,.._ ___The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 25, 1995 - 3 - FLYING HIGH Commission sets goals to improve JOE WESTRATE/Daity Angel Aranzamendi, the 1993 National Flyweight Tae Kwon Do champion, takes off and jump-kicks Brett Appleman, the 1994 U.S. National bronze medalist. women ' Task force to release study on city, campus safety In March By MAUREEN SIRHAL Daily Staff Reporter As part of an on-going campaign to improve the safety of women in Ann Arbor, a special task force set up by City Council met for the first time yesterday. The council established the Com- mission on Increasing Safety for Women last November to deal with issues such as public safety and do- mestic violence. The commission, which will last for three months, is composed of a broad and diverse roster of mem- bers, including representatives from the University's Sexual Assault Pre- vention and Awareness Center, the Detroit Edison Co. and the city of Ann Arbor. The group listened attentively yesterday as Mayor Ingrid B. Sheldon defined the problems and issues facing the task force. "Our mission is that we do a lot in the community to resolve some of the problems," Sheldon said. "A lot of the issues concern date rape and domestic violence." During the meeting, the mem- safety bers separated into three major sub- committees to deal with prevention and education, public policy and en- forcement, and physical environment. Topics to be discussed include: lighting on the streets; stiffer penalties for sexual offenders; education at the elementary, high school and college levels; responsiveness from police to- ward domestic violence and rape situ- ations; and cooperation between the city, the county and the University. Sheldon said the recent arrest of a serial rape suspect should not end ef- forts to improve safety. "We have one suspect but there will still be rape," Sheldon said. "Just be- cause one person goes behind bars doesn't mean we end the vigilance." Councilmember Tobi Hanna- Davies (D-1st Ward) said she and Elisabeth Daley (D-5th Ward) will bring these issues before the council. Hanna-Davies said resolutions will be seen "as soon as it's decided what the task force would like done." Emily Berry, Women's Issues Com- mission chair for the Michigan Student Assembly, said campus-related issues also will be discussed. "Hopefully, within a month we'll start seeing the effects," Berry said. "I am on the subcommittee for physical environment, and right now we have a lot of things we are working on - things like better lighting." A P z ao0on administrtr announ1Ices resignatio By MAUREEN SIRHAL Daily Staff Reporter In a surprise move, City Adminis- trator Alfred Gatta submitted his res- ignation Monday after accepting a position as city manager in Scarsdale, N.Y. "I am very unhappy. We already have changes coming and he has been an effective leader for administra- tion," said Mayor Ingrid B. Sheldon. "He has been great for the business end of government." His resignation takes effect April 23. Gatta could not be reached for comment yesterday. As city manager, Gatta will per- form many of the same duties in Scarsdale as he performed in Ann Arbor, said outgoing Scarsdale City Manager Lowell J. Tooley. "We used a recruiting firm to com- pile a list of possible candidates," Tooley said. "The village board inter- viewed seven and later three candi- dates. Then they chose Mr. Gatta." Since the Ann Arbor council hired Gatta in 1991, he has faced a number of challenges including several con- flicts with former Mayor Liz Brater and former City Attorney Elizabeth Schwartz. His departure is the latest in a string of city officials to quit within the last nine months, including the city attorney and the police chief. He leaves as the city faces a major litiga- tion crisis involving the YMCA and Great Lakes Bancorp. "I wish him well," said Councilmember Tobi Hanna-Davies (D-Ist Ward). "I hope he is happy in Scarsdale." An interim city administrator will likely be appointed, Sheldon said. "I'd like the process to start soon. We will probably look in the executive for a leader. There are several candidates that have been with the city for years." Hanna-Davies said it will not be difficult to find a replacement. "I don't think it will be very hard to find a qualified pool of candidates," Hanna-Davies said. "There was no lack of good candidates for the police chief search." Diag vigil .held for bombing R VoC lnS victims By SPENCER DICKINSON Daily Staff Reporter s More than 50 students stood in the Diag yesterday, braving the cold to ,honor the memories of 19 Israeli sol- diers killed Sunday in a terrorist bomb- ing in Jerusalem. The American Movement for Is- rael organized the evening ceremony, but students of all faiths gathered for the event. LSA sophomore Josh Ruebner spoke first. "Something is happening in Israel," he said, adding that people are "still in danger of being murdered because they are Jews." As the crowd listened, some bowed their heads while others stared at Ruebner, who called for "an end to all forms of terrorism." Nineteen randomly chosen mem- bers of the crowd received candles to hold as LSA junior Yael Ebenstein *=read the names of the victims. Ebenstein was moved to tears by what she called "a feeling of helplessness." LSA junior Darren Spilman fol- lowed by reading an account of the MSS, Trotter House help focus 'U' multicultural programming By MAGGIE WEYHING Daily Staff Reporter The University has increased its efforts to create and sustain a multicultural environment in the past few years. Leading the way is Joe Willis. Willis, who just recently took on the job as director of multi-ethnic student affairs last August, is in the process of planning for the future. "In a broad sense, we are setting out to attempt to create an environ- ment that is conducive to students of color here on campus," he said. One of the main changes from past years is the recent merger of Minority Student Services and Trot- ter House, the student cultural center. With the integration of the two units, programming at Trotter House will be enhanced by the establishment of task forces, set up to advise students of color. Willis said specific task