OPINION Fight academic sanctions for non-academic conduct =::: .: ... L". 'gC 4 ARTS 7 SPORTS 9 Dental student doubles as professional lacrosse player Joel didn't start the fire 4iriuuxi Ninety-nine years of editorial freedom Vol. C, No. 109 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Thursday, March 15, 1990 'U' students I Cbpyrightyh1990 The Michigan Daily i~ibyan chem. vie for chance on game show- by Michael Sullivan Daily Staff Writer They clapped. They smiled. They bought vowels. More than one hundred students assembled in the Union's Pendleton room yesterday to audition for a place in the Wheel of Fortune - a nationally televised game show - College Tournament. In the end, Engineering senior Brian Guffey, LSA junior Susan Po- tok, first-year LSA student Emily Everson and LSA sophomore Dave Mountz won the right to represent the University on the show. Everson said she was eating lunch Tuesday and thumbing through the newspaper when, "all of a sudden, I saw the ad - '(University Activities Center) pre- sents Wheel of Fortune' - and I said 'No Way!' I said, 'Okay I will skip class and go to Wheel of For- tune; this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity.'" Wheel of Fortune special events coordinator Harv Selsby and contes- tant coordinators Scott Page and Debbie McGee put the would-be- wheel-spinners through a rigorous three hour audition process. The selection process first sepa- rated the true wordsmiths from the pretenders with a short quiz of phrases with missing letters, which the students were asked to complete. Only 30 of the 110 students sur- vived the cut. The remaining contestants took turns picking consonants, buying vowels and solving puzzles in the next two phases of the competition. As each student auditioned, the others kept up a steady stream of ap- plause, broken by "ooohs" or "ahhhs" as the Wheel stopped at "bankrupt" or $2500 markers. After taking their turn at the wheel, the students introduced them- selves, regularly punctuating their speeches with "Hi Mom and Dad" and "Go Blue" as if they were really on the show. The 15 students who survived the second cut went on to try their hands at more puzzles and speed and bonus rounds before the officials made their final selections. Picking contestants for the show is a science, officials explained. "Merv Griffin commissioned a sur- vey of Wheel of Fortune viewers to find out what they like in contes- tants," Selsby said. The survey found viewers liked contestants who were excitable, skillful, and took risks. "Some people have been watch- ing the show for 15 years," he said. "They're hard-core viewers and they know how to play. If they don't like the way a contestant plays the game they write us a letter." Selsby offered the students sev- eral pointers on Wheel technique: Be frugal. "Don't buy a vowel if you know the answer. That $250 could put you in the bonus round." Pay attention. "The letter board is right there. Learn to look at the letter board and don't call letters already chosen." Don't.be too polile.."Please costs time. Don't say 'Pat, may I please have an N, please, sir."' Learn the tricks of the trade. "Call T first. Look for double-Ls; call Y. S is the letter you want to call on plural categories - not T, S. If you see an IN go for the G. I don't know how many times that N just hangs there." See BREAK, Page 2 plant b TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - A Libyan plant the United States says is used to produce chemical weapons was on fire yesterday and Libya closed its borders, a spokesperson for Tunisia's Interior Ministry said. Mahmoud Azzabi, press secretary at Libya's U.N. mission in new York, confirmed reports of a blaze at the Rabta plant 60 miles southwest of Tripoli, saying, "There is a fire." "There is speculation that itwas possibly sabotage, somebody com- ing in from Tunisia," he said. One report said Libya blamed the United States and Israel. Both na- tions denied involvement. President Bush said the United States had heard rumors that the plant was on fire. However, Bush told reporters in hallway at the White House "we didn't know" what had happened. White House press secretary Mar- lin Fitzwater said the United States would not confirm the report of the incident. Fitzwater said, "We deny we had any involvement" in the reported fire. A diplomatic source said the urns United States learned of the fire from Tunisia, which borders Libya. It re- layed its information to Italy and the United States, the source said. ABC News quoted unidentified security sources as claiming that the plant was burned to the ground by the action of U.S. and Israeli agents. "We have no information to indi- cated that," said Roman Popadiuk, a White House deputy press secretary, about the ABC report. The plant is located about a mile from Rabta, in a new industrial complex about 60 miles south- southwest of Tripoli. For more than 14 months, the United States has accused Libya of using the plant to make chemical weapons, including mustard gases and nerve gases. Libya has denied this, and in the past Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Qadhafi has said the plant was de- signed to produce pharmaeuticals. A spokesperson for the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior, in a tele- phone interview form Paris, said Libya has beefed up its border forces and