12 - The Michigan Daily -- Friday, September 8, 2000 Improvements should be. completed by October 2002 HAVEN Continued from Page 1 healthier person," she aaid. "After two years of renovations, I expect Haven Hall to be quite grand," she added. Assistant history Prof. Stefanie Siegmund said she also can see the plus side of the changes. "There's enormous time lost in packing and unpacking, but it's all for a good cause," she said. Siegmund pointed out that the University Towers offices all have air conditioning, which wasn't the case in Haven Hall. History department Chair Fred Cooper said he hopes students won't get frustrated with the change. "Hopefully, it will only be a minor inconve- nience. They just have to walk further to talk to faculty" Cooper said. All political science offices that were formerly housed in the Haven Hall complex are located in "It's a little bit of a longer walk each day, but it will make me a healthier person." - Margaret Howard Assistant political science professor the Church Street building. Siegmund said students should head to University Towers for history faculty office hours and Tisch Hall for the history advising office and paperwork concerning majors and minors. "The faculty has been very cooperative," Jones said. "I'm sure some don't want to be three blocks from main campus, but they've had consistently positive attitude," Jones added. Construction begins for the the Mason and Haven Hall renovations. The improvements req history and political science departments to relocate to off-campus venues. 1:JOBSOTOTI* American Express to o er disposable card FALL TERM Apply now at the w Library- ion-Law Students Law Students SS.L Students ly in person: Room S-180 NEW YORK (AP) - American Express said yesterday that it will offer disposable credit card numbers for safer online shopping. The initiative, called Private Pay- ments, will be offered free next month to American Express cus- tomers and small business cardhold- ers in the United States. The program is part of a series of products the New York-based cornpa- ny will be launching to address priva- cv and security issues that have discouraged many people from online shopping. Private Pavments allows customers to buy online without transmitting actual card numbers over the Internet. For each online purchase, the cus- torter obtains from an American Express Web site a random number that expires after the transaction. "Consumers have a real fear of having their credit card stolen," said Alfred Kelly, Jr., group president of U.S. consumer and small business services at American Express. "This fear is the biggest obstacle for a real boom in e-commerce. American Express has made sever- al moves to address privacy and secu- rity, including its offering of its Blue card. The card, introduced a year ago, is embedded with a chip that allows coinsuiers to transfer credit card information directly to online mer- chants via a card-reading device that is attached to PCs. -Ii Rebecca Blank, dean of the School of Public Policy, addresses a crov than 90 yesterday at a welfare reform forum in the Michigan Union. REFORM Continued from Page 1 the current success of various govern- ment programs under TANF cannot be guaranteed under the pressures of an unstable economy. Mead disagreed with Blank's emphasis on the correlation between the success of welfare reform and the growth of the economy, arguing instead that it is only part of a larger picture. "I would judge that half (ofTANF's success) is due to balk employment, a third is due to the economy and the rest is due to other factors," Mead said. Mead stated that it is necessary to promote employment of those on and off welfare, saying "unemployment is important not only in changing peo- ple's lives, but in changing the tone of welfare." Danziger introduced statistics indi- eating a dominant link between non- working recipients and psychiatric problems, a circumstance he referred to as a type of "barrier." The panelists argued whether such recipients could be taught certain job skills despite their debilitating condi- tions. The argument led the panelists to discuss the issue of term limits applied to TANF programs. Blank argued that barriers could legitimize limits of 15 to 20 years for recipients. The panelists agreed that if states continue to have fiscal surpluses dur- ing the continuation of the program, the money Congress allots to states for TANF will be relatively small. They concluded unanimously that in the end, the economy will determine the fate of TANF, but inevitably policy makers will fail to make any changes until the economy itself takes a turn for the worse. SICK OF CLASSES ALREADY?. JOIN THE DAILY. New polli puts Bush, Gore in dead heat. The Washington Post WASHINGTON - Al Gore and George W Bush are locked in a dead- even race for the White House, according to a new Washington Post- ABC News Poll, with Gore having consolidated gains he made at is con- vention and enjoying the edge on who is best equipped to handle the issue voters say are most important to them. The Post-ABC poll reveals an elec- torate that is sharply divided over the choice for president in November but