LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 22, 1997 - 3
i
Oregon State
fraternity settles
$1Mlawsuit
An Oregon State University fraternity
as agreed to pay $1 million to settle a
lawsuit filed by the parents of a student
who was killed in a van accident after an
off-campus fraternity party last year.
The campus chapter of Pi Kappa Phi
also agreed to ban alcohol at its house
from Jan. 1 to June 8, 1998, The
Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
The national fraternity said it saw no
need to revoke the charter of the
Oregon State chapter because the uni-
lorsity had temporarily halted the fra-
ternity's social activities and required
members to do community service.
Students rally for
affirmative action
at Berkeley
Nearly 100 University of California
Students camped out last week on a
campus plaza to protest California's
ban on using affirmative action in
admissions.
No students were arrested for camp-
ing overnight on Sproul Plaza,
although doing so is illegal, campus
police officers said.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
teported that several UC schools have
Already seen a sharp drop in applications
*nd enrollment of minority students
since the ban went into effect this year.
Police search for
;missing student
An Ohio University student has been
missing since Oct. 14, when he was last
seen working in his office.
Anish Kumar, a 24-year-old comput-
r science and electrical engineering
graduate student, did not return home
ist Tuesday night, The Post reported.
,The Athens Police Department is
conducting the investigation surround-
ing Kumar's disappearance with assis-
tance from the OU Police Department.
However, OU director of campus safe-
ty Ted Jones said it appears Kumar left
of his own free will.
Kumar withdrew $450 from a bank
achine on Oct. 13 or 14, but the bank
ould not be identified, OU police said.
This might indicate Kumar planned to
leave, Jones said.
Worms found at
Illinois State deli
The Tower Deli, a main attraction at
Illinois State University's food courts,
*advertently added a new topping to
fixings bar: worms.
In what was originally thought to be
-n isolated incident, an ISU student
found two worms in her sandwich on
Sept.15. Since then, two more discov-
eries of worms have been reported, The
Daily Northwestern reported.
,.ISU Director of Media Relations Jay
Groves called the incidents a mystery.
Usually, the source of the problem is
thefood supplier, he said. But the food
*upplier provides all of ISU and many
-ther Midwest schools with the same
food, and only this food court has expe-
rienced problems.
t To ease fears about the situation,
."tl McClean County Health
g partment declared the food court
a model of sanitation, from storage
to food handling.
*Meningitis infects
PSU student
A Pennsylvania State University stu-
dent is confirmed to be infected with
meningitis, The Daily Collegian report-
ed.
Though the student, whose name
was not released, is responding well to
treatment, the infection is serious, said
Dr. Margaret Spear, director of
#niversity Health Services.
Last year, PSU first-year student
Andrew Karp died after contracting
a similar meningococcal infection.
In February, a student also contact-
1d a meningococal infection but
later recovered after treatment.
-Compiled from The Chronicle of
,,,,Iigher Education and the University
Wire by Daily Staff Reporter Megan
Exley.
MSA resolves to support nursing clinic
By Susan T. Port
Daily Staff Reporter
In hopes of increasing student awareness of the
importance of the North Campus Nursing Clinic,
the Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolu-
tion in support of the center last night.
Carlos Ford, an MSA representative from the
North Campus Resident Council, said the clinic
has a history of being overlooked by administra-
tors housed on Central Campus. Ford stressed the
need for the University to realize how many stu-
dents and their family members are treated by the
medical clinic.
"They are the primary source of health care to
people who live in family housing," said Ford, a
Medical first-year student. "Family housing has
been disregarded, largely ignored."
Ford said the clinic is a valuable resource for
students and their spouses who live in North
Campus family housing. Many students who have
children do not have the time or the budgetary
means to get to the University Health Center,
located on Central Campus, he said.
"For some, even though they pay for UHS they
aren't able to use because of transportation con-
straints," said MSA Vice President Olga Savic.
