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an lit
Thomas decision
is unfortunate.
See OPINION
Page 4.
One hundred and one years of editorial freedom
Vol. ClI, No. 13 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, October 16, 1991 opyrightV991
The Michigan Daily
Thomas clinches Senate confirmation
Nominee gets critical support
fromDemocrats in 52-48 vote
WASHINGTON (AP) - Judge home. Levin said he considered Thomas
,y Clarence Thomas narrowly won "You're a wonderful inspiration too much of a right-winger, and
Senate confirmation for the and you had the overwhelming sup- Riegle argued that Thomas lacked
Supreme Court last night, overcom- port of the American people," Bush the professional qualifications for
ing explosive accusations of sexual said, according to press secretary the nation's highest court.
harassment to become the second Marlin Fitzwater. "You have a It was the closest vote for a suce-
Black justice in history lifetime of service to your country cessful Supreme Court nominee
Thomas gained crucial help from ahead. Well done." Barbara Bush since 1888 when Lucius Lamar went
Democrats in the 52 to 48 vote, the also got on the phone to congratu- onto the bench on a 32-28 vote.
closest in this century for a success- late Thomas. Three Democrats who had sup-
ful nominee to the high court. The Thomas won confirmation with ported Thomas before Hill's
outcome ended one of the angriest, support from 41 of the Senate's 43 charges were made public switched
most emotionally charged confir- Republicans and 11 Democrats: sides and voted against him: Harry
mation battles ever. Sens. Sam Nunn, Wyche Fowler, Reid and Richard Bryan, both of
Thomas' confirmation strength- Charles Robb, J. James Exon, Alan Nevada, and Joseph Lieberman of
ens an already solid conservative Dixon, Richard Shelby, John Breaux, Connecticut.
majority on the court, where liber- J. Bennett Johnston, David Boren With the outcome in doubt until
als will be outnumbered seven to and Ernest Hollings. the final hours, Vice President Dan
two. The court is likely to continue Sens. James Jeffords and Mark Quayle rushed back from a political
moving to the right on issues such as Hatfield asst the only Republican y.
abortion, separation of church and votes against him. trip to Ohio to sit as the presiding
state, and the rights of criminal sus- Michigan Democratic Senators officer and cast a tie-breaking vote if
pects. Carl Levin and Donald Riegle stood necessary. It wasn't needed.
Immediately after the vote, by their opposition to Thomas even The visitors' galleries were
AP PHOTO President Bush called Thomas with as letters, phone calls, telegrams packed but hushed as senators rose,
Vice President Dan Quayle reads the Senate vote yesterday on Judge Clarence Thomas. Thomas won congratulations. Thomas had and faxed messages poured into one by one, to cast their votes.
confirmation as the 106th justice to the Supreme Court. watched the vote on television at their offices yesterday. See THOMAS, Page 2
Hearings speed action on 'U' harassment policy
by Henry Goldblatt
and Bethany Robertson
Daily Administration Reporters
The debate over the Clarence
Thomas nomination ended yesterday
with his confirmation, but the at-
tention it has drawn to the issue of
sexual harassment will remain.
The University has been putting
the finishing touches on a sexual ha-
rassment policy for several months,
and University President James
Duderstadt said yesterday that as a
result of the hearings, he hopes to
hasten that process.
"Our attitude is that we'll move
ahead as quickly as possible,"
Duderstadt said. "We have some
hopes to do this at the next regents'
meeting."
The University Board of Regents
will meet tomorrow in Flint and
continue its meeting Friday in Ann
Arbor.
Kay Dawson, assistant to
Provost Gilbert Whitaker and prin-
cipal drafter of the revised policy,
said she has worked with faculty
members and University General
Counsel Elsa Cole since the end of
January to formulate a policy.
In June, Dawson and Cole pre-
sented the harassment policy to the
regents. But some regents expressed
concern that the proposed policy
would treat alleged harassers un-
fairly by placing the burden of
proof on the accused.
Since the June meeting, Dawson
has revised the policy to include the
regents' suggestions. Dawson clari-
fied the portion of the policy which
deals with mutual sexual relation-
ships between students and faculty
or students and staff - a clause
which the regents found
controversial.
The revised policy states,
"Consenting romantic and sexual
University policy are generally con-
sidered very unwise."
Dawson said, "If a person enters
into a (student/faculty) relation-
ship and is charged with sexual ha-
rassment later, but says 'Oh no, it
was consensual,' it will be hard to
'I think it has certainly made everyone more
aware of the issue and educated people on
both sides of the issue. It has had a great
educational impact'
- Elsa Cole
University General Counsel
University faculty and staff said the
hearings would probably not have a
noticeable effect on the University.
"I think it has certainly made ev-
eryone more aware of the issue and
educated people on both sides of the
issue. It has had a great educational
impact," Cole said. "It is too early
to determine what other impacts it
will have."
Deborah Orlowski; an
Affirmative Action Office repre-
sentative and counselor for women
and men who report sexual harass-
ment, said in the past four months,
University organizations have
shown increased interest in preven-
tative sexual harassment programs.
