Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 9

TT Lansing State Journal LOCALMVTE SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2009 EDITOR: AL WILSON METROLSJ.COM 377-1154 WWW.LSJ.COM Nontenure track MSU profs eye union WHAT'S NEXT Vote possible this spring as drive picks up momentum A group of nontenure-track faculty at MSU, assisted by the American Federation of Teachers, has begun a union membership drive. Organizers estimate that the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty could represent a bargaining unit of about 1,200 members, including not only faculty, but advisers, outreach instructors and mentors. A vote on unionization could come as early as spring. of the group that calls itself the Union of Nontenure-Track Faculty. "It's hard to feel at home in an institution or in a community in which one is constantly told that you can't feel any security here." A job for life Tenure is essentially a promise of lifetime employment given to faculty members who have met certain standards for teaching, research and service to the See Tenure I Page 2B to the next.

Hassoun, who teaches courses in anthropology and for MSU's Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities, is one of a growing number of professors at MSU and around the nation who are not on the tenure track. Not all of them string jobs together semester to semester. Many have offices. But they are generally paid less than their tenure-track colleagues and, working on contracts that at MSU seldom run longer than three years "That's my office most days," she said. "I've got to pack up my suitcase, so that I'll have everything I'll need for the whole day because I don't have an office to go to.

Those kinds of things make it crazy." As does the fact that, at MSU, she often doesn't know whether she'll have a contract from one semester Matthew Miller mrmiller lsj.com Rose Hassoun has the letters Ph.D after her name, but her working life for much of the past 10 years has been conducted out of a rolling suitcase as she shuttles back and forth between Michigan State University and Lansing Community College. "You have a significant portion of the teaching faculty who are in some ways second-class citizens in the university community," said Richard Manderfield, a professor in MSU's Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures and part at a stretch, all share a certain level of job insecurity. Which is part of the reason why a group of nontenure-track faculty at MSU, assisted by the American Federation of Teachers, began a union membership drive this past fall. I IN BRIEF Granholm mentioned as possibility for Supreme Court seat Mark Sherman WKAR broadcasting in digital exclusively WKAR already has shut off its analog signal and has been broadcasting only in digital since Jan. 14, according to Bill Morgan, marketing and communications director for the station.

On Wednesday, when Congress postponed the mandatory transition until June, it gave stations the option to stick to the originally scheduled date of Feb. 17. WKAR shut off its analog signal before Feb. 17 in order to schedule engineering work to convert the station's analog transmitter into a digital transmitter tuned to broadcast on a new frequency, according to an e-mail from Morgan. WILX-TV Channel 10 plans to make the switch Feb.

17, while WLNS-TV Channel 6 likely will wait until June to turn off its analog signal, according to officials. WSYM-TV Fox 47, said the station's parent company. Journal Broadcast Group Inc, has vet to make a decision. Bernero taking to TV to back stimulus plan Lansing Mayor Vlrg Bernero will appear on Monday morning on CNN American Morning at a time to be i zJ Associated Press WASHINGTON Word of Justice Ruth Bader Gins-burg's illness on Thursday, just two weeks after Obama's inauguration, set off an inevitable round of speculation about whether she will have to retire earlier than she would wish and whom President Barack Obama might tap as her successor. And Governor Jennifer Granholm's name is again being mentioned as a possible candidate for the high court Chances 1 Icy artist: Scott Miller, of Delta Township, owner of Miller Ice Sculptures, works on one of the nine sculptures he is creating in downtown Williamston.

The event this weekend is part of the Williamston Chamber of Commerce's First Friday events. announced. Bernero also was scheduled to appear on CBS The Early Show at 7 a.m. today. Bernero will deliver the message that working class families in Lansing and across are, Obama's first appointment will be a woman especially if it's to take the place of Gins-burg, the only From QOE Bernero Granholm si 'i a m.

mm 1 uuuu Eytra6 mre photos, go to www.lsj.com. America need elected officials in Washington D.C. to reach an agreement on an economic stimulus plan that will create jobs, fix aging infrastructure, and train and retrain workers for the jobs of the new "green" economy, according to a news release. Mail carrier gets prison for stealing checks FOWLERVILLE A mail carrier who stole checks from her route in Livingston County has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Michele Biange owes $8,200 to 10 people.

