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Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. IC, - No. 133 Ann Arbor, Michigan -- Thursday, April 13, 1989 Copyright 1989, The Michigan Daily
Victors
visit the
White
House
WASHINGTON (AP) - Saying
"hail to the victors" and neatly sink-
ing a free throw in the Rose Garden,
President Bush yesterday honored the
University of Michigan for winning
the NCAA basketball championship.
"Today America is talking, and
they're talking about you all, and
your incredible championship, and
they're calling it Wolverine wonder,
or the Michigan Miracle, or basket-
ball's impossible dream," Bush said
during the White House ceremony.
"The 1989 Wolverines indeed had it
all, depth and quickness, shooting
and intelligence, and that strength of
character which embody the cham-
pion."
The team arrived in the capital
Wednesday morning and immediately
set out on a tour of the city aboard
an orange and green bus designed to
look like a trolley
The Wolverines won the NCAA
basketball championship April 3,
See Team, Page 2
Students
demand
to
'U'
action against
racist fliers
BY DIMA ZALATIMO
University student leaders will be looking for ac-
tion, not rhetoric, when they meet with administrators
tonight to discuss recent racist incidents on campus.
The students will meet with the newly-formed Task
Force on Safety and Security, which is made up of
administrators, students, faculty, and staff.
"I anticipate to find out exactly what the adminis-
tration intends to do about these racial incidents," said
Black Student Union President Chris Jones, a Business
School senior. "I don't have time to hear the adminis-
tration just condemning racial incidents. I would like
to see a concrete plan."
Tonight's meeting, at 6 p.m. in the Michigan
Union Ballroom, will be an open discussion between
students and the administration. Provost and Vice
President for Academic Affairs Charles Vest will attend
the meeting, but Music School Dean Paul Boylan, the
chair of the task force, will be out of town. Several
student organizations recognized by MSA were invited
to the meeting.
United Coalition Against Racism member Pam
Nadasen said UCAR will demand that the University
increase security at targets of racial violence, such as
the Baker-Mandela Center.
Nadasen, an LSA senior, said UCAR will also
propose long-term plans for changing the racially in-
tolerant atmosphere on campus. She said this plan
would include increasing the number of minority stu-
dents and faculty at the University.
"Things will only change when this ceases to be a
white, elitist University," Nadasen said.
"We want basically the same things UCAR wants,"
said LSA senior Dina Khoury, the president of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Khoury said ADC will demand a required class to edu-
cate students about other cultures and ethnicities.
LSA senior David Austin, a member of the Latin
American Solidarity Committee, said he was not
hopeful about the outcome of tonight's meeting be-
cause the administration has refused to take concrete
action in the past.
"Everything that is going on underscores the need
for anti-racisteducation, specifically the graduation re-
quirement," he said.
LSA junior Daxa Patel, a member of the Indian and
Pakistani-American Students' Council, said she would
like to see the administration reach out to more
minority students. Patel said she will propose that the
administration meet regularly with minority students.
"This shouldn't be a one time meeting," she said.
Michigan guard Rumeal Robinson talks yesterday with Vice President Dan Quayle and President George Bush in the
White House Rose Garden. Looking on is coach Steve Fisher. The Wolverines were invited to visit with the President
after defeating Seton Hall to win the national championship.
U,
to duplicate fusion experiment
BY NOELLE SHADWICK
University researchers, skeptical of
recent experiments that may show that
nuclear fusion of atoms can be produced
without using excessively high
temperatures or pressures, will attempt
to duplicate the experiment themselves
som'etime next week.
Two research teams will work to
verify the findings of University of Utah
and Brigham Young University
researchers who claim they can cause
deuterium - a hydrogen isotope found
in the sea- to fuse together at room
temperature.
Some scientists say such "cold"
fusion, if proven, could make a radical
change in the way we use energy. But
other researchers said the findings could
mean "absolutely nothing."
Fusion is the activity which occurs
in the sun, producing the heat which
warms the earth. In a normal fusion
reaction, two deuterium atoms combine
and produce large amounts of energy in
the form of helium.
In order to create fusion, scientists
must be able to make the charged deu-
terium atoms come close enough
together to overcome their opposite
charges. In the past, scientists have
focused on creating fusion at high
temperatures.
But the Utah researchers claim that
by combining platinum and palladium
in a container filled with deuterium, and
then applying an electrical charge, they
were able to produce an excess heat
which they say is evidence of fusion.
Other scientists, however, are not
sure whether the energy is the result of
"cold" fusion or of natural chemical
reactions.
Both the results of the University of
Utah and Brigham Young University
"show very marginal kind of measure-
ments in the neutron field," said
University Nuclear Engineering Prof.
Glen Knoll.
Neutrons are critical to the
determination of whether energy
produced by the experiment is the result
of fusion or of a chemical reaction,
Knoll said, because there is "almost no
other mechanism in which neutrons are
released other than nuclear reactions."
Gamma radiation and tritium - an-
other hydrogen isotope - are also pro-
duced by the fusion.
If "cold fusion" works, it means
chemical reactions might in fact be able
to change a nuclear reaction.
"One has every right to be
skeptical," Knoll said, "but we are
hopeful, and it would be an absolute
revolution if this is proven."
