Phoney Elvis says,
It was a prank'
The Michigan Daily- Friday, April 3, 1987 - Page 3
Gay rights group
holds rally on Dag
By EDWARD KLEINE
'Elvis' has been silenced.
Engineering senior Muhammad
Zafar pleaded no contest yesterday
in 15th District Court to one count
of making obscene phone calls. A
plea of no contest is the same as
pleading guilty, but the defendant's
record remains clear.
The charge against Zafar stems
from a series of phone calls he
made to LSA senior Alex Rothis
between July and October,1986.
The calls included impersonations
of Elvis Presley and renditions of
such tunes as "Hound Dog".
Judge George Alexander sche-
duled a review hearing for Oct. 9. If
ar stops making the calls during
at time, the case will be con-
sidered closed.
ZAFAR said the calls were a
"college prank" that he and a friend
played on Rothis as part of an
"Elvis summer" they were cele-
brating. Zafar and Rothis are casual
acquaintances.
Zafar said he made similar calls
b several people, but persisted with
Rothis because he was the only one
who didn't realize who was calling.
Zafar said he stopped making the
calls in late October because "I
realized I was doing a bad thing."
He said he was surprised that
Rothis decided to press charges. "It
seemed that he enjoyed those calls
. o much," he said. He said he
ould have stopped any time
Rothis had asked him to, but that
message never came.
"I feel that it's been blown out
of proportion," Zafar said. After he
was charged last December, Zafar
said, he sent Rothis a letter of
apology.
ACCORDING to Rothis,
Zafar called him nearly every day,
making sexual references and threats
of personal harm.
"He claimed he was Elvis
reborn," Rothis said. "He said that
he was in love with me, and
because he was in love with me, he
wanted to marry me. And he said
'One of us must become a woman,
and it can't be me because I'm the
King. Therefore, you must get a
sex change, and if you don't, I'll
cut your balls off myself."' Rothis
said the harrasment included calls to
his parents' house while he was
home, and threatening messages left
on his door.
"I didn't know who it was," said
Rothis. "I thought there was a
psycho out there."
Rothis said he put a tap on his
phone soon after the calls started.
He said he tried to encourage the
impersonator to call back, so the
calls could be traced.
Rothis said he didn't want to
punish Zafar. "I never really wanted
the jury trial... I wanted to do
whatever was necessary to make
him stop calling me." A jury trial-
was cancelled yesterday when
Rothis, who rejected Zafar's plea at
his pre-trial hearing Feb. 19,
decided to accept it.
By SUSANNE SKUBIK
Chanting "Equal rights now!"
about 125 University students
rallied on the Diag yesterday de -
manding the end of anti-gay
harassment on campus.
The rally, intended by organizers
to educate the University com -
munity on gay issues, was a
highpoint of Gay Awareness Week.
The week concludes with today's
"Blue Jean Day," when students are
asked to show their support for gay
rights by wearing denim.
Members of the newly-formed
Lesbian and Gay Rights on
Campus tied the issue of anti-gay
harassment with recent incidents of
racism at the University. Two
weeks ago, LaGROC members met
with University President Harold
Shapiro to ask for a regental bylaw
that would prohibit discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
"It seems these days that the
name of the game is to be white,
male, rich, and heterosexual, or as
close to that as you can get," said
Jennifer Akfirat, an LSA senior and
LaGROC member. "Every time
you get one step away from that,
somebody's out to get you."
"We need to work for a common
voice," said Akfirat, who advocates
a coalition between LaGROC and
campus anti-racist organizations.
"We're all working for a world
where we are judged not for our
gender oraour color or our
sexuality."
According to rally speakers, Blue..
Jean Day gives students both a"
chance to show support for gay
rights by wearing jeans and a,:::
chance to show anti-gay attitudes:
by wearing other clothing.
"That way, students who wear-
jeans by mistake will have to::
explain to people," said Philip,
who spoke to the crowd under a-.
psuedonym. "They'll have to say,:.
'Excuse me, I didn't mean to
support equal rights for everyone."'.
EU *PE A
Daily Photo by DARRIAN SMITH
Adrienne Neff, an LSA senior, holds a sign among 125 demonstrators in
yesterday's Gay rights rally on the Diag.
