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Wednesday
January 10, 2001

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Life goes
on in Law
Quad as
ria1 nears
By Whitney Elliott
Daily Staff Reporter
As the suit against the University's
Law School garners national atten-
tion, the Law Quad seems to be the
farthest removed from the media
frenzy.
yirst-year law student Mark Grif-
fen said

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Clinton lauds
Spartans on
farewell tour
By Hanna LoPatin
Daily Staff Reporter

AD I MISSIONS
ON TRIAL

discussion
among his
p e e r s
about the
case isn't

extremely
c omm on
Part three of a five-part and def i-
series on the lawsuit nitely not
challenging the Law Schood heated.
admissions process "I think
some of
the students may not be pleased by
the media circus surrounding the
school," Griffen said.
But Griffen said he does find it
useful to incorporate diversity into the
classroom.
"I think it's useful to understand
where someone is coming from. It's
4prtant to understand differences and
t different people say," Griffen said.
Law Prof. Rebecca Eisenberg said
she agrees, saying that having a diverse

EAST LANSING - President Clinton thinks that if the
country is going to continue to thrive as it has in the past
eight years, Americans need to work together as a team -
much like the 2000 NCAA basketball champions at Michi-
gan State University.
This was the message Clinton delivered when he spoke
yesterday afternoon at the Breslin Center on Michigan
State's campus. The visit also served as a belated chance for
the president to meet with the team after tensions in the
Middle East forced him to cancel the Spartans post-champi-
onship visit to the White House last year.
Clinton told a crowd of more than 12,000 that the modern
world is growing more and more interdependent.
"I believe that, therefore, successful social work, includ-
ing economics, is becoming more and more like winning a
national basketball championship - it's a team sport," Clin-
ton said. "I don't care how big a star you are, if the other
four walk off the court, you're whipped."
Basketball metaphors and Michigan State references
were sprinkled throughout Clinton's 40-minute speech high-
lighting his last eight years as president.
Listing the country's problems before he was elected in
1992, Clinton mentioned a decline in industrial production,
social division, high unemployment rates and that it had
been "13 years since the Spartans won a national champi-
onship - it was not the best of times."
Focusing on the longest economic expansion in U.S.
DAVID KATZ/Daily history - beginning during the Clinton administration and
an State continuing today - the president cited the many ways he
st elected. See CLINTON, Page 2
Meningitis death in
lab raiseoIs concerns

"Some of
the students
may not be
pleased by.
fie media
circus."
- Mark Griffen

student
body is a
tremendous
resource in
the class-
room.
"Every
time I
teach a
case, I get
a different
perspective
depending-
on who I

President Clinton shakes hands with supporters after delivering a speech yesterday at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michig
University yesterday. Clinton spoke at the university because it was the location of a presidential debate in 1992, when he was fir
TSS suspected in death

First-year law student talk to.
How you
think about questions depends on
where you stand in society," Eisen-
b g said.
fIhe Washington, D.C.-based Cen-
ter for Individual Rights filed the case
against the Law Schools use of race in
their admissions in 1997.
The case was filed on behalf of a
white female applicant who claims less
qualified minorities were admitted.
Beginning next Tuesday, CIR, the
University and a coalition of students
and affirmative action advocates will
present their arguments to U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Bernard Friedman in
wroit.
Griffen says that because society as
a whole is diverse, it's important to
raise a diverse crop of lawyers to serve
the people.
"Attorneys and doctors are among
the~oldest professions that have obvi-
ously served the public interest, and
as.-such it's useful to have a reason-
able diverse cadre of lawyers," Griff-
aid.
Second-year law student Ellen
Unger said she believes gender
diversity "is importalt in the envi-
ronment of the Law School as a
whole."
Griffen said although the system
by which the Law School admits
students doesn't base its decisions
on standardized tests and grades
entirely, for the most part it brings
good results.
"You're probably going to have
ividual cases where some will be
dealt an injustice, but as far as the
society on a whole, it's probably a
niet "benefit," Griffen said.
Unger said she sees a greater diver-
sity gap in gender rather than in other
areas.
"Because I'm an older white
woman, I don't see the race issue as
ch because I don't deal with it
y. I see more of a gender differ-
ence," Unger said.
Unger said the admissions policy
that uses factors other than grades
and test scores is important because
she feels the grades and tests are
geared toward males getting better

By Jaimie Winkler
Daily News Editor
As statistics show the risk of toxic shock syndrome
decreasing, the recent death of a Michigan State University
student is raising concern about the rare disease.
Although officials have not concluded the cause of Tricia
Zailo's Dec. 18 death, they believe she died from toxic shock
syndrome, Michigan State spokesman Terry Denbow said.
Jim Sejvar, a physician and epidermologist with the Cen-
ters for Disease Control, said TSS cases are infrequent,
affecting one or two people per 100,000 in the United States.
Symptoms of TSS include fever higher than 102 degrees,
vomiting, diarrhea, sunburn-like rashes, muscle aches,
dizziness and feeling faint when standing up, according to
the Tampax tampons Website.

