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Friday

-d .t M 4 4

North

Campus fire damages

network

By Undsey Alpert
Daily Staff Reporter
E-mail messages were forced to lie dormant yes-
terday when a fire in the North Campus
Computing Center damaged several University
tworks.
The fire disrupted Netscape service, Telnet
and various University Website services.
A short in batteries connected to an uninter-
ruptible power supply caused the fire to break
out early yesterday morning, said Al McCord,
Information Technology Division spokesperson.
The fire was contained to a cabinet where the
batteries were stored and had burnt out. by the
time Ann Arbor Fire Department officers arrived

"1 don't think that people realized the severity of this incident until
their -mail wouldn't work."
- Robert Patrick
Assistant DPS director

on scene, according to Department of Public
Safety officials.
Damage resulting from the fire knocked out
power in the building, which was also evacuated.
Fumes from the fire were contained to the
unventilated area where the batteries were stored.
"I don't think that people realized the severity of
this incident until their e-mail wouldn't work:'

assistant DPS Director Robert Patrick said.
McCord said the fire affected two different
pieces of the University's technology systems.
The backbone network, which includes pro-
grams like Telnet and Netscape, had to be relo-
cated and re-established.
The backbone network was expected to be in
working order by last night, McCord said.

Damage included disruption of the
Institutional File Service causing many campus
Website servers to shut down.
IFS was scheduled to be fixed last night, but
will take a great deal of effort by ITD staff.
Because of the fumes, about 20 servers had to
be moved to another facility to be cleaned,
reassembled and mounted.

The system was expected to be working proper-
ly by today, but since the fumes were acidic, the
servers may have excessive damage that may not
appear for a few days.
There is no damaged estimate, but ITD officials
are working with the University's Risk
Management Office to access cost, McCord said.
University records, such as transcripts and pay-
roll were not damagedbecause those servers are in
an off-site location. But if any of the main
University servers were damaged, there are back-
up copies of all files in various off-site locations.
"The response of a number of University
units, with about 40 to 50 people working
around the clock is spectacular' McCord said.

Members Just jousting
protest
FIT
decision
By Yael Kohen
Daily Staff Reporter
The campus chapter of the Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity was suspended
yesterday for failing to comply with a
set of guidelines stipulated by the fra-
ternity's international organization. But
fraternity members said they are not
,sing hope as discussions concerning
tie house's status continue.
International FIJI Director Bob
Baney said the campus chapter failed
to act on new directives set by the fra-
ternity's headquarters between May
and September.
But FIJI Treasurer Andrew Turner,
an LSA senior, said the fraternity's fail-
ure to comply with the new rules is the z
result of bad timing. Because the stipu-
ions were set during summer
Wonths, fraternity members were
unable to coordinate plans prior to
returning to campus this fall.
Since returning to campus the frater-
nity has been proceeding positively n
with the directives, Turner said.
Although the fraternity has been sus-
pended,the decision can still ber
IFC President Rohith Reddy, a FIJI
mber, said that he feels that there are
ll some mitigating factors that need
to be qobserved by the international
headquarters.
Fraternity members are currently in
discussion with the organization and
have not decided whether they will
appeal, Reddy said. DAVID RDCHKIND/Daily
But IFC advisor John Mountz said ISA first-year students Isaac Rabinovitz (left) and Sterling Chung duke it out in a jousting event on the Diag yesterday
that "they are working on an appeal." as the campus celebrated In anticipation of Saturday's homecoming game against Purdue University.
See FIJI, Page 2
hOspitaliedor GHB overose


Latest quakes
most likely
coinci-dental

By Elizabeth Kassab
For the Daily
The four major earthquakes within
six weeks of each other may not be
cause for concern - it's unlikely the
temblors are part of a trend or that the
earth is falling apart. In fact, it's proba-
bly just coincidence, according to
University geology professors.
Associate geology Prof. Larry Ruff
said the recent earthquakes in Turkey,
Greece, Taiwan and Mexico are com-
pletely unrelated to each other. Not only
did these earthquakes occur on differ-
ent faults, they weren't even the same
types of earthquakes.
The catastrophic Turkey quake was a
result of a "strike-slip fault." It occurred
on the North Anatolian fault, compara-
ble to the San Andreas fault in
California. Strike-slip faults cause
quakes occur when two plates rub
against each other - like sliding two

adjoining tables across a floor, upset- -
ting the objects on the surface.
The Greek and Taiwanese quakes
belonged to the "dip-slip" family. In
these types of quakes, the earth moves
up and down.
The less severe earthquake that hit
Greece three weeks after the Turkey
quake was on a "normal" dip-slip fault.
When there is an earthquake on a nor-
mal dip-slip fault, one plate moves
down as the other moves up; the two
plates move away from each other.*
The Taiwanese quake, the largest
seismically of the four, was caused by a
"thrust" dip-slip fault. A thrust dip-slip
fault is the opposite of a normal dip-slip
fault. Instead of moving apart from
each other, plates collide.
The Taiwanese earthquake
occurred on what is known as a "sub-
duction fault." One plate slides under
See EARTHQUAKES, Page 2

'U' to see more
state funding


By Dave Enders
Daily Staff Reporter
Eight people, including three
University students, were taken to the
University Hospitals' emergency room'
last weekend after ingesting the drug
*mma hydroxy butrate, known as GHB.
"Two or three of the cases could have
resulted in death," if the subjects had
not received treatment, said Hernan
Gomez, a toxicologist in the University
Hospitals emergency medical center.
University officials could not comment
further on the seriousness of the cases,
but did say that all subjects had been
released from the hospital.

