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Newsday
* MOSCOW -Russian troops
surged into the breakaway republic
of Chechnya yesterday in an effort to
stamp out a three-year-old separatist
rebellion by leaders of the volatile,
oil-rich region.
As columns of tanks and troops
streamed in from three directions,
Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev
warned that the action could turn the
entire North Caucusus region of
southern Russia into a bloodbath.
Russian television reported that
as many as 40,000 troops were in-
volved, and news agencies said late
last night that at least one of the three
columns had come within a dozen
miles of Grozny, 40 miles inside the
Chechnya border. The Itar-Tass news
agency said warplanes appeared over
the outskirts of the capital and that
* bomb explosions were heard there.
Two brief clashes were reported,
with local news saying four people
had been killed and more than 10
wounded. The reports could not im-
mediately be confirmed. Officials
from the Russian Defense Ministry
insisted the troops would not storm
Grozny, a city of 400,000.
The two sides were scheduled to
negotiate today in Vladikavkaz in the
Russian region of North Ossetia. In
Moscow, the action was criticized by
politicians from all but the most hard-
See RUSSIA, Page 2
Conflict may
be a long one
Los Angeles Times
MOSCOW - Russian President
Boris N. Yeltsin has never been
known to shy away from conflict,
but in sending troops yesterday to
subdue the fiery Muslims of the
breakaway republic of Chechnya,
he may have picked the nastiest fight
of his life.
Consider his opponents.
Chechen men tend to feel un-
dressed without their side arms. They
wage protracted blood feuds among.
their powerful clans. The very name
of their capital city, Grozny, means
"terrible" or "thunderous" in Russian.
The best-known Russian line about
the Chechens, written by 19th century
poetMikhail Lermontov, is, "Thecruel
Chechen is crawling up the riverbank
and sharpening his knife."
When Chechen Foreign Minis-
ter Shamsedin Yusef said yesterday
that "they cannot kill every Chechen;
there are more than 1 million of us,,
and every one of us will fight," it did
not sound like empty rhetoric.
Of course, Caucasian daggers
are no match for the might of a
former superpower. But even if the
See WAR, Page 2
Feli =avi d MOLLY STVENS/Daily
A little girl breaks a pinata at Friday's Posada celebration. See story, Page 3.
U'revamps commercement
By LISA DINES
Daily Staff Reporter
Returning to a former tradition,
the University will hold a combined
spring commencement for all under-
graduates in Michigan Stadium.
Provost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr.,
said the stadium ceremony allows a
single, more prominent commence-
ment speaker to address all graduates.
"I think, by and large, all the un-
dergraduates want the chance to hear
a big-name speaker so a combined
commencement makes that possible,"
he said.
University alum and cartoonist
Cathy Guisewite addressed graduates
at last year's LSA spring commence-
ment. The University will announce
this year's speaker in early April.
Since 1989, University policy has
been that each college or school hold its
own commencement. During this time,
LSA has held its ceremony in the sta-
dium. Prior to 1989, commencement
was a University-wide event for all
undergraduates and graduate students.
Departing from policy, Univer-
sity-wide ceremonies also were held
in1991 for President George Bush
and 1993 for First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton. In addition to Bush,
President Lyndon Johnson addressed
graduates in 1965.
Vice President for University Re-
lations Walter Harrison said the Uni-
versity switched to single college cer-
emonies because "a lot of graduates
of small colleges wanted a smaller
setting ... and the commencements
were getting a little rowdy."
See SPRING, Page 2
University
announces
MLK Day
activities
S Symposium on
student activism to
be led by BSU head
By ZACHARY M. RAIMI
Daily Staff Reporter
After more than 10 months of
preparation, the University's Martin
Luther King Day Symposium Plan-
ning Committee released its sched-
uled events today. The events will
take place during the week of the late
civil rights leader's birthday, Jan. 16.
