wWE r One hundred four years of editorial freedom *rni Weather Tonight: Clear skies, low in mid-20s. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, high in upper-40s. Thursday March 23, 1995 e, ' MSA El ections Polls busy on 1st day of student elections Poll workers report high turnout at Angell Hall, Union sites By Amy Klein Daily Staff Reporter The feeling was one of amaze- ment yesterday afternoon as more than 25 students sprawled across the benches and floor of the Fishbowl to cast their vote for Michigan Student Assembly president and vice president. Poll sites at the Michigan Union and the Fishbowl experienced a "steady stream" of voters yesterday *afternoon, said MSA Rep. Adam Clampitt. Many representatives working at the polls said they were surprised at the seemingly high voter turnout. MSA Rep. Jonathan Freeman worked the site at East Quad from 11:40 a.m. until 1 p.m. and said he was pleased with the amount of voters. "We must have had at least 150 to 200 people. It was just one pretty steady wave, partly due to lunchtime voters," Freeman said. First-year LSA student Stephanie Brimo began her shift at the Union voting booth at 1 p.m. and said the flow of voters was consistent. "There's been a huge turnout. Start- ing at 1, on the average, we had about seven people voting per couple of min- utes," Brimo said. "The consistency is great, though, there hasn't really been a low at all." Clampitt said he estimates voter Committee axes $8.4M raise for' MICHAEL FITZHUGH/Daily LSA junior Tracy Lindsley casts her vote for MSA president and vice president in Angell Hall yesterday. turnout in this election to be one of the highest in the past few years. "There are constantly people com- ing up to us. This is definitely heavier than last fall. At 2, we've gotten about 150 people in the last hour, last fall it was about one person every 10 min- utes," Clampitt said. Candidates speculated that the appearance of a high voter turnout may be due to increased publicity this year. Outside voting sites and under- neath the election banners, some can- didates passed out campaign litera- ture and others distributed tea bags urging students to vote. LSA sophomore Amy Lazerson said the election push encouraged her to vote for the first time. Today's Polling Sites ow 6:4U-9p.m. Union 8:50 a.m. - 9:15 p.m. Fishbowl 8:35 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. MLB 9:20 a.m. - 2 p.m. Natural Resources 1:10 - 4:45 p.m. Nursing 9:10 - 11:25 a.m. Law 11:45 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. N. Campus Comm. 10:35 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. 6:45 - 9:05 p.m. Art/Architecture 11 a.m. - 3:20 p.m. Undergrad Library 5:50 - 9 p.m. Alice Lloyd 3:40 - 7:10 p.m. Mosher-Jordan 3:50 - 7:20 p.m. South Quad 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. West Quad 11:40 a.m. -1:20 p.m. East Quad 11:35 a.m. - 1:35 p.m. 5 - 7:15 p.m. Bursley 4:35 - 6:30 p.m. Rackham 2:30 - 6:10 p.m. Business Lounge 113 .m. -.25 pjm. 4:05 - 9:45 p.m. 11 I felt like I wanted to get more involved and I thought it was better publicized this year," Lazerson said. "It's definitely more competi- tive this election," said Brian Elliott, the Students' Party presidential can- didate, who was campaigning out- s-ide Angell Hall. "There's more of us out here than there ever was be- fore." By Zachary M. Raimi Daily Staff Reporter The state House Appropriations Committee overwhelmingly approved a subcommittee recommendation yes- terday to deny the University an $8.4 million appropriations increase. The proposal would put this money in escrow, although it would return to the University when non-resident en- rollment, currently at 33.4 percent, drops to 30 percent. "Clearly, it sends a message that the legislators are concerned," said Donald Gilmer (R-Augusta), chair of the House Appropriations Commit- tee. The committee's bill, which passed 20-2, also includes $10.3 mil- lion for Michigan State University proposed by Gov. John Engler, in addi- tion to the 3 percent across-the-board increases for the state's 15 public insti- tutions. The House is scheduled to vote in early April on the bill, which would still have to pass the Senate and be signed by Engler before becoming part of the state's budget. The Legislature requests that the University keep non-resident enroll- ment at or below 30 percent, but can- not enforce its request since the Uni- versity is autonomous under the state constitution. Walter Harrison, vice president for University relations, said the committee's vote was "expected" but he is confident that the proposal will eventually be removed from the bud- get. "This is a long process and at each stage of the process there will be some losses, there will be some wins, and we're still fighting hard for the University," he said. Harrison said that the University will lobby the Legislature by "trying to talk to every representative and every senator we can." An amendment proposed by Rep. Maxine Berman (D-Southfield)# would have reinstated the University's $8.4 million increase, but it was de- feated. Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) said she plans to co-sponsor a similar amendment on the House floor. "I am convinced that the U-M is trying to comply with that 30 percent cap and if there is a natural fluctuation of plus or minus 3 percent in those figures, it's very hard to keep those exact," she said. "I don't think we should penal- ize the students of U-M for this fluc- tuation." Gilmer said that he told Univer- sity President James J. Duderstadt to heed the Legislature's message. "I urged him to take the message to heart that this is a concern with the amount of Michigan students admitted," Gilmer said. Englerhas not publicly declared his position on the issue, his spokeswoman Patricia Masserant said. "He's leaving it up to the process," she said. Harrison said that the University exceeded the state's requested cap Committee OKS continued funding for Tuition Waiver By Zachary M. Raimi Daily Staff Reporter The Indian Tuition Waiver Pro- gram cleared another legislative hurdle yesterday, when the state House Appropriations Committee voted to continue its funding. Gov. John Englereliminated the program's funding in his budget proposal. The program, which be- gan in 1976, allows students with at least one-quarter Native American blood to attend any of the state's 15 public universities without paying tuition, provided they meet admis- sion requirements. The House is expected to vote on the proposal in early April. "I'm very happy that the Ap- propriations Committee feels that (the program) is beneficial and worthwhile for Native American people," said Pamela Bowser, a Native American and Nursing School junior who receives the tuition waiver. She said she hoped "Engler does "the right thing" and not'veto it. But Engler spokeswoman Patricia Masserant said that the governorcontinues tosupport end- ing the program. "He still feels very strongly that financial aid should be based on need sand this is a form of aidthat is not directly' tied to freed," she said. The University would lose about $500,000 if the program were ended, hurting other financial aid programs, Elaine Nowak, a Uni- versity financial aid director said, in a recent interview. Walter Harrison, vice presi- dent for University rlations, said the University liked the vote. 