LOCAL/S TATE

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 19, 1998 - 5A

*ReCent study
to examme
trends of youth
*tobacco use
By Heather Wiggin
Daily Staff Reporter
Amidst nationwide debate about tobacco, a new
study conducted at the University's School of
Public Health has received a $500,000 grant to
examine current trends in youth tobacco use.
"Basically, we're trying to understand why
some kids smoke and some don't," said Public
Health Prof. Peter Jacobson.
Jacobson will conduct research with health
management and policy Prof. Kenneth Warner.
"I'm focusing on children because I think that
in the long run if we can discourage kids from
smoking, we can reduce smoking in the country,"
Jacobson said.
The study also will address how to reduce the use of
tobacco products by children.
"We think that from a public health perspective, we
need to do a better job of preventing youth smoking,"
SJacobson said.
Jacobson said he plans to pursue government
intervention through policy changes by doing
interviews with other tobacco-control advocates,
health care personnel and policy makers.
"If we can make a difference through this pro-
ject, it will be worth the effort," Jacobson said.
"Anything we can do to reduce youth smoking is
good."
One way to prevent children from smoking may
be to get their role models, especially their par-
Wts, to quit smoking, Jacobson said.
"We're also thinking about seeing if any youth
smoking cessation programs work," Jacobson said.
"We want to find out what kinds of interventions are
being tried.
"I want to reassess whether we're using the right
tactics or whether there are other alternatives that we
might consider," Jacobson said.

East Quad to pick
up new elevator

PAUL TALANIAN/Daily
A clerk at OAZA convenience store on East University Avenue checks a customer's identification. Under
Michigan state law, anyone under 18 years old may not purchase tobacco products.

Each day, 000 children try their first cigarette,
Jacobson. said.
The number of minors experimenting with tobacco
is still increasing.
LSA sophomore Ryan Ismirle said he has never
smoked but that many of his friends started smoking
because they thought it was "cool".
"I think what's happening is kids are smoking at
younger agcs." Jacobson said.
"Not nany people start smoking at (age) 20 or
after," he said.
L SA junior Cyn Epler said she began smoking
when she was about 15 years old.
"I wanted to try it -- it wasn't peer pressure,' Epler
said.
"Un fortunately, I enjoyed it way too much when I
started out' she said.
Epler still smokes today, but said she plans to
quit soon because "it's too expensive and it's not a
habit you want to keep for the rest of your life."

Jacobson said he wants to find ways to limit the
availability of tobacco to minors.
"The local government should be able to license
cigarette vendors and remove their license if they sell
to kids," Jacobson said.
Jacobson added that if researchers are serious about
determining the causes of youth tobacco use, they
must find innovative ways to approach the problem of
underage smoking.
I want to "find ways to put pressure on the tobacco
industry," Jacobson said.
"If we keep at it, they'll have to respond," he said.
Johnson said he believes his research will be
well-received by members of the medical commu-
nity.
"In general, I'll get considerable support,"
Jacobson said.
"The opposition will come from researchers
who believe focusing on children is a bad idea,"
he said.

® Elevator to make East
Quad more accessible to
disabled students.
By Sarah Welsh
For the Daily
While students living in residence
halls often lose sleep over loud music in
the next room,students dwelling in East
Quad Residence Hall will soon face
another distraction that has been more
than five years in the planning - the
construction of a new elevator to make
the hall more accessible to handicapped
students.
The lengthy construction, which
began yesterday, "would always coin-
cide with the academic year, so we tried
to pick the most convenient times for
the student academic calendar," said
Patty Griffin, Coordinator of Residence
Education for East Quad. "Hopefully
most of the noise from demolition will
happen during spring break."
Griffin has notified students that
the building's empty classrooms are
available for studying, and she
encouraged them to contact her if
they feel the noise is excessive.
This project, funded by the College
of Literature, Science and the Arts and
University Housing, will bring East
Quad in line with federal regulations
governing building accessibility for the
disabled.
The only existing elevator in the
building is small, unreliable and pro-
vides limited access, Griffin said.
"I have so many horror stories," said
John Targowski, an RC student and
wheelchair user who lived in East Quad
for two years. "I got stuck for 20 min-
utes. They've had to call the fire depart-
ment ... It's a very old elevator and it
doesn't feel safe," he said.
Alan Levy, director of Housing pub-
lic affairs, called the building "at best,
marginally accessible ... We have an
obligation, legally and ethically, to pro-
vide opportunities (to disabled stu-
dents):
East Quad is of particular concern to
Housing officials because it houses two
living-learning programs - the

