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One hundred ten years fedzrorialfreedom
NEWS: 76-DAILY
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Monday
December 11, 2000
2-1 isiAs al
Election
returns.
to
high
The Associated Press
On the eve of historic U.S. Supreme Court,
arguments, Al Gore's attorney said yesterday
e vice president urgently needs a legal victo-
ry to recount Florida's votes or "that's the end
of the road" for his dogged drive to the presi-
dency. A chorus ofjittery Democrats agreed.
As both sides previewed their cases in legal fil-
ings, George W Bush's lawyers asked the high
court to overturn a Florida Supreme Court
recount plan they said would "incite controversy,
suspicion and lack of confidence" in the first
presidential election of the 21st Century. Democ-
.tic attorneys defended the Florida court.
"Voters have important rights to have their bal-
lots counted, and the magnitude of those rights
dwarfs" any legal arguments raised by Bush, the.
Adverse rulng oul be'en
of te road'for vice president
vice president's brief said. Though confident, midday yesterday, pitching tents and spreading in a machine count, and the legislative branch
Gore's attorneys conceded publicly and privately sleeping bags across bone-chilling concrete in of government - not the courts - should
that the odds are stacked against them. hopes of snaring a courtroom seat. determine the nation's 43rd president.
As deeply divided as the country, the high Gore, who trails Bush by less than 200 votes The state's 25 electoral votes would put
court justices voted 5-4 on Saturday to tem- out of 6 million cast, wants to recount about either man in the White House.
porarily halt manual recounts in Florida and 45,000 "undervote" ballots throughout the A CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll conducted
consider the landmark Bush v. Gore case. More state. Bush argues there is no fair way to count yesterday found a nearly even split over
than 50 people lined up outside the court at the ballots that didn't register presidential votes whether the court should allow the recount to
court
continue - 47 percent for a recount and 49
percent against, with a margin of error of plus
or minus 4 percentage points.
The survey of 735 adults also found 72 per-
cent think the Supreme Court will rule fairly in
the case. But among people who identified them-
selves as Bush supporters the figure was 87 per-
cent, while among Gore supporters it was 54
percent. Neither side committed to giving up if
the Supreme Court issues an adverse decision;,
but even Gore's advisers conceded he has fewer
options than Bush beyond the high court.
"If no votes are counted, then I think that's
the end of the road," said David Boies, who
will argue the case for Gore. But the lawyer
stopped short of saying his client would bow
out if the Supreme Court ruled against him,
See ELECTION, Page 7A
ill I
Students numb
from
By Yasi Kohen
Daily Staff Reporter
t
;-ND
.
__._.
While the media, obsesse
presidential election coverag
ue to indulge political jun
24-hour election news upd
students are now spending
obsessing about final exams
papers.
In most other years the
tial election would have en
than a month ago, but this'
toric counts, recounts -r
even more recounts - ar
some students batty.
Many students say th
have the time to pay a
while others simply haveI
est.
"I just want it to be decid
really care who gets it," L
more Michelle Brown said w
ing at Starbucks Coffee on S
TO Street.
Y. "I would kind of just lik
coverage
end. It's making a big debacle,' Busi-
ness School senior Kirk Oldford said,
adding that he has stopped paying as
d by post- much attention to every new detail
Ve, contin- reported by the news. "It's not that I
kies with don't care. It's just going to be the
ates, most same thing over and over again. I'm
their time just waiting for the end to see what
and term happens."
Proofreading a paper at Angell
presiden- Hall was more important to Oldford
ided more than focusing on the events in
year's his- Florida. He said he consistently
and then pays attention to general news
e driving events, and for him the election has
become just another story. But with
ey don't finals just around the corner, study
ttention, mode has to set in.
lost inter- While sitting at an Angell Hall com-
puter finishing one of his last assign-
ed. I don't ments for the semester, Engineering
SA sopho- senior K. Mannah Kallon said he does
hile study- not believe the outcome of the election
outh State will affect his life.
