LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 30, 1999 - 3
RIME
urder suspect
-scapes from
oup home
A subject with an outstanding war-
at for second degree murder signed
utaof a group home in Beverly Hills,
ich., on Thursday with his mother,
scaped.her supervision and ended up
t Oniversity Hospitals, Department of
ublic Safety reports state.
.The Beverly Hills Police Department
ontacted DPS officials with a report
f a 19-year-old subject who had left
1 ome and was reported as missing.
subject's mother returned to the
soap home without her son, but said
he had found him and taken him to her
ister's home in Dearborn.
The mother said her son had fallen
nd sufered unspecified injuries earli-
r in <he day. She added that her sister
ould be taking him to University
ospitals for treatment.
The subject was wanted on a five.
o t felony warrant from the
igan State Police for second
egree murder, DPS reports state.
According to reports, it is unknown
f the.-subject and his mother. were
ware of the warrants. Reports stated
he subject may have attempted to
heck into the hospital under an
ssumed name. Officers were sent to
niversity Hospitals to apprehend the
ubject and hospital security staff was
>ut on lookout for the subject.
remonial pipe
tolen from Crisler
4 ceremonial smoking pipe was
tolen from Wapashaw Trading
Company on Sunday in Crisler Arena,
ccording to DPS reports.
A yxepdor at the 27th Annual "Dance
or Mther Earth" Ann Arbor Pow
ow. n Crisler arena stated that a sub-
evalked off with the pipe, valued at
1T, but did not pay for the item.
The subject stole the item after he
as delined the use of his credit card
ue to. a hold on it by the credit card
ompny, DPS reports state.
The suspect was described as a male
n his early 20s. DPS officials plan to
find the man based on the name listed
rithe credit card.
A bulletin board was set on fire yes-
'e in West Quad Residence Hall,
acd ing to DPS reports.
Bulletin boards
et on fire in
Residence Hall
DPt, officers were dispatched and
xtinguished the fire. Ann Arbor Fire
epartment officials were contacted,
bQt heeded.
71e officers found two more bulletin
board fires on the first floor Michigan
House stairwell and second floor
Cambridge House stairwell.
There are no suspects in the inci-
dents. A report was filed.
Pager stolen from
Kellogg Eye Center
A pager was stolen from a man's lost
b at the Kellogg Eye Center on
T sday, DPS reports state.
The man stated that he last saw his
briefcase Wednesday. When he returned
forJ i efcase it was missing.
tisetriefcase was given to the front
des gaff of the center Thursday by a
sub.Ct whom staff members described
as ahZneless person.
The stolen Motorola pager is valued
at $65."
abbit found
stuck in well
A rabbit was found trapped in an open
well at the northwest corner of the Law
Library on Sunday, DPS reports state.
University pest management was
contacted by DPS officials and
responded to the situation.
There was no cover on the hole and
it needed to be replaced, according to
Dreports.
Thesabbit managed to escape before
pest management arrived to free it.
University maintenance was advised
about the open hole and workers cov-
ered the gap with loose cement as a
temporary fix.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Avram S. Turkel.
California admissions plan stirs debate
By Nika Schulte
Daily Staff Reporter
Although a recent plan approved by the
University of California Board of Regents makes
application to a school in the University of
California system less worrisome for top students,
some students and regents say they do not find the
plan to be as promising as they had expected.
The plan, which was pushed by California Gov.
Gray Davis in an attempt to make more students eli-
gible for admission to the university system, guaran-
tees the top 4 percent of California high school stu-
dents admission to one of UC's eight campuses. '
The modification marks the first change in the
admissions process since the 1995 resolution ban-
ning the use of race and gender in hiring and
admissions within the UC system. The change is
expected to affect the incoming class of 2001.
While the plan promises to reward student
excellence - regardless of their schools'
resources - many are not receiving it favorably.
"I am happy they are making strides to address
the inequality in education, but I question their
motives," said Josh Diosomito, a senator for the
Associated Students of the University of
California at Berkeley.
Diosomito said his reluctance to accept the
plan stems from the first version presented to
the student government, which stated the plan
would increase diversity in the California sys-
tem. But Diosomito said the version passed by
the regents doesn't account for diversity in the
same manner.
"Now it seems the plan will increase geograph-
ic diversity," Diosomito said.
Some California regents have also expressed
doubts about the effectiveness of the plan.
"I don't think it will do so much good," Regent
Stephen Nakashima said. "The people that are the top
4 percent are the ones that would qualify anyway."
But Chuck Mc Fadden, spokesperson for the
system-wide administration in the office of the UC
president, said it will put California high school
students on a "level playing field."
"We believe it will give additional opportunity
to the rural and inner high schools," McFadden
said, adding that often these schools do not have
resources such as Advanced Placement courses.
Nakashima said he is concerned the plan is sim-
ply accommodating the root of the problem
instead of directly addressing it.
"I would rather see the regents work on other
projects such as encouraging high schools to
improve their Advanced Placement programs,"
Nakashima said.
Critics of the plan are also concerned with the
increase in financial need the plan could create.
But McFadden believes such worries are not
necessary.
