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One hundred nine year of edit rilfreedom
Monday
October 18, 1999
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chapters
meet on
campus
By Jon Fish
For the Daily
"You're not going to win all your
fights, but you have to at least show
up," said American Civil Liberties
Union Assistant to the Executive
Director for Development Becky Bull,
during Saturday's ACLU College
inference.
The conference, sponsored by the
ACLU state chapter, drew students
from across the state looking to learn
about the organization and more about
their constitutional rights as students.
Showing up and fighting the apathy
towards politics that seems to plague
many student bodies was the message
of the day.
Organizers of the state chapter of the
CLU also hoped the conference
uld attract more members to their
cause.
"We want to diversify our member-
ship. Students can really make a differ-
ence" said Executive Director of the
Michigan ACLU Kary Moss.
Bull and Moss both commented on
the growing conservative threat to the
ACLU's past work.
"Through public education, students
n learn to express themselves; get out
d vote - that's the only way we can
protect the Bill of Rights," Moss said.
Students traveled from various
schools in the state to participate in the
day-long conference. Jamie White and
Karen Trickey represented the Detroit
College of Law at Michigan State
University.
"A lot of people don't understand
what the ACLU is about. Its reputation
mostly negative, or only associated
th civil rights," White said. White
and Trickey said they hope to establish
an ACLU chapter at MSU's law school.
Affirmative action was one of the
highlighted topics during the confer-
ence. Jo Ann Watson, public liaison to
Michigan Rep. John Conyers (D-
Detroit) and ACLU state board mem-
ber spoke about affirmative action in
telation to the University. Watson, a
j iversity alum, commented on the
Ro lawsuits challeging the
University's use of race as factor in its
admission's processes.
"Everyone is watching and the stu-
dents can make a difference in this law-
suit. History has shown there is a con-
nection, a synergy between what hap-
pens in the courtroom and the commu-
nity," Watson said.
Lara Zador, member of the campus
ACLU chapter also spoke briefly about
'irmative action at the University.
Ae and other students are conducting
See ACLU, Page 2A
'U'
gathers
to
honor Gandhi
By Caitlin Nish
Daily ,iati Reporter
Nearly 51 years after his death, Mahatma
Gandhi's vision is still alive on college campuses
nationwide. Last Saturday, to mark what would have
been Gandhi's 130th birthday, more than 3,000 stu-
dents from 20 universities across the nation partici-
pated in the first National Gandhi Day of Service.
The National Gandhi Day of Service allowed
students to participate in various community-
based volunteer outreach programs while honor-
ing and commemorating the life and work of the
Indian independence leader.
More than 314 University students, representing
75 campus organizations, volunteered at such local
sites as the Shelter Association of Washtenaw, Ann
Arbor Hospice, Ozone House, Recycle Ann Arbor
and the William Beaumont Pediatric Center.
'It was a good chance to do service. The volun-
teers were very diverse and the work was worth-
while," said Anne Deptula, an LSA junior who
volunteered at the Huron Boys and Girls Club.
This year the Gandhi Day of Service - estab-
lished at the University in 1997 by the Indian-
American Student Association and Project Sere
- became a national event for the first time.
"The day was a huge success at the local level
because many community groups benefited (and)
also at the national level because it planted the seeds
to establish cultural benefits on campus," said LSA
junior Vikram Sarma, the national coordinator and
founder of the National Gandhi Day of Service.
Volunteers met on the Diag on Saturday morn-
ing for registration and orientation by site leaders.
Before dispersing to their sites, volunteers listened
to guest speakers, including Sarma, Associate
Provost for Multicultural Affairs John Matlock
and Rajiv Vinnakota, president of a non-profit
urban outreach education program.
"It was amazing to see the reactions of people.
They loved it and had so much fun. Most people said
that they learned a lot from their volunteer experi-
ences," said Arti Desai, a coordinator of National
Gandhi Day at the University and a representative of
the Indian American Student Organization.
See GANDHI, Page 2A
Engineering senior Krishnan Padmanabhan gathers the Gandhi Day of Service participants on the Diag
for the Children's Garden group project on Saturday.
TRIVING FOR A BS $i 4WA kixmETT R IF
Thousands march
ron DC. for
immigrant rights
By Shomari Terrelonge-Stone
Daily StafiReporter
Social Work student Dara Orellana and her family came
to the United States in 1980 to escape political oppression
from the Guatemalan military and to gain economic pros-
perity.