Students living in family housing pay for access
to UHS services through their tuition bills. The
clinic on North Campus, however, charges inde-
pendently for services.
"If a student uses the North Campus Clinic they
shouldn't pay out of their own pocket," Ford said.
"If you are a student already living in family hous-
ing you are paying chunks to the clinic. The clinic
should be considered a H IS resource."
NMSA President Mike Nagrant said the resolu-
tion recognizes the need to make sure the clinic
continues to provide services.
"I think that the services they provide are very
v aluable," Nagrant said. "We need to have a dia-
logue with the administration to make sure these
services are provided to students on North
Campus."
Ford said funding for the clinic is insufficient to
ensure the services meet the needs of family hous-
ing residents.
"IThey are not getting enough funding," Ford said.
Nagrant said the assembly is exploring options
that may help provide the center with additional
funding.
"I know they are struggling," Nagrant said. "We
are going to look at different v:enues and see how
we can support them through the division of stu-
dents affairs"
MSA Engineering Rep. lark Dub said the
Universitv nceds to understand the importance of
the center to those Iamilies living on North Campus.
"It's important that e maintain quality services
for our constituents living on North Campus, Dub
said. "People need to be made aware of the situa-
tion. If there is a problem, it needs to be fixed. The
plug must not be pulled."
Savic said the clinic offers services to "a lot of
non-traditional students who sometimes are over-
looked."
"For many students the Nursing Clinic is the
only medical clinic nearby and readily available"
she said.
Construction deaths few
and far between in A2
By Carly Southworth
For the Daily
Trends in Michigan indicate an
increasing rate of fatalities tied to con-
struction work. But despite the constant
presence of construction projects at the
University, major accidents remain few
and far between.
"We have been very fortunate.
There has only been one fatality in
the 17 years that I have been here,"
said Tom Schlaff, director of con-
struction management at the
University.
That fatality was the result of a fall
- the most common cause of construc-
tion site deaths. Twelve of the 30 deaths
that have occurred in the state this year
have been caused by falls, while eight
involved being crushed by an object
and five resulted from being struck by
something.
The number of construction fatalities
in the state is already higher in 1997
than it has been in nearly two decades.
Including the most recent fatality that
occurred last week in Kent County,
there have been 30 construction site
deaths since January.
With few fluctuations from year to
year, construction deaths have tapered
off statewide since the mid-1960s. The
former average of 44 deaths per year
dropped to near the teens by the early
'90s.
"Over two decades, the general trend
was decreasing almost into the teens.
That is why this year's turnaround is so
dramatic," said Douglas Earle, director
of Michigan's Consumer and Industry
Services Bureau of Safety and
Regulation.
Schlaff said the state conducts safe-
ty inspections on an irregular sched-
ule.
"(The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration), a division of
the Department of Labor, conducts
inspections of construction work on a
sporadic basis," Schlaff said. In
response to the year's fatalities,
MIOSHA has now authorized overtime
for these inspections.
"We haven't had a problem with
regulations," said Randy Harvey, a
construction worker installing the M
on the Diag. He said, however, that
the enforcement from OSHA is
weak.
The University is not in charge of
most worker training and safety.
Contractors that oversee University
construction projects are responsible
for supervising safety measures in
accordance with the Michigan
Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The contractors work closely with
insurance companies to ensure mea-
sures are met.
The University also conducts its own
electrical and mechanical inspections to
make sure completed projects meet
safety standards. Schlaff said there have
been a few cases in which these inspec-
tions actually have saved the lives of
workers.
Schlaff said there are no clear expla-
nations for this year's rise in statewide
construction deaths.
"There is a complexity in the indus-
try that makes it hard to examine,"
Schlaff said. He said that the increase is
"We haven't had
a problem with
regulations"'
- Randy Harvey
Construction worker
not surprising because construction
volume is high and increasing.
Richard Mee, chief of construction
safety for MIOSHA, said not enough
data is captured to analyze the source of
this year's increase. Inexperience -of
workers is a possible cause that is being
considered, he said.
