TODAY:
January 30, 2003
©2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Vol. CXIII, No. 84
www.michigandailycom
Bush pushes health
care in Michigan
President's trip to Grand Rapids is first
appearance after State of the Union speech
By Dan Trudeau
Daily Staff Reporter
GRAND RAPIDS - In his first public
appearance after delivering his State of the
Union address, President Bush discussed
many of the same issues in Michigan yester-
day. During his speech at the DeVos Place
Convention Center, Bush focused his
remarks primarily around health care reform
and the need for immediate changes to the
Medicare program.
"Medicine has changed, and Medicare
hasn't. Medicare must be more flexible,"
Bush said.
The reforms proposed by Bush include a
$400 billion increase to the program's budg-
et. This increase would fund an expansion of
Medicare to cover the cost of prescribed
medication for senior citizens.
The president also raised concerns about
what he said is an excessive number of med-
ical malpractice lawsuits that are raising the
cost of health care and called for a federal
policy to reduce the frequency of frivolous
lawsuits.
"One of the problems we have in our soci-
ety is we have too many junk lawsuits;" Bush
said. "I've had docs come up to me and say 'I
can't do it anymore."'
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm
attended the event, and afterwards expressed
uncertainty about the president's proposals.
"I was expecting to learn more with regard
to his plan for health care. There were very
few details provided today," Granholm said.
In addition to discussing Medicare, the
president used the address to speak further
about the potential conflict in Iraq, expand-
ing on the accusations against Saddam Hus-
sein that he put forth the previous night.
"You don't contain Saddam Hussein -
you don't hope that therapy will change his
evil mind. The risk of doing nothing is not a
risk worth taking," Bush told the loud and
enthusiastic crowd.
The president made similar condemna-
See BUSH, Page 7A
Anti-war protesters rally against Bush
By Elizabeth Anderson
Daily Staff Reporter
GRAND RAPIDS - Cardboard posters
and anti-war chants filled the streets sur-
rounding the DeVos Place Convention Center
yesterday afternoon. Around 1,000 people
braved the cold and snowy weather for sever-
al hours in order to protest President Bush's
foreign policy as he spoke inside.
Kathleen Brezina, 60, of Grand Junction,
came to the rally to voice her opposition to
Bush and his politics. "He's the worst presi-
dent we've ever had," Brezina said. "It's not
unpatriotic to oppose the government. We all
have voices."
Carrying signs with slogans including
"Don't Attack Iraq" and "Peace is Patriotic,"
participants in the rally - some of whom
arrived as early as 8 a.m. - met across the
street from Spectrum Health, the hospital in
Grand Rapids that sponsored Bush's speech.
At about noon, the protesters marched sever-
al blocks to the DeVos Center; where they
were met by police officers, cars and barri-
cades. During the rally, which lasted more
than an hour, protesters loudly chanted "Drop
Bush not bombs" and "Peace now," accompa-
nied by whistles and drums.
Families with babies and small children
bundled in snowsuits carried signs proclaim-
ing themselves "Another Family for Peace."
Groups of people posed for pictures taken by
fellow protesters and press photographers.
Drew Russell, a high school student from
East Grand Rapids, attended the rally to show
"it's not unpatriotic
to oppose the
government. We all
have voices.
.- Kathleen Brezina
Anti-war protester
Bush that "even hard Democrats live in west-
ern Michigan." His friend and classmate
Adam Stott said that although he planned on
enlisting in the military after high school
See PROTESTS, Page 3A
In his first speech after the State of the Union address, President Bush speaks about Medicare and
foreign relations yesterday in Grand Rapids.
University remains silent on its
contingency lan for]
for two lawsuits challenging the use of race as
'U' will have to change a factor in the admissions policies of the Law
admissions policies, pay all School and College of Literature, Science and
pls f s fthe Arts,
plaintiffs' fees if Supreme If the Court declares the policies unconsti-
Court rules against it tutional, the University will have to pay the
legal fees of the Center for Individual
By Tomislav Ladika Rights, a Washington-based law firm repre-
Daily Staff Reporter senting the plaintiffs in both lawsuits. After
five years of legal battles, the fees will
Minorities would not be the only group amount to at least $4 to $5 million, CIR
affected by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling over- spokesman Curt Levey said.
turning the University's admissions policies. Although the University's total budget is
If it loses the two lawsuits, the University will slated to surpass $1.1 billion this year, the
have to pay the plaintiffs' legal bills, but legal fees represent about 1 percent of the
administrators declined to comment on University's total tuition revenue from last
whether they are considering possible contin- year. They also exceed the annual research
gency plans for this scenario. expenditures of 11 schools at the University,
The Court will hear oral arguments April 1 including the Law School, according to statis-
lawsuit loss
tics from the Office of Budget and Planning.
The University will already have to cut
down on its budget expenditures or raise
tuition next year because former Gov. John
Engler and the state Legislature cut higher
education appropriations for the current fiscal
year by 2 percent, and may slash it further for
next year.
Despite the possibility of incurring such
costs, University spokeswoman Julie Peterson
said she would not discuss payments to fees
before the Court's ruling is announced.
