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oday: Mostly cloudy. High 38. Low 27.
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One hundred nine years of editoral lreedom
Monday
November 29 1999
Signs may aid bus riders
Jeannie Baumann
aily Staff Reporter
Students, faculty and staff commuting
orth Campus to Central Campus ma
onger have to sit out in the cold, unaw
en the next bus will take them to
ed destinations. With a new system, h
ation about wait times would be at thei
ertips instead.
The University Department of Parking
ransportation Services, the Michigan Sti
ssembly and the University of Micd
ngineering Council have looked into i
enting dot matrix indicator signs at th
tops.
The system connects every bus stop to a
r station through radio modems. 1
oodshop
rovides
space for
rojects
y Robert old
aily Stall Reporter
Studying the dimensions of a board
f wood, Rick Wagner explained how
e decided to build a friend a bookshelf
o Christmas.
' he's a big book reader. Like me,
he doesn't have much furniture of
er own," said Wagner, an
ngineering sophomore, whose
earch for a place to the bookshelf
ead him to the University Student
oodshop.
The facility, nestled in the base-
ent of the Student Activities
uilding, has been a home to many
oodworkers' personal creations for
than 20 years.
Two University offices - the
ffice of Student Affairs and the
rts and Programs Office of the
ichigan Union - operate the
oodshop, which is open to anyone
ffiliated with the University. The
oodshop prepares newcomers to
he site with a mandatory four-hour
afety class, explained shop4s facili-
y anager's Kurt Vosburgh, so "we
W all work shoulder to shoulder
ogether under the same set of
Iles."
The facility houses a vast array of
arge scale power tools such as table
ws, band saws, lathes and a veneer
ress. Instructional books like "Band
aw Basics" and "Fine WoodWorking
echniques 7," and a wide variety of
and-held tools, line the woodshop's
ffice.
ie woodshop also offers a separate
for wood finishing.
"I live in a room. It's nice to have the
pace," Wagner said, referring to the
arge amount of woodshop work space
ompared to his home.
Vosburgh said woodshop creations
ange from musical instruments to
:anoes to cigar humidors.
"If someone has the desire to make
, they would be able to make it here,"
urgh said.
osburgh is assisted by a staff of
ight part-time workers, who share
heir craftsmanship expertise. "Every
ne of the people want to give back to
he shop," he said.
University alum Anna- Ramsburgh
aid she appreciates the wide range
:f knowledge the staff members
;ffer.
"I borrow these guys for everything,"
See WOODSHOP, Page 2A
modems detect when a bus arrives at a stop and
relays that information to every other bus stop
as well as the central station. With that infor-
mation, electronic signs can indicate when the
next bus will arrive. This information would
also be available online and accounts for traffic
delays and buses that have broken down.
"It's a unique system that can provide many
benefits," UMEC President Jon Malkovich
said. "Students will have an easier time using
the bus system and they will be able to tell
exactly when the gaps are." Noting that some
gaps in services can be up to 40 minutes, he
said this system would allow students to plan
their time more efficiently.
"For example, when Bursley-Baits bus No.
2 arrives at the Power Center stop, a computer
at the stop will detect its arrival. Using radio
modems, that information will be relayed to all
the other stops. The C.C. Little computer
would then automatically change an LED
screen to say 'Bursley-Baits bus arrives in 1
min. "Malkovich explained in a written state-
ment.
The Department Parking and Transportation
Services Director Pat Cunningham said the
system would cost between $100.000 to
$200,000. Malkovich said it costs about $2,000
to put a dot matrix sign at a bus stop.
MSA President Bram Elias said he hopes the
University will provide funding for the system.'
"This is the type of project that the
University should be providing for students.
See BUSES, Page 2A
DANA LNNANE1 C
A University bus drives to North Campus last night. A new dot matrix system at bus stops would help
students who ride the bus estimate arrival times more accurately.
Heads up
apd Sc cl
apps. decline.
By Jeremy W. Peters
Daily Staff Reporter
In an attempt to eradicate the falling
rate of minority applicants to the
University's Medical School in recent
years, school officials have instituted a
number of recruitment programs aimed
at increasing the school's appeal to
under-represented minorities.
Katie Home, assistant director of
Medical School Admissions, said the
number of minority applicants to the
University's school has fallen steadily,
as have the number of minority medical
school applications nationwide.
Home said 571 minority students
applied in 1997. In 1998, this number
decreased to 502. This year, her office
received only 478 minority applications
- a decrease of 16 percent during the
past two years.
"We have a problem in medicine to
recognize that minority enrollment ...
has not been increasing in the last few
years. We don't understand why minori-
ties are not applying ... and we are very
interested in determining why;" Medical
School Dean Alan Lichter said.
In light of this downward trend,
Lichter said he and other school offi-
cials have become increasingly con-
cerned in making the Medical School
more attractive to under-represented
minority applicants.
"We have been interested in minority
enrollment and diversity for many years
now because we feel a diverse student
body truly enhances the educational
experience,"he said.
"We recognize that as physicians we
take care of a very diverse population,
and having physicians that come from
different backgrounds is an essential
part of patient care," he added.
