The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - 3
SACUA
From Page 1
"It's a prevailing philosophy and
probably why they want this done
before getting a new president."
Canning added that she felt
this was a "major mistake" by the
administration because it added
to the loomingdisconcertoverthe
situation.
"We're all trying to do our jobs.
There's a huge, simmering anger
among faculty and graduate stu-
dents; it's going to blow up and go
* public very soon," Canning said.
"We've been trying to govern our
departments and do the best we
can. We'd really like them to com-
mit to no layoffs because it would
make the pain and agony of this
process much less. It'd still be
scary but much less."
Canning said there has also
been a discrepancy between ini-
tially projected savings and what
the administration currently
expects, which added to the ten-
sion among department heads.
Savings from the project were
initially projected at $17 million,
but are now expected to be just $5
million in four years. This caused
the group to question whether the
ACTIVIST
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the idea of sustainable envi-
ronment originated from these
communities thousands of
years ago," Gaillard said. "We
want to make the connection
for students."
In 1993, LaDuke co-founded
Honor the Earth, a non-profit
organization to raise awareness
and support for environmental
issues in Native American com-
munities.
"As Americans, we are the
people who live in this time, and
we have this opportunity to stop
people from blowing up another
STARTUP
From Page 1
categories, such as pizza, sand-
wiches and burgers. The website
excludes-rng-personal reviews
in favor of a top-five list.
Schemanski said they decided
to forgo traditional rating sys-
tems because he believes they
become ineffective in convey-
ing a restaurant's popularity to
readers.
"All of those ratings, what
they end up doing is make every-
thing pretty much look the
same," Schemanski said. "After
a few hundred people will rate
a place, it all just kind of goes
towards the average."
The MyFab5 team started its
efforts in Ann Arbor but quickly
expanded to all of Michigan. In
August, the website expanded to
the entire United States.
While the website is available
in every city, Schemanski said
smaller, cities might not have
rankings simply due to their
smaller populations.
"As of today, our users have
created more than 5,400 rank-
AST was the most efficient way
to cut costs or if other methods
such as attritionorreorganization
could have achieved their goals
with less "human pain."
"If they knew it would really
save money, we would find it eas-
ier to accept, but the cost-benefit
analysis doesn't make sense," she
said.
Canning said department
chairs have asked the adminis-
tration to slow down the AST, in
hopes that leaders will wait until
a new president is in place. They
hope that SACUA will explore the
situation and formulate its own
opinion to be conveyed to the
administration.
Nonetheless, Canning said the
LSA chairs felt like their com-
plaints have been heard by the
University's leaders in the Flem-
mingbuilding.
"They heard us and realized it
was very painful," Canning said.
"They said they would consider,
our requests, and I think it would
go a long way to making this pro-
cess better."
She added that, overall, the
ATS initiative seems "out of
sync" with the University's stan-
dard approach to change, and it's
not indicative of what's expected
of a school frequently ranked in
the top universities to work for
nationwide.
. Canning and her peers contin-
ued to question the validity of the
campaign, citing similar efforts
at other institutions - including
Yale University and University of
California, Berkeley - that didn't
yield desired results.
At the end of their session,
SACUA chair Karen Staller said
she feels it's important to now
hear the administration's view
on the situation and plans to
address the issues with AST fur-
ther when Provost Martha Pol-
lack attends the meeting in two
weeks.
In a statement Monday eve-
ning, University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald said the administra-
tion expects there to be little if
any need for reduction in force as
a result of the sharing of support
services, as the 325 affected by
the initiative are now vacant or
filled with temporary employees.
Fitzgerald said the University
will discuss the changes with
employees this week. He added
that the University does not
expect to reduce pay for employ-
ees who make the transition to
the shared services model.
said. "When you get out there
on your own, you're going to do
From Page 1 whatever you want anyway, so
to make your own decisions, it's
Derick Adams applied to be a going to take you out there on
driver after he saw a job posting your own."
on a bus last year. After sending The primary priority for driv-
in an application, PTS asked him ers is safety. When big events
for an interview, where he was come to campus - such as foot-
offered the job on the spot. ball games and performances,
While Adams had no previous among others - PTS sends
experience driving 4 bus, he had its drivers notifications and
a customer service background reminders about safety proce-
from previous part-time jobs - dures. When an accident occurs
a characteristic PTS desires in and after the review process is
driver candidates. Upon being .complete, PTS sends out similar
offered the position, Derick, like notifications detailing the inci-
all potential student drivers, dent and how to prevent simi-
underwent the two-weektraining lar ones from occurring in the
program. Bidwell, the PTS trans- future.
