LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 19, 2001- 3A
Commencement to feature novelist Baxter
Law School lunch,
language program
begins today
Law School students, faculty and
staff will have the opportunity to prac-
tice their foreign language skills and
learn more about other cultures during
the Language Lunch programs, which
will be held today through Wednesday.
The Center for International and
Comparative Law and the Internation-
al Law Society will be providing free
pizza and soda to residents and non-
residents of the Lawyers Club.
Participants are not only encour-
aged to hone their communication
skills, but also to share their interest in
foreign countries.
Today's Language Lunch will fea-
ture Spanish, Japanese and Korean
languages. Tomorrow, participants
will have the opportunity to practice
speaking French, Russian and Chi-
nese. Wednesday will be German,
Hebrew and Hindi/Urdu day.
People interested in including anoth-
er language in the Language Lunch
series may contact the Center for hter-
national and Comparative Law.
All Language Lunches will be held
from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in the
Lawyers Club Recreation Room.
Second' part of
writing workshop
series begins
The second in a two-part writing
series that aims to enhance partici-
pants' writing style and technique will
take place today.
The event is designed to help par-
ticipants improve their writing styles
and develop techniques that will
strengthen their communication skills.
While the first part of the writing
series focused on larger elements of
writing, the second part will focus on
smaller components such as sentence
structure and individual word choice.
Participants will be able to practice
the skills they are learning through
several different types of writing exer-
cises. In addition, there will be tips on
revising and editing and how to iden-
tify ineffective and forceful writing.
The workshop is open to the public,
but space is limited to 30 participants.
The event will take place from 4 to
5:30 p.m. in the Henderson Room of
the Michigan League.
Scholl to perform
historical pieces
Singer Andreas Scholl willperfori
"A Musical Banquet" tomorrow at the
Mendelssohn Theatre beginning at 8
p.m.
Scholl's performance will include a
program filled with songs from the
peak of the Renaissance period and
traditional Spanish and French songs.
The concert will include music
from the songbook of John Dowland,
often referred to as one of England's
greatest composers.
The program hopes to convey the
emotion of longing for love and death
with love in unobtainable and the rich
expressions of nature.
The University Musical Society
sponsors the concert. Tickets range
from $20 to $35.
Sultan's exhibit
to end this week
This week will be the last chance to
see Donald Sultan's Smoke Ring
exhibit at the Museum of Art.
The exhibit contains large-scale Iris
prints, smaller photographs and can-
vases featuring tar paintings and spi-
raling curls of smoke. The paintings
are'meant to represent the graphic ele-
ments of black and white, as well as to
create a certain state of mind for the
viewer.
Sultan is a New York artist who has
had a long-time interest in still-life
art. He strives to give attention to the
beauty found in everyday life and
commonplace details that are encoun-
tered on a daily basis.
The works will be accompanied
by a gallery guide where each pho-
tograph and painting of Sultan's will
be paired with an emotional and
provocative piece of writing by Max
Blagg.
The exhibition will run through
Nov 25 at the Museum of Art.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Shannon Pettypiece.
By KyleneoKang
Daily Staff Reporter
Novelist and University English Prof. Charles
Baxter, who was approved last week as this year's
winter commencement speaker, says he already
knows what kind of message he wants to give
graduating seniors during the
Dec. 16 ceremony at Crisler
Arena.
"Particularly after Septem- :
ber 11, it's important to be
realistic about things. That's
the gist of the message I want
to send to the students," Bax-
ter said.
Baxter, who joined the Uni-
versity faculty in 1989, is an
adjurgct professor and former Baxter
director of the University's graduate program in
creative writing. He is also the author of several
novels and collections of short stories.
His works have been featured in publications
including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker
This used to be her pla
and Harper's Bazaar. Baxter's most recent novel,
"The Feast of Love," was a finalist for the National
Book Award last year.
"We're really delighted to have someone like
Professor Baxter to address the graduating class. I
think they will be very pleased with what he has to
say," said Gary Krenz, special counsel to the presi-
dent.
Also during the commencement ceremony will
be the presentation of honorary degrees to Dwight
Gourneau, president of NAMTech Inc., a manage-
ment and technical services consulting firm, and
Kapila Vatsyayan, founding director of the Indira
Gandhi National Center for the Arts and former
secretary of the Department of Arts and Culture in
the Ministry of Education in India.