But the average age of construction
site victims is 40-49, Mee said. Mee
said the data contradicts the idea of
inexperience because workers at those
ages have generally been in the industry
for a long time.
One of MIOSHA's concerns is vio-
lation of safety standards and regula-
tions. A higher percentage of this
year's deaths involve citations for
such violations. Only three of 30
deaths this year did not involve a
violation.
To address these deaths and help
decrease the numbers in the future,
MIOSHA has invited representatives
from major construction companies to
meet Monday to get informatiin,
answers and feedback. MIOSHA also is
reaching out to employees in hopes of
raising awareness. p
"Safety is an important element-to
success, Schlaff said.
JOHN KRAFT/Daily
At the International Center yesterday, Mayor Ingrid Sheldon and SNRE Prof.
Bunyan Bryant celebrated the 52nd anniversary of the United Nations.
SNRE Po. .speaks
to kikofU.N.Da
By Steve Horwitz
Daily Staff Reporter
SNRE Prof. Bunyan Bryant, fresh
from an international conference in
Australia on environmental justice
and global ethics, kicked off United
Nations Day yesterday with a speech
about his experiences.
Bryant outlined his speech by
talking about the five themes he
learned at the recent conference. He
said the development of third world
countries could lead to increased
environmental threats.
A paramount concern to environ-
mental justice advocates is "the dis-
mantling of environmental protec-
tion laws as developing nations
begin to industrialize," Bryant said.
He also said nation-states in devel-
oping nations have been abdicating
sonie of their power to big business.
This is also dangerous because "one
reason governments came into power
was to prevent corporations from
growing out of control," he said.
Such shifts could cause "a runaway
market with no control."
The world's environmental balance
also is affected by the strength of
many industrial nations, Bryant said.
"Global restructuring contributes
to the growth and development (of
industrializing nations) and at the
same time contributes to the green-
house effect," Bryant said.
The United States has six percent of
the world's population, but creates 30-
40 percent of the world's pollution.
Serious environmental threats would
increase if developing nations emit
pollution at similar rates, Bryant said.
Changing eating habits can coun-
teract these changes. Bryant said peo-
ple should eat "ethically without sacri-
ficing our quality of life." For exam-
ple, cows are inefficient producers
and pose some resource problems.
"Just eat the grain. Don't feed it to
the cows and then eat the cows," he
said, noting that it takes 15 pounds of
grain to generate one pound of beef
for human consumption.
Some audience members disagreed
with Bryant's assessment. LSA junior
Matt Harris said not everyone needs to
take such drastic measures.
"I don't think that in orderto save
the environment, everyone has to be
a vegetarian," Harris said.
Inequality in environmental justice
needs to be overcome, Bryant
argued. He said industrial nations
have stricter waste-disposal laws than
developing nations. As a result, many
companies ship waste to third world
nations, which dispose of it danger-
ously. Bryant said that in some coun-
tries, waste disposal is a critical issue.
"We are producing lots of waste in
this country and trying to move it into
third world communities in our country,
or shipping them to third world com-
munities across the pond," Bryant said.
The United Nations should play a
critical role in combating such multi-
national problems, Bryant said.
"We need to make the U.N. more
effective. They have a lot of moral prin-
ciples, but its hard for them to imple-
ment these principles because they
don't have much power," Bryant said.
Finally, Bryant stressed the impor-
tance of bringing about nonviolent
change in the world.
Amy Heinrich, a pastor for the First
Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor,
said she enjoyed Bryant's speech,
adding that the United States is the
benefactor of an unfair situation.
"We are on the upper end of an
unjust equation," Heinrich said. "I
would have liked more direction -
how can we be more involved; what
can we do as concerned global citi-
zens," Heinrich said.
The speech was sponsored by the
Church Women United and the
Ecumenical Center as part of their
International Forum Luncheon.
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