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The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 21, 1998 -


LOCAL/STATE

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EDUCATION =
Suicide trend
worries Ivy
J~eague school
Ivy League schools have gained
hational attention in recent weeks due to
the rising number of suicides that have
"taken place, the Daily Princetonian
rprted.
i only a five-week period, three stu-
dents at Columbia University and one
Cornell University student committed
suicide.
In an effort to prevent the number of
icides from growing, Princeton
niversity is emphasizing the impor-
tance of counseling and support groups
on campus.
Schools wrangle
over use of 'Ohio'
Ohio State University's cheerleaders'
uniforms may have to be changed by
99 because they bare the name
Ohio State's rival Ohio University
'plains to file litigation to trademark the
use of the word "Ohio," The Lantern
reported.
:The controversy began when the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office registered
the word "Ohio" to Ohio University in
May of 1995.
Ohio University officials told Ohio
state to terminate its use of the word
ithout being followed by the word
Wtate" on athletic uniforms and mer-
chandise.
Ohio State traditions such as Ohio
Stadium would be protected under the
entertainment clause.
The dispute is still in its discovery
state while both schools are preparing to
file litigation.
Creighton Med
*chool guarantee
sparks competition
Two years ago, Creighton University
in Nebraska announced its plans to
offer a guaranteed admission program
to its medical school for its undergrad-
uate students, but that guarantee may
crowd the school only with Creighton
undergraduates.
The first group of eligible students are
ginning to prepare their applications
f0 'medical school, The Creightonian
reported.
University officials said there is a
chance that the School of Medicine's
entering class of 2000 will be composed
completely of Creighton students.
At the end of the students' sophomore
year, more than 80 premedical students
in the class of 2000 had attained a grade
*int averages of 3.5 or above, which
guarantees them a slot in medical school.
Cornell students
protest stocks
Students gathered Monday at Cornell
jnpiversity's campus to protest Cornell's
vote in support of animal testing as a
shareholder in Proctor & Gamble, the
Conell Daily Sun reported.
,Protesters spoke out against Proctor &
ble and held signs calling for a boy-
ot o end corporate power.
Ralliers were upset and said Cornell
defaults its vote as a stockholder and
always sides with the management on all

elisions, including a vote regarding a
.o animal testing resolution.
If the resolution had passed, animal
tsing would have been stopped on over-
the-counter cosmetics and non-medical
roducts.
ornell has $5,838,156 shares in
Proctor & Gamble, which makes it the
university's 26th largest investment.
GWU to host first
mayoral debate
George Washington University stu-
dents will have an opportunity to ques-
tion Washington, D.C. mayoral candi-
dates when they face off in their first
ehate of the general election scheduled
Ur today, The Hatchet reported.
Students involved in the campus'
college Democrats, College
Republicans, The George Washington
Hatchet and the Student Association will
,have, the opportunity to ask questions of
candidates during the first half of the
debate, which will be broadcast live.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Susan T Port from wire reports.

Customers fight to bring back Univision

By Nick Faizone
Daily Staff Reporter
A successful campaign involving University
students has prompted MediaOne to partially rein-
state its only Spanish Language Channel.
Eight years ago, a group of Latino/as in the Ann
Arbor area appealed to Columbia Cable to get a
Spanish language channel added to the local cable
lineup. In December of 1990, the company granted
the group's wish by introducing Univision.
Less than a month ago, MediaOne, Ann Arbor's
current primary cable provider, sent letters to their
subscribers about Digital TV, a new service soon to
be offered.
At the bottom of the letter, MediaOne said it
would no longer broadcast Univision. Though
MediaOne said it will offer several Hispanic
cable stations when Digital TV is introduced,
the company does not plan on offering any

Spanish language channels in the next few
weeks until the new service's introduction.
The news outraged hundreds of customers,
including some University faculty and students.
"I'm really disappointed," said LSA senior
Veronica Sanchez, communications chair for
Alianza, a University pan-Latino/a organization.
"They took it off without any regards to their
viewers.
"There wasn't even a survey identifying whether
(the channel) was needed or not," said Frances
Aparicio, a Spanish and American culture professor.
Some disappointed customers called or wrote to
MediaOne protesting the company's decision.
"I've been writing letters," said LSA junior
Edith Pauley, Alianza treasurer. "Univision is my
connection to my culture." Others contacted the
Ann Arbor City Council to express their disap-
proval.

