LOCAL/STATE -- ._ ''. _ iil ! ., The M chipan Da h Tuesday, Sentember 14, 1999 - 3 @CRIME I Students shift routines t i Racist literature found in School of Social Work *A man called the Department o: Public Safety on Sunday afternoon tc report that he found racist literature lying on the floor in the front lobby o the School of Social Work, DPS reports state. The caller found two sheets of paper. each containing 200 to 300 words with derogatory comments about blacks. The leaflets were captioned "Wake Up Whitey!" PS searched the rest of the build- and found no other racist mes- sages. A report was filed. Wallet stolen from 'U' student A female University student reported her wallet was taken out of her purse while she was lying in her bd in Mary Markley Residence Hall day night. The suspects were described as a female wearing a gray windbreaker and an unknown male wearing a hat and v-neck Michigan logo shirt, DPS reports state. They were last seen heading towards the sixth floor of the build- ing, A report was filed. Sudent bumps head in women's restroom A University student alerted DPS officials that she had bumped her head on a machine in the women's restroom last Thursday, according to DPS reports. he student was bleeding but no ical attention was required. The student requested a ride to University Health Services. Thieves use meal tickets to get free Wendy's food The Wendy's fast. food restaurant in the University Medical Center received t counterfeit meal tickets Friday, DPS reports state. The tickets included fraudulent name, authorization and account infor- mation, but their requests for food were honored. N report was filed. Man damages door in fit of anger I e exterior door on the east side f the Michigan League was dam- ge'd by a disgruntled guest who was ocked out Saturday, DPS reports tate. The man hit the door after realizing e would be unable to enter the already ocked building. The repair and replacement of the oar is estimated to cost $8,000. aller blames valet missing money aller told DPS officials the valet d'parked his car at the University ieical Center stole money from a ttqt he left in the vehicle, DPS s state. The money has not been recovered. A report was filed. R ms stolen during est Quad move-in 1 -student moving into West Quad esl4ence Hall on Sunday reported .hat a box containing CDs, a CD } ayer and a pair of sunglasses was tolen from his vehicle, DPS reports fate. A report was filed. an finds cracked r windshield A man reported Friday his vehi- le's windshield was cracked the >'evious weekend, DPS reports sate. The caller said he suspects a stone or rock was the cause. A report was filed. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud. By Jodie Kaufman Fr the DAy As hours tick by and night falls on Ann Arbor, arriving safely home becomes a common question across campus. Although Ann Arbor crime statistics do not compare to metropolises like New York and Los Angeles, the city is not crime-free. LSA junior Barika Butler said "I would not say I feel unsafe but I don't like to walk alone. I feel vul- nerable and like to take precau- tions." LSA sophomore Carolina Sanchez shared the same concerns. "I've never really felt threatened but for additional safety my boyfriend walks me home," she said. Many alternatives to walking home alone are available to students who are out late on campus. The Shapiro UndergraduateLibrary is a hub for sev- eral organizations. Safewalk, an organization run jointly by the Sexual Assault and Prevention Agency and Department of Public Safety has an office at the UGLi. Safewalk assigns pairs of volunteers to escort students anywhere within a 20- minute walking radius of the UGLI by request. The pairs include either two female or one male and one female stu- dent. Safewalk is available from 7:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Northwalk, the North Campus division of Safewalk, is also avail- able to get students home safely. It is based in the Bursley Residence Hall Lobby and offers escorts from 7:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Northwalk co-coordinator Graham Lenz, an LSA junior, said "it is impor- tant for students to feel safe and it is impossible to learn effectively if you are worried about something - especially safety." On average, each division sendt hui between six and 10 escOrts a night. Lenz acknowledges that the number isn't extremely high, but he said "if we prevent one person from being assaulted a year, we've done a good job." Each Safewalk and Northwaik team is equipped with radios connected with DPS officers in case of any difficulties, The Night Owl - a division of the University transportation system -- offers