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The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 25, 1993 - 3
.Assembly
candidacy
deadline
tomorrow
By KAREN TALASKI
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Before President Clinton set his
sights on the Oval Office, he ran for a
position on the Michigan Student
Assembly. He won by a landslide,
lacing his career on the fast track to
,ofitical greatness.
Maybe not.
But for students with such lofty
aspirations, a place on the student
government could be the first step
toward a career in politics. More than
10 MSA representative positions are
up for grabs in the upcoming winter
election.
However, time is quickly running
Out. Tomorrow is the last day to de-
clare both candidacy and a party name
at MSA 'offices, located on the third
floor of the Michigan Union.
LSA Rep. Taryn Merkl was a first-
year student when she ran for a posi-
tion on the assembly and said being a
party member made it easier for her to
meet student constituents and be
elected.
"With a party, you can talk to a
qarger number of students," Merkl
said. "It was interesting tomeet people
I'd never met before (and) let them
know what's happening."
MSA Vice President Brian Kight
has seen his share ofelections, both as
a representative pnd as an executive
officer. After being on the assembly
fof three years, Kight said every cam-
aign turns out a little different than
e last.
"It depends on the year, the issues,
and who else is running," Kight said.
"It's really not something that should
be scary (for first-time candidates),
but it's a lot of work."
He, along with many MSA mem-
bers, said there are positive and nega-
tive aspects to working on the student
government.
"Whether the pros outweigh the
ons is an individual decision. It's a
lot of time if you do it right. It can be
frustrating," Kight said. "But you get
to do something that's good for stu-
dents and helps them out in some
way."
LSA Rep. Paul Scublinsky said
making tough decisions and learning
how to cope with the stressful envi-
pnment is all part of the job.
"MSA turned out to be a lot more
hostile than I thought it would be,"
Scublinsky said. "There are a lot of
people who like the sound of their
own voice."
Scublinsky said he feels MSA has
improved in past years, but could be
more effective if its members could
learn to work together.
"Most student governments don't
#nd to have much power. It all de-
pends on how bold its members are
and how much they're willing to work
with the administration," he added.
CAVA JAVA JAMMING
Teach for America
pairs teachers and
struggling schools
JONATANP 4LUIE/ailwy'
Oni Werth of "Kiss Me Screaming" performs Saturday night in the basement of Cava Java.
U.N. threatens embargo if Haiti
does not restore democra~cy, leader.
By SOMA GUPTA
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Aftergraduation, countless seniors
find themselves with a sheet of paper
called a diploma and very little they
can do with it. However, University
graduates are opening their eyes up to
the Teach for America (TFA) pro-
gram.
Teach for America is a national
teacher corps of individuals from all
academic backgronds who commit
a minimum of two years to teach in
under-resourced urban and rural pub-
lic schools.
"There is a huge difference be-
tween teaching and teaching for
America. It is the difference between
thinking nationally and acting spe-
cifically," said TFA Corps member
Jason Levy. "We are the type of elec-
trical field that can jump-start an en-
tire generation."
The program is very selective but
offers participants placement in a
school with a typical teacher's salary.
It also provides transportation to the
placement site, as well as the possibil-
ity of a reduction in loans accumu-
lated during the undergraduate ca-
reer.
"Here at Teach for America we're
looking for people who are dedicated
to education reform. That's why we
place our corps in under-resourced
areas," said Elizabeth Lach, a TFA
representative.
TFA also serves as an alternative
to formal education since many of its
members qualify for teacher certifi-
cation after their two years in the
corps.
"Teaching is a very difficult thing.
If you want to do it right it is very
hard. The corps provides young, in-
experienced teachers with support
systems, which I feel is better than
going into a community alone after
procuring a formal degree," said Scott
Dent, an LSA senior who is consider-
ing applying for the program.
The program has been recruiting
'Here at Teach for
America we're looking
for people who are
dedicated to education
reform. That's why we
place our corps in
under-resourced areas.'
- Elizabeth Lach
students from the University for five
years and has placed more than 2,400
members nationwide.
"We want individuals that are will-
ing to take on the extra stresses and
strains - individuals who are com-
mitted to the idea that all the children
in America have an equal opportunity
to a quality education," Lach said.
TFA representatives are going to
be on campus recruiting University
seniors tomorrow.