Within a week of the cancellation, MediaOne
received more than 100 calls and letters from cus-
tomers. Because of the volume of the responses
received, it decided to reinstall the channel, Paula
Peters, a MediaOne employee, said.
But the channel, which ran continuously before,
is now interrupted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on week-
days by the University's Michigan Government
channel.
"We have an agreement with the University to
share the channel that was made a long time ago,"
Peters said. University sports events, such as foot-
ball games, also interrupt Univision. But unlike the
government channel, sports events will interrupt
Univision randomly, Peters said. While many cus-
tomers agree the compromise illustrates an
improvement, many still are discouraged.
"The channels now appeal to two totally differ-
ent audiences," Aparicio said. "There is no reason

why our interests should be compromised."
Sanchez said, "I'm glad they're going to
bring it back, but I want it to be in full effect,
immediately." A group of viewers, including
University students and staff, presented a 700-sig-
nature petition, signed by Latino/a and non-Latino/a
viewers, to the Ann Arbor City Council yesterday.
"It's not just Latinos who are watching
Univision," Aparicio said. "There are other
people in Ann Arbor who want to practice their
Spanish or follow the Latino culture."
LSA senior Anita Sanchez, an Alianza mem-
ber, said, "Univision is a resource for all students
to tap into to learn about Latin American and
Caribbean issues. To have it taken away would be
a great tragedy."
MediaOne headquarters in Denver, Colorado,
and the company's local Ann Arbor office also will
receive a copy of the petition by fax.

MSA finalizes
student group
funding requests

Pretty in porcelain

By Jennifer Yachnin
Daily Staff Reporter
Members of the Michigan Student
Assembly spent several hours last night
finalizing requests for student group
funding totaling more than $360,000.
The assembly's Budget Priority
Committee
distributes

Macomb), the publication Liberator,
the two Days in Defense of affirmative
action today and tomorrow and a peti-
tion in support of affirmative action,
totaling $1,972.
MSA External Relations Chair
Andy Coulouris agreed with several
committee
members to


funds to more
than 200 stu-
dent groups
from a budget
of $74,000 for
the semester.
Student

"ItI 's a terble beauty
and we need to help Rt
and support I."
- Andy Coulouris
MSA External Relatinrs Chair

fund BAMN
for the
semester.
"It's a ter-
rible beauty
and we need
to help it and
support it,"
Coulouris
said.

groups are alsot
funded by the
assembly
through the Community Service Board,
which provides about $48,000 in fund-
ing.
During yesterday's meeting, student
groups disgruntled with the amount of
allocations they received from BPC
were given time to request an increase
in funding.
Members of the Coalition to
Defend Affirmative Action By Any
Means Necessary confronted the
assembly about the complete lack of
funding they originally received.
"A lot of us have a problem with the
negative connotation BAMN has on
campus," LSA representative Mark
Sherer said.
BAMN requested funding for a
debate with state Rep. David Jaye (R-

LALVIIIQI 1\GIULIVII7 %wilutt

Also in support of funding the coali-
tion was assembly treasurer Bram Elias.
"The group has a reputation among
folks for death, disarray, bombing ...
but that is not what they advocate," Elias
said. "The only way for their positive
message to get out is if we fund them."
Coalition member Luke Massie
said BAMN has never been involved in
a violent incident or committed a vio-
lent act at the University.
Assembly members also debated
funding for club sports, musically ori-
ented groups and a variety of other stu-
dent groups.
Amendments to election proce-
dures, including the use of personal
computers as polling sites, was also on
the assembly's agenda yesterday.

JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily
Theater Prof. Mark Berg plugs in his "fountain" in the Frieze Building yesterday. The urinal was transformed by some of his
former students.
Taxpayes may pay $40,00
lealbill in botched case

Fieger unveils new
plan for state tax cuts

EAST LANSING (AP) -
Consumers would stop paying sales
tax on clothing worth less than $1,000
and low-and middle-income taxpayers
would get a sales tax credit under a tax
plan unveiled yesterday by Geoffrey
Fieger.
The Democratic gubernatorial can-
didate said he would phase in the sales
tax exemption for clothing through
1999 and 2000, but couldn't say how
much the average family would save.
Food and drugs already are exempt
from the tax.
The sales tax credit would go to
taxpayers with household income of
$50,000 or less, with poorer taxpayers
getting a bigger tax break than those in
the middle class.
Jim Agee, the state lawmaker and
Democratic lieutenant governor candi-
date who helped draw up the plan, esti-
mates that those with incomes of less
than $10,000 would save $94 with the
sales tax credit in 2000.
Those making $20,000 to $30,000,
he said, would save $25.
About 2.6 million of Michigan's
3.5 million households would get the
credit, he said.
Fieger also wants to freeze proper-
ty taxes for homeowners age 65 and
older whose income is less than
$30,000 a year. "I've expressed a com-
mitment to reducing the tax burden on
Michigan families," especially the
poor and middle class, Fieger said
while formally unveiling his tax policy
at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.

Fieger said he would pay for the
$447 million in tax cuts with the same
money Republican Gov. John Engler
would use for the 0.5 percent income
tax cut he proposes phasing in over
five years starting in 2000.
Engler has said that the economy
should grow enough to enable the state
to afford that cut.
Fieger also plans to save $88 mil-
lion a year in the corrections budget by
finding alternative ways to handle
nonviolent criminals and by sending
drug offenders to treatment programs
rather than locking them up.
Much of the money saved from
corrections would be spent to enroll all
students eligible for Head Start in the
preschool orogram. he said.
He also would spend $150 million
in 2000 to subsidize schools in districts
with low property values so they could
raise as much through comparable mill-
ages as more prosperous districts.
But Fieger warned he may have to
adjust his tax plan if the economy
worsens, as he expects it will.
"If a downturn comes ... Mr.
Engler's plan is in the wastebasket and
we are in serious, serious trouble,'
Fieger said.
He added that his proposed tax cuts
also may have to be put on hold if the
economy sours.
If it doesn't, Fieger said his plan is
better than Engler's because it evens
out some of the Engler tax cuts that he
says have disproportionately helped
upper-income residents.

Federal judge says
prosecutors broke the
law
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -
Taxpayers could end up paying a
$400,000 legal bill because of a fed-
eral judge's opinion that prosecutors
botched a case against an electron-
ics dealer.
Chief District Judge Richard
Enslen says prosecutors broke the
law when they withheld evidence
during their prosecution of Ranger
Electronic Communications, Inc.,
The Grand Rapids Press reported
yesterday.
The Justice Department is investi-
gating the assistant U.S. attorney in
the case for his conduct. The judge
has declined to publicly identify
him.
Now Enslen wants the U.S.

Attorney's office to pay Ranger's
defense costs, which are estimated at
$404,000. The U.S. Attorney's office
has asked Enslen to reconsider.
U.S. Attorney Michael Dettmer,
who recently came under criticism
from Enslen for doing a poor job,
said he stands by his office's prose-
cution and the assistant U.S. attor-
ney.
"It was a very complex case han-
dled by a very good assistant U.S.
Attorney. He did it well. I back the
judgments he made," Dettmer said
Monday.
The order stems from a 1996
indictment of Ranger on charges the -
company was illegally importing
radios from Taiwan.The charges
were eventually dismissed in
exchange for guilty pleas to lesser
charges.
But afterwards, defense lawyers
complained to Enslen that prosecu-

tors had denied them key informa-
tion. Enslen agreed.
In an opinion this summer, he
said the defendants were wrongfully
barred from seeing memos from the
Federal Communications
Commission that could have helped
their case.
He said the U.S. Attorney's office
was wrong to advise the FCC it
shouldn't disclose the information
because it might damage the gov-
ernment's case.
Enslen maintains prosecutors vio-
lated a 1997 law, which allows, a
defendant who prevails against
"frivolous and vexious" government
prosecution to force the government
to pay the cost of the legal defense.
But Dettmer questioned whether
the law Enslen cited applied in this
case, because Ranger and its princi-
pals pleaded to reduced charges,
rather than being exonerated.



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