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oday: Mostly cloudy. High 45. Low 25.
oniorrow: Cloudy. igh 44.
tate
to
fund
One hundred eikht years ofeditongleedom
drinkiing
education
Wednesday
February 3, 1999
DRINKING
More than $600,000 in state
funding has been allocated toward
alcohol awareness education.
A media blitz is planned by state
officials to inform college students
of the dangers of alcohol.
n State Director of Community
Health James Haveman calls for
more alcohol enforcement.
Leaders from the state's
15 public universities plan
cooperation.
Look for more coverage in this week's
FridayFocus.
By Michael Grass
Daily Staff Reporter
LANSING - State officials and
representatives from Michigan's 15
public universities met in Lansing yes-
terday to discuss the implications of
college-age binge drinking and how
cooperation may change attitudes
toward alcohol.
James Haveman, director of Michigan's
Department of Community Health direc-
tor, presented Gov. John Engler's plan to
attack college binge drinking to more than
50 people in attendance at Lansing's
downtown Radisson Hotel.
"If we don't address it early on, we will
pay for it socially for a long time,"
Haveman said.
Since October, there have been four
deaths at colleges across Michigan that
were linked to student consumption of
alcohol.
"Drinking has become entertainment
and we need to do something about that;'
Haveman said.
Haveman suggested ways the state gov-
ernment, universities and local law
enforcement can help change binge drink-
ing behaviors.
The Department of Community
Health will use $433,000 to fund men-
toring programs - including activities
for first-year students - at universities
statewide to stress an alcohol and drug-
free life.
Haveman said $50,000 will be used to
train university health professionals to
identify and address college binge drink-
ing behaviors.
An additional $150,000 will fund a
"media blitz" of advertisements in stu-
dent newspapers and on radio stations to
educate college students on the dangers
of drugs and alcohol.
Haveman said certain alcohol adver-
tising targeting college students in stu-
dent newspapers should be denied by
editors.
He urged universities to take a strong
stance against college binge drinkers by
either informing parents or guardians of
infractions, expelling those who have
excessive drinking behaviors or "drying
them out" by helping students to remain
sober.
The Department of Community Health
is planning to develop a new Website this
spring to publicize anti-alcohol efforts at
campuses statewide and show how stu-
dents can abstain from binge drinking
behaviors.
Haveman said often resident advisers
need to be trained in "tough love," instead
of taking a lax approach to infractions in
residence halls.
"It's an age old issue" said University
Housing Director of Public Affairs Alan
See DRINKING, Page 7
N CAMPUS
Jordan's
testumoin
elicits n
Ly
Hips and salsa
GEO nmembers
vote to send out
stnike balots
surpnses
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - A House prose-
:utor grilled attorney Vernon Jordan
for nearly three hours yesterday about
lis dealings with President Clinton and
ica Lewinsky, while senators
be n studying videotapes of her depo-
sition as they decide whether to call
witnesses at the president's impeach-
nent trial.
Jordan, the close Clinton friend who
helped find Lewinsky a New York job
and a lawyer in the Paula Jones case,
provided some new information during
occasionally contentious questioning by
Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) but no
explosive revelations, according to sev-
erources familiar with his testimony.
In one key exchange, the sources
said, Jordan now remembered having
breakfast with Lewinsky on New Year's
Eve in 1997, an important encounter he
flatly denied in grand jury testimony
last year before she began cooperating
with independent counsel Kenneth
Starr. But Jordan adamantly denied
telling the former White House intern
d g their meal that she should go
h and destroy any copies or drafts
ofnotes she had sent Clinton that might
sstablish the affair both would later
deny under oath.
Just as they did not question
Lewinsky a day before, White House
lawyers in attendance yesterday felt
:onfident enough in Clinton's
prospects for acquittal that they did
not cross-examine Jordan at length
either, instead asking only a couple of
01jnended questions, according to
Still, the chief House trial manager,
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), said after-
ward that he was pleased with the two
depositions conducted so far because
they will help "to advance the cause of
impeachment (and) conviction"
"We have got some amplifications
and we have straightened out some
points," he said. Although a final depo-
si will be taken of White House aide
Si ey Blumenthal today, Hyde added
that he was not waiting for any smoking
guns to emerge. "We never felt we need-
ed any bombshells to have a compelling
case. What we need is to validate the
record that already exists under oath
about obstruction of justice and perjury.
And that is being accomplished."
While Hutchinson quizzed Jordan in
a secure fourth-floor room normally
used for national security matters, else-
See IMPEACH, Page 2
N Meeting was one of largest
GEO events since 1975
By Nick Faizone
Daily Staff Reporter
As a Graduate Employees Organization banner
whipped in the wind in front of the Michigan Union
last night, close to 350 members of the University
community filled the Union Ballroom to discuss
GEO's current contract with the University.
The turnout at the meeting, which came follow-
ing GEO's contract extension Monday, was one of
the largest at a GEO event since the organization's
inception in 1975, GEO spokesperson Chip Smith
said.
As the meeting drew to a close at 7:55 p.m., the
273 G EO members present voted whether they
would authorize GEO to send out a strike autho-
rization ballot to the entire union membership.
