The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 11, 1994 - 3
Phone registration to
replace CRISP, hassle
of waiting in long lines
Asian Americans
unite in Diag rally
By MICHELLE JOYCE
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Attending the University not only
requires a lot of work but also the
patience to stand in lines. Thanks to
technology, the number of lines are
diminishing.
Piloting this summer and begin-
ning in November, the process of
CRISP (Computerized Registration
Involving Student Participation) will
begin the switchover to touch-tone
telephone format. Instead of waiting
in line at Angell Hall at their respec-
tive appointment times, students will
be given the option of registering from
remote locations by phone.
However, this process is not unique
for colleges. Many schools, including
Michigan State University, have been
using phone registration for some
time.
"It's a very popular way of regis-
tering," said University Registrar
Laura Patterson.
The question has often arisen: Why
has the University, which is usually
on the brink of most technological
advancements, waited so long to
implement such a program?
Tom McElvain, assistant Univer-
sity registrar and project manager for
the new phone registration process,
saidnthere was never a tremendous
need for the University to change.
"The system we currently operate
is actually quite efficient," he said.
"And compared to most other non-
telephone registration, it's quite con-
venient."
McElvain added that the pressure
to have remote registration was less at
the University since the majority of
students live close to campus.
The ongoing renovation of Angell
Hall, which makes the current regis-
tration area smaller, was the impetus
for the new registration program. The
University is also now willing to com-
pletely back the project at this time.
"Support for touchtone registra-
tion is coming directly from the Of-
fice of the Provost," Patterson said.
Patterson and McElvain agreed
_ that the new process should be quite
simple to follow.
After filling out an election
worksheet, students will call into a
computer voice-response system at
their assigned time or any time after-
ward. Copies of schedules can then be
sent to e-mail addresses for students
to print.
McElvain said the real advantage
to this new program is its conve-
nience. Not only will students be able
to register from anywhere on campus,
but there will also be 18 hours each
day in which the registration process
can be completed. McElvain added
that even more hours may be added in
the future.
Patterson said this new process
will save the University money in the
long run due to cutting costs for tem-
porary employment used during
CRISP. Most students seemed pleased
with the University's decision to
switch to the new format.
"It's about time the University got
such a program," said LSA senior Bill
Huber, who is graduating later this
month. "I regret that I will not be able
to use it during my four years here."
By LARA TAYLOR
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Green, blue and yellow
posterboard glistened in the noon-
time sun during the Midwest Asian
American Student Union (MAASU)
rally Saturday.
Attended by about 200 people, the
rally was an extension of the MAASU
conference this weekend, both of
which attempted to promote aware-
ness of prejudice against Asian Ameri-
cans and show Asian American pride.
"Rallies like this give us more
confidence in ourselves," said LSA
sophomore Sophois Sohkon. "All the
people here have the same desire -
to get the respect we deserve as Ameri-
cans."
The rally began on the Union steps
with people yelling and holding signs
with sayings such as "United Asian
Americans" and "Asian American and
Proud." The group then walked to the
steps of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate
Library, where various speakers de-
livered small, inspirational messages.
The rally attracted students from,
the University and schools across the
country, including Notre Dame and
Carleton College.
"There are a ton of stereotypes
from our physical appearance," said
Andrea Yun, a member of the
MAASU executive coordinating com-
mittee at Indiana University. "People
are surprised that we can speak En-
glish without an accent, even though
a lot of us were born in America."
Vinh Bui, a junior at Michigan
State University, said, "I hope this
gets people more assertive. It's about
time we get rid of some of the myths."
He went on to criticize entrance
quotas in colleges and the lack of
financial aid available for Asian
Americans.
Scott Delacourte, a first-year Law
student, observed from the Diag.
"I think this is a positive develop-
ment for Asian students," he said. "It
shows a lot of solidarity and unity. It
is great to have so many schools rep-
resented."
He said he wondered, however,
why they were marching.
"What's their agenda?" he asked.
The group left the Grad steps and
marched down South University Av-
enue back to the Union, posterboard
proclaiming, "I'm Asian American,
So Bite Me" waving in the wind.
JUDITH PERKINS/Daily
An unidentified student marches to support Asian American rights.
Association for Asian American studies holds 11th conference
By DWIGHT DAVIS
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
The Association for Asian Ameri-
can Studies descended on campus this
weekend for its 11th national confer-
ence.
Centered around delivering sev-
eral hundred academic papers, the
conference included numerous work-
shops on teaching and research meth-
ods and several artistic exhibitions.
