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One hundred nine years of editonafreedom
Monday
January 24,2000
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'U
By Jeannie Baumann
Daily Staff Reporter
proposes stricter hazing policies
After several nationally publicized allegations
of fraternity hazing on campus, Interim Vice
resident for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper
said she now is working with students to "put
more teeth" into the University's anti-hazing
policy.
"The policy is so broad we couldn't find it,"
she said during Friday's meeting of the
University Board of Regents.
Adopted by the regents in June 1982, the pol-
icy states that "the University of Michigan con-
demns hazing practices as requirements for
membership, advancement, or continued good
standing in organizations."
Harper described the "umbrella" policy as a
philosophical base, upon which organizations
were to develop specific practices. But she said
the latter half has not been completed and her
office is looking into developing those practices.
"We must institutionally hold students
accountable for their behavior," she said.
Harper said she hopes to enforce the policy by
creating an anti-hazing hotline and strengthen-
ing relationships with the national fraternity
organizations.
"These behaviors are unsafe and demeaning,"
Harper said. "We have to move pretty assertive-
ly to make sure that our students are safe."
Interfraternity Council President Adam Silver
also attended the meeting and said IFC and the
Panhellenic Association are taking immediate
steps to address the recent hazing incidents on
campus.
"We're writing letters to parents, letting them
know that their son or daughter is a member of a
Greek association," said Silver, an Engineering
senior.
Silver also described an upcoming conference
with new member educators, presidents of each
campus chapter, University administrators and
public safety officials to discuss the dangers of
hazing and the consequences of violating the anti-
hazing policy. He also said IFC and Panhel are
appointing a joint task force to create specific
policies on hazing violations, including physical
and mental harm and poor academic perfor-
mance. "We hope to have the policy by the end
of the semester," Silver said.
Regent Laurence Deitch (D-Bloomfield
Hills) said the incidents are "abhorrent" and he
supports the concept of a thoughtful investiga-
tion. But he added that only a small number of
students are violating anti-hazing codes.
"I believe that the overwhelming number of
men and women in Greek organizations have
consistency between action and word," he said.
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
Gilbert Omenn addressed hazing incidents
which result in hospitalization and suggested a
way for students to learn firsthand of the risks
involved.
"It's appropriate to visit fellow students to see
the consequences;" he said.
*Presidential
candidates gear
up for Iowa vote
By Yaol Kohen
Daily Staff Reporter
* After nearly a year of campaigning across the coun-
try, Republican and Democratic presidential candidates
will see their efforts finally translate into votes when
Iowans meet at the Republican and Democratic caucus-
es today to elect their choices for the presidential nom-
ination.
The Iowa caucus is the first of many caucuses and pri-
maries that will follow in coming months.
Campaign coordinators expect the Iowa caucuses to
give each campaign ynomentum as candidates continue
o attract voters in other states.
In the caucus system, registered voters gather in com-
munity centers throughout the state at 7 p.m. to hear
about the various candidates. At the end, the voters
choose who they want to nominate for president.
Democratic presidential candidates former New
Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore and
Republican presidential candidates Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-
Utah), Texas Gov. George W. Bush, magazine editor
Steve Forbes, Christian activist Gary Bauer and televi-
sion commentator Alan Keyes have been traveling
across Iowa for last-minute campaigning to bring out
*he vote.
Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz) opted not to campaign in
Iowa and focus his attention on the upcoming New
Hampshire primary.
Bush is 23 points ahead of Forbes and Gore leads
Bradley by 28 points, according to the latest polls con-
ducted by The Des Moines Register.
Because of the caucus system, "Iowa is a state where orga
See CAUCUS, Page 2A
Markey room
damaged in fire
By David Enders
Daily Staff Reporter
A fire on the sixth floor of Mary Markley
Residence Hall on Friday night forced the evacu-
ation of the entire building and caused extensive
damage to one room in Blagdon House.
University Facilities and Operations
spokesperson Diane Brown said no one
reported injuries as a result of the Markley
fire. All residents, except those of sixth floor
Blagdon House, were allowed to return to
their rooms at 11 p.m., about 35 minutes after
the alarm was pulled.
"The fire has been attributed to some kind
of electrical situation," Brown said.
Ann Arbor Fire Department officials on the
scene said the blaze spread quickly after a mat-
tress and some furniture ignited, but the blaze
was contained to the room where it began.
Many students were initially skeptical of the
evacuation, but thick black smoke pouring out of
a sixth-floor window alerted them to the serious-
ness of the situation.
"I thought some jerk pulled a false alarm,"
said Kendra Byrne, an LSA first-year student
who lives in Markley, as she stood outside.
Due to the cold weather conditions, the
evacuated residents were allowed into the
School of Public Health Building II, Alice
Lloyd and Couzens residence halls while the
fire was being contained.
