Univer-
sity Ave. - a window display
in the store exhibits a number
of elegant wedding gowns to
advocate for The Brides Proj-
ect, a fundraising effort of the
Cancer Support Community of
Greater Ann Arbor.
The organization, which
originated in Toronto, Ontario

in 2004, has expanded to the
United States and currently
operates in Ann Arbor at a
boutique located at 208 W. Lib-
erty St. The shop offers a wide
variety of secondhand bridal
gowns that are sold for consid-
erably less than retail price.
Ashley Edwards, marketing
chair for The Brides Project,
said all the proceeds from the
See BRIDES, Page 5

8-percent chance of graduating
from college by age 24.
Kopp shared the story of one
TFA participant, Megan Brous-
seau, who taught biology to a
class of more than 100 ninth-
grade students in the Bronx. All
of Brousseau's students passed
the biology Regents Exam, a
pre-college standardized test
for high-school students, though
most students in the school had
not attempted the optional exam
in the past.
Kopp added that cases like
Brousseau's redefine the poten-
tial of students from all walks of
life across the nation.
"Twenty years ago ... the pre-
vailing notion was that socioeco-

nomic background did predict
educational outcomes, but today,
we have growing numbers of
communities all over every
region that I visit," she said. "We
have school systems that people
had completely given up on that
have made meaningful systems
of progress."
Business junior Trevor Grieb,
a campus campaign coordinator
for TFA, said he got involved in
education reform when he heard
about the low percentage of stu-
dents graduating from college
from low-income communities.
"Teach for America provites
that opportunity to go right
from college and dive into solv-
See TFA, Page5


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