WE IC
4
Weather
ay; Sunny. High 50. Low
morrow: Partly sunny. High
36.
159.
One hundred nine years of edikn aIlfreedom
Thursday
November 11, 1999
'n
of. says
weatshop
abor aids
onomies
Marta Brill
aily Staff Reporter
Are sweatshops actually helping
ird-world garment workers?
Drawing parallels between 19th
entury America and current conditions
impoverished nations, Ohio
niversity economics Prof Richard
edraddressed this question last night
it of more than 50 students in the
derson Room of the Michigan Union.
The so-called sweatshops are an
tegral part of economic well-being,"
edder said, pointing out that, histori-
illy, almost every nation makes a tran-
tion from an agriculture-based econo-
y to a manufacture-based economy.
"In time, these (third-world) nations
ill develop into wealthier nations,"
edder said. "The sweatshop of yester-
s produced the prosperous econ-
y of today" he said.
During the early 19th Century in the
nited States, Vedder said, after adjust-
g the figure for inflation, textile
orkers made 40 cents per hour and
orked 12 hours per day. The median
e of a typical worker was 16, Vedder
id. These workers, who were mostly
omen, lived in conditions similar to
ose experienced by many third-world
ors today.
"These New England sweatshops led
a higher standard of living," Vedder
id.
He explained that the estimated
age of today's sweatshop workers is
cents per hour, more than the typical
age of 19th Century U.S. workers as
Iculated after adjusting for inflation.
both modern and 19th Century
eatshops, many circumstances are
e ne, Vedder said, explaining that,
eTn the early 19th Century, people
day flock to the factories and no one
forced into labor. Workers come will-
gly, he said.
Trade involves gains on both sides,
adder said, and it is insulting to
sume that Americans should have the
thority to impose economic ideals on
)untries thousands of miles away.
"Isn't it a bit arrogant on our side to1
Ase these nations aren't humane
ough to their own people?" he said.
Oftentimes, Vedder said, labor
oups prey on naive college students
ith tales of inhumane treatment. In
ality, he said, sweatshops have
~ought prosperity to growing nations
roughout history.
College Libertarians and Students
omoting Export-oriented Economic
evelopment sponsored the event.
"He has a perspective that isn't heard
en on campus. So in the interest
promoting political debate, we were
ry interested in having him here,"
id Rackham student Charles
oodman, president of SPEED and co-
iair of the College Libertarians.
"Free trade is a basic Libertarian
eal," LSA senior Gabriel Quinnan
id. Quinnan also chairs the College
bertarians.
der's opinions sparked lively
b amongst audience members.
1ey asked questions regarding what
le organized labor played in raising the
ndard of living in the 19th Century.
Other audience members said Nike
earning exploitive profits and could
ford easily to raise the wage of its
erseas employees.
Bush kills
affirmative
action in Fla.
AP PHOTO
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks at the Vista Charter Academy in Grand Rapids yesterday morning during a one-day
campaign trip through Michigan. The Republican presidential hopeful also spoke in Lansing, Grand Ledge and Novi yesterday.
r g
Mccintries to narrow
Bush's lead *4in41 Michiga
By Michael Grass
Daily Staff Reporter
The use of affirmative action was
dealt another blow Tuesday after Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order
abolishing the use of race and ethnicity
in contracting decisions and in college
admissions processes across the state.
Affirmative action supporters were
quick to criticize Bush's action, while the
governor maintained that. the order
would unite Floridians.
The plan is part of the One Florida
Initiative - Bush's plan structured to
improve primary and secondary educa-
tion in Florida, which Bush says will
increase the number of minorities in
Florida state universities.
dWe can increase opportunity and
diversity in the state's universities
and in state contracting without using
policies that discriminate or that pit
one racial group against another,"
Bush said at a news conference in
Tallahassee, Fla.
The executive order from Bush, a
Republican, comes as former University
of California Regent Ward Connerly
pushes a statewide petition drive in
Florida to end its affirmative action pro-
grams.
Bush said the One Florida Initiative
guarantees the top 20 percent of Florida
high school seniors admission to state
schools.
Standing with Bush as he announced
his plan, Adam Herbert, Florida's State
University System chancellor said he
would ask the system's Board of Regents
to support Bush's plan.
"The role of the State University
System is to accommodate the needs of
all Floridians" Herbert said in a written
statement published in The Oracle, the
student newspaper at the University of
South Florida.
"The governor's ... program does
exactly that in a fair and forthright man-
ner," he said.
Michigan state Sen. David Jaye (R-
Washington Twp.) said he praises Bush's
One Florida
Initiative:
Florida Gov. Jeb. Bush, a
Republican, announced yesterday
an executive order that will prohibit
state schools from using race and
ethnicity in admissions practices.
s The executive order is part of a
plan called One Florida Initiative,
which, Bush says, will guarantee the
top 20 percent of Florida high school
seniors admission to state schools.
action and called on Michigan Gov. John
Engler to follow suit.
"Jeb Bush has driven a stake through
the heart of the evil vampire of affirma-
tive action and minority preferencing,"
Jaye said. "Now, will Gov. Engler have
the courage to do the same?"
Although Michigan state schools are
constitutionally separate from state con-
trol, John Truscott, Engler's spokesper-
son, said that although Engler legally has
the same power as Bush when enacting
executive orders.
Engler would not target the admis-
sions of University of Michigan or
any other state school, Truscott said,
explaining that aid such decisions
should be left up to a school's elect-
ed governing body, like the
University of Michigan Board of
Regents.
"We have always treated our universi-
ties as autonomous," he said.
