The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 12, 1993 - 3
3Reach Out '93
touches base
with first-years
'By JENNIFER TIANEN
.DAILY STAFF REPORTER
R Although first-year students may have been lonely in
September, their phones started ringing Oct. 3. But if they
thought it was friends inviting them to parties or maybe their
parents checking up on them, they were wrong.
It was the Office of Orientation calling, introducing anew
touch-base program known as Reach Out '93.
"(On Oct. 3), we startedcalling allfirst-yearstudents who
are currently enrolled in the University," saidMolly Nicholson,
'program coordinator for the Office of Orientation.
The aim of the program is to assist students by making
them feel more in touch with the University. Callers ask
students if and how they feel connected to the University, as
well as what kind of programs they would like to see,
implemented.
"To a certain extent, (students) define 'connected,"'
Nicholson said. "It often means feeling comfortable and if
they fit in at the University."
Nicholson cited relationships with faculty and small class
.size as two examples students give of feeling "connected" to
the University. She added that students have been very
*,responsive.
"Of the 500 students we have contacted so far, only 10
have declined to participate in the survey," Nicholson said.
Reach Out'93 will be contacting transfer students begin-
ning in November. Results of the survey will be available at
the end of that month.
"The data will be used to... create and enhance programs
to serve students based on their current needs," Nicholson
said.
Nataki McGlaun, a first-year LSA student, said she
doesn't think the program will make any difference for her.
"The University has everything already. All I have time
to do is work and study," she said.
But LSA first-year student David Scott said he was
enthusiastic about the program.
"It's great and I love it," he said, although he has not been
contacted by Reach Out '93 yet.
"What luck for me (to be included in the program)."
JAMMIN' ON THE SAX
LASC plans to
fight glue abuse
By NIDHI AGRAWAL
FOR THE DAILY
Latin America Solidarity Commit-
tee (LASC) Coordinator Jon Shill, an
LSA sophomore, thought he knew a lot
about El Salvador.
But when he traveled there with a
national delegation representing Build-
ing with the Voiceless of El Salvador,
he realized that social problems are
more disturbing when confronted face
to face.
"Until then I had only read about El
Salvador's social problems concern-
ing human rights and the civil war," he
said.
Shill, then-treasurer of LASC,
pledged to learn as much as he could
about the country's social problems to
enable him to best represent the situa-
tion once he returned to the United
States.
"It was hard to understand the ac-
curacy of everything I had learned, but
I was distressed and wanted to better
understand how myself and LASC
could more effectively and accurately
support the aspirations of the majority
of Salvadorans," he said.
The 12-person delegation brought
financial aid and medical supplies to
various Salvadoran humanrightsorga-
nizationsandpoverty-strickenruralar-
eas.
Speaking to citizens who claimed
to have been threatened and told not to
vote in the 1991 elections by the Salva-
doran army, and seeing people's houses
that had been bombed byU.S. supplied
planes and helicopters, Shill witnessed
what he referred toas "the repression of
Salvadoran people and the neglect of
their needs."
He said, "I wasn't sure if the infor-
mation I had been receiving about the
tactics which ARENA (the ruling na-
tionalist, rightist party)'used to stay in
power was true. I was surprised to find
that it was very true."
Since then, Shill has continued with
LASC, participating in political action
to end oppression in El Salvador, in-
cluding the 1991 Salvadoran coffee
boycott.
Acting as coordinator of LASC,
Shill said he hopes to organize against
the H.B. Fuller company, which sells a
glue, Resistol, in Latin America. Street
children sniff the glue because the ac-
tive ingredient, Toluene, helps them
forget theirdismal situations, Shill said.
Shill added that its sharp, nauseat-
ing smell distorts reality for the user,
causing it to be a popular drag in Latin
America where 40-50 million children
live in the streets. Regular use of
Resistol may damage brain cells, limbs,
essential organs, and cause a chronic
cough. Users of Resistol are often un-
able to walk and are seen crawling the
streets begging for money.
The use of Resistol is so common
among street children in Latin America
that they have come to be referred to as
"resistoleros," a term similar to the
American term "crack head."
Shill said LASC members realize
that the root cause of Resistol abuse is
the street children's social situations.
However, he said his organization hopes
to convince H.B. Fuller to put mustard
seed oil in the glue, making it very
uncomfortable on the throat and eyes.
He said company officials claim the oil
of mustard is too dangerous for work-
ers and legitimate customers.
Edward Powell plays his saxophone on the Diag. He hopes to become a student of the School
of Music.
4TD plans to offer efficient alternatives to MTS for e-mail users
By JAHNA BERRY
FOR THE DAILY
Students who have been stumped
by the inner workings of the Michigan
Terminal System (MTS) electronic mail
program may soon find the light at the
end of the tunnel.
The University will soon start sup-
porting five new electronic mail pack-
ages for use by students and faculty.
Beginning September 1994, the
University's Information Technology
Division (1TD) will provide support
services for five alternative electronic
mail software packages. Students can
choose to transfer their e-mail accounts
fromMTS tooneofthesenew systems.
ITD representatives said they hope
,the new packages - Pine, Mailstrom,
cc:Mail, Microsoft Word and
Quickmail-will alleviate some of the
problems with MTS caused by heavy
e-mail traffic.
"We were given the charge to de-
crease the use of MTS," said Kari
Gluski, head of the Electronic Mail
Migration Project(EMP), acommittee-
formed to find alternative electronic
mail software for University use.
