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One hundredfve years of editorialfreedom
Thursday
February 8, 1996
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House to
"
examine
governors'
mew plans
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - House Republi-
can leaders yesterday said they would
summon key legislators back from their
winter break to take up a welfare-re-
form measure drafted by the nation's
governors this week, raising the possi-
bility that Congress will pass another
Ifare bill this year.
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said
yesterday he expected the House to
pass welfare legislation "certainly some-
time in early March. I would say prob-
ably 80 to 90 percent" of the National
Governors' Association plan will be
passed by the House. The situation in
the Senate was more problematic.
Many senators were upbeat but
wanted to see the
details. "Ifall the
governors ... are
for it," said Sen.
B Barbara
Mikulski (D-
Md.). "It's
something
we've got to pay
attention to."
Sen. John
Clinton Chafee (R-R.I.),
a moderate Re-
9blcan, said there was a "heavy tilt
in favor of it."
However, conservatives Sen. Lauch
Faircloth (R-N.C.) and Rep. Jim Talent
(R-Mo.) registered strong opposition
because it didn't address what they be-
lieve to be the central task of welfare
reform - curbing out-of-wedlock
births.
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-
N.Y.) predicted the president would
to a bill based on the governors'
proposal if it did emerge from Con-
gress. He said that the proposal is noth-
ing more than the welfare-reform bill
that President Clinton vetoed last month
"with a few special programs sprinkled
on."
The National Governors' Associa-
tion endorsed a welfare plan at their
annual meeting Tuesday that provides
new funds for child care, performance
*nuses and provisions to help the
states move welfare recipients into
jobs.
Like the vetoed bill, it breaks with 60
years of federal policy by wiping out
the federal guarantee of coverage to all
who are eligible and also cuts off ben-
efits after five years.
e ace n
snia faces
new threats
From Daily Wire Services
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Bosnian peace process was
4cking on two fronts yesterday as
Croats rebelled over the European
Union's plan to divvy up the city of
Mostar, and a dispute deepened over
the Muslim detention of high-ranking
Serb officers as suspected war crimi-
nals.
Events in Mostar turned violent, with
angry Croats stoning European Union
vehicles and surrounding the EU ad-
ministrator, Hans Koschnickin his car
til NATO peacekeepers intervened.
Te Bosnian Croat leadership an-
nounced it was severing all ties with the
EU, the body designated to manage and
bring peace to the divided city, which
was the scene of a brutal 1993 Muslim-
Croat war.
Tensions in Mostar:underscore the
fragility of the Muslim-Croat Federa-
tion that is the linchpin of the U.S.-
brokered peace accord, which on Dec.
* formally ended Bosnia's war.
The region's other enemies, the Mus-
limsand Serbs, traded accusations mean-
while over the Sarajevo government's
arrest of 10 Serbs, including a Bosnian
Serb army general, as suspected warncrimi-
nals. Already infuriated Serb leaders be-
r'jame even ~nn,r li veterda 2uwhen the
Actionsslam S
Volunteers charge director with racism,
violating survivor confidentialities
Allegations against SAPAC
By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter
Accusations of breeched confi-
dentialities and racism loom over the
Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness
Center's 10th anniversary this month.
SAPAC, a University-funded orga-
nization that offers counseling to survi-
vors of sexual assault, is facing a work
stoppage by a faction of its Peer Educa-
tors following the dismissal of Peer
Education co-coordinator Janelle White
last month. In an e-mail message sent to
SAPAC volunteers Feb. 2, seven PEs
criticized the organization's motives
and its handling of the dismissal.
"I very much support their work stop-
page because I think it's evidence of
some very serious problems within
SAPAC," said Ain Boone, a SAPAC
volunteer not taking part in the protest.
The volunteers also claim SAPAC
director Debi Cain breeched the confi-
dentiality of a survivor associated with
SAPAC during a meeting with five
members inquiring about the dismissal.
The organization's guidelines pledge
client confidentiality.
Cain said she "is not at liberty to
discuss" the specific allegations.
"1 am not aware of any situations
where I have knowingly violated a
client's confidentiality, and I don't be-
lieve even unknowingly violated," she
said.
Jenn Rumisek, a protesting PE, said
that although inconsistencies in the an-
nouncement of White's dismissal
sparked the volunteers' concern, the
protestors have individual reasons for
supporting the work stoppage.
"That wasjust the beginning ofques-
tioning the organization," Rumisek said.
"When I found out about the confiden-
tiality - that was just the last straw."
A "vast majority of the Peer Educa-
tors," as well as several crisis-line vol-
unteers, have been meeting every week
to update volunteers on the situation
and discuss plans of action, said David
Freund, a protesting PE. Their associa-
tion is independent from White, Boone
said.
Mona Kumar, a protesting PE, said
protestors have suggested several op-
tions, including starting an alternate
peer education program, inviting an
ouside expert to evaluate SAPAC's
administration'and efficiency, and re-
moving Cain from the program.
"SAPAC isn't being true to its mis-
sion right now and the volunteers are
trying to reach out to marginalized com-
munities," Kumar said. "The firing of
Janelle White seems to me to be really
indicative of inconsistencies."
Breeches of confidentiality
Despite specific terms in SAPAC's
mission statement and guidelines, the
promise of client confidentiality has
been broken more than once, several
volunteers asserted.
"There's been a couple of disclo-
sures," Freund said, "both by staffrnem-
bers."
"I can't even trust our own
confidentialities," Kumar said.
"in order to end one form of oppression, we must also work against other
forms of oppression ... We believe that women and men must work together
to eradicate physical/sexual violence and that this necessitates working
together on many levels."