Nineteen years later, now into her "better life,"- dressed
in a red sweater, jeans and gripping a red and black flag that
read "Hasta La Victoria," literally translating in English to
"Until the Victory" - Orellana marched in the sunny, blue
t ; A sky of Washington, D.C. on Saturday with 14 other
University students and more than 15,000 other participants
to draw attention to the exploitation of undocumented immi-
grants.
"My family immigrated here because there was a civil
war. The military was raging a war against the citizens.
It was becoming more difficult to live there. My father's
main reason for coming to the United States was for a
better life," said Orellana, from an office in
Washington, D.C. where she slept only two hours the
night before the protest.
She said the protesters marched in favor of giving undoc-
umented immigrants better living conditions, wages and the
chance to be granted amnesty. It was the first event of its
f kind and the first in a campaign surrounding the issue.
Amnesty would allow immigrants who enter the country
without proper legal papers the opportunity to legalize their
immigration status so they can legally work and contribute
to society. Later immigrants with amnesty would be eligible
for citizenship.
SAM hOLLENSlEAD! Daly The U.S. Immigration Naturalization Service reports that
More than 15,000 protesters gather In Washington, D.C. on Saturday In a rally to draw attention to the exploitation of illegal immigrants in the
United States. See PROTEST, Page 3A
250 people gather
for Iraq conference
Ashrawi: Justice
needed in Israel
By Emina Sendijarevic
Daily Staff Reporter
More than 250 people gathered this weekend
for an information sharing and an awareness
building session at the first National Organizing
Conference on Iraq.
Participants included students from around
e country, as well as people working on the
Tsue in Washington, D.C.
Jesse Burrows, a first-year student at St. Olaf
College in North Field, Minn., said that the
main reason that he came to the conference was
to educate himself.
"If you want to be able to inform others about
the situation (in Iraq) you need to have the cor-
rect information and to be able to answer their
question with facts," Burrows said.
The conference, which focused on the human
(pect of the situation, began Friday with key
note speakers -introducing the issues and the
human sacrifices that the sanctions on Iraq are
producing.
The conference centered on the economic
sanctions against Iraq implemented by the
United States and the United Nations when Iraq
invaded Kuwait in 1991.
and a key note speaker at the conference, said
that the sanctions have directly lead to the death
of Iraqi children and to a rise in child prostitu-
tion, and that the sanctions are promoting child
sacrifice.
"The people who have no control of the situ-
ation are paying the price," Kelly said.
Although the issue is just now gaining
momentum and the end to the sanctions are
still nebulous, but the campaign to stop the
sanction is going strong at the local and nation-
al level.
Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon reported
Friday at the conference that the Ann Arbor City
Council has passed a resolution condemning
economic sanction in Iraq.
This summer Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
and a key note speaker at the National Organizing
Conference on Iraq, made a trip to Iraq along with
a delegation of Congressional Aids.
The group went to Iraq, even after the State
Department refused to grant them permission,
to assess the situation and the effects of the eco-
nomic sanctions on the people of Iraq.
Bennis said that both she and the congressional
By Sana Danish
Daily Staff Reporter
Hanan Ashrawi, former spokesper-
son of the Palestinian delegation to the
Middle East Peace Process, spoke at the
University's Rackham Auditorium last
Friday on "Requirements for a lasting
peace in Israeli Palestine."
A premier voice in Palestinian poli-
tics and for the Palestinian people,
Ashrawi is an elected member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council in the
Jerusalem District and the founder and
Commissioner General of the
Palestinian Independent Commission
for Citizen's Rights in Jerusalem.
Ashrawi opened her speech on the
requirements for peace in
Israel/Palestine by saying there was one
key word in the answer.
"Whatever we do ... the essential
component for making peace is justice;'
she said.
Ashrawi went on to say that for the
peace process to be successful, there is a
necessity for clearly defined objectives.
Among the other requirements, Ashrawi
highlighted the need for third party
involvement besides the United States
alone, and the need to address substan-
tive issues. In addition, she said both
sides have to be willing to negotiate.
"Only the strong can make peace,
said Ashrawi, adding that she did not
mean military strength, but rather
See ASHRAWI, Page 7A
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Former Palestinian delegation spokesperson Hanan Ashrawl
speaks Friday at Rackham Auditorium.
Hepatitis C seen as a growing threat
By Shabnam Daneshvar
Daily Stafl'Reporter
NOVI, Mich. - Hepatitis C is a disease
that may not seem to be a threat to many
students on campus, but the disorder,
fessor of internal
medicine and Robert
Fontana, assistant pro-
fessor of internal
medicine, directed an
new cases a year and 8,000 to 10,000
deaths because of this every year," Lok
said. "We need to talk about this and edu-
cate the public."
Rita Borders of Sterling Heights
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