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One hundred seven years of editorialfreedom
Friday
March 20, 1998
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aonily Staff Reporter
Voter turnout up
20
percent
By Gerard CohenVrignaud
Daily Staff Reporter
About 18 percent of University
students voted in this week's
Michigan Student Assembly elec-
tions - 1,000 more than voted last
winter, according to estimates by
MSA officials last night.
Elections Director Rajeshri Gandhi
said official numbers and election
results should be released today.
Gandhi said various factors con-
tributed to the increase in student voting.
"I think the increased publicity, the
diversity of the candidates and the
online voting all contributed to people
being more active in this election," said
Gandhi, an Education senior.
The high level of attention given to
campaign issues, such as affirmative
action and efforts to gain a student
regent, may have been a source of the
rise in student participation.
"With the recent campus issues,
activism has increased and voting is a
simple and effective way to join the move-
ment," Gandhi said.
Many candidates attributed the rise in
voter participation to the ease of com-
puter voting, which was instituted last
winter. In addition to voting online, stu-
dents were able to read about the candi-
dates' platforms on Websites.
This year's election season has been
very focused, with candidates relying
more on issue stances than campaign
gimmicks.
"I think the online voting has a lot to
do with it because it makes the voting
process more accessible to everyone, and
it removes the excuse that you can't
interact with candidates;' said LSA first-
year student Nora Coleman, an indepen-
dent candidate for MSA representative.
'I think it's been a much more posi-
tive campaign," said LSA sophomore
Heidi Lubin, an independent candidate
running for MSA representative. "It's
been focused on projects. I think that
people are getting used to an MSA that
works with students and administration
to get things done."
The convenience of online ballot-
ing has meant that students are more
willing to put forth the effort to vote.
"I think it's really good because it
allows students to vote at a more conve-
nient time" said LSA first-year student
Craig Garthwaite. "It gives you the time
to go through and do it at my own pace."
LSA junior Ferris Hussein said his
campaign to become MSA president has
managed to get more votes out from the
University's fraternities and sororities.
"I think we've been able to shake
things up," said Hussein, who is run-
ning as an independent candidate.
"We've forced people to face certain
issues that are important to everyone
on campus."
Candidates continued campaigning
See TURNOUT, Page 2
Voter turnout:
Winter 1997: 15 percent total
turnout
Fall 1997: 12 percent turnout
Winter 1998: An estimated 18
percent turnout
Reasons for Increase:
Online voting
Availability of candidates'
platforms
® Increased interest in issues,
including affirmative action and
student regent proposal
* Increased publicity
The American
Booksellers
ssociation and 25 independent
okstores have filed a lawsuit in a
.S. District Court accusing Barnes
Noble and Borders Group, Inc. of
aging in illegal pricing prac-
The lawsuit, filed in California on
ednesday, claims the two national
ains are using their market power to
ssure publishers into granting them
ial discounts and privileges. It also
leges that Borders and Barnes & Noble
their price advantages to drive inde-
ndent bookstores out of business.
The number of independent book-
Hers has dropped 42 percent between
and 1996, according to an ABA
s release.
"Using market pressure to gain
vored terms in discounts is illegal
der the Robinson-Packman Antitrust
ct," ABA Chief Executive Officer
in Domnitz said. In filing the law-
lit, "we are having the wherewithal to
y we want things to be on a fair play-
g field."
Domnitz said plaintiffs are requesting
ory damages and immediate cessa-
>n of "anticompetitive" activities.
Under California law, if the lawsuit
successful, defendants also may be
quired to pay the state an amount
uivalent to the illegal profits earned
California during the past four
ars.
Barnes & Noble and Borders officials
fused to comment on the lawsuit.
Kate Berkhardt, co-owner of
on Language Bookstore, said the
expansion of large national chains
ith illegal price advantages has driven
tany independent bookstores out of
msiness.
"It's clear that (the chains) are,
atting major discounts and its get-
ng harder for the independent
3okstores to survive," Berkhardt
'id. "There's a network of feminist
okstores (that we're a member of)
has been around for years and
me of them have been closing
wn because of competition from
ain bookstores moving into
wn."
But independent bookstores' inter-
ts do not necessarily coincide with
ose of consumers, said University
California at Los Angeles Law
hool Prof. John Wiley. He said if
BA's allegations are true, and the
wsuit is successful, retail book
* See BOOKSTORES, Page 2
Playing with the future
Board OKs
high-tech
scoreb oards
By Jennifer Yacmin
Daily Staff Reporter
By the start of next year's Michigan football season, both
Michigan Stadium and Crisler Arena will have Internet-com-
patible video screens, replacing the current scoreboards in both
arenas, if a proposal is approved by the University Board of
Regents today.
The Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics passed the
proposal last night.
"The video screens at the stadium are made of a number of
components," said Thomas Cecchini, director of marketing and
communications for the Athletic Department, who organized
the prposal.
