Page 2 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 26, 1986 MSA to begin PR campaign By WENDY SHARP The Michigan Student Assembly is planning a communications blitz to improve its image among students. Students say they don't have an opinion about their student government and some don't even recognize MSA's name. New public relations efforts include sending public service announcements to local radio stations, visting dorms around eampus, polling students about their concerns, and informing local papers about rallies, campus events, and MSA resolutions. MSA VICE President Daryl Thompson said most students are :riot informed about MSA. "Those 'ho do have an opinion, it is probably based on last year and *t h ey view it in a somewhat negative way," Thompson said, ieferring to negative publicity about last year's MSA elections. Thompson said he thinks only a siiall percentage of students know what MSA stands for and :what issues it works on. Students only know about "long, cumbersome, and frustrating" Tuesday night meetings, said David Lovinger, LSA senior and vice-chair of MSA's communications committee, which will double its budget for the publicity drive. Lovinger said students are aware of issues such as the code for non- academic conduct and extended service of the Nite Owl, but "they don't connect these things with MSA." He said MSA has actively worked on these and other campus issues. MSA ALSO publishes a monthly newspaper, The Campus Report, and ADVICE, a student course evaluation guide. Some students interviewed recognized that MSA is responsible for ADVICE, but were not familiar with The Campus Report, which has been published for 12 years. Most students suggested that MSA should publicize itself more, while others said that although MSA does publicize enough, they don't like reading about student government. "I don't havea clue about what they do," said LSA spohomore Fiona Grant. LSA senior Michael Greyerbiehl agreed. "I don't know much about it (MSA) and I don't think they publicize very much," he said. GREG Kim, LSA sophomore, said he is not familiar with MSA because "I'm just not interested in them." To change these perceptions, Lovinger said, MSA wants "to tell students what MSA does, what services we provide." MSA's internal committees work on issues such as tuition, campus safety, military research, and eliminating racism. MSA sponsors Student Legal Services and the Ann Arbor Tenants Union. Lovinger said MSA will also attempt to revive 76-GRIPE, a phone line that students can call tc voice complaints and ask for MSA's help. This service began last year but failed due to disorganization, Lovinger said. HE ADDED that this year's MSA representatives will call students back with more assistance, instead of just listening to the complaints and offering immediate advice like last year. MSA will also participate in Meet-UM, a campus-wide computer service available to students through their Michigan Terminal System accounts, Lovinger said LSA senior Paul Josephson, former MSA president and current member of MSA's development committee, said this year's program is ambitious, but "it's hard to get people to do a lot of work." "It's not going to happen unless MSA goes to LSA and the communications department and gets people to help out," Josephson said. JOSEPHSON said last year's assembly was unsuccessful in trying to work with hall governments and other student groups. "Even the best intentions are left by the wayside," Josephson said. Michelle Fischer, chair of the MSA Communications Committee, said the new assembly's expectations might be idealistic, but "by setting high expectations, it might set a precedent for other (MSA) committees." "We're responsible for MSA's public image," Fischer said. IN BRIEF COMPILED FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS jail crowding forces release GRAND RAPIDS- The Kent County Sheriffs Departmen C ordered the early release of 42 inmates yesterday and reduced the sentences of 260 others to comply with a federal judge's order 0* reduce jail crowding. A Michigan Sheriffs Association official said other count jails throughout the state face similar crowding problems. The Kent County reductions and releases were ordered tp comply with an August 1985 order by U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen in Kalamazoo. The 42 prisoners freed had 10 or fewer days remaining on their sentences, officials said. The order also required that 10 days be subtracted from jail sentences for most prisoners. Jail officials said the offenses of those released early rangd from misdemeanors to felonies such as larceny, breaking and entering, and drug offenses. "I don't think we're talking about releasing a bunch of really felonious maniacs," said Kent County Sheriff Philip Heffron.. FAA chided for inefficiency WASHINGTON- Congressional critics charged the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday with "bureaucratic foot. dragging ...'and turf-guarding" in failing to have moved quickly to require collision avoidance systems in commercial aircraft. "We are here to find out why it has taken nearly three decades to develop a piece of equipment that could save lives, and why the use of such equipment was not long ago made mandatory," declared Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), in