The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 12, 1994 - 3 42teachers go back to classrooms By DWIGHT DAVIS Daily Staff Reporter * Ann Arbor's 14,800 public school students were expected to return to class today along with their 1,180 teachers, bringing to an end Ann Arbor's first teacher strike in 11 years. Teachers voted yesterday by an overwhelming majority to report to work today after agreeing to a two- year pact worked out late Saturday night by negotiators for the Ann Ar- r Education Association and Board Education. "Our members are much happier now," said Linda Carter, president of the teachers' union. "The issue is that we now have stability for the next two years and won't find ourselves in a real cliffhanger the way we have the last three years in a row." . Carter said the contract, which is xpected to be ratified by members tithin the next two weeks, allows for a2.7 percent wage increase in the first year and 2.4 percent in the second. The breakthrough on Saturday in the contract negotiations followed a long day in court Friday. Washtenaw Alumni Association selects new director By COREY HILL Daily Staff Reporter The new head of the University's Alumni Association wants to put its 90,000-plus members to work. The association's members tapped Steve Grafton in July to serve as the new executive director. Grafton's goal is to forge bonds between alums and students. "We need to find new ways to connect with alumni and develop pro- grams to do that," Grafton said. Grafton hails from Mississippi State University, where he served as executive director and chief execu- tive officer of its alumni association. In that position, he helped increase its active membership and established mentoring programs for current stu- dents. He was selected after a nation- wide search and replaces Robert Forman, who retired in June. "Steve Grafton emerged as the best candidate from our national can- didate search," said Thomas Roach, a former University regent and mem- ber of the search committee. "Bob Forman was considered the best alumni director in the country and he is irreplaceable. I think Steve can 'Bob Forman was considered the best alumni director in the country and he is irreplaceable. I think Steve can continue to lead the association.' - Thomas Roach, former regent continue to lead the association." Grafton's professional credentials include stints as a legislative assistant and assistant press secretary for U.S. Sen. John Stennis. Grafton helped develop the senator's education, eco- nomic development, housing, trans- portation and agricultural legislative programs. His main responsibilities will in- clude recruiting new members and fundraising. Recognized as a leader in working with alums, Grafton is active in sev- eral national and regional professional organizations. He serves as a trustee for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. MOLLY STEVENS/Daily These seats in the classroom of Director of Bands Robert Albritton will be filled with fresh young faces again today following an accord between the teachers' union and school board that ended the two-week-old strike. Circuit Judge Patrick J. Conlin com- bined two separate suits brought against the teachers' union by the school board and a parent's group into a 12-hour hearing and negotiating session. The cost of special day-care, the lack of services for special education students that are mandated by law, the delay seniors might face in taking college assessment tests and the lay- offs faced by support staff were among the items cited by lawyers for the board and parents as examples of ir- reparable harm. Conlin agreed and ordered teach- ers back to work. He further ordered negotiations to continue throughout the weekend. The start of classes to- day is good news for the more than 40 University students who are sched-. uled to do their student teaching in the Ann Arbor school district this fall. - The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sororities igin '94 rush with 1,000 By APRIL WOOD Daily Staff Reporter More than 1,000 women gathered to kick off Sorority Rush 1994 at the Michigan Union ballroom yesterday afternoon. Several elements of rush were dis- cussed in introducing new rushees to the upcoming weeks' events. Meet- ings were led by the 10-member Panhellenic executive board and rush viser Mary Beth Seiler. Sorority Rush consists of four sets of parties spanning two weeks allow- ing participants to learn about each of the 17 sororities on campus and inter- act with members on an individual basis. These parties begin as casual mixers and become more formal as the rush process continues. Participants were given the op- .rtunity to register for rush during e summer as well as upon arrival at yesterday's meetings. Final verification of all registrants is Friday and mixers begin on Sun- day. Participants travel to each soror- ity house in groups of 15 to 20 under the leadership of rush counselors, or "Rho Chis."These group leaders serve o direct the rushees throughout the sh period, answerquestions and help women become involved with the sorority system. Rush has un- dergone a series of changes over 'I think a bi the past year, rush is that shortening the process to two weeks and elimi- Panhel *ting the regis- tration fee, as well as other internal modifications. Participants select sororities to return to after each set of parties. "The individual ranking is a little different this year. It's designed to make sure women have an opportu- nity to be in a sorority that they like," said Shannon, a Rho Chi. Rho Chis are instructed not to *veal their last names or sorority affiliation in an effort to keep the process objective. A prominent aspect of rush is the importance of "objectivity," both on the part of current sorority members and rushees. To promote objective interaction between participants and sororities, Christopher calls for national unity on Haiti invasion Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Warren Christopher called yes- terday for national unity behind Presi- dent Clinton's plan to use U.S. troops if necessary to expel Haiti's current regime - but leading Republicans in Congress pledged to challenge the plan. "The one thing I would urge at the present time is that people recognize the importance of unity in this situa- tion if we are to persuade Gen. Raoul Cedras and Mr. Michel-Joseph Francois to leave of their own ac- cord," Christopher said. Army com- manderCedras led the coup that drove democratically elected President Jean- Bertrand Aristide from power in Oc- tober 1991, and Francois is the feared police chief of Port-au-Prince. Republican leaders rejected the appeal for consensus and instead pledged to confront the Clinton ad- ministration in Congress. Senate Mi- nority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said lawmakers will seek a formal debate on the invasion idea and will chal- lenge