Most students on this campus are aware of alcohol. So why did the Michigan Student Assembly spend $13,000 to reinforce the notion? Good question. Nitzer Ebb used to thrive on pissing people off, but now they're grown up with their new album, Ebbhead. Read about British Pop's violent youths turned good. The Michigan men's volleyball team took a weekend tour of the Big Ten, and the trip had mixed results. The Wolverines fell to Minnesota and Purdue, but rebounded to spike Illinois. AT Today Clouds and sunshine; High: 34, Low: 1 5 Tomorrow Cold, sunshine; High 25, Low 12 Jr 4ir Itt.. t z One hundred and one years of editorial freedom Vol. CII, No. 74 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, February 11, 1992 Cpngt©1r 'Roots' author Haley Od7es at 7 by Mona Qureshi Daily Staff Reporter Members of the University community expressed shock after learning that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alex Haley died yesterday morning at the age of 70. Haley, best known for his novel "Roots," a saga tracing his family genealogy back six generations to colonial Africa, died of a heart attack at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Wash., hospital spokesperson Jane Ann Wilder said. Haley is also known for his :.:~/ ~ first book, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." I Haley visited the Haley University only two weeks ago to participate in a panel addressing African American success in the 1990s with Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, Henry Johnson of the University Alumni Association, and Vice Provost of the Office of Minority Affairs Charles Moody. Moody said he was stunned after hearing of Haley's death. "I just couldn't believe it because two weeks ago we were sitting on a panel together," Moody said. After the panel discussion, Haley See HALEY, Page 2 Dems., GOP look east; Harkin sweeps Iowa DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - looked like Harkin's biggest Iowa's 49 delegates to the Demo- Sen. Tom Harkin looked homeward threat. The other Democrats in the cratic convention, where 2,144 for victory yesterday in Iowa cau- race - Arkansas Gov. Bill Clin- votes are needed to secure the cuses that inaugurated the wide- ton, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, nomination. nen 1992 Democratic presidential former Sen. Paul Tsongas and for- "We need to come out of Iowa sweepstakes. His rivals skipped the contest altogether, pointing in- stead toward next week's primary showdown in New Hampshire. Harkin said he was aiming for 60 percent of the caucus vote and a showing strong enough to provide momentum to his struggling New Hampshire effort. Republicans were waiting a week to test the conservative chal- lenge to President Bush. The Iowa GOP cancelled its traditional pres- idential preference poll, leaving New Hampshire to go first. Uncommitted Democrats mer California Gov. Jerry Brown - made no effort even to compete for second place. The absence of candidates in Iowa meant New Hampshire vot- ers will render the first meaning- ful verdict on the nominating races. Last night's caucuses are the first step toward selection of smoking," Harkin said. "We need to do it right." His rivals spent caucus day in New Hampshire, where the polls indicate a tight race between Clin- ton and Tsongas. Kerrey, Harkin and Brown trail in the pre-primary polls. On the Republican side, neither Patrick Buchanan nor David Duke made a move against Bush in Iowa. Even Harkin's overall effort was minuscule compared with cau- cus campaigns of the past. He ran no broadcast advertising and his See CAUCUS, Page 2 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Tom Harkin (D-lowa) waves to a crowd at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, Sunday. Freedom of choice? Not in campaign '92 by Andrew Levy Daily Campaign Issues Reporter "It's like political tumbleweed blowing through the streets of Des Moines." The New York Times ran this Philip J. Roeder quote at the top of DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS its 1992 campaign page to sum up the aura surrounding yesterday's Iowa caucus. Whereas in years past the caucus would have been the lead story in print and on radio and television, stories about it have been buried on page five, or right after the first. commercial break. But, although Iowa's signifi- cance has been sharply downplayed, the first delegates to the respective parties' conventions will have been determined when Iowa goes to sleep tonight. Since the candidates took to full-time campaigning earlier this winter, voters have found the sig- nificance of events and issues in the race have already been determined. Because George Bush is uncon- tested in the state and favorite son Sen. Tom Harkin seemed a shoo-in for victory, the Iowa caucus has been virtually ignored. Only two of the then-six Democratic candi- dates even set up offices in Iowa, and the rest were content to con- The candidates and the media abandoned Iowa long before any voters got the chance to evaluate the impact of the caucuses for themselves. cede the state's delegates to the seemingly unbeatable Harkin. The candidates and the media abandoned Iowa long before any voters got the chance to evaluate the impact of the caucuses for themselves. Voters were also cheated of the right to determine their own fron- trunner in the Democratic race. