One hundred ten years of editonr l freedom :law 4w tit NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 764-0557 www.michigandaily.com Tuesday October 24, 2000 Re.Affir-lErwe can at 4 N t gut ale By Usa Koivu Daily Staff Reporter Five of the eight candidates running for a position on the University Board of 1egents gathered yesterday afternoon in forum to discuss where each candidate stands on the issues that will be affect- ing the board. Regents Larry Deitch (D-Bloomfield Hills) and Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) joined Reform Party candidate and University of Michigan at Flint stu- dent Nick Waun, Libertarian and SNRE graduate research assistant Tim Maull and Green Party candidate Scott *udeau, an LSA senior. Senate Advisory Committee on Uni- versity Affairs President Jackie Lawson Rackham closure to affect local venues By Ahmed Hamid Daily StaffReporter began the discussion by informing audi- ence members that the Republican can- didates Wendy Anderson and Susy Avery declined the invitation to attend. "I regret to announce that the two Republican candidates have withdrawn from the forum," Lawson said. "They confirmed weeks ago but suddenly with- drew." Each candidate had one minute to answer questions, most of which audi- ence members wrote. The first question, written by SACUA members, asked the candidates to state their positions on affirmative action. Deitch, McGowan and Trudeau agreed that affirmative action is a necessary policy. While Maull said he believes diversity is important but that he just does not agree with affirmative action, Waun said the administration has no right to deny admission to any student based on race. "This administration does not have the moral or constitutional authority to dis- criminate against any student who applies to this University," Waunn said. The candidates also tackled whether they thought English Prof. David Halperin's gay literature class should be canceled. "The regents have no place in the classroom," Deitch said. "The regents need to stand on guard to political inter- ference. What I may think as a person is irrelevant." Maull agreed, saying, "As long as the class has academic merit, it should be offered." The Student Code of Conduct elicited varying responses from the students and those now on the board. McGowan said she is in favor of the Code but she also expects students to express any concerns they have about it. "With the Code as it is, I support it. However, I also support a constant review of it," McGowan said. Waun said the Code is so long that students can not understand it. "The University needs a certain num- ber of rules. However, the Student Code is so long and confusing that people can't understand what they have to fol- low," Waun said. When asked whether the University's See REGENTS, Page 2 A~LEXWOLK/Da University Board of Regents candidates Tim Maull, Nick Waun, Rebecca McGowan, Scott Trudeau and Larry Deitch participate in a panel discussion at the Michigan League's Mendelssohn Theatre yesterday. Senate batte remains bitter When Rackham Auditorium closes next May for an 18-month full-scale "novation project, the congestion due limited venues on and near campus will increase. Since last month, only graduate stu- dent groups can use Rackham facilities, forcing undergraduate students groups to clog other venues, especially the Michigan Theater. Nancy Doyal, Michigan Theater director of operations, said demand is expected to increase further when Rack- ham Auditorium closes. *Full-scale renovations will begin in May 2001, pending approval of the Uni- versity Board of Regents approve the plan. Exterior renovations already have started. "The terms of the Rackham endowment were that the University would exclusively include graduate stu- dents in using Rackham facilities," said Donna Reed, assistant to the Rackham dean for budget, facilities and human sources. "We tried to relax it four ars ago and because of the increasing demand the graduate students were hav- ing difficulty in accessing the facilities." Damon Fairfield, president of Rack- ham Student Government, said he has received no complaints about the policy change. Groups must now be composed of at least 25 percent graduate students to use Rackham facilities. "The problem is the deed of trust itself specifies that the building is to be ed for graduate students only," Fair- 4ld said. "We had no role in generating the current policy nor any input into it." The congestion in bookings around campus can be linked to the perception that the University lacks adequate facili- ties. "The University needs to do more to accommodate groups. There aren't sufficient venues for groups like Amazin' Blue and others," said Brian Netter, business manager for Amazin' *ue, an a cappella group. Such groups need spaces like the 1,200-seat Rackham Auditorium because of their target audience size, he said. An a Capella concert wouldn't fill Hill Auditorium but would overfill an Angell Hall Auditonium. Michigan Theater turned out to e the best alternative to Rackham for Amazin' Blue, Netter said, but getting a spot wasn't easy. "Michigan Theater's schedule was packed and we were able to get a spot until the first week of December," Netter said. 58 Greene, another a cappella group that used to hold concerts at Rackham, also has reserved Michigan Theater dur- ing the first week of December. "Rackham is a great auditorium, but now we are using Michigan Theater," said LSA junior Cathy Dacpano, busi- ness manager for 58 Greene. "It may and far-fetched, but it would be great the University could gather enough support to build a new facility." The Rackham building was con- structed in 1938. Reed said next year will be the first time an exhaustive reno- vation has taken place since then. "There will be a complete renovation By Jeremy W. Peters Daily Staff Reporter DETROIT - Yesterday's second and final debate between Sen. Spence Abraham and U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow ended any hopes that the bitterly negative Senate campaign would turn civil in the