After serving 27 years as a computer develop-
ment engineer and manager at IBM, Gouneau
retired from his position in 1992. Since then he has
made widespread contributions to the technological
and economic betterment of American Indian
tribes. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of
Chippewa of North Dakota, Gourneau has encour-
aged American Indian students to pursue education
yground U
'a,,
and careers in math, science, engineering and tech-
nology.
Goumeau is the founder of the National Ameri-
can Indian Science and Engineering Fair and has
developed math and science teacher enhancement
projects through the American Indian Science and
Engineering Society.
In addition, he has chaired the AISES Board of
Directors as well as the Board of Trustees of the
Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian. He has also served on the National Science
Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunity in
Science and Engineering. Gourneau will receive an
honorary doctor of laws degree.
Kapila Vatsyayan, a leading advocate of cultur-
al preservation and the humanities, will receive an
honorary doctor of fine arts degree. During her
tenure in the Ministry of Education in India, she
launched various institutions of higher education
in the humanities. Vatsyayan fronted a national
initiative for art history, cultural awareness and
the reprinting of rare books, which improved
worldwide accessibility of Indian literature and
history.
She has facilitated cultural exchange pro-
grams with more than 30 countries and has
received honors including the Rajiv Gandhi
National Award for Harmony and National
Integration.
Honorary degree recipients are selected from a
pool of nominations by-a committee of faculty, stu-
dents and alumni, said John Chamberlin, an hon-
orary degree committee member and professor of
political science and public policy. Nominees need
not have any affiliation, with the University,
although it is a factor considered by the selection
committee.
The nominees were approved last week by the
University Board of Regents.
Krenz, a member of the committee, said of the
recipients: "They both have demonstrated great
adherence 'to the University's standards, those
standards being commitment to excellence, acad-
emics and diversity Those are the kinds of peo-
ple we look for, people who have made a
significant impact in the. domain which they
choose to wotk and have also performed a great
public service."
community requests
energy-efficient facilities
By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
With 400 University offices under renovation and
construction this year, more than 200 environmentally-
sity President Lee Bollinger and the administration to
consider updating facilities to energy-efficient stan-
dards which comply with the Kyoto Protocol by the
year 2010.
The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 by the United
States and 84 other industrial nations in order to reduce
greenhouse gas admissions 7 percent below 1990 lev-
els. The United States is the only country that has not
yet ratified this treaty.
On Oct. 31, Michigan Faculty and Staff for Global
Warming Action sent their petition to Bollinger and the
University Board of Regents, requesting that the Uni-
versity join other colleges and universities in creating
their own form of the Kyoto Protocol.
The letter notes other colleges and Universities,
including Tufts University, Oberlin College and Rutgers
University, which have already enacted similar propos-
als, adding that "the University of Michigan should join
this group of environmental leaders."
The letter suggests renovations to all campus build-
ings to include the Environmental Protection Agency's
renewable-energy systems.
A similar proposal was made to Bollinger and the
regents last spring by Sustain U-M, a student group
dedicated to environmental issues.
Now, two weeks later, Catherine Badgely, director of
the Environmental Studies Program, said she has yet to
receive a response from Bollinger.
"What we request in this letter from the faculty and{
in the parallel letter from Sustain U-M would certainly
require some changes, but we think they could be done
in a creative way and in a way that would elevate the
University," Badgely said. .
"It would be a challenge, but it is within the reach of
the University to do this."
Badgely, who has been a faculty liaison between Sus-
tain U-M and the administration, said she would like to
see Bollinger make the University more energy effi-
cient as his final great achievement before leaving for
Columbia University in January.
Bollinger has on his mind, and especially since he is
only here until the end of the year, that he won't give
this much attention, and I don't know how much inno-
vation an interim president can make on this issue,"
Badgely said.
"But I know that (interim President-elect B. Joseph
White) has a strong interest in environmental issues. He
was on the provost advisory council for environmental
commitment. He has a personal interest in making the
University more environmentally sound."
The letter was forwarded to the office of Facilities
and Operations and has been taken under consideration
by its staff, spokeswoman Diane Brown said.
