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One hundred eight years of editoralfreedom
Monday
March 22, 1099
Att j,: Ichigangaily
SOLE
I
vacates
president's
office
By Michael Grass
Daily Staff Reporter
The 30 student anti-sweatshop
activists who occupied University
President Lee Bollinger's office ended
their 51-hour sit-in Friday at noon,
'ting the media and a group of more
t n 75 supporters on Regents' Plaza
after exiting the Fleming
Administration Building together.
After a series of negotiations between
University administrators and Students
Organizing for Labor and Economic
Candidates
aebate use
of political
issues
ewel Gopwanl
Daily Staff Reporter
Does the Michigan Student Assembly
have limits when it comes to taking
stances on controversial issues? This is a
question that MSA's incoming president
and vice president may face during their
term.
The assembly's approval Jan. 26 of a
resolution condemning the United
ions' sanctions on Iraq sparked ques-
t s about the range of the assembly's
duties as a campus organization.1
"In a lot of people's eyes, (the resolu-
Equality negotiators in the weeks and
days before the office occupation,
Bollinger. presented the University's
policy for its expectations of licensed
manufacturers at Thursday's University
Board of Regents meeting.
While happy with many of the stipula-
tions in the University's code, SOLE
members said they will continue to press
the University to meet its promises.
"This is not a final agreement; we
accept it only as a down payment,"
SOLE member Saladin Ahmed, an LSA
senior, said at a press conference Friday.
Bollinger said Thursday at the
regents' meeting that the University is
proud of its code.
"It will ensure fundamental freedoms
for these workers, including decent and
safe working conditions, and protection
from coercive, exploitative conditions"
Bollinger said.
SOLE members, now calling them-
selves the "No-Sweat 30," seized
Bollinger's office Wednesday morning
after the administration did not meet
their full set of demands to call for
stronger labor standards in the colle-
giate apparel industry.
Although SOLE members said they
were prepared to remain in Bollinger's
office for weeks, they decided to leave
Friday because they felt their demands
had been met - even though they said
work still needs to be done.
Thanking everyone who had shown
support during its protest, each member
of the "No-Sweat 30" approached the
microphone to tell the crowd about the
different groups that had contacted them
during their stay in Bollinger's office.
"It's phenomenal - we've had words
of encouragement from London, England
to Tulsa, Oklahoma," said SOLE member
Joe Sexauer, an LSA junior.
"We couldn't have done this without
the help from the outside," said SOLE
member Rachel Stern, an LSA sopho-
more. Each time the group received an
e-mail of support "morale would shoot
through the roof."
See SOLE, Page 7A
'I Anti-Sweatshop
Policy Provisions:
Code of Conduct
Anti-Sweatshop A
Committee
® Public disclosure
8 Compensation
standards
0 Women's rights
dvisory
Students plan
independent
alcohol probe
MSAI
art two of
a three-part
issues series.
tion) hurt MSA's
respect," said MSA
President Trent
Thompson, whose
term ends later this
month. "In other
people's eyes, it
meant everything
in the world to
them."
Thompson said
one of the respon-
sibilities of the
By Lauren Gibbs
Daily Staff Reporter
In the wake of several alcohol-related
deaths on college campuses nationwide,
three members of the University's Greek
community are taking their own actions
- independent of an official task force
- to reform the system's alcohol policy.
Koonal Gandhi, an LSA junior in Chi
Phi fraternity, Molly Norton, an LSA
sophomore in Kappa Kappa Gamma
sorority and Brian Reich, an LSA
sophomore also in Chi Phi, have co-
authored proposals for internal reforms
to the Interfraternity Council and
Panhellenic alcohol policies.
Reich said the students have proposed
reforms separately from the task force
because they fear University interven-
tion, which he claimed, has influenced
the task force reforms.
"We want to raise more awareness. We
want to self-regulate rather than have the
administration forcing us," Gandhi said.
"We all know it needed to happen; some-
thing was going to have to be done to reg-
ulate the houses. The parties were unsafe."
Reich said IFC and Panhel officials
are prepared to release their findings
about the problems with the Greek sys-
tem to the public, but University admin-
istrators who have been working with
the task force requested that the group
keep its findings confidential, Reich
claimed.
"It is pretty obvious that the Greek
system is not perfect. There is a lot of
underage drinking. If the parents and the
world found out that these students, sup-
'posedly 'the leaders and the best', were
not perfect it would tarnish their opinion
of them," Reich said.
IFC President Rohith Reddy refused
to comment on the task force's findings
but said the new alcohol policy should
be completed by the first week of April.
Assistant Dean of Students Frank
Cianciola, who works with the task
force, could not be reached for comment
yesterday.
The trio said it 'is not trying to stop
college students from drinking, because
that is an unreasonable goal. "The idea
that something can stop drinking in col-
lege is a pipe dream. We can't stop col-
lege drinking, instead we have to instill
in people a sense of personal responsi-
bility. (Students) have to know that if
they drink and hurt other people, they
See ALCOHOL, Page 2A
JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily
Jessica Kota performs a style of Native American pow wow dance called "women's fancy" yesterday at Lorch Hall. She
was one of six dancers to display different styles of pow wow dance that will be highlighted at the "Dance for Mother
Earth" Pow Wow this weekend in Crisler Arena.
