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September 27, 2001 - Image 1

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2001-09-27

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One hundred ten years ofeditorialfreedom

tti

NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 7640557
wwwmichigandally.com

Thursday
September 27, 2001

02001 Daily!

Pfizer paying $27

million fc

By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
Pfizer Inc. and the University reached a
55-acre, $27 million agreement yesterday
that will allow expansion of the pharmaceu-
tical giant's laboratories on North Campus
and increase the amount of land Pfizer owns
in Ann Arbor by 60 percent.
Money from the sale will benefit the Uni-
versity's Life Sciences Initiative. It will be
divided between the Undergraduate Science
Center, the Biomedical Engineering Depart-
ment and the Department of Molecular, Cel-
lular and Developmental Biology.
Gilbert Omenn, the University's executive
vice president for medical affairs, said he
expects the deal to bring biotech corpora-

tions into the area as the LSI program
expands.
"It shows our commitment to building the
Life Sciences Initiative and it shows that the
mayor and the City Council are working
together to keep Pfizer here and growing,"
Omenn said. "There will be good jobs asso-
ciated with this decision."
The deal must still be approved by Uni-
versity Board of Regents, which scheduled a
special meeting tomorrow morning, as well
as by the city and the state. Because the land
will now be privately owned, it will be sub-
ject to property taxes, estimated at $500,000
per year.
Acquisition of the land has been a priority
of Pfizer since January, when talks between
the company and the University began.

"Ann Arbor is one of the premiere drug
discovery facilities for Pfizer," said Pfizer
spokeswoman Betsy Raymond. "But without
this land, Ann Arbor could not be consid-
ered for future development."
The deal connects Pfizer's existing 90-
acre site in Ann Arbor with 55 acres of
unused land bordered by Plymouth, Green
and Baxter roads. Raymond said her compa-
ny did not have any immediate plans for
construction on the new land because plan-
ning had not started before the deal was
specified.
"In the meantime, this deal makes it pos-
sible to build on the existing site, which we
could not have done before because of den-
sity restrictions," Raymond said.
Raymond said Pfizer wants the state to

grant the company tax abatement privileges.
"The case we have presented to the Uni-
versity is compelling," she said. "This is a
short-term investment that should produce
long term year-in year-out benefits."
Raymond said Pfizer expects the revenues
that will ultimately be generated for the Uni-
versity and for Ann Arbor based on long-
term projections "are in the millions."
Pfizer has six major drug testing laborato-
ries worldwide, including its Ann Arbor
location. The company is best known for as
the maker of Viagra, a drug for impotence.
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson
said she expects the deal to be finalized
sometime early next year.
University Chief Financial Officer Robert
Kasdin said Pfizer's commitment to Ann

r land.
Arbor will benefit the city and the corpora-
tion, as well as the University.
"Pfizer's decision to remain in Ann Arbor
... is necessary to the powerful momentum
behind the U of M, moving it to the fore-
front of global research in this field," he
said.
Although talks between Pfizer and the
University have lasted more than nine
months, Kasdin said both sides were eager
to work together on this deal.
"All or our discussions have been con-
structive and collegial," he said.
The University's relationship with Pfizer
parent corporation Parke-Davis Inc. began in
1895, when the company's research division
began a chemistry fellowship for medical
research.

Teach-ins
return as
form of
Sactivism
Daily Staff Reporter
They first began in 1965, when
3,000 University students spent the
night in Mason Hall, going from class-
room to classroom, lecture to lecture.
The fears of the unknown kept them
awake as they listened to professors
preach about the state of the world
beycnd Ann Arbor.
Originally started by a group of Uni-
versity students and faculty members in
response to the draft for the Vietnam
War, the teach-in has once again sprung
up on campuses across the country as a
form of activism in a time of national
crisis.
While in spirit they have the same
aim, today's teach-ins lack the fervor of
those of the 1960s.
"It was real exciting to stay up all
night and listen to people talk about
Vietnam," said SNRE Prof. Bunyan
Bryant, who was a University student in
1965.
"A whole different picture emerged
from what we were getting from the
mainstream media and the govern-
ment."
America's first teach-in was started
after a group of anti-war University pro-
fessors decided it was their duty to edu-
cate students. The faculty members
wanted to hold a one-day strike when
they would cancel planned lectures and
instead invite students to discuss Viet-
nam.
Forty-nine faculty members had
agreed to cancel classes before they
began worrying about the possible con-
sequences. Tactics were rethought, and
in the end, professors reached an agree-
ment with the University to hold lec-
tures throughout the night of March 24,
1965.
Bryant said that students were also
active in organizing the teach-in.
"One of the things that drove the
teach-in back in the late 1960s was that
students of interest were involved, in the
sense that there were students who had
been drafted and sent to the war in Viet-
nam," he explained. "So you wake up
one day and say, where is Bob and
where is Joe?"
Two hundred professors participated
in the nightlong teach-in, which was
interrupted twice due to bomb threats.
By 8 a.m., 600 students remained.
See TEACH-INS, Page 7A