late night bus trips beginning at 7 p.m. from the UGLi to and from the North Campus Recreation Center every half hour and to and from the Stadium C Lot near Crisler Arena until 2 a.m. Supervisor of Bus Operations Bitsy Lamb said "there is some demand for night transportation and we want to make sure people can find it." The Night Owl is usually used by students who live off campus and need to get back to their cars and students who live farther away from Central Campus, Lamb said. T here is also the Niaht Ride ti serv ice offered by Y low Ciab from I I p.min. nil35:43 a.mi. Mionday through Friday and from 7 p.. through 8 am. Saturday and Sunday. ht is a shared ride program and costs Sd per person ellowa Cab Customer Serv ice Representativ e Velma Neal said the idea behind Nigzht Ride is "to help get peo- pie places at night and prov ide safety' The wait cn be 30 minutes though, s0 it is adv ised students plan ahead when usingz the serv ice. T he cabs will go an - where in the Ann Arbor city limits and to the Ann Arbor-Saline Mijer.1 LSA senior Elizabeth .Johnson said "I feel fanIrv safe on campus, but I usually get the Night Ride at the ULi. Some students said they feel safe and don't need to use any of these services offered. Lsa junior Desmon Leone said "I bas e no problem waing around" But many students are somewhat Uiv s ity crime statistics: 1996 1997 1998 Forcible rape: 3 4 3 Forcible fondling: 12 7 12 Robbery: 5 13 5 ate 11 18 19 Murder and non-negl gent manslaughter; 0 1 0 -- /nfrmation provided hv the Department of Public Safety. concerned and take a few precautions. "I make a point to not go out by myse f I always go out with friends" L SA Iirst-year student Katie Easton said. Solar car prepares for Australian competition Paul Kuttner For the Daily The Stuart Highway, an 1,800-mile stretch of road from Darwin on the northern coast of Australia to Adelaide in the south, is dominated throughout the day by "road-trains," vehicles made up of three semi-trucks linked back-to-back. But on Oct. 17, these automotive behemoths will speed alongside 40 new arrivals running on the power of the Australian sun, and one among them, standing less than three feet off the ground, will be shining maize and blue. Weighing about 700 pounds, requiring six tons of equipment and powered by 2,000 solar cells, Maize Blaze is the Michigan Solar Car Team's newest cre- ation. The solar car program is celebrating its 10th year by participating in the World Solar Challenge, a race that will decide which team is head of the pack in solar car technology. The race begins Oct. 17, Darwin, and is expect- ed to finish four or five days later in Adelaide. Some team members and the solar car left yester- day for Australia, remaining team members will join them before Sept. 26. The University team includes a total of 150 stu- dents from 14 different concentrations - 20 of whom will travel to Australia. Many students join as first-year students, like LSA first-year student Eric Beaser, who learned about the program at Festifall, and some stick around for all of their col- lege years. No member of the team has been to Australia to examine the road, but a quick glance at a map shows only one city between Darwin and Adelaide along the route. The scenery will consist of "rocks, rocks and more rocks", explained Beaser, who will become interim project manager when the team goes down under. After a couple of days, the Maize Blaze team may not see another team for the duration of the race, and even the "road-trains" will show up only every hour or two. "One of the most difficult parts will be staying focused," Team Leader Jed Christiansen said. "Making sure we are constantly staying on the ball will be challenging" The solar cars will travel only during daylight hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and the win- ners are expected to make the trip in about four or five days. All teams must finish in nine days. Unlike former races in which the team partici- pated, when they stayed in motels and residence hall rooms for the night, the Maize Blaze crew will simply have to pull off to the side of the road wher- ever they are at 5 p.m. each evening and set up camp for the night. Maize Blaze made its inaugural run this summer in the intercollegiate "Sunrayce" from Washington D.C. to Orlando, where the team placed a disap- pointing 17. In a race with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour in a vehicle that the team projects could reach 100 mph, the University team found themselves at some points averaging about 20 mph. Christiansen said the nine days of overcast skies and thunderstorms that plagued the cars during the race. Upon later