The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
New plan gives
city more power
State officials aiming to put
cash-strapped Detroit on a strict
financial diet delivered an ulti-
matum yesterday with a plan to
shift political power, consolidate
public utilities and shrink city
staff and salaries.
Detroit is facing cash flow
problems and a $197 million bud-
get deficit. A state review team
has already been digging into its
troubled finances, and the gover-
nor could appoint an emergency
manager.
City officials would save face
and preserve some local control
by agreeing to the state's plan,
but if they contest the terms or
fail to meet them, an emergency
manager could still be appoint-
ed. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder,
who approved the deal offered to
the city, has said he would prefer
to avoid that.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia
World's tallest
man levels off
Thanks to treatment by
researchers at the University
of Virginia Medical Center, the
world's tallest man may have
reached his peak..
Measuring at 8-feet- inches,
29-year-old Sultan Kosen of Tur-
key is listed in the 2011 Guinness
World Records at the tallest liv-
ing man.
Kosen visited U.Va. in May
2010 for treatment for a disor-
der called acromegaly, which is
" usually caused by a tumor in the
pituitary gland.
DAYTON, Ohio
Hoops diplomacy
in Dayton, Ohio
Basketball fan-in-chief Presi-
dent Barack Obama gave British
Prime Minister David Cameron a
front-row seat to March Madness
yesterday, taking his European
partner to an election swingstate
for an NCAA tournament basket-
ball game.
The two leaders sat near one
end of the court at the Univer-
sity of Dayton Arena for a "First
Four" matchup between Missis-
sippi Valley State and Western
Kentucky, a gesture of goodwill
during Cameron's official visit to
the United States and a way for
an incumbent president to reach
sports fans in an election year.
The setting created the image
of two buddies, dressed in casu-
al clothes, eating hot dogs and
enjoying the NCAA tournament,
one of America's premier sport-
ing events.
Cameron, who enjoys tennis
and cricket buthad never beento a
basketball game before, said dur-
inga halftime interview on truTV
that Obama was "giving me some
tips. He's going to help me fill out
my (NCAA tournament) bracket."
Obama replied, "And he's goingto
teach me cricket."
GENEVA, Switzerland
French surgeon
calls Syria "hell"
French surgeon Jacques Beres
has operated in war zones for 40
years, but he says the carnage in
Syria is among the most horrific
he has ever witnessed.
Beres smuggled himself into
the battered Syrian city of Homs
for two weeks in February, setting
up a makeshift hospital in a home
where he operated on 89 wounded
in a span of 12 days. Many were
elderly or children. He saved most
of them, but nine died on the oper-
ating table.
At a meeting of human rights
activists yesterday in Geneva, the
71-year-old Parisian - apparently
the only Western doctor to get into
Homs - spoke with passion about
the bloodshed and the horrific
conditions.
"This is a hell," said Beres, a
co-founded of Doctors Without
Borders and Doctors of the World
who has worked in war zones
including Vietnam, Rwanda and
Iraq. "It's mass murder. It's totally
unfair. It's unjustifiable."
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
DEBATE
From Page 1A
"St. Patrick's Day Bash" on the
Diag from noon to3 p.m.
Alley said CSG will be hand-
ing out free food including pizza
and churros, and holding activi-
ties like face painting.
"We know that students are
going to drink on campus, but
it's essentially a way for stu-
dents to get some free food,"
Alley said. "It essentially pre-
vents too quick of an absorption
of alcohol."
Alley emphasized that all stu-
dents, regardless whether they
decide to drink, are encouraged
to attend.
"Also for students who chose
not to drink on that day, they
KONY
From Page 1A
creativity and social action to
end the use of child soldiers in
Joseph Kony's rebel war and
restore (Lord's Resistance Army-
affected) communities in Ugan-
da and other Central African
nations to peace and prosperity."
The campaign identifies Kony as
"the world'saworst war criminal."
The rapid spread of Invis-
ible Children's online message
allowed viewers of the 30-min-
ute film to simultaneously post,
share and tweet about Kony
2012, initiating heated debate
among supporters and critics,
while providing an open forum
for discussion.
Despite the campaign's viral-
ity, it's received criticism for the
lack of information provided in
the film, the organization's use of
donations and the timeliness of
the campaign.
Omolade Adunbi, assistant
professor in the Department
of Afroamerican and African
Studies, said he appreciates the
efforts made by Invisible Chil-
dren, but does not agree with
their presentation of the crisis in
Africa.
"It's a good thing that (Invis-
ible Children) is bringing
attention to what is going on
in Uganda, but the way it has
been presented (makes it seem)
as if it is something new, but it
has been around for 26 years,"
Adunbi said. "Many efforts have
(already) been made to bring
attention to the crisis, so theysare
not the first set of people to bring
attention to this case."
