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News desk: 76-DAILY
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ANN>

ARBOR

SECTION F


4ANISH

DPS provides safety for students

RAIJI

Its hard to
Arbor
I've spent time in a lot of cities and I
suppose that it would be easy, or at least
eier, to review them. It's hard to review
.ity who's character you help to shape,
in whatever small way. Though I appreci-
ate this place, I'm sure it'll be like so
many alums I've spoken with: I'm not
going to truly appreciate this place until
I'm gone, and neither will you.
But four years in any one place ought to
be enough to get a good feel of the place.
ff $ou leave this city without any strong
opinions about it (either loving it or hat-
ini it), than you've really wasted your
t e here. There's more to college than
sses, and there's more to Ann Artor
than the University.
The problem with living in a college
town is that it's so easy to get wrapped up
"I'm not going to truly
appreciate this place
until I'm gone"
in the college aspect and neglect the town
aspect. It's especially hard to experience
the town as a freshman - living in the
dorms without a car.
There are four ways to cope with this:
Walk around a lot and get familiar with
the campus portion of the town, make
friends with people who have cars, get
,nmate with the bus system, or simply
care about seeing the city. The campus
itself certainly offers more than enough
exploratory options, but I like to think
that there's so much more to Ann Arbor
than book stores, coffee shops and bars.
Everyone says that Ann A ;or is
unique as far as college campuses go,
because the, city and the campus are so
intimately linked. There isn't a gate to
w lk through that signals your arrival at
University, there isn't a tangible dif-.
ference between the business section and
the academic section of the city.
That's partly a blessing: There's nothing
better than being able to stop off in the
ten minutes between classes t get a quick
bite to eat. It's convenient o find any-
tling you need to buy,,,fom music to
clothes to books to vibrators (yes, vibra-
tors).
On the other hand, it's a shame that
there isn't a distinct non-University Ann
or, because it fosers a sense of com-
p cency. Exploring'a tiree-block section
of State Street doesn't mean you've expe-
rienced Ann Arbor, butit's surprisingly
easy to pass your time hee "without real-
izing what you've missed.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing
necessarily wrong with not knowing what
Kerrytown is, never seeing a show at the
Ark or a cheap flick at the Village The-
,or never tasted scrambled eggs in
xter. You can easily go through an
entire career in this city without actually
seeing the city and not really miss much. I
have no granid delusions; on a compara-
tive scale, Ann Arbor isn't particularly
ex(citing. But it's the city that you're going
to live in for a substantial chunk of your
life - make sure you don't let it all pass
you by.
When I was a freshman, I dealt mostly
with the transportation issues by getting

1the bus. I'll happily admit that most of
1excursions back then were pretty fruit-
less and frustrating. There's nothing worse
than realizing that your last quarters were
spent on the bus ride that was supposed to
get you back home but instead dropped
you off in an uncomfortably unfamiliar
place.
But it was worth it for me and if you
choose to take my advice, I would hope
t7t it's worth it for you too. Make a deal
hyourself; open the phone book and
find five places in Ann Arbor that are not
within five blocks of campus. Make a list
of those five and go see them before the
semester is over.
Maybe you'll hate me for the sugges-
tion, maybe you'll think I'm genius. How-

By Eizabeth Kassab
Daily StaffReporter
It is a dakand-stormy night
After hou rs of wainderng in the Harlan
Hatcher Graduate Library stacks; you find
you have to trek all the way back to your
residence hall in the dark - and complete-
ly alone.
Not an appealing scenario? There are
ways to avoid it.
Department of Public Safety spokes-
woman Diane Brown said students should
try to avoid being in situations where they
are all alone on ca1ipus at night. She.
advised using the buddy. system, but if that*
is not an option, she stressed students
should look alert and be aware of their sur-
roundings. Brown also said students should
trust their instincts. If a student senses
something is amiss, he or she should get
out of the situation.
Brown pointed out the numerous emer-
gency phones around campus. These

