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Wednesday
November 28, 2001
- , , ,I IM
Get in
Studentsforced
o ine stand i
me to enroll in
winter courses
By Jeremy Berkowitz
For the Daily
Continuing problems with the Wolverine
Access online registration system caused hun-
dreds of seniors to line up outside the Registrar's
Office yesterday to register for winter semester
classes in person for the fist time since 1994.
"It's stupid that we are forced to skip classes to
register for classes," said LSA senior Lisa Powell.
Students complained last year that Wolverine
Access was slower than the old telephone regis-
tration system, which was disconnected last year,
but in the first days of winter class registration
this week, the online system has prevented thou-
sands of students from registering. The system
has been slower than usual and has shut down on
them often.
"I tried for four hours; I only got three classes
registered," said Art and Design senior Lori Hoff-
mann. "I guess I was lucky"
When the problems with the system that sur-
faced Monday persisted yesterday, the Registrar's
Office began allowing students to register in per-
son at the LSA Building and the Media Union on
North Campus. There, students were signed in
and given a number, and many waited hours for
their numbers to be called.
Out of 6,248 students who were allowed to
register by last night, only 2,945 had their sched-
ules processed, said Associate University Regis-
trar Kortney Briske. Even with in-person
line:
ccess denied
Students
included
in FBI
inquiry
By Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporter
Many of the 70 to 80 men with tem-
porary visas in Ann Arbor that are
being asked to interview with the FBI
as part of the investigation into the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may be Uni-
versity students.
The University received a letter yes-
terday from the U.S. Attorney's office
in Detroit alerting the Department of
Public Safety that some of the people
with whom interviews are being
requested live on campus. University
spokeswoman Julie .Peterson said last
night that although specific numbers
are not known, it's also possible that a
number of people who are affiliated
with the University but live off campus
are included in the FBI's list.
"It wouldn't be a surprise," Peter-
son said. "It's fair to say that a lot of
members of the international commu-
nity in Ann Arbor are drawn here by
the University."
Letters from the FBI were mailed
yesterday to more than 70 men between
the ages of18 and 33 in the Ann Arbor
area who have entered the country in
the last two years on temporary visas
from countries with suspected links to
terrorism. The letters request an inter-
view with an FBI agent to discuss ter-
rorism, although the FBI emphasizes
that those who receive a letter are not
suspects in terrorist activity.
The letter to the University, dated
Nov. 21 and signed by Eastern Michi-
gan U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cares,
requests the University's cooperation in
conducting interviews. The letter asks
that a University officer and a federal
agent hold the interviews.
The University plans to comply with
the FBI but will not agree to have DPS
officers participate in any interviews,
Peterson said.
"We have not yet received a list of
the names of those to be interviewed,
but we will provide whatever informa-
tion is requested by law enforcement
officials, consistent with state and fed-
eral laws," the University said in a writ-
ten statement.
"However, since none of those iden-
tified for questioning are suspected of
or associated with criminal activity, we
See FBI, Page 7
LAURIE BRESCOLL/Daily
With the Wolverine Access online registration system continuing to prevent thousands of students from registering for classes, hundreds of seniors line
up outside the Registrar's Office in the LSA Building yesterday afternoon. The University has not conducted registration in person since 1994.
registration, fewer students were able to register
yesterday than Monday, when 1,832 students out
of 3,000 scheduled appointments were able to
access the system through Wolverine Access.
The error was finally detected and fixed, and
Wolverine Access reopened just for scheduling
last night. If all goes well today, the backpack is
expected to become available again tomorrow.
In order to catch up and to maintain fairness,
the Registrar's Office has postponed all student
registration dates by two weekdays, meaning that
appointments originally scheduled for tomorrow
will be rescheduled for Monday.
Briske said the technical difficulties that arose
this week came as a surprise.
"We spent thousands of dollars testing the sys-
tem, but sometimes it is difficult to replicate the
loads of registration that occur," he said.
However, many students who were forced to
wait a long time at the Registrar's Office said the
website and the University were disorganized and
unprepared for registration.
"Being a world-renowned university, they
should know the type of technology it takes to
register thousands of students for classes," said
Business senior Sara Kwiecien.
Prior to last fall, students used a touch-tone
system called CRISP to register for classes. LSA
senior Monifa Gray said Wolverine Access,
which was recently revamped to include a "back-
pack" pre-registration option, is disorganized and
repeatedly freezes. She said that with CRISP if
See REGISTRATION, Page 7
I
Possible weapons labs, bin
Laden hide-outs identified
4'A
Los Angeles Times
TAMPA, Fla. - More than 40 sites in
Afghanistan have been identified as possible
laboratories for weapons of mass destruction,
the'U.S. commander of the Afghan campaign
said yesterday, as Pentagon leaders disclosed
that they are focusing the search for Osama bin
Laden and Taliban leaders on two areas of the
country.
