Is One hundred ten years of editorialdfreedom yjF 6 Sa,,' y,, . NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 764-0557 Wwwmichlgandailycom Wednesday October 4, 2000 8 '.- i i i, 1 WTVRC convenes for second pieeting By Jen Fish Daily Staff Reporter Eight months after the University joined the Worker Rights Consor- tium, the organization's governing board gathered this week in Washing- ton, D.C., for its second meeting. The WRC, a newly formed moni- Sing organization for the collegiate apparel industry, was developed pri- marily by students as an alternative to the Fair Labor Association - a White House-sponsored coalition of human rights groups and corporations that has come under fire during the past year for its relationship with apparel manufacturers. Members of the WRC governing board, which is composed equally of representatives from universities, *man rights groups and student activists, said their organization has made great progress since its inau- gural meeting in April. Specifically, the board approved several changes to the organizations' bylaws, filed for nonprofit status and reduced its list of executive director candidates to five. "It was a very successful meeting," WC coordinator Maria Roeper said. e most important thing is that the board lay the groundwork for other work to happen." Roeper and other members of the governing board agreed the hiring of a new executive director is imperative to the organization's future development. WRC secretary Peter Romer-Fried- man, an RC senior and member of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, said the WRC *uld begin interviewing candidates within the next two weeks. The board members also agreed to change the number of votes needed to amend the organization's bylaws. Representatives from some universi- ties, Romer-Friedman said, had expressed concern that only a simple majority had been needed to amend the bylaws. Now any changes to the maws must be approved by a two- Mds vote. The board also approved a commit- tee to oversee pilot projects to be implemented in the next few months in at least three different countries, Romer-Friedman said. "A great deal of institution building has happened since April -- I've been quite impressed," said governing board member Dan Long, a Universi- ty of Wisconsin graduate student , oeper said the schools like the iversity of Michigan that joined the WRC on a provisional basis should be pleased with the group's progress. "I think it's unreasonable to expect that we had implemented a monitoring system by now or something ike that. If their provisions are reasonable, ... I think they should be satisfied." Long, Romer-Friedman and Roeper *said students and administrators, many of whom were bitter enemies just a few months ago, are on good terms. The University joined the WRC on a provisional basis in February along with the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Indiana University after SOLE members occupied the office of LSA Dean Shirley Neuman for three days. In the months preceding the W RC's i gural meeting, student activists across the nation urged their universi- ties to join the WRC and reject the FLA. During the protests, more than 100 students were arrested at various schools, 54 in Madison alone. lchut now that adversarial relation- ship seems to be gone or at least put on hold for the greater good of the )C. Most of the decisions were made by consensus -- unanimous vote most of the time," Roeper said. "While our structure is based on votes, there is a real spirit of wanting to work together." Ramer Friedmna(Yreed s aving the 'Tm benigtohn that not ony d he ut t r nt? met, Ut hei.ented thec cutr . . t_,-T'. o Gorge W sh "Almost half of all the tax cut benefits, as I said, under Governor Bush's plan, go to the wealthiest 1 percent." -Vice President Al Gore Can I ti 1 . t cI sh Bush, Gore trde barbs, accusations The Washington Post BOSTON - Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W Bush clashed sharply last night over tax cuts, prescription drugs and what to do with the projected bud- get surpluses, with Gore charging Bush with favoring the wealthy over the middle class and Bush claiming the vice president had failed for eight years to get things done in Washington. The first of their three presidential debates was barely minutes old when the two rivals began a series of pointed exchanges that set the tone of an evening in which Bush and Gore offered voters starkly different philosophies on some of the biggest issues facing the country. Bush accused Gore of using "phony" numbers after the vice president criticized the governor's tax and spending priorities and later charged that Gore was practicing the politics of "Mediscare" on the issue of prescription drugs. Gore charged that Bush would "squander our surplus" with a big tax cut heavily tilted toward the rich. "He would spend more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent than on all of the new spending he proposes" for education, health care and the military, Gore said. In the first hour, Gore made this point in some way seven times. See DEBATE, Page 7 Undecided voters tune 1n Many undecided voters watching last night's presidential debate between Texas Gov. Geoge W Bush and Vice President Al Gore were expecting to come away with a clear picture in their minds as to whom they would vote for. