Michigan State has been skirting the Open
Meetings Act in its search for a new president.
If MSU is successful, the University will surely
follow suit in its next search.
MUSKET has decided to take a new approach in
its performance of "Anything Goes" tomorrow
through Saturday at the Power Center.
The biggest surprise of this year's NCAA
tournament has been George Washington. The
Wolverines take on the 12th seed in the West
Regional Friday in Seattle.
Today
Foggy;
High 48, Low 36
Tomorrow
Warmer; High 54, Low 39
0c
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One hundred two years of editorial freedom
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Court to rule
on future of
Russian pres.
Sign of the times
Signs and barricades slow traffic and close one lane of State Street yesterday. University crews are making
the LSA Building and Angell Hall. The construction is scheduled to be completed by July 6.
repairs in the steam tunnel that connects
MOSCOW (AP) - Russians
have embraced Western words like
"democracy," "congress" and
"president," but they are having
trouble grasping the underlying con-
cepts. The fight now in Moscow is
less about constitutional fine points
than about power, ambition and
wealth, Russian reformers say.
"We have one foot in the demo-
cratic tradition, but one foot still in
the totalitarian tradition," said Viktor
Boriswuk, an expert in U.S. and
Russian constittrional law and a
consultant to the Congress of Peo-
ple's Deputies.
Facing a Congress that regularly
amends the constitution to augment
its own power, Yeltsin proposed a
solution last Saturday that smacked
of absolutism, "a special order of
governance" that would allow him to
ignore decisions by the legislature
and the Constitutional Court.
Rule of law is the heart of the is-
sue, said Congress Speaker Ruslan
Khasbulatov, a leader of the cam-
paign to remove Yeltsin from office.
"The conflict between the legisla-
tive and executive authorities is not
personal in character," said Khasbu-
latov, who stood side by side with
Yeltsin in resisting the attempted
Communist coup in August 1991.
But Khasbulatov's critics say he
is driven by personal ambition and a
desire to please lawmakers who
want to keep their jobs as managers
of state-owned factories and farms.
Control of that property gives them
wealth and power they would lose in
a democratic, free-market system.
The conflict, said former Com-
munist Politburo member Alexander
Yakovlev, concerns "property and
ownership, as up to 95 percent of all
property in the country is still owned
by the state."
The Congress opposes Yeltsin's
efforts to allow private ownership of
land and to transfer state-owned in-
dustries and business to individual
shareholders.
The subordinate role of the court
was evident afterbYeltsin appeared
on television Saturday night to pro-
claim emergency rule leading up to a
national referendum on A aril 25.
Within hours of Yeltsin's ad-
dress, Chief Justice Valery Zorkin
raced to the television station and
appeared nationwide, along with
some of Yeltsin's severest critics, to
accuse the president of attempting a
coup.
Yeltsin's attorneys were never
given a chance to argue his case.
Yeltsin's aides said the president,
unable to appeal to the court, instead
would appeal to the people. And
they said he would ignore any
moves to oust him by a Congress he
believes is trying to restore commu-
See RUSSIA, Page 2
Students question SA proposal
Forum fields
student concerns
about proposed
quantitative reasoning
requirement
by Nate Hurley
Daily Administration Reporter
A forum on the proposed LSA
quantitative reasoning requirement
attracted a small - but concerned
- group of students.
The eight students who attended
yesterday's meeting questioned fac-
ulty and administrators on both the
purpose and logistics of the pro-
posed requirement.
The proposal, which will be
voted on at the April LSA faculty
meeting, would require students en-
tering in Fall Term 1994 to take a
class that incorporated quantitative
reasoning before they graduate.
Some students questioned why
the requirement is needed if 77 per-
cent of LSA students already techni-
cally fulfill it.
"It seemed that the University
was mandating another requirement
that most people already take," said
LSA sophomore Jeff Tack, a LSA
student government representative.
Faculty and administrators re-
sponded by outlining the benefits to
students and the diverse courses that
would be designed to fulfill the pro-
posed requirement.
"We feel that, in a sense, the col-
lege is not doing a good job in edu-
cating people by letting them avoid
quantitative ideas," said
Mathematics Prof. Peter Hinman,
chair of the task force.
"We want to provide some
courses that will make it easier for
the math-avoiders to get back into
See LSA, Page 2
Students protest Clinton Haitian policy
by Scot Woods
Daily Staff Reporter
Angry University students will
begin a hunger strike and publicity
blitz today to protest the Clinton
administration's refusal to admit
HIV-positive Haitian refugees to the
United States.
"We want to call attention to the
injustice and inhumane things that
the Clinton administration is doing
to Haitians at Guantanamo Bay,"
said Law School student Kathy
Wordlaw, a spokesperson for the
protesters.
