LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 3 k.RIME ligihtbulbs stolen by child The Department of Public Safety received a call on Friday stating that an -year-old child stole a light bulb am the Argus I building on West William Street, DPS reports indicate. . The caller said the boy, after remov- ing the bulb from its socket, left the 'building and threw the bulb on the ground. When the bulb broke, the VatIer said the boy screamed "I am the .cat and I am here to steal." -Reports do not indicate whether the boy was apprehended. mily feud ecomes violent Washtenaw County police dispatch- ers called DPS on Saturday afternoon Iq Ueport that a woman turned herself in to Washtenaw County Police for assaulting her mother, DPS reports state. e mother told DPS that her .daughter struck her while they were in M-18 parking structure on East edical Center Drive. The report does not indicate whether any physical injuries occurred during the fight. I )PS officers reporting to the scene fied a report, but the mother said she did not want to press charges. Dining hall mishap with tray jures employee >DPS received a call from Couzens Residence Hall this past Saturday .porting that an employee accidental- Jy pulled a dinner tray onto her head in the Couzens dining hall kitchen, DPS reports state. The caller said the injured employ- echad a cut on her head, and told the 91. dispatcher the cut needed stitch- But he said the bleeding was nder control and an ambulance was not needed. DPS called the M-Works clinic, ani a clinic employee escorted the in.pred worker to M-Works to recive medical attention. The injured employee returned to work .shortly thereafter. Patient steals ental tools from Dentistry building A School of Dentistry employee called DPS on Friday to report that a .pan who had undergone dental work in the building may have stolen some dental tools, DPS reports indicate. Officers reporting to the scene confirmed that equip- ent was stolen. Officers discovered the 46-year- old suspect had an outstanding war- rant for failure to pay child support. He.was arrested and transported to prison for attempted larceny from a building and evading paternity pay- 1ments. Radioactive material exposed gi med. building A researcher in the Medical Science Research Building called DPS on Friday to report that someone left -aioactive material exposed in a mom. The caller was worried about his posure to the material. DPS contacted the University's Occupational Safety and nvronmental Health office to inquire out the possible effects of radioac- tive exposure. OSEH employees reported to the scene and investigated the incident. They said there was no chance the caller was exposed to the ,material. Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Jason Stoffer House committee passes higher ed. bill By Mike Spahn Daily Staff Reporter The House Committee on Education and the Workforce came to the conclusion of a lengthy debate last week when it passed the reauthoriza- tion of the Higher Education Act. The act sets interest rates on the college and uni- versity loans known as guaranteed loans. These are funded by private banks but are subsidized by the federal government. The committee decided to set interest rates for students with guaranteed loans at 6.93 percent while in school and 7.43 percent after graduation. David Foy, spokesperson for Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Calif.), who chairs of the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, Training, and Lifelong Learning, said the deal drew strong bi-partisan support, passing by a vote of 38-3. "You're never satisfied with a compromise, but these were the best numbers we could get," Foy said. "This keeps student loan rates as low as they can get. It will help students repay loans while keeping the programs alive." Bill McCarthy, press secretary for the Committee on Education and the Workforce, said this is the most important bill the committee will pass this term. "This has been a priority for this committee and this Congress," McCarthy said. "We made this the top legislative priority." Thomas Butts, associate vice president for gov- ernment relations, said he is pleased with the con- clusion of the committee's work. "We're pleased that they completed their work," Butts said. "We're looking forward to the Senate." If Congress does not re-approve the act by July 1, interest rates on some student loans will drop to 6.86 percent, which would make it infeasible for lenders to continue offering the guaranteed loan programs. But lenders, who worried they would lose prof- its and be forced to bail out of loan programs, will receive .5 percent more funding if they stay in the industry that will be provided by the federal gov- ernment. "The lenders are still not happy with it," Foy said. "They're not jumping up and down with joy, but we believe they will stay." McCarthy said studies completed by the com- mittee show that these rates will keep the lenders in the program. "We think that for the most part, they will (con- tinue to give loans)," McCarthy said. Butts said the lenders probably will continue to give loans with this agreement, but the additional funding for them may be hard to find. "The big challenge on that front is winning Appropriations (Committee) funding," Butts said. The Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources is scheduled