44 LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 30, 1998 - 3 HIGHER EDUCATION L Princeton students help hurricane victims A group of Princeton University students spent the weekend lending a hand to their families who suffered from Hurricane Georges, The Daily Princetonian reported. The storm left Princeton students from San Juan and Louisiana worried about their families and friends' safe- ty. Students from Puerto Rico said they tried to get in touch with their families via cellular phone and were unsuccessful. Several groups on Princeton's cam- pus have joined forces to collect food and clothing for the storm victims. Cheating an issue at'U Kentucky University of Kentucky officials said *ast week cheating is still a problem that hurts the nation's academic com- n'nity, according to The Kentucky Kernel. School officials are encouraging instructors to stay in the classroom during exams in order to prevent cheating. Kentucky is urging its professors to talk to their students about the conse- quences of cheating and plagerism. At Kentucky the minimum penalty for these academic offenses is failure in the course. A second offense results in suspen- sion for one semester. Wash. schools encourage faculty pay increase School officials at Washington state colleges said last week that attracting and retaining quality fac- ulty wilT become increasingly difti- cult for the state's schools if they do not offer competitive salaries, reported The Washington Daily. The presidents of the state's six pub- lic universities urged for a 4.5-percent faculty pay increase. The proposals are an 18.2-percent increase in salaries over the last two- *ear period. The six schools are seeking an $8-million increase for recruitment in order to mantaiin quality of fac- ulty. Texas state leader wants to reduce LSAT pull The Higher Education Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is considering poli- cies to reduce the importance of the Legal Scholastic Aptitude Test in law school admissions, The Daily 'Texan reported Monday. After the 1996 Hopwood ruling, which ended affirmative action in Texas colleges and universities, the committee is concerned with main- aining the diversity of the student ody in state schools. Rep. Henry Cuellar said he is worried that the exam's structure is racially biased and does not fairly measure academic skills. Cuellar said the LSAT should not be a part of the admission's decision as it currently is in most law schools. Wanderbilt forced to pay $4.36M Because Vanderbilt Medical Center was unable to notify a woman that the blood she had received may be tainted with HIV in 1984, it was recently fined more than $4 million by a Nashville court jury, according to The Vanderbilt Hustler. Vanderbilt was ordered to by $4.36 million to the woman's widower and *er estate. The American Red Cross begins a three-day blood drive on the Vanderbilt campus today, and the non-profit orga- nization will have an HIV detection system in place. - compiled from University Wire reports by Daily Staff Reporter Susan T Port. MSA to vote on affirmative action petition By Jennifer Yachnin Daily StaffReporter At their meeting last night, Michigan Student Assembly members were asked to vote next week to back a petition in support of affirmative action and also to support two consecutive days of action in defense of affir- mative action next month. "It's not MSA taking a position on staying away from classes ... but that MSA supports the concept of a day of action," said LSA senior Jessica Curtin, a member Students United for Affirmative Action. "In California ... professors there are organizing two days of action. In California, it's extremely organized. Every university is doing it." MSA President Trent Thompson said the assembly could approve either proposition without taking action. The days of action come after two lawsuits were filed last fall challenging the University's use of race as a factor in the admissions process. The suits, which were filed by three white applicants to the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Law School, are awaiting hearing in the Detroit U.S. District Court. Next Tuesday the assembly also will vote on the transfer of $2,000 in funding to the Students for the Student Regent Student Group. Andrew Wright, co-chair of the MSA task force for student regent, said the group was created to avoid legal problems created by the assembly's tax status. "Basically (the group) supports the MSA student regent task force," Wright said. The $2,000 will be used to copy pamphlets and leaflets, Wright said. The group uses MSA facilities to do their work. "The money basically comes from MSA to this student group and then goes back to MSA," Wright said. "In California ... professors ... are organizing two days of action." "It's a shell game." The SSRSG also participates in the Coalition for Student Representation with members from 15 other state universities and colleges. "We also work in conjunction with other student governments," Wright said. The coalition is working for student repre- sentation on the governing boards of Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Oakland University and Michigan Technical University. Thompson said the assembly is still active - Jessica Curtin Member, Students United for Affirmative Action in the campaign to create a student regent and that "what we did was create a student group because of the legality of trying to create a ballot question." The University Board of Regents chose not to vote on a student fee increase last summer. The increase would have gone to the cre- ation of a ballot question on the implementa- tion of a student regent for state voters because of legal questions created by the Michigan constitution. The SSRSG "may play a bigger role later in the year," Thompson said. 