The fast begins at noon with a
rally on the steps of the Law Library
and will continue through next
Wednesday, with events scheduled
for each day.
Protesters will wear black arm-
bands bearing the number 264 to
represent the number of Haitians
being detained in Guantanamo,
Cuba. Black pin-on patches will be
available for supporters who do not
participate in the hunger strike.
The events are being organized
by members of the Michigan Law
School's Haitian Refugee Project
and the Black Law Students'
Alliance (BLSA).
The protest began March 3 at
Yale University, coincidentally
where Clinton received his law de-
gree. Students at Harvard and Brown
then continued the protest for a week
each.
The protesters charge the Clinton
administration with knowingly act-
ing in violation of U.S. law. They
claim that the administration's re-
fusal to allow the refugees to apply
for political asylum based on their
HIV status is illegal.
The Haitians have been identified
as political refugees by the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service, Wordlaw said.
Wordlaw said she works with
Haitians in East Lansing who have
already been admitted to the United
States. They are awaiting processing
for political asylum.
The Haitians at Guantanamo de-
serve these rights, she said, "The
only difference is that they are
HIV-positive."
According to Wordlaw, under in-
ternational law the Haitians can't be
returned to Haiti because they have
"well-founded fear" of political
persecution.
Students said the reason they
chose a hunger strike was to parallel
the hunger strike being held by the
Haitians at Guantanamo Bay. The
Haitians have been fasting since
Jan. 29.
Daniel Varner, BLSA vice-chair
and a member of the Haitian
See HUNGER, Page 2
Here is a tentative schedule
of events this week related
to the hunger strike and
protest:
Wednesday 3/24:
Opening rally on the Law
Library steps at noon;
reception to follow at Haven
Lounge
Thursday 3/25: Film:
"Killing of the Dream," a
documentary on conditions
in Haiti;. Law Quad; room
and time TBA
Friday 3/26: Telephone
campaign to Senators and
Representatives
Sunday 3/28: Panel
Discussion on Haiti by
members of the National
Lawyers' Guild; 9:30 a.m.;
Hutchins Hall, Law Quad
'U' student selected to serve on
March of Dimes national council
Housing
or Dance
may affect
Greeks
by Jonathan Berndt
Daily City Reporter
The Ann Arbor Planning
Commission tackled the tedious task
of technical language n a proposed
ordinance change that could affect
the Greek system in its working
session last night.
The city officials are trying to
eliminate loopholes and ambiguity in
the proposal after more than a year-
and-a-half of writing drafts and lis-
tening to community input and
complaints.
"The main thing is the Planning
Commission has been struggling
with the issue of Special Exception
Uses," said Karen Hart, the city's
planning director. "There's been
friction between neighborhoods and
these particular uses (fraternity and
sorority houses). The staff wanted to
make the regulations more clear
about what you have to do and
when."
Special Exception Uses are de-
fined in the ordinance as measures
taken by the Planning Commission
to assure that proposed land uses are
compatible with others in the area,
the natural features of the site and
availability of public services and
facilities."
Joe Foster, the fraternity coordi-
nator at the University, said the pro-
cess had seen concerns from the
Greeks and the neighborhood
residents.
"We've been working on this for
by Mona Qureshi
Daily Feature Writer
LSA first-year student Robyn Denson
sips water from a March of Dimes glass. A
March of Dimes poster child accompanies
tennis star Andre Agassi on her dorm wall.
Denson, who organized events such as Walk
America, received the 1991 Volunteer Youth
of the Year award and $1,000, but promptly
donated the money to the March of Dimes.
It comes as little surprise that Denson has
recently been appointed to one of 15 posi-
tions on the National Youth Council of the
March of Dimes firth Defects foundation.
An active resident of her Gainesville,
Fla. hometown, Denson has been a force
with the March of Dimes - a national vol-
unteer organization aimed at preventing birth
defects and infant mortality - since her
sophomore year of high school. Denson said
hr tn iur ivnlvrmnt with the nvni .,_-
Hillary Clinton citizens of the year in
Arkansas for their initiatives in birth defects
research.
One presidential success Denson dis-
cusses is the lifting of the ban on fetal tissue
research. Her responsibilities as a National
Youth Council member include representing
the March of Dimes at conferences and
workshops, and coordinating activities at
high schools. Denson will join the March of
Dimes by beginning a national campaign for
educational and fundraising programs for
high school students.
Denson has prior experience with orga-
nizing. In high school she served as a chair
for the Chain Reaction program, a part of the
March of Dimes aimed at increasing the
level of high school volunteers nationally.
Denson has trimmed the number of ac-
tivities she is involved in while at the
T Tnivyrit in nrar n Atinc t on rmlan Eif -
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LSA first-year student Robyn Denson, a member of the March of Dimes national
council, works at her job in Ann Arbor.
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