I
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 6, 1989 - Page 3
Hotline to monitor racial incidents
by Jennifer Hiri
Daily Staff Writer
To combat recent claims of po-
lice brutality, the United Coalition
Against Racism will set up a racism
hotline next semester which students
can call when they witness racist ac-
tivity.
UCAR's Police Brutality Com-
mittee came up with the idea for a
hotline in order to provide students
an opportunity to discuss incidents
of racial discrimination by police.
"Once a term we hear about one,
or maybe two cases of racial harass-
ment on campus, while other cases
are isolated or ignored," said UCAR
member Pam Nadasen. "Hopefully
the hotline will be able to change
the concept of isolating racial dis-
crimination."
The University will not be the
only college offering a telephone
hotline service. Two years ago, the
University of Wisconsin established
a hotline that provides counseling
for students who have either been
discriminated against or have wit-
nessed any situation involving racial
discrimination.
Wisconsin's hotline evolved from
a group of students who held discus-
sion groups regarding the American
Pictures Film, a slide show by Jacob
Holdt that presents problems with
social values of the country.
The 31 volunteers who work
with the Wisconsin hotline have
been trained for counseling and are
expected to act as sounding boards
for the callers. The volunteers do not
offer advice; rather, they strive to
target questions so that callers can
come up with their own solutions.
The volunteers also offer referrals
to other groups on campus that may,
be of some assistance, such as the
Black Student Union and the Anti-
Racism Coalition.
Like students at Wisconsin,
UCAR will listen to all situations
related to racial discrimination and
the Police and Brutality Committee
will further advise students about le-
'Hopefully the hotline
will be able to change
the concept of
isolating racial dis-
crimination.'
- UCAR member Pam
Nadasen
gal options available to them.
UCAR will offer names of lawyers
to represent them free of charge.
"A goal for the hotline is to rec-
ognize the increase in police brutal-
ity concerning racial discrimination,"
said UCAR member Mike Wolf, a
Medical graduate student.
Leah Collins, a program coordi-
nator for the Wisconsin hotline, said
their hotline is not only successful
among the students but also for the
community.
"Our first annual report for the
hotline reported 169 calls," said
Collins. "Since racism is a problem
at the University of Wisconsin, I
think the hotline has been a great
way to bring to mind the seriousness
of discrimination to the entire Uni-
versity."
UCAR member hope the Univer-
sity of Michigan hotline will serve a
similar purpose.
MSA flips position,
funds LaGROC
While parents shop
Ellie and Stephen Hall occupy the shopping cart at Kroger's before their
parents fill it with groceries a common practice.
Fighting intensifies in Manila; Stranded
Americans may not be allowed to leave
by Josh Mitnick
Daily MSA Reporter
The Michigan Student Assem-
bly's Budget Priorities Committee
(BPC) decided to approve allocation
of $450 to the Lesbian and Gay
Men's Rights Organizing Commit-
tee (LaGROC) last night after the
organization protested the commit-
tee's initial decision to withhold
funding.
Last Saturday, the BPC - upon
recommendation from assembly
General Counsel John Coleman -
refused approval of a funding request
made by LaGROC, citing a regental
bylaw which prohibits agents of the
University to fund groups currently
in litigation with the University.
In October, LaGROC filed suit
against the assembly with the Cen-
tral Student Judiciary after MSA de-
cided to recognize the Cornerstone
Christian Fellowship (CCF).
The organization claimed the
assembly violated its own compiled
code when they recognized CCF.
The code prohibits MSA from rec-
ognizing organizations which dis-
criminate membership based on sex-
ual orientation.
BPC chair Bryan Mistele said the
group reversed its decision by a 4-0
vote, with three abstentions, after re-
alizing that LaGROC wouldn't use
the funding in its lawsuit against the
assembly.
Members of LaGROC said the
committee's original decision to
withhold funding was faulty because
the bylaw cited was more specific
than BPC's interpretation. They
pointed out that the bylaw prohibited
funding of groups that would use the
money to initiate a lawsuit against
an agent of the University, which
they said they would not do.
LaGROC members said the
money they are requesting will go to
fund activities for a Lesbian and Gay
Men's Awareness Week. They added
that their suit against the assembly
has already been initiated and is not
costing any money.
LaGROC member Brian Durrance
said he saw the committee's decision
to withhold funding as harassment.
"We're having to spend a lot of en-
ergy trying to correct a mistake that
'We're having to
spend a lot of energy
trying to correct a
mistake that should
have never been made
in the first place.'