inspection, the team found that water had made its way under the solar array and JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily Members of the University's Solar Car team make final adjustments to their car Sunday. The team is headed to Australia today for the World Solar Challenge. "basically just shorted everything out." But Maize Blaze arrives in Australia it will come equipped with a new solar array, some lighter replacement parts and a fresh coat of paint - thanks to team sponsors. The rush to get $60,000 extra to fix up the car before the World Solar Challenge was a little rough on Nadar Shwayhat, the team business man- ager. The car itself costs an estimated S1.5 million. But the team T-shirt boasts an impressive list of corporate sponsors that have helped fund the team's projects. The sponsors include Ford Motor Co., who donated vans, IBM and Manufacturing Data Systems Incorporated, a local company run by University alum Chuck Hutchins, who has been a strong supporter of the team. Shwayhat said talked to McDonalds Corp. about a joint advertising campaign and to Hot Wheels about a possible series of mini solar cars. "They seemed a little bit interested," Shwayhat said about Hot Wheels. "And we're still thinking about it for the next team." Despite the results of Sunrayce, Christiansen said he feels confident that the team and its newly equipped car will be ready for the challenges of the upcoming race. "For me, I'm most excited about showing what our car can do. In the Sunrayce, I know that our car was much better than we placed," he said. "I firmly believe that we are one of the best cars in the world." Christiansen's teammate Beaser laughed and said, "I just want to kick some butt." Exhibit celebrates sexologist s work LIKE TO WRITE? COME TO A MASS MEETING AT 420 MAYNARD ST. TONIGHT AT 7:30. CALL 76-DAILY FOR MORE INFO. By David Enders For the Daily Students who have trouble concen- trating on their books may find some- thing more interesting to study in the Michigan Union - sex. The personal belongings of Magnus Hirschfeld, a prominent early 20th-cen- tury sexologist, and the subject of much of work is the subject of a current exhi- bition in the Michigan Union's Art Lounge. The Institute for Research on Women and Gender, which is sponsor- ing the exhibit, is hoping that interdisci- plinary programs planned to add to the exhibit during the next two weeks will draw more visitors to it.The institute is organizing a dramatic reading, a sym- posium on sexual science and a show- ing of a rare film Hirschfeld made in 1919. Hirschfeld "was one of the first generation of medical scientists to study human sexuality," said history Prof. Martin Pernick, who will partici- pate in a question and answer session after the film. Hirschfeld used the censorship-free era of post-World War I Germany to found the Institute for Sexual Science in 1919, but his actions were met with censorship, persecution and the destruction of his institute and much of his work as the Nazis came to power in the early 1930s. "The difficulties he faced as a Jew and a gay physician and as an advocate of sexuality in Nazi and pre-Nazi Germany illustrate the tasks he set out for himself and the painful historic ironies he encountered," Pernick said. Jim Steakley, a German professor at the University of Wisconsin, will join Pernick to discuss the film, which he compares to movies about gay rights during the 1960s. "Unfortunately, it's only a fragment of the original movie. It's quite melo- dramatic, it shows how a homosexual man is hounded into suicide" Steakley said. "Hirschfeld was the most princi- pled, the most outspoken advocate of equality for (the lesbian gay bisexual transgendered community) before the modern gay rights movement;'he said. Hirschfeld also championed sexual education and contraception. He con- ducted some of the first studies on homosexual behavior and defended Oscar Wilde when he was arrested for committing homosexual acts. "People came from all over the world to study under him;' said Alisha Fenty, the program coordinator for the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. The exhibit is on loan from the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft in Berlin, a museum and center for sexol- ogy research founded in Hirschfeld's honor.The exhibit consists mainly of photos and unpublished documents and is on display until Sept. 30. It can be viewed between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays from 7 a.m. to midnight. r 1A <~' Lii )~L&\ V ML What's happening in Ann Arbor today - - - .. --- - - -1 . . -1 ".,r .._r, s.._. ..+,nnnrtmnt I,-tram,>r; lRiiQirnd IQ fntuIk . 1fl000. Shaniro ILibrarv.