One hundred eleven years of editorilfreedom
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NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
wwwmichigandaily com
Thursday
November 29, 2001
OI.C1No 44 . rr~br ih r 20 h ihgnD
ACLU
to meet
~with
students
By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
Local representatives from the
American Civil Liberties Union and
the Anti-Arab Defamation League
are meeting with Arab American
students tomorrow to address any
concerns regarding letters sent this
week by the U.S. attorney's office in
Detroit asking more than 70 Arab
American residents in the Ann
Arbor area to set up voluntary inter-
views.
The meeting will be held at 8
p.m. in the Michigan Union.
LSA junior Michael Simon, co-
chair for the campus ACLU, said
that because the list of residents
who received the letter by the FBI is
confidential, the ACLU and the
AADL sent an e-mail to every
major Arab and Muslim group on
campus, in hopes of reaching all
those students who have received
the letter.
"While these interviews are vol-
untary, we're urging them to have an
interview, and if they feel uncom-
fortable we encourage them to bring
Ilegal representation and/or an inter-
preter," Simon said. "We want stu-
dents to know there are all kinds of
free legal services available to them
at U of M."
Lloyd Meyer, assistant U.S. attor-
ney in Grand Rapids, told The
Associated Press that the men won't
face penalties for refusing to be
interviewed.
"No one has to talk with a police
officer if they don't wanmt to," Meyer
said.
Indeed, the guidelines given to
U.S. attorneys emphasize the volun-
tary nature of the interviews.
S "Since the persons to be inter-
viewed are not suspected of any
involvement in criminal activity, the
interviews will be conducted on a
c onsensual basis, and every inter-
view subject ('individual') will be
free to decline to answer questions,
a memorandum addressed to U.S.
attorneys instructing them how to
conduct the interviews states.
Meyer said he would be surprised
if someone didn't cooperate.
"We have allowed these individu-
als into our country to visit, to
study, to do business. We expect
them to cooperate," Meyer said.
"This is what we expect of any
neighbor who witnesses a crime.
Every person in this country, citizen
or not, has a responsibility to, help
prevent future acts of terrorism."
Meanwhile, University spokes-
woman Julie Peterson said Universi-
ty police will not be present in the
interviews, because none of the
people who are being questioned
are suspected of criminal activity.
Douglas Lewis, director of Stu-
dent Legal Services, said his office
would provide legal advice and ser-
vices to those students before they
schedule an interview with the FBI.
American
killed
in
CIA officer is th
American to die sir
the bombing began
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - A cc
officer who was collecting in
during the interrogation o
prisoners became the first.
killed in combat in the Af
the agency confirmed yesterd
Johnny Micheal "Mike"
former U.S. Marine artiller
had worked as a clandestine
for the CIA's Directorate of C
since June 1999. He had
Afghanistan for about six w
of several hundred opera
agency has deployed in the
the hunt for Osama bin Lade
ers in the al-Qaida terror nets
Spann, 32, was killed Sun
ing at the start of a prison
near the northern city of
Sharif, but his body wasn't
until yesterday morning, aft
U.S. airstrikes and ground at
tanks and other heavy weap
crush the revolt.
CIA spokesman Bill Ha
reported that Spann's bod
route back to the United Sta
was still unclear how he had
U.S. special operations offi
seriously wounded Mond
errant U.S. bomb during
revolt.
action
e first Armed with $1 billion in new fund-
ce ing, mostly for covert action, the CIA
has dispatched an array of operatives,
from linguists to special commandos,
to Afghanistan and beyond since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
CIA analysts and translators have
overt CIA scoured offices and houses abandoned
telligence by fleeing Taliban and al-Qaida forces,
f Taliban collecting diaries, records, bank state-
American ments and other materials that may
ghan war, help unravel the global terrorist web.
lay. They have helped identify possible
Spann, a laboratories for chemical, biological or
y captain, nuclear weapons, although no such
operative weapons have been found so far.
Operations Other CIA officers have contacted
I been in former rebel commanders from the
veeks, one Afghans' CIA-supported war against
tives the Soviet occupiers in the 1980s "to make
region in sure they're in the right place and do
n and oth- the right thing now," said an official
work. familiar with the CIA's secret war.
day morn- CIA officers also have worked
uprising closely with U.S. military forces to
Mazar-e- help direct airstrikes against facilities
recovered believed to contain senior Taliban or
er intense al-Qaida members, and to operate
tacks with pilotless spy planes capable of trans-
ons helped mitting real-time video and other intel-
ligence about potential targets on the
rlow, who ground.
ly was en, Officials said Spann was killed at
tes, said it the outset of a three-day uprising by
died. Five Taliban prisoners at a 19th century
cers were mud-walled fortress and prison com-
lay by an plex at Qala-i-Jangy, near Mazar-e-
the same Sharif.
AP PHOTO
Northern alliance fighters look at local Red Cross workers carrying the body of a pro-Taliban fighter in a fortress near Mazar-
e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, yesterday. The first American to die in the war was killed at the fortress this week.
See SPANN, Page 7A
First presidential search meeting today
By Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents
will hold its first meeting as the
Presidential Search Committee in a
private conference call at 8 p.m.
tonight.
Regent S. Martin Taylor (D-
Grosse Pointe Farms) said he
expected the meeting will center
around issues that have already
been under discussion - the for-
mation of the Presidential Search
Advisory Committee and the selec-
tion of a consulting firm to help
identify candidates for the presi-
dency.
Regent Larry Deitch (D-Bingham
Farms), the chair of the Presidential
Search Committee, declined to say
when any announcements regarding
the advisory committee or the con-
sulting firm might be made.
