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One hundredfive years of editonalfreedom
Friday
February 9, 1996
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U student
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By Laura Nelson
Daily Staff Reporter
Hundreds of University students found their e-
mail "inboxes" inundated with copies of a racist
message yesterday morning, accompanied by the
enraged responses of other students.
The offensive message, titled "Nigger Jokes,"
Gov. proposes
$8.6B budget
for FY 97
Racist
E-mail
Resurfaces
-A racist e-mail
message sent out
in 1994 was
recirculated to
hundreds of
students yesterday.
was forwarded to at least
30 student groups on cam-
pus and to several admin-
istrators, including Presi-
dent James Duderstadt.
University officials said
the message was originally
sent out in 1994.
Julie Peterson, the di-
rector of News and Infor-
mation Services, said her
department received nu-
merous complaints about
the message yesterday.
Most of the people who
forward the message do
so in protest of its racist
content, she said.
"The reality is that they
are perpetuating the mes-
sage," Peterson said. "It's
around only because they
forward it.
"The only way to stop this is to stop passing it
und."
Originally, the racist message was attached to Roll th
the name ofa University student and posted in 1994
to about 30 Usenet news groups worldwide. Upon bones
investigation, it was discovered that the password X% Above: LSA sen
of the student, Vincent Krause, had been stolen and Kate Wong cle
that he was in no way responsible for the message. bones for the
The true author of the message was never discov- Museum of Na
ered. History's Hand
Since 1994, the message has been circulated by feature in the
h ndreds of people who were outraged by its con- K K Exhibition
and unaware that the University had already Preparation La
investigated the message's origin. Left: An owl's
Laurie Burns, an assistant director of the Infor- will be one of
mation Technology Division, said this is the fourth pieces include
time the message has circulated at the University. sthe exhibit, wg
Students who receive the e-mail message in the scheduled to g
future should delete the message and respond to the of the semest
sender individually, asking them not to continue
circulating the message, Burns said.
"There is absolutely nothing to gain by sending Photos by STEPHANI
n," she added.
See E-MAIL, Page 2
Collins fails to file PAC confutions
e
nior
ans
tural
s-on
b.
skull
many
d in
hich is
go on
end
er.
E GRACE
AIM/Daily
LANSING (AP)-Gov. John Engler
yesterday proposed a modest increase
in school aid dollars for the next fiscal
year, but some Republican and Demo-
cratic lawmakers said school children
deserve better.
A bigger share of the $8.6 billion
general fund budget that Engler pro-
posed for the fiscal year that begins
Oct. I may have to be shifted to schools,
lawmakers said.
Engler's proposed budget is 4.4 per-
cent higher than spending in the current
fiscal year. It includes a 5-percent in-
crease for universities and community
colleges - their biggest hike in a de-
cade - and a 3.7-percent increase in
corrections to pay for four new prisons
and more parole officers.
Management and Budget Director
Mark Murray took pointed questions
yesterday from Democratic lawmakers
unhappy about cuts in adult education
and Engler's proposal to keep more
minor offenders in county jails rather
than expensive prisons.
But lawmakers from both parties were
unhappy with his school allocations.
While Engler is putting 4.5 percent more
into the school foundation grant that
funds education, most schools will see
only a 2.5-percent increase in their per-
pupil dollars - or less, critics say.
Rep. Maxine Berman of Southfield,
the ranking Democrat on the House
Appropriations School Aid Subcom-
mittee, said Engler's education budget
worries her for several reasons, the big-
gest being lack of money.
Many of the districts that spend
$5,200 or more on students will get per-
pupil increases of only 1 percent, she
said.
"If we can't even meet inflation in a
good economic year for a great major-
ity of our students, it's really frighten-
ing what will happen in a bad year,"
Berman said.
Murray said the per-pupil figure
would be higher if the number of public
school students wasn't increasing so
fast.
The state will have about 25,000 more
students in public schools next year.
Murray estimates about 5,000 of them
are' former private-school students at-
tending state-funded charter schools.
He said he didn't know why other stu-
dent numbers are rising so much.
Mike Boulus of the Middle Cities
Education Association, which repre-
sents mainly urban school districts, said
the governor's budget gives most
schools only $113 more per pupil, or
about $5,266.
4.4-percent hike
largest in recent
years for U
By Josh White
Daily News Editor
Gov. John Engler's proposed $8.6
billion budget for the upcoming fiscal
year slates a 4.4-percent increase for
the Univeristy, 1.4percenthigherthan
last year.
Cynthia Wilbanks, associate vice
president for University relations, said
the University is pleased with the pro-
posed allocation, which gives a 5-
percent average increase to the state's
colleges and universities.
"This is quitea significant increase,"
Wilbanks said last night. "It is the
largest increase across the board in
recent years that the state has given to
education."
Wilbanks said the University's ad-
ministration has been pushing for the
increase since last year's allocation
came in at an increase of only 3 per-
cent.
"We are quite pleased that the rec-
ommendation is coming in at this
level," Wilbanks said. "It is what we
had hoped for and something that we
have been making an effort to push for
all year."