WHMI-FM says Biange was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Detroit She pleaded guilty in August to stealing mail. Biange told a postal inspector that she was behind on her mortgage and other bills. She discovered that a gas station 60 miles away would cash the checks without identification. From staff and wire reports I MORE INSIDE EVENTS: Things to do around the Lansing area, Page 3B woman on the court. And, like Ginsburg, she will be liberal leaning.

Like every sitting justice, she also probably will be a federal appeals court judge. Obama has a number of options along those lines, including these five: Judge Diane Wood of the 7th US. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Pam Karlan, a law professor at Stanford University. Judge Margaret McKe-own of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Either Wardlaw or Sotomayor would be the court's See COURT Page 2B IT1; Let the chips fly: Scott Miller shapes an ice sculpture Friday.

The Williamston Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting the weekend event featuring Miller's work. Helping hands: Jeff Fidler, 21, of Lansing, puts the finishing touches on a sculpture in downtown Williamston. Fidler is Scott Miller's grandson. Photos by BECKY SHINK Lansing State Journal Feline population paying tough price in tight times MASON The number of cats put to death at the Ingham County Animal Control shelter last year was "mind-boggling," even for the woman who runs LSJ BLOGS Survival of the meanest One more point about how deer eat They don't share. The big ones drive away the little ones.

Check out my blog at www.lsj.com schneiderblog John Schneider jschneidfiHsjxoni 37H175 YOUR Take "Anyone who could read, or who watched TV, should have been aware that their little world would be changing, and that it would require some action on their part to conform to it. "The brouhaha regarding the current availability of the coupons is rather ridiculous because you do not need a coupon to purchase a converter; they just make it more palatable. "In any case, a converter (with or without a coupon) is infinitely cheaper than the other option: a new digital TV. "Further, when you include the fact that no one even needs a TV, all the ink and angst wasted on this subject just boggles my mind. People should just get over it." Call John Schneider at 377-1175, send a fax to 377-1298 or e-mail jschneidlsj.com.

the place. Leaving aside the sadness of it, Animal Control director Jamie McAloon-Lampman called the county's surplus cat population a "tremendous" logistical problem. Before the cats can be clear solution: Spaying and neutering. But how many families struggling to keep food on the table and the furnace running are willing to spend $75 to $150 to have their cats fixed? Probably not many. That's why Ingham County Animal Control is sponsoring its first-ever "Feline Fix-it Day." On April 26, the agency will fix 250 cats owned by low-income people.

The cost: $10 for females; $5 for males. A team of volunteer vets will do the deed. Participants will be required to document their low-income status. For more information or to get on the list, phone 676-8373. TV soap opera BATH If you're not ready LSJ's ONLINE POLL Today's question Are your pets spayed or neutered? fine YOU TAKE "There was nothing wrong with these cats," McAloon-Lamp-man said.

"We just didn't have any room for them here." The 350, by the way, were in addition to the 564 cats put down because they were considered feral, and the 400 sick and injured cats who became victims of lethal injections. Simple solution That's a lot of carnage and a big drain on precious government resources. But unlike so many problems these days, this one has a for digital TV, don't expect any sympathy from Francis X. Goed-deke Sr. of Bath.

He sees it this way: "I do not understand the general media hype (yours included) regarding the $40 government coupons (for digital conversion boxes). "The plan to switch to digital TV broadcasting was announced about three years ago, at which time the (conversion) date was set eliminated, they must be rounded up and housed. Some numbers to ponder In 2008, 350 cats were euthanized simply because there was no space for them at the shelter. randfuwetur 1 ma Meeting the Individualized Needs of Seniors Assisted Living Leisure Lh-irtg Managed Communitin Living Center! Grace Hai Specialized Memory Care at Two Convenient Locations Lansing 1 517-485-5966 989-2 24-1650.