LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 11, 2000 - 3
HIGHER ED
Classes canceled
due to historic
*football victory
University of Oklahoma students
had the day off Monday in celebration
of a.historic football win. The football
team beat Texas with the largest victo-
ry margin since 1908.
Oklahoma's president announced the
cancellation of classes at the end of the
game on a loud speaker at the Texas
stadium. The administration planned to
operate on a reduced staff basis for the
Way.
Grading may change
for MIT freshmen
Massachusetts Institute of Technolo-
gy recently recommended a shift from
Pass/No Record to A/B/C/No Record
grading for second-term freshmen.
The point of this, according to the
Committee of the Undergraduate Pro-
W ram is to encourage students to take
classes they may not feel vey comfort-
able with and have the option of
abstaining from credit once they receive
their grade and receiving listener status.
This may encourage students to
choose majors at an earlier date, said
the CUP committee.
MIT freshman have a significantly
lower grade point average than the
rest of the students, and CUP hopes
the new grading system will offer a
etter transition from high school.
Dress code hassle
for BYU students
Brigham Young University students
find it difficult to comply with their
universities strict dress code policy.
The most common dress code vio-
lations are unshaven men and girls
vho are clad in tight shirts or above
the knee skirts.
The student Honor Code Associa-
tion works to keep students properly
dressed using standards come from
the Mormon Church.
Texas A & M
groups sponsor
coming out week
This week marks the 1 Ith Texas
A&M Coming Out Week. The Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered
Aggies, Aggie ALLIES and Gender
Issues Education Services are spon-
soring the event.
The week's goals are to encourage
gay and heterosexual students to
become more comfortable and more
informed about the growing homosex-
1al community.
The Princeton Review listed Texas
A&M as the third "least gay friendly"
university to attend, making coming
out more difficult.
The GLBTA tried to become an
official student organization in 1979,
but it took six years and a Supreme
Court ruling before it received a wel-
come place at the university.
U. Illinois focuses
%n computer safety
The Sixth Annual Student Comput-
ing Fair was held at the University of
Illinois last week.
The event included speakers from
Microsoft and the Wind River systems
software company,
Speakers stressed that within the
next 10 years computers will be used
'r everything, from running refriger-
ators to direct communication from
pacemakers to doctors.
Participants discussed attempt-
ing to avoid hackers because they
will be detrimental to life at the
student run conference sponsored
by 40 companies and was orga-
nized by the University chapter of
the Association for Computing
Machinery.
- Compiled f onU- WIRE reports by
Daily Sta/f Reporter Jodie Kaufnan.
MSA battles over AATU f ding cut
* Assembly proposes giving
tenants' union $24,477 less
than previous years' funding
By Jane Krull
Daily Staff Reporter
A series of unresolved and heated debates
filled last night's Michigan Student Assembly
meeting.
The main topic of the meeting was MSA's
funding of the Ann Arbor Tenants Union.
MSA traditionally has set aside a portion
of its budget for the union, but this year,
MSA Vice President Jim Secreto said the
union did not follow the appropriate guide-
lines to obtain funding.
The assembly allocated $26,000 to the
union last year. But this year, MSA proposed
to give AATU $1,523.
"Fifteen hundred dollars is a death sentence
for the AATU," said AATU Board of Directors
member Jeff Irwin, saying that the union will
have to fold unless it obtains additional fund-
ing.
LSA Reps. Erin Gilbert and Rodolfo
Palma-Lulion and School of Social Work
Rep. Diego Bernal proposed an amendment
that would aid the funding of AATU by allo-
cating the union a total of S9,325 from vari-
ous student groups on campus. This funding
will allow AATU to operate for the semester.
In order to operate during the Winter semester,
Bernal proposed that students from the School of
Social Work volunteer to work at AATU.
These students would receive academic
credit for their work, saving AATU $5,120
per volunteer.
The assembly tabled the amendment until
next week's meeting to inquire about the School
of Social Work's role in the amendment.
Also contributing to lively and emotional
"Fifteen hundred dollars is a death sentence for
the AATU."
- Jeff Irwin
Ann Arbor Tenants Union Board of Directors member
"Resolution on the Mass Shootings of Pales- dying. At night I t
tinians." could do."
The resolution calls for full disclosure of According to it
University-owned "investments using scheduled to vot
tuition/fees that support the Israeli military," week.
in addition to educational forums on the con- But when it wa
flict occurring in the Middle East. meeting, MSA P
During constituents' time, eight speakers called for the res
spoke in favor of the resolution. the agenda saying
Rackham student Amer Zahr urged MSA to thing to do with th
see the issue as a one that affects Arab, Muslim When asked afte
as well as any "conscientious," student. overturning of his r
LSA freshmen Rehan Siddiqui said, "I feel ed to protect the M
like they are my brothers and sisters out there resolution, people w
son elderly leaves
think about the things that I
ts agenda, the assembly is
te on the resolution next
as discussed at last night's
resident Hideki Tsutsumi
olution to be removed from
g that it did not have any-.
he students in general.
rwards how he felt about the
ruling, Tsutsumi said, "I want-
SA. I'm sure if we pass this
ill refer to MSA as ajoke."
many
debate, MSA discussed
a proposal titled
Focu
young voters oti
STUDY
Continued from Page 1
care issue is the cost of prescription drugs, while the highest
rate of the population without health care remains 18- to 24-
year-olds. He noted that the debates barely touched upon
issues that pertained to young people.
