Mezzadri fights for student issues

Student gripes and complaints about the way things are run at the University may seem to go unheard, but there are people who have succeeded in bringing these issues to the eyes of University administrators. One such person is LSA junior Jonathan Mezzadri.

Although popular among students, especially those who have had problems with parking or worries about on-campus housing, Mezzadri said he is not popular with everyone. "Housing will be happy that I'm moving (out of the dorms)," he said.

The secret to Mezzadri's success is e-mail. He decides who is affected by a current issue, e-mails selected groups of students and shows the administration their printed responses. He also voices his own complaints, meeting with the apropriate peopl

NATHAN RUFFER/Daily Student activist Jonathan Mezzadri improved the quality of life at residence halls.

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One of Mezzadri's major accomplishments was shedding light on the changes in Housing policies announced earlier this semester. He said more than 200 students responded to his e-mail, and called that mailing his biggest project so far. He printed out all of the student responses and turned them into the Housing office.

He said he does not forward student responses because doing so in the past caused a problem. When the administration moved a well-liked janitor and he forwarded 50 responses, Housing officials let him know his method of communication was not appreciated. But his quest to get his old janitor back was successful, nonetheless.

Printing e-mails about Housing policies produced much the same effect.

Detroit TV channels 2, 4 and 7 gave him and the issue significant publicity. The talk generated led to consideration of the issue at a meeting of the University Board of Regents.

"I didn't solve the problem but I brought a lot of light to the issue," Mezzadri said.

Remember the crows that plagued the sidewalks next to Betsey Barbour and Angell Hall before they moved to the trees above Mojo and Stockwell? Now they are gone ... yup, that was him, too.

"They were crapping all over people's cars and Mojo and Stockwell, so I called Pest Management and they said they'd light some fireworks. They were very diligent and did some different things to move the crows," Mezzadri said.

Parking at the Public Health building is another of Mezzadri's pet issues. Early in the semester, when administration officials tried to restrict parking to staff-only all 24 hours, Mezzadri decided to do something about it. The parking is now evenly split between staff and students.

Mezzardi has tackled smaller issues, too, such as bringing Hawaiian Punch to the Hill area.

"None of the Hill area's cafeterias had Hawaiian Punch, so I called Markley and asked them if it was a conspiracy, since there was punch in the other dorms," Mezzadri said.

And who among Hill residents could forget the construction that extended the pedestrian sidewalk on the corner of Observatory Street and Washington Heights?

"I met with DPS and the city of Ann Arbor about people speeding down Observatory. I wanted a stop sign but they thought it would slow people down too much," Mezzadri said with a sarcastic grin.

A more behind-the-scenes effort also went on concerning the condition and quality of food in the residence hall cafeterias. Mezzadri felt the food in Markley was never warm enough, so he complained to the health department and had them hold an inspection. Markley failed the inspection in April 1995 and September 1996. Things are better there now, he said.

So why does Mezzadri do these things for the student body?

"I felt that the administrators weren't always aware of the conditions and various circumstances from a student's perspective," he said.

He attributed his success in bringing about changes to his own initiative, which stems from his desire to always improve the world around him.

"Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, even at U of M," he said. "If enough people make enough noise about something, it will change."

04-09-98