to begin debating this issue April 1. Butts said the House committee made the decision to cut loan rates and he hopes the Senate agrees. "The House decided the students should receive the lowered student interest rates. I hope we won't have to fight that battle again," Butts said. Improvements on the program can be made in the Senate and in the Senate's conference commit- tee, Butts said. He said the exclusion of funding for the Javits Scholarship for Arts and Humanities was one area the University hopes to see change. "There may be additional flexibility in student loans," Butts said. "There is possibility of addi- tional improvements in the Senate." The act will also increase the availability and size of Pell grants, which, Foy said, gives students grants that are not particular to a specific school. McKeon also proposed a bill that will require the federal government to study and issue reports on the costs of regulation on colleges. Bhatia, Lanier to take reins of LSA1Student Government MALLORY S.E. FLOYD/Daily Michelle Smith, of the U.S. Department of Treasury speaks to former Public Policy Dean Edward Gramlich, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, at a panel In Rackham Amphitheater yesterday. Poli1cy reps. di*scus medi*a -1coveragev By Lee Palmer and Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud Daily Staff Reporter Geeta Bhatia and Gregg Lanier were elected LSA Student Government pres- ident and vice president, respectively, after beating their nearest opponents by nearly 600 votes. The Students' Party swept the pres- idency, vice presidency and eight of the nine representative spots. Michigan Party presidential and vice- presidential candidates Pac Man Shuen and David Silver received 605 votes to Bhatia and Lanier's 1,180. New Frontier Party candidates Conrad DeWitte and Jonathan Voigt received 201 votes. Bhatia and Lanier said they are looking forward to their tenure in LSA-SG, whose role is primarily in academics. Unifying the government is the first order of business, Bhatia said. "We want to bring everyone togeth- er," Bhatia said. "We all ran under par- ties but regardless of how we got elect- ed, we all have the same goal and we need to focus on that." Bhatia and Lanier currently are working with LSA Assistant Dean David Schoem to improve departmental student clubs and their relations with departmental committees. "We're going to establish the network Mdce Medicine we were campaigning on," Bhatia said. "We want to strengthen the clubs to have student representation on depart- mental committees" Although campaigning was gruel- ing, student voters offered valuable input on how to improve LSA, Lanier said. "Campaigning was time-consuming, but worth the while because I got the chance to meet a lot of LSA students and hear their ideas," Lanier said. "I don't think name recognition helped that much. It was the contacts we've already made through the projects we've been working on. Many newly elected representatives said they have concrete plans on how to improve the academic life of stu- dents. Incoming Michigan Party repre- sentative Laurie Linden, an LSA first- year student, said her goals are focused on projects that her constituents have requested. "My first plan will be diving into this foreign language requirement," Linden said. "I also want to see some of the -man visits academic advising improved. I want to look into extending the drop/add dead- line." The top point-recipient was LSA sophomore Rupa Patel, who said she had the edge in the campaign because she is an incumbent. "Elections are a fun, yet a very tedious, time-consuming and some- times unfair process," Patel said. "I've worked really hard this year as chair of the appointments commit- tee." Patel said she and fellow student representatives plan to establish an LSA "ambassador program" that would appoint students to represent different student groups on the assembly. These students would not be able to vote, but they would provide the neces- sary communication link between the student government and the more than 400 LSA student groups on campus, Patel said. Members of the New Frontier Party were unavailable for comment yesterday. campus "We're going to establish the network we were campaigning on." - Geeta Bhatia LSA Student Government president-elect By Mike Spahn Daily Staff Reporter Journalists had the tables turned on them yesterday as their coverage of monetary policy was critiqued and discussed by the people they write about every day. Representatives from four major publications met with individuals from major financial institutions in the Rackham Amphitheater to dis- cuss ways to improve coverage of economic issues in the United States and abroad. One of the central issues debated was accessibility to information about the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the body that con- trols the country's monetary policy. David Wessel, chief economic cor- respondent for The Wall Street Journal, said the closed meetings and refusal of members of the board to dis- cuss policy keeps him from accurately reporting all the actions of the Fed. "We are unable, by the current method, to describe what the Fed is arguing about," Wessel said. Fed Chair Alan "Greenspan should take questions from the press." The Fed currently releases the min- utes of meetings six weeks after the fact and announces the results