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 ... I t - ILL LAIzLL L A1 t To be considered foryou all the aid for which you are eligible, be sure the Office of Financial Aid (OFA) receives all your required application materials by; What's happening in Ann Arbor today .. .. . . .. . . . . .. . ... . . . . . 1 - _ _ _ __ .__ ____