8 The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2007 12 students arrested in Fleming MSA, City Council Protesterswanted'U'to _ I revisit leasing law act on sweatshops By KELLY FRASER Daily Staff Reporter Apr. 4, 2007 - Campus police arrest- ed 12 student activists yesterday after they refused to leave Univer- sity President Mary Sue Coleman's office in the Fleming Administration Building when it closed at 5 p.m. The protesters, who staged the sit-in as part of Students Organiz- ing for Labor and Economic Equal- ity's Sweatfree Campaign, were all released later last night. They were demanding that the University toughen its labor standards for sup- pliers producing University-licensed apparel. Administrators didn't interfere with the students or ask them to leave until the office closed, protest- ers said. At about 5:20 p.m., Dean of Stu- dents Sue Eklund and Gary Krenz, special counsel to the president, gave the students a final warning before waiting Department of Pub- lic Safety officers entered the office to arrest the students. "I want to make sure that an arrest this evening feels like this is the best decision to help your cause," Eklund told the protesters. Everyone remaining in the build- ing, including news reporters, was then warned that if they 4did not vacate the building immediately they risked arrest. Meanwhile, about 40 SOLE sup- porterscircledthebuildingchanting phrases like "The students united will not be defeated" and drumming on buckets. The students began their occupa- tion at about 9:30 yesterday morning when they presented Coleman with a list of demands, centered on adopting the Designated Suppliers' Program. If the University adopted the pro- gram, all suppliers manufacturing University-licensed apparel would have to agree to provide workers with union representation and a wage high enough for a worker to support his orher family by working no more than 48 hours a week. Sup- pliers would also have to submit to regular inspections by the Workers' Rights Consortium, the group that developed the program. The University currently moni- tors labor practices through its Ven- dor Code of Conduct. On f he01e Questions? Call Us 734-996-9080 or visit our website www.aacomedy.com Munchies .ndLaughs-. Drink Sei sWednesday & . ur . . ." ~ i SOLE members contend that the code is ineffective. The students participating in the sit-in also scattered letters of support they had received on the floor of the office. SOLE member Blase Kearny, who was one of the 12 students arrested, said the sit-in was a suc- cess because of the media attention and student support it generated. University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said the office received hundreds of e-mails, faxes and phone calls during the day. By KATHERINE MITCHELL Daily Staff Reporter Mar. 29, 2007 - When LSA junior Michael Moses and his friends picked a house last semester to live in next year, they. spoke with the landlord and made an appointment to sign a lease 90 days after the house's lease period began. Because of the leasing ordinance that went into affect for this hous- ing cycle, the group thought that no one could sign a lease for the prop- erty until 90 days after the current lease period begins. With reassur- ance from the landlord, Moses and his friends slept soundly, content that their housing was secure. A few days before the sched- uled signing, though, Moses and his friends called the landlord and learned that their coveted property had already been leased. It turns out that another group had gone to the house and convinced the current tenants to sign a waiver to ignore the 90-day waitingperiod. This loophole was the key issue that students addressed at a pub- lic hearing last night hosted by the Michigan Student Assembly and the Ann Arbor City Council. The ordinance - billed as a stu- dent-friendly law that gives students more time to navigate the difficult Ann Arbor off-campus housing mar- ket - is up for review a year after it was passed by the City Council. Alice Ehn, executive director of the Washtenaw Area Apartment Association, said that students want to have no pressure to sign, but landlords want to fill their proper- ties. Ehn and two other landlords met with Mayor John Hieftje and members of the Student Relations Committee yesterday to discuss their side of the issue. City Council passed a resolution on March 16 to entrust review of the ordinance to the Student Relations Committee, which arranged last night's forum. The committee will gather feed- back from students and landlords to make suggestions to City Council. ' Students burned by RJAA suits Industry Association of America is were filed against University net- By KATHERINE MITCHELL delivering on its threat to sue copy- work users whose IP addresses the Daily StaffReporter right infringers at the University. trade group claims are connected to --The RIAA, which represents illegal peer-to-peer file sharing. several record labels, said in a press The lawsuits are against network May 21, 2007 - The Recording release on May 17 that 12 lawsuits users who were issued pre-litiga- tion settlement letters on April 11. The University passed on 23 letters to alleged copyright infringers that L A N Kaplan Test Prep offered the chance to accept a set- and Admissions tlement deal to avoid a lawsuit. 337 E. Liberty St. Based on the number of lawsuits Ann Arbor, MI 48104 filed, 11 accused chose to settle. T ST PREP AND 1 -800-KAP-TEST TheERIAA could only issue the let- T E Tters to IP addresses. If accused users A DM1 SS ION S www.kaptest.com wished to accept the pre-settlement terms, they had to contact the RIAA LSAT MCAT GRE OAT GMAT and reveal their identities. The eRIAA said in the press DAT PCAT NBDE USMLE TOEFL* releasethatthe pre-litigationsettle- ment offer included lower fines than accused individuals would face if Want to get ahead? found guilty in court. The RIAA began sending settle- ment letters to copyright infring- Think KAPLAN Test Prep NOW and ers in February as part of an effort to crackdown on peer-to-peer file Score Higher LATER! sharing on college campuses. An e-mail sent by the University in March to students, staff and fac- tulty said past settlements for stu- dents averaged between $4,000 and $4,500. These students, though, were not offered pre-litigation terms. *Test names are registered trademarks of their respective owners. 0 0