C Itigt One hundred eleven years ofeditorialfreedom 7471 NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 7640557 wwwmichigandally.com Monday November 26, 2001 L ((~ ' ,A;. ' a020ThMi chga Dil Sanctions don't stop drinking * in on s By Uzzie Ehrle Daily Staff Reporter Every year, more than 5,000 freshmen move into University resi- dence halls, leaving behind a world of curfews and parental supervision to enter into an entirely new social structure that often minimizes the importance of rules and policies. It is within this social structure that the University struggles to maintain a safe and healthy environ- ment for the population of students, almost entirely under the age of 21, living in the residence halls. Among students, the presence of alcohol within residence halls seems to U.S. si Ground troop deployment comes as northern alliance claims to have seized Kunduz BANGI, Afghanistan (AP) - In a decisive move to strike at the last Taliban stronghold, hun- dreds of U.S. Marines landed by helicopter early today near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a senior U.S. official said. As many as 1,000 troops could be on the ground there within days. The deployment of the first large U.S. ground expeditionary force comes a day after the Taliban's last northern garrison, Kunduz, fell to troops of the hifts northern alliance, and a bloody, chaotic jailhouse uprising by some of the foreign fighters captured in that siege. Sending in the Marines marks a perilous new phase of a conflict that until now has been focused on U.S. airstrikes backing up the opposition north- ern alliance, plus limited ground missions by sever- al hundred American special forces fanned out in small units across Afghanistan. Kandahar, the Taliban's home base and spiritual home, has come under fierce bombardment since the conflict began Oct. 7, and the Taliban have vowed to fight to the death rather than abandon the city. In the last three weeks, they have lost their to ground grip on three-quarters of Afghanistan, plus the cap- The Marine ital, Kabul. Kandahar, th Most of the top Taliban leadership is believed to The fall o be holed up in and around the city. Efforts by tribal talks weret leaders over the past 10 days to negotiate a han- broad-based dover of the city failed to yield results. with only a Abdul Jabbar, an anti-Taliban Afghan tribal offi- its control, m cial in Pakistan, said his colleagues in Kandahar Thousand confirmed that U.S. troops were on the ground Chechen, P there. linked to Os The Marines, numbering in the "low hundreds," Kunduz, wh were to be followed by several hundred more from a fight. Navy ships in the Arabian Sea, the U.S. official Pro-Talib said in Washington, on condition of anonymity. war es landed by helicopter southwest of he official said. f Kunduz, which came two days before to begin in Germany on forming a government, leaves the Islamic militia small share of Afghanistan still under nostly around Kandahar. ds of Taliban troops as well as Arab, Pakistani and other foreign fighters sama bin Laden had been holed up in ich the alliance said fell almost without an fighters including foreigners fled See AFGHANISTAN, Page 7A Crowded campuses likely if graduation rates don't pick up By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter "Residents drink in the dorms. , There's no doubt about it." be common knowledge. "It's pretty obvious'" said LSA sopho- more Liz Burpee, who lives in West Quad Resi- dence Hall. The circum- stances under which drink- What is traditionally a four-year commitment is quickly becoming a five- and six-year standard. Many four year colleges and universities are suffer- ing from an influx of perennial students - students who, for one reason or another, don't graduate on time. Nationally, only one-third of undergraduate stu- dents attending a four-year college graduate on time. Many universities are bracing for this low rate to cause problems in the near future. Rural and subur- ban universities, expecting that as part of the fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks students will be less likely to go to an urban school, worry about overcrowding and over-enrollment. To alleviate the problem, some states - such as Pennsylvania and Texas - are offering universities with graduation rates above a certain percentage additional funding. And some schools are requiring that students seek permission before taking longer than four years to graduate. - Patrick Guffey ing occurs Resident adviser within halls vary, she said. "Sometimes a bunch of people will meet in their dorm before going out," she said. "Some people have progres- sives in their dorms" she added, refer- ring to a type of party that involves a number of rooms, each serving a dif- ferent drink. "Residents drink in the dorms. There's no doubt about it," said Patrick Guffey, a second-year medical student with three years of experience as a resi- dent adviser. "Students coming to col- lege are going to do that." Administrators also recognize that drinking occurs in residence halls, and have thus tried to develop policies that are not disciplinarian, but rather educa- tional. "It's not that we're out to bust peo- ple. We want to be a community that thinks about the well-being of other members of the community, said Greg Merritt, the University's assistant direc- tor of residential education. "We are here to try to engage stu- dents in community issues such as alcohol," he added. The University's policy regarding alcohol in the residence halls involves a process that begins with the resident adviser. If RAs encounter a resident with alcohol; they are instructed to document their encounter and give a report to the hall director. The hall director then meets with the student to determine the student's responsibility in the incident and appropriate sanc- tions. "I think a lot of RAs tend to be a lit- tle lax on the alcohol rules," said Engi- neering junior Tim Winslow, president of the Residence Hall Association. According to University figures for the 2000-2001 school year, 6 percent