"There is only so much you can
learn from textbooks and school. Af-
ter all, you can't read about how to
teach. You've got to confront the in-
dividuals," Dent said.
TFA does not actively seek out
education majors because the pro-
gram was designed to attract a new
pool of people into teaching.
"We work to recruit those who
may have not considered teaching or
those who have majored in other aca-
demic areas. Education majors and
certified teachers are afforded other
opportunities to teach and are there-
fore not TFA's primary recruitment
focus," according to the recruitment
brochure.
Many of the individuals interested
in the program feel it's a good way to
give back to the community.
"There are a lot of schools without
teachers for the whole year and a lot
of these kids are the ones that need the
extra help. Teach for America pro-
vides the full-time teachers in the
schools," Dent said.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)
- U.N. officials welcomed a peace
proposal by opponents of Haiti's ex-
iled president, but said yesterday the
army and lawmakers must move faster
to restore democracy or face a broad-
ened commercial embargo.
A U.N. spokesperson said the pro-
posal by a group of lawmakers op-
posed to exiled President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide represented a shift
toward acceptance of the U.N. plan to
free violence-plagued Haiti from mili-
tary rule.
Still, U.N. officials were trying to
assess whether the plan unveiled Sat-
urday night would ease the current
crisis, or was a delaying tactic.
The United Nations reapplied a
weapons and petroleum embargo last
week to pressure the military to give
up power. One of the warships en-
forcing the sanctions cruised in Port-
au-Prince harbor yesterday, then
steamed near the headquarters of
Haiti's tiny navy.
The U.N. plan requires army com-
mander Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras to step
down and Aristide to return by Satur-
day.
But Cedras has resisted quitting,
and the country has been plagued by
violence, blamed mostly on oppo-
nents of Aristide.
Overnight, six people were re-
ported shot in Petionville, a suburb of
Port-au-Prince. Their conditions were
not known.
The new proposal attempts to
win concessions from Aristide be-
fore allowing his return from 25
months of exile, including a general
amnesty law, political opponents in
Aristide's Cabinet and an end to the
embargo.
Aristide decreed an amnesty for
political crimes, but Cedras has ar-
gued that this order could be revoked
and an amnesty law isneeded. Aristide
says he's not opposed to including
opponents in his government, butonly
after he returns.
U.N. envoyDante Caputo unveiled
the proposal Saturday night, after
meeting with U.S. Ambassador Wil-
liam Swing and Premier Robert
Malval, head of the transition govern-
ment. Malval is to ask Aristide about
concessions in ameeting Wednesday
in Washington.
The U.S. Embassy welcomed the
initiative and issued a statement say-
ing, "We encourage all parties to give
the proposal the closest possible scru-
tiny at the earliest possible time."
Cedras, who helped topple Aristide
in a 1991 coup, has formally asked
the president for early retirement but
he gave no planned date to leave in an
Oct. 14 letter to Aristide.
U.N. officials did not know if the
request was only a formality.
Prof. Wilson addresses new urban poverty in Tanner Lecture
By ANDREA MacADAM
FOR THE DAILY
Prof. William Julius Wilson dis-
cussed what he refers to as the "new
urban poverty" when he delivered the
annual Tanner Lecture on Human
Values Friday afternoon.
Wilson, a professor of sociology
and public policy at the University of
Chicago, defined the new urban pov-
erty as "poor segregated neighbor-
hoods in which a substantial majority
of individual adults are either unem-
ployed or have dropped out of the
labor force."
In his speech, Wilson concentrated
on the development of this new pov-
erty and its relationship to race.
"Unless we try to understand the
basic concepts of the new urban pov-
erty and the forces that have created
it, we stand very little chance of ad-
dressing the growing racial tensions
that have plagued American cities in
the last few years," he said, address-
ing more than 200 people at Rackham
Auditorium.
Presenting a wealth of statistical
data and factual information, Wilson
argued that Black workers have been
most affected by economic shifts and
the rise of unemployment because
they are concentrated in deteriorating
ghetto neighborhoods.
Wilson stressed, however, that
programs designed to answer this
growing concern should be "race-neu-
tral" because "the poor and the work-
ing classes of all racial groups struggle
to make ends meet."
Audience response to the presen-
tation was generally positive.
"I thought the speech was a good
one that was very tailored to what his
books have discussed, and he did a
better job (in his speech) of articulat-
ing concrete strategies and policies
that could be implemented," said
Tara Jackson, a graduate student in
social psychology.