A fire at Seton Hall University last
Wednesday left three students dead and five
hospitalized. Like Markley, Boland Residence
Hall, where the fire began, doesnot have a
sprinkler system.
Many Boland Hall residents were slow to leave
their rooms because they assumed the alarm was
a continuation of a string of prank alarms. Seton
Hall reported having 18 false alarms in Boland
Hall since Sept. 1, 1999, Seton Hall officials said
in a written statement.
"We have a very low incidence of false
alarms" at the University, Brown said. "For
the calendar year of 1999, there were 17 false
alarms recorded for the entire residence hall
system."
Brown attributes the University's small
number of false alarms to two reasons.
"First, we have a mandatory evacuation
procedure, and second, the pull stops are cov-
ered," she said, referring to the fire alarms
which are protected by breakable glass to pre-
vent accidental alarms.
The mandatory evacuation procedure
allows the University to penalize students
who do not leave their rooms, regardless of
whether the alarm is false.
Brown said that the penalties for students
See FIRE, Page 7A
DAVI D A/ailay
Ann Arbor Fire Department Driver Operator Daniel Stabley stands in front of
Mary Markley Residence Hali on Friday night after a fire damaged room.
*Art museum receives $65K grant
By Sana Danish
Daily Staff Reporter
The National Endowment for the
Arts will award a $65,000 grant to the
University's Museum of Art to fund
an exhibit titled "Women At The Top:
Images Of Female Power, 1500-
*650."
The grant, which will allow for the
February 2002 exhibit, is the second
largest the NEA has awarded to a
Michigan arts organization this year.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra
received the largest grant.
"The funding of the NEA has been
reduced in the past 20 years,"
Museum of Art Director James
Steward said. "We regard the fact that
we received the second largest grant
awarded to a Michigan arts organiza-
tion as an exceptional endorsement of
our work."
Steward said the selection procedure
for the grant was extremely competi-
tive. Each museum can submit only one
application per year.
An anonymous NEA expert panel
consisting of artists, scholars and
museum professionals made recom-
mendations regarding which organi-
zations shouldi
receive grants. The
Museum of Art won its grant in the
category of "Creation and
Presentation."
Curator of Western Art Annette
Dixon; who is organizing the exhib-
it, said the grant is a stamp of
approval for the museum. The grant
will help garner attention as well as
See GRANT Page 2A
Alive and kickin'
Salary increases
5.9 percent for
faculty, Bollinger
By Anna Clark
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents on
Friday unanimously approved a 5 per-
cent pay increase for University
President Lee Bollinger, making him
the seventh-highest paid employee on
campus with a $311,000 salary.
Following the regents' applause,
Bollinger thanked his wife Jean and the
regents.
"There is an uncompromising com-
mitment to excellence here. And I'd like
to thank my wife, who keeps the house
a lively place on campus," Bollinger
said.
Regent Laurence Deitch (D-
Bloomfield Hills) moved for the vote to
increase Bollinger's salary, praising
him for his leadership the past three
years.
"You are a pleasure to work with,"
nlow h ni
averaged 4.55 percent.
"These are very good salary increas-
es," Provost Nancy Cantor said. "They
reflect a real intent on the University's
part to recruit and retain faculty and
staff."
"There's a very tight academic labor
market" across the nation and it's cru-
cial for the University to keep pace,
Cantor said.
"Our peer institutions have a similar
focus in recruiting and retaining quality
faculty and staff," Cantor said. "And
we're squarely in there."
While pay increases at the University
are typical, in past years budget prob-
lems forced salary freezes, although
that has not occurred in more than a
decade.
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Gilbert Omenn retains his distinction as
the highest paid person at the
I Inivmrcit with a5M 750 alarv - a
JUANNA PAINE/ Datly
LSA senior Anuj Vohra and LSA sophomore Ranjit Das discuss minority issues
yesterday at the Midwestern Indian American Student Conference.
400 Come to 'U' for
TASA confereh~*Chnce
By Tiffany Maggard
Daily Staff Reporter
Nine months of intense preparation
and anticipation came down to just three
short days for members of the Indian
American Student Association as they
hosted the fourth annual Midwestern
Indian American Student Conference,
the largest event of its kind in the nation.
Over 400 Indian American stu-
dents from across the nation con-
verged at the University this weekend
to engage in a celebration of Indian
culture, heritage and history. The
event titled "2000 Reflections:
traveled to Philadelphia for a retreat last
June in hopes of finding inspiration for
the symposium's theme after seeing an
Indian American history exhibit.
"We're on a milestone in our com-
munity with the millennium this year;"
said MIASC External Director Jaspreet
Singh, an Engineering senior.
"In Philadelphia, we decided that we
needed to focus not only on what we're
going to do in the future, but what
we've done in the past," Singh said.
In an effort to make the event
more meaningful and intimate for
everyone involved, the planning
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