1£,.v 44 1lET W!tut rn WAIcpq4Ise' TU Orsy Today: Mostly Cloudy. High 72. Low 52. Tomorrow: Rain. High 45. One hundred rnine years of editorilffreedom Monday November 1, 1999 ,' ,.. .~ . . :,7' I gyptAir crash BOSTON (AP) - An EgyptAir jetliner with 217 people on board, including dozens of American tourists, plunged mysteriously into the ocean off Nantucket Island early yesterday, 33 minutes after leaving New York for Cairo. By nightfall, searchers had retrieved debris and one ody, but held out little hope of finding survivors in the chilly Atlantic waters. Authorities said there was no distress call from the pilots before the Boeing 767 plummeted to the sea in two minutes from its cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. Though the FBI and other intelligence agencies began checking on the possibility of sabotage, President Clinton and other officials said there was no immedi- ate indication of foul play. Searchers found two partially inflated life rafts, life *kets, seat cushions and other small debris, none with any burn marks, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard Larrabee. A finding of such marks on debris could suggest the possibility of a fire or explosion aboard the plane. The air search was suspended after dark, but ships continued scouring the area. The Coast Guard said chances of anyone surviving more than 12 hours in the 58-degree water were slim. A Navy salvage ship, the USS Grapple, and Navy divers were leaving Norfolk, Va., last night and are expected to join the search by late today, with orders to take debris and remains to a Navy base in Rhode Island. U.S. officials indicated a majority of the 199 pas- sengers on Flight 990 were Americans, including a group of 54 people bound for a 14-day trip to Egypt and the Nile. Alan Lewis, chief executive of the Boston-based travel agency Grand Circle Corp., said most of the group members were from Colorado, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest. The plane started its flight in Los Angeles and [aims 217 stopped at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. It took off again at 1:19 a.m. and went down at 1:52 a.m., roughly 60 miles south of Nantucket. The Coast Guard deployed ships, reconnaissance planes and helicopters to search an area of about 36 square miles, in waters about 270 feet deep. State-owned EgyptAir, confronted with the worst crash in its history, said non-American passengers included 62 Egyptians, two Sudanese, three Syrians and one Chilean. There were 18 crew members, EgyptAir said. It was the fourth time in three years that a major search operation was launched in the region for a plane lost at sea. The series of crashes began with TWA Flight 800 off Long Island in July 1996, fol- lowed by Swissair Flight Ill off Nova Scotia in September 1998 and the single-engine plane carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister off See CRASH, Page 7A Big Ten student governments focus on diversity By Jeannie Baumann Daily Staff Reporter MADISON - Student government members from nine Big Ten universities, including the Michigan Student Assembly, tackled campus issues such as diversity, Title IX and the administration-student relations at the Association of Ten Students Fall 1999 Conference this weekend at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "Our hope is that MSA can always come back from ABTS with new ideas and concrete benefits for students," said MSA President Bram Elias, an LSA senior. "This year, the general assembly of Big Ten schools decid- ed to have an emphasis on diversity," explained Wisconsin senior Amelia Rideau, who coordinated the event. Rideau, who is vice chair of the Associated Students of Madison Student Council, said the resolution, which passed after an extensive debate this summer, came in response to "very few women, people of color and (the lesbian, gay, 1exual and transgender community) who have been present at these conferences." The emphasis on diversity resulted in a two-session work- shop in which all 80 representatives participated. The first ses- sion consisted of a series of "self-identifying exercises." During these exercises, workshop leader Michael Franklin described a category, and everyone who. identified with the description would stand up. The categories varied from derogatory names to perceptions about different ethnic groups. "When representatives of their campuses are trying to earn diversity or implement diversity they have to con- sider three major things - safety, comfort and sanity - of not just everybody but specifically those groups who have been and still are oppressed due to sexism, racism and homophobia," Franklin said. He defined sanity as "the ability to understand, compre- hend and succeed on an academic level." Representatives presented opposing views when Franklin asked how they felt about the iconography of Native Americans used for an athletic team's nickname. "It's not demeaning," a representative from Ohio State iversity's student government said, "It stands for some- thing good, something strong." But University of Iowa sophomore Azadeh Tavakoli said "a lot of Native American children see themselves made being made fun of on these hats and uniforms. I've worked on research which has proven that the high rates of alcoholism and suicide are a direct result of this." She added that she has experienced these issues her- self and witnessed them in her family. During the second diversity workshop, delegates dis- *sed, with their university representatives, diversity issues relevant to each institution. They then met as an entire delegation and shared their ideas. "It was good to sit down and discuss diversity on a formal See CONFERENCE, Page 7A AP PHOTO A woman cries