1£ f..t.n Bai..
I.
Law dean
will not
examine
fliers
by Christine Kloostra
Daily MSA Reporter
The law school administration
will not investigate the distribution
of racist fliers at the Law School
two weeks ago.
The fliers, which depict Nelson
Mandela and the African National
Congress advocating enslavement of
whites, were placed in the Pendaflex
folders of several students and posted
on walls in the Law School.
Law School Dean Lee Bollinger
said that although the fliers were ra-
cially insensitive, they were pro-
tected under the First Amendment.
"This is very offensive material,
but my own view is that this is
within the realm of political debate
and the free speech issue is signifi-
cant," Bollinger said. "We in the
University are committed to the
standard free speech principle that
even the most deeply offensive polit-
ical viewpoints are tolerated."
Some students said the adminis-
tration's response to the incident was
insufficient.
"I don't think they did enough to
condemn it," said second-year law
student Bob Dorsey. "Their response
was pretty lukewarm."
The Michigan Student Assembly
(MSA) condemned the incident and
called for an investigation into the
matter at their Sept. 25 meeting.
The assembly demanded Tuesday that
Bollinger "reconsider his decision
not to pursue any investigation."
MSA Vice-President Angela
Burks, who met with Bollinger to
discuss the incident, said, "whether
it's the First Amendment or not, its
simply unacceptable."
She said the Law School should
try to locate those responsible, an
See FLIERS, page I
Freedom
flight arrives
in Baghdad
400 Americans aboard
expected to arrive in US today
Naval prayer time AP"h
Sailors of the Saudi Arabian Navy bow towards Mecca as they pray on the deck of the Corvette Class patrol
ship HMS Tabuk during maneuvers yesterday in the Persian Gulf. The Islamic religion is present in virtually all
aspects of Saudi life, including the military.
Air Force jet crashes,
Gulf death toll up to 24
by The Associated Press
A plane carrying about 400
Americans and other foreign
captives in Kuwait and Iraq arrived
today in Baghdad on a planned
flight to freedom in America.
Most of those aboard the Iraqi
Airways Boeing 747 had been h Id
in occupied Kuwait and signed up
for the first U.S. chartered
evacuation flight from there since
Sept. 22. They were taken by bus
to Basra, Iraq. The State
Department in Washington said
they then flew on a 50-minute
flight to the Iraqi capital.
It was not known when the for-
eigners would be allowed to leave
for Britain and onward to North
Carolina. Officials in Washington
said it was believed the arrival at
the Raleigh-Durham airport would
occur today.
As in previous evacuation
flights, arrangements called for
Westerners on board to be limited
to women and children and to
Americans of Arab ancestry.
The jet crash yesterday was the
fourth U.S. military air accident
since the United States began de-
ploying forces in the Persian Gulf
region following Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait on Aug. 2. Two helicopters
also disappeared during a training
flight. In all, 24 military personnel*
have died and eight are missing.
Meanwhile, the ten-week-old cri-
sis brought more bad news for the
U.S. economy. Oil prices rose to a
record $41.15 a barrel on the New
York Exchange before closing at
$38.69, tumbling on an erroneous
rumor Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
had been killed.
Traders said prices were pushed
higher in part by the slayings of 19
Palestinians in a clash with police
in Jerusalem on Monday, and by
Saddam's threat to retaliate against
Israel.
On the New York Stock
Exchange, the Dow Jones industrial
average fell 37.62 points to
2,407.92, its lowest since May
1989.
Saddam said Tuesday that Iraq
had added another missile to its
arsenal that could be launched
"against the targets of evil when.the
day of reckoning comes."
In Washington, families of
seven U.S. service personnel in the
crisis area; two congressmen -
Reps. Jim Moody and Gerald
Kleczka, both Wisconsin
Democrats - and religious leaders
expressed their concern at a news
conference about the military
deployment in Saudi Arabia.
The families wrote in an open
letter to Bush, "The Persian Gulf
crisis is not just a constitutional, a
military or an economic crisis. It is
a family crisis. All across the coun-
try families are facing the possible
death of loved ones in a military of-
fensive they do not support."
by The Associated Press
An Air Force jet crashed yester-
day in Saudi Arabia, killing both
crew members, while relatives of
U.S. military personnel in the
Persian Gulf urged President Bush
to pledge he will not order offensive
military action.
The jet fighter was the fourth
U.S. military aircraft involved in an
accident in the gulf region. In all,
24 service personnel have died since
the United States began deploying
forces in the gulf region. Eight are
missing and presumed dead.
Meanwhile, 400 Americans and
other foreign captives in Kuwait
and Iraq signed up for the first U.S.-
chartered evacuation flight from Iraq
and Kuwait since Sept. 22. The
flight was to leave from Baghdad
yesterday.
Most were being evacuated from
Kuwait and were taken by bus to
the Iraqi port city of Basra. From
there, they left on an Iraqi Airways
Boeing 747 for the Iraqi capital.
The more than 2-month-old gulf
crisis continued to bring bad news
for the U.S. economy. Oil prices
rose briefly to a record $41.15 a
barrel yesterday on the New York
Exchange, before falling back to
$40.88 in early trading.