Residential College and Inteflex. The
residence requirements and selective
admission for these programs make
access to East Quad synonymous with q
access to educational opportunities.
"I expected the University to provide
adequate access," Targowski said of his
decision to enroll in the RC. "After liv-
ing there a while, I figured out that it
wasn't exactly what it could be."
Targowski brought his grievances
to the coordinator of residence edu-
cation, Services for Students with,
Disabilities and Universit$
President Lee Bollinger. His voice
joined more than five years of
requests made to LSA and Housing,
- both of which have been trying to
budget funding for the elevator pro-
ject and were unable to do so until!
now.
The construction began with the r
demolition of a stairwell in the south
end of East Quad. Since a new elevator-
shaft and machine room must be con'
structed before the lift can be installed
the expected date of completion is Oct ,
31.
Some residents are skeptical about
the project. Students were told the cur- 4
rent elevator is difficult to fix, but the;
issue of access for the disabled was not
mentioned.
"I think it's kind of a waste of i
money. They should just fix the oldi
one," said Kerry Girardin, an RC
sophomore.
Other residence halls on campus also
present difficulties for the disabled, but
the relevant laws only require "program
accessibility," a term that applies to liv-r
ing-learning programs but not to tradi-,.
tional residence halls.
For those residence halls, students
merely have to be presented with a
"reasonable range of options."
In terms of accessibility for the dis-_
abled, "West Quad is abysmal," said
Sam Goodin, director of Services for,
Students with Disabilities. This was
an important factor in the decision to,
move the Undergraduate Research
Opportunities In-Residence Program
from West Quad to Mosher Jordan
Residence Hall.

I

A room with a view

MILE prepares
leaders, promotes
cultural interaction

By Susan T. Port
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has always been
known as a research institution but has
never tried a research project such as
Multicultural Initiatives for Leadership
Education.
The Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives is sponsoring
this new program in an attempt to build
bridges between different ethnic groups
on campus.
In the MILE program, students partic-
ipate in cross-cultural interaction, includ-
ing mentoring from peers and research
about different minority groups.
The emphasis is on training students to
become future leaders and to change the
climate of the University.
Marie Ting, who helped create the
program, said students participating in
the program are willing to research and
have a sincere interest in how the
University campus is affected by diver-
sity and critical thought.
"The creation and implementation of
MILE is very timely in that (University
President Lee) Bollinger is always
encouraging the U-M community to
'suspend belief' and I believe the MILE
is a program which does precisely that,"
said Ting, a program coordinator for the
Office of Academic Multicultural
Initiatives.
LSA junior Saladin Ahmed, one of
MILE's 12 participants, said the pro-
gram trains students'to become leaders
in their communities. Ahmed said he

decided to participate in MILE because
of the sense of community it instills
within the students.
"There are a lot of like-minded peo-
ple, but (the group is) diverse enough to
get a different perspective," Ahmed
said. "We are helping to instill a real
sense of community on this campus."
Director of the Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives John Matlock
said a lot of hard work has been put into
the program.
"I am a firm believer in starting
things out small and work out the bugs
more in the next step," Matlock said.
Matlock said the pilot program has a lot
of potential for success. MILE can serve
"as a model that others can use,' he said.
"We want continuous input" Matlock
said. "Everybody learns from this."
LSA first-year student Avani Sheth
said she decided to participate in MILE
because of its focus on building closer
bonds among minority student organi-
zations and exploring issues of ethnic
diversity.
"I was especially drawn to the pro-
gram," Sheth said. "The direction it
could go is so amazing to think."
Office of Academic Multicultural
Initiatives Program Coordinator Tara
Young, who helped create the program,
said MILE is about self discovery.
Young said students will learn from lis-
tening to different students' experi-
ences.
"We are committed to crossing cultur-
al boundaries; Young said.

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Five-year-old Ida Zago looks at the room-size installation created from
photographs of Amsterdam houses in the Slusser Gallery on North Campus
yesterday.
U'provide c.. ild
care to em loyeos

r Carly Southworth
Daily Staff Reporter
Many working parents are forced to
skip a day of work to stay home with a
sick child - but they are not University
employees.
Kids Kare at Home now gives
University employees the option of
leaving a sick child at home with a
trained caretaker provided by the
University.
* Since the beginning of January, the
University's Family Care Resources
Program has directed the Kids Kare
pilot program. The program has con-
tracted the agency Friends Who Care to
provide the caregivers.
"Friends Who Care is a Medicare-
certified home health agency with a
home office in Southfield and branches
across the state," said Maxine Jones, an
-ddministrator at Friends Who Care.
Friends Who Care screen the Kids
Kare workers. The University also pro-
vides workers with additional training in
child development and pediatric illness.
The cost of the service is $14 per
hour with a minimum usage of a four-
hour time block. The University foots

Kare, totaing almost 200 hours of ser-
vice as a group.
Ellen Abramson, the School of
Busines. A dmin istraton'associate
director of development, is a working
mother who has already taken advan-
tage oft the rvice.
Abramson said she and her husband
have struggled to find care options during
the day when their two children are sick.
"When you don't hae grandmas and
other relaives in the are, there are no
options," Abramson said. "neighbors
are working. Friends have their own
kids. Thi i i: final) an option.'
Abramson said parents need not be
con crne 'bout having a stranger in
their home with their cildren.
Kids Kare held rn open meeting in
the Michigan Union in January to give
parents a chance to meet the caregivers.
The program directors said they hoped
this would make parents feel more
comfortable.
"The caregivers and the program total-
ly exceeded my expectAtions, Abramson
said. "I felt like these people weren't
strangers. It was not hard for me to let
these neonle care fr my children."

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