'gThat's one nice piece of good news," he said. "I think a lot of people were pleased with that." Donald Gilnier (R-Augusta), chair of the Appropriations Com- mittee, said the appropriation was amended to include a requirement. that aid recipients demonstrate they are working toward a degree to deter fraud. The program grew out of a 1836 treaty when Native Ameri- cans turned over land to the gov- ernment, which promised to pro- vide them withadequate education and health services. primarily because "given the low numbers of high school graduates, if we admit more students from in- state we'll simply be taking away students from other universities in- state. Gilmer said that while non-resi- See COMMITTEE, Page 2 House almost blocks welfare overhaul The Washington Post WASHINGTON - A broad wel- fare overhaul was almost blocked in the House yesterday largely because some conservative Republicans worry that the GOP bill would unintention- ally lead poor women to have more abortions. The welfare legislation was opened to floor votes after a procedural rule narrowly passed, 217 to 211, despite the defection of 15 Republicans on * what is usually a party-line vote. Six Democrats did not vote, and three oth- ers sided with the Republican majority. In often-emotional terms, the GOP dissidents, who included leading anti- abortion lawmakers like Judiciary Chair Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) and Rep. Christo- pher H. Smith (R-N.J.), said they were concerned that pregnant unmarried teen- agers and older welfare mothers would have abortions rather than face pro- posed cuts in benefits. "I'm embarrassed today to stand here and admit that our party, that (believes in) family values, doesn't value keeping a family together," Rep. Jim Bunn (R-Ore.) said in announc- ing his decision to vote no. The lead- ership had rejected an amendment from Bunn that would permit an adult guardian or group home to receive cash Welfare Reform Plans e The Congressional Budget Office, which has the final word on how much a given plan will save or cost, says House Republicans' welfare bill has some unrealistic requirements, The bill's specifications: Ii I I 90 percent of all welfare families with two parents must participate in job. activites by 1998. All families would have work requirements by 2003. 40 federal programs, which benefit 1 in 10 Americans, would be condensed into block grants to the states. Some of the office's estimates: All 50 states would fail to meet the job-requirerents, $66 billion would be saved in the next five years. Source: The Washington Post ! ° ~ the National Right to Life Committee. Not all anti-abortion activists agreed. "We believe this will reduce abortions, or we will not do it," said Louis Sheldon, chair of the Tradi- tional Values Coalition of 3,100 churches nationwide. Three partial concessions were likely to be made to critics. The House was likely to adopt a Hyde amendment to specifically bar funding for abor- tion, but not family planning, under the bill. Two otherGOPamendments likely to pass would allow states to provide vouchers for diapers and services to unmarried teenage mothers and older women who have more children while on welfare. No vote was allowed on a Demo- cratic amendment to delete the finan- cial incentives for states to reduce their "illegitimacy ratio" of births. Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.) had dismissed the incentives as a "bounty on abortions." The Republican welfare bill, drawn from the "Contract with America" and the recommendations of GOP gover- nors, would make the broadest changes in the nation's social-welfare system since the Social Security Act of 1935 created Aid to Families with Depen- dent Children. assistance on behalf of an unwed mother under age 18. When anti-abortion groups first raised the issue, Republicans added financial incentives for states to re- duce out-of-wedlock births. But crit- ics have questioned whether the bill's formula would actually have that ef- fect in a welfare system known for unintended consequences. "I am deeply concerned that in the otherwise laudable drive to reduce ille- gitimacy and dependency, we are poised to enact legislation that is likely to in- crease the number of abortions per- formed ... while also making children more impoverished," said Smith, co- chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus. The National Right to Life Commit- tee and U.S. Catholic Conference lob- bied furiously fordefeatof the rule, citing concerns about increased abortions. "The bill contains multiple provi- sions which would pressure states to reduce out-of-wedlock births, measures which have the practical effect of in- creasing the number of abortions," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for AATU joins city, YMCA legal battle By Maureen Sirhal Daily Staff Reporter The YMCA and the city of Ann Arbor fell under yet another lawsuit Monday as the Ann Arbor Tenants' Union filed suit against both parties. The suit challenges that the YMCA has "consistently breached" its con- tracts by not providing affordable housing for its residents, failing to provide adequate housing and violat- the YMCA, but not into the director/ resident relations. "(The agreement) doesn't specifi- cally speak to any other management other than financial," said Councilmember Elisabeth Daley (D- 5th Ward). "There are a lot of agreements where the Y runs their programs with a positive cash flow and if not, the city will oversee," said Mayor Ingrid B. "If the rents are applying to mini- mum wage workers, (they are) slightly higher (than 30 percent)," said YMCA Executive Director Bill Blewitt. "For those residents who fall under that portion, there are grants. We sought grants to provide subsidies to give to the residents," he said. Blewitt said since the YMCA op- erates under an innkeeper/hotel sta- tus, they do not need to follow HUD *, 2- -7-m