On Tuesday, oil closed at
$40.40, the previous record high.
Traders said prices were pushed
higher in part by the slayings
See ACCIDENTS, page 2
Pro-choicers target
student support for
Blanchard
byyMelissa Peerless
Daily Staff Reporter
Abortion rights advocates are try-
ing to mobilize college students and
young women to support Governor
James Blanchard's reelection bid.
Carol King, Executive Director
of the Michigan Abortion Rights
Action League (MARAL), held a
telephone press conference last night
to urge college students to reelect the
governor Nov. 6.
King said Blanchard's history has
been consistently pro-choice while
Republican candidate John Engler
has a "cruel record" of opposing
abortion actively for the past twenty
years.
Because last July's Webster v.
Reproductive Health Services deci-
sion turned some power to legislate
abortion regulations over to the in-
dividual states, King said, voters
must now elect a pro-choice gover-
nor for Michigan.
Since the ruling - and the move
of the abortion issue from the legal
to the political arena - candidates
have been more forthcoming about
their views on abortion rights, King
said. And many politicians who have
been anti-abortion in the past have
modified their attitudes to gain the
support of abortion rights advocates.
King said Engler has done
changed his position because he had
formerly opposed abortion in all
cases but recently modified his atti-
tude to support it in some cases.
Engler campaign press secretary
John Truscott said "that's not true.
cause he would:
allow abortions only in the
case of rape, incest, or if the
mother's life is endangered;
The legislature has consistently favored
restricting abortion rights but has never had
the required two-thirds majority to overturn a
gubernatorial veto by James Blanchard or
former Gov. William Miliken.
He's been consistent for twenty require parental consent for
years." minors victimized by rape or incest;
King said that if elected, Engler and,
would outlaw ninety percent of all end public funding of abor-
abortions now legal in Michigan be- tions except when the mother's life
is in danger.
King said that Michigan's
women have "maintained the right to
choose by a very slim margin" in
past years. The legislature has con-
sistently favored restricting abortion
rights but has never had the required
two-thirds majority to overturn a
gubernatorial veto by Blanchard or
former Governor William Milliken.
Justice David Souter's appoint-
ment to the Supreme Court will
have eroding effects on abortion
rights as he will allow "restriction
after restriction" said King.
Many abortion rights advocates
and Supreme Court scholars believe
Souter is likely to overturn the
landmark Roe v. Wade decision and
thus allow states to prohibit abor-
tions. A pro-choice governor, such
as Blanchard, would be able to veto
any abortion restrictions passed by
the state legislature. This makes this
year's gubernatorial election all the
more important to those on both
sides of the abortion debate.
MARAL is part of the Michigan
Alliance for Choice, which has been
established as an umbrella organiza-
tion for many pro-abortion rights
groups supporting Blanchard. The
group also includes Planned
Parenthood, the National
Organization for Women, the
American Civil Liberties Union, and
the Religious Coalition for Abortion
Rights.
Shuttle Discovery ends
* mission in California
NASA announces losing
streak in space is finished
Students hold vigil
for Palestinians
EDWARDS AIR FORCE
BASE, Calif. (AP) - Shuttle
Discovery sailed out of orbit and
landed yesterday after a four-day
flight that boosted NASA's confi-
dence and sent a spacecraft on a five-
year mission to explore the sun's
poles.
"If you criticize our mistakes,
then you must also acknowledge our
successes," space shuttle director and
former astronaut Robert Crippen said
after completion of the first shuttle
flight in nearly six months.
About 5,500 spectators cheered as
Discovery touched down at 6:57
Shepherd, Bruce Melnick, and Tom
Akers boarded two jets to take them
home to Houston.
Discovery's 1.7 million-mile
flight was the first since April -
the longest gap between shuttle mis-
sions since they resumed after the
1986 explosion that destroyed
Challenger and killed seven crew
members. .
The latest flight helped bolster
morale at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, which has
been plagued by hydrogen fuel leaks
in the shuttles Columbia and
Atlantis and by a flawed mirror that
by Gwen Shaffer
As students wrote papers at the
Angell Hall computing center last
night, they were interrupted by a
long line of about 50 people, which
streamed through the center.
The group was holding a vigil to
mourn the deaths of the thirty
Palestinians killed Monday in
Jerusalem and wanted to make the
campus aware of the event.
The Palestine Solidarity
Committee (PSC) and the General
Union of Palestinian Students spon-
sored the vigil, which started on the
Diag at 7 p.m.
The march through the center
was intended "to let people know the
accurate facts of what happened on
October eighth in Jerusalem," said
been a serious lack of coverage, be-
cause the corporations who own the
newspapers think the situation in the
Gulf is more pressing: than the
Intifada," said Zaltimo.
First-year law student and PSC
member Karima Bennoune said she
felt it was particularly important for
her to attend the vigil after she talked
to a friend in Jerusalem just hours
after the massacre.
"I could still hear women scream-
ing in the background and waiting to
find out if their children were going
to come home that day," said.
Bennoune. "My friend said to me
'They're killing us and we're all
alone.' I'm here to prove that some-
one does hear their voices."
The clash occurred after
i
I
I