A highlight was Friday night's
multi-media songstory "A Grain of
Sand," written and performed by
singer-dancer-songwriter Nobuko
Miyamoto. The autobiographical
event traced her life from being forced
into Japanese relocation camps to
performing in the Broadway and
movie versions of "West Side Story"
to protesting with the Black Panthers.
Miyamoto was rewarded with an en-
thusiastic standing ovation from the
Rackham Auditorium audience of
about 300.
As with most academic confer-
ences, the focus of attention was the
numerous scholarly papers read and
discussed in nearly 100 sessions
spread over three days and two ven-
ues - Rackham and the League.
Bringing together scholars from a
wide range of academic disciplines,
the paper topics ran the gamut from
"Japanese American Women in the
Kona Coffee Industry" to "A Perfect
Christian: Rhetoric of Self in Chris-
tian Narrative of Korean Americans."
Grace Y. Pang, a University doc-
toral student, announced before she
began reading her paper - originally
titled "Madame Butterfly and the
Truth about Sex" - that anyone
expecting to find the truth about sex
would be disappointed. "I don't know
the truth about sex, sorry," she said.
She did discuss in a densely lay-
ered academic response to some as-
pects of David Mamet's play "Ma-
dame Butterfly" that issues of race
and sex did not "flow together easily"
when put in a specific ethnic studies
context. And that the assumption that
the uplifting of a minority group cen-
tered around the "numbers game" of
"heterosexual production" - the
more of us there are the better we will
be - should be examined more care-
fully.
In a paper with perhaps more in-
terest for the layperson, University
scholar Cristine Noriko Paschild
asked the question many have asked
before: Why did Roman Polanski
name his famous .film noir classic
"Chinatown," when the actual Los
Angeles Chinatown does not appear
in the film until the final scene and
then plays the role of nondescript
backdrop to the climactic event of the
film?
In her paper "'A Chinatown of the
Mind': The Metaphorization of a Ra-
cial Ghetto," Paschild discussed how
Polanski's "Chinatown" referred not
to the physical place but to an idea in
the Western mind. All that is dark;
exotic, or sordid became associated
with the idea of "Chinatown." Using
travel narratives of the 19th and early
20th centuries, Paschild showed how
this idea of a dark, mysterious
Chinatown superseded the reality of a
Chinatown in Western consciousness.
In this sense all film noir movies
could be called "Chinatown" in that
they, by definition, center on the dark
and mysterious side of the psyche.
One participant in the conference,
Imogene Lim an ethno-archeologist
from Queen's College CUNY, said
studying her own people was "a roots
finding and a way for me to have a
dialogue with my parents." A third-
generation Chinese Canadian, Lim
spoke highly of the conference.
"There is an openness not com-
mon at academic conferences," Lim
said. "There is more discussion and a
real sense of community here."
Debate rages over flogging of teen in Singapore
® U.S. youth still faces sentence
for vandalizing cars
SINGAPORE (AP) - Singapore newspapers are strik-
ing back at critics of a flogging sentence given to a U.S.
teen-ager for vandalizing cars, pointing out that many
Americans support the beating.
Michael P. Fay, 18, of Dayton, Ohio, was sentenced to
six strokes of a rattan cane, four months in jail and a
$2,229 fine after he pleaded guilty to spraying paint and
tossing eggs at cars.
The sentence has not been carried out.
"American politicians and commentators - stout
champions of the rule of law - have been busy lashing out
at Singapore," Warren Fernandez wrote in a column in
The Sunday Times.
"These commentators gloss over, or refuse to accept,
the fact that many Americans appear to accept Singapore's
decision."
The Dayton Daily News reported last week that of about
3,000 people who called the newspaper about the flogging,
nearly three out of four approved of the sentence.
The real issue is whether "an American should be
exempt from Singapore's tough laws because some Ameri-
cans find these laws distasteful," Fernandez wrote.
Fay has until April 20 to appeal for clemency from
President Ong Teng Cheong.
Ong has received a letter from President Clinton urg-
ing that Fay be spared a beating. The contents of the letter
have not been disclosed. Clinton earlier described the
punishment as "extreme."
In an editorial Friday, the Business Times said "It was
to be expected that the American media would jump on the
Fay case.
"Small, parochial newspapers which would have prob-
lems identifying Singapore on the map have carried the
news reports, the major newspapers have run editorials
which in essence call Singapore a barbaric place for
daring to flog one of its wayward sons ... America's
journalistic pundits would do far better to ponder ways in
which their cities can pull back from the edge of the abyss
of anarchy."
