Monday, May 24, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 3 A WINDOW TO THE PAST Ceremony marks Observatory .renovations By April Alexander For the Daily While the University's Detroit Observatory is the old- est observatory in America still to have its original astro- nomical instruments in working condition, renovations to te bruilding itself have been underway for almost two years. Last Saturday, ai estimated 100 people attended a re- dedication ceremony held in honor of the Observatory, which is one of the nation's earliest astronomic facilities built on a university campus. The Observatory, built in 1854, is named in honor of Detroit's business community which donated a large por- tion of the fundraising dollars for the building of the structure. The building is a long-standing legacy of the University's first president, Henry Tappan, who believed astronomy should be a central part of education. Tappan sought to build the Observatory in the hope that the University would be able to incorporate scientific *research into academic excellence. Included in the day's ceremony were keynote address- es by University President Lee Bollinger and Vice President for Research Fawvaz Ulaby. Bollinger said the renovations to restore the Observatory are important because it demonstrates an important aspect of human life. "What we try to do in life, generally, is see better," Bollinger said. "This is one generation's efforts to see bet- ter," he added, commenting on the administration and fac- ulty who originally built the Observatory and those who recently helped in the renovations. Patricia Whitesell, the director and curator of the Observatory, received an award during the ceremony, along with Ulaby, for efforts throughout the restoration. Safewalk continues services insummer By Jeremy Peters alone at night," Sullivan said, adding For hse Dailv that ite encourages any students, facul- Although many University students ty and staff to take advantage of the use the spring and summer terts to program. take a break, campts crime doest't take ISA junior Erit Hopker, Safevalk a vacation. co-coordinator, said she urges anyone Safewalk, the ight-time walking whto prefers not to walk tomne alone at service which has been operating at the night to either come to the service's University since 1986, still continues office next to the student lounge on the during the off-months in order to first floor of the Undergraduate reduce the possi- Library or call Safewalk's hot- eling alone at es line at 936-1000. ntght. mnd a fe a night seHopker satd USA sopho- she wotries that more Christineofstudyingany students on Warner is one campus are not student who has - Christine Warner aware the service discovered how LSA sophomore still functions valuable the this time of year. Safewalk service is. "We just want people to know that we "Sometimes it can be scary walking are still operating during the summer and home alone at night. Safewalk eases my we are here to help" Hopker said. mind after a night of studying at the Both Sullivan and Hopker stressed library," Warner said. the fact that the service is desperately in Her experience with the service is need of volunteers in order to provide exactly what Department of Public their services. Safety officer and Safewalk coordinator Since Safewalk is run solely by vol- James Sullivan said he aims for in offer- unteers, Hopker said its existence ing students what he calls "one of the depends upon students and staff who greatest safety services on canpus." are willing to donate a few hours of Escorts will walk anyone within a 20 their time each week. minute radius of campus. Those who are interested in volun- Safewalk, which operates out of the teering for the program should contact Shapiro Undergraduate Library, is Sexual Assault Prevention and available during the spring and summer Awareness Center at 998-9368. terms from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Hopker said the staff at Safewalk Sunday through Thursday. The service highly urges anyone who is willing to does not operate on weekends. help make campus area streets safer by "It is an alternative to walking home volunteering. Correction: Philosophy Prof Eric Lornand was misidentified in last week's Daily. University President Lee Bollinger cuts a ribbon at the Detroit Observatory's re-dedication ceremony Friday. Whitesell said the hard work was worth it because the renovation marked "a special time for the University." The renovations, which started in June 1997, included a duplication of the Observatory's original tin roof and a re-painting of the building's exterior. While a major part of the renovations have been completed, more work is being done on finishing the details of the Observatory's museum before it is re-opened. The Observatory, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in science, education and architecture, stands as one of the two old- est buildings on campus. As she looked over the recently restored entrance, staff member Karen Woollams said she was "glad that all the hard work has been brought to fruition." Woollams said the renovation brings new life to the Observatory. "I've seen the building before it was restored and this (the renovation) brings it back to its glory," she added. 4 T T)- u aiumnus savers rulitzer book honor By Nika Schulte College in New York, was challenging. fAily Nees Edhitor "It was really tough," Burrows said. "I During his last two years as a had papers and dissertations to read and University student, Ted Burrows spent students to meet." late nights taking history notes in order to Burtows said although the length of study for his classes. the process made his friends tire of asking After graduating in 1964, Burrows about the book's progress, he was moti- devoted 20 more years of evenings and vated to continue because he felt the his- weekends plow ing through texts in order torical texts on New York were lacking. to complete "Gotharm: A History of New "There wasn't anything that had been Y -k City to 1898" which won a Pulitzer written that was worth a damn," Burrows last month. said, explaining that the texts he had seen Burrows joins more than 18 other were addressed to scholars instead of a authors ssho ether atended or graduated gesneral audience atnd failed so inseorpo- sort " the U ersity atd " "ave been rate ertain social issttes suehas racist. awarded with the prize. A second voluen of the book is being While he started at the Universits with produced, but Burrows said his work ott an interest in astrophysics, he decided to the project will be limited sttee he spe- s itch his major during his junior year cializes on the 17th and I8th centuries. swhen he realized he was more interested Burrows said el ientends to work on pro- in classes that explored topics such as jects concerning thehistory of corruption ml teval historv. in American cities before 1800. urrowvs, a history professor at Despite his accomplishment, Burrows Brooklyn College, said finding the time said his success still hasn't sunk in to write the 1,350 page book with Mike "I pinch myself, it's still hard to Wallace, a history professor at John Jay believe" Burrows said. 1 .: ;, ) . S a js :I : ''> ,r ' 1 : . a ; ..: ti, '= _- : '" +v r:r: : ; .fic:, . ,. . Earn $10 in a 1 hour computer-mediated negotiation experiment that is being held in the business school. Dates: June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 Times: 1:30 and 3:00 PM.' To be included in the pool of possible subjects, register at: http://www.umich.edu/~cisdept/DDM To participate, you must be an undergraduate over the age You ma participate in only one experiment during the EA Spring erm. m _. .