Attorney for class-action lawsuit against WSU says contingency fee should be refunded
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
The lawyer for a Wayne State student who filed a lawsuit against the university last week said the action stems from the university not returning the contingency fee it levied on students last fall.
"We believe that when the university imposed the contingency fee, it was imposed as safeguard if the state didn't meet its financial obligation," said Gregory Hanley, the attorney representing Jason Moss, the student who filed the lawsuit.
"Since we now know that the state did meet its obligation, the contingency fee should be returned to students."
The $5.3 million lawsuit also claims that if the university did not breach its agreement with students, WSU "falsely labeled the Contingency Fees as 'contingent' and falsely represented the actual tuition increases for the fall 2007 semester."
Moss filed the lawsuit claiming that WSU defrauded students by collecting the contingency fee, along with a nearly 13 percent tuition increase last July. The contingency fee cost undergraduate students $13 per credit hour and $29 for graduate students. It was adopted to guard against further budget cuts by the state of Michigan. The state had delayed payments of about $25 million in August.
The state of Michigan restored the funding to Michigan universities, including WSU, later that year.
If the contingency fees aren't "contingent," then the actual tuition increase for the fall 2007 semester was over 19 percent, "which is substantially in excess of the represented 12.8% increase the University portrays in its marketing materials and in other public statements," according to the lawsuit.
Hanley said that the university has 21 days after the lawsuit was served to respond to the allegations.
He said the court will now decide whether the case can proceed as a class-action lawsuit.
If the case goes to court as a class-action lawsuit, Hanley said it will be filed on behalf of all WSU students who paid the contingency fee during the fall 2007 semester.
Hanley is a complex civil litigation attorney based in Royal Oak. He graduated from WSU in 1986 as an economics major and from the WSU law school in 1989.
"I'm disappointed that my alma mater didn't do the right thing here, by giving the money back to students," he said.
WSU Board of Governors Chairman Eugene Driker said he thinks there is "no basis" to the lawsuit.
"The board passed a resolution that stated, if the state restored the money they took from us, the second installment would be cancelled," he said.
Driker said the second installment of the contingency fee would have applied to Winter 2008 courses. Aside from Driker's responsibility as board chair, he is one of the founders and a senior member of the Detroit law firm Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker P.L.L.C.
"We eliminated the second installment," he said. "The board did exactly what it was committed to do."
Driker said the money is needed because WSU's needs are not being met by the state of Michigan.
"They are simply the funds we need to keep the doors open and the faculty paid and the students in class," he said.
Driker said WSU referred the lawsuit to the Office of the General Counsel.
Other state universities chose to refund students after they received payments.
Ferris State University also issued a contingency fee for the Fall 2007 semester. On Dec. 14, the FSU Board of Trustees announced that it would refund more than $1 million to students.
Instead of issuing a contingency fee, Michigan State University increased tuition midyear.
The State News, the student-run publication at the university, reported that MSU's Board of Trustees decided to refund all students $26 plus a $2.25-per-credit-hour fee for classes taken in the fall semester.
A Feb. 5 editorial in The State News began, "If MSU decided not to refund its students an unnecessary extra per-credit fee, there would be hell to pay."
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Relief organizations provide assistance for Forest Arms residents
Relief organizations provide assistance for Forest Arms residents
Short- and long-term shelters are being sought for the apartment complex's residents
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
EDITOR'S NOTE: To view more photos, visit thesouthendnews.com/fire
A five-alarm fire that erupted in the Forest Arms Apartments early this morning destroyed the roof and much of the fourth floor of the 72-apartment complex. Several local relief organizations were on hand to assist residents and first responders to the scene.
George Aren is the director of disaster services at the Salvation Army's Eastern Michigan Division. As a Detroit Fire Department chaplain, he was called to the scene of the fire at 4:45 a.m. He said the fire was "burning heavy" by the time he arrived, and the roof was already ablaze.
"The fire department always calls us when they're fighting a three-alarm fire in the city," he said.
Aren said the Salvation Army works hand-in-hand with the American Red Cross to provide emergency services to displaced victims. His first service, he said, was to serve food to residents, police, paramedics and firefighters from the red Salvation Army van.
"We served hot chocolate, coffee, rolls, treats, and water," he said. "We cooked up some hot dogs later in the morning."
Aren, whose three children attended WSU, said he was impressed by the attitude of the residents.
"We didn't meet a kid down there that wasn't appreciative of what was going on," he said.
Aren said in addition to disaster services, the Salvation Army will assist residents in need with finding long-term shelter, clothing and other services. Residents should call Colleen Austin of the Salvation Army at (248) 443-2242, ext. 347.
Residents can also get help with finding short-term shelter from the American Red Cross.
The Southeastern Michigan chapter of the American Red Cross is located at 100 Mack Ave., just east of Woodward Avenue. Brian Peckinpaugh, media representative for the local Red Cross, said residents should register at the Red Cross for assistance with housing, food and other needs.