portation manager, said his office While the University commu-
usually offers positions to any nity relies on the timeliness of
potential drivers who are willing Blue Bus arrivals, Dolen said PTS
to try out the training process. prefers that drivers run behind
Since new drivers have to schedule to be safe, rather than
adjust to the busier atmosphere, speeding to make it to each stop
LSA senior James Kehoe, who on time.
has been a Blue Bus driver since Equipped with a GPS, call pro-
his freshman year, said most acci- cesses and radios, each bus can be
dents often occur during the fall tracked to keep a record of driv-
semester, as evidenced this year. ers' performance. Additionally,
"We're noticing more this year Dolen said the campus commu-
just because ofhow stupid they've nity provides feedback to assist
been, to be frank," Kehoe said. PTS in improving its operations.
"Accidents happen all the "It's a probably unique situ-
time, especially the first semester ation where we have the ability
when the new students are really to get information from so many
getting into the swing of things." different (people) - all kinds of
While the training process people that are willing to help us
teaches student drivers the get better," Dolen said.
basics, both Kohe and Adams
said drivers gain the majority of Accidents or negligence?
their knowledge and skills while.
on the job. Even with the shad- Though accidents can hap-
owing process of training with pen, the case of the unattended,
a supervisor, the ability to make running bus earlier this month
quick decisions comes with prac- appears to be a demonstration of
tice. negligence on the part of a student
"Most of it is on the job, but driver rather than an accident.
that there's really no way to The driver left his bus unat-
simulate anything like under tended and running at the inter-
the arm of somebody," Adams section of Arch and White streets
for as much as twohoursbetween
the hours of midnight and 2:30
a.m. on Nov. 2. Though the bus
was off-campus for an extended
period of time, supervisors did
not make University Police aware
of the missing bus. Rather, a staff
member of The Michigan Daily
notified University Police of the
abandoned bus.
The driver was arrested on
charges of unlawfully driv-
ing away an automobile, and a
supervisor drove the bus back to
base.
Bus drivers have certain spots
- located on Central Campus,
South Campus and North Cam-
pus - to park while taking their
designated breaks. The location
where the bus was left unat-
tended was not a designated
stopping point. At the time, Uni-
versity spokesman Rick Fitzger-
ald emphasized that Blue Bus
drivers are never allowed to take
their buses home for breaks when
they're on the job.
Dolen reportedly refused to
directly address the incident,
and instead categorically main-
tained that safety is a top priority
for PTS. He did not explain why
supervisors failed to alert police
to the missing vehicle.
In light of recent and potential
incidents,PTSis constantlyreeval-
uating and enhancing its train-
ing protocol. PTS has met with
officials at the Indiana University,
Bloomington, to discuss how they
train their student drivers.
Dolensaid PTSis alsoexploring
different technologies to enhance
the training program. Potentially,
the program could feature a bus
simulator to better prepare stu-
dents for the road ahead.
"There's always learning to be
done," Dolen said. "You can't pre-
dict everything that's going on,
but you can predict a lot."
mountain, from combusting the
planet into oblivion," she said.
"We have this opportunity to
keep our river for fish, not for
chemicals."
LaDuke said people today
are becoming addicts of
extreme energy, what she
described as the extreme
demand and reliance on fossil
fuel as a result of the profit-
driven economy.
"You rationalize your behav-
ior when you are an addict,"
LaDuke said. "Oil-polluted
water sources in North Dakota?
Who cares? Who lives up there
anyway?",
Rebuking Americans who
say that sustainable energy
cannot meet the nation's cur-
rent demand, LaDuke said
alternative power sources
could supply the United States
if so much electricity wasn't
wasted.
LaDuke said the concept of
"relocalization," or focusing on
local communities, is the answer
to a more sustainable future. She
pointed to the Native Americans
on the White Earth Reservation
in Minnesota, who harvest solar
and wind energy at a scale that
is efficient for the small commu-
nity.
"There is always a chance for
redemption," LaDuke said. "We
still have chance to make signifi-
cant changes."
MISSING
From Page 1
safe," Balsmeyer said. "He is a
big part of our fraternity, and
we were ready to go out to comb
community."
Balsmeyer said he does not
have information about what
happened to Stevens that has not
already been stated by the media.
He did note that a police officer
called the fraternity this morn-
ingto let them know Stevens was
alright.