relatively contented with both major party candidates. With two months remaining before election day, the poll foreshadows a fiercely competitive contest ahead as Gore attempts to cap- italize on the strong economy and Bush seeks to make a compelling ca* for changing parties after eight years of Democratic control. In a four-way matchup, Gore and Bush each received 47 percent support among likely voters, with Green Party nominee Ralph Nader at 3 percent and disputed Reform Party nominee Pat Buchanan an asterisk. In a hypotheti" cal two-way race, Bush led Gore 49 percent to 47 percent. The polls taken immediately afte, Labor Day this year are considere especially important by presidential candidates because they are the first that measure the lasting impact of the summer political conventions, and they mark the moment in the race that many Americans begin to pay seriou$ attention to the candidates. In the past four elections, the candi date ahead at Labor Day has gone on to win the White House. Twice sinc World War Il - in 1960 and 1980 the races were statistically tied at this stage. The 1960 race stayed close until the end, with John F. Kennedy narrow ly defeating Richard M. Nixon. Th 1980 contest broke open in late Octo her, with Ronald Reagan easily defeat- ing incumbent Jimmy Carter. Both campaigns said they expect this race t remain competitive until the end. The new Post-ABC findings repre- sent a slight narrowing in the ra since the weekend immediately afte Gore's convention last month, when the Democratic nominee led Bush bh 48-44 percent. But more important, the polls shows the clear shift that has occurred since Julyjust before the two major party conventions were held, when Bush led Gore by 8 percentage points. Unlike Bush, who surged to a dou- ble-digit lead at the time of the G convention, only to see it begin to evaporate the following week, Gore has retained most of the support he acquired at his convention. The race has polarized along classic lines. Men support Bush by 52-38 per- cent, while women support Gore by an identical margin. Gore enjoys the sup- port of about eight in 10 Democrats, while Bush has the backing of almost nine in 10 Republicans. Independent voters narrowly favor Bush. G* holds a clear lead in the Northeast, but in every other region, including the battleground Midwest, the poll finds the race i statistically tied.poe nr The poll is based on telephone inter- views with 1,065 registered voters nationwide, including 738 likely voters and was conducted Sept. 4-6. The margin of sampling error for the over- all results is plus or minus 3 perce- age points and 4 percentage points results based on the sample of likely voters.% After trailing most of the year, Gore not only has wiped out Bush's overall lead, but also has seized the advantage on a number of key questions of char- acter and on issues. Gore currently leads Bush as the candidate voters say is best able to deal with nine of the 17 issues tested in the survey, including educati - health care and prescription drug - efits for the elderly, the econdmy and Social Security - issues that votets said are critically important to then this election year. Bush currently holds a clear lead on only two: taxes and defense. Six weeks ago, Bush led Gore on seven issues while the Democrat was favored on only two: health care and the-environ- ment. Some of these shifts have beendra- matic. Five weeks ago, Bush main- tained a 13-point advantage as the candidate best able to manage the fed- eral budget; today, Gore leads by 5 points, an 18-point swing. The vice president has turned a nine-point deficit into an five-point lead on the issue of the candidate best able to handle the national economy and has gone from being even with Bush on education to a 12-p*t advantage. The candidates are tied on six issues, including the traditional Republican issue of crime, where Bush had a 20-point lead over'Gore in July. Neither candidate is seen as better able to reform campaign finance laws, an area where Republicans believe that Gore is vulnerable. Food For Thought What DestroyedVietnam's Past-War Economy? Truong Nhu Tang was a founder of the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong); later Minister of Justice and a diplomat. In his book, "A Viet Cong Memoir he does not blame the American embargo in Vietnam, but instead blames the post-war bloodbath, plus the greed and corruption of the North Vietnamese victors. Gary Lillie & Assoc., Realtors www.garylillie.com MASS MEETING TUESDAY AT 7 P.M. As you consider career choices, think Fdiatry. With the aging population, the need for Doctors of Pbdiatric Medicine has never been greater. For more information on this growing field, and to get a toehold on a great career, visit the website of the school of Pediatric Medicine nearest you. PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS: BARRUNVRSITY IDESMoIONUNVERSITY SCHOLL COLLEGE I OO COLLEGE I TMPEUNIV www.barry.edu/podietric www.dmu.educpms www."co.edu ww.otpm.odu wwwtempts,*du Win a $1,000 scholarship Enter the Sole Seching Eissy Contest Enter online at wwe-ole-eer--'-'Y."ho"n, but hurry, the contest endl Septenibe.r30th. a 1