WE. rrrun Et t, - ,I 'Rapp- Weather Today: Sunny. High 70. Low Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy. ig h 65. One hundred nine years of editoriilfreedom Tuesday November 9, 1999 .; Wisconsin fee case goes to high cout WASHINGTON (AP) - A conflict between a conservative Christian law student and a public university famous for its liberalism arrives at the Supreme Court this week, in a free-speech contro- versy that could affect campuses nation- wide and possibly impact government funding of political or artistic expression. *e dispute concerns whether the University of Wisconsin at Madison - or any state school - can force students to pay "activity fees" that go, in part, to groups engaging in political advocacy that students may oppose, on topics such as abortion or environmentalism. Provoking dozens of "friend of the court" briefs, the case is significant mostly for campuses, where ideas are exchanged and society's dilemmas d ted. But an eventual ruling could t h on recurring controversies about government funding at all lev- els for free expression and the arts. The case before Seetfomorrow's the court began edci on of The when Wisconsin Mie igan Daily law student Scott for verage from Southworth object- .Wa ington D.C. ed that his student- of t Wisconsin activity fees were cas arguments in ctly support- to b presented in several liberal to t U.S. Wisconsin student Suprme Court groups, including the UW Greens, the Campus Women's Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Center. "It was a gut-level thing," Southworth said, explaining that he opposed "being forced to support the propagation of opinions that I disagree with - on an id ogical basis, a political basis and es ially a religious basis." Many public universities collect stu- dent-activity fees that are funneled to campus organizations for their various projects and pursuits, and as a result, several other states have joined the case. The University of Michigan Student Assembly collects $5.69 from students each semester to fund students groups. One "friend of the court" brief, si d by 15 states, defended student fuing for campus groups by arguing that "these programs further education- al goals by fostering 'a marketplace of ideas'.. . (and) exposing students to a variety of viewpoints." Scores of other education, labor, and political groups have also jumped in with amicus briefs. The Virginia-based American Center for Law and Justice asserts that forcing someone to pay fees for political advocacy he opposes "is a f.omental violation of virtually every right in the First Amendment" The American Civil Liberties Union, on the other hand, contends that Southworth and his fellow protesters "are in the same position as taxpayers who object to the use of a municipal park for a controversial political rally They can cer- tainly make their objection known, and even use the forum as their vehicle for do so, but they may not express their diasure by withholding taxes." Southworth, a native of Wisconsin and the first in his family to go to the state's flagship university, said he first tried to avoid paying the 1995-96 annu- al student fees of $331.50 by writing a letter to the school administration. When he received no response, Southworth sued along with two other students, alleging that their First Amendment rights of free speech, a iation and religion had been vio- la . They won in lower courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, whose ruling the justices will review this week, traced Southworth's right to avoid paying the fees to a line of-cases upholding the "right not to speak." The Supreme Court's decision could affect student fees at Michigan, which is under the jurisdiction of the 6th Circuit Court. e court relied, for example, on two past Supreme Court decisions, one that stopped a government employees' union from spending dues on ideological caus- es its members opposed and another that prohibited a state bar association from using dues to pay for political activities with which some members disagreed. Act may privatize loan rates By Yael Kohen Daily Staff Reporter A congressional act scheduled to be voted on this week may change the way interest rates of student loans are admin- istered. The debate regarding whether student loan interest rates should be determined by the federal government or the pri- vate student loan sector heated up after a student loan provi- sion was added to the unrelated Work Incentives Act. The act, which deals with the funding of health care incen- tives for working individuals, contains a provision that would change the method of determining the interest rate index. Instead of deciphering the index from treasury bills, govern- ment-backed interest rates, the index would be based on com- mercial paper, corporate-backed interest rates. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate last month and is in conference committee. President Clinton has come out against the change to commercial paper. Among the issues being negotiated in the committee is the student loan provision. "It doesn't affect the students at all" said David Foy, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Ca.), who is chair of the House Subcommittee on Post-secondary Education, Training and Life-Long Learning. The bill cuts costs for the lending community, but will not create a windfall for the private loan industry or increase costs for the government, Foy added. Molly Sullivan. spokesperson for Sallie Mae, one of the largest student loan agencies in the country. explained that according to the Congressional Budget Office, the switch to commercial paper would save the government $20 million. But student and education representatives disagree, The proposed switch would up federal subsidies for lenders to the commercial rate, which is generally higher than the treasury bill interest rate, thus shifting much of the poten- tial loss on student loans to the government, Ivan Frishberg, director of the Public Interest Research Group Higher Education Associate. a The provision is designed to make lending more attractive by raising the amount of guaranteed government aid to lenders, thereby shrinking the disparity between the amount lenders pay for getting the money and the interest rates they are allowed to charge on loans. See LOANS, Page 2 JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily LSA senior Amanda Schmiege talks with financial aid advisor Esther Warner yesterday about financial aid for Schmiege's plans to study abroad in London. Panel hosts debate on 'U')polcy for sweatshops By Shomari Terrelonge-Stone Daily Staff Reporter A panel of four anti-sweatshop sympathiz- ers hosted an educational forum last night to address the different ways the University can help workers in sweatshops. The panelists debated which type of implementation policy