LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 7, 1998-- 3A Library acquires writings of Beat Generation poet The University's Special collections Library has acquired the writings of Anne Waldman, a post- modern poet and performance artist influenced by the Beat Generation writers. One of few women let into Beat poet Allen Ginsburg's friendship circle, Waldman has saved every- thing associated with her perfor- aince and writing life for the past 40 years. Her archive includes more than *,000 manuscripts, letters, busi- ness and personal documents, pho- tographs and audio tapes, including a lot of Beat literature. University , Library Director William Gosling called the collec- tion a cornerstone for young researchers interested in the Beat poets. -Waldman co-founded the Jack Serouac School of Disembodied etics at the Napora Institute in Boulder, Colo. She served as direc- tor of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York City and the editor of poetry anthologies and small magazines. U researchers to act on council The National Asian Women's 4ealth Organization has recently pointed two Nursing researchers, Mei-yu Yu and Amy Seetoo, to its National Policy Council. The two women have worked together extensively in Chinese- American community health research projects in Ann Arbor. Yu founded the Healthy Asian Americans Project, an organization concerned with Asian American *east cancer prevention, in 1996. Seetoo found the Chinese American Society of Ann Arbor. Both women are active in both organizations. Yu serves as presi- dent of the Chinese-American Society. Yu and Seetoo will assist NAWHO in conducting research with the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease ntrol. est, Hewlett to speak at lecture °Cornell West and Sylvia Ann Hewlett are scheduled to speak about the devaluing of parents' role in the country by U.S. cultural, business and political systems on Dec. 10 at 4 p.m. at the Power enter. West and Hewlett are advocates fox a Parents' Bill of Rights, legisla- tion that would emphasize the worth of parents in our nation. They say the bill would also ben- efit children, reviving our nation's ilnterest in their well-being. ',West gave the keynote address at last year's Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. PS sponsors canned food drive The community-oriented policing officers of the Department of Public :.Safety are sponsoring a canned food drive this holiday season to aid needy Ann Arbor families. "'',The drive is an annual DPS tradi- . miion. Food donations can continue to be made until Dec. 15. Community :embers can donate canned and boxed food at 525 Church St., Mason Hall Room G419 and Pierpont Commons from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. DPS will also be collecting dona- 'i'ons at its main office, located at 1239 Kipke Dr., from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p m. Community members can call the Mason Hall COP office at 764-5738 r more information. DPS encourages people to donate canned soup, spaghetti, beef stew, hreakfast cereal, canned meats, chili, tuna, rice, beans, pasta and powdered milk and cheese. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Nick Falzone. Vietnamese American students visit 'U' By Asma Rafeq Daily StaffReporter The idea of going to college always frightened Grand Rapids City High School student Hanh Nguyen. "Everyone always made it seem like college was this big monster," said Nguyen, a high school junior. When Nguyen and about 30 other high school students visited the University on Saturday for the Vietnamese Student Association's third annual Achievement Day, they worried about the unique situation they faced as Asian Americans. Nguyen, like many others who visited, called herself a "boat person," escaping to the United States from her home in Vietnam after Communists took over the government there. Nguyen arrived in this country in 1989 not know- ing a word of English. "It was awful," she said of her time at school while still grasping English. Some of the other visiting high-schoolers had been sponsored to come to the United States by family members or friends, while some were the children of Asian immigrants. VSA aimed to break down some of the cultural barriers facing the students with this weekend's event. "The idea is to find their strengths, talents and needs," said Social Work graduate student James Bui, co-coordinator of the event. University students, along with students from Michigan State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, paired up with the high schoolers, showing them the campus and answering questions about college concerns. Many of the students' worries typified those of any student aspiring to go to college - receiving financial aid, surviving the admissions process and deciding whether to go to college at all. But Khoa Nguyen, program coordinator at the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, said that while test scores and college attendance rates of Asian Americans in general may be relatively high, those of the Southeast