Sejvar explained that a bacteria, usually staphylococcus
aumevs, produces toxins that cause TSS. In 1980, CDC
recorded 813 cases of TSS in menstruating women. In 1998,
the CDC recorded three cases in menstruating women. But
Sejvar noted that anyone - including men and children -
can contract TSS through a break in the skin.
"Tampon use is certainly one of the greater risks," Sejvar
said. He also said young women may be at the highest risk
because they are the most frequent tampon users.
CDC researchers have found a link between using high-
er-absorption tampons and increased risk of TSS. Sejvar
said researchers have yet to determine why TSS infection
relates to tampon usage.
Due to the vagueness of TSS, the exact recipe for
prevention is not known, but Tampax suggests women
See ZILO, Page 2

By Maria Sprow
Daily StafllReporter
The recent death of a Michigan
Department of Community Health
employee has sparked questions about
state laboratory safety regulations.
Linda Reese died Dec. 25 after han-
dling a sample of bacterial meningitis,
a potentially fatal communicable dis-
ease. The sample came from Michi-
gan State University sophomore
Tricia Zailo, who had contracted a

bacterial meningitis infection in an
ear and also suffered from toxic
shock syndrome. Zailo died Dec. 18.
Bacterial meningitis, although
sometimes deadly, is not highly com-
municable, said Linda Lantry,
Immunization Coordinator at the
state's center for Communicable Dis-
ease Control.
"There are lots of different kinds
of bacterial meningitis ... a lot of
people can carry it and never get ill,"
See MENINGITIS, Page 2


Plan would end election of
justices to state's high court

By Louie Meiziish
Daily Staff Reporter

After a state Supreme Court race that
set a record in total contributions and
exhibited bitter campaigning from both
parties, many prominent Michiganians
are calling for reform of the process.
The most prominent person so far to
call for reform is Michigan Supreme
Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver. In the
December issue of The Michigan
Supreme Court Report, Weaver out-
lined a plan for gubernatorial appoint-
ment - as opposed to direct election
- of justices. A revision of the selec-
tion process is necessary, she wrote,
because the current system of judicial

elections only serves "to cause confu-
sion and undermine public trust and
confidence in our judicial system."
Weaver, who last week was replaced
as Chief Justice, has coined her pro-
posal a "modified federal plan"
because of its similarity to the process
in which the president appoints federal
judges. Her plan would provide for the
governor to nominate one new justice
to the seven-member court every two
years. Appointees confirmed by the
state Senate would serve a 14-year
term, after which they could not serve
another term. Vacancies would be
filled in the same manner, also without
the possibility of reappointment.
Her plan, she wrote, is "designed to

strengthen the independence of the
Supreme Court by making it unneces-
sary for Justice candidates and sitting
Justices to raise funds for an election
or for sitting Justices to curry favor
with any authority holding the power
of reappointment."
But support among Lansing legisla-
tors is far from unanimous. Two mem-
bers of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, for example, do not
appear overly enthusiastic.
"I believe all in all that the narrowly
circumscribed process (Weaver's) makes
it easy for special interests to have a
powerful impact," said Sen. William
Van Regenmorter (R-Georgetown
See JUSTICES, Page 7

ELLIE WHiTE/Daily
Michigan men's basketball coach Brian Ellerbe talks to freshman guard
Avery Queen last night after the Wolverines' 70-64 win over Indiana. The
victory is Michigan's first in conference play. Inside: Full coverage. Page8

House offers Catholics an 'Oasis'

By Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporter

Clare Leidy's parents couldn't have been
happier when she moved into a fraternity house
to attend classes at Washtenaw Community
College.
The house, which was formerly occupied by
the University of Michigan's Sigma Epsilon Phi
chapter, now serves as the Oasis House, an all-
female Catholic residence for students at local
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program in its first year. Eight women from
Madonna University and non-religiously affili-
ated WCC, Eastern Michigan and the Universi-
ty of Michigan, currently live in the remodeled
fraternity house.
The Oasis House is "a place where they can
really learn about their faith," house director
Brooke Belisle said. It features community
prayer and community dinners on weeknights.
Residents were drawn to the house for a vari-
ety of reasons, from comfort to curiosity.

who were like myself" Heldt said.
The house is i haven of sorts for women who
spend their days on campuses where faith is
often not a priority. Most of the women decided
not to attend religious institutions for a variety
of reasons.
"Catholic schools are expensive, and they're
not really strong with certain majors," said
Anne Graulich, a sophomore at Eastern Michi-
gan.
Although enrollment at Christian universities
has increaser)in re'cent vearsOasis 1Houseresi-



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