"Families and residents are being interviewed by case workers right now," he said. Peckinpaugh said over 15 residents were interviewed by 10 a.m.
"Once we find out their needs for food, shelter and the like, we issue them debit cards. That way, they can purchase what they need to help them through this time."
Residents can call the Detroit chapter of the American Red Cross at 1.800.552.5466. Donations are accepted to the American Red Cross Southeastern Chapter. Visit www.semredcross.org for more information.
Residents also expressed concern that their possessions would be guarded in the aftermath of the fire.
Monique Bronz, a first-floor tenant, said she left almost all of her possessions, including pay stubs and other documentation, when she escaped the building.
"I'm afraid that if someone isn't watching the building, everything will be looted," she said.
Firefighters were instructed to leave all possessions inside of the apartment building. Capt. Steve Varnas of the Detroit Fire Department said police will secure the building to protect residents from vandalism or theft.
"We will also have a day, very soon, where residents can go through the building and find their possessions."
However, he cautioned that residents must be patient.
"It's not safe for residents to enter the building right now," he said. "Other portions of the building could still possibly collapse."
Short- and long-term shelters are being sought for the apartment complex's residents
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
EDITOR'S NOTE: To view more photos, visit thesouthendnews.com/fire
A five-alarm fire that erupted in the Forest Arms Apartments early this morning destroyed the roof and much of the fourth floor of the 72-apartment complex. Several local relief organizations were on hand to assist residents and first responders to the scene.
George Aren is the director of disaster services at the Salvation Army's Eastern Michigan Division. As a Detroit Fire Department chaplain, he was called to the scene of the fire at 4:45 a.m. He said the fire was "burning heavy" by the time he arrived, and the roof was already ablaze.
"The fire department always calls us when they're fighting a three-alarm fire in the city," he said.
Aren said the Salvation Army works hand-in-hand with the American Red Cross to provide emergency services to displaced victims. His first service, he said, was to serve food to residents, police, paramedics and firefighters from the red Salvation Army van.
"We served hot chocolate, coffee, rolls, treats, and water," he said. "We cooked up some hot dogs later in the morning."
Aren, whose three children attended WSU, said he was impressed by the attitude of the residents.
"We didn't meet a kid down there that wasn't appreciative of what was going on," he said.
Aren said in addition to disaster services, the Salvation Army will assist residents in need with finding long-term shelter, clothing and other services. Residents should call Colleen Austin of the Salvation Army at (248) 443-2242, ext. 347.
Residents can also get help with finding short-term shelter from the American Red Cross.
The Southeastern Michigan chapter of the American Red Cross is located at 100 Mack Ave., just east of Woodward Avenue. Brian Peckinpaugh, media representative for the local Red Cross, said residents should register at the Red Cross for assistance with housing, food and other needs.
"Families and residents are being interviewed by case workers right now," he said. Peckinpaugh said over 15 residents were interviewed by 10 a.m.
"Once we find out their needs for food, shelter and the like, we issue them debit cards. That way, they can purchase what they need to help them through this time."
Residents can call the Detroit chapter of the American Red Cross at 1.800.552.5466. Donations are accepted to the American Red Cross Southeastern Chapter. Visit www.semredcross.org for more information.
Residents also expressed concern that their possessions would be guarded in the aftermath of the fire.
Monique Bronz, a first-floor tenant, said she left almost all of her possessions, including pay stubs and other documentation, when she escaped the building.
"I'm afraid that if someone isn't watching the building, everything will be looted," she said.
Firefighters were instructed to leave all possessions inside of the apartment building. Capt. Steve Varnas of the Detroit Fire Department said police will secure the building to protect residents from vandalism or theft.
"We will also have a day, very soon, where residents can go through the building and find their possessions."
However, he cautioned that residents must be patient.
"It's not safe for residents to enter the building right now," he said. "Other portions of the building could still possibly collapse."
Recalling the horror: Acts of heroism stand out
Recalling the horror: Acts of heroism stand out
Residents, DFD credit building managers and quick response with saving lives, structure
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.
Media Credit: Kelly A. Southard / For The South End
Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.
Frank Jeney's quick reaction made the most of a horrific situation.
Detroit Fire Department Capt. Steve Varnas said Forest Arms management was alerted to a fire shortly before 3:45 a.m.
When Jeney, the manager, knocked on the door of apartment 412, the resident reportedly shouted that he was sleeping.
Jeney opened the door anyway.
"And when he opened the door, there was a blast of black smoke and heat," Varnas said. "It sounded like the guy was banging around in there. And the manager did the right thing-he closed the door."
Varnas said Jeney and the assistant manager raced through the apartments on the 4th floor, alerting residents to exit the building.
"These two guys are heroes," he said. "They started on the fourth floor, and then went down to the third floor, then the second, then the first. They got everybody out of there."
