I
One hundred five years of editorialfreedom
*rn
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Tonight: Chance of snow,
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Monday
January 29, 1996
111111 1 1'0 !1 .0 6-
9
community responds enthusiastically to interim pres.
By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Interim president-designate HomerNeal, who
will begin in July, may have been a strong
choice for the permanent position, members of
the University community say.
"Neal will be on the top of most faculty lists
president," said Provost J. Bernard Machen.
However, Neal said he does not want the posi-
tion permanently, despite continuous praise from
students and colleagues. "He is very clear that he
wants to go back to the faculty," Machen said -
Neal, vice president for research and a physics
professor, said he is doing the University a favor by
stepping into the interim president position. Neal
said he would rather remain in his current post.
But beginning July 1, the day after President
James Duderstadt steps down, the University
will have the first minority leader in its 179-year
history.
Thomas Moore, vice chair of the Senate Ad-
visory Committee on University Affairs, said
Neal's race was not a factor in his appointment
- he was simply the best person for the job.
"He is the most popular choice of any of the
local members," said Moore, a biology profes-
sor. "Ihave had more faculty members and more
administrators mention that he should be one of
the front-runners."
Moore said SACUA rec-
ommendedNeal tothe Board
of Regents, which ultimately
appointed him interim presi-
dent at a regents' meeting
Thursday.
"We recommended the
person we thought was the
most qualified," Moore said.
"It had nothing to do with
minority, non-minority." Neal
Psychology Prof. Richard Nisbett, a scientist
at the Institute of Social Research, said Neal's
experience as provost at the State University of
New York at Stoney Brook will be even more
important than his research background.
"He is very judicious when he talks," Nisbett
said. "You know he is thinking when he talks to
you."
LSA senior Roderick Beard said Neal will be
able to "keep the seat warm" until the next
president is ready to take over.
"I think from his credentials he was a good
choice," Beard said. "He just happens to be a
minority."
Local lawmakers agreed that Neal's position
as both a faculty member and an administrator
will help him relate to both constituencies.
"I think he has experience with the Univer-
sity community," Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Ar-
bor) said yesterday. "He is sensitive to the needs
of students and faculty."
Machen said Neal will help the transition, as
he is already familiar with Duderstadt's agenda.
"He is part of the executive team. It will make
the transition smoother," Machen said. "And he
is a hell of a nice guy."
Before being named vice president for re-
search in 1993, Neal spent six years as chair of
the physics department. He received a doctorate
in physics from the University in 1966.
I
2 students
to serve
onssearch
committee
* Advisory search panel
to meet in closed
session, give
recommendations
By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has started another
*rch - this time for two students
who will help find the next president.
An undergraduate and a graduate
student will be selected to serve on the
12-member search advisory commit-
tee.
Based on recommendations of Pro-
vost J. Bernard Machen, the University
Board of Regents will appoint a com-
mittee in February.
While Machen said there are not
* specific qualities he thinks are
essential in the student representa-
tive, he said it is important to have a
student who will still be on campus
next fall.
4 N TO ocers
iPed;sers sa
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) -
Bosnia's former battlefield foes claimed yester-
day they had emptied their jails of all POWs, in
a day marred by the deaths of four NATO sol-
diers and the wounding of a U.S. Army officer
by sniper fire.
Three British soldiers were killed when their
vehicle hit a mine near Mrkonjic Grad in the
northwest, A Swedish soldier died when an ar-
mored personnel carrier skidded off a road in the
north.
In Ilidza, a Serb-held suburb west of Sarajevo,
Lt. Shawn H. Watts was grazed on the neck by a
sniper's bullet. The 28-year-old from Greenwood,
Miss., returned to duty several hours later.
NATO said it was investigating, but Bosnian
Serb army officials in Ilidza said they knew noth-
ing of the shooting.
It was the biggest death toll of any single day of
the NATO-led mission since it began Dec. 20.
Before yesterday, there were 35 injured and four
dead, including a British soldier who killed him-
self.
Meanwhile, with hundreds of war prisoners
released Saturday, it appeared that most of those in
captivity before the weekend had been set free.
Croats and Muslims freed about 380 prisoners
Saturday at the Sarajevo airport, a neutral site
commonly used for such releases. Yesterday, 74
were confirmed released by the Serbs and eight by
the Bosnian government.
A Bosnian Serb spokesperson said the release of
another 74 outside of Sarajevo accounted for all
Serb-held POWs, but the Red Cross could not
immediately confirm that.
"There are still people on the (Red Cross) list of
900 who have not been released yet," said Red
Cross official Pierre Krahenbuhl in Banja Luka, a
Serb-held city in the north.
Red Cross spokesperson Pierre Gauthier said
the Bosnian Croats fulfilled their POW release
obligations Saturday. However, they still hold
about 50 prisoners who are being investigated for
possible war crimes.
Gauthier said the Croats had the right to keep
them "for a reasonable time."
Red Cross officials complained that in addition
to the POW releases, there have been swaps that
could amount to "ethnic-cleansing."
They were investigating an unsupervised gov-
ernment-Serb exchange of at least 350 civilians
Saturday in Sanski Most to see whether they had
been expelled or had left of their own will.
The Red Cross also complained the government
was believed to hold many people at a military
prison in Tuzla, and its delegates had not been
allowed to visit them.