Two researchers, Eshel Ben-Jacob
and Peter Garick, declined comment
because it is "too early" to talk about
their experiment.
The new technique would provide an
inexpensive way to create fusion,
Physics Prof. Fred Becchtti said at a
fusion colloquium at the Dennison
Building yesterday. However, the
technique poses some unique problems.
In the University of Utah
experiments, the scientists used
concentrated samples of deuterium
See Fusion, Page 2
Arthur Ashe speaks
to men's tennis team
'U' eases religious
conflicts with finals
BY ERIC LEMONT
If you think your tennis game is
good enough so you can leave col-
lege and become the next Arthur
Ashe, think again.
Ashe, a former NCAA and U.S.
Open champion, visited the Michi-
gan men's tennis team yesterday to
talk about the relationship between
collegiate and professional tennis.
"Colleges are the minor leagues
of tennis," Ashe said. "It lets players
have a free peek at how good they
really are."
Ashe emphasized the difficulty in
making the move from college to
pro tennis. He said he has seen too
many players attend college for a
year or two and then think they are
good enough to play pro tennis.
Eventually, he explained, they
become fringe players. "Twenty-nine
years old, no college degree, 30 to
40 thousand dollars in the bank.
What are your options? In general, I
just say... if you're not ranked in the
top 100, you're taking a big
chance."
Having made what he considers "a
successful transition from profes-
sional tennis to civilian life," Ashe
said he feels comfortable in his role
as national spokesperson for the
Volvo Tennis/Collegiate series. By
visiting universities nationwide, he
emphasizes the need to upgrade all
aspects of college tennis.
Ashe, the first Black tennis player
to win both the U.S. Open and
Wimbledon, also commented on
discrimiration he has seen in both
the collegiate and professional ranks.
He remembers his first year at
UCLA, when an Orange County
tennis club invited everyone on the
team except himself to participate in
a fall tournament. Although invited
the next year, "I politely told them
to take your invitation and stuff it,"
he said.
Today, Ashe is confused as to
why two American Tennis Profes-
sionals tournaments are being held
in Capetown and Johannesburg,
South Africa, at a time when the to-
See Ashe, Page 2
BY JOSH MITNICK
Students concerned about final
exams conflicting with religious
holidays may not have to choose an
exam over honoring the holiday.
Charles Vest, University provost
and vice president for academic af-
fairs, sent a letter to faculty mem-
bers asking that alternative dates be
arranged for students who have reli-
gious conflicts with final examina-
tions.
This year's final examinations -
scheduled from April 21-28 - fall
on the Jewish holiday of Passover
and during the Islamic holy month
of Ramadan.
"The point of the letter is to re-
quest sensitivity on the part of fac-
ulty so students fulfilling religious
obligations are not penalized or dis-
advantaged," said Kay Dawson, as-
sistant to Vest.
Vest was unavailable for com-
ment.
In past years, administration offi-
cials have made similar requests to
faculty. Dawson said there has been
an "informal tradition" of requesting
that these conflicts be resolved.
However, no formal policy ad-
dressing religious/academic conflicts
exists.
LSA sophomore David Siegal
said he had a final scheduled during
the last two days of Passover, and
the conflict was resolved without
problem.
LSA junior Debbie Bodin said the
conflict with Passover and the end of
gious holjday without penalty."
Brooks said in every case where
Hillel has been contacted about a
conflict - by either Jewish or non-
Jewish students - there has been a
satisfactory resolution.
Biology Department Chair
Charles Yocum said it has been left
up to the faculty to make accommo-
dations for students. "Dean Steiner
has sent out similar memoranda at
the beginning of the academic year
reminding staff to be sensitive to re-
ligious conflicts," he said.
Great Books Prof. H.D. Cameron
said students who have conflicts
with his final scheduled for April 21,
the second day of Passover, will be
able to take the exam the following
Sunday.
Cameron said making the ac-
commodation did not present much
of a problem. "It has not been a sig-
nificant inconvenience," he said. "It
has been fairly easy to do."
LIZ STEKETEDaiIY
Tennis star Arthur Ashe speaks to the men's tennis team at the Track
and Tennis Building yesterday.
Bush calls for ban on contributions by PAC
S
WASHINGTON, (AP) - Presi-
dent Bush urged a ban on campaign
contributions by political action
committees and said he opposed fed-
eral financing of congressional races
yesterday as he unveiled proposals to
tighten ethical rules for Congress,
judges and the executive branch.
embraced in a legislative proposal he
sent to Congress or an executive or-
der he signed during the day.
Suggesting a major change in the
way congressional campaigns are fi-
nanced, Bush called for a halt to
campaign contributions from politi-
cal action committees, which
-... . - . . _. , « a -__,.
Aside from the $156 million in
direct contributions, PACs spent
$6.8 million to help specific con-
gressional candidates, but the money
went for such expenses as television
commercials and mailings with
nothing going directly into the can-
didates' campaign treasuries, accord-
funds to personal use, as is permitted
for anyone who held office before
1980.
In a question and answer session
with the editors, Bush said he has
given "a full accounting" of his role
int he Reagan administration's secret
program to supply the Contra rebels