The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 26, 1990 - Page 5
Detroit
'finds'
.120,000
ctize ns
DETROIT (AP) - More than
120,000 Detroiters came to their
"census" and were counted by city
officials, potentially boosting the
population, count well over 1
million Mayor Coleman Young
said yesterday.
"This is ample evidence that there
was an undercount," Young said,
peering over stacks of census forms
collected by volunteers over the last
few weeks.
"In fact, the city is closer to 1.1
million, if not 1.2 million, than it
is to less than a million. If we were
{,able to find 100,000, it's a safe bet
there are at least another 100,000 out
there."
The city's goal was to find at
least 30,000 people because the fed-
eral government's preliminary data
showed Detroit's population had
fallen to 970,000, dropping it from
the sixth to the ninth largest city in
the nation.
* If those numbers hold up, it
would be the first time since 1950
the city has been below the 1 mil-
lion mark.
About 86,000 census forms, spe-
cially marked with "Detroit: Were
-.You Counted?" on. the back, were
-collected. They represent 121,350
"Ieople who claim they weren't
4ounted by the U.S. Census Bureau
*parlier this year.
Several other cities across the
state and nation are disputing the
,preliminary figures. The implication
pf a lower count include loss of con-
:gressional and legislative representa-
tion and fewer federal dollars.
The Census Bureau has until
- Dec. 31 to tabulate the extra forms,
M make sure there is no duplication and
Osubmit the final numbers to Presi-
dent George Bush.
The city effort included help
, from police officers, firefighters and
}neighborhood volunteers. Billboards,
bus signs and bumper stickers were
part of an advertising campaign with
the slogan "Come to your census"
.encoutaging people to call a special
hotline if they hadn't been counted.
0"
'U'
seeks Latino
studies director
by Garrick Wang
11
The University is searching the
country for a new Latino Studies
Program director who can help the
program become a more visible part
of the University.
An eight-member committee will
begin work next month screening
applicants and defining the director's
responsibilities and role in the pro-
gram, which needs to be expanded,
University officials said.
"I am looking for someone
committed to making the Latino
Studies Program a very visible part
of the University," said English Pro-
fessor Alan Wald, a committee
member. "Latino Studies is a large
field that covers many diverse popu-
lations that have changed over a pe-
riod of time... we need many schol-
ars to provide the breadth in this
area."
The new director will be involved
in hiring these specialists and ex-
panding the program, he said.
Twelve people have applied for
the position which has been open
since last September, when Sociol-
ogy Professor Silvia Pedraza-Bailey
left on a two-term research sabbati-
cal.
As head of the program, the new
director will oversee two professors
and help hire new professors, said
Professor Walter Mignolo, acting in-
terim Latino Studies director.
Mignolo, who is also in charge
of the director search, said the com-
mittee - comprised of six faculty
members and two students - will
start work in November and begin
interviews in January. It will make
an offer by the end of the Winter
term, he said.
Mignolo and English Professor
James McIntosh, director of the
American Culture Program, have al-
ready written letters to distinguished
scholars in the socio-sciences and the
humanities asking for nominations.
They have also placed advertisements
in various academic journals.
The committee will also explore
how the program can be expanded,
Mignolo said. Possibilities include
expanding the number of courses
available and hiring more faculty
members, he said.
One option for the Latino Studies
Program is to become a separate unit
within LSA, Mignolo said. This
would provide the program with
more money. The program is nqw
funded by the American Culture
Program.
"Creating a separate unit is not
an easy task," Mignolo said. "It will
require agreement among the faculty
and the students enrolled in the pro-
gram." The LSA dean's office will
also have to approve the move.
Say Cheese
Associate Yearbook Photographer Bob Voisine takes LSA Senior Susan Lehman's photo for the
Michiganensian yearbook. They will be taking pictures today on the second floor of the UGLi, and will be back
in three weeks.
Anti-tax proposals threaten to close schools
Associated Press
Tough anti-tax proposals in half
a dozen states and a radical school-
choice scheme on Oregon's ballot
have turned Election '90 into a wa-
tershed for public schools and col-
leges.
Educators in California, Ne-
braska, Massachusetts, Utah, Oregon
and several other states are warning
of school district bankruptcies,
teacher layoffs and campus closures
if tax revolt measures are approved
Nov. 6.
"We would be on the brink of an
educational meltdown," said Harold
Reynolds, education commissioner
of Massachusetts. Voters there are
about to decide on the harshest tax
revolt measure anywhere: a proposed
$2 billion tax rollback. If approved,
it would'be the nation's largest
voter-initiated tax cut in history.
Taxes and government waste, not
schools, are the usual targets of
voter wrath in most states. But that
is small comfort to school officials,
who claim they'd suffer more than
most if taxing and spending curbs
are approved.
Latest opinion polls suggest that
the education forces may be beating
back anti-tax measures in several
states, including Massachusetts.
But no one is taking victory for
granted.
"It seems like the mood of the
public is sort of anti-everything,"~
said Chris Pipho, a spokesman for
the Education Commission of the
States.
"Many voters are so blinded by
an anti-tax mentality that it doesn't
matter what the tax is for," said
Richard Novak, director of state edu-
cation policy and finance for the
American Association of State Col-
leges and Universities in Washing-
ton, D.C.
And all eyes of the nation's edu-
cation establishment are on Oregon,
where the most far-reaching "choice"
scheme ever considered would grant
parents a $2,500 tax credit to send
their kids to any school, even
church-related, or to teach them at
home.
The Bush administration calls
"choice" a cornerstone of school re-
form. The National Education Asso-
ciation, the nation's largest teachers'
union, has been leading the fight to
defeat it. It says the plan "could well
determine the fate of education for
years to come."
Polls have flip-flopped, but re-.
cent opinion surveys show the
choice plan trailing.
Among key ballot contests:
-Massachusetts Question 3, the
proposed tax rollback, has educators
talking about closing college cam-
Educators in
California, Nebraska,
Massachusetts, Utah,
Oregon and several
other states are
warning of school
district bankruptcies,
teacher layoffs and
campus closures if
tax revolt measures
are approved Nov. 6
puses, 5,000 or more teacher layoffs,
no new texts or extracurricular activ-
ities, even bankruptcy for the poor-
est districts.
A poll last week for The Boston
Globe and WBZ-TV showed 59 per-
cent opposed to the rollback.
Omaha school officials wafn
passage could lead to sharp program
cuts, including an end to many
sports programs.
A second proposition would re-
peal a year-old school finance refoin
law that shifted the burden of school
finance from the property tax to the
state sales and income tax.
The contest pits educators and
landowners who stand to benefit
from low property taxes against
many of the state's business inter-
ests who insist higher sales and in-
come taxes would put the state at a
competitive disadvantage.
Polls suggest a close vote.
101
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The Toledo Museum of Art T
September 30-November 25
i ~
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