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One hundred eirhtyears ofeditorialfreedom
Tuesday
March 23, 1999
-O. 10 At . A M a 0999Te..l nOi
On~in
guide
gets good
j.views
By Eny Barber
Daily Staff Reporter
"Welcome to the University of
Michigan telephone registration sys-
tem. Please press one now."
Beginning April 5, University stu-
dents will be greeted once again by the
infamous CRISP lady as they register
for spring, summer and fall classes.
nd for the third time, their course
se ections will be made primarily from
the online course guide - saving the
University the approximately $8 per
guide it would cost in its printed version.
Since its move to the World Wide
Web, the guide has grown to 10 times
its original size, increasing the price for
a printed copy, Michigan Student
Assembly Academic Affairs Chair
Vikram Sarma said.
The fall course guide went online
lay and the spring/summer course
guide appeared on the Internet about
three weeks ago, said Director of
Academic Information and Publication
for LSA Robert Wallin, adding that the
guides are available more than a week
earlier than they have been in previous
years.
"In the old days we had to send a
copy to the printer," said Wallin. "Now
th t the course guide is online, it can be
ry earlier."
When the course guide first went
online last year, many students com-
plained about the elimination of the
printed version.
"Last year we had a flurry of nega-
tive reactions to the change," Wallin
said. "But this past fall we've received
a lot more positive feedback."
Wallin said he attributes this change in
opinion partially to improvements that
been made on the online course
e since it began last year - includ-
ing an enhanced online search engine.
"You could type in the word 'holo-
caust' and find every class in every
See CLASSES, Page 7
Running down a dream
Greeks set
to decide
By Asma Rafeeq
Daily Staff Reporter
policy
KELLY MCKINNELL/Daily
LSA senior Sara Avery runs across a bridge in Gallup Park yesterday. March 21 officially marked the start of spring,
bringing optimistic students outside to enjoy the warmer weather.
Awareness molnth to
highWight prevention
After seven months of evaluating
alcohol use at University fraternities
and sororities, members of the Greek
Social Environment Task Force said
they hope to finalize a new alcohol pol-
icy by the end of this week.
"This is a complete overhaul - not
just the current alcohol policy polished
over," Interfraternity Council President
Rohith Reddy said.
The new policy, which the task force
may finish writing at a meeting
Thursday, could be presented to frater-
nity presidents and sorority delegates as
early as next week.
After the sorority delegates and frater-
nity presidents review the new policy
with members of their chapters, they will
make a final vote on the policy - possi-
bly within the next two weeks.
Task force co-chair Sarah Sarosi said
if the policy is passed by the Panhellenic
Association and the IFC, it will be put in
place as soon as possible. "We definitely
want to have this policy implemented at
least one weekend before the end of this
year," said Sarosi, an LSA junior.
Several times during the past month,
the task force - comprised of 14 stu-
dents in the Greek community - dis-
cussed with fraternity and sorority pres-
idents the recommendations it made in
a 13-page report of its findings.
Among other recommendations, the
report suggests making party guest lists
mandatory, limiting the number of
guests and supplementing the number
of sober monitors at parties.
The report also recommends pro-
hibiting "friends" parties - those
which non-Greek students can attend
- from the beginning of the semester
through the end of Fall Rush.
Sarosi said that in the past, fraternities
and sororities have used friends parties as
a way to attract potential rushees. But the
task force wants friends parties to be
used not as recruitment tools, Sarosi said,
but as parties for actual friends of Greek
community members. "A lot of fresh-
men end up coming and it just gets out
of control," Sarosi said. "It actually is
the friends the parties should be for, not
for trying to impress rushees."
The report also outlines ways to
enhance event management, enforce-
ment and education of alcohol safety.
Sarosi said the task force is working
to change the present culture of alcohol
abuse, not impose external regulation.
"We're very interested in keeping
ourselves self-governed," Sarosi said.
The Greek community did not form
the task force in response to pressures
by the University administration or
police, Reddy said. "This was a com-
pletely internal process," said Reddy, an
LSA senior.