Some of the POWs released over the weekend
spoke of severe maltreatment by their captors.
Sefik Ademovic, 42, stood forlornly amid a
tumultuous welcome accorded many of the re-
leased Muslim prisoners by relatives in the front-
line Sarajevo suburb of Dobrinja.
Ademovic last saw his wife and two children on
July 11, when he fled the U.N. base of Potocari, a
few miles north of Srebrenica, a few hours before
the eastern enclave fell to Serbs.
A few days later, he was captured by Serbs and
moved from one prison to another.
Ademovic said he and others were clubbed and
kicked in their Serb prison in Knezina in eastern
Bosnia.
"One of them took a knife and sliced my face,"
he said, stroking a long scar on his left cheek. "I
was never so close to death; I thought I would not
survive that night."
Submit a
nomination
Cend nominations
Provost J.
Bernard Machen,
3074 Fleming
Email:
jbmachen@umich.edu
When: By Monday,
Feb. 5
Include a few
sentences and a
brief description
F about the person
*iminated.
Machen said
he plans to
contact many
student organi-
zations, mostly
through e-
mail, to find
the student
representative
candidates.
The commit-
tee will also in-
clude seven
faculty mem-
bers, two staff
members and
one University
alum.
The 'advi-
sory commit-
Feelin' the rhythm
Chet Atkins was one of many artists to perform at the 19th Ann Arbor Folk Festival on Saturday
night at Hill Auditorium. The concert, which lasted from 6 p.m. until midnight, Included more
than 10 artists. The festival was a benefit for The Ark acoustical house.
THE CHALLENGER: 10 YEARS LATER
tee, which will meet in closed sessions,
hopes to secure candidate confidential-
ity, Machen said.
The committee will meet though Sep-
tember, when it is scheduled to give the
regents a list of all names to consider,
along with at least five recommended
candidates. All the candidates' names
I then be made public.
ichigan Student Assembly Presi-
dent Flint Wainess said students have
already contacted him to express inter-
est in serving on the committee.
Wainess said he thinks more students
should be involved.
"I would have liked a few more stu-
dents on the advisory committee," he
said. "But I think the two that do serve
will be influential."
Students remember shock,
sadness after explosion
By Will Weissert
Daily Staff Reporter
"Where were you when Challenger
exploded?"
Ten years later many University stu-
dents have an answer to this question,
but no two answers are the same.
"I was in the fifth grade and eating
lunch in our school's cafeteria. And our
music teacher started crying," said LSA
junior Nellie Peretsian. "She had a small
radio next to her and the whole cafete-
ria fell silent.
"From the radio we all listened to the
newscasters and found out what hap-
pened. There were 500 kids in there,
and we were all silent."
Ten years ago yesterday, children
and adults all over the world watched
with horror as the Challenger mission
burst into flamesjust seconds after take-
off, killing the shuttle's 11 passengers
and tainting the minds of many who
had come to trust the space flight pro-
gram.
"When I got home I remember my
mom was screaming at me to come
inside and watch the replays on TV,"
said LSA first-year student Nelse
Winder. "They kent showing the ex-
their memories of that awful day when
the seven crewmembers died.
Psychology Prof. Stanley Perent said
society was greatly affected by the ex-
plosions because viewers could iden-
tify with Challenger victims.
"I think that we see events such as
the Challenger explosion the same way
we view a personal loss - it can be like
losing a family member.
"Collectively society puts a lot of
importance on certain events, and when
something goes wrong, it affects every-
body in a variety of ways. The Chal-
lenger was one of those events," Perent
said.
Perent attributed the lasting effect of
the Challenger disaster to the surprise
- people expected to see just another
shuttle takeoff and ended up witnessing
an international disaster.
"The Challenger was so important
because it was so innocent. People were
naive about the dangers. After the ex-
plosion, people realized that it was dan-
gerous," Perent said.
LSA senior Scott Shogan recalled, "I
was at home from school sick. I was
flipping through the channels and I saw
it right after it happened. I still didn't
Swimmers
trained at
d ont
By Chris Murphy
Daily Staff Reporter
An heir to the du Pont fortune was
captured by SWAT team members yes-
terday after he stepped outside his man-
sion to fix a boiler, ending a 48-hour
standoff that began with the shooting
death of Dave Schultz, a Olympic wres-
tling champion.
The Associated
Press reported that
John E. du Pont,
who hadbeen with-
out heat since po-
lice cut off his
boiler system Fri-
day night, told ne- y
gotiators he was
cold and was leav-
ing his house, said du Pont
Newtown Town-
ship Police Chief Michael Mallon.
He did not carry one of the many
weapons he kept on his 800-acre estate.
No one was injured in the capture, AP
reported.
For several members of the Univer-
A Tradition Continues
Welcome to the next year of
The Michigan Daily. While the
front page may look slightly
different today - and the
names in the staff box have
changed - we remain commit-
ted over the next year to
maintaining and improving the
AP PHOTO
This photo was taken seconds after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle
at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle's faulty booster rocket shoots off
to the right.
plosion and remember watching the
aftermath of the explosion on TV.
"The teacher came in and told us
what had happened. We saw video-
tape of it," said first-year LSA stu-
teacher in space.
"All of my teachers had been excited
about McAuliffe," said LSAjuniorMike
Yancho. "They were really upset after
it happened."
E