But Kallon said he doesn't care what
e to see it See STUDENTS, Page 7A
p- APPHeOT
Andrew Alexander of Charlottesville, Va., protests in front of the U.S. Supree Court yesterda. The court will hear oral arguments In the Florida ballot recount case today
Minimums, surchargesforbidden
® Stores and restaurants charge
extra for credit card use, violating
trust clauses
By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
With credit cards a part of everyday life for many
lege students, businesses often find they actually
lose money by allowing customers to make small
purchases with plastic.
In response, some establishments set minimum
amounts for credit transactions or add a surcharge
when swiping a card through the cash register.
The only problem: Minimum purchase amounts
and surcharges are against credit card company poli-
cy.
Officials at Visa and MasterCard, the two most
popular credit cards nationwide, said minimum
amounts and surcharges are in violation of the agree-
ments that stores sign when they agree to accept the
cards.
"That's against the rules," MasterCard spokes-
woman Heidi Lowe said of credit surcharges.
Lowe said setting a minimum amount is also a
violation of the agreements that acquiring banks, the
institutions that provide credit card service to the
stores, sign with companies that wish to accept cred-
See MINIMUMS, Page 7A
Bedeviled
Judge rules Wisconsin
funding process illegal
By Usa Koivu
Daily Staff Reporter
After a Supreme Court ruling last spring per-
mitted universities to use mandatory student fees
to fund student groups, U.S. District Judge John
Shabaz ruled Friday that the way the University
of Wisconsin distributes fees is illegal.
The judge ruled that there is no guarantee the
funds are being allocated in a viewpoint neutral
basis, a requirement for the system according to
the Supreme Court's opinion.
The case, Kendra FIry v. University of Wiscon-
sin System Board of Regents, challenged the
viewpoint neutrality of the Wisconsin system.
The system allows the student government to dis-
tribute funds but also permits the chancellor of
each campus to veto the decisions.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed in 1996, in
which Wisconsin student Scott Southworth
claimed the allocation of mandatory student fees
violated his First Amendment rights. In that case,
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin
System v. Southworth, Southworth said his
money should not be used to fund any student
group ideologically, religiously or politically
offensive to his own beliefs.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last March that
the university did have a right to collect student
fees, but sent the case back to district court to
examine the legality of the distribution method.
According to the Supreme Court decision, "the
First Amendment permits a public university to
charge its students an activity fee used to fund a
program to facilitate extracurricular student speech,
provided that the program is viewpoint neutral."
The ruling continues to say "the University
exacts the fee at issue for the sole purpose of
facilitating the free and open exchange of ideas
by, and among, its students."
Had the Supreme Court ruled against Wiscon-
See FEES, Page 2A
DAVID KIAZ/Daiy
Engineering juniors Matt Olsofsky and Joe Tilchen examine the submarine
ATLAS, which they are testing before their team builds a new model.
Human Powere..d
.S ba iio.epev.pares for race
MJIE MAmRSHALL/Daiy
Chris Young consoles LaVell Blanchard after he comes
out of the game against Duke in Durham, N.C. Michigan
lost, 104-61. Inside: Game coverage. Page lB.
talun Gong members gather in Ann Arbor
By Whitney Elliott
Daily Staff Reporter
With their eyes on setting a new
world record, members of the Univer-
sity's Human Powered Submarine
Team are spending the winter chart-
ing the waters of Canham Natatorium
to test out revisions on their older
model ATLAS to build a new one.
Last summer at the International
Submarine Races in Escondido,
Calif ATI AS finished in the middle
managed to go 2.6 knots.
"Last time we weren't able to stay
on course. We are absolutely sure that
if we can stay on course this time,
we'll break the world record," said
Eric Beaser, an Engineering junior.
The current world record for pro-
peller-driven human-powered sub-
marines powered by two people is
seven knots, and is held by the
human-powered submarine team at
Ecole de Technologie Superior in
Canada with their ship. OMER.
By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
helped her recover from an illness.
While in jail, Aihua said she "suffered horrifying
treatment such as electric shocks and inserting a tube
&^n% r, nw.tn.vNna rlr thi-vt-i ofr n-A
Thousands from across the United States and
Canada gathered at Rackham Auditorium this
weekend to meditate, share stories of Falun
rnnai nInet on their lives and discusI swvs to
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