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