'U students gather for Hindu prayer ceremony By Marta Brill For the Daily Nearly 75 students joined last night for the first annual Saraswati Puja, or prayer to the Hindu goddess of knowledge. "It's a great chance to receive a blessing from God and receive good luck in my studies," said LSA senior Samir Patel. The event, hosted by the Hindu Students Counsel, was held in the Nikki G. Lounge of Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall. "We thought it would be nice to have the students have the opportu- nity to be blessed by the goddess of education," said LSA junior Payel Gupta, a counsel member. The counsel hosts weekly discus- sions on culture and religion. Students at the event said it marked the last three days in the holy Navratre, a nine-day celebra- tion. The first three days are dedicated to the goddess Durga, who removes the negative energies. To fill the void with positive energy, the next three days are dedi- cated to the goddess Laskhmi, who is also the goddess of wealth. The last three days, dedicated to Saraswati, are important in deci- phering the good from the bad. Students who joined in the festiv- ities enjoyed an ambiance of Indian music, culture, tradition and food. Students said they came together to form a sense of community through Puja, the prayer rituals, and to form a complete self. "It is important to create a bal- ance between the spiritual and the material and focus on God in order to put one's mind at peace," LSA sophomore Vasudev Mahavisno said. Prior to the ceremony, foreheads were anointed with turmeric powder. A prayer leader said she believes this herb reacts with water to create a warming cffect on the place where the nerve endings come together in the forehead. This provides added powers of concentration and focus, the prayer leader said. During the ceremony, an idol representing Saraswati was placed at the front of the room and treated as an honored guest with offerings of flowers and food. Camphor was burned because it leaves no residue. Students said camphor is used symbolically because they hope not to leave remainders of their negative qualities after the ceremony. Participants offered several tradi- tional chants to Saraswati, followed by Namaskar, the action of prostrating or bowing down. Namaskar is derived from the root word "Na Mama" mean- ing "not mine, only thine." The ceremony ended with Prasad, a meal with food that had been blessed during the ceremony I~ School to foster evolution debate AP PHOTO Participants in the National Kids Voting Day event crowd onto the front lawn of the State Capitol Building in Lansing yesterday. 2,000 kids celerat voting at Capitol LANSING (AP) - Two thousand Michigan schoolchildren crowded the lawn of the Capitol yesterday for a rally to celebrate voting, as adult leaders stressed its importance for their futures. "You have the power to change the government and make it work for you the way you want to," Secretary of State Candice Miller said after lead- ing the crowd in a rousing chant. Students, many of them wearing construction paper hats, toured the Capitol, waved flags, examined a new state Web site and boogied to a drum and fife corps. They picked up campaign stickers and picnicked on the lawn. Astronaut Jerry Linenger spoke, drawing crowds when he arrived in a blue NASA jumpsuit. Linenger, who spent five months on the Mir space station in 1997, described his flight into space, saying he could see the Mackinac Bridge from orbit. "Training pays off, education pays off," he told the students. "You hope that the skills you learn, even as a child, will help you." The rally was sponsored by Kids Voting Michigan, a nonprofit group that will also run a mock election for kids this November, Twenty-four Michigan school districts and about 155,000 students are involved in the program, Kids Voting Director Kathy Jackson said. Jackson said most of the students at Tuesday's rally were from Detroit. Districts in Lansing, Saginaw, Port Huron and Flint also sent busloads of children. Kids Voting USA, a national group that has been educating children. about voting since 1987, says studies show participating students grow up to be more active politically. The group also says parents are more like- ly to vote when their children are involved in such programs. As part of Kids Voting Michigan, children will be able to cast votes in their own voting booths on the same issues