The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 8, 1995 - 3 'U' announces research awards for minorities The University's Center for Hu- *man Growth and Development re- cently announced recipients of its mi- nority international research train- ing awards. The awards aim to advance research into the health and development of chil- dren in developing countries. "Eighty-six percent of the world's children live in developing countries," said Betsy Lozoff, director of the cen- ter. "Some of the challenges that face * children in the United States affect children in developing countries." The awards, funded by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, provide interna- tional training opportunities in bio- medical and behavioral research for minority undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members. The 38 award recipients will study at foreign research institutes in Chile, China, Bolivia and South Africa. "As we enter the second year of this exciting program, our awardees come from the Business School, Engineer- ing, Medicine, Social Work, Nursing, Public Health and LSA," Lozoff said. The undergraduate recipients will participate over the summer, while the graduate and faculty awardees can stay for three to 12 months. Health differences between races diminish with age A recent study by Social Work Prof. Rose Gibson found that although white elderly Americans are generally in bet- ter health than their African Americans counterparts, the differences shrink and often disappear as they grow older. "Differentials that favor white Americans in the elderly population have been observed since health and mortality data have been collected," Gibson said in a statement. "How- ever, when the group 65 and over is subdivided, the Black handicap in younger age groups narrows and fre- * quently disappears in older groups." Gibson studied information from the National Archives of Computer- ized Data on Aging and found that the 'Black handicap' in the 75-79 age group was smaller than that of the 65- 74 age group, and often disappeared. "All of these findings suggest that age and health are more strongly related in the white than Black elderly popula- tion and health differentials favorwhites in youngerage groups, but favor Blacks in older age groups," Gibson said. Gibson offered some explanations, saying that many African Americans die early, leaving an older, more se- lect group of survivors. She added that Blacks may be more susceptible to an early onset of chronic diseases, and certain risk factors for disease may be more prevalent in some age 0 and race groups than others. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Matthew Smart Museum's' suitcases' bring world to local schools By Lisa Poris For the Daily Since 1988, the University's Kelsey Mu- seum has been packing its Traveling Educa- tional Suitcases. The museum has created vari- ous kits containing tools that provide insight into subjects such as ancient Egypt, Greek my- thology and Viking explorers. Becky Loomis, an education and develop- ment officer at the Kelsey Museum, refers to these suitcases as "civilizations in a crate" and describes how they provide insight into various cultures. She said the suitcases increase historical knowledge and provide a multicultural learn- ing experience for students in elementary through high school. Each suitcase contains books, videos, games, art reproductions, slide shows, musical tapes, activities and a teacher's guide. On Jan. 23, the Kelsey Museum held an educational open house, during which three new kits were unveiled, bringing the total num- ber of kits up to 13. The new kits are "Eureka," "Invention and Discovery in the Ancient World" and "Ancient Social Problems in the Modern World." The first two suitcases focus on the inven- tions and discoveries made by ancient Mediter- ranean people. Some of these developments include bathroom plumbing, safety pins, the plough and writing systems such as the Roman alphabet. These suitcases are funded by the Detroit Edison Foundation. "Ancient Social Problems in the Modern World" examines social crises that have spanned the ages, from ancient to modern society. Among these issues are homelessness, disease and women's rights. The third suitcase was funded by the Ann Arbor Community Foundation. Teachers are able to rent these kits for use in classrooms for $20 per 10-day session if picked up directly from the museum. If the kit requires shipping, the cost per 10-day session is $25, and the renter must pay for the return shipping cost. More information about the Traveling Edu- cational Suitcases can be obtained by contact- ing the Kelsey Museum at 747-0441. Senate favors Engler 1 LANSING (AP) - Gov. John Engler's $1.6 billion tax cut plan moved toward final passage in the Senate yesterday, but minority Demo- crats in the House managed to slow that chamber's work on the proposal. Majority Republicans in the Senate loyally rebuffed Democratic attempts to change the plan. GOP House mem- bers didn't stand so solidly. They shot down most Democratic amendments but couldn't put enough away to move the entire package before ending their session early in the