LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 23, 1996 - 7A Report:Violence needs zero-tolerance approach JONATHAN SUMNER/Daily Pre-fast meal First-year students Steve Gill (right) and Adam Kaupersztoch eat a hearty dinner last night at Hillel. Following the meal, both students said they will fast for Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that began last night at sundown and ends tonight. oberson presents atet Cs finance repo o re n s By Brian Campbell Daily Staff Reporter More than two-thirds of high school social workers say at least one life- threatening incident occurred at their school last year, but only one in five report violence among students as a big problem at their school, says a recent study led by University Social Work and Education assistant Prof. Ron Astor. In a study of more than 600 members of the National Association of Social Workers, Astor found that 43 percent of the social workers report violence is lit- tle or no problem, 37 percent say vio- lence is a moderate problem and 20 per- cent say violence is a big problem. Astor acknowledged the ambiguity in using "big" to define disciplinary problems, but insisted that a zero-toler- ance attitude toward all violent crimes - where a single potentially lethal act is enough to define a serious violence problem - should be the policy of more high schools. "It's a qualitative issue - there are certain types of violence that affect the entire school," he said. "At a high school there might be 2,000 kids, and let's say there is a shooting, rape or rob- bery and the perpetrator isn't caught: That impacts all the students. "The crime affects the entire social system and that's why tolerance has to be as low as possible," he said. Astor said that while drive-by shoot- ings and other extremely violent acts occur more frequently in today's soci- JACOK SON Continued from Page 1A tion-and-answer session with Jackson, asking about welfare reform and the status of black men in today's society. After speaking, Jackson asked all stu- dents not registered to vote to stand. "I'm going to register you right now," Jackson told them. "This will take care of business." LSA senior Tiffany Coty registered at the event. She said she wasn't sure she could vote in Ann Arbor, since she is from Illinois. Coty said she appreciated Jackson's speech and his efforts to register young voters. "I'm happy I got to register to vote,"she said. ety, recent perceptions of high school violence have been sensationalized and the majority of disciplinary problems are more mundane. "When you break it down, there is an entire range of problems in the schools, including assaults and rape, but a major- ity of the problems are pushing and shoving in predictable places like park- ing lots, cafeterias or the hallways between classes," he said. "Most of the fights are between friends over hurt feelings, betrayal or breakdown of communica- tion in their relation - ships." Kimberly Fravil, an Education graduate stu- dent who assisted Astor in the study, said schools should enforce "The crime affects the entire social system and that's why tolerance has to be as low as possible" - Ron Astor Assistant professor of Social Work and Education level?" he asked. "In my college cours- es, we verbally re-enact a typi- cal schoolyatd fight with :a. surrounding crowd and the grad students usually laugh because it's so ridiculous_-A I mean, can you imagine simi- lar fights in know where and when violence acts are likely to occur, they tend to avoid them - making it seem like school violence isn't a big problem for them. "The kids generally say, 'No, vio- lence isn't a big problem,' but they tell. us all these stories and that there are certain places they just don't go." Astor noted that certain types of vio- lence are particular to high school. "Why is any fighting allowed at the high school a zero-tolerance policy U Athletic Department Roberson s __ by 13.GM increase an supported by $13.6M going to do in football ticket sales do need to d Ten perce By Jeff Eldridge enue comes Daily Staff Reporter contracts, a For the first time ever, the director of the licensing roy Athletic Department presented a public Roberson accounting of the department's finances pooled in th :co the University Board of Regents. the I scho Athletic Director Joe Roberson Regent D addressed the regents at Friday's meet- said televisi g and provided them with a detailed itable for th escription of how sports are funded. "It's a m - At the heart of the presentation were revenue is a tihe issues of ticket prices and television University o revenue. Roberson M s Thirty-nine percent of the depart- enue base is