POLICE RESPONSE
Cmdr. John Serda of the Detroit Police Department's Central District said he arrived on the scene at 6 a.m.
"At that time, the whole top floor was fully engulfed in flames. It's a U-shaped building, and that side had also caught fire," he said.
FIRSTHAND HORROR
Resident Andrei Danilicic woke up shortly before 4 a.m. in his second floor apartment.
"I heard the sound of glass breaking, and I thought it was someone breaking into a car," he said. His apartment, which is located below unit 412, began to fill with smoke.
"Then, I realized there was a fire, and that sound was glass in the apartments above me breaking," he said.
Danilicic said all of his possessions are still in his apartment.
"I was only able to escape with the clothes on my back," he said.
Detroit police and fire crews said they will secure and monitor the building to protect tenants' possessions.
Resident Monique Bronz also said she woke up in her first-floor apartment around 4 a.m.
"The lights went out right then, and all I could grab were my clothes and cell phone," she said.
BUILDING WOES
Varnas said 105-year-old apartment building, which rents out 72 apartments, sustained significant damage.
"There is a total collapse of the roof on the front, back and center, and fire damage on the 4th floor," he said. The lower three floors sustained smoke and water damage. Varnas said further damage could occur if more sections of the roof collapse or if water inside the building freezes.
"It's not the worst I've ever seen," said Varnas, a 30-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Dept. "The building could be rehabbed, and the owner is insured."
He confirmed that smoke alarms inside the Forest Arms Apartments worked correctly and alerted residents to the fire.
"They didn't have a sprinkler system in a building this old, but they did have fire doors in the stairwells of every floor, to trap the fire," he said.
Water damage from the rescue operation will also challenge efforts to rebuild the apartment complex. Hali Stone is co-owner of the Amsterdam Espresso coffee shop on the first floor of the apartment building. The building also houses the People's Records shop.
Stone said she heard of the fire at 6 a.m. As she watched the rescue efforts this morning, water gushed through the bottom crack of the coffee shop's front door.
While her store is insured, Stone said she fears that she may permanently have to close the coffee shop.
"We don't know when we'll get back into the building, or how much damage there is. Beyond us, if the building is closed, we're entirely dependent on the tenants of this apartment building," she said.
The intersection of Forest Ave. at Second Ave. is still closed to non-emergency vehicles.
Residents, DFD credit building managers and quick response with saving lives, structure
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.
Media Credit: Kelly A. Southard / For The South End
Despite this five-alarm fire, DFD officials reported no injuries aside from one individual unaccounted for.
Frank Jeney's quick reaction made the most of a horrific situation.
Detroit Fire Department Capt. Steve Varnas said Forest Arms management was alerted to a fire shortly before 3:45 a.m.
When Jeney, the manager, knocked on the door of apartment 412, the resident reportedly shouted that he was sleeping.
Jeney opened the door anyway.
"And when he opened the door, there was a blast of black smoke and heat," Varnas said. "It sounded like the guy was banging around in there. And the manager did the right thing-he closed the door."
Varnas said Jeney and the assistant manager raced through the apartments on the 4th floor, alerting residents to exit the building.
"These two guys are heroes," he said. "They started on the fourth floor, and then went down to the third floor, then the second, then the first. They got everybody out of there."
POLICE RESPONSE
Cmdr. John Serda of the Detroit Police Department's Central District said he arrived on the scene at 6 a.m.
"At that time, the whole top floor was fully engulfed in flames. It's a U-shaped building, and that side had also caught fire," he said.
FIRSTHAND HORROR
Resident Andrei Danilicic woke up shortly before 4 a.m. in his second floor apartment.
"I heard the sound of glass breaking, and I thought it was someone breaking into a car," he said. His apartment, which is located below unit 412, began to fill with smoke.
"Then, I realized there was a fire, and that sound was glass in the apartments above me breaking," he said.
Danilicic said all of his possessions are still in his apartment.
"I was only able to escape with the clothes on my back," he said.
Detroit police and fire crews said they will secure and monitor the building to protect tenants' possessions.
Resident Monique Bronz also said she woke up in her first-floor apartment around 4 a.m.
"The lights went out right then, and all I could grab were my clothes and cell phone," she said.
BUILDING WOES
Varnas said 105-year-old apartment building, which rents out 72 apartments, sustained significant damage.
"There is a total collapse of the roof on the front, back and center, and fire damage on the 4th floor," he said. The lower three floors sustained smoke and water damage. Varnas said further damage could occur if more sections of the roof collapse or if water inside the building freezes.
"It's not the worst I've ever seen," said Varnas, a 30-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Dept. "The building could be rehabbed, and the owner is insured."
He confirmed that smoke alarms inside the Forest Arms Apartments worked correctly and alerted residents to the fire.
"They didn't have a sprinkler system in a building this old, but they did have fire doors in the stairwells of every floor, to trap the fire," he said.