The state appropriation to the Uni-
versity accounts for anywhere from
38-40 percent ofthe University's gen-
eral fund expenditures for a given
year, Wilbanks said. The $301.5 mil-
lion allocation, the largest budgeted
for any university in the state, will be
used foracademic programming here,
Wilbanks said.
"The state funding is important be-
cause it funds academic programs,"
Wilbanks said. It goes to the libraries
and services to students. It goes to the
very essence of the University. These,
dollars support our programs."
Michigan State University, which
gets the state's second-largest appro-
priation, is scheduled to receive $267.3
million in Engler's proposed budget,
an increase of 4.5 percent over last
year. The budget proposes a $213.7
See BUDGET, Page 2
"This is not a 2.5-percent increase.
It's closer to 2.2 percent," he said. "It's
the second year of increases less than
inflation. At some point, something has
to give."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Barbara-Rose
Collins failed to report at least $7,900 in political
action committee contributions last year, the Capitol
W 1 newspaper Roll Call reported yesterday.
he U.S. Justice Department and the House ethics
committee initiated preliminary investigations last
year into allegations the Detroit Democrat has mis-
used her office, campaign and scholarship funds.
Roll Call compared what PACs told the Federal
Election Commission they had given Collins to what
the congresswoman told the commission she had
received in her financial campaign reports. The
reports are required by law.
Collins' financial forms underreported PAC con-
utions despite the filing of two amended reports
to the FEC at its request, in part because ofmore than
$14,000 in American Express bills that were
unitemized. FEC law requires itemizing expendi-
tures greater than $200.
6..You see there's
some things that haven't
been reported."
- Meredith Cooper
Rep. Collins' chief of staff
Among the donations missing from the report are:
$2,500 from the Transportation Political Education
League; $1,000 from the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees; and $500 contribu-
tions from the Chrysler Corp. PAC and the Brother-
hood of Railroad Signalmen, Roll Call said.
In her second amended report for last year that was
filed last week, Collins documented another $15,500 in
PAC contributions in the first six months of 1995 that
she had originally failed to reveal. That amount is
separate from the $7,900 that Roll Call found.
Collins' campaign officials did not return phone
calls seeking comment on whether the PAC checks
had been deposited into the campaign account. Collins'
chief of staff., Meredith Cooper, said amendments to
reports are filed when errors are discovered.
"That's why you send an amendment, when you see
there's some things that haven't been reported," Coo-
per said.
The Federal Election Commission assesses penalties
for any such reporting mistakes on a case-by-case basis.
There was further evidence of sloppy bookkeeping
in the reports.
For example, a $2,400 contribution from the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International
Union PAC was instead labeled last May as a indi-
vidual in-kind contribution from the union's lobbyist,
Robert Juliano.
Fliers protest Law
School- publication
CI111C 0 1
Clinton signs new
communications bill
Signs accuse Rae
Gestae of being
offensive to minorities,
women, gays
By Carrie Keller
For the Daily
An unknown group of students have
posted signs accusingthe Law School's
student publication of
printing offensive col-
umns and editorials.
The signs appeared in
the Law Quad early,
Wednesday morning, and
the Law students involved
have not yet identified
themselves.
The sarcastic signs al-
lege that the publication,
the Rae Gestae, has run
articles offensive to mi-
norities, women and gays
interesting, but also well written," Frank
said.
In the Feb. 5 issue, Frank used Law
Prof. Catherine MacKinnon as a char-
acter in his column, titled "A Blow For
Equality." The fictional short story por-
trayed MacKinnon as a feminist who
suggests men should experience the
symptoms of women's premenstrual
syndrome to achieve sexual equality.
Responding to the
criticism this column
and his previous column
"75 Bucks a Shot" have
received, Frank said, "If
people look at it again,
they will see that the
tongue is firmly in the
n cheek and they may not
understand what is be-
ing said."
He said the attention
his columns have re-
ceived will not influence
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - President
Clinton yesterday signed into law a bill
to revolutionize the U.S. communica-
tions industry, but demonstrations and
a lawsuit served notice that its new
curbs on online computer speech will
be hotly disputed.
In a ceremony at the Library of Con-
gress, Clinton declared "our laws will
catch up with our future" as the mea-
sure overhauls industry rules that have
prevailed for 62 years. The law - one
of the most far-reaching enacted in
Clinton's term - removes monopoly
protections so that telephone compa-
na rahl -anel nihpr nrn rn [ nm-
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), the chief
Senate sponsor of the measure, pre-
dicted the signing would set off an
explosion of new devices, and new in-
vestment that would be "like the gun
going off in the Oklahoma land rush."
Critics have contended that the bill's
deregulation could raise phone and cable
TV rates, and not just in the short term.
And some experts have argued that
instead of bringing competition among
many firms, the bill might instead allow
industry dominance by a small number
ofhuge companies, keeping prices rela-
tively high.
Reaction was also divided on the
law's ornn-hreakin nroviscion to
in recent issues.
The publication's editor, Jonathan
Brennan, refused to comment on the
recent criticisms.
"We are not willing to resnond unless
future writings.
Although the signs are presumed to
have been posted by a relatively small
group of students, Frank said, other
students exnressed concern about the
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