adults are voting on. Thirteen-year-old Haile Peters of Lansing said his vote is already decided. "I'm voting for Fieger," he said, referring to Democratic gubernatori- al candidate Geoffrey Fieger. Asked why, Peters grinned. "Anybody but Engler," he said. Ten-year-old Tracie Dunbar of Detroit said she liked the drum and fife corps best. Asked why voting is important, she cocked her head thoughtfully and balanced her chin on the tip of her American flag. "It helps you more in life," she finally announced. DETROIT (AP)-- A suburban school district's move to foster student debate of evolutionary theory is a trendy way of sneaking legally banned talk of creationism into public classrooms, a watchdog group says. Headed by self-described creationist John Rowe, the Melvindale-Northern Allen Park School Board on Monday adopted a proposal aimed to teach students the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionism. Rowe said the idea isn't to dive into the creationism- evolution debate, but to tell students that evolution is a theory about the origin of human life, not scientific fact. But to one observer, the district's move signaled a "veiled form of creationism science" that could breach the separation of church and state. "Anti-evolutionists have come up with ways of get- ting creationism science into the classrooms without using the 'c' word," said Eugenie Scott, head of the California-based National Center for Science Education, a watchdog group. "One of the manifestations of creationism is the idea that, 'Well, OK, we can't teach evolution and creation science, so we'll teach evolution and against evolution. Evidence against evolution is just a euphemism for cre- ation science." Evolution is based on Charles Darwin's explanation that humans evolved from lower life forms. Creationism is the belief that humans were created by a supernatural being - a theory that federal court rulings have banned public schools from teaching. To Scott, who has tracked the Melvindale case since last November, the board's move Monday "is very simi- lar to what we've run into in other parts of country - a veiled form of creationism science." "It's an approach the creationists have been using the last two, three years - probably longer. The way you can test this is to ask them exactly what they want to teiach, and the so-called arguments they'll present are exactly the same as what they used to call creation science." The American Civil Liberties Union has taken notice. having pledged to legally challenge any decision to teach creationism. Kary Moss, head of the ACLU's Michigan chapter, said yesterday she was unaware of the board's move Monday but would request a copy of its proposal. "We'll be right on it. It's on our radar screen," she said. "We are very concerned any time a public school begins to teach religious and secular education. The bot- tom line is they can teach, and they can't preach." The district refused to release a copy of the resolu- tion, referring all requests for details to Superintendent Donna Schmidt. She did not return several telephone messages yesterday and Monday. Rowe said the resolution specifically states that cre- ationism should not be taught in the classroom. It encourages science teachers to talk about all approaches to evolutionary theory. "We're just having them try to emphasize that scien- tific theory is not necessarily a fact." he said. "There are people that agree with theories and there are people that don't agree with theories, and we should identify those facts. That's true science -- showing both sides of an issue." The resolution also states that students should have access to material that both disputes and supports evolu- tion. Rowe said a four-member committee will examine available materials and recommend to the board which should be used within months. Even so, Rowe has made it known he's an evolution skeptic. During a board meeting last November, he said the district should go back to teaching "good old basics - respect for our creator as well as our country." WANT POWER? The Michigan Student Assembly's Campus Governance Committee has begun its fall search for students to sit on various university, faculty, and student committees. If you want to find a way to get involved in how University decisions are made or just want to find out about how an area of the University operates, this is the way to do it. If you are interested in applying, applications can be found in the MSA office, 3909 Michigan Union or at the UMEC office in the Pierpont Commons. If you have any questions, email either Mehul Madia at mmadia@umich.edu or Jenn VanRoeyen at jvanroey@engin.umich.edu. This is a great way to have a voice in the way our University operates and we hope to see applications from as many students as possible. NEW THIS YEAR: MSA is appointing students to City of Ann Arbor Committees and Task Forces so apply to get involved! Applications are due on October 9th. I"1 LAIiLLN L IA1R What's happening in Ann Arbor today EvENTs 716 Catherine St., 6-8 p.m. Mehul Madia Jenn VanRoeyen Your event could be here. rN-S-eul Madia n.n a eye- n