Fay pleaded guilty to two charges each of vandalism
and mischief and one of keeping stolen items.
In dismissing his appeal, Chief Justice Yong Pung
How said the vandalism "amounted to a calculated course
of criminal conduct."
National Science Foundation to give
$11.1 million for computer upgrade
The National Science Founda-
tion (NSF) will give Michigan-based
Merit Network Inc. an $11.1 mil-
lion contract as part of its effort to
upgrade the Internet computer net-
work.
With the money, Merit will con-
tinue its role as "routing arbiter,"
something like an electronic post
office. Merit will aid groups or or-
ganizations that provide Internet
service, such as the University.
Merit, a non-profit company gov-
erned by 11 of Michigan's public
universities, has managed NSF's
network for the past six years.
Beyond its national routing re-
sponsibilities, Merit operates the
statewide network, MichNet, which
links businesses, government and
educational institutions.
Also receiving contracts are
MCI, which will provide a high-
speed network, and the University
of Southern California's Informa-
tion Sciences Institute, which will
Asseerob &
serve a role similar to Merit
Network's.
Head Start kids lose
edge by 8th grade
Education Prof. Valerie E. Lee
discovered that the reason children
who were involved in the Head Start
program lose their early edge is the
low quality of the schools they sub-
sequently attend.
The study, presented last week
in New Orleans to the American
Educational Research Association,
found that Head Start graduates gen-
erally attend unsafe schools with
poor educational climates and lim-
ited resouces.
"No matter how much early
'boost' these children receive from
their Head Start experience, the sys-
tematically lower quality of the
schools they attend thereafter, and
the inferior education they receive
in those schools, is sure to under-
mine any early advantage," Lee said.
Lee and graduate student
Susanna Loeb studied more than
15,000 students in 975 public and
private schools. Fourteen percent
had attended Head Start, 44 percent
attended other preschools, and 42
percent did not attend preschool.
Their research indicates that
Head Start is a successful program,
but students need to be afforded a
quality education afterward, or the
benefits diminish.
The study apparently did not
compare Head Start students who
attended safe, well-funded schools
to those who attended poor, unsafe
schools.
-By Daily Staff Reporter
Scot Woods
,Gunmen kill
top Egyptian
anti-terrorist
security chief
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Police
believe five gunmen attacking from a
motorcycle and a car carried out the
assassination of Egypt's top anti-ter-
rorist official as he left his home near
the Giza Pyramids, security officials
said yesterday.
The killing Saturday night was the
most daring operation carried out in
Cairo in the two-year campaign by
Muslim radicals to overthrow the
secular government and turn Egypt
into an Islamic state.
The government had claimed to
have curbed the extremists, but they
were able to strike in the capital and
kill the very man assigned to destroy
them.
The victim, Maj. Gen. Raouf
Khayrat, was deputy chief of state
security intelligence in charge of reli-
gious terrorist activities.
a .1
Financial Aid Applicants:
The first priority deadline for applications
for 1994-95 FinancialAid is:
Friday, April 15, 1994
Group Meetings
Q Advertising Club, 2050 Frieze
Building, 5 p.m.
Q Comedy Company Writers'
Meeting, University Activities
Center, Michigan Union, 7 p.m.
Q Golden Key National Honor
Society, induction ceremony,
Michigan League, Ballroom, 7
p.m.
Q Graduate Employees' Organi-
zation, Rackham, East Confer-
Events
J "Beyond Centers and Borders:
Reexamining Subjectivity and
Power in International Rela-
tions," Lily Ling, Haven Hall,
Eldersveld Room, 5:45 p.m.
U "China-Russian Relations: Les-
sons from the Past, Prospects
for the Future," Alexander V.
Pantsov, sponsored the Center
for Russian and East European
Studies, Lane Hall Commons, 4
p.m.
U Environmental Letter Writing,
Stuaent services
" 76-GUIDE, peer counseling line,
call 76-GUIDE, 7 p.m.-8 a.m.
" Campus Information Center,
Michigan Union, 763-INFO;
events info., 76-EVENT; film
info., 763-FILM.
U Free Tax Assistance, 3909
Michigan Union, noon-8 p.m.
U North Campus Information
Center, 763-NCIC, 7:30 a.m.-
5:30 p.m.
U Peer Advising, sponsored by the
.... . ......
.............
The Office of
Financial Aid
I
I