LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 23, 2001- 3

_...-. _

State rep. speaks against affirmative action

North Campus
building cleared
after bomb threat
The Art and Architecture Building
was searched and deemed safe after
receiving a bomb threat Friday morn-
ing, the University's Department of
Public Safety reported. The building
was evacuated following a call from a
man who said there were ten bombs
located inside. Reports stated the
building was checked with a bomb-
sniffing dog.
Students and staff returned inside
once the building was cleared.
Computer stolen
from LSA Building
A man reported that his computer
was stolen from the LSA Building
Thursday afternoon, DPS reports
state.
He told DPS he noticed that the
computer was missing on Oct. 4
and that he e-mailed the building
staff about the computer's where-
abouts. Since he received no
responses he came to the conclusion
thatthe computer was indeed
stolen.
Suspects in stolen
wallet incident
* chased on street
Security employees from the Uni-
versity Hospitals were involved in a
foot chase with possible theft suspects
early Friday morning, DPS reports
state.
A person in the parking structure
reported that his wallet was missing
out of his vehicle and that the window
of another vehicle was broken out.
Hospital security pursued the suspects
on foot and one suspect was taken
into custody, reports stated.
All stolen property was recovered
in the areas surrounding the parking
structure.
Woman chokes
on pill in res hall
A woman in East Quad Residence
9 Hall choked on a pill Friday morning,
DPS reports state. Huron Valley
Ambulance was notified but the
woman was not transported to Univer-
sity Hospitals because the problem
was resolved before the ambulance
arrived.
Dispenser covers
stolen from East
# Quad bathrooms
A"DPS officer investigating a
report of graffiti Friday afternoon
discovered the covers for the hand
dryer and soap dispenser missing
from an East Quad bathroom, DPS
reports state.
DPS did not report having any sus-
pects in the incident.
M-Card thief
* uses card at
vending machine
A resident of Mary Markley Resi-
dence Hall left her room unlocked
when she went out Friday evening,
DPS reports state. Upon her return,
her M-Card was gone. The card was
used to purchase five drinks from a
vending machine.
DPS did not report any suspects in
the incident.

Fire set in
residence hall
A piece paper on a door of Mary
Markley was set on fire early Sunday
morning, DPS reports state.
DPS did not report having any sus-
pects or if there was any damage to
the building.
Minors arrested
for possession of
alcohol in Markley
Two people were cited with MIPs at
Mary Markley on Saturday morning,
DPS reports state. The students were
transported to the Ann Arbor Police
station.
- Compiled by Daily StaffReporter
Kristen Beaumont.

By Jordan Schrader
Daily Staff Reporter
State Rep. Leon Drolet announced on the
Diag yesterday that he plans to propose a
bill prohibiting students from receiving
Michigan Merit Awards if they attend a
university with an affirmative action admis-
sions policy.
"This bill would prohibit Merit scholar-
Sships from going to students who attend
racist universities;" he said to a small group
of students who assembled for what they
called the first rally against affirmative
action in University history.
Drolet (R-Lennox Twp.) went on to
explain that he considers any schools that
use race as a factor in admissions to be
racist, including the University of Michigan.
If passed, his new bill would prohibit
University students from receiving the
$2,500 Michigan Merit scholarships award-
ed to college-bound students who meet
state standards on the Michigan Education-
al Assessment Program test.

Drolet said he wants to withhold that
money from schools in order to pressure
them to change their admissions policies.
"I look at affirmative action as racial
profiling by University of Michigan admis-
sions," he said.
Studies show that minority students are
173 times more likely to get into the Uni-
versity than non-minorities, Drolet said.
"People should be judged on merit, not
on the color of their skin," he-added.
LSA freshman Scott Foley, a YAF mem-
ber who received a Michigan Merit Award,
supported Drolet's plan.
"I think that's a way to get voters behind
the anti-affirmative action cause," he said.
The protest, organizediby the campus
chapter of Young Americans for Freedom,
was planned as a response to the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals hearing on the two law-
suits challenging the University's race-con-
scious admissions policies, originally
scheduled for today but postponed until
Dec. 6.
YAF members said they.were pleased at