forces - one each for African American, Asian American, Latino and Native Ameri- can students - will work on a variety of programs. "We want the programs to satisfy the needs of the community - to be 'In the past, the activities that came out of the Trotter House were minimal because students were basically working on their own. The merger will definitely help.' - Joe Willis director of multi-ethnic student affairs co-curricular in nature - but at the same time academic. The programs will be culture-specific, but multicultural in nature," he said. These task forces will be respon- sible for many activities to improve the multicultural environment on campus, such as bringing speakers to the University, setting up art exhibits and organizing information sessions, Willis said. For example, the African American task force is currently work- ing on plays. Willis emphasized that the join- ing of Trotter House and MSS repre- sents a new approach as well as a shift in emphasis, because more projects will be collaborative in na- ture. He said the merger will allow more activities to take place because students and staff will be working closely together. "This merger will serve as an ad- vantage to programming and activi- ties," Willis said. "In the past, the ac- tivities that came out of the Trotter House were minimal because students were basically working on their own. The merger will definitely help. I have great expectations and am very optimis- tic." One of the age-old problems Willis said he hopes to tackle is the lack of understanding among students as to what services MSS offers. "We recently did assessments and found that many students don't under- stand what goes on here," Willis said. "This has been a'chronic problem, and we really need to begin to familiarize students with what we do. We need more outreach." DUGUULASKANT IER/Daiy LSA sophomore Jonathan Prostak holds a candle during a Diag rally last night to protest the latest suicide bombing in Israel. funeral ceremonies in Israel and em- phasized the need to see the victims as individuals rather than as numbers. Rackham student Josh Mitnick said, "The people killed were sol- diers, but they were also our age - 19 and 20 years old. They were recently drafted and they were our peers. It is as if a bomb went off at a bus stop on North Campus." After the speeches the crowd did not immediately disperse, but stayed around to talk. They discussed what all agreed was "a tragedy," but as LSA senior Ellen Kogan said, it was "good to bring people together." Oil prices can't be controlled, prof. says Correction The Environmental Law Society is a Law student group. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. Group Meetings Q Coming Out Group for Les- bian, Gay and Bisexual People, 763-4186, Michigan Union, LGBPO Lounge, 7-9 p.m. Q Discussion Group for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People, 763- 4186, Michigan Union, LGBPO Lounge, 5:15-7 p.m. Q Hindu Students Council, weekly meeting, 764-0604, Michigan Union, Kuenzel Room, 8 p.m. Q La Voz Mexicana, weekly meet- ing, 995-1699, Michigan League, Room C, 8 p.m. U OvereatersAnonymous,7694958, Michigan Union, Room 3200, 12:10-1 p.m. U Prospect, meeting, Hillel Build- ing, 7:30 p.m. U Rainforest Action Movement, Dana Building, Room 1040,7:30 other new members welcome, 747-6889, CCRB, Room 2275, 7-8:30 p.m. U Volunteering with Kids, mass meeting, sponsored by Project Serve, Michigan Union, Pendleton Room, 7 p.m. Events U "Biblical Language for Relation- ships," sponsored by Caterbury House, Lord of Light, Michigan League, Hussey Room,9:30 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. Q "Evolution and the Arts: Ex- plaining the Luxuriance of Human Social and Mental Ac- tivities in Darwinian Terms," Richard D. Alexander, sponsored by LSA, Rackham Amphtheatre, 4 p.m. Q "Faith in the Extreme: Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers From Prison," soup and study, By THEKLA FISCHER For the Daily Countries in the Middle East have been accused of inflating oil prices, organizing embargos and conspiring against the West. Yet Djavad Salehi- Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, ques- tions whether anyone can control the world market. Salehi-Isfahani, originally from Iran, lectured on the Middle East and the world oil market last night at the Business School. "My understanding of the oil mar- ket is somewhat at odds with popular conceptions," Salehi-Isfahani said. Salehi-Isfahani emphasized that anxiety over energy security in the West is exaggerated. He said that in the post Cold War era, "We (the United States) will no longer have to go to the Middle East to secure the oil supplies from a Soviet invasion." Referring to the Gulf War, Salehi- Isfahani questioned the use of mili- tary action to guarantee the flow of oil from the region. "What Saddam Hussein really cares about is the dollars," he said. "Sellers need as much to participate for the foreign exchange as the con- sumers need the oil." Salehi-Isfahani also rebutted the claim that a cartel or an individual state could regulate the price of oil. "The whole idea of ajust price is unfounded." The market ultimately determines the price for any commodity, he said. "You can not decide at what price you will sell your oil. There is a going price." The speaker concluded that both importers and exporters base their thinking on memories of past embargos and foreign control. "It would be a great development for world politics if the world oil market became less per- sonal and more impersonal." Career Planning and Place- ment, Student Activities Build- ing, Room 3200, 5:10-6 p.m. U "Olefin Polymerization Cata- lyzed by Homogeneous Zir- conium Complexes," organic seminar, sponsored by Depart- ment of Chemistry, Chemistry Building, Room 1640, 4 p.m. Q "Progressive Zionist Caucus, Is It Worth It?" sponsored by Hillel, Hillel Building, 7:30 p.m. U "Trial and Error: Construct- ing History by Legal Means," brown bag lecture, sponsored by CREES, Istvan Rev, Lane Hall Commons Room, 12 noon Student services U 76-GUIDE,peercounselingphone line, 764-8433,7 p.m.-8 a.m. Q Campus Information Cen- ter, Michigan Union, 763- I I Mu fotw