Friday February 7, 2003 A2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 90 One-hundred-twelve years ofeditorilfreedom TODAY: Mostly cloudy throughout the day with clearerH 4 skies at night y 1 and winds up to 17 miles per Tomorrow: hour. 271' www.michigandailycom 1:: 11 111:111 1:1: 1:1 IN :! 1 :1 1 !:1! 1 1 1 lo g l 1 1 ilil i Scarcity of * jobs keeps students in classrooms By Lydia K. Leung Daily Staff Reporter The job market is at a 20-year low, according to recently released statistics by the U.S. Labor Department. This information, combined with the uncer- tainty created by the possible war with Iraq and the flagging economy, caused engineering students from all disciplines to form long lines at booths of different companies at the Engineering Internship Fair yesterday. Down from 150 companies that par- ticipated in the career fair held last Sep- tember, only about 30 companies - which included Shell, IBM, UBS War- burg and many other firms from across the nation - came to recruit University students this semester. The decline in companies' incentives to hire new workers was illustrated by a report conducted by Conference Board, a research firm that said the number of help-wanted advertisements in newspa- pers in the United States hit an almost 40-year low in December. Students said the wave of bad news concerning the job market is forcing them to think up ways to avoid entering the job hunt rat race. "I think postponing graduation is a good idea," Engineering senior Francine Calderon said. In anticipation of the gloomy econo- my, many graduating seniors have opted to value-add themselves by staying one more year at school to pursue their mas- ters degrees. "Last spring, we saw a lot of panicked students. This year, I think seniors are more prepared," said Stephani Townsend, campus recruiting representative of Lockheed Martin Corp. "We've seen more seniors are looking for internships because they are going to grad school." But some companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corp. - an advance-technology company that sup- See JOBS, Page 3 Prof diversity facilitated by 'U' programs By Tomlslav Ladika Daily StaffReporter Due to an initiative designed to increase the number of minority profes- sors, the University has become a leader among national research colleges for the diverse composition of its faculty, according to statistics collected by the Association of American Universities Data Exchange. The entire student body benefits from such faculty diversity because minority professors "bring their perspectives on many different social and cultural issues," said Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic and multicultural affairs. Faculty diversity exposes students to minorities in positions of authority, which "undermines stereotypes regard- ing the intellectual authority of minori- ties," political science Prof. Vincent Hutchings said. University departments fill their vacancies by individually recruiting faculty, but the Provost's Faculty Ini- tiative Program provides them with assistance and emergency funds for the searching of and hiring minority professors, Monts said. A consolidation of past programs that recruit faculty, PFIP assists departments in hiring clusters of four to six minority professors conducting research in simi- lar fields, Monts said. PFIP also provides departments that wish to hire prominent professors but do not have the budget space to do so with emergency funds to pursue such faculty, he added. "PFIP allows us extreme flexibility to compete on the highest level with peer institutions," Monts said. "PFIP allows us to strike very quickly." University Academic Human Resources also permits departments to waive the regular hiring process if they need to quickly pursue a minority pro- fessor who has received several job offers, Monts said. But before departments can receive such waivers, which Monts said "oper- ate within legal guidelines," the profes- sor's qualifications must be approved by Human Resources. PFIP and the University's overall emphasis on hiring minority faculty have helped the University develop a diverse faculty body in relation to most other major research universities, includ- ing Harvard, University of Chicago and University of California at Berkeley. The percentage of minority faculty at the University has also increased in each of the past five years, from 15 percent in 1997 to 18 percent in 2001, according to statistics from the Office of Budget and Planning. Although the University has a more diverse faculty than most research schools, Hutchings said the University's faculty composition still lags behind the nation's minority percentage. One possible reason for the problem is that "when it goes down to the depart- ment levels, very often it seems people can't figure out how to identify (minori- ty) faculty members," said Marita Ingle- hart, chair of the Committee for a See FACULTY, Page 3 ELISE BERGMAN/Daily Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and leading civil rights activist in the 1960s speaks to a crowd last night at Eastern Michigan University. Black Panther fiounder recounts political ps By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter It was 1966 - one year after Mal- colm X was shot to death and three years after Martin Luther King Jr., shared his dreams with the world. It was the