Philosophy Prof. FrithjofBergmann
said he thought Wilson's speech was
effective in addressing the problems
of urban poverty.
"Some people may find it difficult
to listen to the amount of statistics he
presents, but nothing less of that may
give an accurate picture," he said.
At Saturday morning's response
symposium, a packed room of inter-
ested audience members listened to
and participated in a discussion of
Wilson's speech and the problem of
urban decay in general.
Theda Skocpol, professor of sociol-
ogy at Harvard University and one of
the three panel members in the sympo-
sium, praised Wilson's analysis of the
problem, butvoicedconcernthatwomen
were"carelessly absent" in his research.
"It's not just thatmen are not getting
jobs that create social problems but it is
also that young women are living as
single mothers getting by on meager
program benefits," she said.
Wilson responded to her criticism
by noting that women were included in
his research but added that a deeper
analysis will be presented in the book
he is currently working on.
"I was really pleased that she raised
these issues because my next book will
do exactly what she implied needed to
be done," he said.
Roger Wilkins, a professor of his-
tory and American culture at George
Mason University and panel member,
referred to Wilson's presentation as
"wonderful."
However, he warned that race-neu-
tral programs contain weaknesses that
could negatively affect the Black
worker.
"Idon'tdeny thatsomeof the things
Blacks need are needed by poor whites
as well," he said. "But I believe that if
we do not face the fact that we have
done unique damage to Blacks, we will
construct programs that will roll off the
poor like it always does."
Wilson acknowledged the potential
weaknesses but maintained, "We're
smartpeople; we ought to come up with
programs that make sure the most dis-
advantaged portions of society are not
short-changed."
Terry Williams, associateprofessor
of sociology at the New School for
Social Research and the third member
of the panel, said Wilson's speech was
"not just a scholarly and academic one
but one that urged policy makers, schol-
ars, and everyday citizens to find ways
around the poverty and race nexus."
Corrections
The female condom is 83 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. It is the only form of birth control for women
that protects from STDs and AIDS. It can be inserted several minutes or several hours before intercourse. It does
not work if it is not anchored properly and may decrease spontaneity. Female condoms cost $2.25 each. The
ervical cap is 83 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. It may protect against STDs, and has no side effects.
must be inserted properly and can curb spontaneity. Cervical caps cost $35.63. This was incorrectly reported in
Friday's Daily.
I I
NON-STOP (OP IS
Student groups
D American Movement for Is-
rael, Shulchan Ivrit, practice
Hebrew, Michigan Union, Tap
Room, 6:30 p.m.
U Comedy Company Writer's
Meeting, sponsored by UAC,
Michigan Union, Room 2105,
7 p.m.
U ENACT-UM, meeting, Dana
Building, Room 1046,7 p.m.
U Saint Mary Student Parish,
Bible Study, 7 p.m.; RCIA ses-
sion, 7p.m.; 331 Thompson St.
O Self-Defense Principles, CCRB,
Room 1200, 9 p.m.
" Study/Discussion -
(re)introduction to the Bible,
sponsored by University Re-
formed Church, 928 E. Ann St.,
U The Third Wave, general meet-
ing, Michigan Union, Wolver-
ine Room, 7:30 p.m.'
Events
U AIDS Awareness Week, De-
mocracy Under Siege: The Dis-
mantling of Civil Rights,
Suzanne Pharr, Rackham, Au-
ditorium, 7 p.m.
U Islam Awareness Week, The
Modern Muslim Woman,
Sheema Khan, Law Quad,
Hutchins Hall, 7 p.m.
U Students with Disabilities,
video for faculty and staff about
issues students with disabilities
face daily, sponsored by the
Student services
Q Career Planning and Place-
ment, It pays to go to Graduate
School: Financing you Gradu-
ate Education, 4:10 p.m.; Ap-
plying to Graduate School, 5:10
p.m., Students Activities Build-
ing, Room 3200; American
Backhaulers, Michigan Union,
Anderson Room, 7p.m.; North-
western Mutual Life Hoopis
Agency, Michigan Union,
Welker Room, 7 p.m.; Troy
Marketing Group, Michigan
Union, Pendleton Room, 7p.m.
Q Fellowships for International
Graduate Students, sponsored
by the International Center,
Room 9, 4 p.m.
Q Psychology Academic Peer
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