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One hundredfive years of editorilfreedom
Friday
September 6, 1996
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urncane
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atters
Carolinas
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -
Closing in with I 15 mph winds,
Hurricane Fran began battering the
Carolinas yesterday, bending trees
and blowing rain sideways as thou-
sands of people scrambled for storm
supplies or the road out of town.
More than a half-million tourists and
rdents were ordered to evacuate the
coast in North and South Carolina as
Fran drew near, leaving a string of
deserted beach towns.
Fran was expected to come ashore
near Calabash, N.C., just north of the
South Carolina state line, about 9
p.m., the National Hurricane Center
said.
"Believe you me, we wanted to get
out of there," said Audrey Landers, who
her townhouse a block from the
an with her neighbors and their chil-
dren. They took shelter at a high school
in Conway, 15 miles inland.
At 5 p.m., the storm was about 80
miles south-southeast of the South
Carolina-North Carolina line, heading
north-northwest at 16 mph. Gusts up to
100 mph were reported along the
North Carolina coast south of
Wilmington.
urricane warnings were posted
fr th Edisto Beach, S.C., to the Virginia
line. People living as far inland as West
Virginia were warned to expect tropical
storm-force winds and 5 to 10 inches of
rain.
By mid-afternoon, waves crashed 10
Feet high along the Myrtle Beach
shore. The usually bustling Ocean
Boulevard was deserted and driving
was all but impossible with sheets of
blownhorizontal by gusts reach-
5 mph. R
See HURRICANE, Page 5
i
'U' stays ranked
at 24th in report
Business School slides into top spot
By Jeff Eldridge
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan is holding steady at
No. 24 in a prestigious ranking of undergraduate
institutions, after falling in the last years from its
peak at the No. 18 spot.
This is the second year the University of
Michigan is rated 24th in the annual rankings
released by U.S. News & World Report in its Sept.
16 issue.
But the undergraduate program at the School of
Business climbed two points this year to capture
the No. I spot, tying with the Wharton School at
the University of Pennsylvania.
"The quality of our undergraduate programs is
exceptional," said Provost J. Bernard Machen.
"The reason we rank only in the top 25 and not
higher is the variables used in the rankings."
U.S. News weighs factors like student selectivi-
ty, academic reputation, alum donations and facul-
ty-student ratios in assessing the quality of the
nation's undergraduate programs.
For the first time in seven years, Harvard
University gave up its claim to the No. 1 spot, slid-
ing to three and giving way to Yale University and
Princeton University in the No. I and 2 ranks,
respectively.
Only three public universities - the University
of Virginia, the University of Michigan and the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -
were slotted in the magazine's top 25.
The University of Michigan is the second-high-
est ranked public university in the survey, falling
three spots below the University of Virginia.
"We have been very concerned about the fact
that there are so few public universities on the U.S.
News top 25 list," said Lisa Baker, associate vice
president for University relations.
Machen said the scarcity of public universities
on the list is indicative of the magazine's polling
flaws, not of institutional problems.
But Al Sanoff the managing editor of U.S.
News Americi's Best Colleges Guide, said the
poll results are accurate.
"I think it is as thorough as it can be" Sanoff
said. "Over the years, we have developed what we
consider a sophisticated methodology."
Sanoff said few public colleges make the list
because of decreased government funding and the
large lectures that dominate the curriculum.
Michigan ranked I Ith in the country in acade
mic reputation - far;
the University of
Virginia and
Georgetown - but
32nd in student
selectivity and
134th in alum
donations.
Prof. Thomas
Dunn, who chairs
the faculty-com-
posed Senate
A d v i s o r y
Committee oil
University Affairs,
said Michigan's
scope and atmos-
phere contrast with
smaller, private
institutions.
"You've got to
remember that
Michigan is a very
freewheeling place
in some respects," D
ahead of schools includingi.
Top 25
Universities
U.S. News & World
Report
1. Yale University
2. Princeton University
3. Harvard University
4. Stanford University
5. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
U..
9. Northwestern
17. University of Notre
Dame
21. University of
Virginia
24. University of
Michigan - Ann Arbor
25. University of North
Carolina - Chapel Hill
)unn said. "There's such a
JENNIFER BRADLEYSWlFT Dayv
Taking a snooze
LSA first-year student Jahan Assadi waits in line with more than 100 others yeterday to buy a
limited number of parking passes. Assadi arrived at 2:30 p.m. to claim his place; others had
been camped out at 8:00 a.m.
large choice that sometimes (students) wonder if
they've had the best out of it."
Dunn said that polls have limitations, but also
have significance to faculty.
"I think faculty are aware of them, and would
very much like our institution to be higher," Dunn
said.
Business Dean B. Joseph White said in a state-
ment that the commitment of faculty and students
See RANKINGS, Page 7
State pols ready
for convention
hoopla, speeches
Xv
From Staff and Wire Reports
The weeks of politicking and accep-
tance speeches are rolling into
Michigan today, as Democrats and
gublicans hobnob in Detroit and
1. using to kick off the state's conven-
tion weekend.