He added that the com-
plexities of the conflicts in
Uganda and the surrounding
African nations make it difficult
to assume that capturing Kony
and bringing him to justice will
resolve them.
"Taking out Kony is not going
to solve the problem ... They need
to be able to find a lasting solu-
tion to the varying problems
confronting the region," Adunbi
said. "This will mean bringing
everyone to the table to discuss
this problem, not only the Ugan-
dan state, but also the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo,
Rwanda and Sudan."
GSRAS
From Page 1A
not the body has jurisdiction over
the GSRA issue now that the law
has barred GSRAs from union-
izing.
Rackham student Liz
Rodrigues, communications
chair for the Graduate Employ-
ees' Orgnanization, said the
new law effectively eliminates
MERC's role in changing the sta-
tus of GSRAs from students to
employees.
"As of right now, this bill
means that the GSRA campaign
is ending in a legal attack on
GSRAs' right to vote, rather than
in a fair election," Rodrigues said.
"It does mean that the campaign
is over."
Rackham student Stephen
Raiman, founder of Students
Against GSRA Unionization, said
he is extremely pleased with the
new law.
"We feel thatwe can relax alit-
tle bit and we're comfortable with
the knowledge that this union
won't be trying to absorb us, that
we can go on with the process
of being students," Raiman said.
"We're very pleased that the gov-
ernor has recognized that GSRAs
are students and should not be
subject to these forced unioniza-
tion attempts."
Though the bill pertains just
have a fun space to go andt
socialize with their friends,"
she said.t
Engineering junior Kyles
Summers, CSG chief of staff,i
also addressed the assembly last
night about CSG's new website.r
While CSG officially changedz
its name to the Central Student
Government in January, itsi
website is just now followings
suit. CSG had been operating
with its old Michigan Studentc
Assembly website in attempts
to ease the transition as namee
recognition increases, but Sum-N
mers said the new redesignedc
site was scheduled to launch
today at 6 a.m.
"It's a complete redesignc
of the old Michigan Student
Assembly website," Summerst
said. "Given the name change,E
In a statement responding to1
critiques of Kony 2012, Invis-
ible Children acknowledged that<
the length of the film affects thet
depth of information and com-
plexity provided, adding that
other information about the
campaign is available.
"Invisible Children has sought
to explain the conflict in an easi-1
ly understandable format, focus-
ing on the core attributes of LRA1
leadership that infringe upon the
most basic of human rights," the
statement reads. "In a 30-minutec
film, however, many nuances of1
the 26-year conflict are admit-t
tedly lost or overlooked."
Business freshman Ram Choi
said he interprets the Kony1
2012 campaign as a way to look1
beyond just the just Kony, andi
work toward implementing
methods to quell violence and1
establish sustainable harmony!
throughout Africa.
"(Invisible Children) is not!
just out there to 'crumble Kony,'"
Choi said. "Kony is simply a1
broader theme of their true focus
in helping the Central African
communities gain peace; a quite
ambitious goal, but definitely
worth the struggle."
Choi acknowledged that the]
organization's video relies heav-
ily on emotional persuasion to1
catch the viewer's attention, but
said ultimately it's impactful
in conveying the dire situation
afflicting thousands of citizens.i
"(The video is a) complete
appeal to your emotions, rather
than your mind, but that's what
truly gets to us in the end -
the gut feeling of what's right
and what's wrong," Choi said.
"They've finally incited debates
among the general population,
including the youth, about their
cause."
Business freshman Alim
Leung said she originally sup-
ported the Kony 2012 campaign
after watching the video, but
after further research, changed
her opinion about the organiza-
tion and its efforts.
"Initially I was 100 percent
for (Kony 2012)," Leung said.
"(After) actually taking a step
back and thinking about it for a
minute and also researching it
I can't bring myself to support
Invisible Children."
She said she believes the
to GSRAs, the ramifications of
the bill could extend beyond just
them, and many see the end of
this battle as the beginning of a
bigger discussion about collective
bargaining rights in the state.
Jeff Hauser, political media
lead for the AFL-CIO, said Mich-
igan could see more bills emerge
from the legislature attempting
to limit the power of unions.
"This totally is a national
effort, and it may seem counter-
intuitive that what's happening
at the University of Michigan
(is national, but it's really not),"
Hauser said. " ... I'm not saying
what's happening at the Uni-
versity of Michigan is the focal
point of their efforts, but it's a
part of their game plan."
Hauser said he has heard
talk of legislators in the state
attempting to further limit col-
lective bargaining rights and
a number of bills have already
been introduced. He said the
reason there hasn't been a com-
plete overhaul of unionization
rights in the state thus far is
that that such attempts are very
unpopular, so Snyder has tried to
distance himself from such wide
scale efforts.
Silfven agreed that labor
issues have not been a priority
for the governor.
