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October 19, 2001 - Image 1

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2001-10-19

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One hundred eleven years of editorialfreedom

74 v till

NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
www~mkchigandally.com

Friday
October 19, 2001

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By Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporter
FLINT - Former Business School
Dean B. Joseph White is expected to
be named interim president of the Uni-
versity this morning at a special for-
mal meeting of the Board of Regents.
University Regent David Brandon
said White has been approached about
serving as interim president and has
agreed to take the
position if it is
offered to him.
White stepped
down from the top
of the Business
School this sum-
mer after serving
two five-year
terms.
"The reality is a
decision can be White
made and won't be made until there is
a public meeting," Brandon said after
yesterday's monthly regents meeting.
Today's meeting at 9:30 a.m. is the
first special public meeting the regents
have held since University President
Lee Bollinger announced earlier this
month he will become Columbia Uni-
versity's chief executive in July.
By state law, the regents can only
appoint someone to an interim or per-
manent position at a public meeting.
"Tomorrow will be an important
day if in fact an interim is named,"
Brandon said yesterday. Once an
interim president is announced, the
regents can focus their attention on
the search for a permanent successor
for Bollinger.
Brandon said the date of Bollinger's
resignation has not been set, and the
decision may ultimately be determined

Inside: The University's new
interim president has a history of
leadership on campus. Page 10.
by Bollinger and the interim president.
Bollinger is expected to leave no later
than December.
"I think that is something that
shouldn't be discussed and decided by
those two individuals," Brandon said.
"I think a logical time would be the
end of the semester," he said, empha-
sizing that no date had been officially
determined.
The regents met with some of the
University's deans yesterday morning,
one of several private meetings they
have held since Bollinger announced
his impending departure. Brandon said
the discussion yesterday focused on
the structure of the search for
Bollinger's successor.
The regents made no public
announcement about White's expected
appointment during their monthly
meeting yesterday afternoon at the
University's Flint campus.
Michigan Student Assembly Presi-
dent Matt Nolan and Michael Chap-
man, president of the student
government council in Flint, both
asked the regents to consider making
students an integral part of the search
process. Chapman requested that the
regents include faculty and staff on the
Flint and Dearborn campuses.
Other than those two references to
the presidential search, the regents
went about business as usual.
Chief Investment Officer Erik Lund-
berg made a presentation on the Uni-
versity's investment status after the last
fiscal year, which ended July 30.
See REGENTS, Page 7

DAVID KATZ/Daily
The University Board of Regents met yesterday with outgoing University President Lee Bollinger in Flint. The regents are expected to announce today that former
Business School Dean B. Joseph White will serve as interim president until the position is permanently filled.

2 more anthrax cases
surface i N.J., at CBS 4

WASHINGTON (AP) - A postal worker in New Jersey
and a CBS employee who opens Dan Rather's mail were
added yesterday to the troubling roster of Americans
infected with anthrax, bringing the number of confirmed
cases nationwide to six since Oct. 4. As many as three
more people reported telltale skin lesions that may signify
additional cases.
Federal investigators pressed for evidence at research
labs and universities that may have access to anthrax and
questioned pharmacies to see if anyone tried to buy large
amounts of antibiotics before the nationwide anthrax scare.
Authorities offered $1 million for information leading to
the arrest of those who sent the deadly spores.
"Once again we call upon the public to assist us in this
fight against terrorism," FBI Director Robert Mueller said
in a joint announcement with Postmaster General Jack Pot-
ter.
One scenario being explored is whether someone living
in the United States might have worked with a foreign
country or an overseas domestic terrorist group with
enhanced biochemical capabilities, officials said.
"We think it may be ill-advised to think about the situa-
tion in terms of an either/or matrix," Attorney General
John Ashcroft said. He also raised the possibility that the

anthrax attacks could be the work of more than one home-
grown terrorist.
"It might well be that we have opportunists in the United
States or terrorists in the United States who are acting in
ways that are unrelated," said Ashcroft.
With two of the anthrax letters postmarked in Trenton,
N.J., investigators fanned out across the state looking for
evidence, including whether anyone sought large doses of
antibiotics that protect against anthrax infection before the
current cases occurred. They also checked sites where the
sophisticated equipment or anthrax expertise might be
found.
Authorities 'questioned at least one pharmacist in Tren-
ton about whether anyone bought 60 to 120 tablets of the
antibiotic Cipro, used for treating anthrax, before Sept. 18
- the postmark date of an anthrax-laced letter sent to
NBC anchor Tom Brokaw from the same city.
"Anyone trying to buy that many would stick out like a
sore thumb," said pharmacist John Berkenkopf, who told
investigators no customers had tried to buy such a quantity
of pills.
Cipro is usually prescribed for a week to 14 days, which
is about 10 or 20 pills, for common infections. The regi-
See RESEARCH, Page 7