opening hearings on the longstanding collision avoidance controversy. The hearings came a week after the Federal Aviation Administration said it plans to propose a regulation next year that would require commercial jetliners to be equipped with devices that warn pilots of nearby aircraft. House budget pressures Pres. WASHINGTON-The House moved yesterday toward approval of $567 billion in spending authority for federal agencies in the new budget year, the largest sum ever crammed into a single money bill. Working under the threat of a veto by President Reagan, members of the House wrapped virtually every facet of government spending for the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1 into a single, giant package. White House budget director James Miller III said the least military spending the president could accept was the $292 billion, in the Senate's pending version of the bill. The House bill only' includes $285 billion. The House has included five major provisions it passed earlier in its defense bill, which would: -Freeze spending on "Star Wars" research. -Continue a ban on final-stage tests pf anti-satellite weapons, -Ban for one year, starting Jan. 1, almost all U. S. nuclear weapons tests, as long as the Soviets continue to observe their self- imposed test ban. -Block production of chemical weapons, which is scheduled to,- start in fiscal 1987 for the first time since 1969. -Require continued adherence to the SALT II nuclear treaty by.-, banning spending on any weapons which would put the U. S. over. the numerical sublimits of various types of weapons in the treaty. City forms group to fight off-eampus crime By EVE BECKER The Ann Arbor City Council's Off-Campus Crime Commission met twice earlier this month and decided to focus on lighting, bus services, group housing, and *exual harassment in a renewed effort to prevent crime. The group will begin substantive discussions next week. The commission was formed last summer by City : ouncilmember Seth Hirshorn(D-Second Ward) to form an anti-crime link between the city, the University, and the community. It consists of representatives from city council, the Ann Arbor Police Department, the community, the Michigan Student Assembly, the Interfraternity Council, the Intercooperative Council(ICC), and other campus organizations. "I CAN walk down a street in the University area, and can be harassed or threatened," Hirshorn said. "The University area has its own public safety committees and departments and the city has its committees and departments. What I'm trying to do with this committee is to fill a gap and work effectively between the University and the city to identify additional services that may be needed," he added. Hirshorn said the off-campus community poses special problems for crime prevention because of the undefined boundaries between the city and the University. "THERE ARE a lot of transitional areas. The population is young and there's a lot of mobility, They're targets. It's a difficult area, because there is only so much you can do," Hirshorn said. The first topics the committee will address are extended lighting and bus service. Commission members hope to coordinate the University's Nite Owl bus service with the city's AATA system to help students safely get from on-campus locations to off-campus. The task force will provide students in off-campus housing and fraternities with public safety information, as well as educating residents about crime prevention and access to campus safety and police departments. THE COMMITTEE members were chosen by Mayor Ed Pierce, and then approvedtby city council ."Why they selected me I don't know," said Tom Easthope, University associate vice- president for student services. "What I'll bring is a point of view that has some knowledge of the University and the administrative structure." Representatives from the IFC and the Panhellenic association have not shown up for either of the meetings, Rob Sadowski, president of the ICC, said he was disappointed that the commission was emphasizing how to avoid crime rather than focusing directly on crime prevention. "I THINK that we shouldn't spend time with crime avoidance so we can talk about important stuff," said Sadowski. "I saw my role on the task force as trying not to do that. We've had people around discussing that and that's not crime prevention." "My main concern is group housing and especially sexual harassment, and alcohol-induced violence in group housing and the fraternity system, wisaid Sadowski. Soviet Union gives thanks to surviving Chernobyl heroes '1 .i4 tm 1 28K-512K $179 512K-1024K $259 128K-1024K $389 180 Day warranty ONE MV SrV/IE! PHONE 747-6629 LEAVE MESSAGE TaX legislation breezes through House MOSCOW-The Soviet Union yesterday bestowed its highest honors for heroism on three firefighters at the Chernobyl nuclear plant who battled flames at.he No. 4 reactor and prevented.a greater nuclear disaster. Two of the firefighters, Viktor Kibenok and Vladimir Pravik, died of radiation sickness. The government newspaper Izvestia printed a picture of the surviving firefighter, Maj. Leoniil, Telyatnikov, on the front page beside official decrees naming' them heroes of the Soviet Union. Telyatnikov, who was pictured in Soviet media in May with -a full head of hair, was bald in the Izvestia