"Every bill has to be looked at
on its own merit, but I think all
in all, the governor has been very
we really wanted to rebrand
things and use this as an oppor-
tunity to re-implement the web-
site - make it really as great as
it could be."
A resolution to support
making Michigan Stadium
a "zero-waste" stadium was
also introduced at the meet-
ing. Engineering junior Chris-
sie Zuchora, an Engineering
assembly representative and
co-author of the resolution, said
zero-waste means that close to
everything sold at the stadium
would be able to be composted
or recycled.
"Other campuses, including
Ohio State, have already started
doing this effort," Zuchora said.
"There's just too much that goes
to waste from our campus and
especially from the stadium."
United States should support
assistance to these struggling
countries, including potentially
taking more drastic interference.
"What we should do now is
support the activists out there
who have already been working
really, really hard," Leung said.
"Maybe U.S. intervention might
be needed, but at the same time,
we don't want to go to that as a
last resort because it might do
more harm than good."
She added that she thinks the
campaign's approach is too sim-
plistic and inaccurately suggests
that arresting Kony will termi-
nate the conflict. However, she
said she likes that the campaign
provides viewers with ways to
become active in their commu-
nity.
"I'm really happy that a lot of
people are for (Kony 2012) and
getting active about doing some-
thing in their community and
globally," she said. "I just hope
that people take a lesson from
this and actually do the research
and take this energy and drive
and push it towards something
that could really make a differ-
ence."
Engineering junior Arjun
Mahajan said he supports Invis-
ible Children and Kony 2012
because of the group's determi-
nation to create global aware-
ness about conflicts in Africa.
"I know that there is a lot
of criticism (toward Invisible
Children), but I think one of the
most important things that they
promote is awareness ... That is
their number one goal," Mahajan
said. "Change isn't going to hap-
pen solely because of one per-
son or a group of people. I think
that they are trying to gather as
many people to get government
officials involved. I think that's
worthwhile."
Invisible Children will host
a nationwide Cover the Night
event on April 20, in which Kony
2012 participants will further
publicize the campaign by hang-
ing posters and distributing
campaign materials in support of
the Kony 2012 movement. Maha-
jan said he plans to take part.
"(My hall and I) have been
talking about this for the past
week, and we've decided that
we're going to support this as a
whole," Mahajan said.
consistent in saying that col-
lective bargaining has worked
well in Michigan and dealing
with those issues," Silfven said.
"It's not something that's on his
agenda."
Nevertheless, some believe
Michigan could face the drawn
out battles over collective
bargaining rights that other
Midwestern states, such as Wis-
consin, Indiana and Ohio, have
faced in the past year and a half.
"I think that that's a very
legitimate concern," Whitmer
said. "As we watch what hap-
pens with (Wisconsin Gov.)
Scott Walker or what happens
with the worker protection bal-
lot language. I'm hopeful a year
from now Michigan gives our
workers the ability to collective-
ly bargain, but it could be dra-
matically different, too."
Hauser said it would make
sense for the issue of workers'
rights to become prominent in
Michigan, an important state for
the labor movement, especially
at a time when conservatives
have control over the Legisla-
ture.
"These are states in which the
opportunity for right-wingers
to push through unpopular leg-
islation (is small)," Hauser said.
"It's a narrow window and they
are acting with great swiftness
to implement their agenda."
There is already evidence of a
GOOGLE
From Page 1A
versity Google account, accord-
ing to Wrobleski. However,
despite the 5,000 students who
have migrated their data so far,
he said he didn't think many
more students would complete
the transfer soon.
"We expect a lot of the stu-
dents aren't using the current U
of M system or if they are, they
want to start fresh with their
Google system," Wrobleski said.
Wrobleski said he is excited
about the potential of the new
partnership with Google because
it provides enhanced sharing
between users. He said class lists
eventually will be available on
Google servers for classmates to
access, allowing them to collabo-
rate on documents, e-mails and
other resources without the need
to know other users' uniqnames
or e-mail addresses.
"People can share and col-
laborate with work," Wrobleski
said. "Not just in Ann Arbor or
around the University campus,
but for research colleges around
the country."
Despite a smooth migration
process, Wrobleski added that
one difficulty with the project
is encouraging the University
community to adopt Google. He
said his team has been using a
significant amount of advertis-
ing to raise awareness about the
project.
"Some things have gone really
well and some things are more
challenging," Wrobleski said. "It
is always challenging to imple-
ment change on a campus of
100,000 people."
Rita Girardi, marketing
communications specialist for
NextGen Michigan, said most
students are experiencing a
smooth transition. She said the
help center designed to aid with
the transition has had about 100
GRAD
From Page 1A
spots from lastyear.