the postponement and optimistic about the
chances that affirmative action will be
defeated at that hearing.
"As I understand it, all three of the
judges (who were to hear the case) support-
ed affirmative action. The rest of the court
is more conservative," said LSA junior
James Justin Wilson, a YAF member.
"I think U of M will be defeated," he
said.
Wilson said that even though the YAF
rally was the first to oppose affirmative
action, the lack of previous protests is not a
sign that students are in favor of the admis-
sions policies.
"The silent majority of campus is with
us," Wilson said.
Rackham student Jessica Curtin, a mem-
ber of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative
Action and Integration and Fight for Equal-
ity By Any Means Necessary, attended the
rally and expressed her disapproval.
"These people are really exposing them-
selves as racists. They're for the resegrega-
tion of higher education," she said.

JOHN PRATT/Daily
Members of the campus chapter of Young Americans for
Freedom protest affirmative action at their rally yesterday.

Through the pane

Relatives of suicide victims form
an education, prevention group

By Maria Sprow
Daily Staff Reporter

Until his death last spring, Tammi Landry's
father was a divorced Indiana State Police
detective worried about money and living
alone.
Although he always appeared happy in front
of his daughter, Landry's father, Rick, was an
ideal candidate for depression. and suicide. He
shot himself on March 20.
Tammi Landry learned of her father's death
only three days after hearing that a friend's
brother had committed suicide in 1998. Bank-
rupt and divorced, Curtis Stucki, who had a his-
tory of depression and attempted suicide, died
after laying himself on the tracks before an
oncoming train.
Unable to find an Ann Arbor-based support
group for suicide survivors, Landry and her
friend, David Stucki, decided to start one in
an attempt to help people suffering from
depression and from the suicide of a friend or
relative. '
Landry said that without help, living after
someone has committed suicide is almost
impossible.
"It's absolutely devastating. I don't know if
you ever recover from it, but it takes a long time
to live in the world again," she said. "It's very
disturbing."
To help others cope with the grief they sus-
tained, Landry and Stucki founded the Ann
Arbor branch of the American Foundation for

Suicide Prevention, a national organization
which focuses on the education and prevention
of suicide and depression.
"We wanted to do something. We wanted to
get out there and have our message told," Stucki
said. "If there is one message that I want to get
out, it's that I want to eliminate the stigma of
suicide. There are a lot of people out there that
are depressed, and not a lot of people who want
to talk about it."
Together, Stucki and Landry are writing a
book based on their experiences and working
on ideas for fundraisers to support the AFSP,
which allocates resources for research purpos-
es.
University clinical pyschologist Cheryl
King has received two research grants from
the organization: a $49,500 grant for a
genetic study of aggressive teenagers who
show signs of depression and a $16,670
grant for a study of how suicidal teenagers
dealt with their depression after being hospi-
talized.
King said the organization will help to fil an
educational gap in Ann Arbor.
"We need more people focusing on suicide
prevention," she said. "There's plenty of room
for more efforts in this area."
Both Landry and Stucki expressed the
importance of educating people on suicide pre-
vention. Landry said that at the time, she didn't
know what she would have done or whether it
would have helped if she had realized then that
her father was depressed.

"I don't know that I could have done some-
thing for him, knowing the person that he was,"
she said. "But I certainly would have tried.
You're not really used to taking care of your
parents and telling them what to do. If I would
have offended him, it would have been worth
it."
Stucki said suicide and attempted suicide
rates are extremely high, though most people
don't realize it because few will talk about it.
Thirty thousand people in the United States
kill themselves each year. She said every
minute, somebody tries to commit suicide and
one in 18 attempted suicides are successful.
"I know when I go out there and speak and
talk to people ... every fifth or sixth person
that I talk to knows somebody who commit-
ted suicide," he said. "It is an illness, it
should be treated. It's treatable. It's pre-
ventable."
The branch is currently running out of the
pair's homes in Chelsea and Berkley but Stucki
and Landry are hoping to soon find a perma-
nent headquarters, possibly on the University's
campus.
"We're looking for a place to hang our hats,"
said Stucki. "We're just two people who have
both been affected by suicide and we want to
get out there and help as many people as we
can."
University Hospitals spokeswoman Kara
Gavin said there is a possibility of the chapter
working with the hospital's new depression
center and that a decision will be made soon.

