Ninety-nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. IC, No. Ann Arbor, Michigan- Tuesday, September 27, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily
Groups
BY MICHELLE NELLETT
AND DAVID SCHWARTZ
A variety of student groups have banded together to
combat student voter apathy and make a potentially
powerful student voice better recognized - through a
grass-roots voter registration drive.
"Seventy percent of U of M students didn't vote in
the last election," said Sasha Heid, a member of the
Public Interest Research Group in Michigan and
Rackham graduate student.
"Students have a lot to say, but they don't vote -
without a vote, there is no impact."
PIRGIM is just one organization involved in a
campus and nation-wide drive to increase student voter
participation in time for the upcoming elections on
Nov. 8. The Michigan Student Assembly, the Ann
Arbor League of Women Voters, and the University
College Republicans and Democrats are among the
urge
students
to
vote
groups that have joined forces to bring students to the
polls.
IN THE1984 presidential election, less than half
the people between 18 and 24 were registered to vote,
said Catherine Crane, director of the National Student
Campaign for Voter Registration.
Crane said students are as underrepresented in
government as senior citizens - and stressed that by
voting students can get involved in the democratic
process.
"The sense that I get is that a lot of people want to
register (to vote) but don't want to go to the Secretary
of State's office to do it," said LSA junior Roger
Kosson, who is in charge of the student voter
registration effort for the University College
Democrats.
UNIVERSITY students can register to vote in
several places, including any Secretary of State office
or the Ann Arbor City Clerk's Office, located on the
second floor of City Hall. In addition, a coalition of
student groups on campus now has more than 90
deputy registrars who are trained to register other
students, said MSA External Affairs Committee Chair
Zachary Kittrie.
But this coalition will have to work quickly.
Between now and Oct. 10 - the registration deadline
for the November elections - student groups will try
to register as many students as possible at tables in the
fishbowl, dorms, and the MLB, Kittrie said.
These registrars are also trained to switch
registration from students' home towns to Ann Arbor.
THE CONCERN about low student participation
appears to be widespread among student groups. Kittrie
said the coalition of student organization is aiming to
register 5000 new voters by Oct. 10. "Our goal is for
the student voice to really ring loudly," he said.
Kittrie said over 1000 students have already been
registered through the efforts of student groups.
Ann Arbor City Clerk Winifred Northcross said
more students have registered at the Clerk's Office this
year than in past years, attributing much of the increase
of the change to the presidential election.
Kelly Row, a consultant for the Michigan
Collegiate Coalition - a group which lobbies for
students' rights - said legislators are less likely to
seriously consider student concerns if students don't
vote.
"The legislators make decisions that effect (students)
every day on higher education," she said. "We need
input on why decisions are made and how."
"It's very important that the student body as a whole
gets out to vote," said Larry Jazinsky, president of the
University College Republicans. "They're the ones
who are going out to look for jobs, and if the economy
is good, they'll have a better chance of getting a good
job."
ssc
collides
with local
opposition
JOHN MUNSON/Daily
"I think with all the tuition
we're paying they should do something (about the heat)," said LSA sophmore Mechele Edwards.
Heat- forces class into hallway
BY JONATHAN SCOTT
Hundreds of supporters and oppo-
nents of building a $ 4.4 billion Su-
perconducting Super Collider near
Stockbridge - an area between Ann
Arbor and Lansing - converged on.
the community of 1,200 residents
yesterday in an attempt to.rgauge
public opinion of the project.
Michigan is officially listed
amoung six other state finalists vy-
ing for the 53-mile U.S. Department
of Energy project, which will be an-
nounced in November. Unofficially,
Michigan is rumored to be sharing
the inside track to the SSC with only
Texas and Illinois.
Yet, instead of meeting a large
majority of supportive area residents
- as polls had predicted - DOE of-
ficials walked into dozens of com-
munity protestors just outside
Stockbridge High School, the site of
the hearings.
Once inside, DOE, local and na-
tional government officials experi-
enced what appeared to be a dramatic
shift in community opinion regard-
ing the high-tech project.
In June, a University Institute of
Social Research poll indicated a clear
majority of area residents supported
building the proposed underground
oval track in Stockbridge and sur-
rounding communities.
But several area residents said the
poll was taken before local groups in
opposition to the project had mobi-
lized.
"The poll takers and media got
here way before most residents even
knew what SSC was about," Munith
resident Chuck Hoopes said.
"The tide is turning," added
Stockbridge resident and protest br-
ganizer Jan Vorndran.
A DOE informational release ad-
vertised the public hearings as a
chance for community residents to
raise any questions or concerns they
have regarding a recently released
government Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS).