phones autoImatically connect with DPS,
and evep if the caller .cannot speak for
some reason, officers will be;dispatched to
the scene, she said.
DPS officers are fully certified, Brown
said. "Our officers are as well trained as the
Ann Arbor police force, if not more so,"
she said.
"Campus 'seems toLbepretty safe at night
but stuff still happens," said Safewalk
co-coordinator Stacy Dempsey, a Business
senior.
Safewalk is a student-run service offered
at no charge. Students can either call Safe-
/ak or come to its offices in the Harold
Shapiro Undergraduate Library and two
volunteers, at least one of them female, will
accompany the'student to his or her desti-
nation.
"It's better to be safe than sorry,"
Dempsey said.
Other student-run services, such as the
Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness
Center seek to educate students about sexu-

al assault and harassment. SAPAC offers a
24-hour crisis line.
There are measures students can take to
ensure the safety of their property as well.
"The highest instance of crime by far on
campus is larceny," Brown said. She said
students who leave their belongings unat-
tended for only a short period of time or
think they can watch their belongings from
across a room may return to find them
missing.
Brown said students should lock the
doors of their residence hall rooms, both
when they sleep and when they leave the
room.
Brown said last month that crime tends
to rise as the school year begins to wane as
stress levels go up.
DPS issues crime alerts when there is a
crime against humans and there is a
description of the suspect. Two crime alerts
were issued during the last academic
school year, one for a sexual assault and
one for an armed robbery, both in April.


MO' FUN IN MOTOWN

A plethora
of activities
for students
By Kristen Fidh
Daily Staff Reporter
Take a look under the layer of dust
and past the barred-in party stores and
you will find that the city of Detroit
has a history of tradition and a pres-
ence of innovation that is largely par-
allel to the university you are about to
enter.
Some of you may come from larger
cities such as New York, Los Angeles
or Boston. Some may venture to Ann
Arbor from farming towns where the
city has a single stop light and more
cows than it does people. Some of you
will come from countries that the rest
of us only located in 10th grade geog-
raphy. Yet most of you will come from
some -kind of Suburbia, where a
decent-sized city is nearby.
With no intent of demeaning the
cute little city that is Ann Arbor, our
college town, ladies and gentlemen, is
just a suburb of one of the greatest
cities America has known. Detroit did-
n't just bring forth Eminem and Kid
Rock.
It was the young country's leader of
French fur trade in the 1800's. Detroit
was one of America's leaders in art
collection throughout the 1930's and
1940's. The city supported the United
States military in airplane machinery
during WWII. Detroit, the Motor City,
was the birthplace of Henry Ford and
the city in which he invented the auto-
mobile.
The city launched the sound of
Motown with the genius of Berry
Gordy Jr. in the 1960's and continues
to lead the music industry with the
irth of techno in~recent Years. Detroit
is the home of numerous professional
sports teams as well as the nation's
largest metropolitan area.

AAYRO 3UMUat
Many well-traveled ahas of campus are brightly-ilt such as outside
Angell Hall and the Diag.
Co-mmuter rail
lacks funds to
leave ground
By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
A proposed commuter rail system between Detroit and
Lansing, with stops in Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Howell and
possibly Detroit Metropolitan Airport is seeking funding
from the state and local governments.
A study of the project is required before it proceeds,
Project Director Debbie Alexander said.
The group has so far secured a $7.5 million grant from
the federal government, which can cover only 80 percent
of the cost of the study. The other 20 percent, said
Alexander, would have to be funded by the state and local
governments.
That leaves approximately $20,000 per city to put
forth. Among them, only the city of Dearborn has appro-
priated funds for the study.
The Dearborn City Council appropriated $19,500 at
last Tuesday's meeting, said Mary Laundroche, a spokes-
woman for Mayor Michael Guido.
"The mayor is a big advocate of rail transportation,"
Laundroche said, also pointing out that Guido serves on
Amtrak's Mayor's Advisory Council.
The city of Howell is also expected to consider appro-
priating such funds at its city council meeting tonight,.
said the city's community and economic development
administrator, Carolyn Bennett.
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, who has not yet
received the proposal from Lansing's Capital Area Transit
Authority, said, "We will sit down at council and serious-
ly consider it." Greg Bowens, press secretary for Detroit
Mayor Dennis Archer, said Archer also had not yet
received CATA's proposal, but -added that his boss "has
been pushing pretty hard for a regional transportation
authority."
Accordingto CATA's proposal, trains would make five
daily round trips along the Detroit-Lansing route. Vowing
to use "as much existing infrastructure as possible,"
Alexander said initial start-up costs, including infrastruc-
ture improvements and the purchase of trains, would total
approximately $80 million.
Hopefully, she said,. 80percent of those costs could be
covered by the federal governmeit under the Transporta-
tion Efficiencies Act,-.a bill originally sponsored by
Transportation SecretaryNorman Mineta when he was a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Yearly operating costs would be about $9 million for
the rail service, $6.4 million of which would be covered
by passenger fares._,
Under the proposed fare of 12 cents per passenger
mile, the average trip to Detroit from Ann Arbor would
cost $3.84, while a trip to Lansing would average $7.20.
See RAIL, Page 2F

The mark of any big city, the unique skyline formed by the Renaissance Center, is part
of Detroit's character and of its charm.

