I One hundred five years of editorialfreedom *rn Weather Tonight: Chance of snow, low around 15% Tomorrow: Partly sunny, high 250. 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