photograph. Radiation from Chernobyl spread across several European countries and large areas of the Soviet Union. The losses to the, Soviet economy from the disaster have been estimated by the Soviets at the equivalent of nearly $3 billion. (Continued from Page 1) associated with the bad outweigh hoped-for benefits of the good." "THIS BILL poses no threat to the economy," Rostenkowski told the House. "About the only people I haven't heard from are those people this bill does the most for - low and middle-income fa- milies. They are the men and women to whom we must make our case, no matter which way we vote." , The most striking feature is a significant reduction in tax rates. The top individual rate, now 50 percent, would drop to 33 percent, although about three-quarters of Americans would pay a flat 15 percent rate. The 46 percent maximum corporate rate would be cut to 34 percent. The bill scales back deductions for IRAs, medical expenses and job-related expenses including' union dues, and it repeals writeoffs for sales taxes and consumer interest. Non- itemizers - almost two-thirds of taxpayers - would lose their deduction for charitable gifts. The bill answers a demand for more fairness by closing off tax shelters that allow many wealthy investors to avoid the tax collector through the judicious use of big deductions. Many corporations also would lose their tax-free status. Correction If elected, Kay Orr, Nebraska's Republican gubernatorial candidate, would not- be the nation's first woman governor. The Daily incorrectly reported yesterday that she would. US aims to halt drug traffic 1~ I I I I I COOKIES ! Enjoy the game with a dozen of a Mrs. Peabody's award winning cookies. u $1.50 off a 'dozen with coupon.! Have you seen us in the November issue of Chocolatier Magazine? 761-CHIP OPEN DAILY 1227 S. UNIVERSITY I 1 715 N. UNIVERSITY TILL 11:00 P.M. COMING SOON!! j OFFER EXPIRES OCTOBER 3 ! .-----.. -........-. . -. - jazz presents WASHINGTON-Attorney General Edwin Meese said, yesterday the United States is discussing with other countries the possibility of conducting joint drug eradication ventures similar to the operation now under way in Bolivia. Meese, meeting with reporters to discuss administration efforts to stop drug trafficking internationally and within U.S. borders,' was asked whether the much-publicized Operation Blast Furnace operation, targeting clandestine cocaine laboratories in the. jungles of Bolivia, was a one-of-a-kind campaign that would not. be repeated. "I would hope that we would have similar types of operations tailored to the situation and the needs of other countries," said,' Meese, adding, "We are looking at plans in a number of countries." He said discussions .were ongoing and declined t identify the countries. ANN A RBOR *UMUUUUEUU EEUEUU COUPON *UUUEEUUUU EUUU 71 0 P M , with this entire ad $1.00 off any adult evening: r * "M" admission, including Tues. -- good thru 10/2/86. BLUE DAIL (Zii~\GIRL IN THE BLUE TWILIGT RLNTE VELVET sHOWS PICTURE Call for show times Vol. XCVI -- No. 17 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967 X) is published Monday a through Friday during the fall and winter terms. Subscription rates: September through April-$18 in Ann Arbor; $35 outside the city. One term-$10 in town; $20 outside the city. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and subscribes to Pacific News Service and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Editor in Chief....................ERIC MATTSON Associate Sports Managing Editor..........RACHEL GOTTLIEB Editors.............DAVE ARETHA News Editor............,JERRY MARKON. MARK BOROWSKY C ty Editor........................CHRISTY RIEDEL RICK KAPLAN - r'ecatures Editor....................AMY MINDELL ADAM MARTIN NEWS STAFF: Eve Becker, Melissa Birks, PIILNUSSEL, Laura Bischoff, Rebecca Blumenstein, Nancy SPORTS STAFF: Paul Dodd, Liam Flaherty,, Braiman, Marc Carrel, Harish Chand, Dov Jon Hartmann, Darren Jasey, Julie Langer, Cohen, Tim Daly, Rob Earle, Ellen Christian Martin, Eric Maxson, Greg ; Fiedelholtz, Martin Frank, Lisa Green, McDonald, Scott Miller, Greg Molzon, Jerry Stephen Gregory, Mary Chris Jaklevic, Philip Muth, Adam Ochlis, Lisa Poutans, Jeff Rush,y Levy, Michael Lustig, Kery Murakami, Peter Adam Schefter, Scott Shaffer, Pete Steinert, Oerner, Eugene Pak, Martha Sevetson, Wendy Douglas Volan. Sharp, Susanne Skubik, Naomi Wax. Business Manager.......MASON FRANKLIN Opinion Page Editor...............KAREN KLEIN Sales Manager..........DIANE BLOOM', Associate Opinion Page Finance Manager.....REBECCA LAWRENCE. Editor.................................HENRY PARK Classified Manager......GAYLA BROCKMAN' OPINION PAGE STAFF: Rosemary Ass't Sales Manager........DEBRA LEDERER Chinnock, Gayle Kirshenbaum, Peter Ass't Classified Manager..GAYLE SHAPIRO- Mooney, Caleb Southworth. DISPLAY SALES: Barb Calderoni, Irit Arts Editor......................NOELLE BROWER Elrand, Lisa Gnas, Melissa Hambrick, Alan Associate Arts Editor.......REBECCA CHUNG Heyman, Julie Kremholz, Anne Kubek, Music.................................BETH FERTIG Wendy Lewis, Jason Liss, Laura Martin, Scott" Film.................................KURT SERBUS Metcalf, Renae Morrissey, Carolyn Rands,-- Books......................SUSANNE MISENCIK Jimmey Ringel, Jacqueline Rosenburg, Julie .- - mf I I-'1I