ppI *oowqw citt mx *rni Friday November 1, 1996 * ~!' MSA gains more parties, candidates By Will Weissert Iaily Staff Reporter Recent polls have reported that most students have little or no interest in the Michigan Student Assembly - but upcoming elections may change some minds on campus. There are 24 vacant assembly seats in 13 separate schools, hut the race is crowded with 101 students filing to run in MSA's late-November elections. This year's slate - eight parties and 28 independent candidates - looms especially large compared to the five major parties and two independent can- didates that ran in last spnng's elections. In typical MSA tradition, the parties plan to work toward a broad spectrum of goals ranging from increasing diver- sity on campus and halting student fee "Oer the past eight elections we're shown we have \ery good student sup- port.' said Michigan Party ("hair and LSA Rep. Dan Serota. "We have had continued support from the otfices of the president and a ice president, down to indiv idual reps. The Liberty Party has the second largest slate with I1 candidates, none of which are current assembly members. "We are going to have a stronger show- ing this termsaid Liberty Party Co-chair Martin Howrywak. "We're the only party out there who is strongly opposed to the student fee increase, and I know a lot of people out there agree with us." The Students' Party is again the assembly's third-largest party. with a slate of nine candidates. Eight candidates are on the ballot for the United People's Coalition Party, 4"i AJA DEKIEVA COHEN Daly Mary Street front porch in anticipation of two traditions - Halloween and the Michigan-Michigan State football game. increases, to imple- menting a West- Coast offense on Lloyd Carr's football team and abolishing the influence of chil- dren's hero Barney, the purple dinosaur, on campus. Four of last term's five parties - the Michigan, Students', Liberty, and the United People's Coalition parties - are running candi- dates again in this term's election. One of last term's largest parties. the Wolverine Party. failed to find five Eight Part This year eight pa MSA elections, co last spring's five p 101 total candida filed as independe The parties officia MSA are: 5 The Michigan P * The Students' P * The Liberty Par M TheUnited Peo Party The Victors Par 4 The Nihilist Par M The Slumber Pa * The Crush the P Dinosaur Party les wvhich is committed rties filed for to increasing diversi- )mpared to ty on the assembly. arties. Out of "The main pur- tes, 28 are pose of the UPC is to nt candidates, represent all the stu- flly filed with dents on campus - especially the stu- dents of color," said arty Kenneth Jones, party arty chair and the current ty chair of MSA's ple's Coalition Minority Affairs ty Commission. "(The ty assembly) is not rep- rty resentative of stu- Purple dents on campus - we hope to increase the assembly's diver- sity and make sure it represents all students on campus., The Victors Party. a new party, is fielding eight candidates. Some current assembly members have branded the party as right-wing and very conserva- tive, but party spokesperson Nicholas Kirk said that label was unfair. "We are not some little marginal con- servative group," said Kirk, who is also president of the College Republicans. "We are students who feel we can pro- vide better leadership than current MSA leaders." Kirk said the Victors Party wants to clean up MSA and that its candidates want "action instead of press releases." Another new party that hopes to challenge on the stop-fee-increases platform is the Nihilist Party, which is See MSA, Page 9 ' u 3_l 1 -lm, _.' candidates from three different schools and is not fielding a slate. The exact date for the elections has not yet been set. MSA Vice President Probir Mehta said the large number of parties shows the assembly is again attracting stu- dents' attention. "I think it absolutely shows that stu- dents are taking a greater interest in what MSA does," Mehta said. "I think it really reflects the work we have done this year and shows that students want to get involved - we aren't scaring people away anymore." About 12 percent of students voted in MSA's spring elections. The Michigan Party is running the largest slate with 14 candidates, includ- ing four MSA incumbents. Students' trick-or-treat trip nets canned goods I Jeffrey Kosseff said second-year Medical student Karen" Daily Staff Reporter the can drive coordinator. Young, University students braved the frigid weather and sacrificed Halloween parties to go trick-or- tieating - and they did not get any candy. Instead, two groups of University students went door-to-door last night to collect canned goods for non-profit organizations. Project Serve's Health/AIDS committee collected canned goods and household items for the j IV/AIDS Resource Center in Ypsilanti. The University chapter of the American Medical Association and Inteflex sponsored the annual "Trick-or-Treat Since for Cans" food drive. The group of about 50 goingto b Medical School and Inteflex students donned caretaken white doctors' coats and canvassed residential future, we .0pAorfor food for start rali/ enHoClinic, a non- profit organization that provides food and med- ofpeople ical services to those in Penn need. Im "We do a lot of com- Ift munity work," said In addition to medical care, the Hope Clinic provides babysitting, counseling, family-learning programs and services to prisoners. The group collected more than 1,000 cans yes- terday. The group collected more than 2,000 cans last year and were hoping to do better this year. Young said she was disappointed. Project Serve's Health/AIDS committee also collected canned goods, to benefit the HIV/AIDS Carville joins Rivers' youth vote drive By Laurie Mayk Daily Staff Reporter Lynn Rivers is bringing in the next of the big guns. She's bringing James Carville. A close race between the incumbent U.S. representative and Republican Joe Fitzsimmons along with Democratic efforts to inspire the student vote prompted Carville's last- minute stop on campus today. Carville, who managed Bill Clinton's successful '92 campaign, is scheduled to join Rivers for a question and answer session at 10 a.m. in the Michigan Union. "We especially wanted to make sure that we came to the University of Michigan because this is a race that will be decided by student turnout," said Susan Blatt, College Democrats of America executive director. The University is the only college campus Carville chose to visit on the cam- paign trail, Blatt said. The Rivers campaign has attracted a host of high-profile politicians to the Ann Arbor area throughout Campaign '96. Carville takes his place alongside President Clinton, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, longtime feminist Gloria Steinem and former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. Carville's last visit to the University was for a mock debate with Republican Chuck Yobb during winter term. Resource Center in wew are 1 "sin the 9 should 'g care now." ny Vongsvivut eflex president Ypsilanti. "HARC is the biggest resource center for HIV and AIDS patients in Ann Arbor," said Jose Bartolomei, chair of Project Serve's Health/AIDS Committee. "They provide food and nutritional supple- ments to AIDS patients." HARC also provides AIDSHIV education pro- grams and community out- reach services to residents in the four-county area. The volunteers were dressed in a variety of cos- tumes - ranging from sor- I M-11