Cindy McConnell, communications director for the
Close Up Foundation, said part of the problem is that in
the past 20 years there has been more of a focus on math
and science education and less on civic education.
"There's a need for more civic education," McConnell
said: "There is a lot of it that goes on, I just don't think
there's enough of it that goes on."
But just because students historically don't vote doesn't
mean they don't volunteer.
Young people "are totally engaged, they just don't see the
relevance of politics in their lives," Isaacs said.
Bahner, who was able to name both presidential candidates,
said he voted in February's Michigan Republican Primary but
wasn't sure whether he would head to the polls Nov. 7.
"I don't think I'm qualified to vote because I don't know
the facts," Bahner said. "I don't think you should vote
unless you know your stuff."
Both campaigns have claimed to be actively engaged in
youth outreach efforts and have youth coordinators who
have stressed the importance of youth participation.
"At a certain point when its time to vote, young people
need to take it upon themselves to learn the issues and get
t ofcampaigns
involved," said Bob Hopkins, a Bush campaign spokesman.
"Ultimately it's up to the individual to learn about the issues
and get more active."
Internet technology has offered a plethora of information
for students. Bush has established an e-campaign where stu-
dents can share information posted on the Website, and
Gore has launched GoreNet, a Website aimed at attracting
young voters.
But according to the Close Up study, only a small per-
centage of young people access Websites to learn about
campaign issues. Forty-eight of the respondents cited televi-
sion as their primary source for information and 15 percent
cited newspapers.
"If I'm going to turn on the TV, I'm not going to turn on
the presidential election. I'm going to watch something
else,' Engineering freshman Georgianna Golematis said. "I
actually find a lot of their issues pertinent, ... but you have
to be in the mood to watch it."
"I don't watch Seinfeld, much less the news," Bahner said.
Isaacs said the campaigns deserve some credit for mak-
ing outreach efforts but the resources put toward educating
young people about the issues are not comparable to those
geared toward seniors and parents.
Although skeptical toward both candidates' dedication to
young voters, Isaacs commended Gore for participating ip
MTV's "Choose or Lose" program taped last month in Ann
Arbor and for his "Youth at the Table" initiatives in which
he met with students to find out what issues are important to
them.
NORMAN N/$y G, D
LSA Dean Shirley Neuman leads a forum of the President's Information
Revolution Commission yesterday in the Chemistry Building
Fw students turn
0W nn m
out to open forum
on 'U'technologyx~
e ".
By Carrie Thorson
For the Daily
University officials are trying to
improve technological resources on
campus for the students who know
more about computers than they do.
"What Should We Teach" and
"How Should We Teach," two sub-
committees of the President's Infor-
mation Revolution Commission,
held an open forum yesterday to
find out how much incoming stu-
dents actually know about technol-
ogy with a goal to improve
instruction.
But few students actually attend-
ed the forum.
"One of our goals is to get stu-
dents more active in what's going on
in technology around them," said
Art and Design sophomore Heather
Campbell, a member of the student
group "Entity," whose members try
to promote student involvement in
technology on campus.
"Things like this forum should
be more well-attended by students,"
she said.
Administrators who planned the
event said they want to gauge stu-
dent knowledge and experience
with technology.
"We realize a huge change is
happening and we want to go in the
right direction," said Pamela
Fitzgerald, executive secretary to
University President Lee Bollinger.
"We have no idea what kind of
experience students have and we
need to know what they expect
when they come in."
If the technological experience
that incoming students have is
unknown, Fitzgerald said, the Uni-
versity could be wasting money
teaching information technology
that students already know.
"Unfortunately a lot of technolo-
gy here hasn't been updated for
four years," said "Entity" member
Josh Band, an LSA senior. "That's
pretty sad."
The 20 people that attended the
forum - three undergraduates and
the rest graduate students or faculty
members -- offered a great deal of
input about information technology.
But the forum did not address the
major issue that LSA Dean Shirley
Neuman was trying to emphasize:
How to adapt teaching to the infor-
mation revolution.
"A lot of people are still not
aware of the next-generation Inter-
net," Romance languages Prof.
Niedja Fedrigo said.
Other professors suggested
putting more responsibility on the
students.
"What we need is wireless con-
nection," said Micheal Bromley, a
visiting professor from the United
Kingdom. "We should shift the
emphasis of buying the actual
hardware to the students and redi-
rect the money to the teaching and
learning."
But the lack of attendance by stu-
dents at yesterday's forum did not
go unnoticed by faculty.
"There are so few people here,"
atmospheric and oceanic space sci-
ence Prof. Periy Samson said. "A lot
of people don't see the value in this."
Another open forum for more stu-
dent input is scheduled for next Mon-
day from 4:30 to 6 p.m in Chrysler
Auditorium on North Campus.
t.q
Event Agilent Day
Date October 18 13
Location Media Union
Correction:
Student Organization Accounts Services Assistant Coordinator Brian Reed was charged with three counts of third
degree criminal sexual misconduct. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVEN'TS "Yiddish Culture in the Soviet Street, 663-9376
Union: Personal Reminiscences," Ralph Berry Reading and Signing,
* Michigan Student Assembly North Sponsored by the Judaic Studies 8:00 p.m., Shaman Drum Book-
Camnus Affairs Commission Department, 4:00 p.m., Frieze shop, 315 S. State, 662-7407
Meeting, 7:00 p.m., 3909 Michi- Building, Sainger Resource Cen-
gan Union. 615-5672 =- ter % Aenic1fny ;SERVICES
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