LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 29, 1999 - 3A
*CAMPUS
Speaker to
highlight life of
Anne Frank
Giving a more complex portrait of
the life of Anne Frank, Melissa Muller,
author of "Anne Frank: The
Biography" is set to speak tonight in
Rackham Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
Muller's novel not only traces the life
of Anne Frank from her childhood to
her death, but also reveals the identity
of the person who betrayed the fami-
lies, like Anne Frank's, who hid in an
attic to escape Nazi imprisonment.
Nannette Konig, a Holocaust sur-
vivor and schoolmate of Anne Frank, is
Ascheduled to join Muller at the lecture.
The lecture, which is part of Hillel's
20th Annual Conference on the
Holocaust, is in memorial of University
alum Michael Bernstein. Bernstein iden-
tified and prosecuted Nazi war criminals
for the U.S. Justice Department Office of
Special Investigation.
Bernstein was killed on PanAm
Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
0Symposium to
explore models
of education
Today and tomorrow a symposium
and workshop exploring models of inte-
grating research and creative work into
undergraduate curriculum is scheduled
to take place at the University.
At today's 1999 Jerome Wiesner
f Symposium, Presidential Science
*Adviser and former Director of the
National Science Foundation Neal
Lane, plans to give the keynote address.
Panelists for the symposium include
University Provost Nancy Cantor; John
McTague, vice president of technical
affairs for Ford Motor Co.; former
Acting White House Science Adviser
to President Ronald Reagan; and U.S.
Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor).
Tomorrow's workshop will showcase
representatives of research universities
from across the country. Participants
will make presentations detailing their
efforts to involve undergraduates in
research and creativity in the classroom.
Mexican artist to
lecture at museum
Enrique Chagoya, an assistant pro-
fessor for Stanford University's depart-
Went of art will present a lecture this
Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the University
Museum of Art.
Chagoya's art presents a cultural
fusion of Columbia mythology and
American pop culture. His lecture will
focus on his use of humor in his painting,
graphic arts, video and bookmaking.
The lecture is sponsored by the
School of Art and Design as well as the
,nstitute for the Humanities and the
University of Michigan Museum of Art.
The event is free and open to the
public. More information can be
obtained at 734-764-0395.
Irish poet to read
at Rackham
Irish poet Paul Durcan will read
from his work Thursday night at
Rackham Amphitheater at 5 p.m. as
i art of the 1998-99 Visiting Writers
eries, which is sponsored by the
Department of English and the Office
of the Provost.
Durcan has written 16 books of poet-
.-ry, including "Daddy, Daddy," which
won the 1990 Whitbread Award for
,poetry. The event is free to the public.
Students learn
about alcohol use
Students gathered at Cliff Keen
Arena last night for an event titled "Sex
Under the Influence." Sigma Alpha Mu
national president Joel Goldman talked
"about the consequences that can arise
: from mixing sex and alcohol.
After being frank with the audience
and showing students pictures of himself
and friends, Goldman explained how he
became HIV positive as a result of being
irresponsible with sex and alcohol.
* Goldman, an Indiana University alum,
said the message he wanted to send was
that "when we mix alcohol and sex, that's
when we get negative consequences."
The talk was sponsored by the
University's Panhellenic Association,
Interfraternity Council, Office of the Vice
President for Student Affairs, M-PACT
and three individual sorority houses.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Nika Schulte.
Kids Fair gives pen
pals chance t0 Heet
Event
gathers
students,
activists
5
By Nick Bunkley
Daily Staff Reporter
After months of exchanging letters and photos, not-
so-long-lost pen-pals were united Friday during the
first ever Kids Fair at Bennie Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
Inside the cavernous Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, more
than 900 elementary school students who are part of
the K-grams pen pal program spent the balmy after-
noon with students from the University who have been
exchanging letters with them since September.
The K-gram program, in its first year, has a promis-
ing future and is sure to return next year, said founder
Rishi Moudgil, an LSA junior.
"We've had a really successful first year," he said.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't keep doing it."
K-grams pairs up students who live in University
residence halls with students from seven elementary
schools in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The Kids Fair was
held as a way to bring together the two groups for
something they could both enjoy, Moudgil said.
Many of the elementary students met their pen pals
in person for the first time on Friday, finally being
able to put a face behind the monthly letters.
Both age groups took advantage of the time to do
activities like painting, trying out musical instruments
and going head-to-head against some Michigan ath-
letes, along with missing a few hours of class..
Chuck Hatt, a fifth-grade teacher at Pattengill
Elementary School, said the pen pal program and the
Kids Fair help close the gap between the two groups
of students. "It's really neat to see them interacting
with these older kids" he said. "I think it's a lot of fun
for the kids"
Although the Kids Fair was planned with mainly the
elementary schoolers in mind, Engineering sopho-
more Pat Hunt said it was difficult to tell which age
group was having a better time.
"You can see everybody's having a good time,"
Hunt said. "It's really well organized."
Spread around the fieldhouse were tables manned
by students from 80 campus groups. Business junior
Amanda Squiers of the Bachelor of Business
Administration Transfer Club said the elementary stu-
dents were able to gain perspective on campus life.