DEBBIE MIZELDaily
Images of the Law Quad are reflected in a window yesterday.

Lichter among 4 honored by institute


By Jill Wagner
For the Daily
Four University faculty members have been elected
to the prestigious Institute of Medicine, an honor
bestowed upon only 60 people this year. They will join
23 other University faculty as life-long members of the
IOM, an associated organization of the National Acad-
emy of Sciences which provides advice and informa-
tion concerning science policy and health to the
government, professional doctors and the public.
Among the new honorees is Medical School Dean
Allen Lichter, an internationally knpwn researcher in
the field of breast cancer treatment and past president
of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The other newly elected members from the Univer-
sity are Stephen Weiss, George Kaplan and David
Williams.

Kaplan and Williams are recognized for their
research involving the social aspects of illness.
Kaplan, director of the Michigan Initiative on Inequali-
ties in Health and the Michigan Interdisciplinary Cen-
ter on Social Inequalities, Mind and Body, said that
being elected to IOM is "an indication that we're see-
ing a huge shift of understanding in what causes bad
health."
Kaplan said his research is focused on "trying to
show that many of the disparities of health in popula-
tions is what we might think of as non-medical."
Williams is a professor of sociology and a faculty
associate in the Center for Afro-American and African
Studies. His research involves the effects of race on
physical and mental health.
Kaplan said the large number of newly appointed
members from the University, which total 13 in the
past four years, indicates Michigan's preeminence in

many areas of health research.
"Election to IOM membership is a major profes-
sional honor for individuals and in addition, for the
individual's institutions,' said Gilbert Omenn, the Uni-
versity's executive vice president for medical affairs.
"This recognition matches well our big investments
in the life sciences and intent that faculty from all parts
of the University contribute to life science initiative,"
he said.
Weiss, who believes that his membership to the
IOM is due to his many scientific contributions, is the
E.Gifford and Love Barriett Upjohn Professor of Inter-
nal Medicine and Oncology in the University Medical
School.
Currently the IOM is working on research and pro-
jects involved in improving care for terminally ill
young children and the safety of the anthrax vaccine
for the U.S. military.

The University of Michigan
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For more information, please call:
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Delta College student
missing in E. Lansing


. EAST LANSING (AP) - Police
are searching for a student missing
along the Red Cedar River near
Michigan State University .
Eric James Blair, 18, a Delta Col-
lege student from Bay City, was
walking with other students along
the river early Saturday when
friends noticed he was missing.
The group looked for Blair for
about an hour, the Lansing State
Journal reported in a story yester-
day. Blair and his friends. had been
drinking, police said.
Police were investigating whether
Blair is a man witnesses reported

seeing in the river.
"We're hoping the two aren't relat-
ed," Michigan State Sgt. Jennifer
Brown told the State Journal. "It's
entirely possible what this white
male made it out of the river, but we
would like to know that for sure."
The water temperature was about
50 degrees on Saturday, police said.
Dive teams searched the area Sun-
day and police planned to take a
cadaver-sniffing dog to the river
yesterday.
Ingham County sheriffs Sgt. Ken
Freeman said indications were that
the man in the river was Blair.

THE CALENDAR

What's happening in Ann Arbor today





EVENTS
College of Pharmacy
Fair; Ask a pharmacist
about drug therapies
a cion un fr affle

Vandenberg Room, Michi-
gan League
"The Power of Women:
A New Force in Philan-
thropy;" Sponsored by
the Women's Studies

15th Annual SPEAK-OUT;
Sponsored by the Sexual
Assault Prevention and
Awareness Center, 7:00 -
10:04tp.m., Michigan
Union Ballroom


SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich. edu, or
www.umich.edu/-info
NorthwaIl 763-WAL K




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