Water damage from the rescue operation will also challenge efforts to rebuild the apartment complex. Hali Stone is co-owner of the Amsterdam Espresso coffee shop on the first floor of the apartment building. The building also houses the People's Records shop.
Stone said she heard of the fire at 6 a.m. As she watched the rescue efforts this morning, water gushed through the bottom crack of the coffee shop's front door.
While her store is insured, Stone said she fears that she may permanently have to close the coffee shop.
"We don't know when we'll get back into the building, or how much damage there is. Beyond us, if the building is closed, we're entirely dependent on the tenants of this apartment building," she said.
The intersection of Forest Ave. at Second Ave. is still closed to non-emergency vehicles.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Forest Arms blaze controlled
Forest Arms blaze controlled
DFD begins investigation; no confirmed cause despite rumors
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
EDITOR'S NOTE: To view more photos, visit thesouthendnews.com/fire
A five-alarm blaze that engulfed the Forest Arms Apartment building at the corner of Second Avenue at Forest Avenue this morning is now under control, firefighters said.
"The firefighters have gone through the building. All but one resident have been accounted for," said Capt. Steve Varnas of the Detroit Fire Department. Two residents were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
Varnas said no firefighters were injured while battling the fire, which escalated from a box alarm, or standard fire, to a five-alarm blaze in less than two hours. He said that it's luck that no one was injured in the situation.
Varnas said firefighters will begin a full investigation into the cause of the incident. He disclosed that the fire began in room 412, on the fourth floor of the building.
Several residents said that the tenant, who was reportedly facing eviction, began the fire and barricaded himself in his room.
The room was leased to a 47-year-old man.
The fire department was unable to confirm his name or account for his whereabouts.
DFD begins investigation; no confirmed cause despite rumors
Ashley Woods
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: News
EDITOR'S NOTE: To view more photos, visit thesouthendnews.com/fire
A five-alarm blaze that engulfed the Forest Arms Apartment building at the corner of Second Avenue at Forest Avenue this morning is now under control, firefighters said.
"The firefighters have gone through the building. All but one resident have been accounted for," said Capt. Steve Varnas of the Detroit Fire Department. Two residents were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
Varnas said no firefighters were injured while battling the fire, which escalated from a box alarm, or standard fire, to a five-alarm blaze in less than two hours. He said that it's luck that no one was injured in the situation.
Varnas said firefighters will begin a full investigation into the cause of the incident. He disclosed that the fire began in room 412, on the fourth floor of the building.
Several residents said that the tenant, who was reportedly facing eviction, began the fire and barricaded himself in his room.
The room was leased to a 47-year-old man.
The fire department was unable to confirm his name or account for his whereabouts.
Evolution:
Media Credit: Bowdeya Tweh
South End editors published many stories against the criminalization of marijuana. These words ran as a headline to a story supporting the drug's legal use.
Evolution: Radical changes, unbiased reporting color newspaper's history
By Ashley Woods
Issue date: 12/12/07 Section: 40th Anniversary
September 1967 was, by all accounts, a month of chaos.
The riots in Detroit had ended two months earlier, but the nation's fifth-largest city was still smoldering. Time magazine estimated in 1967 the damage done to the city totaled $500 million.
The Vietnam War was in full swing.
During a Sept. 17 taping of the Ed Sullivan Show, a young guitarist named Jim Morrison and his band, The Doors, defied CBS censors and sang the word "higher" in their No. 1 single, "Light My Fire."
The Daily Collegian would soon disappear and The South End emerged. The first issue, distributed on Sept. 28 of that year, featured drawings, advertisements, poetry and a manifesto proclaiming a new era of journalism on the Wayne State campus.
"We do not consider this a 'newspaper' like The Detroit News or The New York Times," the essay said. "We are a communication medium, and we hope to exploit the various and multi-dimensional method of reaching other people."
The South End quickly became a newspaper chronicling the burgeoning student protest movement in Detroit. In the fall of 1967, articles on the National Students Association Congress, Students for a Democratic Society and the Young Socialists' Alliance were prominently featured in the newspaper. The paper also devoted significant space to protests against the treatment of graduate students and recruiting for the war on campus. Several staff members, like 1968 editor in chief John Watson, worked outside the newspaper in the civil rights and labor movements.
"Wayne State was like rad[ically] central," former South End reporter Tim Kiska said. "And The South End was rad central for rad central."
He started working at the paper in 1970.
"At that time, the Vietnam War was going on, and Nixon was still in office," Kiska said. "The paper would post full-size posters of radical leaders such as Malcolm X and Bobby Seals of the Black Panthers."
Vince Kern, who served as managing editor of the paper in 1986 and editor-in-chief in 1987, said The South End was not a traditional newspaper and it served as a radical voice for the campus community.
However, the radical voice faded over time as career-minded journalists joined the staff.
"And I was one of them, being less interested in being a voice of radicalism, than establishing a true-to-journalism environment at the newspaper office, so it could train and help propel people's careers into journalism," he said.
