One hundred ten years ofeditorialfreedom 4 1 NOPW NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 7640557 wwwmichigandally.com Tuesday January 23, 2001 4X 4 Texas o s Ringleader among those in custody; fifth inmate commits suicide WOODLAND PARK, Colo. (AP) - Acting on a tip, authorities yester- aptured four of the seven convicts w broke out of a Texas prison nearly six weeks ago and allegedly gunned down a policeman on Christmas Eve. A fifth inmate killed himself inside a motor home that had been surrounded by authorities in this foothills communi- ty about 50 miles southwest of Denver. The whereabouts of the two other inmates were unknown. Authorities said they may have been in Woodland Park as recently as Sunday and may h left to get more money. he story is by no means over," said Mark Mershon, the top FBI offi- cial in Colorado. "We have two sus- pects that are still on the loose." The heavily armed inmates - including murderers, rapists and armed robbers - had puzzled and alarmed authorities by remaining together after bluffing their way out of p n Dec. 13. The slaying of the Dal- Ivrea officer II days later only increased fears that the inmates might want to go out in a blaze of gunfire. Among those arrested was George Rivas, the suspected ringleader who was serving a life sentence for robbery and kidnapping. Investigators have portrayed Rivas as fearless and shrewd with a powerful hold over the others, but authorities said he expressed remorse as he admitted to the slaying of e policeman. e stated that he had a change of heart, change of life and he wanted this to end," said State Patrol Trooper Eric Zachareas, who was at the conve- nience store where Rivas and two oth- ers were arrested. Rivas had dyed his hair blonde and another inmate had dyed his hair orange in an apparent attempt to avoid scrtiny, Zachareas said. He also said s of the fugitives may have been at a Colorado Springs bar late Saturday. "Apparently, they were out party- ing," he said. The convicts arrived in the area on Jan. 1, Teller County Sheriff Frank Fehn said. See PRISONERS, Page 7 x nrY"X r,'se v +sr;./^rM ,r, r,.,, F M es r, s ~nsY ; N 1; r z <:+Ma 9+m s xu., w+!n ,'ro r s; a sm'z'$ 'T vrsw o f ,...r +ov,:P. ' :; i. .. r, 5 ^rr i +-, 5 y y:. :!; > ,, l^. - SS 3, l ° e a .. /1 ~r -, ri:;r .c . d, b.;, y w, < iGR ,i,.. s G.+ , rov :w o, /l+ux.-nJ;-,,.+. - _ _ ' ,. r. sru .rn, .h! t , > , ,,, ,...,..., ., ,e,. r.. FinaM-1 By Jon Fish Daily Staff Reporter 'U, witness takes stand DETROIT - Explaining the claim that the Law School does not employ any quota sys- tems to obtain the "critical mass" of minority students needed to achieve diversity, Dean Jeffrey Lehman took the stand yester- ON WA V day as the University's final witness.' During a relatively short but intense cross examination, R. Lawrence Purdy, questioning for the Center for Individual Rights, attempted to make Lehman define precisely what is meant by the term "criti- cal mass." But Lehman contended throughout his testi- mony that critical mass cannot be numerically defined. "Critical mass is not a particular number, par- ticular percentage, or range of numbers or per- centages," he said. Lehman said he assumes critical mass to mean the Law School would have "a meaningful num- ber" of minority students that would ensure a variety of perspectives and viewpoints in the classroom - a number that cannot be quantita- tively defined. During the cross examination, Purdy point- ed out that the Law School's minority enroll- ment has not fallen below 1 percent for several years, and asked Lehman if this was a number that could be considered critical mass. "No, (critical mass) doesn't have to be a num- ber," Lehman said. Another point of contention arose when Purdy asked if the Law School would only consider minority applicants for remaining seats in the class if it found itself to be "short" of the number needed to obtain critical mass. "We do not have seats for critical mass that people compete for," Lehman said. After Lehman's testimony, CIR Chief Execu- tive Officer Terry Pell, said Lehman had mis- understood the question and that CIR had not been trying to suggest the Law School sets aside seats. Rather, he said, they were trying to make the point that since only minority students can make a critical mass it amounts to a kind of quota. But University Deputy General Counsel Liz Barry said CIR "has it totally back- wards." We make admissions decisions by a file- by-file basis," she said. The dean of admissions, Barry said, does not sit down to read applications with any kind of percentage to aim for in racial diver- sity. CIR also attacked the ambiguity surrounding the definition of "critical mass." "Critical mass is an inherently vague and subjective standard ... which doesn't lend itself to a compelling state interest," Pell said. Barry called Pell's argument "an empty See LAWSUIT, Page 7 Just for kicks1 Weathier fireezes Amtralk By Loule