Ann Arbor Police Lt. Renee
Bush wasn't immediately aware
Monday morning of where Ste-
vens had been during the time he
was missing, but acknowledged
that officers were actively look-
ing for him.
-Daily News Editor Taylor
Wizner contributed to this report.
ings in Ann Arbor alone,"
Schemanski said. "Since each
ranking can contain multiple
restaurants, our users have
made over 18,000 restaurant
recommendations in Ann
Arbor."_- .
Pete Sickman-Garner, mar-
keting manager for Zingerman's,
said it makes sense to start a
food-centered website in Ann
Arbor because of the variety of
restaurants in the city.
"Given the way Ann Arbor's
food scene has exploded in
recent years, this would be a
good town to try out something
like this," Sickman-Garner
wrote in an e-mail interview.
"Foodies are definitely people
who like sharing their opin-
ions."
New advancements at MyFabS
include a recent won $15,000
grant to help grow the company.
The money will go toward hiring
a professional design team that'
will work to improve the web-
site's logo, graphics and website
functionality.
The company is also trying
to include Instagram on its site
and use it to more effectively to
gauge users' favorite places. It
hopes to include this function
on the website by mid-Decem-
ber.
Although MyFab5 was cre-
ated to help customers decide
where to eat, Sehemanski said-
their website also helps restau-
rants.
"There are a lot of people out
there that are taking advan-
tage of the fact that they can
hurt a business's reputation,"
Schemanski said. "Sometimes
customers will try to extort
them for a free meal, saying
they will leave a bad review.
Sometimes it is just disgruntled
employees that will go on and do
that, or a competitor from other
restaurants."
Schemanski has big hopes for
the future of MyFab5 expanding
into categories beyond the food
industry.
"Going out to a restaurant is
part of an entertainment experi-
ence ... so we can apply it to other
forms of entertainment, like
movies, TV shows and books,"
Schemanski said.
Clemency sought for ten
women convicted of murder
The Power
Group argues
victims of domestic
violence should be
released from prison
DETROIT (AP) - Ten Michi-
gan women convicted of murder
deserve to be freed from prison
because they were subjected to
domestic violence and didn't get
fair trials, according to a group
working on their cases.
The Michigan Women's Jus-
tice and Clemency Project is fil-
ing petitions for clemency with
Gov. Rick Snyder for the women,
who were convicted of first- or
second-degree murder and have
been behind bars for years.
. "These women are not a threat
to anybody," project director
Carol Jacobsen, a University pro-
fessor in women's studies and art
& design, told the Detroit Free
Press. "The whole social under-
standing of battery and abuse
has changed since the 1980s
and 1990s, when many of these
womenwere convicted."
Snyder's office told The Asso-
ciated Press that such applica-
tions go to the parole board at
Department of Corrections for
review and then get a review by
the governor's office. The office
said the state looks at every appli-
cation equally.
All of the women have sought
clemency before and have been
denied.
One of the cases is that of
Nancy Seaman, a Detroit-area
teacher who hacked her hus-
band to death in 2004. She killed
Robert Seaman by striking him
with a hatchet 16 times and stab-
bing him at least 21 times in their
garage in Farmington Hills. She
is serving a life sentence.
A jury in 2005 convicted Sea-
man of first-degree murder, but
the Oakland County trial judge
reduced it to second-degree mur-
der. A state appeals court later
reinstated the jury's verdict. She
said she was a victim of emotion-
al and physical abuse and was
threatened again that day.
At her trial, the defense pre-
sented experts who talked about
battered spouse syndrome and
had argued for such a defense.
Nancy Seaman's former
defense attorney, Lawrence
Kaluzny, said he's hopeful that
Snyder will consider her case.
"I never thought she should do
life," Kaluzny said. "I believe she
was abused."
Four of the 10 cases set for
review, including Seamen's case,
occurredinOakland County.Pros-
ecutor Jessica Cooper said her
office is monitoring the petitions.
"We're aware of them, and we
will monitor them for the victims,
just as we monitor paroles," she
said. "We are hopeful cases like
these are decided thoughtfully,
with reason, and not by passion."
Snyder spokesman David Mur-
ray said such clemency requests
get careful consideration.
"Every prisoner has the right
to apply for a commutation, and
there is a process spelled out in
statute that must be followed,"
David Murray said in an email
to AP. "The process involves the
Michigan Parole Board review-
ing every application and making
a determination if the case has
merit.
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