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One hundred six years of editorialfreedom
Monday
October 7, 1996
Clinton, Dole talk issues, character in debate
Experts say debate rehashed campaign rhetoric
By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter
At last night's first presidential debate, for-
r Sen. Bob Dole and President Clinton dug
into each other's records, character and visions
to answer the question, "Are you better off than
you were four years ago?"
But experts said the issues and rhetoric of
the evening weren't
surprising - and nei-
ther were the sound-
bytes they produced.
"I trust the people,
president trusts the
vernment," Dole
said.
Dole launched a
series of attacks on
Clinton, claiming poli-
cies and legislation in the Clinton administra-
tion have resulted in bigger government, high-
er taxes, more crime and a loss of internation-
al credibility.
While pointing to his "bridge to the future"
Clinton reminded his audience of bridges they
have crossed since his election, and touted a
comparatively healthy economy as well as pre-
ventative crime measures recently signed into
law.
Dole had to take the offensive last night. said
Prof. Michael Traugott at a debate-watching
event sponsored by the
communication stud-
ies department.
"Dole is at some-
what of a disadvantage
because he has to
make up ground."
Traugott said. "le
can't get at Bill
Clinton on policy
terms, he's going to
have to attack him personally."
Traugott said Dole didn't do enough damage
to make significant progress in the polls.
Clinton was called the debate's winner by
six of seven high school and college debate
coaches from around the country who judged it
for The Associated Press. The seventh called it
a tie.
Quick CBS and ABC News polls found half
of debate watchers said Clinton won, about
three in 10 gave Dole the advantage, and the
rest called the match a tie or were uncertain.
Nine in 10 of those polled by CBS said the
contest did not change their candidate prefer-
ence.
Nicholas Kirk, president of the College
Republicans on campus, however. said Dole's
performance will be reflected in the polls.
"Bob Dole will get a tremendous jump in the
polls because of the debate" Kirk asserted.
Kirk said Clinton's remarks toward Dole were
"unpresidential." and that Dole chose the high
road in his discussion of the issues.
But Dole lost out on a chance to cast a shad-
ow on Clinton's trust factor last night, Traugott
said.
"He lost an opportunity to do damage.-
See DEBATE, Page 7A
AP PHOTO
President Clinton and Bob Dole greet the audience just before the beginning of the presidential debate
at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Conn., yesterday.
Committee to
release names
in pres.search
* Regents to assume
search responsibilities
in open meetings
By Jodi S. Cohen
and Jeff Eldridge
Daily Staff Reporters
A week from today, the Presidential
Search Advisory Committee will
announce its top five choices for the
next University president, officials say.
After the names
of the candidates
are released, the
University Board of
Regents will take
over the final stage
of the search, a
process that will
last until at least the
end of the semester.
The I2-member
committee, which
PTes
nominated for the presidency.
According to the process developed last
spring, regents can add candidates to
the list or accept it as is.
The list will be made public next
Monday in accordance with the state's
Open Meetings Act, which requires that
certain board meetings be open, includ-
ing discussions about potential candi-
dates.
"The PSAC will present the names to
the Presidential Search Committee,"
said Provost J. Bernard Machen. "That's
when the PSAC goes out of business
and the PSC (the Board of Regents)
will take control of the search.
Next week's announcement will be
preceded by a press conference tomor-
row morning. Officials said specifics
about the final stages of the selection
will be revealed then.
.We're just going to tell you what the
final part of the search is going to be
like," said Vice President for University
Relations Walter IHlarrison.
But until Monday, the committee said
See SEARCH, Page 2A
JOE WESTRATE DaC4
Purple pandemonium
Northwestern students celebrate a 17-16 victory in Evanston, Ill., on Saturday after stunning the Wolverines with 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
has been meeting in closed, secret ses-
sions since March 1, also will release
the names of 250-300 people who were
REALITY BYTES
Virtual reality
raises issues
qIy Ajit K. Thavarajah
LDaily Staff Reporter
Imagine an island paradise. A tropical breeze blows gently
through your hair as you sip a cool beverage and watch the
rolling waves. Sun rays beat down on your body while your
favorite models massage suntan lotion on your back.
Several psychologists and educators had such an experi-
ence this weekend at the Media Union on North Campus
through the Virtual Reality Symposium, which raised sever-
al questions on ethics and psychological effects.
New-age technology makes users' dreams come true
*rough computer-simulated environments that are complete-
ly indistinguishable from the real world.
"It's a ground-breaking type of symposium to bring people
from a wide variety of fields to study a rapidly growing tech-.
nology," said Gwen Reichbach, one of the coordinating
directors of the conference.
"We hope that the symposium will be a catalyst for a much
broader look at the ethical, psychological and social issues
related to virtual reality," Reichbach said.
Issues ranged from whether a person could become unable
o distinguish reality from fantasy to how safe it was to study
argical procedures through virtual reality.
Kimberley Osberg, head of the Human Interface
Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle, has
been studying safety issues connected to virtual reality.
Osberg conducted a study on grade-school students and
found that 10 percent became ill after a four-minute exposure
to virtual reality.
Peace talks reopen;
old accords to stand
The Washington lost
EREZ CHECKPOINT. Israel - Israeli and
Palestinian leaders reopened long-stalled peace
talks here last night, with the United States back-
ing Israeli demands for new security measures in
the light of recent bloody rioting and armed clash-
es in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher. in Israel to
urge swift progress in the talks, said Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu had
assured him that Israel does
not seek to renegotiate theW
three-year-old Oslo accords
detailing relations between r
Israel and the Palestinian i
self-rule administration. U.S.
officials said this augured m
well for the new round of_
talks, the main result of a Lead Palestin
two-day summit conference
on the crisis that was opened
last Tuesday by President Clinton.
At the same time, Christopher endorsed
Netanyahu's contention that the gun battles
between Palestinian policemen and Israeli soldiers
have changed the relationship of the two sides in a
way that must be taken into account as Israel with-
draws its troops from Hebron, the last major West
Bank town still under full Israeli occupation.
"It is a practical agreement," Christopher said of
1
e
n
,
Israeli government at Oslo and under additional
accords signed in 1994 and 1995. Those accords
already contain elaborate security arrangements
reached after detailed and difficult negotiations,
Arafat's lieutenants have complained.
"We will not reopen signed agreements, and
there will be no modification of signed agree-
ments," Saeb Erekat, the lead Palestinian negotia-
tor, declared on Israeli television.
The chief goal of the
talks that got underway at
this checkpoint on the bor-
der between Israel and the
Gaza Strip -- and of U.S.
mediation here - thus
appeared to be to reconcile
Netanyahu's demand for
- Saeb Erekat altered securiy arrange-
aian nenotiator ments at Hebron and else-
where with Arafat's insis-
tence on sticking to the let-
ter of the Oslo agreements.
Dennis Ross, the State Department's Middle
East peace coordinator, was scheduled to remain
in Israel to help shepherd the talks - at which the
Israeli team is headed by retired Gen. Dan
Shomron and the Palestinian side by Erekat. Arafat
and Netanyahu have pledged to become directly
involved if the need arises.
Christopher's point was that the previous agree-
I