of the meetings right after the decisions are made. But members of the board are reluctant to discuss any sort of policy. Former University Public Policy Dean Edward Gramlich, now a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system, said a certain amount of privacy is required for the Fed to complete their duties. "None of us are against transparen- cy, but it becomes hard to (make poli- cy) if the glare is too bright," Gramlich said. The Fed has opened some doors for reporters during the Greenspan era, Gramlich said. "The Fed has made a lot of changes in the last few years," Gramlich said. "We would like to be open." Wessel said it is obvious why the Fed has to meet in closed session, but that he is not sure why the Fed discussed some other issues behind closed doors. "It's not obvious to me why the Fed doesn't explain why they didn't move interest rates," Wessel said. "It's not obvious to me why the chairman doesn't sit down with the 20 or so reporters that cover the Fed and have an on the record interview." Zanny Beddoes, economic corre- spondent for The Economist, said her concern is with the Fed's plan for future monetary policy. "The goal of the Fed is not made clear," Beddoes said. The current Asian economic crisis has afforded many reporters an opportunity to show skills in cover- ing monetary policy. Klas Bergman, chief of media relations for the World Bank, said he has been impressed with media cov- erage of the crisis so far. "The American media has covered it very well," Bergman said. Professor lectures about alternative medicine to a crowded Rackham Auditorium last night By Heather Wiggin Daily Staff Reporter Alternative medicine has made a big impression on Americans in recent years, and La Salud, a public health stu- dent association, presented topics in the field of traditional herbal treatments last night. A crowd of about 500 people attended the event, titled "A Real Life Medicine Man," in Rackham Auditorium. "La Salud is a public health organization that tries to increase latino issues in School of Public Health issues," said Public Health fourth-year student Ann-Gel Palermo. The discussion featured Eloy Rodriguez, a professor of environmental studies from Cornell University. Rodriguez is a chemist who studies ecosystems worldwide in an attempt to understand the medicinal properties of plants. Rodriguez opened his presentation by recalling a time he once worked as a migrant worker in Michigan. "One of my worst moments as a human was as a migrant worker," Rodriguez said. "When you treat people worse than you treat your own dogs, memories like that never leave you." But the experience left Rodriguez "very involved in the quest for knowledge." Throughout his college education, Rodriguez said he had a deep interest in organic chemistry and plant biology. "But I always kept in the back of my mind my interest in traditional herbal medicine." Rodriguez said he believes that women are the ones "that really get down to the business of growing herbal medi- cines." He said he hopes to see a cooperative effort between researchers and the indigenous people who practice natural medicine. "I think it was growing up as a chicano in Texas where I was cured by women," Rodriguez said. "I was cured by herbs and religious magical ways:' Rodriguez said this area of research is exciting because it is multi-disciplinary and has great medical potential if com- bined with solid scientific evidence. "There are still many new miracle plants coming out of the rain forest" Rodriguez said. But not all herbal medications are quickly embraced by mainstream pharmaceutical industries, Rodriguez said. "Most plants do not produce drugs that will make phrma- ceutical companies happy." Much of the work Rodriguez has done has been in the Amazon region. He said he tells his students, "if you're going to pick field research, don't pick the city dump of Ann Arbor-- go to the Amazon." New species of plants are constantly being discovered in the splendid diversity of the Amazon, which provides a "multi-layer of natural products" and can be used as herbal medications, Rodriguez said. Rodriguez has spent time studying the diets of animals such as monkeys, which cure their own ailments such as malaria and parasites by feeding on a specific plants. Correction: 9 The dates of an exhibition on the environment sponsored by the Michigan League were changed to April 2-April 24. Submissions will be accepted until April 1. ILIII' LLN L All What's happening I An Arbor today GROUP MEETINGS Q Cleptomaniacs and Shoplifters Anonymous, 913-6990, First Baptist Church, 512 E. Huron St., Room 102, 7-8:30 p.m. U Free Mumia Coalition/ARA, 763- 7335, Modern Languages Building, Room 129, 7 p.m. ULSA Student Government, 647- 8i3 [SA Ruilding Room 2003. Holocaust," Sponsored by South Quad Bible Study, South Quad, Ambatana Lounge, 8-10 p.m. ® "Orion Language Tour," Sponsored by Environmental Theme Semester, Michigan League, Vandenberg Room, 8 p.m. J "Residence Hall Repertory Theatre presents: 'RACE ATTACKS'," Sponsored by University Housing _ Division, East Quad, 9 p.m. SERVICES U Campus Information Centers, 763- INFO, info@umich.edu, and www.umich.edu/-info on the World Wide Web U HIV/AIDS Testing, 572-9355, HARC offices, 3075 Clark Rd., Suite 203, Ypsilanti, 6-9 p.m. U Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley Lobby. 8 o.m.- 1:30 a.m.