This year's theme is "Conflict and
Communities: The Struggle for Ra-
cial Justice." Michael Jones-Coleman,
coordinator of MLK Day, said the
theme was selected to study the "role
conflict has in any functional com-
munity (and how to work) through
these conflicts for the betterment of
the community."
Benjamin L. Hooks, former direc-
tor of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, will
be the keynote speaker. There will be
two performances by singing groups
and three panel discussions.
In a highly publicized event last
year, the Black Student Union (BSU)
boycotted the symposium, because in
part they said that the University was
placing too much emphasis on aca-
demic programming, and too little on
the activism the day was founded upon.
"The 1994 Martin Luther King
symposium fails to honor the history
of activism out of which the sympo-
sium was created," wrote last year's
BSU speaker Alethea Gordon in a
letter that was published in The Michi-
gan Daily last January.
The University has added an addi-
tional symposium to focus on student
activism. "The Legacy of Student Ac-
tivism at the University of Michigan"
will focus on the history of student
protest in the civil rights movement.
Nina Smith, speaker of the BSU,
is scheduled to moderate the discus-
sion. A few of the members of the
original movement are scheduled to
speak at the panel.
The University began observing
the holiday in 1989, after pressure
from the third Black Action Move-
ment (BAM). The original BAM be-
gan in 1970, and the second one was
formed in 1975. Their purpose was to
pursue solutions to issues concerning
Black University students.
Reached by telephone yesterday
evening, Smith would not comment.
In an interview with the Daily in
October, Jones-Coleman said the com-
mittee is not planning within an aca-
demic or activist framework. "We're
trying instead to develop a very strong
See MLK, Page 2
'U' students protest
Prop. 187 1 arrested
A man digs a grave at the Muslim
cemetery of Alifakovac, which
overlooks Sarajevo yesterday.
bSerbs hijack
U.N. convoy;
strikes e ed
The Washington Post
ZAGREB, Croatia - Bosnian
Serb forces hijacked a U.N. fuel con-
voy at gunpoint and announced they
were banning the U.N. operation from
escorting aid across their lines, U.N.
officials said yesterday.
Michael Williams, chief spokes-
man for the U.N. mission in the
Balkans, charged that the Serbs' re-
newed harassment of peacekeepers
was an attempt to provoke an incident
with the United Nations.
A U.N. official said officials were
considering calling on NATO to re-
spond with overflights or airstrikes, but
fears were so high that the Serbs would
respond by killing U.N. soldiers that
"basically our hands are tied."
In Sarajevo, U.N. military spokes-
man Col. Jan-Dirk Merveldt said
Bosnian Serb soldiers grabbed three
fuel tankers in a Danish convoy as it
attempted to enter Sarajevo Saturday.
The action came after several days
*in which it looked like Bosnian Serb
forces were easing pressure on the
United Nations. Last week, after Brit-
ain and France threatened to with-
draw their peacekeepers, the Serbs
See BOSNIA, Page 2
By KATIE HUTCHINS
Daily Staff Reporter
About 200 people rallied on the
Diag and marched to the Federal
Building Friday afternoon to protest
California's Proposition 187. One stu-
dent participant was arrested.
The protest was organized by M-
STOP-187, a coalition of University
student groups who are fighting
Proposition 187, a recently approved
California initiative that restricts ac-
cess to public services for illegal im-
migrants.
"We're just trying to show that
there's people up here in the Midwest
that care," said LSA sophomore
Angelo Cisneros of Sigma Lambda
Beta, the Latino fraternity.
Proponents of the law argue the
restrictions would deter the influx of
illegal immigrants into the state -
particularly from Mexico. Among the
social services that would be denied
are non-emergency medical and pub-
lic education.
The law currently is being chal-
32 students
win Rhodes
From Staff and Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES -A record num-
ber of women were named Rhodes
scholars yesterday for the third straight
year, again outnumbering men in the
competition for prestigious scholar-
ships to attend Oxford University.
Eighteen women and 14 men will
head to Oxford next fall, with plans to
pursue studies in engineering, medi-
cine, politics and theology, among
other subjects.
