LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 26, 1999 - 3

CRIMEiM
U' bus driver
threatened by
irate pedestrians
A bus driver was reported as "having
issues" with a group of nine people
Sunday in front of the Shapiro
Undergraduate Library that tried to get
onto the bus, according to DPS reports.
The would-be riders were further down
the street from the stop and the driver
was unable to pick them up there, due
to poor road conditions, according to
DPS reports.
On the driver's next pass of the UGLI
*op, she drove down South University
Avenue where the subjects had formed a
line across the street and would not let her
through. The subjects began hitting the
bus with hockey sticks and removed the
gas tank cover and "took off with it" DPS
officials report. When the bus driver
refused to let the suspects on the bus, they
began cursing and screaming at her while
continuing to hit the bus with the hockey
ticks. Nothing was reported as damaged
d no one was injured, but the driver was
advised by DPS not to let the subjects on
her bus and to lock the doors if possible.
Man steals food
from Union
A man jumped over a counter in the
Michigan Union on Sunday and stole
two slices of pizza, according to DPS
reports. The man, approximately 6 feet
l, was wearing a New York Yankees
aseball cap, white shoes and a tan coat.
The restaurant manager stated that the
subject looked like he hadn't shaved in a
few days. In an effort to protect his pizza,
the manager knocked the slices out of the
man's hand and then restrained him from
grabbing more.
DPS units responded to the scene
and identified the man. The subject
Complained that he had smoked mai-
ana that was laced with an unknown
rug and was taken to the University
Hospitals' emergency room in hand-
cuffs.
Truck dumps
sulfuric acid
A hose failed while transferring
approximately 100 gallons of sulfuric
acid from a truck to a storage tank
Friday, according to DPS reports. Eight
*orkers at the Central Heating Plant at
1120 East Huron had sulfuric acid in
their eyes and had to be taken to the
University Hospitals' emergency room
with complaints of burning eyes. The
driver of the truck was also injured, DPS
officials report. About 25-50 gallons of
acid were spilled on the premises. The
Ann Arbor Fire Department was dis-
patched to inspect the premises. The area
aas later reopened when deemed safe by
e office of Occupational Safety and
Environmental Health.
Graffitti found in
Mason Hall
Graffitti was reported in the women's
restroom Friday on the first floor of
Mason Hall, according to DPS reports.
Building services recommended paint-
ing the walls with stucco-like material in
neffort to discourage further vandal-
m.Sections of the graffiti were sexual
in nature, DPS reports state.
Clothing, bag

stolen from CCRB
A patron of the Central Campus
Recreational Building had his clothing
and some personal items stolen on
Friday, according to DPS reports. The
ale victim waited in the men's locke-
boom for DPS to respond. The subject's
bookbag was found later in the
Dennison Building.
Fight breaks out
in Northwood
A resident of Northwood apartments
heard fighting and objects being thrown
Sunday in the apartment next-door, DPS
reports state. In an effort to keep the
*ller anonymous, DPS units were dis-
patched directly to the apartment next
door. The caller said he heard a woman
crying and then heard the fighting start
up again, according to DPS officials.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Avram S. Turkel.

Shaw discusses affirmative action policies

By Sarah Lewis
Daily Staff Reporter
In light of the recent debates surrounding
the use of affirmative action in admissions at
the University and at institutions across the
nation, last night's address and open dialogue
on the issue served as one of the Martin Luther
King Jr. Symposium's final events.
Ted Shaw, associate director-counsel for
the NAACP legal fund and former University
Law professor, spoke about his view of affir-
mative action at Rackham Amphitheater in
front of a 70-member audience and a panel of
five students.
Shaw said the use of affirmative action in
admissions procedures is not unjust because of
the long-standing discrimination suffered by
minorities in the United States.
"We end up sanctioning legal equality and
social inequality ... we leave out a whole

range of social inequities," he said, adding that
the use of standardized test scores is one way
of perpetuating the discrimination because
black and Latino/a students consistently get
lower scores than white and Asian students.
Shaw's speech, titled "Moving Beyond the
Rhetoric: Affirmative Action & Higher
Education," was co-sponsored by the National
Black Law Student Association.
"This year is particularly significant
because of the litigation that is ongoing con-
cerning admissions," Shaw said of affirmative
action.
At the heart of affirmative action, Shaw
said, is understanding the sometimes confus-
ing concepts - or constructs - of race, which
he said "has always been the most troubling
dilemma in American society.
"Along with the black/white divide in this

exists," Shaw said, adding that in a multicul-
tural society people have to look beyond the
usual racial issues.
Those who claim to be "color-blind" to
race or deny its significance, he said, are only
fooling themselves because everyone notices
and thinks about skin color - although many
white Americans "don't think about what it
means to be white."
"The descriptive has become the nomina-
tive," Shaw said. "Color has become the most
important thing about people."
The confusion surrounding these racial
aspects now are being played out in the "so-
called affirmative action debate," he said.
"Race becomes the cutting edge ... a battle-
ground."
Shaw added that affirmative action does
not discriminate against white students
because it does not place a badge of inferiori-

ty on them.
"We're talking about a fight over crumbs,"
he said. "We're not going to see the problem
of race end in the 21st Century," Shaw said.
"We may lose affirmative action as we know
it."
William Martin, a graduate Law student
and panel member, said Shaw's address related
well to the consistent subordination of women
and minorities "in the system."
"His argument of how race is still used to
exclude is still relevant," Martin said.
LSA senior Duke Tackie said an interesting
concept in Shaw's talk was "race as a social
construct" and the views some white people
may have about different experiences of cul-
ture.
"I liked how he attacked the deconstruction
of race," Tackie said. "He brought an excellent
argument."