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was dubbed the consensus frontrunner on the basis of a Florida straw poll that gave him a decisive margin. Clinton may very well have been the frontrunner. Or he might have developed into a frontrunner as the election progressed. But the validity and responsibility of pro- claiming a consensus frontrunner in a young presidential race based on a small sample of the electorate in a single state is questionable at best. Straw polls and sound bites have been the key issues in this campaign so far. Few candidates have an identifiable platform. Fewer have taken the initiative to bring those issues into the spotlight. Therefore voters, University students among them, are forced to vote based on the limited informa- tion fed to them by media outlets, while the issues are pushed aside as an afterthought. See IOWA, Page 2 Students, officials question teacher competency tests by Barry Cohen Daily Government Reporter Education students and state officials are criticizing the validity of the new Michigan teacher competency tests, which all educa- tion students will be required to pass in or- der to continue as student teachers. A 1986 state law requires all education students to pass a basic skills test and sub- ject tests in their major and minor. However, competency test development was delayed until the passing of a bill spon- sored by Sen. Dan DeGrow (R-Port Huron) and State Rep. James O'Neil (D-Saginaw) which provided funding. *0 Education administrators and students have not yet seen copies of the basic skills test - a portion of the new student compe- tency tests to be administered to students February 15. Students said they will have difficulty preparing for the new test. "I have no idea what I'm going to see," LSA junior Kristie Paull said. "There's not a whole lot I can do about it because if I want to teach I've got to take it," she added. Carol Smith, chair of Education and Professional Development at Western Michigan University, agreed that the test does not give students enough time to pre- pare. "That was absolutely unfair with the timeline. This group of students is just lambs to the slaughter; but I believe that our students are well-prepared," Smith said. Dr. Dan Austin, associate education su- perintendent in the Michigan Department of Education, blamed former Gov. James Blanchard for the testing delays. "We could not get support from Blanchard to put money for (the testing) in the executive budget," Austin said. "The time schedule was unrealistic from the very beginning. ... I would feel com- fortable with a two to three year time frame, and even that may be rushing it," Smith said. Administrators also criticized the test's uniformity due to the fact that all students will take the same test, whether they plan to teach high school or elementary students. "You can predict for yourself what will happen. It will be so easy as to insult the in- telligence or so difficult that no one can pass it," said Scott Whitener, dean of educa- tion at Ferris State University . Austin said faculty and lawmakers must decide whether separate tests should be de- veloped. Within the education system, stu- dents who plan to teach elementary school are channeled into lower-level courses. As a result, not all students reach the same lev- els of proficiency. "We can continue to run the test this way to force the upgrade of the educational program, or we can have separate tests," he said. Education administrators also question the methods National Evaluation Systems (NES) used to design the competency test. "NES decided in a vacuum what should be on the test," Whitener said. He said kindergarten through 12th grade faculties and university administrators were surveyed in August - when a number of faculty and administrators are not in school. But University School of Education Dean Cecil Miskel explained that NES used data bases from other states, such as Georgia and Illinois, to create Michigan's compe- tency test. School of education deans said they worry that the tests will be invalid, because See TEACHERS, Page 2 I Radio signal invades city phones, stereos, prompts complaints by Erin Einhorn Daily City Reporter store he was told his equipment wa as Since radio station WAMX up- graded the power of its transmitter in October, distant sounds of soft music have been aggravating Ann Arbor residents as the uninvited signals float into their telephones, compact disc players, and other electronic equipment. The station's transmitter is located on the roof of Tower Plaza Condominiums on the corner of Maynard and E. Williams streets, but telephones as far as 10 blocks away have picked up the WAMX signal. "I just want to stop hearing lite FM on my phone all day," said Mark Andrejevic, who lives on Thayer Street. Tower Plaza Condominium not the problem. Matthew Britt, a salesperson at the Stereo Shoppe on E. Williams, has told many customers the same thing. "We've been getting complaints from people who live all over town," Britt said. "They think their stuff is broken. But there's really nothing that can be done to take care of it. I tell them, 'Move."' WAMX General Manager Jim Baughn said any people with prob- lems need to contact the station di- rectly and he estimated about 25 calls have already come in. "We've been working with a lot of people and cured a lot of the problem," Baughn said. When the station receives a com- .' i: :' r ' , i:Sz;.^c> - -,. .4 .. ~x:° }: :~i':g:s.:>.