Melzlish Daily Staff Reporter Until last month Amtrak had six trains running through Ann Arbor each day along its busiest route in Michigan. But that all changed last month when winter storms forced the federally subsidized company to tem- porarily pull four of the trains and reduce the number to two daily. The only train traveling through Ann Arbor to Chicago now leaves the Depot Street station at 8 a.m. The train from Chicago to Detroit reaches Ann Arbor at 11:43 p.m. Previously, there were three Amtrak trains running in each direction - one in the morning and two each after- noon. "With only one train going I would have to pick a differ- ent day" said LSA sophomore Thomas Ahn, who is from the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, Ill. The trains, which were plagued with severe delays due to the weather, were transferred south. The company now uses parts from its Superliner line of trains, which, Amtrak spokesman Kevin Johnson said, "operates a little bit better" in cold weather. "This weather was extraordinary - it was cold and it was sustained," Johnson said. Johnson said the company did not have enough Superlin- er parts to maintain the usual number of trains visiting Ann Arbor. "We expect to restore the usual service pretty soon," he added. He could not specify when normal service levels would be resumed. As could be expected, state transportation officials are unhappy with the reduction in service. "We are not pleased about that," said Janet Foran,.spokes- woman for the Michigan Department of Transportation. Foran said MDOT expected service to return to full strength in February and added, "We want some guarantee that this won't happen again." The Ann Arbor stop is part of the Detroit-Chicago route, which along with the Port Huron-Chicago and East Lansing-Toronto routes comprise Amtrak's "Great Lakes Corridor" of service. The Detroit-Chicago route is, Foran said, "a very important route. It has the most number of riders." Amtrak has been facing problems in Michigan, despite federal and state subsidies. The State Transportation Commitee recently appro- priated $6 million to maintain the Port Huron and East Lansing routes after speculation that those routes would be cut. Additionally, ridership has been dropping on the trains, See AMTRAK, Page 7 JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily Six-year-old Chase Riebergre kicks while his instructor, Zach Baker, holds a pad to shield himself yesterday. The two were practicing karate at the Ann Arbor Quest Center. Martin hopes to raitse y:athlete gradua.,to rate By Whitney Elliott Daily Staff Reporter During his visit to yesterday's Sen- ate Assembly meeting, University Ath- letic Director Bill Martin discussed the relationship between the athletic pro- gram and academia. The University's Chief Financial Officer Robert Kasdin also visited the meeting to discuss the Life Sciences Initiative funding and making the Uni- versity's Human Resource Manage- ment departments a more integral part of the University. "There's a lot we need to do," Mar- tin said at the meeting. "We really need to provide (student athletes) with a bridge program." This program, which Martin men- tioned has worked well at Michigan State University, would provide ath- letes with a head start in academics the summer before they begin school. Martin also spoke about the need to get the graduation rate up. Right now, the graduation rate of all Uni- versity athletes is about 60 percent and the rate of basketball and foot- ball players is in the mid-20 percent range. Former University athletes, Martin said, have also expressed interest in finishing their degrees after their pro- See SACUA, Page 2 JOYCE LEE/Daily Athletic Director Bill Martin speaks to the Senate Assembly yesterday afternoon in Rackham Amphitheater. Study: Freshmen not prepared By Shannon Pettypieco For the Daily A recent study shows that incoming fresh- men who receive high grades in high school but spend little time studying may not be pre- pared for college academics. Researchers at the University of California at s Angeles found that only 36 percent of al coming freshmen studied six hours or more a week during their senior years in high school. This number is lower than the 47 per- cent of students who were found to study more than six hours a week in 1987. These figures were gathered from a pool of more than 200,000 students at 434 public and "Generally, we advise students who come in that they study two to three hours a week per credit hour." - Charles Judge LSA academic adviser Charles Judge, an academic adviser in the University LSA Academic Advising Office, said studying six hours a week is far below the minimum. Therefore, the 37 percent of incoming freshmen who study less than six would be a total study time of more than 30 hours per week. But Judge added that work loads vary for different classes and majors. Although the hours students devoted to - m. ' S _ ._...:: .