country, there's

a certain kind of heat that

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MSA to host informational
open house for students
Officers hope to increase campus involvement

By Jewel Gopweni
Daily Staff Reporter
Other than wallpapering Angell
Hall once a semester with colorful
fliers during elections, what exactly
does the Michigan Student
Assembly do?
Some students are able to respond
to this question easily and others are
left without answers.
When asked about MSA's job,
LSA first-year student Abby Griffin
said she didn't know anything about
the assembly.
"Letting people know what the
MSA is doing is something we've
had a hard time doing," MSA
President Trent Thompson said.
In an attempt to inform the stu-
dent body of its job and to encour-
age students to take part in its pro-
jects, MSA is scheduled to hold an
open house tonight at 6:30 in room
3909 of the Michigan Union.
MSA Vice President and Sarah
Chopp said MSA's role on campus is

two-fold.
"MSA is there to be a voice on
campus and to be a liaison to the
University's administration," said
Chopp, an LSA sophomore.
MSA's influence on campus is not
highly publicized, LSA sophomore
David Hodge said.
"They probably get more involved
than what is apparent to me," he
said.
While Hodge said he plans to
attend the meeting to find out more
about the assembly, Griffin
expressed no interest in expanding
her MSA knowledge at the meeting.
Well-known tasks such as funding
student groups and passing resolu-
tions at its Tuesday night meetings
are "a minute part of what MSA
does," Thompson said.
Chopp said she "hopes to get a
sizable number of students and that
people will show up and walk away
learning something."
Thompson said that when he took

on the MSA presidency last winter,
he wanted to make the assembly's
work more substantial on campus.
"What I've tried to do is make it a
project mill," Thompson said.
Now MSA has a list of more than
40 projects that various students and
MSA members have developed.
"The priority is changing the
University through tangible endeav-
ors," including trying to amend the
University's Code of Student
Conduct and create a student regent
position, Thompson said.
He added that one reason why
MSA's projects are not well-known
on campus is because the budget is
not large enough to highly publicize
its work.
"We have a smaller budget and we
are more autonomous than other
governments," Thompson said.
"We can push for a student regent
because we have the autonomy that
other student governments don't
have," he said.

KELLY MCKINN.LL/Uaily
iSA senior Damien Bajnath displays his plane tickets to Cancun yesterday.
Bajnath won a free trip in The Michigan Book and Supply bookstore's con-
test.
1 40
in bOokstore
bre*-tak conltest
By Emina Sendijarevic panion are expected to leave Feb. 26
For the Daily for their beachfront hotel, which is
LSA senior Damien Bajnath and located in the heart of Cancun's
a friend will be spending seven nightclub district.
nights and eight days on beach- When asked who he was plan-
front property in Cancun during ning to take, Bajnath said he did not
spring break. The difference know yet.
between Bajnath and other beach- Along with the trip, the Michigan
bound students is that neither he nor Union Bookstore presented Bajnath
his parents paid for the trip. with a bag of goodies, including
Earlier this month, Bajnath was sunglasses, suntan lotion and a
one of 3,000 students who spent water bottle.
more than $100 on books at the Bookstore manager John
Michigan Union Bookstore and Battaglino said the trip giveaway is
took the chance to enter a raffle for one way for the store to thank stu-
the trip. dents who buy their books there.
On Sunday, Bajnath received Students can expect to see some-
word that thing like
he had won this in the
an all- " was very surprsed, future,
ex pense.Battaglino
paid spring I thought it was a added.
break - He said
vacationto jOke," the"book-
Cancun for - Damien Bajnath store plans
two people LSA senior to offer
e o m pl1 i- similar
ments of prize give-
the Michigan Union Bookstore, aways when students sell back
Boersma Travel and Student their books at the end of this
Express. semester and when students rush
A native of New York, Bajnath to buy books next fall.
said he was excited that he wouldn't "Union bookstore feels that it
be spending his spring break at was very well received by students
home. and we plan to do something like
"I was very surprised," Bajnath this again,"Battaglino said.
said. "I thought it was a joke." Kierczak said Boersma Travel
Deanna Kierczakmanager of the will most likely get involved in
Nickels Arcade office of Boersma future prize giveaways at the book-
Travel, presented Bajnath with his store.
prize. She added that the giveaway not
The trip includes airfare and only gave students an incentive to
round-trip transportation from the buy books, but it also allowed
airport to the hotel, in addition to a Boersma Travel to promote Student
VIP passport, which gives Bajnath Express spring break travel pack-
free cover charge to Cancun restau- ages, which the travel company
rants and nightclubs. sells to students looking for a
Bajnath and his traveling com- spring break getaway.

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Wednesday, January 27,1999
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