The Medical School's primary
care program and the College
of Engineering are each ranked
eighth, the Medical School's
research program and Law
School are each ranked 10th, Ste-
phen M. Ross School of Business
is ranked 13th and the School of
Education is ranked 12th.
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald wrote in an e-mail
interview that though the Uni-
versity is proud of this year's
rankings, such standings should
not be the only factor in choosing
a graduate school.
"The University is always
pleased to be ranked highly,"
Fitzgerald wrote. "But it is
important to note that rank-
ings aren't always the best way
to measure the quality of a uni-
versity or the best way to pick a
school."
According to the U.S. News &
World Report website, the pur-
pose of the rankings is to pro-
vide prospective graduate school
fight gearing up over labor laws
in the state. GEO, along with a
number of other unions in Mich-
igan, have launched a campaign
to put a constitutional amend-
ment on the ballot in November
that would, among other things,
ensure that Michigan does not
become a 'right to work' state -
meaning employees can choose
not to pay union dues.
"We're really upset that the
campaign is ending that way,"
Rodrigues said. "But we see it
as good timing in the sense that
we're now able to transition
into this bigger fight to protect
collective bargaining rights,
because so far it's just been
attacks from groups that are
against workers' rights ... we're
going on the offensive, which is
nice."
Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
Arbor) said Michigan has
already seen the introduction of
a number of anti-union bills.
"That's not surprising," Irwin
said. "The Republicans made
it clear that they were going
to go after who they saw as
political enemies, and unions
usually hand their support to
Democrats."
Hauser said if Michigan is
anything like other conservative
state legislatures, it could see
the introduction of even more
anti-labor legislation.
"I think that there's a general
calls a day, and there is extensive
help information on the project
website.
"The challenge is bringing it
up on their radar so that when
(problems do) happen, they are
not blindsided by it," Girardi
said. "It is challenging to do that
too, to get people to read e-mails
and the communications."
Wrobleski said he hopes all
studentswould take advantage of
the apps offered by Google, even
if they continue to forward their
University e-mail to their per-
sonal e-mail accounts. He said he
thinks that it will become more
widely used in the classroom,
and eventually students will
want to adopt their new Univer-
sity Google account in order to
better work with each other.
LSA junior Sabrina Palombo
said she has always used Google
apps and e-mail for her classes
because she enjoys the function-
ality and adopted the new system
early.
"I like Gmail, I like the inter-
face," Palombo said.
However, Palombo said she
initially had problems with her
conflicting University and per-
sonal Google accounts, but found
help on the project website and
quickly resolved the issue.
LSA sophomore Chaturi Wije-
sundera said she uses Google
apps extensively already.
"I use them for everything,"
Wijesundera said.
Wijesundera added that
because of her existing person-
al account, she has no plans to
migrate over to the new Univer-
sity system. She added that she
hasn't logged into her University
e-mail account since she set it up
to forward to her personal Gmail
account.
"For me personally, I don't
(see the purpose of migrat-
ing because) I already get my
e-mails from U of M to this Gmail
account," Wijesundera said. "It is
not really useful."
applicants with useful infor-
mation as they decide where to
apply.
Rankings are released annu-
ally and are based on factors
including peer assessment,
recruiter assessment, research
activity, average starting salary,
employment rate and entrance
test scores, such as the GRE,
LSAT or MCAT. Methodologies
on criteria, such as specialty pro-
grams, tend to vary year to year.
According to Fitzgerald,
the University has focused on
enhancing the student experi-
ence, instead of limiting their
scope of improvement to the con-
fines of ranking criteria.
"There are many factors that
go into what makes the best
place for an individual student to
attend," Fitzgerald wrote.
LSA junior Megan Pratt said
the improvement in rankings of
the School of Social Work has not
influenced her decision to apply
there for graduate school.
"I have always been planning
on applying because I am from
Michigan and know that U-M
has excellent social work gradu-
ate programs," Pratt said.
blueprint that gets tailored dis-
tinctly to different states to try
to erode collective bargaining
and to erode workers standing
together rather than workers
standing one by one," he said.
Whether or not a showdown
on labor rights in the state
ensues, it is clear there are deep
divisions on the GSRA issue
alone as expressed by state offi-
cials.
"It's disheartening to see
supposedly small government
Republicans come in and usurp
a constitutionally autonomous
university and its students and
the judicial process," Whitmer
said. " ... The legislators sub-
stituted their own supposed
wisdom for everyone else's judg-
ment and it flies in the face of all
their arguments about having
smaller government and I think
it's done a disservice to a lot of
different people on this issue
and a lot of others."
Silfven said this bill isn't
about unions at all, but rather
defining the responsibilities of
student researchers.
"This is really a pro-education
bill," he said. "It's not anti any-
thing, it's very pro-education.
Nothing should stand in the
way of these students continu-
ing their educations and mak-
ing outstanding contributions
in research to the University.
That's really the goal."
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