-LaGROC member
Brian Durrance
should have never been made in the
first place."
Linda Kurtz, also a LaGROC
member, said group members were
angry they weren't informed of the
committee's decision and had to find
out through an assembly member
not on the committee.
"This wouldn't have happened if
this entire question didn't revolve
around the question of re-recognizing
CCF," she said.
MANILA (AP) - Fighting by
rebels intensified yesterday in the
embattled financial district where
2,000 foreigners are trapped, and a
rebel officer said Americans stranded
there may not be freed because of
U.S. support for the Aquino gov-
ernment.
About 215 Americans are be-
lieved pinned down in hotels in the
Makati district, said U.S. Embassy
spokesperson Jerry Huchel.
Safe passage for the trapped for-
eigners was delayed yesterday,
although hundred of others living in
the district were able to flee to safer
areas amid the most serious coup at-
tempt so far against President Cora-
zon Aquino, who took office in
February 1986.
Scores of Americans arrived yes-
terday at the U.S. Seafront housing
compound, where U.S. Marines were
on guard. Others moved to hotels
near Manila Bay, about five miles
west of the fighting.
At least 77 people have been
killed and more than 540 wounded
since rebel soldiers launched the
coup attempt Friday.
Vice President Salvador Laurel
suggested that he, Mrs. Aquino and
Congress all resign, as a means of
ending the battle, and schedule new
elections.
Reports said the leader of the
main pro-Aquino party had suggested
she dismiss her Cabinet as a gesture
to the rebels.
Rafael Alunan, undersecretary of
tourism, negotiated for hours with
the leader of rebels in Makati about
the foreigners trapped in three luxury
hotels and condominiums.
The talks at the Intercontinental
Hotel ended at sunset and Alunan
said they would continue today. The
rebels offered Monday to let the for-
eigners leave.
After the negotiations yesterday,
Alunan said: "They've decided to
postpone. . . because its nightfall
and we don't want the tourists to be
mistaken for soldiers." He said some
details remained to be settled, but
would not be more specific.
In Washington, the Bush admin-
istration expressed concern for the
trapped Americans and said "some
uncertainty" remained about their
status.
THE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
'U' students use semester's work to
educate area teens on drug abuse
Meetings
AIESEC (International Stu-
dents in Business and Eco-
nomics)- ; 6 in Bus. Ad. Bldg.
Rm. 1273
Black Student Union - General
body meeting with topic of Afro-
centricity with Errol Henderson at
7 p.m. at the Trotter House
Womyn's Rites and Rhythms
- 6-6:30 p.m. in the SAB base-
ment
UM Asian Student Coalition
- 7 p.m. in 2413 Mason
Mitzvah Project - 6:30 in Hil-
lel's upper lecture hall
Women's Lacrosse - practice
from 9-11 p.m. at Tartan Turf
Women Worshipping in the
Christian Tradition - 7 p.m. at
218 N. Division; sponsored by
Canterbury House Episcopal Stu-
dents
MSA Academic Affairs Com-
mission - 6 p.m. in Union Rm.
3909
UM Shorin-Ryu Karate-do
Club - 8:30-9:30 p.m. in the
CCRB Martial Arts Room; be-
ginners welcome
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Club (Stilyagi Air Corps)- 8
p.m. in the League
Speakers
"The Ubiquitous Casimir Ef-
fect" - Max Dresdern speaks at
noon in 296 Dennison Bldg.
"Optimizing Feedback for Mo-
tor Skill Learning" - Richard
A. Schmidt of UCLA; 12:10 p.m.
in Rm. 1033 of the Dental School
Furthermore
Central American Beans &
Rice Dinner - a chance to sup-
port groups which do direct aid in
Central America; 6 p.m. at the
Guild House
German Tutoring - for all
100/200 level students; 7-9 p.m.
in MLB 2006
Safewalk - the night-time walk-
.riR nncrynn i neuan At7 ...,.TC
ECB peer writing tutors -
available at Angell-Haven and 611
Computing Centers from 7 to 11
p.m.; Sunday through Thursday
Free Tutoring - for all lower-
level math, science and engineer-
ing courses; UGLi Rm. 307 7-11
p.m.; South Quad Dining Hall 8-
10 p.m.; Bursley's East Lounge
8-10 p.m.