"Growth in the use of MTS has
caused performance problems. E-mail
is the area where problems seemed to
occur," Gluski added.
Due to heavy traffic on MTS e-
mail, performance in other areas of the
system paid with slower response times
and decreased efficiency.
Gluski said about 35,000 users have
active e-mail accounts on MTS. Stu-
dents with IFS home directories can
use some alternative packages, like
Pine, now.
ITD officials said it's high time that
the University offer alternatives to
MTS, which is more than 15 years old.
"With Pine, I can look into my
entire 'in' file," said Mary Simoni,
director of ResComp, the University
department that coordinates comput-
ing services in residence halls.
ResComp already uses Pine elec-
tronic mail for administrative purposes.
"If you go into your box, it shows
you who's it from and the subject mat-
ter. So, if you are looking for amessage
on a particular subject you can find it
easily."
On MTS, users have to scroll
through all of their messages sequen-
tially to find the one they wish to view.
Some students and several Univer-
sity departments are also currently us-
ing alternatives to MTS without the
recommendation of the University.
However, since the packages oper-
ate outside of MTS, the e-mail could
not interact or "gateway" into other
computer systems. Consequently the
package's use was restricted to within
the departments. Now, departments and
students who choose to use one of the
recommended programs will be able to
interface with MTS. They can also
benefit from services like 764-HELP.
Other advantages for users of the
new software include the ability to
interface with Macintosh and IBM com-
puters, eliminating the need to learn the
MTS system in order to use e-mail. The
software will enable users to operate
their mail in the same way as all other
programs on their computers.
"The MTS system gave people fits.
(On the new software,) if you know
how to use the editor on whatever mi-
cro you are using, you can edit your
mail," said Gluski.
That willspell relief formany people
like first-year student Dan Koster, who
has been frustrated by the MTS elec-
tronic mail system. "If you hit the re-
turn key twice it takes you out of the
system," he complained.
Of the five systems recommended
by the University, two - Pine and
Mailstrom - will be a part of Interac-
tive Mail Protocol, which will offer
basic, free e-mail to everyone on cam-
pus. All other programs will be avail-
able at an extra cost that has yet to be
determined.
The new software also represents a
move by the University toward distrib-
uted technology, in which several small
specialized machines carry out spe-
cific functions once tackled solely by a
mainframe computer.
This, according to ITD, will make
computing more efficient and cheaper.
For instance, computing costs per user
can be reduced from more than $100
annually to about $10-20 per year,
Gluski said.
Distributed technology could be the
death knell for the MTS mainframe,
which is more than 25 years old, and
scheduled to be phased out by lTD.
Other MTS features like the CONFER
system will also be moved off MTS in
the months and years to come.
Pegasus, Andromeda constellations SKNembeskis L iGHfeature Pegasus anomea teoafamous
will light up Michigan's fall skies e
*By TRACEY BURNS
FOR THE DAILY
The night skies of October and
November will offer stargazers a view
of the Pegasus and Andromeda con-
stellations as well as a glimpse at a
galaxy almost 2.5 million light-years
-away, said University Astronomy Prof.
Richard Teske.
Viewers in Michigan will see Pe-
gasus-themythological wingedhorse
.- flying through the sky on his back
Owith his wings extending downward to
=he south.
The four stars of Alegnib, Markab,
Scheat and Alpheratz form the large
square of his body.
His nose, denoted by the star Enif,
points west toward the constellation of
Aquilaor"theEagle," whose tail lies in
the westerly half of the Milky Way.
Teske explained that Alpheratz, at
the northeast corner of the square in
Pegasus, is an unusual example of a
single star being shared by twoconstel-
lations, in this case, Pegasus and An-
dromeda.
Teske suggested that students who
are curious to know how far they can
see through space look for the spiral
galaxy known as M31 in Andromeda.
"Choose a clear night when the
moon is not lighting up the sky very
much, and observe from a dark loca-
tion away from city lights.
"After finding Alpheratz in the
northeast corner of the Great Square,
let your eyes travel further to the north-
east for two stars and then look north
toward the faint fuzzy patch of the
galaxy. Binoculars will be helpful, but
are not necessary," he said.
Correction
Field hockey goalie Niki Hoover played in Michigan's game Sunday, when
University. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.
Michigan won 3-0 against St. Louis
Student groups
U Amnesty International, meet-
ing, Michigan Union, Welker
Room, 7:30 p.m.
U Christian Science Organiza-
tion, weekly meeting, Michi-
gan League, check room at front
desk, 7 p.m.
O College Republicans, weekly
meeting, Michigan League,
Room D, 6:30 p.m.
U Hellenic Students Association,
women 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 p.m.
Events
U Brown Bag Lunch Series,
China, the Overseas Chinese
and Southeast Asia, Linda Lim,
Lane Hall, Commons Room, 12
noon
0 The End of the Earth? Profits
and Planetary Poisoning,
SPARK Discussion series,
Organ Recital, Robert Glasgow,
Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Q The Psychology of Microeco-
nomics, Newcomb Lecture by
Richard Nisbett, Rackham,
Amphitheatre, 4 p.m.
Student services
Q Career Planning & Placement,
Chosing Your Major, CP&P,
Student Activites Building,
Thought about running a CL6SSIFIED AD?
There's no better time than now!
"The Classified Srecial"
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