evening. Republicans managed to move three of seven bills forward. House Speaker Paul Hillegonds (R-Holland) said he hopes those bills, dealing with the Single Business Tax, will win final passage today. He also wants to wrap up prelimi- nary work on the remaining four bills today, but said that would be a tougher challenge. "We have the classic problem of having Republicans who want to cut taxes more than other Republicans," he said, adding Democrats are fight- ing for a different mix of tax cuts. Rep. Pat Gagliardi of Drummond Island, the No. 2 House Democrat, said his party put forth some good argu- ments yesterday that Republicans weren't able to deny. This slowed down the process and could lead to some of their cuts being adopted, he said. Some of the ideas rejected would have given taxpayers a one-time re- bate instead of permanent tax cuts, repealed the real estate transfer tax and reduced the tax on some new car purchases. Eight Senate bills moved into posi- tion for a final vote after fine-tuning the governor's program and rejecting tax plan At a Glance A quick look at the Senate version of Gov. John Engler's $1.6 billion tax cut plan: 0 Cut income taxes by raising the personal exemption. Reduce, then phase out, the intangibles tax on interest and dividends. 8 Cut the Single Business Tax by eliminating workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, and Social Security payments from its base, Provide a $5,000 tax deduction for students who attend universities or junior colleges that keep tuition- increases at or below the rate of inflation. A tax cut of about $120 million over five years. Democratic attempts to funnel more of the relief to middle-class taxpayers. Engler's plan, outlined in his State of the State speech, would cut taxes by $1.6 billion over five years by increasing the standard personal ex- emption on the income tax, cutting the Single Business Tax, and phasing out the state intangibles tax on stocks and bonds. Republicans also nixed an attempt to limit the tax cut to a single year. Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-South Lyon), who represents Washtenaw County, vainly argued it was irresponsible to cut taxes permanently while Michigan suf- fers from a boom-and-bust economy. Senate Republicans last week added a bill to extend a tax deduction of up to $5,000 for students who go to colleges that keep tuition increases at the level of inflation. DUGULAS I'ANTE i l/Iy Once upon a time ... Judy Ashin and her daughter Katherine enjoy story time at the Ann Arbor Public Library yesterday. Faculty forum t focus on tenure By Jennifer Harvey Daily Staff Reporter Indiana University Prof. Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, also a visiting law pro- fessor at the University of Wisconsin, will speak tomorrow in the Michigan League as part of a forum on faculty tenure. The forum will focus on a report on tenure principally authored by one of the speakers, University Law Prof. Kent Syzerud. Wilfred Kaplan, executive secre- tary of the University chapter of the American Association of University Professors and professor emeritus, said, "The (University Board of Re- gents') bylaws only address the pro- cess of removal of tenure. This docu- ment details the privileges you should have if you have tenure as well as the responsibilities of tenure." Kaplan said responsibilities listed in the document include con- scientious teaching and proper con- ducting of research. He said privi- leges listed include reasonable teaching conditions, and office space and prevention of interference with tenure. Members of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, AAUP and the Women's Caucus will gather for the forum. In addition to those of Syzerud and Dau-Schmidt, the forum will hear speeches from University Provost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr. and former mathematics chair Prof. Donald Lewis. Kaplan said those who have worked to produce the tenure report hope to see integration of its com- pleted version into University policy. "We're hoping that the regents will look at this document and say, 'That's what we've been thinking all along,"' he said. The forum is open to the public and will take place in the Henderson Room of the Michigan League to- morrow at 4 p.m. Proposed border tax would increase cost of international travel Clinton plan would charge $3 to enter U.S. from Canada DETROIT (AP) - People on both the U.S. and Canadian sides of the border reacted quickly to President Clinton's proposal to charge a $3 en- try fee for every car coming into the United States from Canada. "The North American Free Trade Agreement is trying to build a rela- tionship between the two countries, to take down the burden of crossing that border," said Dan Stamper, whose company operates the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. "This proposal puts up new hurdles." Joan Hunter lives in Windsor and works for a bank in Detroit. She al- ready pays bridge or Windsor Tunnel fees to go to and from work. "I'm a single mother trying to keep my head above water, and Clinton is making it very difficult," she said after Clinton's budget was released