English Peer Counseling - 7-9
p.m. in Union 4000 A
Michigan Leadership Confer-
ence Registration - at the Stu-
dent Organization Development in
the 2202 Union; fee is $12
Holiday Pet Food Round-Up
- pet food bins for donations to
the Humane Society are set up at
local grocers
Bachelor Fine Arts Student
Exhibition -5 students display
their work; at the Slusser Gallery
loam-5pm
"Techniques for Agressive
Broadcasting" - a WCBN-FM
"Community Responsibility
Seminar"; 8:30 in the Union An-
derson Rm.
"Minority Career Pre-Confer-
ence Workshop" - 4:10-5:30
p.m. in the CP&P Conference
Rm.
Auditions for The Three Sisters
- 6-11 p.m. in Rm. 2528 of the
Frieze Bldg.; sign up in 1505
Frieze; an RC Players Production
The Student Workshop Tenth
Anniversary Show - a sampling
of student user and University af-
filiate woodworking; 9am-6pm in
Union 1209
Recycled Holiday Notecard
and Wrapping Paper Sale - a
Recycle UM group project; 9am-
5pm in the Union Basement
Jelinek-Gurt Duo - Beethoven
Chopin and Brahms, 8 p.m. in the
School of Music's Recital Hall
Entre Tinieblas - the Spanish
film is presented at 7 in MLB
Lecture Rm. 2
Harp Studio Recital - 8 p.m.
in the Rackham Assembly Hall
"Low-Level Radioactive
Waste: An Educational Fo-
, __ " -4m in. ao a m
by Ian Hoffman
Daily Staff Writer
They were off Broadway - about 500 miles
off.
They didn't seem to notice.
A series of skits highlighting the choices
teenagers are forced to make about drug use were
presented to the eighth grade class of Forsythe
Middle School yesterday. For the students in
University English Prof. Eric Rabkin's Practical
English class, the presentation was the culmina-
tion of a semester's worth of work.
Ten students from the English 329 class will
return to the middle school today to discuss the
skits' messages with small groups of Forsythe
students.
The message of Drug Awareness Day (DAD)
hit home with the eighth graders, judging by
their reactions.
"It showed me the different choices I have,"
said Aldophus Senior, an eighth grader at
Forsythe.
His classmate Jennifer Miller agreed. "There
are a lot of choices, you don't always have to do
what your friends say."
Although not all the students were as recep-
tive, the DAD organizers were not fazed.
"I think some of them absorbed it and some
of them treated it as a joke," said LSA senior
Amar Davd. "But the purpose today was aware-
ness, and I think we served our purpose."
The work for the presentation began late this
September when each student proposed a
semester's project for the class. The ideas in-
cluded working with Ann Arbor's homeless or
with children at Mott's Hospital. The decision to
inform middle schoolers about drugs was made in
mid-October.
Next, a round of proposals on how to imple-
ment the program were submitted. The class
made its choice, divided into five committees,
and went to work.
"I have been in contact with the Forsythe ad-
ministration two or three times a week for the
last month," said LSA senior Viktor Theiss, a
school contact committee member.
Before choosing a school for their program,
the committee visited all the junior high and
middle schools in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti,
Theiss said. The choice was made easier when
some schools showed no interest in the program.
"It's a credit to this school that they took the
risk to have us perform," said LSA senior David
Gamm, a school contact member.
"Our initial reaction was, 'How will this fit
in the program we have already?"' said Forsythe
co-Principal Rick O'Neil. "But soon it became
clear that they really wanted to provide some-
thing the kids can use."
The presentation by college students had both
advantages and disadvantages.
Kathy Bishop, the Forsythe substance abuse
counselor, said one problem she sees is middle
schoolers going to parties in University residence
halls. "(College students) think it's cute to get a
seventh-grader drunk," she said.
For this reason, Bishop said, "It's important
to have a University student say, 'I'm straight, I
don't use.' It's a very powerful message."
However, some of the skits were changed by
the Forsythe administration because they did not
relate to eighth graders, said O'Neil. "A scene
where people are sitting around drinking and
playing cards is more likely a college situation;"
he said.
This is the third term that Rabkin has taught
the self-graded class.
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Call
763-0379
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introduction to architecture, urban planning, and
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The program offers a choice of academic terms:
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WHAT'S
HAPPENING
RECREATIONAL SPORTS
BEFORE HOLIDAY BREAK HOURS
CENTRAL CAMPUS REC. BLDG.
MON. - WED. DEC. 18 - 20 7AM - 10PM
THURS., DEC. 21 7AM - 7PM
GR ng: 0 7A- DmA