One hundred eleven years ofeditorialfreedom IUI NEWS: 76-DAILY * CLASSIFIED: 7640557 www.michigandally.com Monday February 11, 2002 't 1 8 -$ . I Dingell discusses * Enron troubles By C. Price Jones Daily Staff Reporter The Enron Corp. controversy's, developments and repercussions were the major issues touched upon by 23- term U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Dear- born) in an informal discussion with students on Friday in Lorch Hall. The Enron scandal was "an event which involved massive theft, disregard of fiduciary respon- sibility by corpo- rate officers, entirely bad, deceitful and false account- ing," Dingell said, adding that Dingell the mess would be "the largest bankruptcy we've ever seen." Dingell stressed that honest accounting via a regulatory agency is necessary after the investing dis- aster. "If we don't have honest account- ing we can be in the same situation where the Japanese and some of the countries in the East and even in Europe are, where they don't know what they have," he said. Dingell also emphasized that the lack of honest peer review was a contributing factor in Enron's down- fall, but Congress was also at fault for not funding the Securities and Exchange Commission to carry out its responsibilities. "Everybody lied to each other while they all stole ... nobody knew what was going on," he said. Dingell chaired the Committee on Energy and Commerce for seven Congresses, and students participat- See DINGELL, Page 7A BAMN defens <+k' p rp s By Jordan Schrader Daily Staff Reporter JOHN PRATT/Daily Conference of the New Civil Rights BAMN member Agnes Aleobua calls for action at a rally Friday on the Diag, as part of the Second National Movement held In Ann Arbor this weekend. Confierence intswithi civil rights rally on Diag9 By Jordan Schrader Detroit schools accompanied their students, from being taken away from us," Williams Activists reiterated their commitment to achieving their goals "By Any Means Necessary" at the Second National Conference of the New Civil Rights Movement this past weekend, defining the objectives of their fight and what they are willing to do to achieve their goals. "If we have to destroy some things, we will destroy some things," University of Tennessee student Dumaka Shabazz said to loud applause. Shabazz also drew battle lines in the conflict over affirmative action, which he said has no middle ground. "Either you're with us or you're with the re-segrega- tionists. Either you're for racism, injustice and inequali- ty, or you're for justice and equality - which is affirmative action," he said. A member of the Black Student Alliance at the Uni- versity of Tennessee, Shabazz was one of many students who came from across the country to join the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary. Students from the University of Virginia, the University of Kentucky and the University of Cincinnati were also in attendance. The conference focused on issues facing minorities in education, including the use of affirmative action in col- lege admissions and shortages of funds and teachers in public schools. Shabazz said the racism faced by African Americans at the University of Tennessee makes the BSA willing, like BAMN, to use any means necessary to achieve equality. Visible symbols of racism on campus have included nooses hung from a tree, a Confederate flag painted on a rock and ethnic slurs scrawled on walls, Shabazz said. He added that another source of racism is the Ten- nessee Daily Beacon, a campus newspaper that he said misrepresents black students. Shabazz said if it contin- ues to be racist in its coverage, the BSA will gather and burn copies of the paper. BAMN member Luke Massie told the conference that See CONFERENCE Page 7A I DailyStaff Reporter Kicking off a weekend-long civil rights con- ference, more than 300 students from primari- ly Detroit-area public schools marched through the streets of Central Campus en route to the Diag Friday, chanting "We won't take re- segregation, we want quality education." Several teachers and administrators from who were let out of school for the day to attend the field trip to the University. Mem- bers of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary recruited the stu- dents by speaking at their schools, said Janaya Williams, a student at Philip J. Mur- ray-Wright High School. "We think we can stop affirmative action said. Speakers at the rally, which began the Sec- ond National Conference of the New Civil Rights Movement, addressed issues such as affirmative action in higher education, de facto segregation in inner-city public schools and inadequacy of education in those schools. See RALLY, Page 7A * Simon urges students to be proactive By Louie MeIzlish and Molly Kennedy Daily Staff Reporters Don't be an idiot. That was the message of former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon yesterday as he addressed an audience at the Law School for the 19th Annual Kauper Lecture. Referring to the ancient Greek definition of the word "idiotes," which means "someone who does not partici- pate in civic life," Simon focused his lecture on how students and citizens can get involved in the American political process. "We have too many idiots in our original definition of that word today," he said. Simon, a Democrat, served two terms in the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1997. His career in politics spanned over 40 years, including stints in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Illinois' lieutenant