4, The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 16, 1995 - 3 Educator warns of airmative action A former president of Howard University warned his fellow higher education administrators Monday to prepare for a contentious debate over affirmative action that could split America "right down the middle." Addressing the American Council on Education in SanFrancisco, Franklyn G. Jenifer, who left Howard University last year for the presidency of the Uni-. versity of Texas at Dallas, told the 150 Administrators from public and private schools that arguments-over race- and gender-based preferences in college ad- missions and hiring are just beginning. "In two years, it's going to be hell on your campuses on this issue," said Jenifer, who cited the recent protest at Rutgers University as an example of how a college campus can be divided when a sensitive issue flares. *"It will be every major campus that has significant proportions of minority students who were admitted with different standards of admission or (whose) average SAT scores ... or rank in the class is lower than the majority." Clinton defends student loans While in San Francisco for the American Council on Education con- ference, President Clinton defended his Student Loan Reform Act Tues- day before university administrators. Enacted two years ago, the Stu- dent Reform Act allows students to borrow education funds directly from the federal government. Most student loans currently come from private banks with the federal government financing the transaction by supplying money to the bank. Republicans have pledged to limit the program so that no more than 40 percent of student loans are financed in this fashion, The Washington Post reported. Economic advisers to the Presi- dent have indicated that the direct- loan approach saves the government *money by bypassing banks. The American Council on Educa- tion has endorsed Clinton's program. MSU serving wide audiences City project aims to reduce pollution in region By Daniel Johnson Daily Staff Reporter As one of the world's largest in- dustrial hubs, southeastern Michigan produces large amounts of toxic waste each year. To empower citizens fac- ing risk from this waste, the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor educates and advises citizens about toxic pollution through one of its efforts,the Toxics Reduction Project. The project, established in 1990, pledges to mobilize citizens to re- duce toxic pollution levels and pre- vent accidents in their communities. The group provides citizens with technical assistance, model ap- proaches for local emergency plan- ning and interpretation of toxics emission data. "The state of Michigan suffers an enormous pollution legacy," said Ecology Center Director Mike Garfield. "According to community right-to-know information ... Michi- gan ranks fourth among states in the number of toxic contamination sites." The project was organized in re- sponse to contamination and played an integral role in the formation of the "Right-to-Know" campaign in the late 1980s. "Prior to 1987, companies weren't required to report what chemicals they were releasing into their communi- ties," said Andy Comai, industrial health director of the project. The "Right-to Know" Act is state legislation that requires companies to release a list of chemicals emitted into the environment to workers and communities. This information is criti- cal to the development of dialogue between communities and companies, Comai said. In cooperation with the city of Ann Arbor, the project brought a law- suit in the 1980s against Gelman Sci- ences, an Ann Arbor-based producer of medical filters. Gelman's produc- tion was allegedly responsible for re- leasing harmful chemicals into sur- rounding groundwater and wells. Gelman settled in 1990 and agreed to clean up the site. Earlier this month, the Ecology Center and the Ypsilanti-Willow Run Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced plans to collabo- rate in locating toxic hot spots in the Ypsilanti area and mobilizing citizen action. The joint effort is in response to recent studies indicating that race is the single-largest factor influenc- ing exposure to environmental haz- ards, said Raymond G. Mullins, ex- ecutive director of the local branch of the NAACP. "We believe that our partnership with the Ecology Center promises to address some of southeast Michigan's most serious environmental problems, which disproportionately affect people of color," he said. The project is also working with citizens in Romulus to investigate is- sues surrounding Michigan's first commercial hazardous materials in- jection well. Environmental Disposal Systems of Birmingham has built an injection well in Romulus and received a per- mit to begin testing at the site. If the EDS project proceeds, 96 million gal- lons of waste would be injected into the ground at a depth of 4,500 feet over the next 15 to 30 years. "I'm just a plain old mom who thought I knew what was going on in my backyard," said Debbie Romak, spokeswoman for Romulus Environ- mentalists Care About People. "Dis- posal companies look for a sleepy town highly populated by minorities," she asserted. While Environmental Disposal Systems claimed that they would lo- cate the site in an area with zero population, Romak said that the site is 500 yards from a mostly black neigh- borhood. The project has worked with the Romulus environmental group giv- ing them statistics on other toxic in- jection wells and providing a profile of existing pollution in their area. In addition to working with citi- zens on pollution prevention, the project also keeps an eye on pollut- ants from the auto industry. In its fall publication, the project examined a case at the Spiratex plant -a Romulus producer of auto parts. Between 1990 and 1992, three cases of testicular cancer arose among workers causing the company to contract for health and hygiene surveys at the plant. "We're working with citizen groups and labor unions to attack sources of regional pollution," Comai said. Neither Gelman nor Environmen- tal Disposal Systems could be reached for comment yesterday. s s , s yk ' Qy 2 ry, t y f F' 1 Women s league raffies y, a..: r j