One hundred nine years ofediton a/freedom
NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
wwwmichigandaily.com
Thursday
February 3, 2000
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icats
increase at
Uc
B~y Robert Gold
Daily Staf Reporter
The University of California ysem whi 'h
was faced a decreasing trend in minority appli
ions and enrollment since state v oters over-
urned the use of affirmative action as a factor in
idmissions in 1996, released information last
Keek suggesting the tide may be turning.
The percentage of black and Hispanic fresh-
nan applicants from California for the Fall 2000
emester increased more than all other ethnic
groups. Applications from Hispanic freshmen
ose 6.3 percent from the previous year's applica-
lion pool, from 7,349 students to 7,814 students.
Wisconsin R
chancellor
declines to
.oin WRC
By Jeannie Baumann'
and Jen Fish
)a ly Staff Reporters
The University of Wisconsin at
Madison, which could have been the
first large licensing school to join
*he student developed Worker Rights
Consortium anti-sweatshop code, has
decided not to join the WRC and
continue its affiliation with the Fair
Labor Association.
The decision came last week from
Madison Chancellor David Ward,
after preliminary votes from an advi-
sory sweatshop task force recom-
mended five to four for Wisconsin to
endorse the WRC.
A similar committee at the Uni-
ersity of Michigan is currently
studying the possible adoption of the
WRC.
Ward could not be reached for
comment, but in a written statement
said he made the decision to not join-
the WRC based on feedback he
received from members of the task
force.
student applications rose 3.6 percent
m 2 udents 1c 714 sudents
erall, the ystem received 54. 46fresh-
n'n pplations from students in California.
Asian American applications increased slight-
ly, but American Indians, whites and other racial
groups saw a slight decrease in numbers.
UC Regents voted in 1995 to ban racial pref-
erences in admissions.
UC Executive Director of University
Outreach and Student Affairs Margaret
Heisel said several efforts were made by
the system following the passage of a pro-
posal to eliminate racial preferences in
admissions to "make sure students know
they are welcome."
Heisel added that while the university sys-
tem canno targcet students by race, it has
increased recruitment and information efforts
in lower income areas.
"We hope it will make college a much more
pervasive opportunity overall," Heisel said.
Jack Sutton, executive officer for the Universi-
ty of California at Los Angeles Outreach Steer-
ing Committee, said since the 1995 decision by
the regents to ban affirmative action, the eight
UC campuses have intensified their relationship
with state high schools and middle schools.
University officials have advised high schools
on how to prepare students for higher education.
According to enrollment information from
Fall 1999, the number of students from all eth-
nic groups except American Indians increased
from the previous academic year.
The numbers of white students increased by
17 percent, Asian Americans by 9.3 percent,
Hispanics by 9 percent and black students by
4.6 percent. American Indians experienced a
drop in enrollment from 256 students to 245.
UC Regent William Bagley said the rise in
minority applicants is misleading.
"We are finding the competent people are
being recruited and refuse to enroll ... because
(they) feel not as welcome here," Bagley said.
Bagley announced last week that he is work-
ing on a proposal to reverse the regents' ban on
affirmative action.
The ban prohibits the Universty from using
racial information during the application process.
California residents in 1996 passed Proposi-
tion 209, which made it illegal statewide for uni-
versities to use race as an admissions factor.
While this state law would limit the practical
application of his proposal, Bagley said it would
improve the University's image.
UC Regent Ward Connerly said Bagley's
claim that minority candidates feel unwelcome
at the University is not supported by the recent
rise in minority applications.
See APPLICANTS, Page 2A
unning man
ACLU, MSA print
house party guide
By Caitlin Nish
Daily Staff Reporter
When hosting their next party, the Univer-
sity chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union is hoping students don't forget to play.
by the book.
The House Party Handbook, created and
produced by the ACLU, enumerates and clar-
ifies Michigan laws concerning house parties
and an individual's rights to have a party
without police interference.
The book, which is available at Angell Hall
pressing need for a handbook so students can
be on an equal footing so they know their
rights," Rafi said.
The seven-page handbook includes sec-
tions specifically dedicated to serving alco-
hol and checking identifications.
While the handbook urges students to com-
ply with the laws, it helps to clarify the regu-
lations of serving alcohol. The book suggests
that students buy the alcohol themselves and
provide it free of charge to guests of legal
age. Although selling alcohol is illegal, the
book states that students are legally allowed
to ask for donations.
LSA senior' Justin
er Rost said the book
ndbook suggests would help to inform
e tins to rotect students of their liber-
and at the Central Infor-
mation Center located in
the Michigan Union, can
also be accessed at the
ACLU's Website.
The ACLU with the
help of the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly's Stu-
dents' Rights
Commission and Student
Legal Services created
the handbook, which
includes chapters on how
to keep the police away;
from parties, how to act
when the police try to
enter a party, how to
legally serve alcohol and
Party Plann
The House Party Ha
students follow then
their legal rights while having a good
time.
* Buy alcohol and provide it free of
charge for guests of legal drinking
age.
Collect donations to cover costs
since selling alcohol is illegal.-
* Check IDs of guests before
providing them alcohol.
ties.
"It's nice to know
what rights you have,"
Rost said. "I'm not sure
of all my rights so (the
handbook) would be
useful."