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Gore, a seasoned debater known for his caustic attacks on previous oppo- nents, would walk away from the podi- um last night having a distinct edge on Bush, a less experienced debater who has been criticized for fumbling his words. Instead, little is likely to be resolved in undecided voters" minds after last night's showdown. "I think Gore won, but Bush beat the spread," said Zack Schram, an LSAx senior who said he supports Gore. "I don't know if there was any run- away winner," visiting assistant Politi- cal Science Prof. Margret Howard said. "All in all - not bad for Gore, not bad for Bush." That seemed to be the consensus. 'Gore was the better speaker, the more adroit debater, but Bush outperformed expectations and dispelled the widely held view that he is an inept orator. For those who have already decided See UNDECIDED, Page 7 NORMAN NG/Daily TOP: Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush face off last night in a debate moderated by PBS' Jim Lehrer in Boston. ABOVE: University students watch the debate in an Oakland Avenue apartment. Environmentalist presents 'Blion Acre Plan' By Carrie Thorson For the Daily A billion acres may seem like a lot, but it's only a third of the amount of rainforest already destroyed in the world. That's how many acres Save the Rainforest President Bruce Calhoun is trying to bring back in his "Billion Acre Plan." Yesterday students in the School of Natural Resources and Environment listened to Calhoun promote his solution to save the rainforest and his new book, "Close Calls and Foolhardy Romances." "We're destroying the rainforest out of igno- rance,' Calhoun said. "Who are we to say what species belong on earth?" he asked. "Is our wisdom greater than the wisdom of evolution or the wisdom of God?" Calhoun's plan is to raise enough money to restore one billion acres of rainforest. This involves paying off local farmers who are cut- ting it down in the first place, which calls for huge government and corporate support. The radical plan caused some students to be skeptical, including SNRE senior Jessica Mendelowitz, chair of Michigan Student Assembly's Environmental Issues Commission which arranged for Calhoun to speak at the Uni- versity. "I don't know about this plan," Mendelowitz said. "lie's just a scientist, not an ecologist. He might need help in that area." Other students shared her skeptical views. "Plans like this take a lot of money," SNRE junior Evan Hyatt said. "People aren't willing to give money to problems they can't see right in their backyard." The earth loses about 100 species every day, and only 3.5 billion acres of rainforest remain out of the 7.1 billion that existed 200 years ago. "As many as five species per hour go extinct. Even the thought that it could get that high is terrible," Hyatt saidj. Scientists predict that at the rate of current deforestation, the earth's rainforests will be completely destroyed in 50 years. That makes us the last generation with an opportunity to do something about it, so plans like this are taken seriously. "I'm getting all positive reactions. There's no down side to this program," Calhoun said. "It's a good start," SNRE sophomore Gabriel Tamaska said. Bruce Calhoun, president of Save the Rainforest, speaks at the School of Natural Resources and the Environment yesterday about his "Billion Acre Plan" to save the world's rainforests. Calhoun said he hopes to gain international attention with the help of his new book, a dra- matic romance novel targeted toward women. "Mostly it's women who care about the envi- ronment and who buy the book, so there's a lot of adventure, romance and close calls," Calhoun said. "But they're all true,"he added. A guitar by any other name Panel discusses for women who By Courtney Crimmins For the Daily Remembering her own college days, Carol Boyd does not preach abstinence from drinking. But Boyd, the director of the University's Substance Abuse Cen- ter, says "moderation, moderation, mod- eration" is the key to avoid the harmful position without power, terday at a panel dis women's health. Researchers in the I have been reluctant to t with the presence of al will take away from the; it "is important becau correlation." But she al consequences drink heavly " Boyd said yes- The discussion, titled "What's Hot cussion about and What Should Be in Women's Health Research," was held in the East past, Boyd said, Conference Room of the Rackham ie sexual assault Building. The panel was hosted in cele- cohol for fear it bration of the opening of Lane Hall, the act, but she said newly renovated home of the women's se of the heavy studies department and the Institute for so cautions that Research on Women and Gender. I 0 M , WIPA 0 pw, I p 0 nd 0 E m I WF' - ARRIN