rETW 4& Weather Tonight: Partly cloudy, low 26. Tomorrow: A chance of rain showers, high in mid-40s. One hundredfve years of editorialfreedom Thursday February 8, 1996 I t t&+*i ' a.~ I 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 r~i -.ne nnnnnr[, IatvP nvmrnt I I I I