"It is true that the students who will receive
an added opportunity by virtue of the 4 percent
plan are probably students that don't come from
the economically advantaged of the state,"
McFadden said. "But there are plenty of opportu-
nities through work study and scholarship" that
would alleviate any problems.
McFadden said he is more worried about the
public's understanding of the proposal.
"The most common misconception is that stu-
dents who take basket weaving and get A's and
rank thereby in the top 4 percent will be entitled to
a slot at the University" he said.
"If you take the prescribed college preparation
course and achieve grades that put you in the top 4
percent, you will have a slot at UC;' McFadden
said.
Slaunches po
gauging student
rugcohol use ,
By Avram S. Turkel
Daily Staff Reporter
The University began conducting a
survey yesterday to study student use
of and opinions on alcohol, tobacco
and various drugs.
School of Nursing Prof. Carol Boyd
and assistant to the Vice President for
Student Affairs Sean McCabe are
heading the "Student Life Survey,"
which is intended to be a confidential
look at the habits of the University stu-
dent body.
"Our goal is to have a better under-
standing of the social behavior of stu-
dents and their beliefs about alcohol,
tobacco, and other drugs," Boyd said.
Three-thousand graduate and under-
graduate students will be randomly
selected to participate in the study.
Selected students are notified through
an e-mail campaign, asking participants
to respond as promptly as possible.
The new survey is an extension of a
smaller survey taken in 1993 which
found that University students were
responsible drinkers, and that many
students did not consume any alcohol.
"We felt that we needed to replicate
the (past) survey to find out if any-
thing has changed," Boyd said.
The final data from the survey,
McCabe said, will be used by various
student and University organizations
who track student lifestyle trends.
He added that the study seeks .to
"understand and anticipate changes in
the freauencv, duration and aality of
tobacco, alcohol and other drug use on
campus.
"The survey will identify students'
current norms and attitudes about alco-
hol, tobacco and other drugs on campus
and disseminate accurate information
about the drug, tobacco and alcohol use
on campus," McCabe said.
University spokesperson Julie
Peterson said another goal of the sur-
vey is to evaluate programs imple-
mented following the first survey.
The survey is being conducted "to
get a general sense of whether our
efforts have made any improvements,"
Peterson said.
KELLY MCKINNELL/Daify
School of Nursing Prof. Carol Boyd asks LSA sophomore Zach Papper to participate in a University-sponsored survey on
alcohol and drug use among students. Boyd and others involved said they hope to get 3,000 students to respond.
Carolyn Holmes, who works for the
independent research firm Market
Strategies, will serve as the director of
the survey.
Market Strategies will oversee the
survey to secure its integrity, and to
ensure the confidentiality of those stu-
dents who choose to participate,
Holmes said.
Organizers said any records con-
taining the names of participating stu-
dents will be destroyed after the study
has been completed.
The survey takes about 30 minutes
to complete. In an attempt to increase
participation in the survey, partici-
pants will be eligible for a $100 draw-
ing, tickets to University athletic
events and coupons for local eateries
and other local businesses, survey
officials said.
Bollinger debates
type ofwage for
sweatshop labor
By Nick Faizone
Daily Staff Reporter
University President Lee Bollinger brought the issue of whether to use the term
human rights wage or living wage in the debate on sweatshop labor practices to
yesterday's Senate Advisory Committee for University Affairs meeting, explaining
why he and other University officials prefer the term human rights wage.
To placate members of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality
and others who oppose sweatshop labor practices, the University recently approved
a set of anti-sweatshop policy provisions.
But in this policy, applicable to collegiate apparel manufacturers, University
President Lee Bollinger said the University has decided not to use the term living
wage, requesting instead that companies such as Nike provide their employees with
a human rights wage.
"I'm uncomfortable with the term living wage," Bollinger told the members of
the faculty governance board. "It can be interpreted in so many different ways -
from a minimum wage to double the minimum wage or more."
Bollinger added that he believed a human rights wage should not cover more
than minimum wage since the University is not in the business of redistributing
money from one economic class to another. He said that while he would be out-
raged if University-sponsored collegiate apparel manufacturers did not pay their
workers at all, he does not believe it is the University's job to institute a universal
minimum wage.
Biology Prof. Lewis Kleinsmith, who is scheduled to become the vice chair of
SACUA on May 1, asked Bollinger if a human rights wage would be more diffi-
cult to define than a living wage. Kleinsmith also questioned the definition of the
former term, wondering if a worker could actually survive on a human rights wage.
Bollinger said the University has not yet determined the criteria for the human
rights wage, although it has formed a committee with this as its objective. He
added that he hoped the new term would be far less ambiguous than living wage,
a phrase with multiple definitions.
But Social Work Prof. Sherrie Kossoudji said human rights wage could be
just as dangerous a term as living wage, suggesting the University employ a
human rights package instead. Kossoudji said this package could include the
assurance of safe working conditions as well as fair compensation to foreign
laborers.
Bollinger said this was a valid concern, but explained that the University already
refuses to do business with companies that do not offer their workers adequate
working conditions.
"There exist some forms of behavior that violate all forms of human treatment,"
Bollinger said. To those companies that employ these techniques, "the University
says we don't want to have anything to do with your organization here."
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