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One hundred nine years ofeditorialfreedom
Monday
January 10, 2000
GOP
candidates
to debate
in ich.
By Yael Kohen
Daily Staff Reporter
With the presidential primaries approach-
ing, Republican candidates are rigorously
campaigning to secure the GOP nomination,
converging in Michigan tonight for a nation-
ally televised debate.
The candidates hope to win the support of
the Michigan public, who will vote Feb. 22
in the nation's fourth primary.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, front-runner
for the Republican presidential nomination,
agreed last week to attend tonight's
Michigan Republican Presidential Primary
Debate at Calvin College in Grand Rapids
after the five other candidates had already
confirmed.
Susan Shafer, deputy press secretary for
Gov. John Engler, who is heading up Bush's
Michigan campaign, said that Bush previ-
ously was unable to attend the debate
because of scheduling conflicts. Since then
his schedule has cleared to allow attendance
at the Grand Rapids debate.
But state Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle
Creek), chair of Arizona Sen. John McCain's
Michigan campaign, said he believes Bush
was prompted to enter the debate because of
McCain's increasing campaign support.
Bush's presence at the debate increases its
importance by gaining national attention,
said Ed Patru, a spokesperson for the
Michigan Republican Party.,
The debate will also include Christian
activist Gary Bauer, magazine editor Steve
Forbes, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and TV com-
mentator Alan Keyes.
"This is an opportunity for everybody to
make a name for themselves in Michigan,"
Patru said. "Michigan has always been one
of the most coveted states in the primary."
"Michigan is a battleground here," Shafer
said, adding that the Michigan primary
"could be the deciding factor."
See DEBATE, Page 3A
.
Shooting
tral begins
following
appeal
y Robert Gold
aily Staff Reporter
The trial of Ann Arbor resident
Abdul-Ghadier Elkhoja in connection
with the June 5 shooting death of
Bloomfield Hills resident Nicholas
Seitz is set to begin today in the
Washtenaw County Circuit Court. fol-
lowing an Ann Arbor City appeal about
the legality of conducting criminal
background checks on witnesses.
In a Dec. 29 decision, the Michigan
Court of Appeals granted the city the
right to appeal Washtenaw County Trial
Court Circuit judge Donald Shelton's
requirement that the city perform crim-
inal background checks on witnesses in
the murder trial.
"It was requiring the city to perform
an unlawful act so we objected to it,"
Assistant City Attorney Kristen
Larcom said. State law prohibits infor-
nation obtained through the Law
W3nforcement Information Network
system to be given to individuals,
Larcom said. The information is
restricted to criminal justice agencies.
The appellate court talso allowed the
city a delay in carrying out Shelton's
order. The city does not have to per-
form the background checks unless the
appellate court upholds Shelton's deci-
sion.
If the appellate court overturns
Shelton's decision, "it's going to be a
case in appeal," Ernst said. "if he is
acquitted, everything is moot."
Seitz was shot outside the Eugene V
Debs Co-Op, located at 909 East
University Ave. The Ann Arbor Police
Department arrested Elkhoja a few
hours after the shooting. Witnesses at
the scene identified the suspect by first
name.
The shooting followed a fight, which
*llegedly began after someone whistled
at afemale walking with one of Seitz's
friends.
AAPD spokesperson Sgt. Michael
Logghe said in June that although
Seitz was not present at the time of the
alleged "catcall" he may have later
become involved in the confrontation.
The suspect shot once into the air, and
See TRIAL, Page 2A
Sweatshop
prtest 'U'
By Michael Grass
Daily StaffReporter
More than 100 student leaders of the national anti-sweat-
shop movement left campus this weekend after a three-day
policy and strategy conference recharged their fight to get the
nation's universities to adopt a stronger stance against sweat-
shop labor in the collegiate apparel industry.
