s 76-DAILY ertlsing: 764-0554 CAOW Unor One hundred seven years ofeditorialfreedom Wednesday March 11,1998 WE MSA Mac 1" "a 1Pti tudents kick off MSA amp aign By Kristin Wright Daily Staff Reporter Flashy posters, flyers and catchy slogans are beginning to litter lec- ture halls and the Diag as aspiring politicians kicked off their cam- paigns yesterday for seats on the Michigan Student Assembly. But this winter's candidates say ir campaign strategies will be more focused on personal contact than postings this election season. Defend Affirmative Action Party candidate Nora Coleman said she is relying on networking to win an LSA representative seat on the assembly. "I think it's more effective to get in better touch with representatives ther than just walking by and vot- on a face or a poster," said Coleman, an LSA first-year stu- dent. "While posters are good in that they get your name out, it does- n't really do much or say much." MSA presidential candidate Ryan Friedrichs, who is running as an independent, said his campaign strategy is to form direct and per- sonal contact with voters. "Mainly, it's person-to-person tact," said Friedrichs, an LSA junior who chairs the MSA Communications Committee. Friedrichs said he will personally visit residence halls, students' hous- es and college student government meetings to reach out to students. Michigan Party candidate Joseph See MSA, Page 2 KING THEMSELVES KNOWN MSA Rate change could hurt student loans ® Interest rate changes could cause lenders to stop offering loans By Peter Romer-Friedman Daily Staff Reporter A possible decrease in the interest rate of federally funded student loans could actually hurt students in the long run. The change may cause lenders who fund federally guaranteed student loans to pull out of the industry, creating a short- age of student loans across the nation. Unless Congress changes the Higher Education Act, which in part determines the interest rate on all fed- eral student loans, the interest rate will drop from 7.8 percent to 7 per- cent, potentially influencing lenders to not offer loans. "Some lenders will pull out of the student loan program. You will see a diminishing of loan funds for students," said Denise Rossitto, manager of cor- porate communications for Sallie Mae, a corporation that helps fund the Federal Family Education Loan pro- gram, known as the guaranteed loan program. Rossitto said 6,000 lenders have left the loan industry, in recent years because the profit return isn't high enough. Congress has the ability to end this trend by providing a 7.65 interest rate when it discusses the reauthorization of the act next Wednesday, Rossitto said. The federally guaranteed loans funded by lenders are not offered at the University. But if enough lenders pull out of the guaranteed loan indus- try, it would increase demand for the direct loans used by University stu- dents. Congress "has recognized that this is a problem," Rossitto said. "We're confi- dent that this will be solved so that stu- dents and lenders will be content, and the program can stay as healthy as it is now. But it may take more than optimism to salvage the loan program since legis- lators and lenders hold such different outlooks on the loan rate. Rossitto said many legislators are advocating a 7- percent rate, which could save each public college or university student who takes out a loan $650 per year. U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Flint) spoke with committee members yes- terday to develop a solution to satis- fy students and lenders, said Christopher Mansour, Kildee's chief of staff. "He's trying to find the best rate for the students while keeping the lenders in the program," Mansour said. "We're close to getting something solid here, but it's always subject to blow up at any second," he said. David Longanecker, assistant sec- retary for post-secondary education in the Department of Education, informed Congress this past Thursday that for lenders to make a profit, they must provide short-term return for lenders. "Under this alternative approach, stu- dent interest rates will be tied to the 91- day Treasury Bill rate -the same bench- mark used currently - rather than to the 10- to 20-year note used in the scheduled change," Longanecker said. His "proposal would reduce lender costs, because the use of this bench- mark would more closely match their own financing practices," Longanecker said. Thomas Butts, the University's asso- ciate vice president for government relations, said the interest rate has a more direct on Wayne State University, Hope College, Kalamazoo College and Michigan State University, where stu- dents have guaranteed loans. AORIANA VUGOVICH/Daly LSA Rep. Ryan Friedrichs, an LSA junior who is running for Michigan Student Assembly president, sits atop a kiosk while posting a flyer announcing his campaign. ig Ten for Katie Plona ly Staff Reporter he Big Ten Conference has followed the iversity's lead by forming a wrestling task force to rove the safety of collegiate wrestling and forward lective recommendations to the NCAA. he Big Ten Conference embraced our recom- Wttions and made a task force," Associate Athletic ector Peggy Bradley-Doppes said at yesterday's ard in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics meeting. hey not only embraced them, they strengthened the ommendations." e Big Ten task force is making the University's ommendations more specific. For instance, task ms wrestling task force I force members said wrestlers cannot exercise in a room where the temperature exceeds 79 degrees. The schools hope to make these changes permanent by forwarding them to the NCAA and USA Wrestling, a national wrestling organization. The NCAA will review their own changes at its annual Wrestling Committee meeting in April. Michigan Athletic Director Tom Goss initially formed a University wrestling task force soon after the Dec. 9 death of Michigan wrestler Jefferey Reese, a Kinesiology junior. Reese died after enduring a stren- uous workout during which he wore a rubber suit to help him shed pounds and qualify for a lower weight class. The Athletic Department instituted changes in the Michigan wrestling program shortly after Reese's sud- den death, including banning the use of rubber suits, changing weigh-in times before meets and imple- menting long-term educational components in the program. In mid-January, the NCAA supported the University's changes by enforcing nearly all of the same restrictions at schools across the country. Bradley-Doppes is joined by Michigan wrestling coach Dale Bahr and assistant wrestling coach Joe McFarland to represent the University on the task force. Wrestling coaches at each Big Ten school serve See WRESTLING, Page 7 Racial graffiti found in Markley Pell [* A 1- 4 Y" ? Racial epithets raise concerns of increased racial tension on campus By Nika Schulte Daily Staff Reporter Continuing a string of vandalism inci- dents at Mary Markley Residence Hall this year, the door to the room of two female black residents was marked with racial and sexual epithets last month. A paper posted on the door was cov- ered with two swastika symbols, the word "nigger" and the phrase "two stu- pid bitches." "This is intolerable," said T. Rose Roane, coordinator of resident educa- tion at Markley. "It is not OK even if it was only joking or playing around. It's never OK to do that kind of thing." Alan Levy, director of Housing pub- lic affairs, said there is not enough others,, Although there are no suspects, Roane said Housing security is still investigating the incident, and she hopes someone will come forward with information about the perpetrators. Markley staff members are planning a program to discuss these types of racially motivated incidents. "We are scheduling a program build- ingwide. It is not based on this incident specifically, but it will provide an opportunity to discuss hate crimes and hate speech," she said. "Students are ready to talk about it, address it - not sweep it under the rug." Engineering first-year student Aneesha Raines said she doesn't feel threatened by the incident and is very disappointed that these types of occur- rences are taking place. "I don't feel in danger, but it upsets me." she said. "I can't believe these SARA STILLMAN/Daily Rachel Onuf works at the Clements library yesterday to archive the library's collections of manuscripts and letters by and relating to women. Library to index role o women in history By Sarah Welsh For the Daily Yellowed letters and dusty fami- ly albums can signify old memo- ries to family, but such documents are also essential to historians try- ing to get a clearer picture of the past. "People don't know that their stuff is valuable," said Rachel Onuf, director of the new Women in History project at the Clements Library, which, by coincidence, library's holdings on women. "It's a luxury to be able to spend all day reading manuscripts," Onuf said. The collections include letters, photographs, theater programs and newspaper clippings of women throughout history. In current library indexes, such documents are usually lumped under the category "family corre- spondence," with no description of the content. This oversight renders much of the I I i I