, During a briefing at his Tampa headquarters,
Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S.
Central Command, described progress in the
search for chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons. Samples of seized substances were
being sent to laboratories in the United States
for testing, he said.
Late yesterday, the Pentagon reported that
U.S. aircraft had bombed a "non-trivial" com-
pound th has housed leaders of Bin Laden's
al-Qaida terrorist network southeast of Kanda-
har, the southern city that is the Taliban's sole
remaining stronghold. Officials said they did
not know of any injuries or deaths, o who was
inside the facility at the time.
Pitched fighting continued near Kandahar
yesterday, as more U.S. Marines streamed into
an airfield southwest of the city to establish a
forward base.
In the north, opposition forces consolidated
their control with the surrender of thousands
more Taliban fighters who had fled the fallen
stronghold of Kunduz.
The largest group of fighters - an estimated
6,000 - gave themselves up in several waves
See AFGHANISTAN, Page 7
'U' given $2.7M to
study e-commerce
Play ball
LAURIE BRESCOLL/D~aily
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a leader of the 1960s civil
rights movement, speaks yesterday at the Michigan Union.
He also answered questions from students later in the day.
Ciilrghts
leader recalls
*Kin March
By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
Marching beside Martin Luther King Jr. on the streets of
downtown Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, the Rev. Fred Shut-
tlesworth was a leader of the civil rights movement to end
segregation in schools and voting.
More than three decades later, Shuttlesworth still vividly
recalls the threats made against his life as he participated in
sit-ins and marches, and the bombing of his home in Birm-
ingham which he miraculously survived. Many years later, he
is still fighting the same battle to ensure equality between
blacks and whites in the United States.
The leader of the Greater New Light Baptist Church in
Cincinnati, Shuttlesworth spoke yesterday at the University
about the need to maintain the current affirmative action
admissions policies, which will be heard in the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals in his hometown next Thursday.
"I don't think the world could exist without affirmative
action," Shuttlesworth said. "If someone falls behind and you
help to pick them up, that's affirmative action."
T a rrir vatrq at- the- ri aa n- Uninn- Chn_-
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
A new graduate program encourag-
ing interdisciplinary research on the
technical aspects of e-commerce and
its constantly expanding social role is
being creating at the University
through a five-year, $2.7 million grant
recently awarded by the National Sci-
ence Foundation.
The program, called the Socio-
Technical Infrastructure for Electron-
ic Transactions, or STIET, will
finance two-year doctoral fellowships
for about 65 graduate students using
the NSF grant, said Frank DeSanto,
the media production coordinator for
the University's School of Informa-
tion.
STIET's purpose will be very broad
research on e-commerce and its social
implications, said Business Prof.
Michael Gordon, co-investigator for
the project. The program will begin
awarding fellowships to students with
creative research ideas next fall, he
said.
Gordon said e-commerce has
become an important issue to study
because people are more familiar
with the Internet and expect to be
able to complete an increasing
amount of their daily tasks online.
Computer science Prof. Michael
Wellman, another co-investigator,
said the graduate students working
See GRANT, Page 7
DFAVID KATZI/ailIy
Todd Davis (right) and Justin Zipser, both 8th graders at Tappan Middle School, call their next play
in a pickup game of football in Burns Park yesterday against Nate Robertson and Elijah Sandweiss,
5th graders at Burns Park Elementary School.
Administrators try to combat binge drinking
By Lizzie Ehrle
Daily Staff Reporter
While educators across the country con-
tinue to examine student lifestyles in a
search for ways to decrease binge drinking
rates among college students, some believe
the root of the problem may stem from
broad, cultural ideologies and not just the
influences of a college campus.
"One theory is that as a society we don't
t-eac onrurnmcr nenlet n drinr renonsi-
helps students form certain attitudes and
values about the issue of alcohol.
"We see it so much we don't think about
it any more," she said.
Dr. Daniel Pak, University director of
special projects, said the University's
attempts to decrease binge drinking, from
the formation of special commissions to
investigative reports, have not been success-
ful.
"Unfortunately, we have not seen the
effects of those efforts. There is no evidence
said.
Pak said that following alcohol-related
deaths of two Korean students since 1997,
one area of specific concern is the drinking
habits of ethnic-minority students.
"The research is so lacking that we have
no idea what's going on," Pak said. "The
lack~of a multicultural approach to research
may have contributed to the fact that we
haven't had an effect on students."
Pak called for future ethnic-specific
research to provide effective policies and
"No one taught responsible drinking in
high school," said Engineering senior
Matthew Liston. .
Patrice Flax.a nalcohol2initiativescoordi-1
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