The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 27, 1995 - 5
WIT asitronomer
discusses comet's
crash into Jupiter
By LISA MICHALSKI
For the Daily
Whenthefirstof2l pieces ofrockthatmade up comet
emaker-Levy 9 crashed into the surface of Jupiter in
Ju y, it exploded with the force of a 200,000 megaton
Hydrogen bombcreating a fireball that billowedup2,000
miles, researchers say.
Using the now in-focus Hubble Space Telescope,
scientists managed to record the event. An MIT astrono-
mer will be displaying pictures from the collision in a
lecture today.
Heidi Hammel, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, will deliver a presentation called "The
Wtacular Swan Song of Shoemaker-Levy 9." The talk,
ored by the University's Space Physics Research
Laboratory, is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the Boeing Audito-
rium of the Bagnold Aerospace Building on North Campus.
Hammel will focus on the comet crash and its effect
on Jupiter's atmosphere. The leader of the team of
scientists observing the event with the Hubble telescope,
Hammel was in charge of the visible wavelength images
of the explosions resulting from the crash.
Last summer's collision was the only time anyone has
seen a comet crash into a planet, said John Clarke, a
4Warch scientist at the University's Space Physics Re-
search Lab. "Since Galileo invented the telescope no one
has seen anything like this happen," he said.
Clarke added that undergraduates and non-science
majors would be able to understand Hammel's presenta-
tion. "She's not a-real technical speaker."
Researchers discovered Shoemaker-Levy 9 orbiting
Jupiter in May 1993 and continued to watch as it pen-
etrated Jupiter's atmosphere.
Light reflecting from the dust surrounding the frag-
tswas the only reason the comet was initially spotted,
Wrke said. "People are now speculating that there are
dozens of these things orbiting Jupiter."
University Astronomy Prof. Gordon MacAlpine said,
"The Hubble Space Telescope has many potential, im-
portant uses, ranging from studying solar system objects
like Jupiter to investigating quasars, which are the most
distant observable objects in the universe."
He said one ofthe most exciting recent developments
of the Hubble telescope has been the ability to view faint,
a arently young galaxies in the process of forming and
racting with each other. "These distant objects are
seen now as they actually existed at a much earlier time
in the universe," he said.
"Astronomers hope HST will ultimately provide us
with information necessary for a better understanding of
the age, geometrical characteristics, origin, and future
fate of our Universe," MacAlpine said.
A SLICE OF THE CITY
Student pleads ty
to pulling false alarm
By FRANK C. LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
A University student pleaded guilty Wednes-
day to a misdemeanor charge of pulling a false
fire alarm in a residence hall.
Thomas Law, who is on probation, had his lease
terminated by the University's Housing Division.
Law admitted to pulling a South Quad fire alarm in
November. The incident was alcohol related.
Law could not be reached for comment yester-
day.
"When we're able to attach individual respon-
sibility, it's considered a very serious event," said
Alan Levy, Housing Public Affairs and Informa-
tion director. "It's outrageous to put other people
at risk, let alone the inconvenience. It's re4lly an
outrageous activity for college students to be
engaged in - alcohol related or not."
False fire alarms are to be expected in resi-
dence halls, but over the years South Quad has
had more than its share.
"Over the years we've had some real success
in decreasing overall false fire alarms," Levy
said. "It remains too prominent in South Quad.
This is almost all alcohol related. We've taken a
variety of security steps. The number is down but
still uncomfortably high."
This case is unusual because the perpetrator
was identified. Law was singled out as the one
who pulled the alarm thanks to new key card
readers installed at various residence halls that
admit residents through building doors without
using a key.
"We checked the fire alarm that was pulled that
night," Levy said. "It was near a side entrance to
South Quad. Our electronic. card-access door
readers produced computer records that were able
to be checked.
"They indicated that he had come in that en-
trance and was the only on to come in ri ht at that
time," Levy said. "He ultimately acknowledged
he was responsible."
Law was in trouble with the University before
he pulled the fire alarm and was on the verge of
being evicted. Levy said the fire alarm incident
was the last straw and eviction proceedings were
made immediate.
"We terminated his lease be fore we were a ware
he pulled the alarm for multip le violations of the
community living standard under our residence
halls' rules and regulations," Levy said.
"We understand the irritation of the residents
who are affected and try to take it as serimus as we
can," he added. "The fact that we terminate
someone's lease when we can prove it is an
indication that we don't fool around. The most
severe penalty available to us is lease termina-
tion."
Levy said, however, his office did not pursue
the matter any differently than from other re-
ported, false fire alarms.
"Unfortunately in the vast majority of false fire
alarms, we're never able to identify a person,"
Levy said. "We've treated false fire alarms almost
universally consistent when we know who the
individual was."