Sponsored nationally by United Students Against
Sweatshops and locally by Students Organizing for Labor
and Economic Equality, the group protested outside the
Fleming Administration Building on Friday in an effort to
push University President Lee Bollinger to endorse the
Worker Rights Consortium.
The WRC, a policy primarily developed by student
activists, released in October by USAS and outlines a plan
to monitor working conditions in the factories of collegiate
apparel manufacturers.
"Is this University going to side with Kathie Lee and Nike
or side with the students?" asked Yale student Jess
Champagne. "Is this University going to support corporate
secrecy and cover-ups or embrace openness and the truth? ...
We are waiting to see what President Bollinger is going to do."
JOANNA PAINE/Daity The protest started at the Michigan Union on Friday after-
See PROTEST, Page 2A
Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality and United Students Against Sweatshops protest on the Diag yesterday.
Residentil Colle
proposes optional GPA
By Jeannie Baumann
Daily Staff Reporter
Residential College students, who have no recorded
grade point average, could opt for an official Grade
Point Average of all classes they take for a letter grade if
the LSA administration and the Registrar's Office
approve an RC-prepared proposal.
RC students receive written evaluations in place of
letter grades, although they can request letter grades in
upper-level RC classes.
These letter grades and the grades they receive in
courses outside the RC are not used toward a GPA.
"They can proceed as RC students have always done in
the past, or they can proceed inasking for a letter grade in
other courses," RC Director Tom Weisskopf said.
RC faculty and students created the GPA certification
system to address problems many students face when
outside units, including graduate schools and scholar-
ship selection committees, want letter grades as markers
of students' academic performance.
"There were more and more requests (for GPAs), and
there was no systematic way of doing that," Weisskopf said.
"Now we have a very precise calculation, but based
on letter grades only and completely up to the stu-
dent."
GPA Certification is an official document from the
Registrar's Office that shows a GPA calculated from all classes
a student has taken for a letter grade and a list of those courses.
For a fee, the Registrar's Office can attach the certifi-
cate to the student's transcript upon request.
In addition to GPA Certification, the RC has formed
an Academic Awards Committee so RC students can be
eligible for awards generally based upon GPA, such as
See GPA, Page 7A
MSA simplifies
funding process
By Usa Koivu
Daily Staff Reporter
To alleviate years of confusion the
Michigan Student Assembly has
revamped the forms University student
groups must fill out to receive funding
from the assembly.
"We used the first form for a long
time and it was getting fairly outdated.
We started changing the form for the
winter of '99 semester, we changed
more for this past semester and even
more for this semester," said MSA
Budget Priorities Commission Chair
Glen Roe, an LSA junior.
The applications used by both BPC
and MSA's Community Service
Commission were redone to make it
easier for student groups to understand
and use the forms.
the form wasn't very clear about what
MSA would and would not fund," Roe
said.
"Now, the itemized budget listing is
simplified and we give examples on the
form of what information we need,"
Masters said. "For example, instead of
asking for operating costs, we now ask
for specific costs such as office space
and office supplies," he said.
The new form is significantly shorter
than the previous one.
"Last term's form had a total of 12
questions, but the application was still
fairly confusing," Roe said. "Now the
form has five questions, plus an addi-
tional four easy questions to answer for
larger events."
MSA President Bram Elias, an LSA
senior, said the original form was creat-
A L_ ArC A , ..- . ... .ti .,.- -A ..,
JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily
First-year Dental students Sleow Ong (left) and Helen Yu shop for a CD at Harmony
House yesterday. The store is the newest of eight campus music shops.
Chain stores hurt
local 11s1iC sos
By Jon Zemke
Daily Staff Reporter
Two is company, three is a crowd, but
add any more and it equals the compe-
tition facing Ann Arbor's campus
record stores.
Another music store moved into the
cerned," said Schoolkids F Records in-
Exile manager Steve Bergman. "Every
store that comes in slices the pie up
smaller, so it's going to have an impact
on you."
Smaller pieces of the pie are bad
news for independent stores such as
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