Monday. Besides Detroit, Canadians and U.S. citizens cross to and from Port Huron and Sault Ste. Marie in Michi- gan to go to and from Canada. Those people include workers, people with relatives in either country, shoppers, Detroit Red Wings hockey fans and others. About 23.8 million people crossed the border between Detroit and Windsor between September 1993 and September 1994. Windsor depends on many Ameri- cans to make day trips to that city to spend money at shops, restaurants and nightclubs, said Jonathan Deneau, manager of the Convention and Visi- tors Bureau of Windsor. Casino Windsor attracts 12,000 U.S. residents daily, casino spokes- man Jim Mundy said. "We are deeply concerned," said Bud Mansfield, executive director of the Sault Area Chamber of Commerce in Sault Ste. Marie. He said many shoppers and gamblers "come over here with pockets full of money," and officials don't want the flow to slow. Georges Rioux, Canadian Em- bassy spokesman in Washington, said he was concerned about families with some relatives on the U.S. and some on the Canadian side of the border. "You have to pay $3 to go have a cup of tea with your aunt?" he said. Clinton's plan also would charge the fee to cars entering the United States from Mexico. Pedestrians crossing into the U.S. at border points would be charged $1.50. Both would pay the extra cost in addition to any existing tolls or fees. Correction Tilney Marsh was the winner of the Louise and George Piranian Scholarship. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. What's happning; In Ainn Arbor tody NRA fights to overturn assault weapons ban LANSING (AP) - The National Rifle Association and Michigan's largest outdoors group yesterday chal- lenged last year's assault weapons ban as technically flawed and uncon- stitutionally vague. The NRA and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs sued to overturn the ban in U.S. District Court in Bay City. "We don't believe banning guns is a good idea. We believe banning criminals is a good idea," said Tanya Metaksa, the NRA's chief lobbyist. Metaksa and NRA President Tom Washington, who is also the execu- tive director of the MUCC, said the lawsuit was focused on the ban's flaws rather than Second Amendment argu- ments because that was the quickest way for the NRA to win in court. "We want to win. We want to overturn this ban. We're picking the best way we know at the moment to overturn the law," Metaksa said. "Clearly the law is vague and it's ambiguous. It has the potential for making criminals out of citizens who are otherwise perfectly qualified to have guns," Washington said. However Sarah Brady, the chair- woman of Handgun Control Inc., said, "The NRA called the assault weapon measure the first gun ban in U.S. history and vowed to overturn it. Yet their challenge completely ignores their primary complaint: That the law violates the Second Amendment," she said in a statement. GROUP MEETINGS Q AISEC Michigan, general member meeting, 662-1690, Business Ad- ministration Building, Room 1276, 6 p.m. Q Coming Out Group for Lesbian, 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 meeting, 995-1699, Michigan League, Room C, 8 p.m. Q Overeaters Anonymous, 769-4958, Michigan Union, Room 3200, 12:10-1 p.m. Q Rainforest Action Movement, Dana Building, Room 1040, 7:30 p.m. Q Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do Club, men and women, beginners welcome, 994- 3620, CCRB, Room 2275, 8:30- 9:30 p.m. noon Q "A Reading with Joy HarJo," spon- sored by the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives and Minor- ity Student Services, Rackham Auditorium, 7 p.m. Q "Careers in Communication," spon- sored by Career Planning and Place- ment, Angell Hall, Room 25, 5:10- 6 p.m. Q "Friends Helping Friends," spon- sored by University Health Service and Public Health Student Asso- ciation, Michigan League, Room D, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Q "Faith in the Extreme: Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers From Prison," soup and study, sponsored by Lutheran Campus Ministry, 801 S. Forest, 6 p.m. U "Identification of Protein Phospho- rylation Sites by Mass Spectromotry," analytical seminar, sponsored by Department of Chem- istry, Chemistry Building, Room 1300,4 p.m. Q "information Exchange," sponsored by Society for Organizational Stud- ie Michigan Union KInuenzelRnonm BankingSystem," seminaron com- parative economics, Lorch Hall, Room 201, 4 p.m. Q "The Synthesis of 1,2,4-Trioxanes as Applied to the Antimalarial Drug Artemisinin (Qinghaosu)" organic seminar, sponsored bysDepartment of Chemistry, Chemistry Building, Room 1640, 4 p.m. Q "Today's Hiring, Employers' New Approaches to interviewing," sponsored by CP&P, Student Activites Building, Room 3200, 6:10-7 p.m. Q "University Symphony Orchestra and University Philharmonic Or- chestra," sponsored by School of Music, Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m. STUDENT SERVICES Q 76-GUIDE, 764-8433, peer coun- seling phone line, 7 p.m.-8 a.m. Q Campus Information Center, Michi- gan Union, 763-INFO; events info 76-EVENT or UM*Events on GOpherBLUE Q North Campus Information Center, R.nrth r .'n, itfnmmnnc '1- :XX r