of the resident hall population was accused of an alcohol violation and 3 percent were actually found responsi- ble for a violation. "It's just common knowledge that the drinking will take place, but if it's obvious, then students get the feeling that more likely than not, something is going to be said about it," Burpee said. One possible sanction for students is to perform a computer program enti- tled "Alcohol 101" and then to write a reflective paper on what they've learned from the program. According to Merritt, the program is interactive and intended to engage students with issues such as body weight and alcohol .content in order for them to better understand the effects of alcohol. Sanctions depend largely on the cir- cumstance and always have a goal of self-reflection and future deterrence by The University of Michigan, with a 61 percent four-year graduation rate, has the highest rate of any public university in Michigan. Officials here said students staying longer than four years are not a problem. See GRADUATION, Page 7A U' solar car places 3rd in outback race TOM FELDCAMP/Daily Michigan quarterback John Navarre takes a hit from Ohio State linebacker Darrion Scott during Saturday's 26-20 loss. Inside: More coverage of Saturday's loss to Ohio State. Page 1B. Oio State beats 26-20, s By visa Hoffman Daily Staff Reporter By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Editor With the Big Ten title and Bowl Champi- onship Series bowl bid at stake, Michigan needed to find a way to beat its biggest rival, Ohio State. And with the team one game away from reaching its goals, the Wolverines played their worst first half in years. The Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 8-3 over- all) committed six turnovers - four in the first half - and dug themselves a 23-0 halftime deficit, from which they never recovered. In the end, 20 second-half points by the Wolverines were not enough as Ohio State (5-3 Big Ten, 7-4 overall) won 26-20. "This team was excited to play and had a great week of practice, but any time you turn the ball over and give it to the visiting team at the 3- or 4-yard line, you've really hurt yourself and the crowd, is out of the game," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We wanted to get the lead and get the crowd in the game. (But) we started poorly and it just got worse." The loss means Illinois (7-1 Big Ten, 10- 1 overall) wins the Big Ten championship and will represent the Big Ten in a BCS bowl, likely the Sugar Bowl. Michigan will either play in the Orlando-based Citrus Bowl or the Tampa-based Outback Bowl. See OHIO STATE, Page 7A While most students spent last week's holi- day at home, savoring turkey dinners and watching football games, 19 members of the College of Engineering Solar Car team trav- eled to Australia to compete in the Interna- tional Solar Car Race. There, they became the first American team and the first university team to reach the finish line in this year's competition. The team's overall third-place finish in the 1,820-mile race across the Australian outback comes on the heels of its first-place finish in this summer's American Solar Challenge. "The race has been quite overwhelming so far," said team captain Nader Shwayhat. "I'm really proud of the way the team ran and we're all happy with how well our vehicle ran." In addition, the team also came within 45 minutes of breaking the fastest time in race history, set by the Honda Motor Co., Shway- hat added. They did set the record for the fastest time of an all-university team. "Our accomplishments came down to hav- ing a very solid team that had a lot of experi- ence and could work extremely well together," Shwayhat said. "I've never worked with a Photo courtesy of the College of Engineering Solar Car Team The University's solar car team Is shown beginning last week's race in Darwin, Australia. more dedicated, competitive, and focused group of individuals in my life." "I truly believe that we impressed the very staunch and veteran crowds here in Australia," he added. Besides a motor change on day three that lasted four minutes, Shwayhat said the car had virtually no problems. "We never even had to change a tire for the entire race," Shwayhat said. "We drove our car See SOLAR CAR, Page 7A Security hassles slow holiday travel By Daniel Kim Daily Staff Reporter As classes resume today, many students return to Ann Arbor from their Thanksgiv- ing breaks with mixed feelings about holi- day traveling that was largely uneventful but distinctly different than before. "It felt like everyone was so edgy. On the plane, people were really tense. I remember when we landed, people were clapping," said LSA sophomore Erin Finch, who was traveling to California. "Some people were more talkative on the plane, I guess, to relieve the tension," added Finh student Girish Mudgal, who flew to St. Louis to visit friends. "The check lines at the airport were long but I didn't have any other trouble." Long lines and tense travelers weren't the only new elements to this year's Thanksgiv- ing traveling. Soldiers with M-16 rifles made some travelers nervous, while making others feel more safe. "We are here to give the public extra security and more confidence. (Thanksgiv- ing weekend days) were busy but there was nothing we couldn't handle," said National Guard Staff Sgt. Isaiah Hicks, who was patrolling the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. Calif. port and forced everyone to evacuate after an unidentified woman sneaked pass the security checkpoint. "I thought it was exciting and a little scary," said Dara Chapman, a University Music senior, one of the thousands of trav- elers forced to exit the airport. Chapman, whose flight was initially delayed after a different plane had blown two tires upon landing, delayed again due to the airport evacuation and then a third time after a small mechanical failure, finally arrived in Detroit more than 26 hours after she had left her home in California. Despite all the hassle, Chapman said she still nlans to fly home for the winter break.