gover- nor and as a member of both houses of the Illinois Gen- eral Assembly. Simon offered several lessons on how people can get involved and be proactive in American politics. His New security standards set By Christopher Johnson Daily Staff Reporter DAVID KATZ/Daily Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon said elected officials must consider their constituents' concerns in a lecture yesterday. first lesson was to be informed, not just about domestic issues, but also about international issues. He also urged those gathered to write letters to their legislators and also to newspaper editors - letters which he said have can broaden the views of the officials and of the newspapers' readers. Another lesson he offered was to "start now" - to do what you have always dreamed of but have never gotten around to, such as writing a book. The former senator also discussed the need for elect- ed officials to sometimes do what may be unpopular but See SIMON, Page 7A Following two incidents of home invasion in University Residence Halls within the last 10 days, Housing officials notified students that beginning today all doors to the Uni- versity's residence halls will be locked 24 hours a day. Administrators have not decided how long the controlled access will remain in effect. The University will determine whether to make the change permanent after evaluating the new system and receiving feedback from residents and staff. Alan Levy, director of Housing Public Affairs, explained the University intends for the controlled access to provide better safety for the students who live in the residence halls. "We are very concerned about the incidents of the past two weeks. We want a third incident to be as unlikely as possible," he said. Levy added that the University recognizes that some problems may emerge from the new protocol, such as restriction to the residence halls dining rooms, and noted that the University will evaluate the controlled access as it continues. "Some issues relating to dining room access are still being refined and will be communicated very quickly," he said. Levy also said the new system will not prevent crime in the residence halls entirely and that the University needs the help of the students to maintain safety. The University is also offering a $2,000 reward for finding the two men who assaulted a girl in East Quad last week. Dining halls limit fresh fruit supply By Rob Goodspeed Daily Staff Reporter While dining services officials say they attempt to cater to all students, documents obtained by The Michigan Daily show menu decisions are influenced by cost and student demand - sometimes at the expense of providing fresh fruits and vegeta- bles. Dining services say they focus on serving food made with fresh ingredients. "The way to get the most bang for your buck is to get everything fresh ... and that way you save the most money" said Ruth Blackburn, Residential Dining Services nutrition specialist. "If you can support the use of more fresh items, you're sav- ing yourself money because prepackaged materials cost more" she said. The document, titled Menu Review Committee Criteria and Parstocks: Lunch and Dinner Menu, contains a different per- spective on the menu choices in the dining halls. The docu- ment, revised last June, instructs dining halls to "use fresh vegetables when cost warrants" and "limit the amount of fresh vegetables per meal to one." Dining Services Executive Chef Steve Meyers, a member of the menu review committee, said the criteria are considered strict expectations for the dining halls to follow. "Using fresh vegetables when cost warrants is simply a dis- cipline to employ so that we don't blindly purchase a product independent of cost," Meyers said. "Our data indicates to us that some halls don't use enough vegetables at a meal to warrant two selections," Meyers said. "'Cost per serving' is rarely a barrier. It's the leftovers and quality that we try to manage." Students often complain about the amount and quality of the fruit in the residence halls. "I'd like more fresh fruit," said LSA freshman Priya Pai. 9 Student governments change Big Ten bylaws By Tomislav Ladika Daily Staff Reporter Complaints from many schools dominated this weekend's Associated Big Ten Schools confer- ence, including Ohio State University's declara- tion that it would not attend future conferences unless changes were made to the ABTS constitu- tion. Conference attendees eliminated the consti- tution in an emergency convention Saturday, during which a new set of bylaws were written. Michigan Student Assembly President Matt Nolan said the bylaws establish the conference as a meeting where delegates can discuss important SO Wan l .eA a"A m. rnnnnAn+.ne Av,'ith' ol,. "What we did this weekend was restructure the format of our conference to focus on the confer- ence and leader development aspects, which is what people had been wanting;' Nolan said. He said this distinction is important because under the old system, in addition to holding issue sessions, ABTS tried to pass legislation on behalf of the entire Big Ten conference, and some dele- gates even had visions of presenting the legisla- tion to the U.S. Congress. University of Illinois delegate Chris Dillion said the ABTS is not recognized by the Big Ten as a voice for all its students, and the resolutions passed at ABTS conferences often would not be nPnfnrr.PA K., the crhnnl c +that nnnnR themn I(1LIAI DDATT/r% ;k,