- SAPA C's Statement of Philosophy
Seven SAPAC Peer Educators wrote a letter last week to all SAPAC
volunteers, outlining their concerns and notifying the staff of their work
stoppage. The letter alleged that SAPAC director Debi Cain disclosed the
identity of a survivor and unjustly fired Peer Educator Janelle White.
"In a general discussion about SAPAC, Debi referred to an individual who
wasn't present as 'a survivor.' When one volunteer called her on this
disclosure, she said that she had thought everyone knew that. Debi had no
reason to think this person had disclosed that she was a survivor to any of
the five volunteers who were in the room - the person had never made it
public at training or Take Back the Night or the annual Speak-Out. In any
case, those spaces are supposed to be confidential. We're sure you can
imagine how disturbing it is to see the Director of SAPAC violate the cardinal
rule of preserving survivor's confidentiality."
- Excerpt from the letter
Carmen Crosbya protesting PE,said
that during a meeting with Cain and
four other SA PAC members on Jan. 25,
Cain identified a survivor and Crosby
said she told Cain,"I'm not aware that
all of the people in this room were
aware of (this individual's position)."'
Kumar said it is potentially damag-
ing "to have the director of an organiza-
tion on the one hand disclose some-
thing about another survivor and when
her volunteers challenge that, have her
response be, 'Well, didn't you know
that?"'
Pattrice Maurer, a source close to
White, said she is critical of Cain's
leadership in the organization and that
See SAPAC, Page 5A
Controversy flares
over newfederal
Internet regulation
By Stephanie Jo Klein
Daily Staff Reporter
With President Clinton poised to sign
the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into
law today, reactions to its implementa-
tion are mixed. Voters and elected offi-
cials say they are concerned with govern-
ment regulation of the Internet and con-
stituents across the nation say they will
flight the provisions of the bill in court.
The bill will deregulate the cable
television and telephone industries, al-
lowing companies to enter the markets
of competing corporations.
It also includes terms that would man-
date inclusion of the "V-chip" on televi-
sions and criminalize distribution of in-
decent materials over computer networks.
U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Flint), who
voted for the bill, said the anti-obscen-
ity clause would "protect minors from
exposure to things minors are not
equipped to handle."
Restrictions on free speech should
not be ignored, Kildee said. "Govern-
ment censorship is something we need
to be concerned about," he said.
Kildee added that the new bill uti-
lizes the best control on transmission of
obscenity and violence - parents. The
V-chip, he said, is not government cen-
sorship, as it allows parental choice
over television programming.
Others disagree, saying that partial cen-
soring can lead to free speech violations.
Jonah Seiger, a policy analyst for the
Center for Democracy and Technology
in Washington, said he was concerned
that the government could censormate-
rials protected by the First Amendment.
"The government wants to prohibit
access to materials ... that are not nec-
essarily pornographic," Seiger said. He
said books like James Joyce's
"Ulysses,"J.D. Salinger's"The Catcher
in the Rye," and some rap lyrics have
been classified as "indecent material,"
which he called a vague term.
Telecommunications
Act of 1996
"(anyone who) initiates the
transmission of, any comment,
request, suggestion, proposal,
image, or other communication
which is obscene, lewd, lascivious,
filthy, or indecent, with intent to
annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass
another person."
-Section 223, part 1.A.ii
"The broad content regulations will
severely restrict the rights ofall Internet
users," Seiger said. "It creates a sec-
ond-class standard for (all users)."
The CDT and other Internet activists
start their 48-hour protest today. People
with home-pages on the World Wide
Web have been encouraged to change
their background screens to black as a
symbol ofthe darkness America will face
when the bill is passed.
Seiger said the CDT, the ACLU and
several other groups plan to fight the
issue of censorship through the courts.
"If we can get a restraining injunc-
tion, the bill won't be enforced until the
courts review it," he said.
In a written statement yesterday, U.S.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) detailed
his opposition. "Literary material found
in public libraries-books which contain
profanity-would be subject to criminal
sanctions iftransmitted across the Internet
... these provisions will do nothing to
provide real protection for children using
the Internet."
The bill's passage last week by over-
whelming majorities in both the House
and Senate shows the wide efforts be-
ing made to stop "cybersmut." Seiger
said the harsh bill is a result of Congress
knowing little about technology.
"It's partly becausemembers ofCon-
gress simply don't understand," he said.
See INTERNET, Page 2A
Photos by
STEPHANIE
GRACE LIM/Daily
Forbes, Buchanan called'hot' challengers to Sen. Dole
The Washington Post
DES MOINES, Iowa-The ambush
Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) suffered in
Louisiana on Tuesday night leaves two
classic outsiders who have never held
elective office as the "hot" challengers
to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
(R-Kan.) in Monday's Iowa caucuses.
Both Buchanan and some Alexander
strategists suggested the result here
would give Dole an unconvincing vic-
tory, but leave the rest so closely
bunched that everyone would have an-
other chance in New Hampshire.
Gramm's stunning defeat Tuesday in
caucuses he engineered to help jump-
Forbes and Buchanan could create un-
expected problems for Dole.
Recognizing that threat, Dole fought
back yesterday by defending his career
in Congress during a speech by tele-
phone to an audience in New Hamp-
shire.
"We get all this talk about ... all these
their concern for a strategy that, in the
words of Iowa GOP
chairman Brian-
Kennedy, "back- -
fired"Tuesday.The
Texas senator
barely a year ago .
was viewed by .
difficult," said Alex Castellanos,
Gramm's media adviser.
Most worrisome to Gramm and his
camp was Buchanan's success among
religious conservatives in Louisiana.
According to exit polls by Voter News
Service, 53 percent of caucus attendees
there called themselves members of the
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