Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer will deliver the keynote address at Wayne State University Law School's symposium, \"The Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act,\" Wednesday, April 12, noon, at the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. The symposium is free and open to the public.

Ahmad Ezzedine, assistant dean of executive and professional development at Wayne State University's School of Business Administration, provided extensive tips on making the home-based business a successful enterprise.

The Wayne State University Physician Group and the Detroit Medical Center have agreed to extend their current contract through the end of the year. "We both need to be able to look at opportunities to partner with other systems," said Robert Mentzer Jr., dean of Wayne State's School of Medicine and a senior adviser to Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid on medical affairs. "While we perform these analyses, it was elected to simply extend the existing contract." DMC CEO Mike Duggan said the university's medical school has had three deans in 15 months which has made it hard to get a clear direction from the medical school. "Now that Dean Mentzer is here and he's a permanent dean, I anticipate we'll get an agreement without a lot of trouble," Duggan said.

The House on Thursday approved a bill aimed at making college decisions more clear and affordable for families. The education law, which governs the relationship between government and the huge range of colleges and universities that receive federal aid, is getting its first update since 1998. The law calls for schools to provide clear information about their costs to the Education Department; orders simplified steps for people seeking federal aid; places pressure on colleges to refrain from steep tuition increases; and, requires colleges to have transfer policies that are publicly disclosed.

Refusal by the Michigan Supreme Court yesterday to hear arguments on whether backers of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative misled people who signed their petitions, paves the way for voters to make the decision in November on whether to ban race and gender preferences in university admissions and government hiring. The ballot initiative would amend the state Constitution to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin. What that would mean in practical terms is being hotly debated. Wayne State law professor Robert Sedler, who opposes the measure, said Thursday's development was no surprise, as Michigan has a long tradition of resolving legal disputes in favor of those seeking access to the ballot. "Once people have signed, you're not going to get a court to throw it out," he said. The article ran widely in other newspapers affiliated with the Free Press around the country.

Wayne State, Michigan State and the University of Michigan scored a surprising victory Thursday when state lawmakers approved construction of several campus buildings projects worth $220 million. The projects appeared to be in jeopardy a few weeks ago when state Sen. Shirley Johnson, who heads the Joint Capital Outlay Subcommittee, indicated she would not sign off on them unless boards of the three universities passed a resolution agreeing to obtain state approval for projects of $1 million or more. Johnson said she put the proposed projects on her committee's agenda because she is now convinced the schools are committed to following the law.

In a letter to the editor, professor Leonard Malkin of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology here takes issue with a member of the clergy who exhorted people to pray to ward off a bird flu pandemic. Malkin expresses skepticism about the effectiveness of prayer and points out that "it is science that has provided us with antibiotics and vaccines. "If prayer worked, millions of people would not have suffered from those afflictions whose cures had to wait for scientific discoveries," he writes.

A story about the fencing club at Brookfield Academy , a Montessori school in Rochester Hills, mentions that head coach Bela Kogler, won two national titles while on the fencing team at Wayne State .

A sidebar to a story about a meeting this weekend of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in Dearborn mentions Wayne State as one of the universities that will participate in a college fair at the gathering Saturday for people considering graduate school.

The theatre list for the weekend lists " Antony and Cleopatra," one of Shakespeare's most poetic love stories, at the Hilberry Theatre. The entry includes curtain times and ticket information.

The federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education will not propose mandatory testing of college students but will urge colleges and accrediting agencies to voluntarily adopt assessments of student learning, and will recommend two tests. Commission Chairman Charles Miller predicted that, with college costs on the rise, institutions would come under increasing pressure to prove their worth to taxpayers and the parents of students. Many colleges will turn to testing, he said in an e-mail message to fellow commission members.

The Italian Study Group of Troy will host its annual festival on April 9. Among those to be honored are Joseph and Marian Impastato. He received a juris doctorate from the WSU Law School and has a practice in Eastpointe. His wife, Marian, chaired the successful effort to establish the recently dedicated Italian Heritage Room at Wayne State .

Frederic Pearson, director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, was interviewed via telephone regarding the Thursday release of American journalist Jill Carroll by her captors in Iraq .

Bill Gallagher interviewed law professor Peter Henning regarding the prosecution of a former assistant U.S. attorney and a State Department official for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury related to their conduct in the "Detroit Terrorism Trial" of 2003. Gallagher's report was to run on the evening news.

State lawmakers compromised on one of the bigger disagreements between Democrats and Republicans before voting on the $1.8 billion higher education budget: how much money to give 15 state universities. The state's big research universities - the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University will receive a 2 percent increase, as proposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The other 12 schools will receive varying increases. The proposal was described as a compromise between a funding formula proposed by the governor and a plan by Republicans to increase dollars for schools that have lagged behind others in per-student funding: Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley, Oakland and Central Michigan universities.

Lear Corp. moved Wednesday to shore up its finances by securing $800 million in loans, suspending its stock dividend and forming a European joint venture with New York financier Wilbur Ross. The moves will allow Lear, a major employer in Metro Detroit, to cover a portion of $700 million in debt that matures in early 2007 and free up operating cash. But should Lear decide to take the bankruptcy route, it could sell its U.S. interior division while freeing the unit of existing creditors, said Laura Bartell, a law professor who teaches bankruptcy at Wayne State University. \"Bankruptcy becomes a very favorable way of selling a part of a company because you can strip them of any claims and that\'s much more valuable to sell,\" Bartell said.

Wayne State's Institute of Gerontology sponsored a conference Wednesday called the "Art of Aging Successfully." Now in its seventh year, the conference included speakers on topics such as dance, humor, creativity and caring.

Wayne State University is noted as one of Michigan's universities that runs annual science, math and engineering camps for girls. The other participating universities are University of Michigan and University of Detroit Mercy.

Wayne State's Bonstelle Theatre, host site for the March 25 Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), was filled to capacity during a summit designed to encourage Detroit's youth to pursue proper money management. A photo of the music artists at the Bonstelle Theatre is included.

Death Penalty on Trial: The Politics of Capital Punishment: Andrea D. Lyon will deliver the 22nd annual I. Goodman Cohen Lecture in Trial Advocacy, 3 p.m. March 30 at Wayne State's Law School. Contact information is provided.