Seventeen women were named
scholars last year and 16 women in
1992. The competition - created in
1902- was first opened to women in
1976. The program's criteria include
high academic achievement, integ-
rity, leadership and athletic prowess,
See RHODES, Page 3
For a list of Rhodes scholars
nationwide see Page 3.
lenged in the courts.
The march began with a rally on
the Diag at noon. The students chanted
slogans including "People united will
never be defeated" in Spanish and
marched to the Union, Cisneros said.
The marchers continued north on State
Street and down Liberty to the Fed-
eral Building to hold a rally there.
Several shivering students said
they were surprised with the turnout,
considering the cold weather and
pending finals.
"I was really impressed in spite of
the snow and the sleet and the cold,"
said M-STOP-187 member and So-
cial Work grad student Sara Shuffler.
Sociology grad student Mike
Dreiling of the Student Labor Action
Committee and the Graduate Employ-
ees Organization, two groups that at-
tended the protest, said he was im-
pressed with the "remarkable sense
of solidarity across different student
groups" who gathered "to show that
this kind of political scapegoating is
See RALLY, Page 2
Now TV
Over the weekend, Detroit's
television stations did some
network flipping. More changes
will follow when Channel 50
joins the new Paramount
network and Channel 20 signs
on with Warner Bros.
Was: Channel 2
Now: Channel
62, which is cable
number 13 in Ann
Arbor.
Top Shows, some with new
times:
The Late Show, 11 p.m.
60 Minutes
Murphy Brown
Northern Exposure
48 Hours
Picket Fences
Was: Channel 50
lNow: Channel 2,
which is cable
bnmber 2 in Ann
SArbor.
Top Shows:
Melrose Place
The Simpsons
NFL Football
Martin
New York Undercover'
The X -Files
Networks
change
channels
By KELLY FEENEY
Daily Staff Reporter
Were you confused last night, un-
able to find "60 Minutes" on televi-
sion? Did you find it surprising that
the "NFL on Fox" was on Channel 2?
Well, couch 'taters, you'd better
get used to it.
CBS and Fox Broadcasting have
changed channels in the biggest net-
work realignment to hit the Detroit area.
Channel 2 (WJBK-TV) has
switched from CBS to the Fox net-
work and formerly independent Chan-
nel 62 (WGPR-TV) will now broad-
cast CBS programs. Former Fox af-
filiate Channel 50 (WKBD-TV) will
become part of the Paramount net-
work, which begins in mid-January.
Channel 2 had been home to CBS
for more than four decades. Yet this
past summer, Rupert Murdoch, owner
of Fox Broadcasting, made a bold
See NETWORKS, Page 2
FUN IN THE SNOW
'U' begins national
search for
By RONNIE GLASSBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has begun a na-
tional search for a new secretary of
the University - the principal liaison
between the administration and the
Board of Regents.
"The position serves both the ex-
ecutive officers and the Board of Re-
gents. He's responsible for preparing
the agenda for the board meetings. A
lot of that stuff is important to the.
legal record of the University," said
Jon Cosovich, deputy to the presi-
dent, who will head the review of
applications.
The position opened with the sum-
mer retirement of Richard L. Kennedy,
who also served as vice president for
government relations. Since then,
Harold R. Johnson, dean of the School
of Social Work from 1981-1993, has
Iaan cirvr nn an n .ntarn IOci -
secretary
management," Cosovich said. "Ob-
viously, it is very important that the
person knows something about the
issues in higher education."
Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-
Ann Arbor) said the position is criti-
cal to the University.
"If done right, this is an important,
although not exclusive, vehicle for
the communication of ideas between
the members of the Board of Regents
and the people responsible for man-
aging the University," McGowan said.
"Part of their job would be to look at
every issue that comes up before the
University that is on a regental level."
The secretary is responsible for
developing close working relation-
ships among the executive officers
See SEARCH, Page 2
IN-SIDE
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