Attacks
kill five
Afghan
civilians
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -
American jets bombarded the center of
the Afghan capital yesterday, and resi-
dents said a strike that hit homes killed
at least five civilians - including a
16-year-old girl and four in one family
who lived near a Taliban tank unit.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban
headquarters of Kandahar came under
attack dozens of times, residents said.
And planes struck a small town out-
side the southern city where the Tal-
iban's supreme leader, Mullah
Mohammed Omar, had preached two
days before.
With the air campaign in its 12th
day came the first report that the
bombing had killed a prominent figure
in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida net-
work. A London-based Islamic group
said an Egyptian who was a veteran al-
Qaida fighter died in a U.S. strike on
Sunday.
Alongside missiles and bombs, U.S.
forces have been bombarding
Afghanistan with radio broadcasts and
leaflets urging surrender. Defense
Minister Donald H. Rumsfeld said at
the Pentagon that those operations had
borne some fruit, with some Taliban
defecting to the opposition.
Strikes on the capital appeared tar-
geted against a Taliban tank unit and
other military installations near the
city center yesterday. However, one
bomb devastated two homes in the
Quilazaman Khan neighborhood,
killing the four family members,
according to neighbors.
A 16-year-old girl was also killed
when another bomb exploded in the
Microryan housing complex about a
half mile away, residents said. Late

AP PHOTO
An FBI agent walks while wearing his biohazard gear at the American Media Inc.
building in Boca Raton, Fla., yesterday.

FBI inundated with false powder reports

ByJacquelyn Nixon
Daily StaffReporter

Innumerable reports received by the
Detroit division of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, none of which have led to posi-
tive identification of anthrax, have spread law
enforcement capabilities thin in the past two
weeks.
Although the public is more aware than
ever of the threat of biological weapons, FBI
special agent Dawn Clenney said Americans
need to use more discretion and common
sense before filing a report of anthrax with
authorities.
"It's a fear of the unknown-and people have
a lot of questions," Clenney said. "It is a
waste of good time, and you're diverting law

cials have received several reports from air-
lines of substances looking similar to
anthrax, but all investigations have tested
negative for the bacteria.
Airport spokeswoman Barbara Hogan said
an apprehensive atmosphere is fostering the
multitude of reports.
"I think it's the sign of our times. What we
would have seen as a month ago as spilled
sweet and low is making folks nervous,"
Hogan said.
David Halteman, assistant director of
Washtenaw County Emergency Management,
said his office has handled over 30 anthrax
reports in the last two weeks, all which have
been identified as other substances.
Emergency Management responded to a
call earlier this week at Eastern Michigan

that someone had been beating erasers on a
chalkboard.
Similar reports have been filed within the
University of Michigan community. The
Department of Public Safety responded to a
call this week at Wolverine Tower, where
white powder had been spotted on the floor
of the elevator, DPS spokeswoman Diane
Brown said.
The powder was determined to be dis-
turbed dust from white drywall.
A Theta Chi fraternity member reported a
suspicious package with a powder residue
last Friday to the Ann Arbor Fire Depart-
ment, which was also determined to be a
false alarm.
Halteman said the public has become
extremely wary of all packages. An undeci-

delivery from its supplier.
"If it's all-around suspicious, just send it
back to the sender," Halteman said. "Try and
identify the source and call them ... verify if
someone sent it."
A suspicious bag was left on someone's
porch earlier this week which was found to
be Halloween candy, Halteman said.
He also said some individuals have taken
advantage of the anthrax scare for their
amusement. They have received several
reports of "pranksters" who have thrown
powder on mailboxes.
Despite the number of false anthrax
reports, it is caution that is keeping people
safe, Halteman said.
"The one person who doesn't overreact
may be the one person who gets exposed," he

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