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Tonight: Mostly cloudy, low
around 320.
Tomorrow: Cloudy, chance of
rain, high around 450.
One hundred six years of editorialfreedom
Monday
November 18, 1996
4 {
kwandan
refugees
return to
homes
U Thousands starving on
20-mile stretch of
road
Los Angeles Times
GISENYI, Rwanda -And still they
For the third straight day, through
drenching rain and blinding sun, all day
long and through the cold night,
crowds of refugees returning from
Zaire cascaded through this border
town yesterday and poured into western
Rwanda in an unbroken stream that
stretched as far as the eye could see.
. For 40 miles inside Rwanda, the
solemn column of people clogged the
gle, narrow road that snakes up
ep hills, past cloud-shrouded volca-
noes and through lush green farms. A
few buses and trucks were pressed into
service, with people clinging to the
roofs, but the vast majority of returnees
walked.
Those too exhausted to continue
stopped on the roadside, and at midday
cooking fires pumped a choking blue
haze into the air. When rain poured
Own, the refugees suddenly disap-
peared under a colorful array of blue,
yellow and green plastic sheeting.
The crush was relentless, the confu-
sion intense. Parents bundled sleeping
infants fore and aft, carried crying tod-
dlers on their shoulders and tied torn
rags to the wrists of- small children,
dragging them along in the crowds.
Gnarled men and haggard women
hobbled with canes, slowly picking
,ir way. A few were pushed - or pro-
lied themselves - in battered wheel-
chairs. One man staggered on crutches,
metal surgical pins sticking out of his
leg.
Anyone old enough to walk carried a
plastic pail, a burlap sack, a rolled foam
mattress, a blackened pot, usually
perched on a coil of cloth atop the
head. One man even marched with a
hot pink electric guitar.
Some slipped into farmers' fields
1d local gardens to forage for food..
They dug for sweet potatoes, pulled
cabbagelike greens, -plucked ears of
corn or stripped bunches of bananas
from trees.
Local villagers pulled out chairs and
sat chatting and pointing at the passing
parade. Except for crying children, the
loudest sound was the drumming of
thousands of shuffling feet on mile
after mile of pavement.
* And still they came.
Ray Wilkinson, spokesperson for the
Office of the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees, estimated that 350,000 to
400,000 ethnic Hutus had returned to
Rwanda since early Friday, with an
additional 100,000 or so still trekking
toward Rwanda's border. The refugee
agency sent several dozen buses into
Zaire late last night, he said, to pick up
See RWANDA, Page 7A
Board votes to fund
students' child care
By Jodi S. Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents
voted Friday to help student parents by
using general fund money for child care
grants.
The money for the child care scholar-
ships also will come from a $1 per term
increase in student fees that students
voted for last spring. The University will
match the $73,000 generated by the stu-
dent fee with money from the general
fund, totaling about $150,000 annually.
General fund money comes mainly from
state appropriations and tuition.
Under the plan, money will be paid
directly to child care providers, who
could be indepen-
dent from the
University.
The Office of
Financial Aid will
control the child
care scholarships
with the help of a
small oversight
committee of stu-
dents, faculty and
staff.Newman
staff.
Task force mem-
bers acknowledged that it is difficult to
determine the extent of student need, but
estimated that about 20 percent of
University graduate students and a
smaller number of undergraduates have
children.
Declining an
offer from Regent .
Andrea Fischer ~w
Newman (R-Ann child car
Arbor), who vol-
unteered to su port e
insteaddraise the "
money privately, public fu
the regents
approved the pilot
program with a 6-
2 vote. Newman
and Regent Deane
Baker (R-Ann Arbor) opposed the pro-
gram, which was brought to the board by
the University's Child Care Task Force.
"I feel personally so strongly that
matching funds not be taken," said
Newman, who has previously voted
against tuition increases. "I feel that I
can raise privately the matching funds ...