The rash of emergency room visits
prompted the University to hold a press
conference yesterday concerning the
increasing use of GHB on campus.
Members of University Health Services
and the University Hospitals' emergency
room spoke at the conference.
"My gut feeling is that (GHB use) is
increasing," Gomez said. "Eight cases
was no accident - we may see more."
Gomez referred to nationwide statis-
tics that show GHB-related emergency
room visits increasing from 20 in 1990
to 629 in .1996. He also said that the
numbers were "likely a gross under-
reporting."

Jeff Desmond, the director of the
University's Adult Emergency
Department, talked about the poten-
tial seriousness of the drug. He said
that GHB, which is reported by its
users to produce euphoria and relax-
ation, is dangerous because it sup-
presses activity in the central nervous
system. GHB is commonly mixed
with alcohol, which magnifies the
drug's effects and can produce memo-
ry loss, seizures, confusion, coma and
death.
"You can have a deep enough coma
to suppress respiration, and that's
why people die," he said. At least 19

deaths nationwide have been linked
to GHB. The drug was also found in
the body of University student
Courtney Cantor, who died after
falling from her sixth floor Mary
Markley Residence Hall window last
October.
Speakers also said that the use of
the drug is changing. GHB was once
considered a date-rape drug, but dur-
ing the past few years has been used
more for recreation. Seventy-nine
percent of the emergency room visits
between 1992 and 1996 belonged to
males.
See GHB, Page 7

By Nick Bunkley
Daily Staff Reporter
New Year's Day may be three months
away for the rest of the world, but the
second millennium has already arrived
in Lansing, as Michigan's fiscal calen-
dar rolls to the year 2000 today.
And for the state's 15 public universi-
ties, that means the $1.77 billion higher
education budget signed by Gov. John
Engler in July takes effect, boosting
overall funding by 5.4 percent above
the previous year's level.
The state will give the University
$338 million in base funding for the
coming year - 4.8 percent more than
last year - plus an additional 2 percent
in one-time supplementary appropria-
tions for technological improvements.
"Where we ended up was a much bet-
ter outcome for the University of
Michigan than where we started," said
Cynthia Wilbanks, vice president for
government relations. "Not only did we
do well in the general appropriations but
we also got this additional 2 percent."
When Engler's fiscal year 2000 budget

recommendation was announced in
February, the University was guaranteed
only a 1.5 percent increase. University
President Lee Bollinger told the House
Appropriations Higher Education
Subcommittee that the budget proposal
would cause the University to raise
tuition rates by 4 or 5 percent.
But after the proposal was finalized
and signed into law, the University
Board of Regents approved a 2.8 per-
cent tuition increase for the 1999-2000
academic year.
"The regents were then able to rec-
ommend with a lot of confidence the
lowest tuition increase in more than 10
years," Wilbanks said.
State Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor)
said although the budget does not pro-
vide an ideal level of funding for the
University, the final product is better
than the form approved by the House of
Representatives.
"We came out OK," Brater said. "It
always could be better."
Engler's proposal implemented a
See FUNDING, Page 7


Michigan Theater
opens new screen
By Ed Sholinsky Executive Director of the Michiga
Daily Film Editor Theater Russell Collins noted that tf

THE OPPONENT:
Purdue struggled last week, but ended up
winning their Bigq Ten opener against
Northwestern, 31-23. Drew Brees threw for
three touchdowns, including a 99 yarder.
THE OUTLOOK:
Brees must be salivating looking at the Blue
defensive backs and this will be a shoot out.
Pray for rain if you're a Michigan fan, or an
impressive offensive showing.

,an
the

Since the Michigan Theater opened
its doors in 1928, movies and perfor-
mances have taken place in the 1700-
seat historic auditorium. But on
Saturday, after 71 years of showing
movies in a single theater, the Michigan
Theater will open its new screening
room to the public.
Coming through the Grand Foyer,
inctnrl f .rlin . t t . le . in . th

$4.4 million addition of the 201-seat
screening room is meant to have an "aes-
thetic unity" with the main room, but
isn't meant to fool patrons into believing
it's as old as the theater itself. Instead, in
keeping with the city's building code for
putting an addition onto a historic build-
ing, Collins said "we want (patrons) to
know it's a new space, but be sympathet-
ic to ictrv.

Photo Hustratior by DANA LINNANE/!Daily
The Michigan Theater will open Its new screening room to the public Saturday. The
addition of the 201-seat room cost $4.4 million.

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