Panhel President Cindy Faulk said
the task force consulted with
University administrators, as well as
police officers and lawyers, as part of
its research., But she added that the
See ALCOHOL, Page 7
Month-long program will feature
speakers and discussions on sexual
assault prevention
By Yae lKohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Bringing awareness of sexual assault to the University and
educating students about the dangers of sexual assault facing
society is the focus of the Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness
Month which will run through April 9.
The purpose of the month is to make people more aware of
the problems of sexual violence, said LSA sophomore Sarah
Lessem, a Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center
volunteer. Throughout the month there will be a range of events
sponsored by SAPAC - including lectures on "Sexual Assault
in the Latino/a Community" scheduled for March 24 and
"Sexual Assault in the African American Community" sched-
uled for April 7. The program also includes a self-defense
workshop for women April 5. Other activities include a con-
test to choose the most sexist media advertisement and the
annual Take Back the Night march and rally.
The march and rally, whose location and time have not yet
See ASSAULT, Page 7
BATTLING FOR
VOTES
Candidates
debate key
MSA issues
By Jewel Gopwani
Daily Staff Reporter
Last night, WOLV-TV provided this year's Michigan
Student Assembly executive slates with the chance to air
their platforms to the student body.
Candidates kicked-off the evening with introductory
remarks and later addressed topics as varied as binge drink-
ing and electronic lobbying.
Students' Party Presidential candidate Sarah Chopp dis-
cussed the party's "three tier" platform - what the party
has accomplished, what it is working on and what it wants
to tackle during the next year.
Presenting the Blue Party's top four objectives, the
party's Presidential candidate Brain Elias addressed plans
to expand the Student Coursepack Service, fight the Code
of Student Conduct, form a direct constituency with the
student body and achieve student representation on the
See DEBATE, Page 2
U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), who is considering a run for the U.S.
Senate spoke yesterday about social work in the University Hospitals' Ford
*hitheatre
Stab enow leanmg
toward rn for
Abritaham'.Ls seat
MSA president and vice president candidates Sarah Chopp, Sumeet Kamik, Bram Elias, Andy
Coulouris, Jessica'Curtin and Erika Dowdeil gather for a debate in West Quad's Ostafin Room last
night.
By Nick Bunkley
'Daily Staff Reporter
U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D-
Lansing) has been in the center of a
political tug-of-war lately, as the
Democratic leadership in both the
House'and the Senate have been trying
sway her to their wing of the
itol.
After a speech on campus yesterday,
Stabenow said she will announce soon
whether she plans to make a run next
year for the Senate seat currently held by
first-term Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-
Mich.).
Hospitals' Ford Amphitheatre about
her specialty field of, social work,
Stabenow received applause from the
crowd of more than 60 people in sup-
port of a Senate bid.
"I've been getting a lot of encourage-
ment," Stabenow said.
First elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1996, Stabenow also
is a veteran of both chambers of the
Michigan Legislature. She said her top,
priorities are education and accessibili-
ty to colleges - issues she could push
further in the Senate.
"It's a question of where I can be
Thompson: Code should still be priority
By Jewel Gopwanl
Daily Staff Reporter
Claiming that the Michigan Student Assembly
has made progress in its effort to reform the Code of
Student Conduct, MSA President Trent Thompson
said the Code should remain at the forefront of the
assembly's agenda.
In December, MSA's Student Rights Commission
released a report and a set of recommended amend-
ments of the Code that the commission presented to
the University Board of Regents in January.
Although the regents did not vote on the SRC's
I
The amendment altered the process by which the
Code can be changed..
Previously, Code changes
M S required a vote by the regents.
{ °-The amendment adds student
representation to the Senate
Advisory Committee on
University Affairs' Students'
Relations Committee.
All proposed code changes
art three of are presented to this committee,
three-part which offers its recommenda-
In this new process, the president makes the final
decision on all proposals. "We've made the process
of amending the code a lot more accessible to stu-
dents,".former Students Rights Commission Chair
Olga Savic said, explaining that it would be easier to
influence one person, rather than nine regents.
Thompson added that because students don't
seem to care about the Code, the assembly should
try to inform the campus through forums about stu-
dents' rights under the document.
"MSA has to be that watchdog and catalyst for
change' 'said former SRC Public Relations Director
F
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