The in-depth EIS report explores
many potential effects related to the
actual operation of the SSC.
The SSC, designed to study the
nature of matter and energy, would
send sub-atomic particles whirling
around the 53 mile track at nearly
light speed.
But instead of addressing com-
munity concerns, DOE officials
"stacked the deck," local Craig Chit-
tle said, allowing at least six SSC
proponents in the first hour to
"promote the Stockbridge site."
This prompted many locals to
leave early.
"I came here to hear what my
See SSC, Page 5
BY KELLY GAFFORD
Poor ventilation and excessive
heat in an East Quad classroom drove
a Residential College Spanish teacher
to tell her 9 a.m. class to take their
exams in the hall outside the room
yesterday in an attempt to get results
from the RC administration.
Carmen Mito, the teacher who
staged the protest, has been com-
plaining about improper heating
conditions at 124 East Quad which
have existed for about a year. "I have
talked to the offices for about a year
and since then I have heard no re-
sponse," said Mito.
Although the RC administration
suggested she move her classes to a
new room last year, she declined the
offer because room 124 is the largest
and most convenient room in the
college, making it easier for her and
other faculty members to use the
projector and video equipment.
"There are no windows in the
room and students come dressed for
winter, but when they arrive to class
they must take everything off be-
cause it is too hot," said Mito.
The heat makes it extremely diffi-
cult for teachers to teach and for the
students to concentrate. Often, stu-
dents start falling asleep in the early
morning classes held in the room,
said Mito.
"I think with all the tuition we're
paying, they should do something,
because it's extremely distracting,"
said Mechele Edwards, an RC
sophomore and Mito's student.
But RC Interim Director Herbert
Eagle said, "We're not the people
See Heat, Page 2
U.S. to modify Gulf watch'
NEW YORK (AP) - Citing the
Iran-Iraq cease-fire agreement, the
Reagan administration said yesterday
it will end America's ship-escorting
operation in the Persian Gulf while
maintaining a presence there.
President Reagan's decision to
terminate the close-quarter convoying
of neutral commercial ships came
after U.S. officials reviewed how the
Aug. 20 cease-fire was working, said
White House spokesperson Marlin
Fitzwater.
The move substantially lowers the
U.S. profile in the troubled waters
nearly three months after a U.S.
Navy Aegis cruiser shot down an
Iranian civilian airliner with 290
people on board. The United States
said it regretted the accident, and
officials have been weighing a
program to compensate relatives of
the victims.
Talking to reporters aboard Air
Force One while Reagan flew to New
York from Washington, Fitzwater
said the administration decided to
relax the Persian Gulf sea-lane
policing operation only after
"consulting with allies and friends in
the region."
Fitzwater said it would take a few
days to revamp the U.S. military
presence in the region. He said there
would be no formal announcement
when that takes place.
In effect, the United States will
replace its close-quarter escorting of
commercial ships with a sort of
arms-length surveillance operation.
The formation was likened by U.S.
officials to a "zone" coverage of
shipping rather than a "man-to-man"
coverage.
The analogy to a kind of coverage
used in football means that U.S.
ships will watch selected areas of the
gulf for trouble, rather than focusing
the protective operation on individual
vessels.
In a speech to the United Nations
General Assembly, Reagan said the
world can feel "the uplift of hope" in
the gulf war, which he called "one of
the bloodiest conflicts since World
War I."
i
Steroids
found in
sprinter
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -
Canadian Olympic champion Ben
Johnson tested positive for anabolic
Mz steroids after breaking the world
o record in the 100-meter dash, the
International Olympic Committee's
medical commission said today.
} hh.< ~. xt Johnson's manager said it was a
mistake or sabotage.
Dr. Gustavo Tuccimei, president
of the Italian Sports Doctors
Association and a member of the
medical commission, said the IOC
executive board was given the test
;~...results late Monday night and was
to decide today what action to take.
"The only thing we can say at
this stage is that it is a tragedy, a
mistake or a sabotage," Johnson's
manager, Larry Heiderbrecht, said.
"Up to five days before the race,
Ben was in perfect condition.
Something has happened in those
days.
Group asks police to
halt discrimination
BY LISA WINER
Members of an Anti-Violence
Discrimination Task Force called for
equal protection under the law for gay
males and lesbians along with sensi-
tivity training for Ann Arbor police
at a meeting yesterday with Police
men were yelling insults of sexual
orientation.
A witness to another assault al-
leged that a police officer was enraged
when she touched him because he
was afraid he would contract AIDS.
The task force demanded the police
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