"We believe our admissions policies are legal
and that we will prevail in the Supreme Court.
We already have won important victories at the
district and appeals court levels," Peterson said.
"We're not going to speculate about costs that
we don't believe we are likely to face."
See LAWSUITS, Page 7A
Basketball team s"
streak Cook-ed
in Champaign
By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Writer
Work it
DAVID KATZ/Daily
As Palestinian supporters gathered yesterday In a vigil to
mourn recent deaths, Israel supporters rallied across State
Street and sang Israel's national anthem.
Students face
of on State St.
with rall, V1gi
By Min Kyung Yoon
Daily Staff Reporter
In response to the continued bloodshed and violence in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, Students Allied for Freedom and
Equality sponsored a vigil last night to recognize and reflect on
the lives lost.
The students planned to meet on the steps of the Michigan
Union, but set up their vigil on the other side of State Street
when they found supporters of Israel on the Union steps.
Holding an Israeli flag aloft, students watched the vigil on
the opposite side as Palestinian supporters chanted "Divest
from Israel, divest from hate."
"Palestine never had a single day without occupational
forces controlling their lives," said LSA senior and SAFE
founder Fadi Kiblawi. "We are here to remember democracy."
He called Israel an apartheid state and an "ethnocracy."
See VIGIL, Page 7A
Colleges,
INS form
student
database,
By Andrew McCormack
Daily Staff Reporter
Until they received a last-minute
extension, U.S. colleges and universi-
ties that request student visas faced a
deadline of today to implement a new
database system allowing the federal
government to access their records on
all international students.
Any school not incorporating the
database, called the Student and
Exchange Visitor Information Sys-
tem, will no longer be able to
accept foreign students who want to
attend it on student visas.
The University already has its
system online.
Last night, the Immigration and
Naturalization Services granted a
15-day grace period for schools
experiencing difficulty with the
transition.
Under the new rules, international
students will be required to notify
the International Center of any
change in their name or address
within 10 days. They will also not
be allowed to drop below a full
coarse load.
"If anyone wants to initiate paper-
work or invite an international stu-
dent, they will have to go through
SEVIS," said John Godfrey, assis-
tant dean of international education
at Rackham School of Graduate
Studies.
SEVIS's primary function is to
provide INS with an automated sys-
tem to access existing electronic
files on international students.
"This is the kind of information
we've always kept, but because INS's
system's were so antiquated, they
couldn't access it," Godfrey said.
"We began using our end a week
ago," he said yesterday. "We went
live this evening. ... We will go to
an entirely new environment, one
that hasn't been fully tested."
Doubts about SEVIS's reliability
are serious, Godfrey said. "We've
heard rumors that the software isn't
very robust, that there's a lot of
bugs." Purdue, the first university to
C,.a. IATARA@E Pads A
CHAMPAIGN - After 52 days and 13 consecutive
games without a loss, the Michigan basketball team finally
ran out of gas last night at Illinois.
And Illinois forward Brian Cook took full advantage.
Cook scored 26 of his game-high 30 points in the second
half - Michigan (6-1 Big Ten, 13-7 overall) scored just one
more point, 27, in the same 20 minute span - and led the
13th-ranked Fighting Illini (5-2, 15-3) to a 67-60 victory,
handing the Wolverines their first loss since Duke on Dec. 7.
"Certainly, Brian Cook's second half was a tremendous
effort by an outstanding player," Michigan coach Tommy
Amaker said. "He put his team on his back, and they
responded and won a very tough basketball game."
The Wolverines looked well on their way to a 14th con-
secutive victory for much of the night, extending their lead
to as much as 45-35 with just 12:44 left in the game.
But Cook took over shortly after that, and the Wolverines
began to unravel.
Michigan still held a six-point lead with 8:18 to go when
freshman Graham Brown hacked Cook under the basket,
fouling himself out of the game. Junior Bernard Robinson
compounded the problem, throwing the ball off the backside
of an Illini player after the whistle, earning a technical foul.
"I don't know if (the technical foul) was a turning
point, but it was a momentum builder," Illinois coach Bill
Self said.
Cook hit four free throws, closing the gap to two, and a 3-
DAVI' KAT'/Uaily
Architecture student Joe Kowalski watches a aerobics session
yesterday in the Central Campus Recreation Building, saying he
was impressed with the women's synchronization.
GM counsel: affirmative action works
By Carmen Johnson
Daily Staff Reporter
Affirmative action supporters heard an
alternative reason for the importance of diver-
sity in the workplace at last night's National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People dinner - it makes good business
sense.
vice president and general counsel of Gener-
al Motors Corp., spoke to college students
and NAACP members about the changing
ethnic landscape of America and the need for
corporations to address this change to stay
competitive.
"The population of the U.S. is becoming
more diverse so we must embrace diversity or
disappear from the market," Johnson said,
potential customers.
"And the workplace needs to be a diverse
atmosphere to ensure that everyone reaches
their highest ability," he added.
Johnson - who in October 2001 became
the highest-ranking black male in GM, the
nation's largest national automotive manufac-
turer - is responsible for managing all legal
services for the company.
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