“We Are Living in a Different Time”
Without, apparently, a constitutional right to freedom of assembly:

“GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — When opposition to the war in Iraq began to mount last year, city police sent undercover officers to anti-war meetings and rallies, collecting intelligence about the aims of activists, the department’s chief confirmed. …

But war protesters say the surveillance infringed on their civil rights more than it protected them from terror. In one case, they say, police threatened the job of a protester and said they would arrest her if she identified undercover officers she recognized. “

> AP: “Grand Rapids police monitored anti-war protests, chief says”

Students for PIRGIM is sponsoring an event on sprawl this Tuesday at 7:30 PM, featuring Mayor John Hieftje, City Council Member Jean Carlberg, History Professor Matt Lassiter, Law Professor Rick Hills, and director of the Michigan Environmental Council & Chair of Ann Arbor’s Cool Cities Task Force Conan Smith. Here’s the event on Upcoming.org.

“STUDENT VOICES IN ACTION: UNITE TO FIGHT

UNITE TO FIGHT and let your voice be heard. As students, we deserve avoice. Come claim it.”

Amid budget controversy, and after a vote of no confidence by the faculty, Michigan Tech has fired their president.

Two determined U-M undergrads just finished internships with the Royal Shakespeare Company - but there’s only one catch - the company doesn’t have an internship program:

” … What the two women proposed to Boyd was, by RSC standards, radical: they wanted to spend a summer in Stratford watching RSC directors rehearse shows. “The two of us would do whatever it took to have the opportunity to observe rehearsals,” they wrote, “even if that meant working in the gift shop or serving in the cafeteria!” … “

> Michigan Today: “With Their Will, They Made Their Way”

If you would like a $10 ride to Washington D.C. to participate in this year’s massive “March for Women” planned to occur on April 24 and 25, there are still spaces avaliable on the busses organized by the Michigan Student Assembly. Here’s information about how to reserve a spot:

“* ATTENTION STUDENTS *
The Michigan Student Assembly is now sending a total of FOUR busses to Washington DC on the weekend of April 24-25 and students are encouraged to register early in order to reserve a spot [see below]. On that weekend, over one million people are expected to gather in the nation’s capitol to attend events and activities surrounding the March for Freedom of Choice.

Thank you,
The Michigan Student Assembly”

Life Sciences or Student Services: A Question of Fundraising Priorities

In early April, the University’s Development Office will announce the start of another major fundraising campaign. The most recent, completed in the 1990’s, was titled “The Margin of Excellence,” and raised in excess of $1.4 Billion, used to fund the University’s academic programs, endow professorships, and meet a variety of other financial needs. In the 1980’s, a similar campaign raised early $300 Million, and in the 1960’s, the University raised $50 Million.

If administrators take their commitment to all types of campus diversity seriously, they should include in the campaign a major effort to fund the Student Services Offices which have seen their budgets slashed in recent years: the Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Center (SAPAC), the Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Affairs (LGBTA), and office of Multi Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA). In addition, funds should be raised to dramatically increase funding to the Native American Student Association’s Annual Pow Wow, renovate and endow the Trotter Multicultural Center, and further fund efforts to recruit and retain students of color.

These offices and programs should be endowed - meaning the University should make investments whose dividends would go exclusively to specific student services programs. As it currently stands, the University is leading their promotional material with information about the Life Sciences Institute - however, I would argue these rather small offices are just as important to the life and future excellence of the University as the Life Sciences.