Charles Maldonado, editor-in-chief for The South End in 2006, said he felt that the 21st century incarnate of The South End lacked a specific political agenda.
"It's gone back and forth through the years," he said. "Sometimes, I'd feel like we were rewriting press releases for the university. Some days, we were at odds with the WSU administration."
Maldonado said the paper's reputation of bias followed him through his tenure as editor-in-chief.
"A lot of people thought I had an agenda," he said. "I was equally called a raging liberal Commie or an ultra-conservative Zionist. I figured that if everybody hated me, I must be doing a good job."
Many editors in chief remembered their tenure at the newspaper for the unique combination of late nights, missed classes and many, many cups of coffee.
Kern said he found it difficult to balance his priorities during his year as managing editor.
"Not only was I the editor in chief of the newspaper, I went from my first year being managing editor and having two or three freelance beats, and working full time at a scrapyard," he said.
"The pressure was very overwhelming," Maldonado said. "I didn't go to class, really. I worked about 70 hours a week."
Kiska linked the lessening of activist journalism at The South End to the unique situation of Wayne State students.
"It's easy to overblow this stuff," Kiska said of WSU's radical factions. "It's a lot like today. You had people that just wanted to get their BA and get into the real world. A lot of people would say, 'Yeah, I'd like to protest, but I need to keep my job and make tuition.'"
Patricia Maceroni, The South End's editor in chief in 1985, knows the cost of taking a stand. The newspaper's publication board fired her in October 1985 for refusing to print military advertisements in the paper.
"The more we looked into what was going on in Nicaragua, with the Contras, it was a stand we really needed to take," she said. News of her dismissal was included in the Oct. 7 edition of the New York Times.
Maceroni, who filed a lawsuit to protest her dismissal, said WSU President David Adamany was trying to negotiate military contracts with the College of Engineering and the WSU School of Medicine when she refused the advertisements.
"The paper was just faltering," Maceroni said. "No one felt comfortable stepping up to the gate. The staff was demoralized by what happened."
She was reinstated later in the school year, provided she accepted the military advertisements. But Maceroni had a different strategy.
"We ran the ads on the editorial page," she said. "And we ran them right next to these really graphic, violent pictures from Korea and Vietnam."
"The military ended up yanking the ads anyway," she laughed.
Despite her battle with the university, Maceroni said she only had good memories of her six years working for The South End.
"Alvin's was like the second office," she said of the Cass Avenue bar. "We would work in the afternoon, and go to Alvin's for drinks and dinner almost every day, and then wander back to the office."
"Once the paper was finished - and it had to be finished - that's when people would kick back," Kiska said.
But he said that putting out the daily paper always came before partying.
"The biggest problem for staff members is sleep deprivation, not alcoholism or drug abuse," Kiska said.
"It was like living the life you always wanted to live, without any responsibility," Kern said. "We weren't married; we didn't have kids; we didn't have homes. It was the opportunity to do what you always wanted, and just immerse yourself in that life."
Finding A New President
FINDING A NEW PRESIDENT
BOG establishes presidential search committee in emergency meeting
Ashley Woods / For The South End
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
At an emergency public meeting last Wednesday, the Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve a resolution to create a Search Advisory Committee to elect a new Wayne State University president.
The committee will be responsible for advertising the open position and soliciting applications, as well as interviewing and recommending candidates to the Board of Governors. The board has to ultimately approve any candidate.
The board also voted 8-0 to appropriate $400,000 in funding from the Contingency Reserve Fund to finance the search process.
WSU President Irvin Reid resigned from the university Sept. 26 effective at the end of the academic year. The search committee hopes to elect a new president before the 2008-2009 academic year begins next August. To protect the confidentiality of the candidates, all committee meetings, records, and candidate identities will be kept private.
Board of Governors representatives to the Search Advisory Committee are BOG Chairman and Committee Chair Eugene Driker, Committee Vice Chair Jacquelin Washington, BOG Vice Chairman Richard Bernstein and Diane Dunaskiss. The committee also includes representatives from the medical school, faculty, administration, union, and local community leaders.
Two public town meetings will be held to allow the WSU committee to have a say in the selection process, said Driker.
The first meeting will be held in the BC room at McGregor Hall on Oct. 31 at 2:00 p.m. The second meeting will be held on Nov. 8 in the Green Auditorium at Scott Hall at 4:00 p.m. More information about the format of the meetings was expected to be announced soon.
"I think we want to wait to hear from the community before we begin the process," Driker explained. "We're opening it up to public opinion before deciding who the ideal candidate would be."
"We're looking for someone to fill President Reid's shoes," commented WSU Student Body President Cindy Chidi, who serves on the committee. She said the elected candidate must continue the university's capital campaign and work to increase WSU's significance regionally and nationally.
"I'm also looking for someone who speaks for the students…someone who will work on maintaining or stopping the rise in tuition costs," Chidi said.