Through a series of minority recruit-
ment programs such as Project HOPE
- the Health Occupations Partnership
in Education - school officials hope to
make studying medicine a more attrac-
tive option for minorities.
Lichter outlined his aims of the
recruitment programs.
"Our desire is to bring the very best
See APPLICANTS, Page 7A
DANA INNANE! Daily
Business second-year graduate student German Scipioni takes advantage of sunny weather yesterday while practicing
with the Michigan Business soccer team. The team plans to go to Texas in February to play in a national tournament.
British seek spe1edy
IRA respon.se on arms
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP)-
On the eve of forming a long-elusive
new government for Northern Ireland,
Britain's senior official in the province
said yesterday that he trusted Sinn Fein
leaders to deliver speedy Irish
Republican Army disarmament as part
of the deal.
Four parties, including the IRA-
linked Sinn Fein, are expected to nomi-
nate candidates today for a 12-member
Protestant-Catholic Cabinet, the key
objective outlined more than 1 1/2 years
ago in the Good Friday peace accord.
The breakthrough was made possible
by the Ulster Unionists, the province's
major British Protestant party, deciding
Saturday to drop their demand for IRA
disarmament before forming the new
administration.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter
Mandelson praised Ulster Unionist
leader David Trimble, who would lead
the Cabinet, for overcoming "hostility
and mental aggression" from hard-line
Protestant critics. Trimble won 58 per-
cent support for the policy change in a
vote Saturday by his party's governing
council.
Mandelson's government plans to
transfer substantial powers Thursday to
the new Cabinet, reversing 27 years of
direct rule by Britain.
And Mandelson said he hoped the
IRA's promise to open negotiations
Thursday with a Belfast-based disarma-
ment commission would produce
"quick progress" on an issue that has
handicapped peacemaking work here
for years.
Speaking in a British Broadcasting
Corp. television interview, Mandelson
added that he expected Sinn Fein lead-
ers Gerry Adams and Martin
McGuinness - both reputed former
IRA commanders - "to lead the
republican movement and ensure that
they deliver on their side of the bar-
gain."
"Whatever you might think about
their past, they're people now who are
committed to politics, not to violence,"
said Mandelson. "I don't think they
would have asked the IRA, you know,
to take part in this if they didn't know
what the answer was going to be."
Mandelson, who said he thought the
IRA would start disarming by January,
described Adams and McGuinness as
"two forward-looking politicians who ...
should be given the benefit of the doubt."
But McGuinness, one of Sinn Fein's
two candidates expected to receive
posts today, warned that Trimble's
unexpected setting of a February dead-
line for a start to IRA disarmament
would make it more difficult to achieve.
McGuinness said the Ulster
Unionists' "ultimatum and demand
"approach "makes our job all the more
difficult. "But he did not rule out the
possibility of an IRA weapons gesture
in January.
Trimble won over wavering support-
ers and secured his slim majority
Saturday by promising to reconvene the
Ulster Unionist meeting in February for
"a final decision." This meeting would
decide whether to withdraw from the
Cabinet if the IRA hadn't begun to dis-
arm.
EMILY LINN/Daily
A Sociology 389 class, part of Project Community, set up this box In Angell Hall
yesterday to collect art and school supplies for underpriviledged children.
Holida drivesneed
attention for succless.
Jnions, administration clash on trade
SEATTLE (AP) -
he World Trade
rganization, getting
eady to stage the largest
rade event ever in the
ed States, was
cked yesterday by the
eamsters union presiden
reed" ahead of human rig
With much riding on th
he Clinton administration
nvite trade ministers from
acific Northwest in hop
Teamsters president: WTO PtA
greed ahead of human rights
t for putting "corporate "This economy is strong ... and it will remain Buchanan den
ghts. strong because of the sort of outward view we've agreeing to suppo
he outcome of the talks, had about trade, not an inward view," Daley told return for reduce
defended its decision to Reform Party presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan in farmers and mane
around the world to the a joint appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." that those barriers
es of launching a new Critics such as Teamsters head James Hoffa and lars in lost sales e
Sunday" the demonstra-
tors simply want a "seat
at the table" to ensure
the WTO stops putting
"corporate greed, cor-
porate profits, above
human rights."
ounced the administration for
rt China's entry into the WTO in
ed Chinese trade barriers. U.S.
ufacturers long have complained
are costing them billions of dol-
ach year.
By Jewel Gopwani
Daily Stafl Reporter
Collection drives on campus are just
about as common as preachers on the
Diag. And now that the winter holiday
season is officially underway,
University students can expect to see
their fair share of charity drives on the
Diag and often empty collection boxes
at Angell Hall.
Michael Masters, chair of the
Michigan Student Assembly's
Community Service Commission, said
one of the keys to a successful drive is
conducting it within one or more estab-
lished groups.
she is counting on members of both
organizations to make the drive a suc-
cess.
But the clothing drive that the Native
American Law Student Association and
the Women's Law Student Association
held in October could offer a few
lessons to groups interested in conduct-
ing a successful drive.
Colette Routel, a member ofNALSA
said the groups collected clothes from
Law students and faculty to donate to
send to the Pine Ridge reservation in
South Dakota.
Routel said the collection
received a large response from stu-