JUDITH PERKINS/Daily
An Architecture graduate student displays her model of Ann Arbor.
Language requirement confounds LSA students
By AMBER DONELL
For the Daily
For some students, the LSA language requirement is
both enlightening and disappointing. Students are increas-
ingly becoming frustrated with the language requirements.
"I just finished my last semester of Spanish, and I can
barely speak Spanish to a two-year-old," said LSA junior
Mandy Schmitt.
LSA students are required to complete, or test out of
four terms in a single foreign language for graduation. Yet
many wonder why they need to "parle frangais" to graduate
"I feel like I am wasting so much money; this is my third
semester taking Spanish 103," said one LSA sophomore.
Prof. Robert Kyes, chairman of the German depart-
ment, said students are not learning proficiency because
students take language classes pass/fail. "Students use this
option to bracket a course that they're not going to give any
time to."
Philip Gorman, administrative associate of the LSA
curriculum committee, said the committee suggests that
students no longer be given the option of taking their
fourth-term language requirement pass/fail. The proposal
is being considered, but it has not been officially endorsed.
With nations becoming increasingly interdependent,
English is simply not going to be enough.
"Instead of questioning the language requirement, we
should be gaining knowledge of which languages provide
work options in a globalized economy," said LSA senior
Randall Crowder.
There are, however, students who feel English is enough
for the career they are pursuing. By not having the pass/ fail
option, many feel the language requirement will only
hinder students who are not interested in languages.
"I'm struggling to pass Spanish. The last thing I need is
to mess up my GPA for law school," said LSA sophomore
Nakia Powell.
Some students said they take intensive language classes
offered by the Residential College because they feel that there,
people are serious about becoming proficient.
"The best element of learning a language is community.
It takes away all the frustration," said Sylvie Carduner,
head of the Residential College French prograi.
'The writer's duty is
to help man endure'
Alcohol-related crash leaves teen in critical condition
William Faulkner delivered the fol-
lowingaddress upon receiving the Nobel
Prize in 1950. Following are excerpts:
Our tragedy today is a general and
universal physical fear so long sus-
tained by now that we can even bear
ighere is only the question: When
will I be blown up? Because of this,
the young man or woman writing
today has forgotten the problems of
the human heart in conflict with itself
which can make good writing be-
cause only that is worth writing about,
worth the agony and the sweat.
He must learn them again. He must
teach himself that the basest of all things
i obe afraid; and teaching himself
,forget it forever, leaving no room
in his workshop foranything butthe old
verities and truths of the heart, the old
universal truths lacking which any story
is ephemeral and doomed - love and
honor and pity and pride and compas-
sion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he
labors under a curse. He writes not of
love but of lust, of defeats in which
nobody loses anything of value, of vic-
*es without hope, and worst of all,
without pity or compassion. His griefs
grieve on no universal bones, leaving
no scars. He writes not of the heart but
of the glands. Until he relearns these
things, he will write as though he stood
among and watched the end of man.
I decline to accept the end of man.
Iteasy enough to say thatman is immor-
tal simply because he will endure: that
when the last ding-dong of doom has
clanged and faded from the last worth-
less rock hanging tideless in the last red
and dying evening, that even then there
will still be on more sound: that of his
puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I
refuse to accept this. I believe that man
will not merely endure: he will pre-
vail. He is immortal, not because he
alone among creatures has an inex-
haustible voice, but because he has a
soul, a spirit capable of compassion
and sacrifice and endurance. The
writer's duty is to write about these
things. It is his privilege to help man
endure by lifting his heart, by remind-
ing him of the courage and honor and
hope and pride and compassion and
pity and sacrifice which have been
the glory of his past. The poet's voice
need not merely be the record of man,
it can be one of the the pillars to help
him endure and prevail.
One teenager remains in critical
condition and two others await dis-
missal from University Hospitals in
the wake of a near-fatal car accident
that police blame on alcohol.
Police charged the 16-year-old
driver of a 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix
with operating his car under the in-
fluence after it slammed into a
parked Subaru on the 1000 block of
Newport Road just after 1 a.m. yes-
terday.
The front seat passenger, an 18-
year-old Ann Arbor resident, was
rushed to University Hospitals' Emer-
gency Room with two broken legs
and serious head injuries. The two
passengers in the back seat were
treated for minor injuries.
Ann Arbor Police Department
(AAPD) reports allege the car was
travelling between 90 and 100 miles
per hour before it skidded around a
parked car on Newport early yester-
day. Then out of control, the car ap-
parently slid into another parked car
farther down the road.