'U' partially
(Continued from Page 1)
with an advisory committee ap -
pointed by himself.
-UCAR wants a mandatory
workshop on racism and diversity
for all incoming students.
According to Director of
Orientation, Donald Perigo, officals
are considering a workshop, but no
definite plans have been made. The
office tries to teach the value of
cultural diversity during staff and
student leader training, he said.
-UCAR asked for the creation of
an orientation for minority students
to meet and talk with enrolled
minority students and faculty to
minimize feelings of isolation.
Perigo said there are three Spring
pre-orientation visitation programs
for in-state minority students.
UCAR members want this program
expanded as well as having a regular
fall minority student orientation.
-UCAR demanded full, public,
and immediate investigation of all
reported incidents of racial harass -
ment, and a mechanism set up, to
meets UCAR demands
CORRECTIONS.
The University Women's Glee Club will perform tomorrow at 8
p.m. in the Rackham lecture hall. The Daily gave an incorrect location
for the concert in a photo caption Wednesday.
Mary Reilly is the Democratic candidate for the Second Ward seat on
the Ann Arbor City Council and Terry Martin is the Republican
candidate. The Daily incorrectly identified their party affiliation yester-
day.
There have been 158 deaths from AIDS and 280 cases of the disease
in Michigan through January, 1987. The Daily gave the wrong figure
in a story yesterday.
facilitate the on-going reporting and
documentation of such incidents.
An ad hoc commission was
appointed by Shapiro to suggest
disciplinary actions against perpe -
trators of racist incidents. But Black
students want a permanent body
established.
One point of Shapiro's six-point
plan calls for the establishment of
a grievance mechanism in the Af -
firmative Action office which col -
lects data on racial incidents as well
as including a anti-racial harassment
policy in the University rules and
regualtions with specified sanc -
tions.
-UCAR called for the immediate
removal of all those involved in
Open
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540 E. LIBERTY
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incidents of racial harassment from
University housing.
University housing officials
evicted a Couzens Hall resident for
slipping a racist flier into a lounge
where a group of black women were
meeting. His name was not pub -
licized. UCAR member Barbara
Ransby, a graduate student, said
perpetrators of racist incidents
should be held publicly accountable
for their actions.
There are five UCAR demands
which the University initiatives did
not address:
-Establishment of a required
course in diversity and bigotry.
See UCAR, Page 5
9
i
i
UM News in
The Daily
764-0552
.,
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A
i
UM News in
The Daily
764-0552
Y +
magme summer '87
py our pool!
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UIIVZRSITY TOWERS
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for City Council
American Indian Law Students Association Presents
NATIVE AME RICAN
IAWDAY
Topic: Indian Education - The Reagan Years
Friday, April 3, Rm. 250, Hutchins Hall, Law School,
Ann Arbor 12:30 pm - 5:30 Reception Following, 6 - 8 pm
For more information call: 763-9044
A MAN
HEARD
WHO SHOULD BE
AT CITY COUNCIL
A MAN WHO LISTENS
When you needed someone,
a friend at City Hall, who listened?
Now you can change all that.
VOTE Monday, April 6
Republican, Third Ward
Paid for by Campbell for Council Committee P.O. Box 15054 Ann Arbor, MI 48106
DANISH
EVENTS
IN
ANN
ARBOR
Apl 9'-Aprl12" 1987
DANISH FILM FESTIVAL APRIL 11-12
ANGELL HALL AUDITORIUM A
Admission is free and the films have English subtitles
SPONSORED BY THE DANISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE AND THE DANISH FILM INSTITUTE IN COPENHAGEN
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
The Traitors 4 pm
Two young Danish men join the Germans at the beginning of World War II, and become out-
laws because they choose the wrong side. The story has strong parallels to today's youths and
their feelings of desperation, loneliness, and persecution.
Thunderbirds 7 pm
A dramatic story of two completely different characters that meet
by chance. Among other things, it is about our search for close-
ness.
A World Full of Children 9 pm
A warm and life-affirming film about the psychological prob-
lems sterility can cause in a marriage.
SUNDAY, APRIL 12
Beauty and the Beast 2 pm
A story of the unrequited love a father feels for his daughter at
the point where she changes from being 'Daddy's little girl' to a
H V
1
l
--- a-wK_______