Airn One hundred four years of editorial freedom Vo, CV, No. .e . ti Jarty leaders vow to work together Rape suspect bound over on robbery charge In first formal meeting, Clinton says he Is ready to cooperate with GOP Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON -- In an earnest display of good intentions, President Clinton and the new Republican lead- ers of Congress promised yesterday to try to work together for the com- mon good - and then reaffirmed their deep disagreements over politi- 4al reform, tax cuts and other issues. In his first formal meeting with the newly installed congressional leadership, Clinton said he is ready to cooperate with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole whenever he can. "I think the people are sick, liter- ally sick, of seeing all this partisan infighting up here," Clinton said. "My ob is not to stand in the way and be an bstructionist force.... My job is to work with them to try to help build this country." The normally combative Gingrich responded amicably, saying he and Clinton shared "a very real willing- ness to try to find a Ivay to try to work together." When a reporter asked if he had clashed with Clinton on any issues, Gingrich upbraided the questioner for "cynicism." "It was a very, very posi- tive meeting," he said. But within minutes of the opti- mistic professions of bipartisanship, other Democrats and Republicans returned to their familiar debates about balancing the federal budget and designing tax cuts for the middle class. But Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Calif.) who attended the White House meeting as a member of the House Democratic leadership, explained the sudden out- break of conciliation in straightfor- ward political terms - as a common fear of being blamed for another year of gridlock. "There's a seething electorate out there with a short tether on its politi- cians that's driving everybody," he said. "If we can get something done by working together, there will be plenty of credit to go around. And if we fail, everybody's vulnerable to criticism." Gingrich and Dole may command a majority in Congress, another Democrat said, but "Clinton has a veto" - meaning the Republicans may need the president's cooperation to pass much of the legislation they want. See CONGRESS, Page 2 By FRANK C. LEE Daily Staff Reporter A man police suspect of being Ann Arbor's serial rapist was ordered Wednesday evening to stand trial on charges of unarmed robbery and as- sault. Ervin Dewain Mitchell Jr., 33, was arrested Christmas Day - just one day after a 34-year-old Ann Arbor woman reported that he punched her in the face and tried to snatch her purse. At the Jan. 4 preliminary hearing held at the 6th Circuit Court, seven witnesses testified during the five- hour hearing - including the victim, a DNA expert, police officers and friends of the defendant. At the end of the hearing, District Judge Elizabeth Pollard-Hines granted Washtenaw County Prosecu- tor Brian Mackie's motion to bind Mitchell over for trial. Mitchell remained unemotional before a packed courtroom including many in the news media, occasion- ally shaking his head from side to side in response to the testimony presented. Onlookers came to witness first- hand the man suspected of commit- ting the string of rapes that led to a long and frustrating manhunt by a multi-agendy law enforcement task force. The hearing Wednesday was to determine if the robbery was at- tempted and if Mitchell was the perpetrator. A tentative trial Mitchell date was set for Feb. 13 in Washtenaw Circuit Court. Mitchell remains in the Washtenaw County Jail on a $50,000 bond. If convicted on the felony charges, he could face a maximum of 15 years in prison. Lynne Helton, a technician from the state police crime lab's DNA unit, testified that preliminary tests con- ducted on blood stains on a right- hand white glove that Mitchell was wearing at the time of his arrest indi- See SUSPECT, Page 2 AP PHOTO President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia meet yesterday to discuss the legislative agenda. For more background on the plans ahead, see the Friday Focus on Page 3. _____. 'U' Black faculty decli By LISA DINES and RONNIE GLASSBERG Daily Staff Reporters The number of Black faculty at the Univer- sity declined 1.2 percent in the last year while *verall minority groups saw slight gains, ac- cording to figures released last month. "I am not pleased," said University Presi- dent James J. Duderstadt. "We have made marvelous progress over the past six years in almost all areas. But in lookingover the data, we have slowed down in African American appointments significantly." While the total instructional staff grew by 0.7 percent, there was no gain among Native American faculty and a 1.2-percent decline among Black faculty in the past year. "African American faculty increases have slowed down and that I'm worried about," Duderstadt said. Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr. said the University will continue working to in- crease the number of minority faculty mem- bers'-"We've-had one discussion among the deans about that and we're going to have an- other one," he said. Duderstadt said that while retention of mi- nes by 1.2 percent over past year nority faculty has remained strong, hiring rates percent in 1991, 11.2 percent in 1990 and 10.7 som, a Black supplemental faculty member, have slowed down. percent in 1989. said the University needs long-term efforts to "No matter how hard the administration Over the past five years, the number of increase the number of minority faculty. pushes, the hiring of minority faculty is ulti- minority faculty members has increased by He points to programs in the College of mately determined by the faculty themselves," 37.2 percent, compared with a 5.2-percent rise Engineering that attractminority students. "They Duderstadt said. He said faculty members chair in total faculty since 1989. But since last year, need to look at the graduate students they the search committees to find new faculty mem- the number of minority faculty members in- have here and grow their own (students)." bers. creased by 1.5 percent. Duderstadt said the faculty and students Hispanic faculty showed the largest gain, Whitaker attributed the smaller increase to also must work to increase the number of mi- with a 6.8-percent increase. Asian American turnover among the faculty. norities at the University. faculty increased by 1.5 percent during the year. "If we had not had people leave, we would "Mostminority faculty don'tknow the deans Minorities now comprise 14percent of total have been up a lot," Whitaker said. "It's a or the president, but they do know about their faculty at the University, compared with 13.9 highly competitive market." faculty colleagues," Duderstadt said. percent in 1993, 12.8 percent in 1992, 12.3 Senior Associate Librarian Charles Ran- See FACULTY, Page 7 *Research funding at 'U' hits .new hi By RONNIE GLASSBERG Daily Staff Reporter The University ranks as the top research institution among public uni- versities, Vice President for Research Homer Neal told the Board of Regents at its December meeting. For 1993-94, research funding hit an all-time record high $385,957,402, eal said in his annual presentation. "That is over $1 million aday being spent here on research and that in- cludes Saturdays and Sundays," Neal said. Of the University's total research expenditures, $267,261,567, or 69 per- cent, came from federal agencies and $118,695,835, or31 percent, came from non-federal sources. Among the major sources are the *Department of Health and Human Ser- vices, the National Science Founda- tion, the Department of Defense, NASA and the Department of Energy. Neal said the end of the Cold War has changed the mission of research at universities. "At the end of the Cold War, many people are asking, 'Why should we keep funding universities at the same *evels?' Neal said. "We have to figure out how we can adapt to those changes. "The national agenda is extremely important. We have to keep involved with it." The University is taking steps to Study finds AIDS more contagious in 1st stages of virus By MICHELLE LEE THOMPSON Daily Staff Reporter For persons infected with HIV, the threat of infecting others in the first two months of the disease is much greater than previously thought, according to a study conducted by University researchers. "People thought the primary in- fection was more infectious than the remainder. What we're saying is that it's a lot more than you thought," said John A. Jacquez, professor emeritus of physiology and biostatistics and one of the study's four researchers. In fact, the rate of becoming in- fected during the 60-day primary in- fection phase may be 100 to 1,000 times the risk of the long asymptomatic phase; this is the two to eight-year lull before patients infected with HIV develop full-blown AIDS. Among homosexual males, the primary subjects of the study con- ducted in Chicago and San Francisco, infection rates during the initial phase may be as high as three out of 10 sexual encounters, the researchers say. The study shows the same conta- giousness patterns for both genders, even though female-to-male transmis- sion is only about half as high as male-to-male and male-to-female transmission rates. "The absolute values are probably much lower for female transmission," said researcher Carl P. Simon. The study, published by Univer- sity researcher James S. Koopman and Ira M. Longini of Emory Univer- sity in the November issue of the See AIDS, Page 2 INSIDE Engineering senior Tim Soeder works at the Student Book Exchange yesterday in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union. Yesterday was the last day to self books to the exchange, which will sell them today and tomorrow. Task force to address safety walk concerns By AMY KLEIN Daily Staff Reporter In response to a Michigan Student Assembly >rt identifying 190 unsafe on- and off-campus ures, Associate Vice President for Business ,rations William Krumm has appointed a task e to assess the problems and to recommend itions. The report detailed the results of last October's npus safety walk-through when MSA represen- ves, city officials and University employees 'U' to spend an estimated $20,000 to improve unsafe campus areas Director of Public Services Bill Wheeler is the city representative on the task force, and will ad- dress the concerns of off-campus safety. Wheeler will be absent from the first meeting but will submit Maintenance issues cover some previously com- pleted work, including replacing burnt-out lightbulbs on campus. Public safety, the last cat- egory, is a miscellaneous grouping. "One of the main goals is to actually prioritize the items and then to hear what people think of them. We've already started to make improve- ments," Christenson said. Over break the University erected 16 tempo- rary lighting units on the North Campus diag until the construction is completed and permanent light- NEWS 5 Despite Boris Yeltsin's promise, Russia continues bombing the Chechen city of Grozny. ARTS 8 The new Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan film "l.Q." has a heart but no brain: I -