Voum XVII ' o.5dopriht197,Th Mchga Dil
Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
/olume XCVII I - No. 25 Ann Arbor Michigan - Wednesday, October 14, 1987 Copyright 1987, The Michigan Daily
MSA settles
funding for
PIRGIM
By ANDREW MILLS
The Michigan Student Assembly
hammered out the details of a
contract between the assembly and
PIRGIM, an environmental
lobbying group on campus. The
contract, which passed with
amendments by a 20 to 3 vote, puts
to rest the controversial issue of
student funding of the Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan
The contract details how students
will obtain a refund of the 75 cents
each student is assessed at
registration. The agreement was
worked out by Physical Education
representative Shawn Wistrom, in
cooperation with PIRGIM officials.
It also details how the lobbying
group's campus governing board
will be elected, and what financial
obligations the two groups have.
For example, if the assembly is sued
because of its ties to PIRGIM, the
lobbying group will cover all
.subsequent legal fees.
The issue debated last night was
not one of PIRGIM funding - it
has already been settled that the
group will get money from each
student, subject to refund - but one
of contractual details.
"The main obligation of the
assembly," Wistrom said, "is to
make this fair for students."
Assembly President Ken Weine,
who ceded the chair to Vice President
Rebecca Felton so he could get
involved in discussion, amended the
contract to subject PIRG IM
elections to the MSA election code.
This amendment changes the
original intention of the contract,
which would have allowed the group
to run their own elections, but only
under MSA's supervision.
Wendy Seiden, PIRGIM board
member, disagreed with Weine's
amendment. "In a small M S A
without all the members there, they
just succeded in not only taking
away PIRGIM's autonomy as an
organization, but, with Ken's
amendment, they've changed the
nature of the organization itself."
See MSA, Page 5
Daily Photo by SCOTT ITUCHY
African speaker
Shuping Coapoge, a representative of the African National Congress, discusses Apartheid and freedom of South Africa on the Diag. Ap-
proximately 60 students, FSACC members, abd UCAR members listened to the hour-long speech. See Story, Page 3.
Dutch author teaches
Americans to write
By MICHAEL LUSTIG
Thomas Rosenboom, the University's "writer-in-
residence" from Holland, had never flown on a plane
and had never taught a class when he accepted the one-
year position here. A prominent Dutch author with a
novel being made into a movie in Holland, Rosen-
boom is now training himself to teach Americans how
to write.
Rosenboom was raised in Arnhem, Holland, and
studied psychology at the University of Nijmegen. He
Profil*e
then went to Amsterdam - "That's what everybody
does; goes to Amsterdam," - where he studied litera-
ture at the University of Amsterdam. He didn't begin
writing until he was 22.
He is well-known in Dutch literary circles, and has
published "quite a lot of short stories," a novel, other
collections of short stories, a play, and children's sto-
ries. His writings are reviewed often, and he gives
many interviews - "but success makes you modest,"
he said. -
While sitting casually in a chair in his sparsely dec-
orated office in the MLB, Rosenboom does comes
across as a modest person. Teaching, he said, is a for-
eign experience compared to his life as a writer: "It is
not so egocentric as the life of a professional writer."
Germanic Languages chair Alan Kyes said the idea
for the writer-in-residence program was initiated by a
Dutch poet six or seven years ago. The German de-
partment began working with the Dutch Ministry of
Culture, which helps fund the program and gives
stipends to the writers. Kyes said several other univer-
sities, including the University of California at Berke-
ley and the University of Minnesota, host Dutch writ-
ers-in-residence annually.
Past participants include poets, writers, and a film
director. Last year's writer-in-residence, Renata
Dorstein, is a Dutch feminist writer and is editor of the
Dutch equivalent to Ms. magazine. "They are not pro-
fessors, nor have they been on faculties of any other
university," Kyes said. "I've been pleased with the
program and the participants since its beginning."
The writer-in-residence does not instruct writing
fundamentals, Kyes said, but runs the class as a work-
shop in creative writing. The German department also
helps the writers adjust to life in Ann Arbor with ori-
entation programs.
See WRITER, Page 2
Iranian
missile
strikes
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A
missile fired from Iran exploded at an
elementary school yesterday morning
as pupils filed into the building for
classes, killing. 32 people and
wounding 218, .early all of them
children, officials said.
Sharpnel, shattered concrete, and
shards of glass flew through the
playground of the Monument of
Martyrs school, witnesses said.
Textbooks and schoolbags lay
strewn about.
The force of the explosion blew
down parts of the building, Principal
Ismael Ghetan Jassim said, but
"Thank God it didn't hit the
classrooms complex itself o r
casualties would have been much
higher."
Neighbors said 12 members of
one family were killed in the house
on which the missile made a direct
hit.
Baghdad radio said the missile de-
stroyed 16 other buildings in the
heavily populated area when it struck
just five minutes before the school
bell, but only three of those killed
were adults. All but 22 of the
wounded were children, the radio
said.
It was the fourth Iranian missile
to strike the Iraqi capital since Oct.
4, the first to cause major casualties.
It spurred fears of a new round of the
War of the Cities that killed
thousands of people on both sides in
its seven years of existence.
INSIDE
State to
sponsor
satellite
network
By STEVEN TUCH
Third in a three part series
The State of Michigan has
appropriated $6 million dollars to-
ward the development of a state-wide
satellite network in order to attract,
retain, and effectively use talented.
engineers in its industry.
SThe Michigan Information Tech-
nology Network will provide
Michigan industry with education,
training, and the fruits of university
researchi. The University of Michi-
gan, Michigan State University,
Michigan Technological University,
and Wayne State University will all
participate in the program.
All four are equipped with the
graduate-level engineering programs
ani iiORtn-,ahltynr.Pc t
Daily Photo by DANA MENDELSSOHN
Thomas Rosenboom, the German department's "writer-in-residence",
writes stories when he is not teaching. Rosenboom had never taught a
class or flown in a plane until he accepted the position at the University.
Costa Rican president
~rcives Nobel Prize
recei)UVes Nobel Prize .
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Pres-
ident Oscar Arias of Costa Rica won
the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for a
Central American peace plan that he
fashioned and persuaded the region's
other leaders to adopt.
Selection of Arias was a surprise,
and unusual because the choice was
based at least partially on
accomplishments after nominations
closed Feb. 1. There were 93
candidates, including 15 organ-
izations.
President Reagan, who has called
the Arias plan "fatally flawed," said
yesterday: "President Arias fully
deserves the Peace Prize for having
started the Central American region
on the road to peace."
The Norwegian parliament's
Nobel Committee cited Arias, as
"the main architect" of the plan the
five Central American presidents
signed Aug. 7 and are now putting
into effect..
Committee Chairman Egil
Arias
... wins Nobel Peace Prize
but for Central America, where 25
million human beings deserve to
live in peace, with optimism, with
some hope of progress," he said,
speaking in English.
CIA covert actions are unjustified.
See OPINION, Page 4
"Cinecism" explores the deeper
meaning of The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre.
See ARTS, Page 7
i