The section on check-
ing IDs warns students
to check guests IDs
either at the door or at
the place where alcohol
is served, before provid-
the handbook is - number
know what the law is and
Each committee member submit-
*ed a position statement and met
with Ward before he announced his
decision.
"As we continue to search for the
most productive way to solve this
human rights dilemma, it is my hope
that concerned students will remain
committed to open dialogue and
working together," he said.
Three students at Wisconsin on
the task force resigned last Monday
as a result of Ward's announcement.
* "I feel like the principle of shared
governance on our campus has been
made a mockery," said Wisconsin
student Molly McGrath, a task force
member.
W sconsin student David Alvara-
do, who was the student co-chairman
of tie task force, said it was
inevitable that Wisconsin would not
join the WRC.
"It makes us feel like he was
ppeasing us all along, never intend-
ing on listening to what we had to
say," he said.
But Wisconsin Prof. Bill Steffen-
haget,, who voted against signing the
WRC in the preliminary vote, said
the task force could end up support-
ing it in the future.
"It was pretty much split down the
middre," he said. "One member of
the committee, who originally voted
*r the WRC, stated they could see
e chancellor's point of view. I'm
not convinced it would have been
five to four that day."
John Chamberlin, associate dean
of tho University of Michigan's
School of Public Policy and chairs
the U iversity Advisory Committee
on Labor Standards and Human
Rights, said the committee will
trongly influence -- but not neces-
rily determine -- University Presi-
dent Lee Bollinger's final decision
on the policy.
"We won't be calling the shots,
nor should we be calling the shots,"
he said.
Alvarado said he hopes the Uni-
how to protect individual rights.
Co-creator Abe Rafi said the idea for the
handbook was developed by a student ACLU
group at the University of Kansas. Rafi said
he thought the idea would benefit students at
the University.
"I talked to Student Legal Services who
handles these cases on a continual basis and
they agree that you can't have a party in Ann
Arbor if you're a student because the Ann
Arbor Police Department actually has a party
patrol that goes around to break up parties,"
Rafi said.
"Because of this we figured there is a
ing them alcohol.
"The way I view
one, it lets people
DANA LINNANE/Daily
LSA senior Brett Costello runs on the treadmill in the intermural Building located on East Hoover
Ave. Costello visits the IM Building everyday to exercise.
Debate focuses on
Paetinian refuges
By Josie Gingrich
Daily ,Sall Reporter
Emotions ran high at last night's meeting of
the Palestine Catastrophe Committee, as a
group of students and faculty discussed issues
pertaining to Palestinian refugees in Israel and
surrounding Arab countries.
"These people's sufferings can not be sold or
exchanged for anything," said Sawsan Abdul-
rahim, a Public Health graduate student and
one of the organizers of the event. "The
refugees can not be ignored."
The discussion also served as a mass
meeting for students interested in the prob-
lem of Palestinian refugees.
The purpose is to "discuss current issues perti-
nent to political issues in Palestine and Israel,"
Abdulrahim said. "We'd like to have more Arab
and non-Arab students come to meetings and
discuss issues and get more involvement"
Abdulrahim presented a slide show of her
father's village in what is now' Israel. She also
showed pictures taken in the 1940s by the Israeli
press of newly arrived Jewish immigrants.
See PALESTINE, Page 7A
strongly advises them not to break it. Secondly,
it seeks to educate people about their consti-
tutional rights and how to invoke those
rights," said Nick Roumel, senior attorney
for Student Legal Services who contributed
to the handbook.
The handbook also includes two signs for
students to hang on the door of their house
stating that police officials without warrants
or evidence of emergency situations are not
See HANDBOOK, Page 2A
e e
Report,
fatal Seton,
Hall fireC
delib e,-rate,
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -
Officials refused to comment yester-
day on a published report that a deadly
dormitory fire at Seton Hall University
was deliberately set.
The Star-Ledger of Newark quoted
aks unidentified law enforcement sources
in a report yesterday saying that inves-
tigators believed the fire was not an
accident and that at least four suspects
had been identified.
Three 18-year-old students died in
the Jan. 19 blaze. No charges have
been filed.
Seton Hall spokeswoman Lisa Grid-
er referred all questions about the
d report to the Essex County prosecu-
tor's office. Executive Assistant Prose-
cutor Charlotte Smith said her office
would not comment on it.
menn The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
affairs and Firearms has not reached a conclu-
sion about the fire's cause. Special
Agent Joseph Green said yesterday.
DAVID KATZ
Public Health graduate student Sawsan Abdulrahirn spec
at the Palestine Catastrophe Committee panel last night
with Sallh Mahameed, an Engineering graduate student.
Co leagues remember former Prof. Ne
By Jodie Kaufman
Daily StaffReporter
Human genetics and internal medicine Prof. emeri-
tus James Neel died in his Ann Arbor home Tuesday
from prostate cancer. Neel worked at the University for
39 years, joining the faculty in 1946 as an assistant
geneticist i the vertebrate Biology Lab.
Ii-rom the ime of his arrival in the '40s,'he was
"He established the first and foremost distinguishe
department of human genetics in the country."
- Gil O
Executive Vice President for Medical A
versity of Texas, said Neel's contributions to the field
Michigan," Schull said.
4