t mx i One hundred four years of editorial freedom EleCtion f or' MSA begin with gewissues By CATHY BOGUSLASKI Daily Staff Reporter Starting today, students have the chance to choose who will represent them on the Michigan Student As- seimbly for the next year. For candidates, the main question may be who will win, but for many students, the main question is, "Why Ther to vote?" Turnout in MSA elections histori- cally has been low, often below 10 percent. Any registered student is eli- gible to vote. Polling will take place today and tomorrow at sites scattered across campus. Students' Party candidate Devon Bodoh said his party has tried to en- courage students to vote by talking to , * jdent groups. He said because MSA Wnot reaching out to enough stu- dents, "the Students' Party took it upon itself to inform voters. Hope- fully, it will work and turnout will be good. "Realistically, we want turnout to be large, but I think it will be small, and that will speak directly to the effectiveness of MSA. That is, MSA is-an ineffective organization to stu- *ts," Bodoh said. MSA Vice President Jacob Stern said students should vote because higher voter turnout gives MSA greater legitimacy in the eyes of the University administration and Board of Regents. Stern also said students should vote for the Michigan Party because it "has provided the most change for the ~embly in the past year."' *Ste rn added that Michigan party members have restructured See MSA, Page 2 Gf~tmoftNE PHISHIN Police pledge to rotect sources in A2 rape case Steve, a fan of Phish, hopes to catch a glimpse of the band last night. Phish plays tonight at Hill Auditorium. SLq A approves nw .AATU funds *In 'frustrating' Investigation, police still waiting for DNA Information By FRANK C. LEE Daily Staff Reporter At a press conference yesterday, Ann Arbor Police Department offi- cials said they could protect individu- als with information about the serial rapist - a claim police have made in the hopes of convincing people to come forward. Police also said Monday's open letter asking the public for help would bring in better tips and help them use their resources more effectively. They also sought to reassure Blacks that the new, more specific profile would pro- tect Black males from undue harass- ment. 'There's a reason to believe if this person has recognized some of these attributes of the man -- perhaps be- cause of fear for their own safety or concern for other persons' welfare within the family unit - they've been extremely reluctant to come forward and identify the individual," said act- ing Ann Arbor Police Walter Lunsford. "What the task force has done is set up a plan of action where if that person will in fact come forward and help us identify this, individual, we have systems in place designed to deal with their protection needs if that is in fact an issue." he added. The letter is the result of work done by detectives assigned to the Ann Arbor Area Task Force, formed last month in the search for the rapist. It was developed after consulting the FBI and the Michigan State Police. The investigators are now trying to focus their energy on more promising tips they believe the letter will trigger. "Rather than having the commu- nity as a whole look for an individual ..we're probably better served spend- ing our time and resources on those tips where specifically the person pro- viding the information is able to say, 'I've seen this specific change in this person's behavior at or near the same time as one of these ass aults,' Lunsford said. While letters like the one released Monday have been somewhat suc- cessful in years past at eliciting tips, the task force is working on other leads in the case. But police admit the case has been frustrating. They are still waiting for the results of evidence sent to the Michi- gan State Police Crime Laboratory. "There's no composite drawing. forthcoming at this time and we've released all the information on DNA testing we have available to us," Lunsford said. In the letter, the man is described as having a violent temper and lim- ited social skills. The task force is asking Ann Ar- bor. citizens for help in solving the sexual assaults -- one of which re- sulted in death -- that have occurred in the city during the past two years. However, the message is directed to- ward particular individuals in the com- munity that may read the letter and can encourage the rapist to turn himself in. See RAPIST, Page 2 By CATHY BOGUSLASKI Daily Staff Reporter After more than a month of debate and budgetary disputes, the Michigan Student Assembly agreed to give more funding to the AnnArborTenants' Union. At last night's meeting, MSA voted to give an additional $2,358 to the tenants' union. AATU also received $2,000 from the assembly in Septem- ber through a line item in the surplus and reserve budget. "Clearly we're pleased. This money will go a long way toward meeting the deficit we have now," said Pattrice Maurer, AATU coordinator. AATU received the. money after appealing to the Budget Priorities Committee (BPC). Some assembly members say this is not an appropri- ate way to fund the tenants' union. "I'm glad they got their funding. but I'm sorry that it had to come from BPC and we're not funding them from our large reserve," Engineering Rep. Brian Elliott said. BPC originally recommended giv- ing AATU $800 in funding. LSA Rep. Jonathan Freeman amended the proposal to give the tenants' union $2,358, the amount it originally requested from BPC. During the debate. Rackham Rep Josh Grossman said, 'To give them anything less (than they requested) is just plain mean-spirited, especially since they've come in here and practically licked our boots." The amendment passed on a vote of 19-5-5. MSA Vice President Jacob Stern