The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 21, 1994 - 3 Senate Republicans try to alleviate fears of governors The Baltimore Sun WILLIAMSBURG, Va. Attempt- ing to allay fears from the states about the impact of proposed federal spend- ing cuts, top Senate Republicans met privately in Washington yesterday with a contingent of Republican gov- ors. The meeting in the office of Sen. Bob Dole, the Republican leader, came only hours before the governors gathered in Williamsburg for a three- day conference that is expected to focus on the relationship between the states and the new Republican major- ity on Capitol Hill. "Our message will be to the Re- publican congressional leaders, and to the people of this country: Give us the ball and then get out of the way. We can solve these problems," Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah, the incoming chairman of the Republican Gover- nors Association, said at a news con- ference yesterday night. Both Republican and Democratic governors have expressed concern about a proposed constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget because of the prospect that Washington would simply dump more problems on the states without the money to pay for them. "I want to make sure that any balanced budget amendment does not cripple the states," Republican gov- ernor-elect George W. Bush of Texas said here yesterday. He expressed con- fidence that with a Republican-con- trolled Congress any problems could be worked out. Republican leaders in the next Congress have promised to make a balanced budget amendment one of the first items of business. The mea- sure is given a good chance of pas- sage. In a TV appearance yesterday, four leading Republican governors said they favor requiring the federal gov- ernment to balance its books - some- thing most states already must do. But they stressed that the proposed amend- ment would not win the needed ap- proval from three-fourths of the states unless it includes a provision pre- venting the federal government from shifting costs to the states. "If you don't get that language into the Constitution, you could run into ratification problems in the state legislatures," Republican Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts said on NBC's "Meet the Press." For years, governors have com- plained about the impact on state bud- gets of "unfunded mandates - legal requirements handed down from Washington without enough money to pay for them - on everything from environmental protection to welfare. Speaker: Truth &s uncertain in postmodermsm By DANIELLE BELKIN Daily Staff Reporter Prof. Frithjof Bergmann told an audience of several hundred students and faculty Saturday that the search for knowledge is attainable if you taken action. The lecture on postmodernism, which Bergmann origi- *ly believed would only draw a handful of people, had to be moved to a Mason Hall auditorium to accommodate the overflow crowd. "Postmodernism has sent a message of futility border- ing on the sense of the impossible. It's essence may be that there's no such thing as knowledge that everything is just another narrative." Bergmann began with 'Maybe all we an introduction of "postmodernism circum- perience is a scribed." Tantasy.. perhaps He took the audience through a metaphorical It Is never Ann Arbor farmers mar- possible to ket, "picking out certain things of postmodern penetrate and fare," he said. reach reality., Construction of the self and the ideas of what - Frith] Bergmann people perceive as nature Postmodernism or natural was one of the first things concerning lecturer postmodernism "put in the basket." Bergmann urged the audience not to be all embracing of knowledge. He said postmodernism gives a sense of disillusionment that could be considered almost the opposite of the Enlightenment - the 18th century era of reason and enormous scientific and cultural advancements. While most humans believe in an objective reality, tre is no way of knowing for certain, Bergmann said. "Maybe all we experience is a fantasy ... perhaps it is never possible to penetrate and reach reality," he said. Bergmann said deconstructionism - that by the very nature of language, no text can have a fixed meaning - is more constricting than background skepticism - that we question what we read but believe there is a meaning. "Deconstruction is more oppressive, to (his) mind." In his discussion of background skepticism, Bergmann spoke about change, dreams, illusions, physiology and See BERGMANN, Page 7 Dormitory to change auction after gay snub AP PHOTO The Englers go home ... all 5 of them Gov. John Engler, shown with his new triplets and wife, Michelle, leaves University Hospitals Friday. 21-mot state prohibition assisted suicide ends this week LANSING (AP) - Michigan's ban on as- sisted suicide became law last year amid a roaring debate. It expires this week with far less attention - but no fewer questions. The 21-month ban was aimed directly at Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has been present at the deaths of 20 people since 1990. The law, which makes assisting a suicide a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, took effect in Febru- ary 1993. Since then, Kevorkian's pace slowed but the issue has not faded. A commission appointed to make recom- mendations to the Legislature on a permanent law failed to reach a consensus. 