What does all that mean to a bunch
of college kids? The city has a myriad
of afternoon hangouts and evening
entertainment. Obey the speed limits,
park in a monitored, well-lit garage
and have lots of fun.
FOR THE ARTSY TYPES
Ever wonder why there are so many
run-down mansions lining West Grand,
Boulevard? How is it that Detroit -
of all the country's cities -- has one of
the most respected art museums that
will undergo expansion in the upcom-
ing months?
In the 1930's Detroit was one of the
richest cities in the nation. Citizens
hired great architects to design great
houses and commissioned great col-
lectors to bring some of the world's
most coveted art to the city's museum.
Today, the abandoned mansions still
show a glimmer of the beauty that
once was, as the wealthy citizens took
their homes down the road to Grosse

Pointe.
But luckily, the dazzling art collect-
ed over the years still resides in the
Detroit Institute of Arts. Works by
Vincent Van Gogh and Monet hang in
the gallery, Native American art is
exhibited in its own wing, the William
Hearst collection of armor lies in a
great foyer and Diego Rivera's muralr
of Detroit's industry is a great room
all of its own. Traveling exhibits often
visit the institute for weeks at a time
for specialized viewing.
And what is it with all these dots
randomly placed around the city? Get
out a map and head to Heidelberg
Street. Don't just stare from your car,
get out and see the polka dot house,
the shoe-filled oven, the painted
school bus, the doll tree and the entire
project of which Tyree Guyton spent
years turning "junk" into the city's
most beautiful and controversial work
of art.
See DETROfT, Page 2F

ti MIPs help deter underage drinking

By Louie Melzish
Daily Staff Reporter
As new students arrive on the campus of
the University they are often caught unaware
of the rules when it comes to possession of
alcohol.
Under Michigan law, minors - those
under 21 - may be in possession of alcohol
for the purpose of personal consumption.
Penalties for such infractions are, for the
first offense, up to $100 in fines, substance
abuse screening, and community service. For
the second offense, fines can reach as high as
$200 as well as a 90 day suspension of one's
driver's license.
DPS and Ann Arbor police officers can
ticket students if they are caught in possession
of alcoholic substances. This often happens in
residence halls, where students sometimes
maintain personal stashes of alcohol.
Department of Public Safety Lt. Joe Pier-

rants are issued when necessary. In addition,
if, for example, a room door is open and offi-
cers can see a violation taking place they can
issue citations.
"If the police officer can see something in
plain view they can seize that," Piersante said.
But DPS is not always so heavy-handed
when it comes to minor in possession viola-
tion penalties.
SNRE junior Matt Haack was caught intox-
icated in his dorm after he and a friend alerted
DPS when another friend required hospital-
ization due to his drinking.
"We had to meet at different times with the
hall director and give our side of the story and
then he would give us penalties."
Haack was then required to use CD-ROM
software to learn about the dangers of binge
drinking and make posters for his hallway that
warned of the dangers of binge drinking.
"It hasn't stopped me from binge drinking
but the program made sense,"he said.

Dorm rooms are treated much like houses,"
he said. "If police want to search a room with-
out the consent of a student they have to
obtain a search warrant from a judge or a
magistrate and they can only obtain a search
warrant if they have probable cause to believe
that they will find something illegal and they
have to specify in the search warrant what
they're seeking - and the search is limited in
scope to that which is outlined in the search
warrant.
Steinberg added that police are within the
law when ticketing students for alcohol pos-
session "if they have a right to be someplace,
and they see if there's illegal substances in
plain view and they have an argument that
they discovered the evidence through legal
means."
Students intoxicated in hallways are also
fair game for police officers who often require
the students to take breathalyzer tests.
Steinberg advised students to call Universi-
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