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Monday, May 12, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
BENEFITS
From page 1
ruling, the University's
health care policy included a
provision to include employees'
same-sex partners. University
spokeswoman Kelly Cunning-
ham said the University's poli-
cy was changed to comply with
the ruling.
"We cannot have same-sex
health insurance benefits, so
we eliminated those benefits,"
Cunningham said. "We drafted
a policy for otherwise qualified
adults, which is a dependent
category."
The policy requires that the
dependent adult has power of
attorney over the employee,
has lived with the employee
for at least six months, shares
a credit or bank account and is
tfie primary beneficiary in the
employee's will, life insurance
or retirement plan.
The University's policy has
not been challenged in court
and lawyers from the American
Civil Liberties Union of Michi-
gan who represented the plain-
tiffs in the case said during a
conference call that the Univer-
sity's policy was in compliance
with the ruling.
But another plaintiff, A.T.
Miller, director of the Global
Intercultural Experience for
Undergraduates program at
the University, said the process
for getting his partner, Craig,
covered under this plan was
lengthy and stressful.
"We had to do a number
of things with our lawyers to
qualify under a different sort of
category under the health ben-
efits," he said. "That feels far
less stable and also takes criti-
cal management of all kind of
documents."
Jay Kaplan, a staff attorney
for the ACLU of Michigan's
LGBT Project, said these hur-
dles are keeping institutions
from drafting policies like the
University's that allow same-
sex couples to receive benefits
without explicit provisions.
"It requires people to jump
through a great many hoops,"
Kaplan said. "Many people
don't have the resources neces-
sary to have that paperwork in
place."
Cunningham said Univer-
sity officials don't expect the
reworked policy to be chal-
lenged.
"I know that we believe all
of our current benefit offerings
are legal under Michigan Law,"
Cunningham said. "We feel
that all our current benefits are
in full compliance. It's not an
issue for people.
PURR-FECT
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Purrmunn, a Persian cat, peeks above his awards at the 33rd Annual Cat Show Saturday.
the michigan daily
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PROFESSIONAL WRITER SEEKS
housesitting position through early
Fall. Care for pets, water plants, take in
mail and perform other light duties. In
exchange for free or nominally inexpen-
sive housing. Excelent ref. E-mail
Susan at greatsioter@gmait.com
THE OFFICE OF Student Publica-
tions for the University of Michigan is
seeking a work study student.to work
spring and summer 2008. The qualified
individual will provide support for the
Board for Student Publications, which
includes The Michigan Daily, the Gar-
goyle, the Student Directory and the
Michiganensian.
The duties of this position include:
Sending out newspaper subscriptions
on a weekly basis, applying payments
to advertising acconts, filing, answer-
ing phones occasionally, greeting visi-
tors, and possibly balancing and recon-
ciling a daily cash drawer and printing
reports; and, other duties assigned.
Applicants should have general office/
clerical experience, some business ex-
perience and/or a business major is pre-
ferred, experience with Macintosh com-
puters and OS X (preferred, but not re-
quired), cashiering experience (helpful,
but not required) and customer service
experience. A working of knowledge
of Microsoft Office, specifically Mi-
crosoft Excel is preferred. This person
MUST be DEPENDABLE AND RE-
SPONSIBLE.
Forward resumes to Candace Craig at
cancraig@umich.edu
COOPERSVILLE DENTAL UF-
FICE looking for a buyer or associate.
616-837-6100.
DISABLED POWER LIFTER needs
assistance at the CCRB. $10/hr. Call
for more info 248-321-2914.
SMOKERS WANTED IN a study re-
lated to quitting smoking. Choose 10-
wk. nicotine patch course or $20.
734.232.0705. http://tinyurl.com/5ob2lh
095 4'
BABYSITTER WANTED FOR one-
year-old. Easy walk/bus from campus.
10 hours/week, flexible times. Competi-
tive pay, references required. Contact
Margaret at mldean@umich.edu
FULL-TIME SUMMER NANNY
needed for two school-age girls in our
Novi home begining June 13 - end of
August. Non-smoker only. Must have
own transportation. $10/hour. Call
248-349-4905 after 6pm or send
resume/info to tinaandpat@gmail.com
PART-TIME ITALIAN speaking
babysitter needed in Ann ArborB ums
Park area family home for 6-year-old
child. Transportaion required. Must
be able to converse in Italian. E-mail
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PART-TIME SITTER for girls 12
and 15. Car and references required.
Call Barb 418-4260.
RICE
From page 3
"We meet with the ven-
dors weekly and they keep us
informed on the market trends,"
Whiteside said. "So we started
talking about rice probably about
six weeks ago.'
Though she said the Universi-
ty doesn't have immediate plans
to scale back on the more than
21,000 pounds of rice served
in the dining halls every year,
Whiteside said that if the prices
don't go down in the future, the
University would "take a look
at the total menu mix and then
make some changes."
LOANS
From page 1
other lending programs, like the
Federal Direct Loan Program,
in which the University partici-
pates. Through the FDLP the fed-
eral government lends directly to
students.
The Michigan Department of
Treasury announced it would
withdraw from FFELP because of
insufficient funds last month.
Michigan State University,
which used to participate in
FFELP, announced last week that
it will now rely exclusively on
FDLP.
Treasury Spokesman Caleb
Buhs said that other institutions
in the state would likely follow
Michigan State's lead and rely on
FDLP exclusively.
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I
I
But Buhs said students at uni-
versities that donot use FFELP
will benefit, too.
"It will free up some capital for
private lenders, which will allow
- them to originate more loans," he
said. "They may be able to make
more loans to students in the
state, which will be good."
By increasing the amount of
unsubsidized loans students are
eligible for, Gay said the law will
reduce students' dependence on
costly private loans.
"In increasing the unsubsi-
dized loan amount that students
can get, that does help," he said.
"That essentially reduces the
amount of private loans they
need."
Gay said that NASFAA also lob-
bied for an increase in Pell Grants
to reduce students' reliance on
commercial lenders.
But the law signed Wednesday
didn'tinclude a raise in Pell Grant
awards.
"If they had done what we were
recommending, then that would
have created a ripple effect," Gay
said.
Adam Benson, press secre-
tary for U.S. Rep. John Dingell
(D-Dearborn), said in an e-mail
interview that Dingell believes
Congress has already increased
Pell Grants sufficiently through
The College Cost Reduction Act.
The CCRA, signed into law last
September, will increase the
maximum Pell Grant award by
$100 per year until 2012.
University spokeswoman
Kelly Cunningham said officials
were studying the legislation to
determine what effect it could
have on financial aid at the Uni-
versity.
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