"I expect that we'll get a good mix of candidates," said Dr. Jorge Chinea, the academic director for the Center of Chicano and Boricua Studies. "I hope to listen to as many people's opinions, and examine as many possibilities as we can, to try and see every candidate who is out there."
He said he thinks the next president will need to have experience in a multicultural, multiracial city such as Detroit.
"I also think we need someone who will continue to move Wayne State forward, in terms of becoming more of a 24/7 school," Chinea said.
Adrienne Kabanuk, a junior English major, said she also thinks WSU's leader will need a financial background.
"Obviously, we can't rely on the state right now for money," Kabanuk said. "The great thing about Wayne State is that it's affordable. But in bad financial times like these, we really need to make sure everyone can afford to go to college here."
Adam Krause, a senior English and Linguistics major, said he thinks Reid's tenure focused more on attracting students to live on campus then on the commuter student population.
"The needs of the majority, like parking, aren't being addressed. Instead, they keep building dorms. In the end, I really think we just need somebody who can be more receptive to students and faculty. We need a forum for students. Wayne State needs to empower them."
"I can't tell you what I think of Irvin Reid because I really have no idea what he stands for," agreed Kabanuk. "I would like to see someone elected who has a bit more presence in the student body. The administration is just inaccessible here most of the time."
Chidi said WSU will soon put up an online message board so students can vocalize what sort of leader they desire to become WSU's next president.
"Although I'm the only student sitting on the search committee," she said, "I need the questions and the comments of the student body. This is an active decision, and all 33,000 students need to describe the sort of candidate they would promote."
More information on the search for WSU's next president is available at www.bog.wayne.edu/.
BOG establishes presidential search committee in emergency meeting
Ashley Woods / For The South End
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
At an emergency public meeting last Wednesday, the Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve a resolution to create a Search Advisory Committee to elect a new Wayne State University president.
The committee will be responsible for advertising the open position and soliciting applications, as well as interviewing and recommending candidates to the Board of Governors. The board has to ultimately approve any candidate.
The board also voted 8-0 to appropriate $400,000 in funding from the Contingency Reserve Fund to finance the search process.
WSU President Irvin Reid resigned from the university Sept. 26 effective at the end of the academic year. The search committee hopes to elect a new president before the 2008-2009 academic year begins next August. To protect the confidentiality of the candidates, all committee meetings, records, and candidate identities will be kept private.
Board of Governors representatives to the Search Advisory Committee are BOG Chairman and Committee Chair Eugene Driker, Committee Vice Chair Jacquelin Washington, BOG Vice Chairman Richard Bernstein and Diane Dunaskiss. The committee also includes representatives from the medical school, faculty, administration, union, and local community leaders.
Two public town meetings will be held to allow the WSU committee to have a say in the selection process, said Driker.
The first meeting will be held in the BC room at McGregor Hall on Oct. 31 at 2:00 p.m. The second meeting will be held on Nov. 8 in the Green Auditorium at Scott Hall at 4:00 p.m. More information about the format of the meetings was expected to be announced soon.
"I think we want to wait to hear from the community before we begin the process," Driker explained. "We're opening it up to public opinion before deciding who the ideal candidate would be."
"We're looking for someone to fill President Reid's shoes," commented WSU Student Body President Cindy Chidi, who serves on the committee. She said the elected candidate must continue the university's capital campaign and work to increase WSU's significance regionally and nationally.
"I'm also looking for someone who speaks for the students…someone who will work on maintaining or stopping the rise in tuition costs," Chidi said.
"I expect that we'll get a good mix of candidates," said Dr. Jorge Chinea, the academic director for the Center of Chicano and Boricua Studies. "I hope to listen to as many people's opinions, and examine as many possibilities as we can, to try and see every candidate who is out there."
He said he thinks the next president will need to have experience in a multicultural, multiracial city such as Detroit.
"I also think we need someone who will continue to move Wayne State forward, in terms of becoming more of a 24/7 school," Chinea said.
Adrienne Kabanuk, a junior English major, said she also thinks WSU's leader will need a financial background.
"Obviously, we can't rely on the state right now for money," Kabanuk said. "The great thing about Wayne State is that it's affordable. But in bad financial times like these, we really need to make sure everyone can afford to go to college here."
Adam Krause, a senior English and Linguistics major, said he thinks Reid's tenure focused more on attracting students to live on campus then on the commuter student population.
"The needs of the majority, like parking, aren't being addressed. Instead, they keep building dorms. In the end, I really think we just need somebody who can be more receptive to students and faculty. We need a forum for students. Wayne State needs to empower them."
"I can't tell you what I think of Irvin Reid because I really have no idea what he stands for," agreed Kabanuk. "I would like to see someone elected who has a bit more presence in the student body. The administration is just inaccessible here most of the time."
Chidi said WSU will soon put up an online message board so students can vocalize what sort of leader they desire to become WSU's next president.