the president's intention to use military force. "We'd like to have a debate.... If they're not going to find out from anybody else, at least Congress ought to be out there trying to inform the American people. Is there any real national interest in Haiti?" Dole said on CBS' "Face the Nation." Christopher acknowledged that the public is still "reluctant" to intervene in Haiti, according to recent polls. But he said Clinton may have to pro- ceed with an invasion anyway. Dole predicted the invasion plan would lose if it came to a vote in the Senate now, in part because the White House has not properly consulted law- makers on the justification for it. "The president would lose because he has not made the case," Dole said. But Christopher said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the administra- tion has consulted more than 75 tines with small and large congressional delegations this year. He and other administration officials echoed the traditional executive-branch position that the president has the authority to order military action without congres- sional approval. The tension underscored the wide divide thatremains between the White House and Congress on Haiti even as officials indicated thatapossibleU.S.- led attack against the military junta is nearing. Dole said yesterday that he thinks the administration has made up its mind and the invasion will begin in the next two or three weeks. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright said that the time for an invasion is close, while Chris- topher said diplomatic efforts have now been "exhausted." "Time is running out" for Haiti's top military leaders, Christopher said. "I hope they leave very promptly, but their days are numbered and they will leave one way or another, either soft or hard." The White House has said Clinton will begin a renewed effort to outline his position and intentions this week. So far there has been no sustained White House public education effort on the matter. The Cuban refugee crisis and the legislative struggles with the crime bill and health reform plan in the last month distracted national attention from the approaching Haiti confron- tation and may have precluded the kind of support-building blitz that then-President Bush waged before the Panama and Persian Gulf military actions. The administration is facing con- tinued skepticism about its position on Haiti. Sen. John McCain of Ari- zona, a Republican member of the Armed Services Committee and a former Vietnam prisoner of war, said an invasion would be harmful to U.S. foreign policy interests in the short term and unsuccessful in Haiti in the long-term. He also charged that expectations of a quick invasion and short occupa- tion by a multinational force are ex- cessively optimistic. Although the circumstances are different, the pre- vious intervention in Haiti was de- signed for only two months but ended up lasting 19 years. "Most of us in Congress, with the exception of the Congressional Black Caucus, are strenuously opposed or at least have strong reservations about the possible intervention .... Basi- cally, there is no exit strategy and clearly is a United States operation with a very small fig leaf of 266 (Caribbean) troops who we're in thc process of training now," no rushee is permitted to converse with members of any sorority outside rush events until rush concludes. Speakers at yesterday's meetings included Ann Arbor Police officer Alicia Green, who pointed out that safety is a primary concern during the rush process. "Be aware of your surroundings at all times," Green said, explaining that walking alone between sorority ig misconception about it's very competitive.' - Jessica Taylor lenic external rush chair houses can be dangerous. Rush ac- tivities will run into the night and Green stressed the importance of not traveling alone. Seiler and the executive board asserted that rush is an exciting ex- perience that emphasizes personal contact. "Ithink a big misconception about rush is that it's very competitive," asserted Jessica Taylor, Panhellenic external rush chair. Shannon agreed. "The best way to go through rush is withan open mind." Those who wish to join rush but are not yet registered may do so at the Panhellenic office, 4010 Michigan Union, until Thursday at 5 p.m. U.N. human rights official in Rwanda resigns in protest Los Angeles Times KIGALI, Rwanda - At a time when arrests by the government ap- pear to be mounting, the head of the U.N. team in charge of monitoring human rights here has resigned, cast- ing doubt on the United Nations' abil- ity to investigate Rwanda's genocidal massacres or keep tabs on the current situation. U.N. sources said over the weekend that Karen Kenny, an Irish human rights lawyer, let her contract lapse because of frustration over lack of support from U.N. headquarters in New York, the organization's Human Rights Center in Geneva and leaders of the U.N. Assis- tance Mission in Rwanda. Kenny's four-member team was responsible for monitoring current human rights practices and investi- gating the countrywide killings last spring in which half a million people - some estimates say twice that - are believed to have been annihilated. Most of victims were members of Rwanda's Tutsi minority. But U.N. sources said Kenny spent much of her time battling the U.N. bureaucracy to get computers, staff and cars to take her investigators into the field in search of testimony, survi- vors or any victims of new abuses. In May, a month after the killings began, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali named a spe- cial envoy for Rwanda to provide detailed reports so that the United Nations could establish individual responsibility for the mass murders. The U.N. Security Council also appointed legal experts from three West African countries to formally determine whether genocide had taken place and to identify those behind it for possible prosecution before an international tribunal. But the delays and lack of re- sources experienced by Kenny and her staff led some to question the United Nations' commitment to sin- gling out the murderers and human rights violators. In the wake of Kenny's resignation, a top official from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights arrived here yesterday. Also yesterday, the United Na- tions issued emergency safety guide- lines to all foreign aid workers in eastern Zaire after violent clashes in Rwandan refugee camps left up to 10 people dead and scores injured. And the International Committee of the Red Cross reported a drastic increase in the number of people ar- rested by authorities in Rwanda, with 2,000 people said to have been de- tained in the past 10 days. The new Rwandan Patriotic Front-led government has forsworn mass reprisals against members of the majority Hutu tribe or returning refugees. -Amod UAC's Soundstage Welcomes UNDER THE PINK TOUR I z <: r z .. _: ... . a