The regents named Rackham
Dean Earl Lewis chair of the advi-
sory committee at their last meeting
on Nov. 15.
The advisory committee will
consist of seven faculty members,
two staff members, two students,
two alumni and one representative
each from the Dearborn and Flint
campuses.
University President Lee
Bollinger announced iq October
that he will accept the presidency
of Columbia University beginning
July 1.
Bollinger will leave the Universi-
ty of Michigan at the end of this
semester, and former Business
School Dean B. Joseph White will
serve as interim president until a
permanent replacement is found.
Texas decides to drop
affirmative action case
By Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
With the University of Texas' announcement this week
that it would drop its defense of the nine-year-old lawsuit
Hopwood v. Texas, the lawsuits currently facing the Univer-
sity of Michigan will inevitably become the next case chal-
lenging the use of affirmative action
reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Texas officials said yesterday they
felt they had exhausted all possible
avenues in the case, which began in
1992 when four white law school
applicants claimed less qualified
candidates were admitted to Texas'
in higher education to
? sM i6Ng
J AON -L[
suits in 1997 challenging the University's use of race as an
admissions cons-deration - said he expects the decision in
the Hopwood case will be mentioned in the oral arguments
next Thursday when Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v.
Bollinger are heard in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati.
"You can't bring up the subject of racial profiles in
admissions without bringing up Hopwood," Levey said.
It is widely expected that whatever the outcome of the 6th
Circuit's decision, there will be an appeal to the Supreme
Court, which will then have to decide whether to hear the
case.
Tuesday's decision in Austin was a victory for affirmative
action protesters, he said, but the decision will have no
direct influence on the Michigan lawsuits.
"The Michigan cases are looking more than ever like the
ones heading to the Supreme Court;" Levey said.
Still, lawyers representing the University are, optimistic
the differences between the University's cases and the case
in Texas will aid the University's appeal.
Liz Barry, deputy general counsel for the University, said
she believes Tuesday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court
not to hear Adarand Constructors v. Mineta, a lawsuit deal-
See TEXAS, Page 7A
law school based on their race. Hopwood appeared all but
dead last summer after the Supreme Court rejected another
challenge by Texas.
"It was frustrating, but it was the best decision," said
Doug Laycock, a Texas law professor. "Really, the only
decision we had left was to appeal attorney's fees, but we
could no longer defend our affirmative action policy."
Curt Levey, director of legal and public affairs for the
Center for Individual Rights - the firm that filed the law-
Soccer player acquitted of rape
By Jacquelyn Nixon
Daily Staff Reporter
A jury of seven men and five
women found Michigan soccer for-
ward Kevin Robinson not guilty of
third-degree criminal sexual conduct
yesterday morning after a brief trial
that began Monday.
Robinson, a Kinesiology sopho-
more, pleaded not guilty in May to the
felony charge, which is punishable by
up to 15 years in prison.,
An Art and Design senior told
police Robinson raped her Dec. 17,
2000, after meeting him at a party.
According to court documents, the
victim had visited several bars before
attending the party and was incapaci-
tated when the alleged rape occurred.
Judge Archie Brown heard the case
at the Wahtenaw Connty Courthouse.
reasonable doubt whether Robinson
committed the crime after listening to
several witnesses from the defense and
the prosecution.
"This was an issue if she consented
to the sexual activity or not. There
were no physical findings that support-
ed the claim," Plunkett said.
Washtenaw County Assistant Prose-
cutor Joseph Burke said sexual assault
cases are difficult to prove.
"The jury was not convinced
beyond a reasonable doubt. That's just
what we have to live with."
The prosecution based its case on
the decisions made by the victim prior
to meeting Robinson at the party.
"We emphasized that she had con-
sumed quit a bit of alcohol and
couldn't remember all what occurred,"
Plunkett said. "She drank 7 or 8 beers,
had a shot of Kamikaze."
"There were no physical findings that
supported the claim."
- Ronald Plunkett
Attorney for Kevin Robinson
JONATHON TRIEST/Daily
The residents of 525 Walnut have some fun while hanging holiday lights on top
of their roof last night.
C
Wolvenine Access
aC cessible again
The defense also stressed that the
incident took place in the victim's
bedroom, which could have demon-
strated that her actions were consen-
sual.
"We tried to show that she was
awake and that she agreed to it,"
Plunkett said. "The jury felt there
was a reasonable doubt to what
occurred because it was his word
against hers."
Robinson was suspended from the
soccer team after his pretrial hearing in
September. Robinson's coaches were
Media Relations Bruce Madej said
head soccer coach Steve Burns must
decide to lift Robinson's suspension
before the Athletic Department takes
any action.
"It's always the coach's decision,"
Madej said. "Burns will sit down with
Robinson and (Athletic Director) Bill
Martin and go from there."
Plunkett said Robinson was allowed
to work out with the team and kept
physically active during his suspension
from the team.
"He buckled down on his books,"
By Jordan Schrader
Daily News Reporter
Wolverine Access was open for
business yesterday after hundreds
of students spent Tuesday waiting
in line to register for their winter
classes in person.
Errors in the online registration
system, which ran so slowly Mon-
day and Tuesday that many students
- whether in line or online -
unnecessary.
"By around 4:00 it was taking 20
minutes to register for one class,"
said Associate Registrar Kortney
Briske, referring to the in-person
scheduling on Tuesday.
The backpack feature, allowing
students to compile a list of the
courses they would like to take
before their enrollment date,
I