The driver, who was released to
his parents yesterday morning, alleg-
edly was drinking prior to the inci-
dent.
Patient claims sexual assault
A social worker atUniversity Hos-
pitals reported the possibility of an
ongoing sexual assault that may have
occurred at the Walter Reuther Hos-
pital in Westland.
The victim, who is a geriatric
schizophrenic and an inpatient at the
from a resident director's office in
fear of returning to his room.
Mother reports knife threat
The mother of a nine-year-old
called DPS from Northwood yIear-
ier this week in order to report that
Westland hospi-
tal, apparently
had bruises and
discoloration of
the anus. The so-
cial worker called
the Department of
Public Safety
Monday to file the
PoticeQ
Beat
was threatened
her daughter had
been threatened
with a knife at a
babysitter's resi-
dence.
According to
DPS reports, the
nine-year-old girl
with an Exacto-knife
and proceeded to make off with both
kitchen and laundry room cabinets
that had been installed.
Police found tracks in the snow
that lead to nearby Dhu Varren Road,
where suspects allegedly loaded the
items onto "a large truck, because
the items were too large for a pick-
up truck," reports say.
There was no damage to the
house or surrounding property and
labor costs to replace the cabinets
has been estimated at $500.
Scheel said that this type of theft
is not uncommon.
"This happens rather often,"
Scheel said yesterday. "People go
in and take appliances and materials
like copper from unfinished homes
and construction sites, entering from
unlocked doors or windows."
Police are following leads in-
volving a recently contracted roof-
ing company that is involved with
the construction of the Omlesaad
home.
- Complied by Daily Staff Re-
porter Josh White.
report, and an investigation is pend-
ing.
Student fears stalker
A resident of East Quadrangle
Residence Hall called the Depart-
ment of Public Safety (DPS) in re-
sponse to a person who had been
stalking him.
The resident, a University student,
said that a man who has been stalking
him for some period of time tried to
enter his room Monday with a key he
had obtained. The student called DPS
by a seven-year-old. No injuries were
sustained in the assault and the case
was forwarded to a juvenile officer
for review.
Thieves take cabinets
In what Staff Sgt. Phil Scheel of
AAPD described as "a daily occur-
rence," thieves stole items from a
local construction site.
According to police reports, sus-
pects entered an unoccupied and
unfinished home on the 2900 block
of Omlesaad by unbolting screens
I
A
w
75 Chinese Christian Fellowship,
994-1064, School of Natural
Resources, Room 1046, 7:30
p.m.
Q "Dynamical Models of Small,
Normal, and Obliquely Con-
vergent Orogens," sponsored
by Department of Geological
Sciences, Scott Turner Lecture
Series, Chemistry Building,
Room 1640, 4p.m.
"Kryvorivnya: Portrait of a
Village," slide lecture, photos
from Ukraine, Modern Lan-
guages Building, 3rd Floor Con-
ference Room, 4 p.m.
[ "Locution and Location: The
of Novel Thermally-Reversible
Photocrosslinkable Polymers,"
materials seminarjointwithmac-
romolecular science, sponsored
by Department of Chemistry,
Chemistry Building, Room 1706,
12 noon
Q Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do Club,
men and women, beginners wel-
come, 994-3620, CCRB, Room
2275, 6-7 p.m.
U Taekwondo Club, beginners and
other new members welcome,
747-6889, CCRB, Room 2275,
7-8:30 p.m.
U "The Spectacular Swan Song of
Shoemaker- Levy 9," sponsored
by Space Physics Research Labo-
ratory, North Campus, Baghold
tian Reformed Church, 1717
Broadway, 7:15 p.m.
Sunday
Q Alpha Phi Omega, initiation
and chapter meeting, 663-6004,
Michigan Union, Kuenzel
Room, pledges 2:15 p.m.,
actives 2:30 p.m.
Q Ballroom Dance Club, 663-
9213, CCRB, Main Dance
Room, 7 p.m.
Q ECB Peer Tutorial, 747-4526,
Angell Hall Computing Site 1-
5 p.m. and 7-11 p.m., UGLi,
second floor, 1-5 p.m.
Q Northwalk, 763-WALK,
Bursley Hall, Room 2329, 8-
11:30 p.m.
Farewell to our marvellous staff from your editors, James R. Cho,
Mona J. Qureshi, DavidJ. Shepardson and Karen J. Talaski.
And good luck to our new editors - Jonathan Berndt, Lisa Dines,
Andrew Taylor and Scot Woods. Oh, and that Nate guy too.
Financial Aid Applicants:
The deadline for applications for
Spring/Summer 1995 Financial Aid is:
TuesdayJanuar 31
r;. ~The 'Offjice of '
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