T .. _. l " _ t.. .. Y\ t " " s " w wf a www w $M1TH Cbntlnued from Page1 SJ4st as being deaf presents many chal- nges, gaining acceptance to college isnot an easy task. "For a deaf person to get here, it is very difficult," Smith said. "Obviously because of communica- tinn problems." This year, there are 28 deaf students the University. "The group of (deaf) students here is so well-adjusted, but lonely," Smith said. "It only takes a second to get used to a deaf person's speech. People often ask, 'Can deaf people drive?' or say, 'Oh, they're deaf and dumb."' Smith said she looks forward to a time when falsehoods about deaf peo- ple end, and communities begin to embrace sign language. The only way for students to learn *ign language on campus now is through a not-for-credit course Smith teaches one night a week. The University, unlike Michigan State University and Madonna University in Livonia, Mich., does not offer American Sign Language as part of its language curriculum. 'Do we teach sign language?" Smith asked. "No - we teach Ojibwa. epple call every day asking where Vhey can learn sign language." Smith's first sign language class on Sept. 18 was well attended, and she ipes more students will become involved during the rest of the year. "(The University) has been telling me for years that they will offer sign fanguage as a class," Smith said. Things only get done when students do it." RC first-year student Suzanne *ong, who attended Smith's class, said sign language is vital to society. "It's important for everybody to know sign language," Song said. "It's uhiversal - so we can communicate with everyone." LSA senior Edgar Gamboa, who has no deaf relatives or friends, said sign language can prove to be a useful $ool for almost anyone. "I'm curious about sign language ecause it's the third most common language in this country" Gamboa said. "It's important for people to learn in case they need it." In addition to the sign language plass, there are other social activities that are planned to include the deaf jommunity. "People here are more open, and seem to know more," said LSA first- year student Rachel Arfa, who is hear- *ng-impaired. "I try to tell people not to be afraid to talk to a deaf person." David Duarte, a graduate student who works as an interpreter in University classes, said it is important to look a deaf person in the face when speaking. "(Deaf) people look at your facial expressions, they lip read and look at body language," he said. As a child, Smith said she knew wvhat her future held. "Both of my grandparents were deaf," Smith said. "So I was kind of born into my profession" The photos in Smith's office are a rich reflection of the experiences she has shared with people at the University and throughout the coun- try. She said she looks forward to working with deaf people, educating the non-deaf and discreetly pushing he University to develop sign-lan- guage courses that offer academic credit. "If I'm a pain in the butt, they'll dis- like deaf people," Smith said. "But they notice me." Check out the Daily online. http://wwwpub.umich eduldally! LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 25, 19 'U' students conduct anti-violence workshops D96 - 7 Students team up with Washtenaw County Court to preach non-violence By Christopher Wan Daily Staff Reporter In an effort to develop a less aggressive com- munity for future generations, University students and faculty are working with several area groups to inoculate children against violence. Psychology Prof. L. Rowell Huesman heads the SafeMichigan Children's Initiative, a violence pre- vention program sponsored by the University in collaboration with the Juvenile Division of the Washtenaw County Probate Court, the Family Independence Agency and the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Huesman said the project serves to "intervene with children's lives and make them less likely to grow up to be aggressive, violent individuals." "Children form scripts in how to behave social- ly," Huesman said. "We hope to catch the children before the scripts crystallize." Under the program, second- and fourth-graders from participating schools and foster children attend workshops weekly for one school year. The workshops are conducted by University under- graduate psychology students who earn credit for their participation, and are supervised by graduate students. LSA senior Heather Rettke, who conducts the workshops at Mack and Mitchell elementary schools, said the program is beneficial to the chil- dren. "They are not only learning from us, we are also learning from them," said Rettke, who is con- centrating in psychology. "We get back from them an overall standpoint of what violence can do to them. "It has been an invaluable experience," she added. "From their reactions, I think (the chil- dren) enjoy it." Judge Nancy Francis of the Washtenaw County Probate Court, a member of the program's coordi- nating council, said the court has a "statutory obligation" to assist in the project. "We are very interested and committed to pre- venting delinquency and we see this as a preven- tion program that has great potential," Francis said. She added that a significant increase in vio- lence is one reason for such a program. "When I took over the bench seven years ago, the crime that showed up most in the court was shoplifting," she said. "Now, assault is the crime that is committed the most by children in this county. "Because the society in general has become more violent, adults have become more violent and kids imitate adults;" she said. "Our job is to teach them that violence is not an accepted response." Francis said she issued a court order June 21 that requires all foster children from 6 to 11 years of age to participate in the program. Ralph Patterson, director of Washtenaw County's Family Independence Agency, said many foster children have been exposed to vio- lence in their lives. "This project would help them if they can develop means to handling violence," said Patterson, who is also a member of the project's coordinating council. Huesman said the workshops are divided into four focus topics. The first serves to help children "form appro- priate social scripts and change their attitudes about what is appropriate and what's not." Second, focus is placed on stereotypical beliefs about aggression. The children are taught to avoid making the mistake of "hostile attributional bias" - the tendency to detect hostility from