the University should use when dealing with sweatshops, the Worker Rights Consortium or the Federal Labor Association. Marion Traub-Werner, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student, com- mented on the strength of the WRC and said the University's support could induce compa- ny accountability and stop sweatshop abuses. "WRC is an enforcement mechanism for the code of conduct," she said. FLA and the WRC are alternative means to deal with sweatshop labor. Both advocate increased notification of factory sites, but members of Students for Organizing Labor and Economic Equality said they believe the WRC will be more successful in attaining that goal. University administrators have said they will not decide until May if they will sign on to the WRC. Traub-Werner also indicated that the WRC responds to worker complaints and uses independent investigations of factories to force companies to improve their labor prac- Changes to Code stall in committee By Nika Schulte Daily Staff Reporter The Michigan Student Assembly and the Office of Student Conflict Resolution have yet to finalize plans to make the University's Code of Student Conduct easier to understand and easier for students involved in the process, following reviews of the Code last semester. Career Planning and Placement Director Simone Himbeault Taylor, who provides oversight to OSCR, said one recommendation by the external and internal Code reviews presented to the University's Board of Regents in February called for an alignment of Housing's Community Living Standards with the Code. The Code is the University's set of guidelines that govern student behavior. The University can sanction students for violations of the Code - offenses that include damaging University property, committing sexual or physical harm or misusing drugs or alcohol. Students expressed particular concerns about the lack of continuity between University alcohol policies. "One thing students were concerned about is that for students living in residence halls there was one set of sanctions, and for students walking down the street with a container there was a different set of standards," Taylor said. Taylor said the office implemented a Housing liaison in September that serves to help identify Code violations occurring in residence halls. In addition, OSCR has a new data manager position which allows for more consistency in monitoring a student's first, second and third Code viola- tions. Taylor said the office is now doing the background work to align the policies so that when the documents are set to See CODE, Page 7 JESSICA JOHNF Jeffrey Ballinger,,director of Press for Change, spoke at last night's sweatshop panel Ballinger woks to expose Nike's sweatshop conditions in Indonesia. tices. She also noted that the University can support "workers struggles and can hold companies accountable for all of their facto- ries around the world" by bringing as much information to the public about these oppres- sive conditions. SOLE said recently they have urged the University to join the WRC. The Michigan Student Assembly voted last week, 29-1, encouraging the University to embrace the WRC implementation policy. SOLE members said the administration needs "to take a stand" by joining the WRC. Public Policy Prof. John Chamberlain, the head of a University board dealing with the anti-sweatshop movement, has said it would take until May for the Advisory Board to recommend the joining of WRC. "We want the University to join WRC now so that it can participate in a process of turn- ing the WRC into reality," said LSA junior and SOLE member Peter Romer-Friedman. See SWEATSHOP, Page 7 M SA takes to road for weekly meetings. DANNY KALICK/Daily Israeli author Yaron Svoray speaks at Hillel last night about his experiences infiltrating a neo-Nazi organization. Svoray's book, "In Hitler's Shadow," became an HBO original movie titled "The infiltrator." Former spy sZeak aout life as neo-Nazryi infiltrator By Jeannie Baumann Daily Staff Reporter Following its eighth meeting of the semester, the Michigan Student Assembly is launching a campuswide tour, taking its weekly meetings to North Campus, Central Campus and the Hill Area in an attempt to reach constituents who have expressed little interest in student govern- ment. The meetings usually take place in MSA cham- bers in the Michigan Union, but the assembly met last week in Stockwell Residence Hall, and tonight's meeting is planned for 7:30 in the East Dining Hall of. Bursley Residence s Hall. MSA will 11 Wh at Svn wt '- return to its usual A-s- y chambers two weeks uki et g3 from today, after next M o tt week's scheduled Wftefe: East 1 O Mail meeting in South of utey"t ; l Quad Residence Hall. A reception precedes each meeting at 7 p.m. LSA sophomore Shari Katz, co-chair of the MSA communications committee, said the tour is part of the assembly's attempt to reach out to more students and encourage their participation in stu- dent government. "First and foremost, we want to bring MSA to the students,' Katz said. "If we bring ourselves to Katz added that the MSA Communications Committee wanted to remind the assembly that it represents all aspects of student life. MSA President Bram Elias echoed her thoughts. "The goal of a student government is to repre- sent all students. But the inevitable tendencies of MSA is to wind up talking to the same people over and over. As a result, people who really make an effort to come out to MSA and talk to us might be overrepresented in our decision-making process. This is a way to get some fresh input, some broad- er perspectives, and it's an opportunity to recon- nect MSA with the rest of campus," he said. Elias added that the residence hall meetings give the assembly an opportunity to let students know what representatives have been doing. "We really do think MSA has done some great stuff, so it's nice to take our show on the road," he said. Two weeks ago, MSA representatives attended a conference for student governments of Big Ten schools. At the weekend-long convention in Madison, Wis., student government leaders focused on how to increase diversity - both on student assemblies and on campus in general. MSA members decided to step up efforts to create stronger ties between the assembly and student groups. "One of the things we talked about at the obert Gold Staff Reporter television specials and history classes, >ns about the Holocaust and the Nazi move- are taught everyday. Last night, Yaron Svoray his lesson to the University: the ideals of sm can be still found in the minds of men and Nazis of today. Svoray, a former detective sergeant in the Israeli Central Police Command, is the son of two Holocaust survivors. While Svoray did mix some humor into the speech, he told the audience a disturbing scene propelled him into the role of spy of the neo-Nazi iNazis r