Ninety-four Years of Editorial Freedom E Sir i4va IEIUII Cheated Cloudy, windy,-and rainy for this third day of spring. Highs in the low thirties. IAL Vol 1XCIV-No. 136 Copyright 1984, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan - Thursday, March 22, 1984 Fifteen Cents Eight Pages Candidates debate role. of po ics in MSA By MARCY FLEISHER The five presidential candidates for the Michigan Student Assembly last night split on whether MSA should be taking "political stands." In the groups first formal debate, MSA candidates presented their party platform to about 50 people gathered in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union. Many of the audience members were candidates on one of the party tickets. PRESIDENTIAL candidate Scott Page of the SMART 4party believes that the assembly "should fund political groups within reason. "Page said that it is necessary for the students to have a political voice. According to Mark Weinstein of It's Our University (IOU), "MSA has to be political as they are a governmental organization. Two-thirds of the groups registered with MSA are political." , However, Responsible Assembly Party (RAP) vice presidential See CANDIDATES, Page 2 0 S Cun cil Org anization buys site for Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON MSA presidential candidates Andrew Plevin (LMNOP), Jim Frego (RAP), Ron Senkowski (YOU!), Scott Page (SMART), and Marc Weinstein (IOU), answer questions from the audience on their party platforms last night at the Union. waives rape rally fee eitys h By ERIC MATTSON After several unsuccessful attempts to find a permanent shelter for the city's homeless, a local non-profit group came up with a solution this week. Members of the recently formed organization announced Monday that they purchased a church at 420 W. Huron to convert into a permanent shelter for Ann Arbor's homeless. THE CITY will fund the $25,000 downpayment on the church which cost $76,000, said Councilman Larry Hunter (D-First Ward). The remaining funds will come from the city, charity organizations, and the federal gover- nment, he said. Hunter said the church could house 25 people and is expected to open in three months after renovations are com- pleted. Until then, the .city's homeless will continue to use St. Andrew's Episcopal Church at 306 N. Division. Arbor Haven, an emergency housing unit operated by the Salvation Army, will also continue to provide shelter for in- digents, Hunter said. BEFORE Council established, the non-profit organization in January, another group, the Advisory Committee on Emergency Housing proposed that the shelter be located next . to St: Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 415 N. Fourth Ave. But church officials objected to the proposed site because they were con- cerned about "the safety of parishione'rs," especially women, children, and the elderly. Similar opposition isn't expected with the newly-purchased site, located near Lurie Terrace a senior citizen's home, Hunter said. o0meless But because "there's always op- position," Hunter.said a public meeting will be held tomorrow night at 7:30 at St. Andrew's to discuss the site. The church has been vacant for about four years and will need repairs on the roof and bathrooms to pass city inspec- tion codes, said City Building Director Jack Donaldson. Walls will also need to be built inside the church, Donaldson added. Members of the non-profit Shelter Organization will work as staff and volunteers at the shelter, Hunter said. Sup reme, Court hears et pligt 'Of hom;ele ss, WASHINGTON (UPI) - The poor and homeless must be allowed to sleep in tent cities - including one across from the White House- ifthey are to win the compassion of the nation, lawyers told the Supreme Court yester- day. The American Civil Liberties Union told the nine justices that sleeping en masse in public parks is the only way the homeless can express their plight. See HIGl,Page 2 By SUSAN ANGEL City Council voted unanimously Mon- day night to 'waive police protection fees for the fifth annual "Take Back the Night" march and declared April Rape Prevention Month. Members of the Ann Arbor Coalition Against Rape, the group sponsoring the Srally scheduled for April 20, said it would be difficult to pay the $150 charge for police escorts. "THE GROUP is not highly bankrolled and a grassroots effort would be required to raise the. money," said Councilran Lowell Peterson (D-First Ward) who spon- sored the waiver proposal. 'The march is for women to symbolically reclaim the night. Women need to do it them- selves because men already have the night.' - Maureen Fitzsimons LSA Senior ding to group member PDiptiGhosh. The demonstration, which has drawn a crowd of nearly 1,500 in past years, is restricted to women. Protesters will march on a lengthy route throughcam- pus and downtown Ann Arbor, said Ghosh. "The march is for women to sym- bolically reclaim the night. Women need to do it by themselves because men already have the night," explained Coalition member and LSA Senior Maureen Fitzsimons, who presented the proposal to council Monday night. The march provides a chance for "women to say rape is an :ct of violen- °" and not a sexual'act,"'added'Ghosh. "Women should be able to walk alone at night." Police protection is required for any demoffstration that would block traffic on city streets, said Peterson. Council has no guidelines for deter- raining which groups should receive a fee waiver, but evaluates requests in- dividually, Peterson said. In past years, the group haspaid the fee. WAIVING THE fee was a "nice way to show support for the march," accor- Panel passes sta By CLAUDIA GREEN with wire reports LANSING - A measure establishing a