8- The Michigan Dail - Friday, December 10, 1993 Successful Hubble mission said to restore confidence RALLY AGAINST RAPE SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - After doing all it could to rehabili- tate the Hubble Space Telescope and its own reputation, NASA faces a nervous few months until the instru- ment proves it can view the universe with a sharp eye. The telescope was to be released from the shuttle Endeavour at 2:08 a.m. EST tomorrow with new optics and a new guidance system installed during a record-setting five spacewalks. "It takes a team to score, and we bad a good team," Richard Covey, commander of the 'space shuttle Endeavour, said yesterday after his spacewalkers completed every task set. "We look forward to getting rid of this bad boy tomorrow." Engineers will realign the tele- scope and check it out. It will be six or seven weeks be- fore they begin taking pictures that will show whether the telescope is no longer the national joke it became when it was launched in 1990 with a myopic main mirror. The new parts installed on the flight should have fixed that, as well as correcting some of the mechanical and electronic failures that have plagued the telescope. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA spending, predicted that the mission will go a long way to restoring con- gressional confidence in the agency. What is it? The time when certain graduate students and their families can enroll in the University-sponsored health care plan. It's also time to enroll your new spouse, new baby or newly adopted child. When is it? January 3 through January 14, 1994 Who's Eligible? Non-grandparented Graduate Student Research Assistants with at least 25% appointments, graduate students with specified fellowships and, other declared graduate student groups. How do you enroll? Use the material that was mailed to you, or pick up forms in the Benefits Office. We're located in the Administrative Services Building at the corner of Hoover and Green, Room 2030. Where do you return the forms? At the Benefits Office, no later than 4 p.m. on Janurary 14, 1994. Questions? Check with your department or call Student Benefits Office, 763-1212 or 763-0458. SUSAN ISAAKD aiy Members of the National Women's Rights Organizing Coalition speak to Vice President of Student Affairs Maureen Hartford. The group held a rally on the Diag then marched to the Fleming Administration Building. The group was protesting sexual harassment and rape on campus. eo-Nazie ts lie in BONN, Germany (AP)-- A neo- Nazi got life in prison Wednesday and his sidekick 10 years for a 1992 firebombing that killed three Turks. The ruling was hailed as proof that Germany is serious about locking up violent admirers of Adolf Hitler. The term handed down to Michael Peters was the first life sentence for a neo-Nazi assailant since a wave of right-wing attacks began in 1990. Germany has no death penalty. Peters and Lars Christiansen were convicted by a state supreme court in Schleswig for the Nov. 23, 1992, firebombing of a Turkish apartment house in Moelin, a town near Ham- burg. Christiansen's10-year sentence is the maximum penalty for someone 21 years old or younger. Justice authorities have been ac- cused of being too lenient with young right-wing extremists or handling in- vestigations so badly that acquittals were inevitable. In his verdict, Judge Hermann Ehrich said the two may have felt emboldened by anti-foreigner senti- ment in German society. He mentioned last year's drive by politicians to close Germany's bor- ders to asylum-seekers, and the resi- dents who cheered as extremists firebombed a Rostock asylum shelter three months before the Moelln at- tack. A spokesperson for the Frankfurt Jewish community, Michel Friedman, said a harsh sentence was long over- due. "I just hope it has a deterrent effect." Security authorities said neo-Nazi groups were forming tighter bonds and it was becoming harder to infil- trate them. A united front is being formed by radical-right organizations such as Viking Youths, Action For A Clean Germany, the Free Workers Party and the German People's Union. 'U' pilots new MS treatment New treatment for # Multiple Sclerosis can prevent disease in early stages ASSOCIATED PRESS A two-week treatment of high: doses of steroids can help head off the: onset of multiple sclerosis in its earli- est stages, according to a study pub-: lished Thursday. "Thisdoes notpreventMS. Itdoes not cure itor stop it," said Dr. Jonathan Trobe, an opthalmologist and neu- rologist at the University, which took' part in the study. "You get a stay," he said. The study involved giving some subjects steroids, both intravenously and by mouth, after they were discov- ered to have optic neuritis, which can be an early warning sign of MS. The people who received the two-week steroid treatment had significantly less chance of developing MS within two years of it, the study said. Patients receiving placebos had a 16.7 percent chance of developing MS within two years of getting the treatment. The percentage was 7.5 percent for patients who received the steroid treatment. The $5 million study sponsored by the National Eye Institute was pub- lished in yesterday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment involves using some known steroids in new combinations, doctors said. It appears to be effective only in new cases. While the treatment is not a cure, doctors said delaying its onset is help- ful. "Buying time is important, be- cause someday we're going to have a drug to deal with this," Trobe said. Multiple sclerosis attacks the cen- tral nervous system. It causes blurred vision, loss of balance, numbness and paralysis. It strikes women twice as often as men. About 350,000 Ameri-' cans have multiple sclerosis. Doctors at the University and 14 other sites made the discovery in treat- ing acute optic neuritis. Up to 80 per- cent of patients with optic neuritis - a painful condition that results in thetem- porary, partial loss of sight - will develop multiple sclerosis within 15 years. Trobe said doctors were surprised that theshort-term treatment produced such a strong result. Doctors don't know why the treatment's effect seemed to wear off after two years. "The big deal and the point is, it's a step," said Patricia McDonald, ex- ecutive directorof the Michigan chap- ter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "We're getting closer." The five-year study of 389 pa- tients'was designed at the Unversity in the mid-1980s by Dr. Roy Beck, an ophthalmologist and epidemiologist now at the University of South Florida, and David Musch, an associate re- search scientist in ophthalmology. Michigan State University and a number of other universities and in- sttutes across the nation took part in the study. MBA program goes on the road to Hong Kong HONG KONG Continued from page 5 he could not disclose the specifics. While the curriculum consists of the same classes MBA students take in Ann Arbor, there are some modifi- cations. Approximately 10 percent of the instruction is geared to the com- pany or the airline industry since Cathay Pacific is the flagship carrier in Hong Kong. The first class will graduate in 1996. In addition to paying for salaries and equipment, Cathay Pacific pays $36,500 for each student's tuition for the duration of the program. "This frees up money that can be used for research and University stu- A V VNCE CAP6[L dents," Holmes said. While he said he believes the program is successful, Holmes admits, "There are still some bugs in the program but they will continue to improve as technology improves." Steve Mayo, who represents the Michigan Collegiate Telecommuni- cations Association, said he feels that the interactive video enhances educa- tion. "It is easier to bring in resources you need because no traveling is in- volved." He added, "This is more in line with what kids have grown up with at home and to not have video as part of the learning process is strange." GOODBYE STEVE GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE J I T-SHIRT PRINTING LOVPRICES .*"I ra-- - bchaJeri' JO STENS 7 Stop by and see a Jostens representative Today *I11 a m. to 4 pm. I : m I I cs IL MM