One hundred nine years ofeditonaifreedom Friday January 28, 2000 Weather Today: Blistering, like Bill C.'s Hibiao Tomorrow: Frigid, like George W.'s wife Will; angler gives little to state schools State budget appropriates 2.5 percent to 15 state universities Jeremy Wu-Tang Peters ply Staff Reportero LANSING - According to Gov. John Engler's Fiscal Year 2001 budget recommenda- tion, state universities will receive a 2.5 percent across-the-board 'increase - an amount that falls well short of what University officials and many state legislators would liked to have seen. "We requested an increase close to 5 percent," Vice President for Government Relations Synthia Wilbanks said. "It's what I consider a rting point," she added. The funding set aside for higher education was the source of much debate yesterday after- noon when State Budget Director Mary Lannoye revealed the governor's budget recommendation before a joint session of the state House and Senate Appropriations committees. Republicans and Democrats alike expressed concern that the increases proposed are not sufficient. Rep. Hubert Price (D-Pontiac) voiced his dis- content for the proposed 2.5 percent increase. "I will have a hard time going back to my dis- trict and explaining why there is an 8 percent increase in funding for corrections and only a 3 percent increase for higher education," he said. "At this level it's not fair to ask the universities to hold tuition increases at 3 percent," said Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle Creek), chair of the Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee. The governor's budget stipulates that any state university not holding their tuition increase below 3 percent will be subject to a 1.5 percent reduction in their base level funding for the Fiscal Year 2002. Schwarz said he plans to provide the universi- ties with enough money so they do not have to raise tuition significantly. "We'll try to get enough money in so they can hold it at 3 percent;" he said. Wilbanks said she could not yet predict how the proposed funding levels could impact the University's tuition. "It is certainly true that the levels of state appropriations do have an affect on tuition, but it is early at this conjecture to speculate what affect this will have on tuition," she said. Currently, the state's universities are funded on a five-tier system that places each school into a minimum per pupil funding tier. This "floor funding" suggests, but does not mandate, a level of state spending for each school. The University is in the top tier with a funding floor of $9,000. Because the funding floors are a suggested minimum amount, it is proposed the University will receive $9,471 per pupil for the fiscal year 2001. Michigan State University is also in the top tier but its funding does not reach the suggested level. Instead, it falls below the funding floor at $7,905 for the fiscal year 2001 mainly due to the school's large student population. The bottom tier, which contains schools such as Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan's Flint campus, has a funding floor of $4,500 per student. With four other state universities falling below the funding floor of their respective tiers, there was much clamor yesterday for an overall increase in state spending on higher education. "We have a caste system ... and it is wrong that we don't fund our schools at truly equitable levels," said Sen. Mike Goschka (R-Saginaw). Price, one of yesterday's more outspoken opponents of the governor's budget, added, "I don't know how we can continue down a path where we provide more for corrections than for higher education and community colleges." Prof. talks 6tbout kinds of sex drives By Tiffany Maggard Daily Staff Reporter "Promiscuity - the topic excites i e, or maybe it's just the research on it that does," said social psychologist and University alum Carol Travis as she enticed a crowd of 250 students in Rackham Amphitheater yesterday. Her lecture probed revealing research regarding the presumed differences in the sex-drive between males and females. Travis is both a fellow of the American Psychological Association 9 a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. She said her new research confirms that there is little or no genetic differ- ence in the sexuality of men and women. In a speech titled "From Penis Envy to Promiscuity: Our Changing Theories of Gender," Travis said that the Freudian theory of penis envy and the rwinian theory of male promiscuity Sfemale monogamy are bias models for explaining sex differences. "My college professor told me that my desire to go to graduate school was the result of penis envy. People actual- ly take this idea seriously. They think that when a three-year-old girl sees a boy naked for the first time, she is stricken with admiration at this magnif- icent boyish appendage." Travis explained that her research ets Freud's theory, which asserts penis envy causes females to feel subordinate to men. She said even modern explanations for sex differences are merely forms of biological determinism that fail to take into account the concepts of the learn- ing theory, which attributes behavior to culture and experiences throughout life. "This reductionist temptation to *leve that biology is everything is no more important than my old belief that the environment is everything;' Travis said. Travis explained that previous research on sexuality failed to disprove the idea that females are sexually sub- ordinate to males and because of this, the media and the scientific communi- ty's views on sexuality are ideological and skewed. With this perception, she explained, J previous research proliferates ideas t at females are sexually inferior and that males are uncontrollably promis- cuous by nature. "I always wonder about all of these studies of men having so much sex. "Don't you wonder who these few busy women are?," Travis asked. Travis said more accurate modern evidence on sexuality disproves many 4 ,arwin's theories that men are natu- y driven to spread their genetic material to greater humanity. The new evidence, she said, exempli- fies the fact that females were actually just as sexually active throughout the evolution of mankind. Travis said such evidence has been The last hurrah Request could push lawsuits against U' back By Michael Grass West Quad Bureau Chief The trial dates for the two admissions lawsuits facing the University could be delayed by one year if a federal court grants an extension to lawyers seeking for