"It materializes the whole college thing for them,"
Squiers said.
LSA sophomore Georgi Weinstock said the fair
gave University students an opportunity to escape
from day-to-day life of lectures, labs and exams.
"I think it's good for us college students to get out
and be kids again," Weinstock said.
Hatt said the pen pal program is both educational
and enjoyable for the younger students, which made it
an easy choice to have his class join the program.
KRISTIN GOBLE/Daily
Art and Design sophomore Dan Nieman (center) and
LSA sophomore Adam Paris cheer on kids in a pie-
eating contest on Friday at the Kids Fair.
"When you're teaching writing, you're always look-
ing for something real to write," he said. "When you
have that opportunity, you jump on itt'
Mike Gluck, one of Hatt's students, said he's glad
his class is a part of the program.
"I like writing pen pal letters" he said. "It gives me
something to do."
Activists, Jayc
butt heads over
a~frmative action
JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily
Ronald Thompson (right), chair of Midwest Stamping Company, speaks yester-
day at the Residential College Auditorium about the Black Action Movement,
while Margarita Garcia-Roberts, a program associate from the Office of
Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, looks on
BAM veteras
diScu s ac 0M"'o!t i v i2 E
By Sarah Lewis
Daily Staff Reporter
The fire of activism in the late
1960s, fueled by tumultuous historic
events like the Civil Rights Movement
and the Vietnam war, impacted the
University campus in the form of the
Black Action Movement.
As part of the Diversity Theme.
Semester's Capstone Experience, five
veterans of BAM I and a spokesperson
for the Chicano Action Movement
gathered in the Residential College
Auditorium yesterday to discuss those
years of activism in a panel titled
"Struggles for
Diversity at
U-M.")
"I've got a
feeling. I've
got a feeling %
sister. I've 0
got a feeling S S
BAM's gonna
shut this mother down. Ain't no
messin' around," original BAM
member Charles Brown sang,
recounting one of the songs activists
used during the time when they initi-
ated one of the biggest protests in
University history.
For two weeks in the spring of
1970, BAM members virtually shut
down the University in a strike that
included both students and faculty,
demanding services and regulations
that would increase the number of
blacks at the school.
Keith Cooley, who came to the
University in 1963, remembered the
homogeneity of the campus during
his first year as a student.
"I could walk for a week ... and
could see probably four or five faces
that looked like mine," Cooley said.
Ronald Thompson, a 1969
Business Administration graduate
and the first elected president of
BAM, said the group grew out of a
need on campus to organize and find
ways to increase black enrollment.
"It was a place where you didn't
see a whole lot of people who looked
like you," Thompson said. "It was
also a time when many of us were
angry ... a time of great activism"
The "life-transforming" experience
of being a BAM member and partici-
pating in the strike "was not without
challenges," she said, but they were
not isolated.
"When I arrived, the euphoria of
what was going on then and the
importance of it was effused in every
single student ... that was on campus
at that time," said BAM veteran
David Ormes.
The strike was a result of BAM
members' discussions with adminis-
trators to increase the number of black
students on campus through measures
like recruitment and quota-filling.
Their list of demands also included
support systems for black and Latino/a
students, financial aid, a black studies
program and a provision that black stu-
dents be called blacks - not Negroes.
"We became frustrated because
this series of discussions never really
.materialized in a commitment from
the University," Thompson said. "As
it continued there became a momen-
tum to be more active. The strike was
a tactic to force the University to
negotiate with us."
The ensuing strike - which had
support from white student groups,
faculty and food service workers -
involved disruptions, the boycott of
classes and picketing and eventually
several colleges and academic build-
ings being shut down. After two
weeks, the regents approved most of
BAM's main demands, and the num-
ber of black students increased.
"The 1970 BAM activists and
supporters - black, white and all
colors - solve the riddle of color
for a brief historical moment,"
Brown said. "But you can't change
the University without changing the
larger society."
By Kelly O'Connor
Daily Staff Reporter
LANSING - Passionate leaders on
both sides of the affirmative action
debate voiced their opinions Friday as
members of the Coalition to Defend
Affirmative Action By Any Means
Necessary convened in front of state Sen.
David Jaye's (R-Macomb) office across
from the capitol building in protest.
About 25 people - mostly
University and Michigan State
University students - held signs and
yelled chants such as "Ward Connerly,
get it right. If you come to Michigan,
you'll be in for a fight" as security
guards and other members of Jaye's
staff watched from behind glass win-
dows in the front of the building.
Connerly, a former regent in the
University of California system, was a
major proponent of Proposition 209,
which banned the use of race in hiring
and admissions practices in California.
Last month Connerly expressed
interest in working with Jaye - who
also has long opposed the use of affir-
mative action policies - to get a simi-
lar proposition on Michigan's ballot.
BAMN National Outreach organizer
Adam Lerman said Connerly's recent
announcement to take on Michigan
triggered an increased resistance by
Connerly's opponents.