I will make a substantial contribution of
my own into that."
Newman asked the board to give her
until the end of the year to raise the
$73,000 from private donors.
"What I want is a guarantee if these
matching funds are raised privately, the
money won't be taken out of the general
fund," Newman said, arguing that tuition
money for education should not be used
to pay for child care.
Other regents said the proposal was a
statement of public policy and should
not be confused with a regent's desire to
raise funds privately.
support
e and we
it with
- Fiona Rose
M SA president
"I see this as an access issue," said
Regent Laurence Deitch (D-Bloomfield
Hills), who participated in the meeting
via a conference call from Phoenix, Ariz.
"This issue of access and fairness to stu-
dents is a public responsibility."
Deitch also countered Newman's
argument, saying that using money from
the general fund to pay for child care
would not hurt education.
"The students voted for this and there
is no higher political authority than that
which resides with the people," Deitch
said. "Education expenditures don't boil
down to reading, writing and arithmetic
only"
Deitch said University policy should
not be determined "on an ad hoc basis by
individual regents' desires, however
well-intentioned."
Michigan Student Assembly President
Fiona Rose was a driving force behind
See CHILD CARE, Page 7A
- - JENNIE SERVAAs/DaIy
High fashion
Timi Hunt models authentic African fashions during the cultural segment
of a fashion show at Betsey Barbour residence hall last night.
1 1 I
Parties look to
tweak language
require nent
Interim CEO to
By Will Weissert
Daily Staff Reporter
The nearly 17,000 LSA students on
campus have different interests and
backgrounds - but most have at least
some courses in common, thanks to the
four-semester foreign language require-
ment.
That could change after Wednesday
and Thursday's Michigan Student
Assembly elections. Six of the eight
parties vying for the assembly's 24
vacant seats want to see the requirement
modified, if not done away with alto-
gether.
Assistant LSA Dean David Schoem
said the administration would value
input from MSA.
"We'd be very interested about what
MSA has to say on this issue," Schoem
said. "We usually work with LSA-
Student Government - but we would
also be interested in what other elected
students have to say."
Schoem said a committee was cur-
rently examining the requirement and
would have a report ready this spring.
"We are trying to look at what stu-
dents think about language instruction
courses and where improvements can
be made," Schoem said. "But we've
found general support for the require-
ment to be greater than we anticipat-
ed."
But many of the parties said they
wanted to see the requirement restruc-
tured.
"laving to memorize some vocab
words and then spitting them out on a
test - that's no way to learn a lan-
guage," said Students' Party
Coordinator Chad Bailey. "These class-
es need to allow more student input and
be more effective and more fun."
Victors Party spokesperson Nicholas
Kirk said four required semesters is too
much for most students.
"There could be some kind of reduc-
tion in the requirement," Kirk said. "It
seems like a good foundation for a lan-
guage could be achieved in one year,
not two."
boy. 20-21
MSA Parties Divided
Party line: LSA Foreign Language
Requirement
Crush the Purple Dinosaur: Should
be left up to individual departments
Liberty: Reduce requirement to two
semesters
Michigan: Modify or abolish require-
ment
Nihilist: Moot point - MSA cannot
affect requirement
Slumber: Abolish requirement
Students': Increase student input in
language classes
United People's Coalition:
Requirement should not be changed
Victors: Reduce requirement to two
semesters
Liberty Party Chair Martin
Howrylak agreed LSA students should
only have to take two semesters of for-
eign language, but said students should
not have a pass/fail option.
"These classes should be more effec-
tive at teaching the language,"
Howrylak said. "But I think changing it
See MSA, Page 5A
keep 'U'
By Jeff Eldridge
Daily Staff Reporter
With the arrival of a new University
president, the departure of other execu-
tives impending and interim officials
filling many-top administration slots, it
almost takes a scorecard to keep track
of who is coming and going from the
Fleming Administration Building.