another's motives. Third, children are advised "to take TV and movies with a grain of salt - to understand that people do not behave that way in the real world. We know a lot of kids learn a lot from TV." Children are then taught alternatives to vio- lence for dealing with conflicts. A teaching method used during the entire pro- gram involves the children making a video of themselves expressing their opinions on the four focus topics. "If kids express their views and see themselves express their views, they tend to change their atti- tudes,' Huesman said. Project Director Carla Herrera, a graduate stu- dent in developmental psychology, said she hopes the project will be successful. "But we won't know that it works until we assess (the children) again and they are deemed less aggressive by their peers, parents and teach-' ers,' she said. Detroit school for.,. dropouts to open 4. Dancin Queen Dancer extraodlnaire liz Mustard leads the line In the University's folkdance club's weekly meeting. The club meets at the North Campus Commons and welcomes new and experienced dancers. T wo Pontiac police oficers supectd n alleged beatings ROMULUS (AP) - The Romulus school district is planning to open a public alternative school this week for dropouts in Detroit. But some have criticized the school as an effort to make a profit, not to help disenfranchised students. "They are looking at our youngsters as being cash crops. That cannot be tol- erated," Arthur Carter, a deputy super- intendent of Detroit Public Schools, told the Detroit Free Press in an article published yesterday. "We think this is an act of school piracy. It destroys the fundamental con- cept of local school district autonomy, he said. The idea for the public alternative school for dropouts came from Romulus Superintendent Bill Bedell, who had opposed charter schools. But Bedell says he's only giving stu- dents and parents what Gov. John Engler and the state Legislature said they want: greater choice. "Apparently, it's OK for private schools and colleges to make money on kids by recruiting them from public schools, but it's not OK for public schools to do so," Bedell said. The alternative school is scheduled to open tomorrow in the former Detroit Business Institute in downtown Detroit. Officials expect to fill the school with 500 to 1,000 Detroit dropouts, ages 15 to 19. The battle between two public school districts is among the first involving the schools of choice law signed by Engler on June 19, the Free Press reported. The law allows students to attend any school in their intermediate school dis- trict (ISD) that agrees to open its boundaries. In the metropolitan Detroit area, ISDs roughly follow county lines. But Romulus' plan would open the Baron-Romulus School of Choice within another district's boundaries. The Romulus Community Schools board voted 6-1 Monday to approve hir- ing Baron Schools Inc., to run the school and share some of its profits with Romulus. Each transferring stu- dent comes with a $5,300 state grant, according to the choice law. Bedell said profit was a primary, motive for opening the school, but said; the idea wasn't meant to take students from Detroit Public Schools. He said that because all the students at Baron-Romulus School of Choice, are not now attending school, he is sim-. ply dipping into an unserved pool. "There are a lot of dropouts out there. This contractor has found a way toy recruit them, give them another shot; he said. Besides local critics, Bedell said opponents of the alternative dropout school are making it difficult for him to recruit students. He said state school Superintendent Arthur Ellis denied a waiver to allow the school to recruit students past the.; Aug. 15 enrollment deadline provided in the school choice law. Bedell said that because the school serves dropouts, it made sense to wait until Detroit schools were back in ses- sion to recruit students. Ellis said Romulus never officially filed for a waiver, but even if it had, he, would have rejected it. "I will not use the office of super- intendent to facilitate the creation of that kind of program," Ellis said. "I'm troubled by what's involved in this." State Rep. James Agee (D-. Muskegon) doesn't think the program=:- meets the goals of the choice law. He; said the Legislature never meant for public school districts to open schools within other districts' boundaries. Such a loophole could have extreme, and far-reaching effects on the state's public school system, he said. PONTIAC (AP) - Two Pontiac police officers have been suspended after being accused in alleged racially motivated beatings of two black men. Kenneth Anthony 11, 21, of Waterford Township, said he and Kenyatta Anthony said one officer jabbed him in the eye with a flashlight, then hit him 20 to 25 times on the head and back with it. "It was a modern-day lynching;" said Anthony's father, Pastor Kenneth Anthony of Redeemed Christian Center Metoyer, 22, of Pontiac, were so with pepper spray and repeatedly beaten with flashlights by white officers who used racial slurs, The mo0 Oakland Press report- ed yesterday. ly The men said the assaults occurred ear- lier Saturday when, as their hands were cuffed behind their backs and they were blinded by p gas, they were being driven t Pontiac police station. They had arrested after a fight. The pair were being held on c& of felonious assault, mali( destruction of property and assaul battery on a police officer, the said. It was a Sdern-day Pching" m in Pontiac. On the way to the police sta- t i o n , Anthony said he a n d M etoyer asked the lone offi- cer driving beat them hitting Metoyer, Anthony said. The offi- cers then sprayed the two with pepper gas inside the car. Anthony's former girlfriend, 17-year- old Roshanda Riley, told the newspaper she witnessed the assault from the back of the second patrol car. She had been arrested for obstructing a police officer during the fight at her home. The younger Anthony suffered an eye injury and was hospitalized overnight. Both men had numerous head and back bruises, and Metoyer had a cut over his eye, the Press said. Anthony said he called Mayor Walter Moore after seeing his son's injuries. Moore ordered Pontiac Police Chief Larry McNeary to handle the case. McNeary launched an internal probe and asked the Oakland County Sheriff's Department to investigate too. Two four-year officers were sus- pended with pay during the investi- gation. 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