"We put our heads together and
decided we need to go on the offen-
sive," Lerman said. "We wanted to
make it clear that we are going to fight
this every step of the way."
Lerman added that the small group
present at the rally represented the feel-
ings of students all over the nation.
"We had e-mail responses from stu-
dents at Purdue (University) and the
University of Illinois saying, 'We'd be
there if we could,"' Lerman said.
"We're trying to build more of a net-
work for the movement."
MSU sophomore and BAMN orga-
nizer Nekesha Bell said she has been
involved with the affirmative action
movement since she was 13 years old.
But organizing students at MSU has not
been easy, she said.
"The campus is segregated," Bell
said. "We preach diversity and multi-
culturalism, but we do not practice it."
The group and other supporters of
affirmative action have called Jaye "a
racist threat" and referred to him as
"State Senator David 'George Wallace'
Jaye."
But Jaye said those who support
affirmative action are the true racists.
"These folks know that they are
philosophically bankrupt," Jaye said,
adding that defenders of affirmative
action do not include all minorities in
their protests because Asian Americans
suffer from the "theft ofjobs by the less
qualified."
Jaye laughed off the idea that he is a
racist, adding that some minority and
female members of his staff do not sup-
port affirmative action.
After more than an hour of chanting
and picketing, the protesters sent two
representatives, Bell and University
BAMN member Luke Massie, inside to
consult with Jaye about organizing a
dialogue session between the two
groups.
Jaye said he had been waiting since
the early afternoon for demonstrators to
come inside, where a heated discussion
eventually ensued. BAMN representa-
tives repeatedly asked the senator to
establish a forum for the discussion as
Jaye demanded to know whether either
Bell or Massie had been present at a
1997 rally in Shelby Twp. that ended in
police officers using tear gas and mak-
ing arrests.
Jaye then said he recognized Massie
as one of-the participants and asked a
security guard to escort Massie from
the building.
"You are interested in disruption,"
Jaye told Massie. "You won't even
admit if you were at the Shelby rally -
I don't even think you've gotten a hair-
cut since then"
Jaye said he would agree to let protest-
ers inside who had not been present at the
rally, but said he was out of time for the
day.
Both groups agreed to arrange a dia-
logue session for a later date.
By Callie Scott
Daily Staff Reporter
More than 150 students, communi-
ty activists and academics came
together this weekend for the first
National Student Environmental
Justice Conference, sponsored by the
Environmental Justice Group at th
University.
EJG, recently named the
Outstanding Student Group on cam-
pus by the Office of Student
Activities and Leadership, was
formed on the belief that all people,
regardless of race, ethnicity or ec
nomic standing, deserve to live, work
and play in a healthy environment. .
The conference, which drew
national and international partic
pants, was organized with the pur-
pose of furthering the environmental
justice movement.
"We want to build a bridge
between activist work and academia
that goes on concerning environmen-
tal justice," said SNRE senior Deana
Rabiah, an organizer of the confer-
ence. She said the conference is
unique because it brings together not
only students and professors, but
activists as well.
The conference provided a "forun
for discussion," said SNRE senior
Robin. Franz, the event's publicity
coordinator. Its aim is "to put togethi
er a national network of environmetn
tal justice connections and volun-
teers," she said.
Emily Scherer, a recent graduate
of Colorado College, attended the
conference "to interact with others
in the environmental justice movo-
ment and to find out where the con-
cept is going." She said she hoped to
do some personal networking and
also research for groups in
Colorado.
The conference took a national
approach, Franz said, rather than the
traditional, localized, grass roots
approach often taken on environmen-
tal justice issues.
The reason for this approach, Fran
said, could be found on the confe-
ence's T-shirts. They displayed a
quote from Martin Luther King J,
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to jus-
tice everywhere."
The conference was launched
Friday with the keynote address made
by Winona LaDuke, a renowned
Native American activist and writer.
Her speech, titled "Sustainablp
Wisdom," was also part of the Winter
Term Lecture Series on Sustainable
Development, Community, and
Business sponsored by the Corporate
Environmental Management Program.
LaDuke's lecture stressed the
importance of each person in the
environmental movement, saying that
while it is a daunting task, "the reali-
ty is that change is made by individu-
als."
She spoke not on why environ-
mental work needs to be done
because, she said, "we know what s
wrong." Rather, it was a means for
her to communicate what she has
learned from her experiences as a
activist.
"Change is inevitable, the ques-
tion is who controls the change?
LaDuke said. It is a choice between
development by multinational cor-
porations, who a lot of times care
only about the bottom line, and the
people, she said.
In her culture, "if you do not con-
trol your land, you do not control
your destiny,' LaDuke said.
11999-2000 Fall/Winter Financial Aid Applicants:I
Offc of FiancialAd
University of Michigan
Office of Financial Aid (OFA)
2011 SAB &
1212 Pierpont Commons
(734) 763-6600
fi nancial.aid@umich .edu
hftp://www.finaid.umich.edu
Before packing Your
boxes to
leave ...
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ILL
LAIzLL L A1 t
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all the aid for which you
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