Ninety-seven percent of the membership, 265
members, voted to send out the ballots. Only eight
members abstained.
"The GEO steering committee will now send out
ballots to our 1,000 or so members," said Sandra
Eyster, GEO secretary-treasurer.
GEO President Eric Dirnbach said if a majority of
GEO's membership votes to authorize a strike, the
GEO steering committee will then have the power to
recommend its membership to stop teaching if they
think they are being treated unfairly.
According to GEO documents, the steering
committee could recommend either a strike or a
walkout if it deems those actions necessary.
Dan Gamble, the University's chief negotiator,
said that while any academic interruptions would
be unfair to students, he did not believe classes
would be cancelled due to a strike or walkout.
" think the regular faculty would step in and
cover for the discussion sections" Gamble said.
"This, of course, isn't the optimum solution and
that's why it's unfair to undergraduates."
Smith said the membership's almost unanimous
support to send out the strike authorization ballots
showed how unacceptable the University's current
wage proposal is.
"I think the membership tonight told us the offer
the University thinks we'd like sucks," Smith said.
Smith said he was specifically dissatisfied with
the University's fraction recalculation plan, which
reassesses how much graduate students are paid.
"The plan is a trap," Smith said. "They wanted to
divide, and conquer us but we showed them tonight
that they're not going to do this."
Among the crowd at the membership meeting
last night were members of Graduate Employees
Organization Committee, Wayne State University's
graduate student union.
Glen Bessemer, a GEOC steering committee
member, said he and his colleagues were present to
show their appreciation for GEO's help in the past.
"We're negotiating our first contract now,"
Bessemer said. "They've given us a lot of support
with that."
Alexander Thomson, also a GEOC steering
committee member, complimented GEO on a job
well done with last night's membership meeting.
DARBY FREDLs/Daily
Law first-year student Danica Ray teaches Latin salsa dancing yesterday in the Michigan Union.
I
Notre Dame trustees to
iscuss joining Big
Ten
By David Den Herder
Daily Sports Writer
In the first of its tri-annual meetings,
the Notre Dame Board of Trustees will
convene in London tomorrow and again
on Friday to
discuss perti-
nent university
affairs. Among 0ONFERENCE
those is Notre
Dame's relationship with the Big Ten
athletic conference.
Partially in response to a request by
the Big Ten, Notre Dame officials will
decide within the next two days whether
to initiate formal dialogue with the con-
ference in regard to membership or to
terminate further talks.
During the past academic year, both
parties have conducted preliminary dis-
cussions exploring the possibility of
Notre Dame's membership, but to date,
no offer from the Big Ten has been made.
In a written statement, Big Ten com-
missioner Jim Delany said that if the
trustees decide to continue dialogue, the
conference would contemplate offering
Notre Dame membership. "If after the
Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 5,
Notre Dame indicates a serious interest in
pursuing Big Ten membership, the con-
ference's Board of Directors would then
consider tendering an offer" Delany said.
Michigan Athletic Director Tom Goss
said the University has a significant inter-
est in Notre Dame joining the conference.
"I think they would be a good addi-
tion" Goss said. "We already play them
in a lot of sports, from baseball to soccer
to football. If they came, I know we
would sell out the sports we compete
'with them in, and I think other schools
would do the same."
Goss also said other aspects of Notre
See NOTRE DAME, Page 7
Fire victims critical
IAMRO! -ILUI3/ UalJy
BAMN member Melissa Resch speaks to the crowd that attended a canceled
press conference on affirmative action at the Michigan Union yesterday.
BAMN cancels rally
By Jaimie Winkler
Daily Staff Reporter
By Adam Brian Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Monday's explosion at the Ford Motor Co. plant
had left all nine victims who were admitted to the
University Medical Center in critical condition as
of late yesterday afternoon.
At a press conference yesterday, University
Trauma Burn assistant Prof. Paul Taheri said the
hospital's job is "to get the patients through this
and help the families out."
mT P Plnci..nr .fiA e . thntn mr-rt' A i tthe
16 were sent to Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor
hospitals, said Nick Sharkey, Ford Motor Co.
Great Lakes regional manager for public
affairs.
"We don't know what happened," Sharkey said.
"The source of the explosion is unknown, but an
investigation is underway"
Early yesterday morning, seven of the nine
University patients who were admitted into the
Trauma Bum Intensive Care Unit were listed in
"coritica1" condition while two were listed as "fair."
Dark clouds and rain blanketed the
students who had gathered on the steps
of the Michigan Union yesterday in
support of affirmative action.
Yesterday's press conference,
which drew more than 35 supporters
and was scheduled by the Coalition
to Defend Affirmative Action By
Any Means Necessary, was can-
celed due to lack of media attention.
Michigan.
"They can't ignore the issue for-
ever," said LSA first-year student
Erika Dowdell.
Dowdell said the plan for the rally
was to "let it be known we're going to
do all we can to defeat this proposal."
BAMN still plans to protest Jaye
and former University of California
Regent and affirmative action oppo-
nent Ward Connerly, and counter
their collaborative efforts to gain sig-
1