Kabul erupts
n protests
FBI arrests 10 more,

bicludieg 5from
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - President Pe
Shouting "Long Live Osama!" and was "no dif
"Death to America!" thousands of Pakistan an
protesters burned an effigy of Presi- combating t
dent Bush yesterday, then stormed the In northe
abandoned U.S. Embassy in the opposition
Afghan capital, torching old cars and a of the hard
guardhouse and tearing down the U.S. heavy new f
seal above the entrance. Radio K
In the United States, five Detroit- government
area residents were among 10 Middle forces push
Eastern men arrested yesterday on in the Ra
charges of fraudulently obtaining province in
licenses to haul hazardous cargo. The officia
Four other Michigan residents also were killed,
were accused of receiving Pennsylva- number, an
nia hazardous-materials hauling ed. An opp
licenses without qualifying for them, Rashid Dos
and were being sought, federal author- The Ta
ities said. Mohamme
The arrests followed FBI warnings Afghans w
that chemical or biological weapons Kabul, to c
might be used in the next strike by ter- is attacked,l
rorists. But John Bell Jr., special agent a statemen
in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, tions in neig
said in a statement that there was "no The den
justification" for linking any of the Embassy,c
men arrested in Michigan to the Sept. Kabul Univ
11 terrorist attacks in New York and AmericanI
Washington. Sept. 11 to
Also yesterday, U.S. end Pakistani States suspe
officials ended two days of talks in the attacksa
"complete unanimity" on ways to com- - who hay
bat terrorism and Osama bin Laden's five years -
terrorist network in Afghanistan, a punishment
Pakistani general said. No details of The old
the agreement were announced, but guarded b}
Gen. Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for

Detroit
ervez Musharraf, said there
ference of opinion between
d America on the issue of
errorism."
ern Afghanistan, where an
alliance is fighting troops
-line Taliban government,
fighting was reported.
abul quoted unidentified
t officials as saying Taliban
.ed back opposition troops
azi district of Badghis
northwestern Afghanistan.
ils said opposition fighters
without providing an exact
d weapons were confiscat-
osition commander, Abdul
tum, confirmed the report.
liban's leader, Mullah
ed Omar, appealed to
!ho have fled the capital,
ome home. Even if the city
they will be safe, he said in
t faxed to news organiza-
ghboring Pakistan.
monstration at the U.S.
organized by students at
versity, was the largest anti-
protest in Kabul since the
error attacks. The United
ects bin Laden orchestrated
and has ordered the Taliban
ye been sheltering him for
- to turn him over or face
it.
embassy compound was
y a few Afghan security
See TERROR, Page 7A

AP PHOTO
Chanting demonstrators burn an American flag and an effigy of President Bush yesterday in Kabul, Afghanistan, outside
the abandoned U.S. embassy there in this Image from Afghan television.

Fired employee plans discrimination suit

By Kristen Beaumont
and Jacquelyn Nixon
Daily Staff Reporters
Following her acquittal Monday on misde-
meanor embezzlement charges, Shannon Martin,
former Native American coordinator for the Uni-
versity's Office of Multi-Ethnic Affairs, will file a
civil suit against the University for discrimination
and wrongful termination.
Martin, who served as the liaison between the
University and the Students of Color Coalition dur-
ing Michigamua's occupation of the Michigan

Union tower in Feb. 2000, was charged in Sept.
2000 for alleged misappropriations of hundreds of
dollars on a University purchase card.
Martin said she will be filing a civil suit in the
next few weeks. "It's retaliation for my work during
that occupation. I wasn't given a chance. ... Every-
thing was ugly about it," she said.
Martin's attorney George Washington, of Detroit
firm Scheff & Washington, said Martin was given
two options by her supervisor and administrators
when they called her in a meeting last September.
"She was told to either resign or she would be
-discharged and face prosecution," Washington said.

He said Martin was never questioned about the
charges prior to her discharge. She was suspended
without pay and benefits and was fired by a certi-
fied letter in January. The letter also said she would
not be recommended for hire.
Washington said he suspects there might have
been racist motivations behind her discharge.
"They assumed a person of color stole and they
didn't even give her the courtesy of asking her
about the charges she made," Washington said.
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said she
could not comment on Martin's acquittal.
"The employment decision made by the Univer-

sity was unrelated to that process," Peterson said.
Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Karen
Field said.Martin was brought to trial on four
charges made on the card that were believed to be
non-University related. "Two sets of car stereo
speakers were purchased, once in December '99
and again in May 2000," Field said. A rental car
and dinner were also put on the card, she added.
Washington said Martin put the rental car on the
charge card to return tribal artifacts that had been
in the Union during the occupation.
University Vice President for Student Affairs E.
See SUIT, Page 7A

'U'

gets millions_

Internet sales could
be taxed in Michigan

from credit cards

By Shannon Pettypiece
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA sophomore Alice-Kate Raisch
doesn't have a credit card and doesn't
plan on getting one until she gets her
first real job after graduation. She feels
the responsibility of having one is just
too great.

But according to the National Foun-
dation for Credit Counseling, Raisch is
in the minority of students. According
to the NFCC, 76 percent of undergrad-
uate students had a credit card in 2000
and the average debt for those students
was $2,743.
Despite these statistics, the Universi-
ty has been reaping profits of close to

By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
One of the luxuries of shopping on
the Internet may soon be a thing of
the past if state lawmakers have their
way.
Yesterday, the Michigan House of
Representatives voted to make it
harder for Internet mail-order pur-

ate, Michigan would join a consor-
tium of states that have banded
together to collect their particular tax
on sales made on the Web.
Under the present system, the only
mechanism the Department of Trea-
sury uses to collect sales tax from the
internet is by asking taxpayers to
record their total purchases on their
annual income tax returns and volun-
tar.. lm nnu, te h narrnnft en}Ptaxv

I

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