said he is glad the tenants' union went to BPC for funding. "They should have done that all along," Stern said. "They have received more money than any other student group has gotten (from BPC) in history, and that precedent bothers me." "We didn't want to make this a big political deal," Maurer said. "We wanted to be as fair as possible, but I don't think BPC is an appropriate source of fund- ing for us. They can't even fund salaries or work-study wages." Maurer said that although the money is less than the $6,000 to $8,000 requested, AATU should be able to manage its finances this year. "We've been aggressively seeking funding to tied us over," Maurer said, adding that Rackham Student Govern- ment gave AATU $1,000. and a mass mailing went out yesterday to ask com- munity members to contribute. ® AA A ' _ - n rllnHlrr rl InrrLl i c, City, UI police open office in Mason . r 'fig 21,5 a . ?u).T By SPENCER DICKINSON Daily-Staff Reporter 'Signs throughout Mason Hall yesterday invited stuidents to the opening of a new Community Police Office, created in an effort to make the University safer. The Ann Arbor Police Department and the University's Department of Public Safety jointly opened the office yesterday in room G4 17 on the ground floor of Mason Hall. The office will be open and staffed by a DPS student employee between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on ekdays. The new location is important for both depart- ments, officials said. Now, police will have better access to the State Street business district. .AAPD Lt. Sherry Woods said, "The officers will be able to fill out reports, take breaks and conduct interviews close to their beats in the new office." Previously, only their headquarters several blocks from Central Campus served this purpose. DPS has a station on Kipke Street, a sub-station on North Campus and an office on Church Street - but the addition of a Mason Hall location brings the department to Central Campus. Officers now have easy access to the Diag and a view of the northwest Diag, which includes the corner of North University and State streets, an area where the department has frequently had problems. "More importantly, though," said DPS Officer Dave Russell, "it gets us closer to the students." Russell said the biggest problem DPS has in pre- venting crime is the lack of contact with students. "They're hard to get in touch with because they move around so much. Now that we're here, we hope they'll see us and get to know us," Russell said. The office is part of a change in focus of police work nationwide. "We used to drive around in cars and respond to calls, but that was after the damage had been done," Russell said. The new approach, called community-oriented policing, switches the focus from response to pre- vention by integrating the officers into the commu- nity, where they can identify problems before seri- ous crimes occur. Russell encourages students to stop in and visit the office, and to contact DPS if they have a problem of concern. "Sometimes people just don't call because they feel their problem isn't big enough or serious enough, but if they don't call we can't See OFFICE, Page 2 Officer David Russell explains the convenience of the office in Mason Hall. Clinton signals possible support for allowing prayer in schools _. , The Washington Post WASHINGTON - President Clinton yesterday opened the door to supporting a constitutional amend- ment to allow prayer in school as the White House sent out a stream of conciliatory signals to conservative Republicans who will run Congress. Clinton's statements on prayer in school, an emotional issue to the right and left, came in a news conference in Jakarta, during a foreign trip that will keep him out of Washington until Sunday. In the meantime, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta met on Capitol Hill with future Senate ma- jority leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and House speaker-to-be Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and said they had "opened good lines of communication." Panetta listed a series of areas in which congressional Republicans and the White House might find common ground, including the General Agree- - , .i'Kf....,:{ . 1I think you can ... Insinuate (Clinton) is making gestures to the right wing. 1 think it is a bad Idea to cave into Speaker Gingrich's desires so quickly.' -Arthur Cropp president of People for the American Way merit on Tariffs and Trade, which is up for a vote later this month in a lame-duck session of Congress, cam- paign-finance reform, political re- form. the line-item veto and welfare reform. But he said the administration planned no retreat on its basic eco- nomic program and repeated it would cost "about a trillion dollars" to bal- ance the federal budget while cutting taxes and increasing defense spend- ing. "1 am not saying we should not make the effort to balance the bud- AP PHOTO I)Dup of marchers trying to draw attention to the issue of medical marijuana arrive at the State Capitol Building. Mai'juana pushe o eia s get," he said, but advocates of the amendment "have to be straight with the American people" about the costs. Clinton's answer to a school- prayer question provoked a cry of outrage from liberal and civil-liber- ties groups, although White House officials called comments from both sides of the aisle only early political skirmishing. Asked his reaction to Gingrich's call for passage of a constitutional amendment allowing prayer in school, Clinton said he had always favored See CLINTON, Page 2 LANSING (AP) -- A group sup- porting the legalization of marijuana But multiple sclerosis patients, chronic pain suffers and glaucoma " I believe that if I would have kept using the steroids and other drugs the