at the Cairo, Egypt airport yesterday after being informed that her relative was among the 217 passengers killed in the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash. TurOVer projected M A2e elctions By Robert Gold Daily Staff Reporter Ann Arbor City Council elections often come and go without much member turnover. But tomorrow's round promises to be different. Council elections will bring at least three new faces to the 11 member coun- cil with veterans retiring in Wards I, i, and IV 'With two Republicans retiring, Second Ward Rep. David Kwan and Fourth Ward Rep. Patrick Putman, and the absence of Republican candidates in Wards I and III, the possibility of a Democratic stronghold exists. Currently, Democrats hold a seven to four advantage on council. With eight members, Democrats would hold a super-majority, the total votes need- ed to override vetoes by Republican See ELECTIONS, Page 7A NIH funds minori eresec DA JD KT/aly Engineering sophomore Jessica Ryu and Engineering first-year student Adam Forney lead runners in the Walk for the Wild in Nichols Arboretum on Saturday. o hosts walk to san.vI.e Alaskan la..nds By Asma Rafeeq Daily Staff Reporter Hoping to raise money and awareness in support of the preservation of a 1.5 million acre-coastal plain in the Alaskan wilderness, more than 50 students participated in the Walk for the Wild at Nichols Arboretum on Saturday. SNRE senior Jenny Kerekes, an organizer of the event, said that oil industry lobbyists keen on developing the tract of land in remote north- east Alaska could endanger life for the more than 165 species living there. "Area in tundra is a very fragile ecosystem that has been developing for a very long time," Kerekes said. "Even a small presence (of oil drilling) could disrupt the system." British Petroleum Amoco and other oil giants are lobbying Congress to open up the coastal plain for oil drilling, claiming that new oil developments are necessary to meet the world's energy demands and advanced technology makes it possible to drill without harming the habitat. But groups such as the Sierra Club and the Alaska Wilderness League warn that oil com- panies have a track record of environiental wreckage. According to the Alaska Wilderness League, hundreds of spills involving thousands of gal- See WALK, Page 7A By Nicole Tuttle Daily Staff Reporter LSA junior Bria Barker wasn't sure what she wanted to do after graduation, so she looked for an experience that would focus her interests into a career. Through the Minority International Research Training program she discov- ered a love for health issues and now wants to study public health. Founded in 1993, MIRT sends his- torically underrepresented minorities overseas to research biomedical and behavioral science topics. The National Institute of Health provided MIRT with a $789,000 grant to continue its pro- gram during the next four years. The NIH supports the MIRT program in more than 30 colleges and universities nationwide. Participating students at the University conduct their research in Chile, South Africa and China. With the new funding, MIRT's sites will expand to include Costa Rica and India, said Kate Restrick, director of the University's Center for Human Growth and Development. Undergraduate, graduate and med ical students join research groups in the different cities and are encouraged to publish the results of their work. "Research is the common denom- inator between us and them," said Kimberly Yee, a second-year med- ical student who worked in China. "But the language barrier was pretty hard. It was the first time I had ever been illiterate - I'd walk down the street and not be able to read the signs." Some participants said cultural dif- See MIRT, Page 2A m-.j Green acres Senate proposal targets telemarketers By Nick Bunkley Daily Staff Reporter A proposal being drafted by one state sena- tor aiming to cut down on dinnertime interrup- tions may also hinder phone solicitors' ability to collect donations for the University. Sen. Mike Goschka (R-Brant) is drawing up legislation that would restrict the times tele- marketers can place calls at night and said he hopes to introduce a series of bills to the Senate floor by the end of this month. "It dawned on me after talking to my con- stituents that something needs to be done to allow people to eat in peace," Goschka said. "I wish you could just pass laws to eliminate them (telemarketers), but you can't.". But Telefund Director Leah Hoover said a law that restricts the organization, which solic- its donations from alumni, from calling in the "This would really put a damper on our fundraising efforts. " - Leah Hoover Telefund director ter 5 p.m., but he is also considering a in calls only between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. gan law currently permits telemarketing o be placed between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. over said Telefund employees solicit ions from alumni between 6 p.m. and 10 n weeknights and during four-hour peri- n Saturday and Sunday afternoons. e current time frame for us works well," er said. "After 9, we just phone people out h year, Hoover said, Telefund raises more money to their alma mater, she would like to see a differentiation made that between fundraising organizations and commercial sales calls. "We are the not-for-profits?' she said. "If there is any change in the policies I would hope they would look at the source of the calls." Goschka said his bills would tighten time restrictions on all telemarketing calls, because he is concerned about protecting Michigan res- idents from unwanted "nuisance calls:" -People get really emotional over this issue," Goschka said. "They don't like to be bothered" I s r .. .. ;. ~ .. I ., .