"Although I'm the only student sitting on the search committee," she said, "I need the questions and the comments of the student body. This is an active decision, and all 33,000 students need to describe the sort of candidate they would promote."
More information on the search for WSU's next president is available at www.bog.wayne.edu/.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Aspiring writers are given a chance at recognition - Features
Aspiring Writers are given chance at recognition
By Ashley Woods
For The South End
By day, Patrick Smith, an IT professional and a Woodbridge resident, works on a master's degree in computer science at Wayne State University. His few, stolen moments are spent penning a manuscript of autobiographical fiction, titled "Window to the West."
"I know it's hard to make a living as an artist or a writer, but that's what I really want to do," said Smith, 34. "I'm going to try to get published."
Like-minded writers can join Smith at the Detroit Creative Writing Institute's Fall 2007 Workshop, sponsored by the Detroit Institute for Creative Writers.
According to workshop leader Peter Markus, the classes aim to "expose students to the cutthroat nature of the publishing world while developing their talents."
In an intimate workshop setting, students will be guided through all aspects of the manuscript process, from editing to query letters and proposals to an analysis of the writers' market. The workshop will conclude with a trip to a literary agents' conference in New York City to meet one-on-one with publishing industry agents. The workshop runs weekly from September 19 to October 17.
"It always takes a second or third eye to see all the missed opportunities in a book," said Markus, the Spring 2007 writer-in-residence at the Institute of Creative Writing. He said many young writers aren't open to the possibilities an editor sees, which can lessen the quality of their writing.
"That's where a good workshop can come into play, or at least a reader who will say, 'Yes, this is pretty terrific, but there are parts here that aren't as good as they could be.' He made me realize that, what I considered insignificant, just my experience growing up, was my life story, and I should tell that story," explained WSU law school graduate Tony Paris, who now works as a labor rights attorney.
Paris also attended the Spring 2007 Workshop led by Markus, which focused on writing about places, specifically Detroit and the metropolitan region. Paris said the workshop led him to write more personal and political essays and gave him the confidence to begin writing songs for his garage-rock band, The Sons of Adray.
"The writing is so different than what I was doing in law school," he said. "But what I like about my job now is that it's about stories, and Markus taught me how to look for those stories."
The workshop concept was the creation of Mariela Griffor in 2003. Griffor co-founded the Institute for Creative Writing at WSU.
"There was a tremendous need for informing writers in the Detroit area about the publishing world and its issues," she said. " Everybody knew a bit about magazines and newspapers, because Wayne graduates so many journalists, but nobody really knew anything about publishing people with marketable work."
She said the workshop combines different disciplines of writing to foster creativity among students. Griffor, who also operates Marick Press, a poetry publication focusing on Midwestern writers, said she hopes to continue the workshops in the future.
"We're facing a challenge because the interdisciplinary studies program is closing," she said. "I've been in contact with different departments...No matter what, we're going to try to keep the programs independent of what happens to the department."
Griffor and Markus both cautioned students to keep in mind that workshop attendance does not guarantee publication. Markus requires students to bring a working manuscript to attend the workshop.
"I don't really address the issue of publishing very much with very young writers," Griffor said "Publishing is not the point."
The workshop method of discussing stories requires students to develop a thicker skin.
"If you're not stubborn, you're not going to succeed." Griffor said. "You need to have a certain amount of perseverance. The amount of rejection you're going to face is . . . huge."
She said the conference in New York City, while daunting, is a great experience for any writer.
"There are so many different people there representing the world of publishing...and they're available for questions, and panel discussions," she said.
Since publication isn't a guarantee, Smith said, participants are motivated in other ways.
"There's not a lot of literature coming out of Detroit," he said. "I think that's going to change, but it's only going to happen organically."
Smith said he feels that participation in workshops could help build a scene for writers in Detroit. He recommended workshops at Detroit's Scarab Club and open mic nights at Midtown's Beans & Bytes for aspiring young writers to hone their craft, as well as creative writing classes taught by Professor Christopher Leland.
Markus said the workshop was a pleasant experience for all of the writers who gathered at the Undergraduate Library.
"My favorite student last spring was a gentle old man by the name of Charles Novack," Markus said. "He was in his 80s, I believe, and had more stories in him than anyone else I have the good fortune to know."
Novack, an immigrant to Detroit who became the chief engineer for the People Mover, recently passed away.
"I suppose the failure there, of course, was that he didn't live quite long enough to get all of those stories written down," Markus said. "The real pleasure is the doing, the sentence-making and the sense of finding your way as you go."
He advised committed writers interested in developing their talent to take advantage of the workshop.
"To rush into print just so you can say 'I'm published' is silly and ultimately meaningless," he said. What's meaningful is entering into a text that hopefully is unlike any other text yet written. That, for me, is the point of all this, of any workshop."