The project's components include the installation of video
scoreboards - two large boards in Michigan Stadium and four
smaller boards that will replace the current dot matrix boards at
Crisler - along with Internet capability and production facili-
ties, Cecchini said.
The total cost of the system is estimated at $7.9 million.
But unlike other universities with similar video systems,
the University will not accept advertisements to adorn the
new boards
"This will be an Athletic Department venture. We will take
funds from the resources and reserves we currently have;'
Athletic Director Tom Goss said. "There will be no scoreboard
advertising in Michigan Stadium.
"Michigan is one of the two (college) stadiums we know of
to have no commercialism in their stadiums. We think it is crit-
ical that we maintain a commercialism-free stadium," he said.
Goss said the cost of the new arena system will not hinder the
progression of other projects currently planned within the
Athletic Department.
"We see this as a revenue stream that will enable us to
accomplish some of the other priorities on the project list,"
Goss said.
Alumni will be offered Internet subscriptions, which will
allow them to view game replays, coach interviews and high-
lights from Michigan's athletic history. The site should gen-
See SCOREBOARD, Page 7
PAUL TALANIAN/Daily
Computer engineering senior Chanda Spence and Derrick Scott, director of the University's Minority Engineering Program, check out
screens inside miniature fax machines that work in conjunction with phones. The Motorola Expo held in the EECS Building on North
Campus yesterday featured several new technological products on display. See story, page 3.
I
Conviction made
ii Budzyn retrial
udge to sentence.
rmer Detroit police
fficer on April 17
DETROIT (AP) - A white police
ficer was found guilty of involuntary
anslaughter yesterday at his retrial for
e flashlight beating death of a black
otorist, as jurors opted not to convict
m of murder again.
alter Budzyn had faced second-
tee murder charges after his 1993
cond-degree murder conviction for
lalice Green's death was overturned in
irt because the jury watched "Malcolm
" during a break in deliberations.
The case had highlighted racial ten-
ons in the city, and jurors in the first
jal were aware of fears that violence
>uld break out if Budzyn and his part-
r were acquitted.
embers of Green's family hugged
ch other as yesterday's verdict was
nounced and said they were happy
ith the conviction, even though it was
,r a lesser charge.
"That's what I was looking for: the
ord guilty," said Treise Green, Malice
A second-degree murder conviction
would have carried a potential life sen-
tence. Involuntary manslaughter is pun-
ishable by up to 15 years in prison -
but prosecutor Doug Baker suggested
that Budzyn might not be returned to
prison because of the 4 1/2 years he has
already served.
"If that's what the judge seeks to
impose (time served), that would not
upset me," he said.
As the verdict was read, Budzyn
wore the same steely expression he has
kept throughout the month-long trial.
His daughter, Andy Budzyn-Moleski,
started crying and mouthed the word
"why?"
Budzyn declined comment. Jurors
also did not comment.
Green, an unemployed steel work-
er, died Nov. 5, 1992 after a con-
frontation with Budzyn and his part-
ner, Larry Nevers, in front of a crack
house.
In overturning his conviction in July,
the state Supreme Court cited outside
influences to the jury, including the
viewing of "Malcolm X." The' film
opens with videotape of the Rodney
MDS to
close after
18 years of
business
By Reilly Brennan
Daily Staff Reporter
A long-standing and complicated
issue involving a product as simple as
a coursepack, has now caused one
business to shut its doors, closing the
book on one man's lifelong vocation
at the same time.
Michigan Document Service will
be closing at the end of March, near-
ly 18 years after Jim Smith started the
business.
"This is going to hurt students a lot
more than it will hurt me," Smith
said.
Smith said the business is closing as
a result of new copyright laws, which
forced Michigan Document Service to
revamp its focus and, in the process,
lose a majority of its profits.
"I liked what we used to do," Smith
said. "What we have to do now is
completely different. I do not like
what we have been doing in the past
Hopefuls
seek ties
to Lansing
By Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud
Daily StaffReporter
The state Senate Appropriations
Committee's passage of a 3-percent
funding increase for state universities
and colleges Wednesday allowed some
University administrators and students
to breath a sigh of relief.
But some candidates for Michigan
Student Assembly
said students
should be active in
i
t
f
(
f
f
MSA
state government to
ensure the
University's inter-
ests are being
served. -Marc
In February, Gov State
John Engler recom- politiCS
mended a 1.5-per-
cent increase in state funding to the
University, which some administrators
predict would hike student tuition.
The appropriations bill will now
move to the Senate floor for approval,
and then to the House Appropriations
Subcommittee for Higher Education,
NATHAN RUfER/Uaily
People walk by Michigan Document Service on South University Avenue
yesterday. The store will close its doors at the end of March.
selves. Smith said he never agreed
with this process, but implemented it
to follow- the law.
with a lawsuit in 1992 from the
American Association of Publishers,
an organization of more than 250
I
,