In 1997, the Washington, D.C.-
based Center for Individual Rights
filed two lawsuits targeting the
admissions practices of the
University's Law School and College
of Literature, Science and the Arts,
contending that three applicants were
unfairly evaluated because race was
used as an admissions factor.
Speaking at a public forum on
affirmative action and diversity at the
See FLORIDA, Page 2A
By Nick Bunkley
Daily Staff Reporter
NOVI, Mich.,- A day before taking his presidential cam-
paign to New Hampshire to commemorate Veterans Day, U.S.
Sen. John McCain yesterday traveled across Michigan, a state
with GOP leadership heavily lined up behind Texas Gov.
George W. Bush.
The Arizona senator, a Republican presidential candi-
date who spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war
in North Vietnam, finished the day at a private state party
fundraiser in Novi. Earlier in the day, McCain also attend-
ed a rally for charter schools in Grand Rapids, spoke at
Lansing Community College and addressed the Grand
Ledge Rotary Club.
"We're going to campaign here and campaign hard," he
said. "Michigan now has become very important in the
nomination process."
Michigan's primary is scheduled for Feb. 22, making it
the first by a major industrial state. In New Hampshire,
which on Jan. 24 will hold the nation's first primary,
McCain has closed to within 8 percent of Bush in recent
polls.
"We were very pleased at that traction in New Hampshire,"
said McCain, adding, "We have a long way to go."
With the Nov. 7, 2000, election still nearly a year away,
the senator said he wishes the road to the White House
were shorter, recalling years when candidates announced
their presidential aspirations only a few months in
advance.
"Now this thing is over on March 7." when 15 state cau-
cuses and primaries are scheduled, he said. "It's a terrible
thing. They've got to fix it."
McCain said his Michigan visit was not timed immediate-
ly to precede Bush's scheduled appearances in Macomb and
See MCCAIN, Page SA
------------------------------------------------------------ ----
inside: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley speaks
to senior citizens in Detroit. Page 3A
Hilsidale Collge :.
presidenti rein
HILLSDALE, Mich.,(AP) - The long-
time president of conservative Hillsdale
College agreed yesterday to retire, nine days
after being put on leave as rumors of a rela-
tionship with his
daughter-in-law and
questions about her sui-
cide shook the small
campus.
Neither George
Roche III nor school
officials would com-
ment in detail on the
retirement, which fol-
lowed a meeting with
the Board of Trustees. Roche,
Roche had been on a
leave of absence from his $188,000-a-year-
post since Nov. 1, shortly after his son spoke
with trustees about an undisclosed topic.
"The combined pressures of his personal
health and private family life make this step
necessary," the board said in a short state-
ment. Roche has diabetes.
Roche, 64, had headed the 1,200-student
school since 1971. He endeared himself to
conservatives when he declared in 1985 that
Hillsdale would not accept federal financial
aid because it would come with too many
government strings, such as affirmative
action and Title IX financing for women's
sports.
Under his presidency, the school's endow-
ment rose from S4 million to S172 million.
"We have proved that integrity, values and
courage can still triumph in a corrupt
world," Roche said in a letter released by
See HILLSDALE, Page 8A
AP--TO
Robert Blackstock speaks to reporters after
being named acting president of Hillsdale
College yesterday, replacing George Roche Ill.
MSU police find
9 bombs outside
residence hal
By Jewel Gopwanl
Daily Staff Reporter
Nine homemade bombs were found outside of Philips
Residence Hall at Michigan State University yesterday morn-
ing. Three of the bombs exploded some time between 11 p.m.
Tuesday and 8 a.m. yesterday, MSU Police Detective Tony
Willis said.
The bombs did not injure anyone, Willis said.
He explained that the bombs allegedly were constructed with
household chemicals in 20-ounce plastic Gatorade bottles.
A Philips resident discovered the bombs in the courtyard
between Philips and the connecting Snyder Residence Hall.
A staff member in Philips then informed MSU Police of
the explosives.
The police arrived at the scene yesterday at 8 a.n. with the
Michigan State Police bomb squad, which operates out of
Lansing. MSU Police evacuated residents living in the base-
ment and the first floor of Philips whose rooms were adjacent
to the courtyard.
Willis said police have no suspects, but he explained that
MSU Police will first focus its investigation on Philips resi-
dents and expand from there.
In addition to determining what chemicals were used to
make the bombs, MSU Police are attempting to identify a
suspect by using fingerprints found on the bottles.
Any suspect found guilty of making the bombs could be
charged with a felony offense of possession and creation of
an explosive device, which carries a minimum sentence of
four years in prison.
Mohamad Pedram, who lives on the second floor of
Philips near the courtyard, said the bombs were "pretty loud,
like gunshots."
Philips resident Ashley Dehr said the idea that the bombs
were placed in the courtyard, where many students often play
football, concerns her. "It doesn't make us feel safe," Dehr
said. "It makes us have to be more careful."
Willis said yesterday's discovery is not connected to prior
incidents at Philips. On Oct. 20, a female student at Philips
was assaulted when a man entered her unlocked residence
hall room.
"This is pretty much a random incident," he said.
Willis said many renorters have been asking whether the
That's a rap
I' J
MSA parties set
election agendas
By Caitlin Nish
Daily Staff Reporter
As candidates prepare for next
week's election to fill 23 representative
"The Blue Party works to promote
student interests both as a whole and
through the efforts of individual candi-
dates ... The party philosophy is to let
seats on the Michigan
Student Assembly, three
parties have started
showing what they con-
sider to be the most
important issues facing
University students.
With 16 members on
M
S
A
each individual member
push for their own
goals," BP co-Chair Glen
Roe said.
But the BP is focus-
ing its platform around
several main issues.
"The Blue Party wants
.r-oot%-,
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