Native Ameria dance
trnfollowstradition, hi~story
assembly's executive officers is balanc-
ing the amount of social change the body
attempts to enact against its job of serv-
ing University students.
Although LSA Rep. Mehul Madia
sa- he thinks the sanctions against Iraq
iaimportant issue, he voted against
the resolution to condemn the UN sanc-
tions on Iraq because "that issue was
pretty much out of MSA's preview," he
said.
Thompson said that the assembly's job
on international issues is to first inform
the student body and then to help student
groups take action on such topics.
Business Rep. Will Youmans, who
sponsored the resolution, agrees that the
assembly should create awareness about
in issues, but he said it should not
p ace limits on the breadth of its agenda.
"It's very scary if we put limitations on
what MSA can do; Youmans said.
Youmans said in addition to similar
resolutions passed at other universities,
he has taken action on this resolution
through lobbying local legislators on the
issue. "Every Metro-Detroit representa-
tive is on our side;' Youmans said.
,he candidates running on the execu-
t slates of the Blue Party, Defend
Affirmative Action Party and the
Students' Party have varied perspectives
on whether the assembly should take
stances on political issues.
"MSA's role on campus is to educate
See ISSUES, Page 7A
By Sarah Lewis
Daily Staff Reporter
With the University's 27th Annual
"Dance for Mother Earth" Ann Arbor
Pow Wow scheduled for next week-
end, dancers, drummers and an
Odawa storyteller related the mean-
ings behind the Native American tra-
dition through their talents last night.
Members of TreeTown, a Great
Lakes Native Drum Group, thumped
rhythmic beats on their drums while
chanting music as six dancers per-
formed and explained different types
of pow wow dancing.
Storyteller Larry Plamondon
offered both traditional and historical
explanations for the songs and dances
between performances.
"The dances and songs are used to
remind us of our place in the world
and our relationships to all things;"
Plamondon said. "It's about finding a
story that fits your life.
"The dances, cultures and songs
are constantly reinforcing for us our
relationship to the earth;' he added.
All the dancers performed a "grand
entry" dance, which Plamondon said
symbolizes the coming of living crea-
tures on the earth after the flood.
"Each dance tells a story," said Bill
.Martell, who performed a men's tra-
ditional dance. His costume included
two eagle feathers, which are the
most respected because the eagle
"flies highest and is closest to the cre-
ator," Martell said.
Just as the different pow wow
dances have different meanings and
traditions, the accompanying drum
music incorporates historical and
meaningful aspects that have changed
over time.
American culture graduate student
Andrew Adams, who is a member of
the Native American Students
Association and TreeTown, said that
different styles of singing and even
different drums each have unique
sounds.
Plamondon said the chant-like
"vocal songs," which differ from the
songs in which words are used to
communicate, developed from inter-
tribal get-togethers when native peo-
ples would exclude visitors who
spoke a different dialect.
"It was a way for visitors to active-
ly participate in the festivities;' he
said. "If we were not able to adapt and
change we would certainly be an
extinct people." He also explained
that Native American customs contin-
ually take ancient traditions and
shape them to contemporary times
using "modern materials and modern
techniques."
Martell said that dancing in pow
wows helps to bridge the two worlds
that many Native Americans may find
themselves straddling - a modern
world in which they are pressured to
succeed and the world of ancient tra-
dition.
"Pow wows help me hang on to my
identity," he said.
TreeTown member Steve Erskine
said the pow wow tradition developed
from Native Americans getting
together to celebrate things in nature,
like the changing of seasons.
"Today we still want to get togeth-
er and celebrate," Erskine said.
See DANCE, Page 2A
LL THAT GLITTERS
Director and actor Roberto Benigni professes his love to the audience after
winning:the Oscar for Best Actor for "Life Is Beautiful" last night.
Inside: Full coverage of the Academy Awards. Page 5A
,Making a splash
Health conference
focuses on minorities
By Asma Rafeeq
Daily Staff Reporter
Focusing on the disproportionate
numbers of people of color affected by
disease and poor access to health care,
a minority health conference this week-
end aimed to identify and seek solu-
tions to the unique concerns of minori-
ties.
Public Health Students of African
Descent and La Salud Public Health
Student Organization co-hosted the
conference, which attracted more than
150 students and professionals from
tural competency for health care givers.
Pedro Greer, founder and director
of Camillus Health Concern, a clin-
ic for the homeless, spoke about the
need to understand a community's
history in order to gain cultural
competence.
"It's not just about the language,"
said Greer, who currently holds a posi-
tion on the National Board. of the
Physicians for Human Rights. "Just
because I speak Spanish doesn't mean I
can go back into my old barrio and be
fully accepted."
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