She said the biggest problem with the all of the pro-
posals made to the administration is that they fail to
give specific changes that should be made to reduce
admissions.
"The Kyoto Protocol is designed for countries, not
for individual institutions," she said. "That's the whole
problem."
Jason Smerdon, Sustain U-M founder, said he hopes :
this most recent letter sent to the administration :
receives adequate attention and a response from:
Bollinger.
Smerdon added that the' University is a national
leader in environmental policies he hopes that Bollinger -
will overlook the initial additional building costs of
these changes.
"We can't wait around until someone else has made a
this a foolproof plan. That is not the role of a leader and
the long term nature of this-change will make it too late
to make course corrections in the future that are needed Z
now," Smerdon said.
"The point is; that reducing our emissions is some-
thing that must be done," she added.
AP PHOTO
Constance Bogedin, right, and her daughter Erica stand in front of a table with
Madonna memorabilia, which sits on the lawn of the Rochester Hills home
where Madonna and her family lived in from the time she was 12-years-old until
she left for college. The home was purchased Saturday for $331,000.
Early prevention,
effects focus LIN11r"of
annual 'Smokeout'
By Stephanie Schonholz
Daily Staff Reporter
Students and faculty alike were
drawn to the Diag Friday due to the
presence of a giant cigarette who
strolled back and forth across the 'M'.
The National Cancer Society spon-
sored its annual Great American
Smokeout last week, which has
attempted since 1977 to get regular
smokers to quit for the day and possibly
for life.
The student group University Stu-
dents Against Cancer celebrated this
day Friday with a booth on the Diag,
handing out pamphlets and talking
about the effects of smoking.
The celebration on campus was held
a day after the national Great American
Smokeout because candidates for the
Michigan Student Assembly were using
the Diag to campaign on Thursday.
"Our main goal is to get as many stu-
dents, professors and Ann Arbor resi-
dents aware of the harmful effects of
smoking and maybe to go smoke-free
for the day," said USAC co-chair Tama-
ra Gipprich, an LSA senior.
With 4,800 adolescents aged 11 to 17
starting to smoke each day and almost
2,000 of these teen-agers becoming
regular smokers, various programs are
being implemented to stop the problem
before it starts, including having college,
students go to elementary schools and
provide hands-on lessons to children
about smoking.
"More things need to be done to pre-
vent young kids from starting to smoke;
commercials are one step, but parents
need to take the initiative and talk to
their kids about smoking. We need to
look at the root of the problem to stop
it" Gipprich said.
Gipprich said studies have shown 76
percent of college students do not
smoke, but a look around the Diag on
Friday found dozens of students taking
smpking breaks between classes.
"I started smoking because I was
curious. My dad smoked so I was
around it a lot as a kid," said LSA
senior Jennifer Lim.
"I'm worried about the diseases like
lung cancer but I'll quit when I'm
ready. I already tried quitting when I
came to college but I was getting really
moody and my roommates would just
tell me to go outside and smoke a ciga-
rette."
Fellow smoker Jian Liu, an LSA
senior, said, "I started smoking because
my friends did it. It's hard to quit once
you start so don't start at all."
Roughly 4.5 million U.S. adolescents
are smokers, with 90 percent starting to
smoke before age 21.
"Smoking just never appealed to me
as a kid because I grew up with a lot of
friends who played sports and it just
never crossed my mind. When I have
kids I'm going to drill it into their heads
that smoking is bad" said Rob Hira-
sawa, an LSA junior.
"If I was a smoker the only thing that
would get me to quit smoking would be
a personal experience, like if a family
member or a friend got sick or died, that
would really hit home," Hirasawa said.
As many as one-third of the nation's
46 million smokers took the day off
from smoking on Thursday for the
Great American Smokeout.
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THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
"Facing Environmental
Dilemmas while Bridging
North-South Gaps"; Hot
to pick one of 40 songs,
with melodies written in
numbers, and play it on the
17-bell bell tower's num-
bered keys, 12:00 p.m.,
play; Annual indoor-out-
door light spectacular,
5:30 - 9:30 p.m., Domi-
no's Farms, 30 Frank
Lloyd Wright Drive
SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edunor
www ,umich edu/1.info