Tag: Unionization

A group of University of Michigan faculty members Monday stopped short of calling for an external review into a six-month lapse in university officials reporting the discovery of child pornography in a University Hospital employee area.

"Part of the nagging issue that's haunting the institution as a result of this case ... is the apparent discomfort with evaluations and investigations," John Lehman, a biology professor, said at a Faculty Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs meeting Monday.

"This thing fell through the cracks," Lehman continued, criticizing the botched reporting of child pornography found on a thumb drive in an employee computer at University Hospital in May. Although a medical resident, her supervisor, hospital security and the university's legal office knew about the pornography, it was not reported to police until Nov. 18.

Stephen Jenson, a 36-year-old medical resident who worked regularly with children during the six-month reporting lapse, was charged Dec. 17 with four counts of possessing child pornography.

Rest here

A group of Occupy U-M protesters took over Thursday's University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting seconds after President Mary Sue Coleman started it.

About 20 protesters stood on each side of the regents' conference table. One protester read a speech, pausing every few seconds for the rest of the group to echo him.

They were protesting the financial management of the school, saying it's run as a business and regents are selling education to wealthy people like a commodity.

After receiving approval from the University of Michigan Board of Regents today, U-M is planning to purchase a .14-acre parcel near the Law Quad by the end of the month.

The $730,000 price tag is more than triple the property's assessed value.

The University of Michigan's Mary Sue Coleman now reaps the sowing, as the regents' meeting at a Dearborn locale brought about the now possible unionization of graduate student researchers. Coleman opposed the move, yet the regents voted to allow it with a 6-2 vote.

As the infestation of labor expands into the student part of a government subsidized and over fed organization like the University of Michigan, it should be noted that the two dissenting votes were the only voices of reason available.  A release last night from the Republican party of Michigan reads:

LANSING - Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak praised Republican-nominated University of Michigan Regents Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew C. Richner today for their recent votes opposing a resolution to allow the school's graduate researchers to unionize.

"Our regents voted with the majority of Michigan's citizens who do not want to add more costs to our universities without deriving any discernable benefit," Schostak said. "Unfortunately, the majority of Regents voted out of step with taxpayers' desire that our universities be more fiscally responsible."

The board voted on the question without it previously being on the agenda - thwarting any chance to properly consider other points of view or examine and discuss the long-term impact of the decision.

"The board should reconsider its decision, reverse itself, and then allow for this issue to get a more thorough examination through a democratic process," Schostak said. "The university should be run for the benefit of the students and other stakeholders, not to fatten the wallet of some union boss."

That third paragraph is the ringer.  This was not on the agenda for the May 19, 2011 meeting in Dearborn.

Classic progressives and their tactics. Wonderful.

A spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Human Services today told the Mackinac Center for Public Policy that on March 18 the department will stop withdrawing so-called "union dues" from subsidy checks to home-based day care providers who supply child care services to low-income families. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed suit against the DHS in 2009 to stop the illegal withdrawals.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation assisted provider Sherry Loar in her fight against forced unionization.  The new DHS director (and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice)Maura Corrigan  has said [paraphrased] "those providers are NOT Employees of the state"

Indeed.