2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 3, 1997
Reno declares no
need or special
investigation
NATION/WORLD
SAROUND THENTb
FDA allows meat iradiation to kill genns
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration approved the irradiation
of meat to kill disease-causing microorganisms, a move designed to improvethe
safety of the nation's food supply.
The technology is generally considered safe and highly effective against food-
borne pathogens, but its widespread use in foods has not caught on - in no s I
part because of public fears about radiation.
The FDA studied irradiation for three years before issuing yesterday's approval
and concluded the method kills most pathogens but is safe for consumers, accord-
ing to Michael Friedman, the lead deputy commissioner for the agency. It does not
make the meat radioactive, and in fact "affects the meat itself very little," he said.
The food industry, which prefers such euphemisms as "cold pasteurization" to irra-
diation, hailed the FDA move. John Cady of the National Food Processors Association
called it "another strong step forward for the safety of the U.S. food supply."
Meat is the latest in a long line of products the federal government approved for
sterilization by radiation. About half of all disposable medical devices go through
the process, along with nipples for baby bottles, wine corks and cartons for j e
and milk. Since 1963, producers of wheat and wheat flour have been allowed to
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney
General Janet Reno declined yester-
day to seek an independent counsel
investigation of telephone fund rais-
'ing by President Clinton and Vice
President Al Gore, saying their
actions were outside the scope of fed-
eral election law.
Under strong pressures for months
from all sides, Reno said, "The decision
was mine and it was based on the facts
and the law, not pressure, politics or any
ether factor."
Republicans criticized her decision
as wrong and perhaps affected by loyal-
ty to the White House. Democrats
called it correct and courageous.
She also rejected a special prosecutor
to investigate former Energy Secretary
Hazel O'Leary, concluding that
O'Leary was unaware that a contribu-
tion to one of her favorite charities may
have been solicited in return for her
meeting Chinese businessmen.
In her explanation, Reno said
Clinton's fund-raising calls in October
1994 were made from the White House
private quarters, not the president's
offices. "This places the calls outside
the scope ... of (federal election law)
which applies only to solicitations for
hard-money contributions occurring
within the federal workplace," Reno
wrote.
AP PHOTO
Attorney General Janet Reno announced yesterday her rejection of a special
independent council to investigate President Clinton.
READ THE DAILY FOR THE
'LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LAW-
SUITS FILED AGAINST THE
UNIVERSITY.
JOIN THE MOST PROMISING
PROFESSION OF THE 21ST CENTURY
*.*. . . . . . . *:4 ,. . .
Prospective Teacher Education Meeting
Wednesday, December 8, 1997
6:00 p.m.
Schorting Auditorium
Room 1202 School of Education Building
Call 764-7563 for more information.
LAWSUIT
Continued from Page 1.
But Pell said both suits attack the
same problem - discrimination.
"It's the same issue in both cases,"
Pell said. "Both admissions programs
are discriminatory."
Vice President for University
Relations Walter Harrison said the
two lawsuits attack different admis-
sions policies, but will bring the
community closer to mitigating the
public policy debate over affirmative
action.
"This raises discussion of how the
intricacies of these two admissions pro-
cedures work and the major public pol-
icy question, which is: Should public
universities use race as a factor in
admission policies to achieve a diverse
student body?" he said.
Greve said it is too early to speculate
whether CIR will bring a suit against
another University, but there are "no
immediate plans" for another suit.
Mary Frances-Berry, a 1970 Law
alumna who chairs the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights, said she is
outraged by CIR's tactics.
"I think it is a disgrace that they are
going around the country filing these
lawsuits," Frances-Berry said. "I
think the University of Michigan has
made a great contribution in admit-
ting women and students of color in
creating a diverse student body ...
I'm sure the University has not done
anything that would make them
liable."
The lawsuit came as a surprise to the
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University community and received
mixed reactions from many Law stu-
dents.
Law first-year student Mike
Michmerhuizen said affirmative action
practices are not the only way to
achieve diversity in the Law School.
"I think it should totally be by the
numbers or by the objective criteria"
Michmerhuizen said. "I don't think that
you need a race-conscious system to
get diversity in the law school."
Other Law students, however, said
the school should use race as a factor in
an attempt to gain a diverse student
body.
"The Law School is making great
efforts to diversify the campus," said
Michigan Law Review Editor in Chief
Todd Aagaard. "I don't think anything
the Law School is doing should be ille-
gal."
Patrick Hamacher, one of the two
plaintiffs in the lawsuit against LSA,
said he is unsure about the effects that
the new suit against the Law School
will have on his case.
"I don't think it will hurt our case,
but since the Law School is separate, I
don't know how much it will affect our
case," Hamacher said.
While the Law School admits to
using race as a factor in admission pro-
cedures, it denies admitting unqualified
students, according to the Law School's
faculty Admissions Committee report
released in 1992.
"The minimal criterion is that no
applicant should be admitted unless we
expect that applicant to do well enough
to graduate with no serious academic
problems," the report states.
The report claims that diversity with-
in the school enriches the learning
experience for all students.
