Acting aside, 'Asylum' still insane Page 5 Jr tit *rni One hundred three years of editorial freedom Vol. CIV, No. 90 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, March 8, 1994 1994 The MichigaDaily Gays urge VP to include them in *search to find new Housing director By ZACHARY M. RAIMI DAILY STAFF REPORTER While Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen A. Hartford is still working to finalize the search committee charged with selecting a new Housing director, the Les- bian-Gay Male Programs Office (LGMPO) has its own agenda: to have Hartford select at least one openly gay student to the committee. The committee will compile a list of candidates to replace former Housing Director Robert C. Hughes, who, after being removed from his position in Housing by Hartford, became the executive director of development and external relations for student affairs. Hartford can select Hughes' replacement from the pool e committee sends her or she can pick another candidate. Since the LGMPO was founded in 1971, Toy said the group's purpose has been to bring gay issues to the campus' attention and to be an "advocate for the rights and welfare of this constituency." "The welfare of this constituency rests in some large part on the atmosphere and climate of the campus," Toy added. Toy said the Housing Division has been supportive in the past and it "needs to continue to be supportive of the concerns of the constituencY.... The search committee for 'the new director needs to include a member of this constitu- ency." Hartford said yesterday she did not know how many students - heterosexual or homosexual - will be on the committee or when it will be formed. In interviews last month, Hartford said she hoped to have the committee in place by Spring Break. Several gay University students have volunteered to be on the committee, should Hartford select them. One such volunteer, Bradley Weischedel, a graduate student in the School of Social Work, said he believes the best way for *lesbian and gay students' concerns, regarding the Housing Division, is to have a gay student on the committee. "It is important to have a Housing Director who ... is sensitive to the issues that face lesbian, gay and bisexual students, which includes University housing for same-sex partners and fostering an environment which is free from See HARTFORD, Page 2 GRIST FOR THE MILL Arafat holds talks with Israeli env oy i LOS ANGELES TIMES CAIRO, Egypt -- Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Orga- nization, held his first direct talks yes- terday with an Israeli envoy since the Hebron massacre, seeking in a secret meeting hereto produce abreakthrough to allow peace talks to resume on Pal- estinian self-rule. PLO officials said they hoped that Israel would agree to new controlsaon Jewish settlers in occupied lands and a force of international observers to assure Palestinian security, guaran- tees that would persuade the PLO to return to the peace table. After two days of Egyptian and U.S. mediation, the two sides are dis- cussing a package that would include a stepped-up timetable for negotiating the future of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, armed interna- tional observers in Palestinian areas and further controls on the arms carried by Israeli settlers, sources close to the negotiations said. "If these measures are approved by the Israelis, it will relieve the situa- tion," said a senior PLO official. "It will help a lot. And I think, yes, it will bring us back to the peace talks." Arafat met with Jacques Neriah, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's political adviser, and David Sultan, Israel's ambassador to Egypt. Their discussions were the first since the Feb. 25 attack that killed more than 40 Pal- estinians in a Hebron mosque. See ARAFAT, Page 7 Israel slow to enforce restricti~ons on settlers THE BALTIMORE SUN JERUSALEM - Baruch Marzel is one of the most popular media interviews around right now. The head of Kach, a radical set- tlers' organization, is officially "wanted" by the Israel government. They say they cannot find him-or two more of the five wanted radi- cals. But he has been available for television, radio and newspaper in- terviews. Similarly, the government an- nounced it would disarm settlers after the Feb. 25 massacre of Mus- lim worshipers in Hebron by aKach member, and it announced a travel closure on the Jewish settlements there. But the "less than 100" settlers whom the Israel Police minister said would be disarmed translated into disarmament orders against only 18. And of those 18, only five have been served with the orders so far. See SETTLERS, Page 7 ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily Phil Tepley operates a heavy machine at The Daily Grind Flour Mill yesterday. The 50 pounds of organic flour at a time. machine bags 80 candidates vie for 24 MSA rep positions Jury finds former SAPAC employee guilty on 1 count By RONNIE GLASSBERG DAILY STAFF REPORTER Students this year will have to search a long list of names to select their favorite candidate for brepresentative to the Michigan Student Assembly. In the March 22-23 election, students will have to choose among 80 different candidates for 24 open seats. "I'm cer- tainly happy that a lot of people are interested in running for MSA and I think the more candidates, the better," said MSA Vice Presi- dent Brian Kight. The number of candidates this year marks a 15-person increase over the elections last March when 65 students ran for representative positions. Kight said he sees the increase in candidates as significant for the assembly. "I think it's more than just a random fluctuation in the number of people running," Kight said. "If people weren't interested in MSA, they wouldn't be running." But voters will not have to get to know all 80 candidates since students elect representatives from their own schools or colleges. Five parties - the DO Party, the Outsider Party, the Students' Party, the Michigan Party and the Protest Party - will run candi- dates for representative. By BARB MCKELVEY FOR THE DAILY A jury Friday afternoon concluded that Michelle Brooks took University money with- out voluntarily returning it. However, the jury was not certain that Brooks intended to per- manently cheat the school, and found her not guilty on one count of larceny by conversion. Brooks was an employee of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC). As part of her job, she took promo- tional trips to various parts of the country. She and her immediate superior, Bernstein Oliver, received cash advances for these excursions. Sometimes the trips were cancelled, but the money was never returned. At Brooks's trial last Thursday and Friday at Washtenaw County Courthouse, Brooks was accused of embezzling a total of $2,900 - $850 of which was returned from her paychecks, in accordance with University policy. She testified that she had tried to return more of the money but did not know the proper procedure for doing so. Brooks testified concerning one of her non-existent trips, "I gave (Oliver) the stuff she was supposed to turn in, and I thought that was the end of it. ... As far as I knew, this was the money to pay back the cash advance." Brooks admitted to using some of the money to pay off her "six or seven" charge cards. She also said that she had allowed Oliver to use the cards as a favor. Oliver has pleaded no contest to embezzle- ment charges. Debi Cain, the director of SAPAC, said that she met with Brooks two times. At these meetings, Cain said she made clear to Brooks that returning the money would not preclude a criminal trial. Although Brooks was acquitted, the Uni- versity has the right to collect its money, and See BROOKS, Page 2 The Michigan Party will put 21 candidates on the ballot for representative and the Students' Party will run 12 candidates. Both the Michigan Party and the Students' Party ran candidates in last fall's election. The DO Party, the Outsider Party and the Protest Party are new to the MSA scene. Three candidates for represen- tative will run under the DO Party, 19 will run under the Outsider Party and five will run under the Protest Party. The remaining 20 candidates will be on the ballot as indepen- dents. Rackham Rep. Roger DeRoo said he is glad to see the large amount of candidates. See MSA, Page 2 I Duderstadt praises mentorship program, reminisces By MPATANISHI TAYARI DAILY STAFF REPORTER Remembering his own days in an intimidating university, President James J. Duderstadt commended the University Mentorship Program ef- started looking through a catalog to find a school, I thought Yale was ... in England." Duderstadt also recognized con- cerns of students at the University. "Michigan education is one of those Participants in the program warmly reacted to Duderstadt. "With (Duderstadt) speaking to- day, it makes us feel even better (about the University) because you know that your faculty and staff is there for. with her mentorship group. "I have a very mixed group with very different interests. The only thing they have in common is they're freshmen." "Every year, (the program) gets stronger and stronger," LSA senior ............. ............... ............... ...................