Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
Vol. XCVIII, No. 119 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Monday, March 28, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily
GEO plans to
protest taxable
tuition waivers
Jackson
wins
55%
By SHEALA DURANT
The Graduate Employees'
Organization is urging teaching and
research assistants not to pay their
March tuition bills in protest of new
tax laws, which make graduate tu-
ition waivers taxable.
Under the new code, TAs must
pay 15 percent of their tuition waiver
in taxes. Three-quarters of the tax
(about $350) is due on this month's
tuition bill, and unpaid taxes can re-
sult in hold credits and late fees.
The TAs have developed what
Kruizenga calls a "two-pronged at-
tack." First, they will lobby
Congress to pass two new tax bills
to reinstate a tax-free tuition waiver
- Senate bill S-39 and House bill
Sec. 127.
THE GEO also has suggested
three ways to get around the waivers:
-To lower the taxes TAs would
pay, the GEO has suggested the
University charge all TAs in-state
tuition. Michigan State University,
the University of Illinois, the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, and the Uni-
versity of Iowa have adopted this
plan.
-The University also could in-
crease wages to make up the differ-
ence for the tax TAs have to pay.
Cornell, Harvard, California Institute
of Technology, and Purdue have
similar plans.
-The University could also make
the tuition waiver tax-free by re-
haming it as a fellowship. North-
western and Stanford have similar
policies.
TAS EARN an average of
$45Q-650 per month, said GEO
steering committee member Meg
Kruizenga.
Kruizenga said in the past, a tu-
ition waiver of up to $5,250 could be
tax-free, but now TAs can be taxed
on the entire amount of their tuition
waivers.
"Everybody got a big whammy
with their tuition bill this month,"
Kruizenga said.
"The University knew as of July
'87 that this was going to be a prob-
lem and they did nothing until this
semester, and what they did was bill
the students," she said.
BOTH the GEO and government
officials from Michigan and across
the country are working to reinstate
employee educational assistance, ex-
cluding from taxation tuition paid by
employers on behalf of the employ-
ees.
The state of Michigan has taken
the lead in supporting the proposed
tuition bills, said Tom Butts, the
University's official lobbyist in
Washington.
Michigan is the only state with
all its senators and representatives co-
sponsoring the bills to reinstate Em-
ployee Educational Assistance, Butts
said.
IN ADDITION, he said, "The
University has been dong everything
possible to get the legislation
changed."
If the new tax bills are not passed,
TAs will continue to be taxed on tu-
ition waivers.
But if the bills pass, the tax-free
waiver would become a permanent
part of the law and would be retroac-
tive to January 1, 1988, so the TAs
See GEO, Page 2
of Mic
By MICHAEL LUSTIG
with wire reports
Rev. Jesse Jackson scored a major
victory in Saturday's Michigan cau-
cuses, receiving nearly twice as
many votes as his rival, Mas-
sachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Jackson won ten of Michigan's
18 districts and an outright majority
- about 55 percent - of the popu-
lar vote. His percentage translates
into 61 delegates, according to the
Associated Press.
Dukakis got 28 percent of the
vote and 43 delegates, AP reported.
The state Democratic Party will an-
nounce the official delegate counts
today.
IN WASHTENAW County,
Jackson won with 7,871 votes,
compared to 4,222 votes for
Dukakis. The other candidates
received marginal support.
In some districts around Detroit,
Jackson received more than 90 per-
cent of the vote, even though Detroit
0
higan
Mayor Coleman Young had endorsed
Dukakis.
Jackson's margin of victory sur-
prised many. "Most people did ex-
pect (the vote) to be closer," Washt-
enaw County Democratic Party
Chair Suzanne Shaw said.
SHE attributed Jackson's success
to organization. "The Jackson cam-
paign did a good job in getting the
vote out," Shaw said.
Nancy Driscoll, an LSA senior
and co-chair of the University chap-
ter of the Dukakis campaign, agreed
that Jackson's ability to mobilize
voters helped defeat Dukakis. :
"Maybe it's not so bad in the
long run," Driscoll said. She said
voters now recognize Jackson as a
viable contender, and people who
object to Jackson will mobilize for
Dukakis. Driscoll said she still ex-
pects Dukakis to win the nomina-
tion.
BUT GRADUATE student
Dean Baker, a leader of the Jackson
votes
campaign on campus, disagreed on
Dukakis's future. "(The vote)
showed that we really have a
powerful movement," he said. "It
overcame Dukakis's money and the
efforts of the press to trivialize
Jackson's campaign."
Baker said the question now is
whether or not Jackson can put to-
gether enough delegates to win the
party nomination, and if the party
will support his nomination at this
summer's Democratic convention.
The Massachusetts governor re-
mained close to Jackson in the na-
tional delegate race by winning Sat-
urday's North Dakota caucuses.
Dukakis won five of 15 delegates at
stake in North Dakota.
RICHARD Gephardt, a
University Law School alumnus and
Missouri representative, finished a
distant third in Michigan with 13
percent of the vote and 22 delegates.
He had been hoping for a campaign
See Jackson, Page 2
Jackson
NATIONAL DELEGATE COUNT
Michael Dukakis
Jesse Jackson
Albert Gore
Richard Gephardt
Paul Simon
uncommitted
596.55
584.55
362.8
178
171.5
371.6
source: AP
Michigan cr-UNC-hed
LaGroc sponsors Gay
Awareness Week
By JIM PONIEWOZIK
Students will have to re-evaluate
their beliefs about homosexuality
this week if Lesbian and Gay Aware-
ness Week, sponsored by the Lesbian
and Gay Rights Organizing
Committee (LaGROC), is success-
ful.