The workshop meets weekly from September 19th-October 17, from 6:3o p.m. to 9 p.m. All sessions will be held in the third floor Community Room of the Undergraduate Library. Tuition is $200. Space is limited to the first 25 writers. Please contact Mariela Griffor at 313.407.9236 for more information.
By Ashley Woods
For The South End
By day, Patrick Smith, an IT professional and a Woodbridge resident, works on a master's degree in computer science at Wayne State University. His few, stolen moments are spent penning a manuscript of autobiographical fiction, titled "Window to the West."
"I know it's hard to make a living as an artist or a writer, but that's what I really want to do," said Smith, 34. "I'm going to try to get published."
Like-minded writers can join Smith at the Detroit Creative Writing Institute's Fall 2007 Workshop, sponsored by the Detroit Institute for Creative Writers.
According to workshop leader Peter Markus, the classes aim to "expose students to the cutthroat nature of the publishing world while developing their talents."
In an intimate workshop setting, students will be guided through all aspects of the manuscript process, from editing to query letters and proposals to an analysis of the writers' market. The workshop will conclude with a trip to a literary agents' conference in New York City to meet one-on-one with publishing industry agents. The workshop runs weekly from September 19 to October 17.
"It always takes a second or third eye to see all the missed opportunities in a book," said Markus, the Spring 2007 writer-in-residence at the Institute of Creative Writing. He said many young writers aren't open to the possibilities an editor sees, which can lessen the quality of their writing.
"That's where a good workshop can come into play, or at least a reader who will say, 'Yes, this is pretty terrific, but there are parts here that aren't as good as they could be.' He made me realize that, what I considered insignificant, just my experience growing up, was my life story, and I should tell that story," explained WSU law school graduate Tony Paris, who now works as a labor rights attorney.
Paris also attended the Spring 2007 Workshop led by Markus, which focused on writing about places, specifically Detroit and the metropolitan region. Paris said the workshop led him to write more personal and political essays and gave him the confidence to begin writing songs for his garage-rock band, The Sons of Adray.
"The writing is so different than what I was doing in law school," he said. "But what I like about my job now is that it's about stories, and Markus taught me how to look for those stories."
The workshop concept was the creation of Mariela Griffor in 2003. Griffor co-founded the Institute for Creative Writing at WSU.
"There was a tremendous need for informing writers in the Detroit area about the publishing world and its issues," she said. " Everybody knew a bit about magazines and newspapers, because Wayne graduates so many journalists, but nobody really knew anything about publishing people with marketable work."
She said the workshop combines different disciplines of writing to foster creativity among students. Griffor, who also operates Marick Press, a poetry publication focusing on Midwestern writers, said she hopes to continue the workshops in the future.
"We're facing a challenge because the interdisciplinary studies program is closing," she said. "I've been in contact with different departments...No matter what, we're going to try to keep the programs independent of what happens to the department."
Griffor and Markus both cautioned students to keep in mind that workshop attendance does not guarantee publication. Markus requires students to bring a working manuscript to attend the workshop.
"I don't really address the issue of publishing very much with very young writers," Griffor said "Publishing is not the point."
The workshop method of discussing stories requires students to develop a thicker skin.
"If you're not stubborn, you're not going to succeed." Griffor said. "You need to have a certain amount of perseverance. The amount of rejection you're going to face is . . . huge."
She said the conference in New York City, while daunting, is a great experience for any writer.
"There are so many different people there representing the world of publishing...and they're available for questions, and panel discussions," she said.
Since publication isn't a guarantee, Smith said, participants are motivated in other ways.
"There's not a lot of literature coming out of Detroit," he said. "I think that's going to change, but it's only going to happen organically."
Smith said he feels that participation in workshops could help build a scene for writers in Detroit. He recommended workshops at Detroit's Scarab Club and open mic nights at Midtown's Beans & Bytes for aspiring young writers to hone their craft, as well as creative writing classes taught by Professor Christopher Leland.
Markus said the workshop was a pleasant experience for all of the writers who gathered at the Undergraduate Library.
"My favorite student last spring was a gentle old man by the name of Charles Novack," Markus said. "He was in his 80s, I believe, and had more stories in him than anyone else I have the good fortune to know."
Novack, an immigrant to Detroit who became the chief engineer for the People Mover, recently passed away.
"I suppose the failure there, of course, was that he didn't live quite long enough to get all of those stories written down," Markus said. "The real pleasure is the doing, the sentence-making and the sense of finding your way as you go."
He advised committed writers interested in developing their talent to take advantage of the workshop.
"To rush into print just so you can say 'I'm published' is silly and ultimately meaningless," he said. What's meaningful is entering into a text that hopefully is unlike any other text yet written. That, for me, is the point of all this, of any workshop."
The workshop meets weekly from September 19th-October 17, from 6:3o p.m. to 9 p.m. All sessions will be held in the third floor Community Room of the Undergraduate Library. Tuition is $200. Space is limited to the first 25 writers. Please contact Mariela Griffor at 313.407.9236 for more information.
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