Asian community in particular need to be improved. "They can kind of get lost in the statistics" Khoa Nguyen said. He said students like them, many of whom are underprivileged, must overcome extra problems because of stereotypes that all Asian Americans are smart, successful and rich. "They really have to fight to break out of the model minority myth," Khoa Nguyen said. But the high school students, visiting from about five different schools in Michigan, learned about the variety of opportunitics available to help them achieve their goals. The activities for the day included a talk by an admissions representative and a mock trial pre- sented by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. "I learned that college is not really that hard a thing to accomplish," said Ming Xu, a first-year student at East Kentwood High School near Grand Rapids. Hanh Nguyen said she hoped more people could have the experience she had on Saturday. She said she feels fortunate to live in the United States where she can pursue her dreams. "There are so many people who don't take advantage of the freedom here - being lazy or not trying," she said. "If they actually open their eyes, their opportunities are unlimited." Starting to feel a lot like Christmas Students celebrate Latino/a Greek Week By Michael Grass Daily Staff Reporter With the conclusion of the first ever Latino/a Greek Week today, the Latino/a community on cam- pus marks a milestone for its growing organizations. "This was an opportunity to demonstrate that we are committed to the unity of our (Latino/a) community," said Lambda Theta Phi member Cesar Orozco, an LSA junior. The Latino/a Greek community on campus con- sists of the Delta Tau Lambda sorority and the Lambda Theta Phi and Sigma Lambda Beta frater- nities. Last week, the groups collected canned food and clothing in University residence halls. Those efforts benefited SAFE House and the S.O.S. Crisis Center. Proceeds from a walk-a-thon held at Palmer Field on Thursday went to the Red Cross Emergency Relief fund, which will be used to aid Hurricane Mitch relief efforts. The storm hit Honduras in early November, causing damage and killing more than 10,000 people throughout Central America. About 10 people participated, each walking about five miles around the Palmer Field track, said Delta Tau Lambda sorority member Madeline Calderon, an LSA senior. Friday, members from the fraternities and soror- ity collected food at Busch's Value Land on Green Road for Food Gatherers. "The coordinator told us that we had done bet- ter than any other group," Orozco said. That night, Latino/a Greek Week activities moved to the Zap Zone at Briarwood Mall, where participants played laser tag. "We had a pretty good turnout ... many from outside the three (Latino/a Greek) organizations," said Delta Tau Lambda member Digna Feliciano, an LSA junior. As part of the week, the three Greek organiza- tions held an informational event Saturday called- "Campus Day - the Colored Version." "It was focused in on the Latino and minori- ty student community," Feliciano said. Organizers passed out information addressing financial aid, applications and other topics to the nearly 40 students who attended, Feliciano said. Later that day, organizers hosted a Posada, a Mexican religious tradition that celebrates Mary and Jesus, Feliciano said. A Saturday night celebration at the Rackham Building brought the Latino/a community togeth- er to promote unity. "Even though we have different goals ... our agenda is to help the Latino community on cam- pus as much as possible," Felicano said. "It really brought all of us together." Though there are just three Latino/a Greek groups on campus, "we are seeing a lot more peo- ple interested in our organizations," Feliciano said. AP PHOTO Michelle Strayhom, of Wayne, Mich., and her 9-month-old daughter Sage, view the polntsetta plants at the Conservatory on Belle Isle in Detroit on Saturday. Human rights activist discusses health care ethics By Sarah Lewis Daily Staff Reporter Human rights activist Wendy Orr spoke on the medical aspects of human rights protection in a keynote address Friday celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "The Declaration consists of 30 very specific fundamental human rights,' said family medicine and epidemiology Prof. Jeffrey Sonis, the celebra- tion's organizer. The United Nations adopted the declaration in 1948 as a way to protect every individual's human rights regardless of factors such as race, gender or religion. "It was signed in 1948 as a response to the atrocities of the Second World War and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany,' Orr said in an inter- view Thursday. Her speech addressed the issues of ethics and human rights protection in health care, specifical- ly her own experiences in South Africa, and the role of educational institutions in exposing stu- dents to human rights issues: After graduating from the University of Capetown Medical School, Orr became a daily witness to human rights abuses at the prison in which she worked. Political