"Hopefully, the events of this
week will show people that gay peo-
ple are people and deserve rights,"
LaGROC leader and LS A senior
Carol Wayman said yesterday.
LaGROC leader and LSA junior
Alicia Lucksted said the group has
two intentions in sponsoring the
events: to draw public attention to
gay rights and to feature cultural
achievements of the gay community.
LaGROC has scheduled movies and
live performances by lesbian and gay
artists.
THE FIRST major event of the
week will be a rally at noon today on
the Diag, featuring speakers from
LaGROC and the University's Les-
bian/Gay Male Programs Office.
The rally, Lucksted said, is in-
tended to reach students who might
not otherwise participate in the
week's events. "It's a way of taking
Awareness Week to the public," she
said. "We're trying to reach out to
people who don't know much about
the issues."
The week's events will be con-
cerned primarily with the "broader
issues" of gay rights, but will also
touch on specific issues such as
AIDS and the drive to. a m e n d
University anti-discrimination bylaw
14.06 to include sexual orientation.
"THE BROADEST issue is
the general atmosphere (toward gays
and lesbians) on campus," said
Lucksted, who added she believes the
atmosphere has worsened over the
past several years because of
increasingly conservative attitudes
among Americans.
LaGROC members will also run
an information booth in the Fish-
bowl tomorrow for students with
questions about LaGROC.
The week will be capped off with
a "Blue Jeans Day" on Friday. La-
GROC is asking that students in fa-
vor of gay rights demonstrate their
support by wearing denim and that
students opposed to gay rights indi-
cate so by not wearing denim.
L UCKST ED said denim was
chosen as the medium for the gay
rights debate because the vast
majority of students wear denim
every day. Therefore, she said,
students who would rather ignore the
issue will have to consider their
stances on gay rights.
"Denim in general is so ridicu-
lously prevalent on this campus it
forces people to really make a
choice," Lucksted said.
Wayman said the group polled
students on Blue Jeans Day last year
and found that 40 percent of the stu-
dents aware of the event purposely
avoided wearing denim.
78-69
Tar Heels
" i
eliminate
'M'from
tourneyr
By PETE STEINERT
Special to the Daily
SEATTLE - During Friday
night's post-game press conference,
Michigan's Terry Mills stared into
his drinking cup. Nothing was left.
The Wolverines' season went dry
following their 78-69 loss to North
Carolina in the West Regional semi-
finals at the Seattle Kingdome. It
marked the second consecutive year
that the Tarheels eliminated Michi-
gan from the NCAA tournament.
"They keep surprising me," North
Carolina coach Dean Smith said
simply of his young squad's ad-
vancement to yesterday's West Re-
gional final.
"We don't have any excuses,"
Michigan coach Bill Frieder said.
"We played them, and they beat us,
They're an excellent team, and it's
about as simple as that."
The Wolverines' bid for a Final
Four berth went down the drain the
same day the Big Ten's other two
remaining teams, Purdue and Iowa,
did. Michigan finished the season
with a 26-8 record, two wins short of
the school record.
Like their seven previous losses
this year, the Wolverines' shaky
interior defense and their lack of
depth opened the floodgates for North
Carolina.
Reminiscent of earlier season per-
formances by Syracuse's Rony
Seikaly and Purdue's Melvin Mc-
Cants, the Tarheels' J.R. Reid and
Scott Williams sank Michigan with
See Tar Heels, Page 9
Photo by BRAD MILLS
Rumeal Robinson drives past North Carolina's Steve Bucknall in the first half of Friday night's 78-69 Michigan
loss; Robinson's 29 points weren't enough to prevent the Tar Heels from eliminting the Wolverines from tour-
nament play for the second year in a row.
Frieder shws interest in
coaching vacnyat Texas
The following is a list of events for Lesbian and Gay Awareness Week. For further
information contact the Lesbian/Gay Male Programs Office at 763-4186.
Monday, March 28
-LaGROC information booth,
Fishbowl, 10:00 a.m. - noon.
-Kick-off rally, Diag, noon.
-Gay rap, Kuenzel Room, Michigan
Union, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
-Fundraisina benefit. Blind Pia. 9:30
'Lesbian/Gay Male Program Office
brown bag lunch, noon -1:00 p.m.
ATalk to Us, 7:00 p.m., Aud. B,
Angell Hall.
-Talent Show, Law School Lounge,
8:00 p.m.
Th..raa ...r.. !2
By STEVE BLONDER
Michigan basketball coach Bill Frieder has contacted
the University of Texas about the Longhorns' head
coaching job, according to members of the U-T athletic
department.
Texas Assistant Athletic Director Craig Helwig said
vt....r- 'ur nl-d W i cArl.vcA inrn, nn hAnnt
Michigan Athletic Director Don Canham, who is Frank and mMy enteaine
staying at his vacation home in Naples, Fla., was rat-packed Joe Louis crowd Fria
quoted in yesterday's Detroit Free Press as saying he night, even as their eoic
hadn't heard from either Frieder or officials at Texas. third.-- DeansMartin was ab-
"I'd think (Texas) would contact me if they were sn
talking to Frieder," Canham said. ARTS?ag
k'1