0 The state Court of Appeals overturned the temporary ban on technical grounds but said it found no constitutional right to assisted suicide. The state Supreme Court ordered that the law remain in effect while it considered the issues. Justices could rule before the end of the year, but the law would still expire as scheduled. U.S. bishops declared that assisted suicide must not be allowed at the 1,200 Catholic hos- pitals. With those developments and the Michigan law's expiration Friday, assisted suicide oppo- nents have started a push for a permanent state ban. Some assisted suicide supporters are hoping the law falls off the books for good. Others want to see laws regulating assisted suicide. According to the Hemlock Society USA, based in Eugene, Ore., assisted suicide is a crime in 31 states. Eleven other states consider it a crime through common law. The law is unclear in six other states. State lawmakers, returning to work for about two weeks in their "lame duck" session this fall, are split on whether they should deal with the issue before the end of the term. By KATIE HUTCHINS Daily Staff Reporter Homosexual students will now be included in all events sponsored by the Markley Multicultural Affairs Council (MMAC) after an incident Thursday caused the council to re- consider its actions. The executive board of MMAC held a special meeting last night to discuss last week's barring of three gay men from a fundraising event. The event, held in Markley's North Pit, was titled "Male Rent-a-Friend." The benefit allowed women to bid on 20 student volunteers to be their "friend" for a weekend, said Council President Cory Lott. Graduate student Patrick Flaherty said in a statement that he and two friends attempted to gain entry into the event and were denied access by MMAC's parliamentarian and vice president. Flaherty said he and the other men attempted to learn whether the event's "Ladies Only" stipulation "was a true representation of MMAC's policies, or whether it was in violation of MMAC policy." University Housing Division spokesman Alan Levy said, "It is a problem to hold an activity in a resi- dence hall where any group is specifi- cally prohibited from participating." Thursday's incident "is a problem because it did indeed prohibit men - gay or not - from participating, and that is generally something that we would not want to see happen in our residence hall," Levy added. Last night's meeting ended in agreement between the executive board and the men involved in Thursday's incident. Markley Minor- ity Peer Adviser Lakeisha Harrison said there was an unintentional mis- representation in the advertising of the event and that homosexuals should have been allowed to attend - but not participate - in Thursday's fundraiser. Project Awareness Coordinator Robbie Townsel-Dye agreed. She called the advertisement "restrictive" and said, "That's just something that needs to be corrected for future pro- grams. ... That's sex discrimination to do that." The advertisements called the event "Male Rent-a-Friend" and mis- construed the nature of the program, which was a "dating event," Harrison said. The highest bidder for each "friend" is treated to a weekend of planned activities with the purchased volunteer, including shared meals, a room cleaning, "a bedtime story and a tuck-in," Lott said. Harrison and Lott said men were not permitted to keep them from ha- rassing the volunteers being "sold" and to fill the limited capacity of the room with women. "Since you would think that women would be the foremost admir- ers of men, then you would want as many women in there as possible," Lott said. Graduate student Jeff Walbaum, one of the men who was denied en- trance the rationale behind the event's structure. "The way the event was designed, it was reflective of a common as- sumption that everyone was hetero- sexual ... so the event was geared in that fashion," Walbaum said after last night's meeting. "It was an oversight that nonethe- less should be corrected," he added. Harrison was optimistic about fu- ture cooperation with the gay com- munity. "We took down their suggestions, and we'll be going from there," she said. "From here on, we'll work with them in making these programs better in the future," he said. She added that MMAC would be considering the three men's recom- mendation that the council sponsor a workshop to heighten awareness about issues related to gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. Law student Sean Delgado, who was denied access to the event, said he and the others were not consider- ing filing further complaints. "At this point, we really haven't fully consid- ered that yet," he said. Thursday's fundraiser was in- tended to generate money for the ac- tivities MMAC sponsors throughout the school year. Last year's male rent- a-friend was a big success in raising money for the community service, workshops and scholarships the coun- cil sponsors, Harrison said. U' schedules full day of activities to recognize staff By MINDY KURLANSKY For the Daily "Everybody makes a contribution