"I'm not sure the hearings are
going to affect that much because
there's already a lot going on,"
relationships between supervisor
and employee or between faculty
and other staff and student while
not expressly prohibited by
defend oneself on that basis."
Although sexual harassment in
the workplace has been highlighted
by the Thomas nomination,
Police display hazards
of drinking and driving
by Lauren Dermer
Daily Staff Reporter
It was not a new shanty, a see-saw contest
or a hot tub that attracted students' atten-
tion on the Diag yesterday. It was a brutally
bashed pick-up truck, destroyed in a drunk
driving incident, with a sign above it that
read, "Drunk Driving is not an accident."
The truck was put on display from 10:30
a.m. to 2 p.m. by the Department of Public
Safety and the Michigan State Police to
demonstrate the dangers of drinking and
driving for the Michigan Student
Assembly's Alcohol Awareness Week.
"The important thing is that this can hap-
pen to anyone as a result of drinking and driv-
ing," said Lt. Vernon Baisden of the
Department of Public Safety. "It is a major
concern because more and more people are be-
ing killed."
In addition to the truck, various pho-
tographs of demolished vehicles, provided by
the University Transportation Research
Institute, were displayed with facts about
the individual accidents.
"The exhibition has certainly turned a lot
of heads," said Dan Kompoltowicz, a state
police trooper stationed in Ypsilanti. "There
are beer commercials on every day; maybe we
should have something to say every day as
well."
The officers informed students of the
startling statistics involving alcohol-re-
lated accidents in Michigan.
"There were 4,700 accidents in the state
of Michigan last year where there was a
drunk driver under the age of 21," said
Kompoltowicz. "In those probably pre-
ventable accidents, 81 people were killed."
At the University, drunk driving acci-
dents usually occur on football Saturdays,
See ALCOHOL, Page 2
Orlowski said.
While the hearings may not have,
a measurable effect on the
University, Orlowski said they
could negatively affect the general
population's perception of sexual
harassment. People's fears about
reporting harassment cases may be
intensified or claims of harassment
may be considered less important,
shesaid.
"There may be certain men who
look at the allegations and assume
that harassment won't be taken se-
riously," Orlowski said.
Keeping tabs on the number of
cases of sexual harassment reported
at the University is difficult since
there are many ways to report inci-
dents, Orlowski said.
See HARASSMENT, Page 2
'U' makes
state
funding
request
by Henry Goldblatt
Daily Administration Reporter
Provost Gilbert Whitaker will
submit the University's request for
state funding appropriations to the
University Board of Regents at its
monthly meeting tomorrow.
"We are going to try and be con-
sistent with what we have said be-
fore. We have a multiple year plan
to take Michigan from the bottom
third in state funding to the upper
end of the middle third"
University President James
Duderstadt said.
Duderstadt said the University
will request an 8 to 8.5 percent in-
crease in state funding, but realizes
the University is not likely to "re-
ceive this amount.
"There is no correlation between
what we asked for and what we
get," Duderstadt said.
He added that he expects around
a 5 percent increase in state appro-
priations provided the state's eco-
nomic condition does not worsen.
State Sen. John Schwarz (R-
Battle Creek) said he expects a state
appropriation increase of around 4
percent - similar to last year's fig-
ure. "All depends on state revenues:
In a nerfect world I'd like to see
Michigan State Trooper Dan Kompoltow of Ypsilanti hands out pamphlets describing the
harms of drinking and driving as part of MSA's Alcohol Awareness Week. The truck is a
vehicle which was involved in a drinking and driving accident this year.
Baker nears agreement on Mideast peace conference
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - agreement with the United States delegation with Jordan. but they declined to spell out the the West Bank and Gaza.
Secretary of State James Baker was on terms for convening the peace The outlook had brightened to agreement. Baker said Monday night that a
on the verge yesterday of sealing ar- conference. Another Israeli official, the point where various sites, in- Only the PLO's 80-member cen- PLO role in arranging the makeup of
rangements for a Mideast peace con- requesting anonymity, said the cluding Lausanne, Switzerland, tral council, due to meet today in the delegation should not be re-
ference to open Oct. 29 in Lausanne, terms included an assurance that the were under consideration for the Tur s, Tunisia, can announce the de- garded as a "surprising" develop-
Switzerland, U.S. and other diplo- Palestinian delegation would be Mideast conference. Baker has set tails of the final agreement on the ment. At the same time, he was pub-
matic sources said. represented by residents of the West Oct. 31 as the deadline for the cere- formation of a joint delegation, licly keeping his distance from
I
f
z
Even as Baker was holding ex-
tended talks with Syria's president
Hafez Assad, the sources said the
Swiss city would be the site barring
last-minute hitches in Baker's
Bank and Gaza.
Baker tried to lure the Syrian
leader to agree to participate in all
phases of the proposed conference,
while three-way diplomacy across
Baker said Monday night that a PLO role in
arranging the makeup of the delegation
,&1 a _n a a _ arriatla , ,,',,,rnini ,
Yasser Arafat's organization in or-
der not to antagonize Israel, the tar-
get of PLO bombings and other as-
saults.
On his eighth trip to the Middle