M i c h i g a n
Democrats are
opening the gener-
al election cam-
paign in a mood
that matches their
traditional party ~
theme song:
*ppy Days Are
Here Again."
"People are
really pumped Engler
up," said state
party Chairman Mark Brewer.
In one sense, Democrats have found
the enemy and it is House Speaker
Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), whose policies
give Democrats the chance to run
against cutting Medicare and other
V ular programs.
ansing pollster
Ed Sarpolus of
EPIC/MRA said
things are going
so well for
Democrats in
Michigan that
Clinton is even
leading in
Macomb County
iouble digits.
Vh i l e Lei
Democrats are
touting their lead
in the polls, Republicans will be
highlighting Ronna Romney, who is
challenging Democrat incumbent
Sen. Spencer Abraham, (R-Mich.).
Abraham's wife, Jane, delivered the cou-
ple's third child yesterday, making an
live appearance by the senator unlikely.
The conventions will also impact
students, as both parties also must
nominate two people each for the
Michigan Supreme Court, State Board
of Education, and the governing boards
of Michigan State University, the
University of Michigan and Wayne
State University.
Despite their plans to follow in the
footsteps of the made-for-TV national
convention, state Republicans are not
likely to head home without controversy.
Gov. John Engler and party leaders
would like to oust University of
Michigan Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann
Arbor), who is up for re-election after
24 years on the board. So fat, no candi-
dates have surfaced to take his place.
And though abortion-rights activist
Judy Frey of Grand Rapids seems set
for the GOP's other University of
Michigan slot, state party Chair Betsy
DeVos said either or both candidacies
may be contested on the floor.
At the state level, the Democrat
agenda includes regaining control of
the House, where they trail
Republicans 55-54, with one vacancy.
The Republicans, of course, will be
hoping to expand that lead, as well as
the majorities it holds in the state
Senate and House and on the State
Board of Education.
"Regaining the state House is as
important as any of the races we have to
be concerned about - the president,
Carl Levin, members of Congress.
Those are all priorities," Brewer said.
EPIC/MRA pollster Ed Sarpolus
said projecting an optimistic attitude is
Three
convicted
of bombing
conspiracy
The Washington Post
. NEW YORK - Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, the alleged terrorist master-
mind accused of scripting the World
Trade Center bombing, and two co-
defendants were convicted here yester-
day of a high-tech conspiracy to bomb
12 U.S. jumbo jets and 4,000 passen-
gers out of the sky over the Pacific
Ocean - a plot the government
described as "one of the most hideous
crimes anyone ever conceived."
After a three-month trial that opened
a window onto the modern age of inter-
national terrorism, a federal jury in
Manhattan convicted Yousef, Abdul
Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin
Shah on all seven counts related to the
foiled bombing plot, which was to-
unfold over a two-day period in
January 1995.
Yousef was also convicted of bomb-
ing a Philippine Airlines jet in 1994,
killing one passenger, as a dress
rehearsal for the larger conspiracy, and
Shah was convicted of attempting to
escape from prison here.
All three defendants stared ahead,
showing no emotion, as the jury fore-
man reported the verdicts and as a
court clerk re-read them, intoning
"guilty," again and again. The jury of
five women and seven men, kept:
anonymous for security reasons, was
escorted home by court personnel and
did not comment. Lawyers for all three
defendants said they would appeal the
verdicts.
Yousef's convictions carry three
mandatory life sentences plus up to 100
years in prison and $2.25 million in
fines. He is to stand trial next year on
charges of orchestrating and helping to
carry out the 1993 Trade Center bomb-
ing.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Junior Seran Kim signs up first-year student Ryann McKay (foreground) and Erin Lumpkins (background) for AT&T's Universal
Card.
Croedit pdlrs targez~t campus
By Brian Campbell
Daily Staff Reporter
Between student mailboxes, campus
bookstores, billboards outside class-
rooms, and business tables strewn
about the Union basement, there is
hardly a place at the University that
isn't cluttered with credit card
brochures.
The plethora of credit card advertis-
ing is now an annual event and enticing
to many University students - particu-
larly first-year students. a
First-year student Caren Kang signed
up for a Citibank VISA card in the
and there are Citibank brochures in the
textbooks - it gets annoying after a
while," he said.
A spokesperson for On Campus
Marketing at the Citibank table outside
the Union bookstore this week said
many parents were directly involved in
students' decisions to apply for credit
cards.
"It was interesting to note that nearly
all of the kids were brought by their
parents. I think that says a lot about
what we're doing," she said. She also
said that there were fewer applications
being filled out than in previous years,
expressed relief at the convenience of
using a credit card.
"It helps out with certain purchases
as a substitute for a check, or when you
just don't have the money. It can get
dangerous, though. I've accumulated a
few bills, but it's nice if you can pay
them off slowly," he said.
But several credit card users don't
have that opportunity to pay their debts
slowly because they can't pay them at
all. According to National Credit
Counseling Services (NCCS), a non-
profit organization founded in 1992 to
provide counseling and debt manage-
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