remaining two weeks before Election Day. The candidates sparred on issues ranging from the cost of health care to C A M P. racial profiling and often expressed starkly differing views in their politi- tactic' of painting Stabenow as a lib- eral proponent of big government. "We do have a clear choice in this campaign between ... moving the country forward in the direction you asked me to or going back and turn- ing the clock back to liberal alterna- tives of big spending government programs," the incumbent Republi- can senator said. At one point in the debate, Guy Gordon of WXYZ- A I G N TV, one of the debate's moderators, asked both candi- dates if they would Sw"I _ agree to end the bar- i. n . m n, n cal philosophies. ---------- rage of negative ads during the past sever- Stabenow gave her opening statement first and didn't waste a minute taking the offensive. "Six years ago Senator Abraham stood before you and said that he was going to work for the people's inter- ests and not the special interests. I would argue in fact, that the opposite has been true," the Lansing Democrat said to an audience of the Economic Club of Detroit at Cobo Hall. In response, Abraham turned to his al months. Stabenow did not commit to that, saying instead she saw a solution in the McCain-Finegold campaign finance reform bill. "If Senator Abraham was not one of five senators holding it up in the senate, we would not be having this conversation. Campaign finance reform is what we need," she said. See DEBATE, Page 5 MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily U.S. Rep Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and Rpblican Sen. Spence Abraham face off yesterday in their final debate before the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Hall. Bollinger: More residence halls needed By Lisa Hoffman Daily Staff Reporter University President Lee Bollinger spoke to the faculty Senate Assembly yesterday about connecting the University to other universi- ties, to the non-educational sector and to itself. In effort to contribute to the intellectual envi- ronment, Bollinger brought up possible advance- ments in the undergraduate experience, including upgrading residence halls. The University has not built a residence hall since 1969, despite the growing number of stu- infwest roonl on -campus By Emily Kramer For the Daily dents and escalating off-campus housing prices that force upperclass students to live further away from campus. "It would contribute to the intellectual environ- ment" to have upperclass students live on cam- pus, Bollinger said. "We benefit from having a close proximate relation." The housing refurbishing and construction is estimated to be a decade-long project. "We need a better framework to resolve a num- ber of issues that have evolved," Bollinger said, including keeping the cost of higher education down. The average tuition rate for an education of this university's quality is $20,000, Bollinger said, but the University only charges $6,000 for in-state tuition. "I believe that what the state gets is an incredi- ble bargain," Bollinger said. Last year, the University's average in-state tuition increase, was 3:3 percent, which helped make the lowest four-year average increase in decades. "The increase is just keeping with inflation," LSA junior Jay Champley said. "We do have a higher tuition than other Big Ten schools; but I don't see it as outrageous for how much is offered here." The number of research endowments, research awards and private fundraising also continues to rise as the University prepares for another capital campaign. "It is the best organizational structure we know of for people who care about higher education," Bollinger said. Following a weekend of fueled rivalry between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, Bollinger remind- ed faculty, "We must take a more cooperative stand with other universities, especially MSU." See SACUA, Page 2 Genetics prof. shares theory of evolution By Kristen Beaumont Daily Staff Reporter Engineering freshman Kavon Stewart, a native of Jamaica, had never seen the delicate flight or bright col- ors of a ladybug before moving to the University's North Campus. Now, living in one location where ladybugs seem omnipresent, Stewart shares his residence hall room with many of the campus critters. "There are at least eight in my bedroom at night," Stewart said. "They are attracted to the light so they climb up the walls and just stare at the light." Recently, Central and North campuses have been infested with clusters of yellow or red and black lady- bugs, and Stewart and other students on North Campus He predicted hundreds of millions would die of starvation due to a popu- - lation explosion in the 1970s and 1 bil- lion would die in the 1980s for the same reason. Stanford Prof. Paul Erlich played out some of his other theories on cultural evolution last night in his lecture in the Rackham Graduate School. "Everybody ought to know more about evolution. If we are going to understand who we are and where we are going, we need to understand human evolution," Erlich said. Erlich lectured on material from his new book, titled "Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human tial population multiplication. He geared last night's lecture in a much different direction. Erlich addressed four main issues - the impact of genes on behavior, the origins of ethics, the lessons to be learned from evolution and the possi- bility of altering evolution to change the progression of culture. Erlich first addressed genetic impact on cultural and social behavior. He said virtually no human behavior can be encoded in our genes because cul- ture shapes human behavior. "The culture an infant grows up in determines how that child will behave," he said. Erlich also stressed that if a child grows up in an adopted culture, they will adopt that culture and leave behind the culture they were ALEX WOLK/Daily Ladybugs accumulate outside of East Quad Residence Hall yesterday. are prime for ladybugs. The weather has sustained the survival of ladybugs, he