to the University," said Tom Sullivan, area manager of Building Services. That is the sentiment behind *.ay's University Staff Recognition Day. Today's activities will recog- nize the achievements and contribu- tions of all of University's staff mem- bers, including those from the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn campuses. Originally, today's recognitions were only supposed to be for the University's service staffs, but the day was modified to include the entire staff. A multitude of activities are sched- today from 2 to 5 p.m. at Hill Auditorium, including a slide presen- tation titled "A Day in the Life ...," arranged by Erica Spiegel of Grounds and Waste Management and volun- teer photographers. Following remarks by Jackie McClain, executive director of hu- man resources and affirmative ac- tion, President James J. Duderstadt 11 give a presidential address. After that, there will be six guest speakers representing all of the subdivisions of the University's staff. Beth Bridson of the health service finance division said he is pleased that the recognition has been "opened up this year to those staff members that aren't traditionally recognized. Which is good, because it is bringing different departments together." Bridson also said she hopes that "supervisors encourage their staffs to attend today's events and provide them with the time to do so. That way, we can all be one group. If not, it won't work." Mary Ceccanese of the Workplace of the '90's conference said she is also optimistic about the program. Ceccanese said she feels the most important thing is that full staff rec- ognition is being implemented after two years of planning. "The results of a questionnaire distributed at the 1993 Workplace of the '90's conference were extremely useful in helping us determine the direction that the rec- ognition would take," Ceccanese said. "The committee was particularly concerned about creating a recogni- tion program which would be acces- sible to staff members in all of the University's job class families." Sullivan hopes this program will become an annual event. Those who do will have the opportunity to enter a pool to receive a number of door prizes, including an autographed football, hockey and basketball tickets, tickets to "Miss Saigon" and the Lincoln Center Jazz and one year's paid parking pass. Students appeal to Senate for rape bill By SPENCER DICKINSON Daily Staff Reporter The MSA Women's Issues Com- mission met last night to coordinate a letter writing campaign urging Michi- gan senators to approve the Campus Sexual Assault Assistance Acts. Commission chair Nichole Paradis spoke to several members, informing them about the legislation, and encour- aging them to recruit theirclasses, friends and e-mail circles to write letters. The targeted senators include Majority Leader Dick Posthumus, Judiciary Committee chairman Will- iam Regenmorter and Higher Educa- tion Committee chairman John Schwarz. Though the bill - also known as the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights - passed unanimously in the House; it is currently stuck in several Senate committees. The bill aims to punish state- funded universities that fail to meet minimal requirements for programs to assist sexual assault victims. Members of the commission in- tend to present the information to a wide range of groups. Paradis is distributing the informa- tion via e-mail to the Women's Net- work, a group concernedwith women's issues, as well as the School of Social Work and Women of Color networks. Paradis feels it is "important to get the legislation passed this year," but not because University students are in danger. "I have lots of faith in SAPAC (Sexual Assault Prevention and Aware- ness Center), and we're pretty well off here." She points to other campuses where problems do exist, notably Cen- tral Michigan University. MSA Rep. Emily Berry disagrees, and said she feels the University is not doing all it could. "A DPS officer told (a sexual assault victim) that the as- sault was her fault," she asserted, not- ing a section of the bill that states that blame may not be placed on the vic- tim of an assault. Paradis also feels "the bill would send an important message that sexual assault is a serious matter, and that someone in power cares." Berry ex- pects at least 50 letters to arrive in Lansing as a result of their efforts. ..-.'. A } a Goabble: Gobble! I A group Meetings D ArcheryClub,913-5896,Sports Coliseum, 7-9 p.m. D Society for Creative Anachonism, North Campus, EECS, Room 1311, 7 p.m. -workshop, 8 p.m. meeting Events Q "Biotechnology and the Third World," lecture, Prof. Lawrence Busch, sponsored by Residential College, East Quad, Room 126, 1-2:30 p.m. Q "Lumninescence Properties of Student Services U 76-GUIDE, peer counseling phone line, 7 p.m.-8 a.m. U ECB Peer Tutorial, Angell Hall Computing Site, 747-4526, 7- 11 C .m. U~ Campus Information Center, Food Gatherers is the food rescue program serving Washtenaw county since 1988. It distributes roughly a ton of food every day to 70 different community agencies serving people experiencing hunger. ia namea. flat aa a a. 14 . hr. a aaL nsa al _ 114. aa a l . i.N,. an Asa a a .1. a na . s y.1N1 0