program pro- viding state college scholarships based solely on merit, not financial need was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday. Sponsor Sen. William Sederburg said students who score in the top 8 percent on college entrance exams will receive $500 a year for four years. The program would affect about 5,000 students. BUT UNIVERSITY financial aid director Harvey Grotrian said the program would probably not be approved by the full Senate or House because it would eventually cost the state about $10 million,. In 1978, a similar merit-based scholarship program that 'promised students in the state $1 million in aid, was abandoned after three years. " te merit grants "The state can't afford the program to give dollars to students who don't need those dollars," said Grotrian. UNIVERSITY and federal financial aid programs for students who cannot afford tuition costs are so underfunded that starting a program based solely on merit isunjustified, Grotrian said. Currently the University already has three grant programs based only on academic achievement, he added. If the program was approved, however, Grotrian said the University would receive the majority of the funds because the state's highest ranked students usually come to the University. Many scholarship winners under the 1978 program attended the University, Grotrian-explained. The Senate committee's move was, in response to Gov. James Blanchard's request in January to set up state-funded merit-based scholarships for college students, said Grotrian." 4 l ii:"}:"i}U:":v'":"::"}:?:{.};~,"t}:::: '"::^:t".t+". :. ,.::?3: :":?^}: Y.vi}}}i'.v::: ::::"::::.v.'q:rr'..::4:"}:4}}}i:"i3}isj ::Li is °:;:ti%i: '::::::::::. vv. _:::.i'.}vp ::.; :ii:. .v-:...: :::::::::.::.:.:.. .:.:... .::: "":..:. -..:::::. .. :::"}.{"}i:".. iii: i}:"iiiijiii: Y} i:"iF"}}::.:......: ii'"}:':::4: i}: !:iii::; "i::.i: }:;:": :j": i}i:":.i:"}: i:::":::":^: ii:: ii:{": ....wn; ....; :::: ".v:: v: 4::.v...v. .. .:..:::r:::,v:.; ;.}".;'.:?"}}:?":?:"Y. -.;: v::::;:.}:}:::.: :.:v{:^:?":;::::::.;i}:>};y.v:..::" :v:::::'riiii iiii: :vi:::::::iii ii: if::}i}: !ii ii? ?}: : i.4+: iJidi : t:"i' }:4:T i?"}:? 4i:Cti'i?}:ii ?"ii:4: ::::::::::::::::w::::::::;...... tr ..................?:2 i:j:}:S}:!::iY'<4;: q: ":.i?:<....... ' RSG member to fight Stax fee in capitol By JOHN ARNTZ Rackham Student Government representative and presidential can- didate Angela Gantner announced last night she will go to Washington, D.C. to fight for a non-taxable tuition waiver bill for graduate student Teaching Assistants. At last night's RSG meeting, Gantner said she will leave Friday to participate in National Student Lobby Day Monday. UNDER A federal bill, TA's tuition was not taxed for the past five years. That bill, however, expired December 31, 1983. A new bill exempting tuition from taxation will go into effect July 31, 1984, but taxes paid out before then will not be refunded by either the government or the University. Teaching assistants at the University are not paid directly for teaching. Their wages go into their student account to cover tuition costs, so they are taxed monthly for money they never actually handle. CURRENTLY TAs must pay taxes on one-third of their tuition. Gantner said University TAs have been the hardest hit since the bill ex- pired because currently Michigan is the only state taking taxes on a monthly basis. However, students at other univer- sities will have to pay all of their taxes See RSG, Page 2 I .......i..'... Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON Spring sing Sorority and fraternity memberships sing "Over The Rainbow" at Greek Sing last night at Hill Auditorium. Each group participating vied for points as part of the Greek Week competition. :.. . . .. ..::::r.:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..:.... ..... ..... .... ..... .... ..... .... ........ .. . . f TODAY- Misperceptions? AMES WATT a bad Interior secretary? Horse manure. The former Reagan underling, who quit amid an uproar over a series of unsavory remarks, told a group of reporters yesterday -that he was presidency, Watt said, the administration set aside 900,000 acres of land as additional wilderness, while as Interior secretary he recommended that more than 1.5 million acres be added for protection in 1981 alone. "I have a marvelous record, the finest record ever put together by any admin- stration," he declared. "If I'm trying to restore AMerica's greatness, I was a marvelous success." Q The birds A ND YOU THOUGHT it was just Hitchcock's warped - the droppings, said Rhonda Liles, a specialist with the. Texas Rodent and Animal Control Service. "There might be 10,000 or 15,000 birds there," she said. The grackles members of the black bird family, are in the midst of their night roost, according to Kay McCracken, an authority on bird-brained behavior. "They do this at a number of places every winter," she said. "It just happens to be on Ocean Drive this year." The noisy birds won't be making life dif- ficult for too much longer, though. In a couple of weeks, ac- cording to McCracken, the grackles will find mates and be off. Their desire for privacy (in order to make little rumors that the president would attend the annual smoking festival. Also on this date in history: * 1968 - The University accepted $750,000 from the state to begin construction of the Modern Languages Building; " 1976 - The University's DNA research policy group gave the go-ahead for professors to engage in most forms of controversial genetic research; * 1977 - A $39,000 study commissioned by the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Fair Rental Practice concluded that Ann Arbor housing is expensive, scarce, and of low 1 I