"By enrolling a 'critical mass' of
minority students, we have ensured
their ability to make unique contribu-
tions to the character of the law school
..., according to the report.
Detroit attorney Denise Lewis, a
1983 Law School alumna, said she
fears a lawsuit of this kind could dimin-
ish minority representation in the Law
School.
"I know diversity was certainly
important in my experience," Lewis
said. "I am of African American
descent. I went to school with Native
American, Hispanic and international
students. It gave us an opportunity to
hear different facts and come at it from
different perspectives"
Law School alumna Leslie Newman,
who graduated in 1994, also said diver-
sity was an integral component of her
education, and has helped her in her
current job as an attorney for a non-
profit housing organization in Texas.
"I learned so much more because of
the diverse nature of my class,"
Newman said. "You learn a lot in law
school outside of the classroom. If my
class had been all white, my current job
would have been more difficult."
Some faculty members said the law-
suits will be an opportunity to test the
legality of the University's admissions
practices.
"These are very important social
issues that should be looked at in
court," said chemistry Prof. Robert
Sharp. "They very definitely have
merit"
Prospective Law student Matt
Kossen, an LSA junior, said he would
like to see current affirmative action
policies altered.
"Race should be a factor in deter--
mining admission, but should not be a
primary factor," Kossen said. "It should
be done in such a way to ensure a
diverse campus, but not at the expense
of other qualified candidates."
Even before the filing of today's law-
suit, legal scholars nationwide have
speculated that the case against LSA
could travel to the U.S. Supreme Court
and set new legal precedent.
Greve, however, said it is not CIR's
in~t~ntrnto acrmie the tcsein front of
irradiation, and the process has also been
etables and poultry.
Nichols' attorneys
cast blame for bomb
DENVER - Lawyers for accused
Oklahoma City bomber Terry Lynn
Nichols yesterday began laying the
foundation of their defense - that their
client was not the right-hand man for
Timothy McVeigh in carrying out
America's worst terrorist attack.
Nichols' defense, which began short-
ly after prosecutors wrapped up their
case earlier in the day, sought not only
to distance him from McVeigh, but also
to raise new doubts about whether oth-
ers were involved in helping mix, pack
and deliver an ammonium nitrate and
fuel oil bomb to the front of the Alfred
P. Murrah Federal Building in down-
town Oklahoma City.
The defense's initial witnesses
included several people who remem-
bered seeing a Ryder truck at the
Dreamland Motel in Junction City,
Kan., a day before one was rented by
McVeigh - an implication that more
than one such truck was used in the
April 19, 1995, blast and that the motel
approved for spices, pork, fruits and v eg-
was a meeting place for McVeigh and
other conspirators.
The motel owner, Lea McGown,"tes-
tified that while McVeigh was a guest
there, he often was darting in and out of
her establishment in the days beforek
bombing. But McGown said she nO,
saw Nichols in his company.
Bill approves new
dollar coin, quarters
WASHINGTON - President
Clinton has approved what will be the
first alteration in America's circulating
coins in two decades.
On Monday, he signed legislation
providing a new, gold-colored do
coin with a distinctive edge. It 'Will
replace coins bearing the portrait of
Susan B. Anthony, when they run out in
about 30 months. The government will
continue printing dollar bills.
Lawmakers couldn't agree whether
the new dollar coin should depict the
Statue of Liberty or an actual woman or
women of historical importance.
They left the decision to the treasry
secretary.
ARONDTHEWORLD
Global wanning
negotiations continue
KYOTO, Japan - Negotiators made
slow progress on key issues of a global
warming agreement yesterday, but the
United States appeared stymied in its
efforts to extend new limits on fuel emis-
sions to the Third World.
A U.S. Senate delegation flew into
Japan, and its leader warned that any
treaty deal excluding developing nations
would be rejected by the Senate.
The U.S.-Third World impasse trou-
bled other negotiators.
"This seems to be one of the major
problems that could eventually ... break
the whole process," said Joergen
Henningsen, the environment chief of
the European Union.
Yesterday was the second of 10 sched-
uled days of negotiations, involving
1,500 delegates from 150 countries, to
produce a protocol that would strengthen
the 1992 Climate Change Treaty.
Delegates hope to mandate cutbacks in
industrial nations' emissions of carbon
dioxide and other gases linked to the
threat of global warming.
16fI~k I '1 1
These "greenhouse" emissions, most-
ly products of fossil fuel burning, allow
sunlight through but trap the heat that
Earth emits back toward space.
An authoritative U.N. scientific stu ly
says continued emissions at current rates
could raise average global temperatires
by as much as six degrees Fahrenheirby
2100.
61 killed in
Russian explosion
MOSCOW - Sixty-one coal-n
ers were killed in a huge underground
explosion in Siberia yesterday, leaving
Russia in mourning for one of the worst
mining catastrophes in its history.-,
A methane blast ripped through eial
mine after a new shift of workers had
come down the shaft to start work"but
before the previous shift had left.
"There are about 100 rescue worIrs
at the site,'said Col. Vasily Romanov, a
Civil Defense chief in Sibe n*
Kemerovo region. "Unfortunately
one has yet been found alive?'
Michigan Students.
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