detainees who had been beatensby the police did not receive proper medical care, and Orr said she was the only person who confronted the problem. In addition, under the government's apartheid system, blacksrconstantly were discriminated against in the area of health care. But Orr said the constant violations of human rights-- the "collusion, complicity, and abuse" _.. were not the worst part. "Even harder to believe is that health care workers were, with very few exceptions, silent on these issues;' she said. Orr said she brought the abuse cases to South Africa's Supreme Court and succeeded in stop- ping the violations at her prison. Although she called herself the first and only doctor to confront the human rights problems in South Africa in such a way, Orr said she can understand the hesitation of her colleagues. "I know it was extremely difficult in those times to take a stand," Orr said. "One felt it was 'me against the apartheid government."' South African President Nelson Mandela formed South Africa's TRC to look at past human rights violations, which included abuses in the area of health care, Orr said. Mandela appointed Orr as one of 17 commissioners on the panel in 1995. "Health professionals must be held accountable for human rights violations,"eshe said. "There are no quick-fix solutions. There are no right and wrong answers," but issues of human rights and ethics are essential in medical schools, she said. She said schools do not expose students to their issues and taking ethical oaths at medical school graduation ceremonies is not enough. " I fear the declarations and oaths are an easy way out;' she said. "We mumble them at gradua- tion and then forget them ... they should be revised, reviewed and revisited." "Health professionals tend to graduate with no knowledge of how to cope with human rights issues and ethical dilemmas,' Orr said. It's easy for people to distract themselves by being concerned with issues in countries such as South Africa, she said, while ignoring their own{ problems. "There's often a tendency to look to other coun- tries;" she said. "One can start in one's own back- yard" Medical third-year students Nelangi Pinto and Madhavi Dandu, who attended a conference last year on physician activism with Sonis, agreed: with many of the points Orr made in her speech,.. about the role of medical schools in human rights issues and ethics. "I think they definitely could do a better job," Pinto said. "There needs to be more discussion about what that means in practice." "It'seasy to just follow orders;' she said. Dandu also said the curriculum should incorpo- rate human rights issues more often. "It's not something we discuss so oftensor learn how it's relevant to practice every day;' she said. Officer dies, 2 men questioned DETROIT (AP) - A police officer died last night, a day after he and another officer were shot in an ambush on their police cars. Two men surren- dered and a third reportedly was taken into custody. Officer Shawn Bandy, died after he was taken off life support at the request of his family, a hospital spokesperson said. The second wound- ed officer, Lloyd Todd, remained in critical condition. A third officer was treated and released. The attack began late Saturday while the officers were investigating the kidnapping of a woman and her child, an abduction that appeared to be connected to drugs, police Chief Benny Napoleon said. I Three men were in custody. One man surrendered to police yesterday afternoon after hearing from relatives that he was wanted and a second man surrendered Sunday night. A third man was taken into custody last night, WDIV-TV reported. The three were being held for questioning. Police did not expect to have war- rants until today. Napoleon said police received a call late Saturday that a young woman and her child had been kidnapped. A little later, officers in an unmarked car saw a van matching the description of the vehicle used in the abduction. A patrol car with uniformed officers helped them try to stop the van. During a chase, both police vehicles were struck by shots fired through the van's rear window by what appeared to be a "high-power, assault-type weapon," Napoleon said. "The officer in the marked car who was not injured described the gunfire as extremely heavy and as the rounds were striking the car, they were shak- ing the car," Napoleon said. The officer also "indicated the fire was heavy and it was constant, Napoleon said. "They were basically ambushed." Police later found the van aban- doned nearby, but the weapon had not been found yesterday. R i M 1 f q i Y t t 0 t M f Y r'a « .. . What's happening in Ann Arbor today GROUP MEETiNGS 1 "Arts Matters," Frieze Building, Room 3540, 764-6304, 7 p.m. Campus International Center, Room B510, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. U "The 1999 Honda Odyssey - Meeting Local Needs Through Global Teamwork," Sponsored by U 1998 Winter Commencement Information, Find it at www.umich.edu/-gradinfo on the World Wide Web. U Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley t L , .