that it was impossible to cross the frontier from Tunisia. Eyes on the ball ~IV'NSZCH"""y First-year engineering student Danny Slaim takes advantage of the uncharacteristically warm weather yesterday at the tennis courts near Palmer Field. Studeni by Daniel Poux Daily MSA Reporter As the University heads into the nineties, the rising cost of higher education is on the minds of many students. In an effort to keep tuition in- creases down, representatives of Michigan Student Assembly's Ex- ternal Relations Committee (ERC) traveled to Lansing with other stu- dent leaders yesterday, and spoke with state legislators about tuition; concerns as part of MSA's first Stu-s dent Lobbying Day. Llobby The student representatives met with members of both the Senate and House Subcommittees on Higher Education to discuss the im- pact of decreased state funding for, higher education. They pointed out that decreased funding not only re- sults in higher tuition costs, but could cause cutbacks in student ser- vices. "If the University does not re- ceive additional funding, many pro- grams under student services will be cut back, including the Office of Minority Affairs, and other services that assist minority students," said LSA junior Manuel Olave, who rep- resented MSA's Minority Affairs Commission on the trip.1 Upon their return to Ann Arbor, the student leaders said they were pleased with the day's events and en- couraged by the legislators' recep-i tion. "Most of the members of the subcommittees on higher education+ were very supportive and were on; our side as far as making education a priority," said LSA senior Barbara Wolkowski, President of the Michi- sing gan Economic Society.'# "A few of them pointed out the realities, though, of the necessary budget restraints for the state next year. All other state programs had a 2.5% cut, except for education," she explained. Appropriations for educa- tion decreased by 1%. Wolkowski assisted ERC with research on the effects of the funding decreases prior to the Lobby Day. She said student lobbying is neces- sary because "tuition increases are an important issue. Tuition rates have see LOBBY, page-; Women upset Cowgirls by Ted Cox Daily Basketball Writer I STILLWATER, OK- The magic continued for the Michigan women's basketball team last night, as the Wolverines won their first NCAA tournament game ever, 77- 68, over the hometown Oklahoma St. Cowgirls in front of 22,050 at Gallagher-Iba Arena. "This is the best competitive ball we've played all year," Michigan coach Bud VanDeWege said. "I was thrilled with the poise we showed to hold OSU off down the stretch." After some opening jitters, Michigan's size, depth, and talent came together to overwhelm the Cowgirls. "Their size might have intimidated our inside kids a little bit more than I expected," Oklahoma St. coach Dick Halterman said. "We weren't having trouble getting the ball inside, but when we did, we weren't doing well with the ball." The opening minutes of the game Rieger began the way a track meet would b run. The Oklahoma State mascot Pistol Pete, fired into the air and i was off the races for both teams. Michigan guard Caro Szczechowski quickly exploited he five inch height advantage by goin right over Cowgirl Liz Brown t give the Wolverines an early 4- lead. Brown then countered with he quickness. The junior guard and he backcourt partner, Althea Cox See NCAAS, Page 9 USSR plans election for presidency MOSCOW (AP) - Lawmakers yesterday decided that they, rather than the Soviet people, should elect the country's new, powerful president. Mikhail Gor- bachev was the only name on the ballot. Premier Nikolai Ryzhov and the Interior Minister Vadim Bakatin were nominated for the post by a group calling itself "Soyuz," or "Union," which is opposed to efforts by Soviet republics to break away. But both withdrew. Balloting was to begin last night and results were expected this morning. Gorbachev needed a simple majority in the 2,250- e member Congress of People's Deputies, the Soviet t, Parliament. On Tuesday it approved his plan to greatly t increase the powers of the presidency and create a mul- tiparty system. 1 Gorbachev narrowly cleared procedural vote yester- r day allowing the parliament to elect him directly to a g five-year term. He needed 1,497 votes in that vote. o The final tally was 1,542-368 with 76 deputies ab; 0 staining. More than 200 deputies either boycotted the vote or were absent, making it even more difficult for r Gorbachev to muster the required two-thirds majority. r If Gorbachev had lost, he would have been forced to , face disgruntled citizens in a national election cam- paign this year to keep the job he has held since 1988. The decision to hold the emergency election in the congress of People's Deputies came after a respected scholar warned that the soviet Union was not yet ready for a nationwide presidential campaign. Leningrad historian Dmitri Likachev, considered by many the dean of Soviet culture, said the country would face civil war if it had to go through its first presidential election now. "I remember the revolution of February (1917) very LAST DAY TO.FILE TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO FILE FOR MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS. ALL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ARE BJGIBLE TO RUN FOR A SEAT ON THE ASSEMBLY