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One hundred eight years of editoriaIfreedom
Wednesday
November 25, 1998
Vol I Ill 4j-: ,.lfy heg h
I
New MS
By Jennifer Yachnin
Daily Staff Reporter
Last night newly elected Michigan Student
Assembly representatives were inaugurated, and those
they were replacing said their good-byes.
MSA Treasurer Brain Elias gave a simple farewell
tgmeparting assembly members, "Bye, everyone
1 's leaving."
MSA President Trent Thompson welcomed the
new members, who received educational folders and
descriptions of current assembly projects.
"We appreciate your time spent and everything
you've done for the assembly," Thompson said. He
gave special recognition to out-going Student General
Council Dave Burden, a senior member of the assem-
bly.
'Students to
go to court
Or MIPs
By Nidta Easley
Daily Staff Reporter
Numerous University students had their day in court
yesterday after the Ann Arbor Police Department tick-
eted them for being minors in possession of alcohol
within the past month.
Whether they wore business attire or khakis and
shoes, the atmosphere in the Washtenaw County
courthouse was light yet cautious. Many of the minors
shunned cameras and media.
With many of their parents sitting sternly in the back
of the courtroom, most of the minors sat with smirks
on their faces, dismayed at what they described as the
menial charge forcing them to appear in court.
The Minors in Possession of alcohol tickets the
underage students received could be reported on their
driving records.
Washtenaw County provided the youths the oppor-
tunity to have the charge dismissed. Of the group
harged, only three plead not guilty yesterday.
Individuals who are first offenders can pay $50 in
court costs and $50 to the Spectrum Program, a two-
hour alcohol awareness class.
Once individuals complete the class and all pay-
ments, a judge will review the case again, and the case
will most likely be dismissed.
Second offenders can take advantage of the
Spectrum program and pay the same fees, but their
licenses could still be suspended for 90 to 180 days.
First or second-time offenders who do not complete
*he program or pay court costs will have the offense
reported on their driving record.
One individual who wished to remain anonymous
said his house was raided by the AAPD. The student, a
minor at the University, also said his parents were not
upset with his ticket because they know he is a respon-
sible drinker.
The consensus of many of the minors was that
because of the death of LSA first-year student
Courtney Cantor, and the recent drinking-related death
of a Michigan State University student, the AAPD was
trying to make an example of the Greek system and
Mlege students. Cantor, who died in October after
falling from her sixth-floor Mary Markley Residence
Hall window, was seen drinking at a Phi Delta Theta
fraternity party the night before her death.
One student who received an MIP and who wishes
to remain anonymous said AAPD's efforts to stop
underage drinking have been useless.
"I will just take more steps so that I won't get
caught," he said.
He also said that before today he believed the police
Alabama
T T 1U......., 1 ,
A reps. sworn in
Rather than tears, MSA Vice President Sarah Chopp
was greeted with laughter as she reminded out-going
representatives to clean out their mailboxes.
"You've done great things for the student body,"
Chopp said.
About half of the assembly seats are up for grabs
during the bi-annual elections, in the fall and again in
the spring when president and vice president positions
also are open. The Students' Party currently holds a
plurality on the assembly.
The last act of out-going assembly members
included approving the wording to the assembly's
"Know Your Rights" Card. The card is a joint project
with the Department of Public Safety to produce a
wallet-sized card listing a student's rights when
stopped by police officers in a car or on the street.
"The police at the University are absolutely, posi-
tively here to serve the students," said DPS sergeant
Gary Hicks, who assisted with the project.
The project's organizer, MSA LSA Rep. Mark
Sherer, said the card will be ready for students by the
beginning of the winter '99 semester.
"It'll be a silk screen on vinyl card," Sherer said.
"We don't want it to deteriorate in someone's wallet."
Sherer said the cards will be distributed in the
University residence halls, to student groups and in
the future to incoming students during orientation.
"The cards are for all members of the University
community, but it's geared toward students" Sherer said.
After the completion of the "Know Your Rights"
Card, assembly members will begin work on a "Know
See MSA, Page 2
JESSICA JOHNSON/Dady
University Chief Financial Officer Robert Kasdin speaks to the Michigan Student
Assembly last night.
Foreign students
to join in holiday
By Jairnie Winkder
Daly Staff Reporter
Across campus, students are gearing
up for turkey, mashed potatoes and fami-
ly. On this American holiday, internation-
al students are joining in the celebration
of Thanksgiving.
Edward Broadbridge, a visiting
English professor from Denmark, asked
his students to dig deep into the tradition
of Thanksgiving and write a paper focus-
ing on its modern meaning.
Broadbridge asked questions such as,
What is the connection to family? Why is
it the biggest American holiday? What
does it have to do with harvest?
In researching his paper, LSA sopho-
more Shane Rodriguez discovered some
facts about Thanksgiving that are not
taught in elementary school.
"Its kind of the American holiday
because it's celebrated by anybody and
everybody," lodriguez said.
Broadbridge said he and his family
have been celebrating Thanksgiving in
Denmark, since they fell in love with the
United States more than 15 years ago.
"It was a way of remembering
America, to give thanks to our American
experience," Broadbridge said.