A new interim administrator will soon
be stepping into one of the University's
top positions. Chandler Matthews, for-
mer associate vice president for finance.
will serve as interim executive vice pres-
ident and chief financial officer of the
University starting Jan. 1.
"You try to keep things going,"
Matthews said. "It's a dynamic place."
Matthews will step into the building
in a period of change and transition. He
said maintaining the University's finan-
cial strength and continuing a positive
status quo will be an important responsi-
bility during his period as interim leader.
Matthews said it is "exciting" that he
will serve when the next University
president, Lee Bollinger, comes into the
job, and that it was an incentive for him
to agree to serve.
Matthews came to the University as
controller in 1970. He was promoted to
associate vice president for finance in
-running
1989 and served in that position until
his retirement last April.
Current Chief Financial Officer Farris
Womack, who is scheduled to step down
Dec. 3 1 after eight years of service, has
set a tough act to follow, Matthews said.
"There's no way I can be another
Farris Womack," Matthews said. "It
would be an impossible task."
The chief financial officer oversees
the University's investment strategy and
performs financial analysis, among
other things. Womack oversaw a
growth in the University's investment
endowments from $300 million to $1.6
billion during the past eight years.
Interim President Homer Neal said
Matthews comes to the job with a
record of distinction.
"Chandler Matthews has had an
extensive background and experience
in the University's administration and
financial affairs," Neal said. "We are
very grateful that he is willing to return
from retirement to serve the University
during this interim period."
Vice President for University
Relations Walter Harrison said the
search to find a full-time chief financial
officer will proceed quickly.
"We'll name a search committee in the
next week for the CFO," Harrison said:
'Taste' of Puerto Rico
begins heritage week
Wixom shooting
becomes tragic
for 'U' student
From Staff and Wire PReports
NOVI - A man who prosecutors said was rebuffed by
security when he tried to propose to an auto plant worker was
charged Friday with murder and 25 other crimes in a plant
By Ann Stewart
Daily Staff Reporter
A celebration of Puerto Rican history and
lture brought the Latino/a student commu-
nity together as Puerto Rican Week began yes-
terday.
The week started with a "taste" of Puerto
Rican culture at Trotter House yesterday
afternoon. More than 50 students gathered to
sample Puerto Rican cuisine like arroz con
worked together for the first time on the
project. "We wanted to create more unity in
the Latino community at U-M and (for) the
larger community to see that there is unity in
the different Latino organizations," she said.
Tuesday night, the celebration continues
with the showing of "La Guagua Aerea," a
comedy about early Puerto Rican immigrants
on their journey to New York
Wednesday, Osvaldo Rivera is scheduled to
polio, guava paste, and
mofongo, a dish made
with plantains.
Students said it was
good to mingle and
enjoy food that remind-
ed them of home.
"The food is the
best," said LSA senior
Ricky Guzman.
Puerto Rican Week.
Tomorrow: Movie, "La Guagua Aerea,"
Angell 11a11 Auditorium BJ7p~rm.
Wednesday: Caribbean serenate,
Wolverine Room, Michigan Union, 7 p.m.
Thursday: Marta Moreno Vega, Welker
Room, Michigan Union, 6 p~mn.
Friday: Dance performance and work-
shop, Wedge Room, West Quad, 6-8 p.m.
present a "Caribbean
Serenate." The presen-
tation will explore the
Afri c an- H i span i c
music that is part of
Puerto Rican culture.
"It reflects history,"
PRA President Tito
Pando said. "Puerto
Rico is made up of dif-
shooting that killed one
man and wounded
three.
Gerald Atkins of
Wixom was arraigned
Friday on a charge of
first-degree murder in
the death of Darrell
Izzard, killed in
Thursday's shooting
spree at Ford Motor
Co.'s Wixom plant 30
miles northwest of
"He worked
his whole life to
make sure his
whole family
was happy.
- Jeffrey Izzrd
LSA senior
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
r