additional time for trial preparation. In 1997, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Individual Rights filed two lawsuits against the University, charging that their clients were unfairly denied admission to the University Law School and College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts because of the use of race as a factor in applicant evaluation. The motion, filed by the lawyers representing a coalition of students allowed to intervene in the cases, asks for the period of discovery - a time to review and study trial evidence - to be extended to Aug. 31. The discovery phase for the -cases is currently scheduled to end in March. "The anti-affirmative action case depends on a very simple lie, but the truth, which is what the students intend to bring into the court room, is very complicated. That is why we need more time," said Miranda Massie, a lawyer representing student intervenors in the Law School case. In August, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned a lower court's ruling bar- ring the students from intervening in the cases. With that ruling, the students are the first to be allowed to become intervenors in a case dealing with affirmative action. If a federal judge denies the motion and the cur- rent schedule is followed, the trials will begin this summer. When that schedule was set last August, Massie said she had a few hesitations with the time frame. "We expressed concern at the time," she said. Massie contends in order to have a fair trial, she, the other defense attorneys, the student intervenors and expert witnesses need more time to prepare. "The truth is complicated," Massie said. But Massie said she expects CIR to attempt to block the motion. "I expect that the plaintiff's lawyer will contest this motion," she said. _ Terry Pell, senior legal counsel for CIR, said since he had not seen the motion, he could not give comment on the matter. Massie said the time frame the motion would set is adequate to finish the discovery process. "Those time frames are absolutely not inflated by a day," Massie said. According to the motion, expert reports would be submitted by the end of July, with the discovery period coming to a close Aug. 31. Final motions would be submitted by Nov. 15 See LAWSUIT, Page 2 FOUND ON THE SERVER/Daily Working the last nightside of their lives, the Daily's outgoing editors know that their post-Daily lives aren't looking too bright. Clinton proposes $350 billion taxcut, more health care, education funding WASHINGTON (AP) -President Clinton pro- posed a $350 billion tax cut, big spending increas- es for schools and health care and photo ID licens- es for handgun purchases yesterday as he offered the final agenda of his presidency. "The state of our union is the strongest it has ever been," he said. At the start of an election-year, Clinton issued a stinging rebuke in his last State of the Union address. "For too long this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing nation- al priorities," he chided. The president noted that next month the United States will achieve the longest period of economic growth in the nation's history, and called on Americans to "set great goals." The president offered a long litany of initia- tives, many of them sure to be rewritten or ignored by Congress. His tax cut proposals were intended primarily to promote educational oppor- tunities and expand health insurance and child care for lower- and middle-income Americans. The initiatives included relief from the "marriage "For too long, this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing national Issues." - Bill Clinton U.S. President David Wallace sneaks his name on the front page. Ha ha. safety legislation, campaign finance reform, an increase in the minimum wage and votes on long- stalled judicial nominations. Republicans ridiculed Clinton's proposals but did not rule out working with him on such issues as education and health care. "If we enacted all the new programs the president has talked about, we'd spend just about the entire surplus on bigger and more expensive government," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. Clinton was greeted by applause and hand- shakes by Republicans and Democrats alike. His wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, home from college, were in the audience. His speech will go into the record books as his longest State of the Union address: 89 minutes, besting his 1995 record of 81 minutes. More than an hour into his speech, Clinton flubbed a line meant to credit Gore with helping making communities more "livable." Instead, Clinton said "liberal" - not once but twice. The audience - Gore included - guffawed. penalty" - an idea first championed by Republicans - and a new program of retirement savings accounts. Most of the proposals were released in advance but the White House withheld Clinton's gun licensing measure until the last minute to build suspense. Similar to a plan offered by Vice President Al Gore, itwould require handgun pur- chasers to first obtain a state license showing they have passed a background check and a gun safety requirement, such as a training course or an exam. States could choose not to participate in the program. The National Rifle Association con- demned the plan as pointless and unworkable. "Every state in this country already requires hunters and automobile drivers to have a license. I think they ought to do the same thing for handgun purchases; Clinton said. "I hope you'll help me pass that in this Congress." Clinton called for passage of a patients' bill of rights to strengthen consumer protection, gun- Orange Crush is back in style By Jacob Wheeler and Chris Grandstaff Daily Pop/Soda critiques According to sources who refused to identify themselves, Orange Crush is back in style. Crush was as dead as Jimmy Hoffa" But in the past three months, students all over college campuses have been spotted with orange tongues. Recent University reports have stated that Orange Crush is an aphrodesiac P, yeah you know me, have circulated of late - especially on the University of Michigan campus because of the drink. University Regent Rebecca McGowan hypothesizes that, at this This issue commemorates the last night at 420 Ma nard St. for the Daily's graduating seniors. 'vebeen with you forfour years in times o celebration and times of sorrow. We've learne so much from the editors and staffers that came be ore us. Now we ass this 109-year tradition into very ,uI'jlo h lt4C WO W Vh ir~t ii,,,41ltn fi iflYQ