Rodriguez said that although
Thanksgiving uses the traditional story
about helpful Native Americans and
starving Europeans, the actual evolution
of the modern national holiday has little
to do with that story.
The story is traceable to the pilgrims,
but if it were a Puritan holiday, it would
be celebrated by "fasting rather than
feasting" he said.
Rodriguez said former President
Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a
national holiday after the Battle of
Gettysburg to "reunify the union by start-
ing a new national holiday."
And as to the calendar location of the
last Thursday of November, "we have
Lincoln to thank for that," he added.
Rodriguez related teaching the tradi-
tional story in elementary school to
believing in Santa Claus.
Jim Beck, an adviser for the Native
American Students Association, said the
original story was probably not as cut and
dry as that taught to children.
He said there is a long standing tradi-
tion among Native American tribes to
celebrate the harvest with a fall feast.
It is a "chance to get together and have
one last good meal before you have to
run rabbits into the snow," Beck said.
He added he thinks the 4,000-year-old
tradition was in full swing when the
starving Europeans were invited to share
in the feast.
In Puerto Rico, the holiday is very big.
The main difference is in the dinner
where rice is a main dish, said Linette
Rodriguez, a doctoral student from
Puerto Rico.
"We have a lot of our own holidays,
but we celebrate a lot of American holi-
days." Rodriguez said. She added that
she thinks the celebration is sometimes
bigger in Puerto Rico.
Rackham student Jesus Diaz-Vidal of
Spain said the stories told to him by
Americans differed from those taught in
his history classes. The stories he was
taught in class, he said, were not as inter-
esting and happy.
He and his brother plan to spend the
holiday with an American family in
Michigan.
While some students have friends or
family to celebrate with, others do not
have a turkey to call their own.
"Ilm not sure what I should do on
Thanksgiving," said Rackham graduate
student Ali Ungoren, a native of Turkey.
He is considering going to the
Ecumenical Center, which is planning to
pair international students with American
families for the holiday weekend.
Another autumn holiday, similar to
Thanksgiving, occurs in Korea.
LSA senior and Korea native CJ Lee
said that for Thanksgiving he plans to
stuff himself full of turkey.
Thanksgiving also falls near Chusuk, a
Korean holiday during which Koreans
worship ancestors and celebrate harvest
time, he said. He said the holiday follows
the lunar calendar and is placed each year
on the October full moon.
"There is a ritual of making a wish to
the moon for the coming year;' Lee said.
"For Koreans in America it is a time of
celebration," he said, referring to the
Chusuk and Thanksgiving seasons.
Other international students said they
plan to spend the holiday with family.
"My family in England doesn't cele-
brate Thanksgiving;" said LSA sopho-
more Matthew Dore-Weeks, who
See TURKEY, Page 2
An underage person who received a Minor in Possession of alcohol citation hangs his head at the
Washtenaw County Courthouse yesterday. Many of those charged were students.
"/ will just take more steps so that I won't get
ca "
cught."
- A University student who received an MIP citation
were cracking down because of Cantor and the MSU department has ticketed minors in possession of alco-
death. But after the fines minors received, he questions hol long before alcohol-related incidents occurred
if the city and AAPD is profiting from the whole across the state.
ordeal. "We'd written at least 300 tickets up until the under-
Officer Alicia Green of the AAPD said the police cover operations began" Green said.
Thanksgiving in Hawai 'i
promises sun, but not turkey
U *breaks
raCial
gkround
By Sarah Lewis
Daily Staff Reporter
Breaking the mold for southern uni-
versities, the University of Alabama at
Birmingham is scheduled to offer an
undergraduate degree in African
erican studies next year.
ut in light of the fact that the major
will be the only one of its kind among
universities in neighboring states, pro-
fessors said the South may be far
behind some Midwestern and Eastern
schools such as the University of
Michigan in minority issues.
LAHAINA, HAWAI'i - Try -to remember
everything you've ever heard about Hawai'i.
Think of the weather, of course, and then the
beaches, and then the scenery, and then the
hula skirts.
Then multiply it all by 10.
Now you're getting
close.
But you're still not quite
there. After three days on
the island of Maui, I cany
say this with a fair degree
of certainty: It's better
than you think.
On a cab ride the other
day, the driver said that it ROSE
was "a crummy day for Rose
Maui weather." It was, oh; Beef
about 80 degrees outside.
Couple clouds in the sky.
It was also 9 p.m.
I haven't seen any clouds since. The only
might actually be a bit too hot. But then again,
probably not.
In fact, just the other day, I nearly fainted
when the light in my hotel bathroom started
flickering. Two full days later, as far as I can
tell, that one tiny, struggling light bulb is the
only imperfect thing on this island. And the
maid's on her way up to fix it right now.
But having said all that, there is something
- a rather important something, I'd say -
that I'm not totally convinced about just yet.
Because even though the wind is a little cold-
er way back in Ann Arbor - a lot colder, you
say? - there's still one thing. you can always
count on in late November in Michigan.
Thanksgiving dinner.
Here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I'm
not quite convinced the Thanksgiving holiday
has the same connotations it does back on the
mainland. Around here, every day's a holiday.
When I bought some of the more critical
tourist items shortly after arriving on the
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