height of the Civil Rights Move- ment, and the time was right for Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Seale, who traveled to Eastern Michi- gan University yesterday to speak about his experiences in the 1960s, said books and movies based on the controversial Black Panther Party - including the 1995 movie "Panther" - have often depicted the organization as a militant and unlawful hate group, obscuring the truth about the Panther's philosophy, purpose and structure. "4'-11-.D + - African-American history, catalyzed by the African American Movement," Seale said during his lecture, adding that the BPP's true mission was to educate blacks on their significance and cultural importance in American history, as well as on the struggles being faced by the black community. Seale said the BPP would never have formed if not for the work of those Party, to start his own movement. The Black Panther Party is a piece of See SEALE, Page 2 Martin takes helm of Olympic committee By Megan Kolodgy Daily Sports Writer NICOLE TERWILLIGER/Daily Former Center for Afroamerican and African Studies department chair Harold Cruse spoke yesterday in Haven Hall. Campus pays tribute to civil rights activist By Ravi Perry and Min Kyung Yoon Daily Staff Reporters Honoring Black History Month, the Center for Afroamer- ican and African Studies held a special tribute for renowned civil rights champion Harold Cruse yesterday by celebrating the publication of his latest book. Famous for his 1967 "Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" Cruse has been a pioneer in black studies nationwide and an active member of black social and political academic elite. "Our goal is survival - survival for a place in whatever the new order is going to be." At the book signing reception held yesterday at CAAS, Cruse, a professor emeritus at the University, emphasized the need for progression in the African-American movement, from substituting the 1960s protest style in favor of more effi- cient organizational methods necessary for the 21st century. "We will not escape with 20th century methods," Cruse said. He added that a majority of what the black community knows will no longer be enough to survive in the 21st century. Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin was appointed interim president of the United States Olympic Committee. Former USOC President Marty Mankamyer turned in her let- ter of resignation, which put the burden of cur- ing the ailing committee on Vice President Martin, who was next in line for the unenviable position. After a few rocky years marked by scandal and accu- sations of unethical practices, USOC can finally begin its healing process. But Martin said he will serve as the temporary leader of USOC. "This job was notM n something that I was anticipating or desiring," Mar- tin said. "I intend on acting as president only for a short time." One of Martin's primary duties in his new office is dealing with congressional challenges to USOC's structure. "Working with Congress will be an emo- tional and trying process;' Martin said. Martin has a difficult road ahead of him, but despite the turmoil he will now be forced to deal with, he said he will not compromise his loyalties to Michigan. "U of M will always be my top priori- ty," he said. One might think that juggling these two weighty jobs would be impossible, but Martin said he is up to the challenge. "It's going to keep me hopping for a little bit," he said. "I am just going to have to keep organized." Martin also plans on heightening the involve- ment of and giving additional responsibility to other members of USOC. "I'm going to let others help," he said. "That will be my leadership style." Though he is only planning on acting as presi- dent for a few months, Martin has high hopes for getting USOC back on track. "Right now, we're working on healing those hurt by all that's hap- pened with the committee and getting the facilities. ready for Athens 2004 in 14 months," he said. Mar- tin also intends to restore the United States' faith in the integrity of the Olympic Games. "We want to worry about winning medals and keeping them polished," he said. "People used to consider the Olympics to be pure and good. We want to get the games back to where they were." Martin's involvement in USOC began in 1995, when he served on its board of directors. This past November, he was elected to the executive commit- tee when Mankamyer stepped up to the presidential spot. Mere months later, the committee, unsatisfied with Mankamyer's work on the ethics investigation of the USOC's chief executive, Lloyd Ward, called for her resignation. Economic problems combined with student loans have made It harder for students to afford leisure items. 0W Rsing student db lea.ves many with shaky credit future By Layla J. Merritt Daily StaffReporter Kolb appointed to land use commission by Granholm By Andrew McCormack Daily Staff Reporter After running on a platform centered on environ- mental issues, state Rep. Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor) announced yesterday that he has been appointed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm's bipartisan Land Use Leadership Council. "I'm excited. I'm looking forward to getting the state to address this in a comprehensive manner," Kolb said. "We have not done a good job of addressing (urban sprawl) in the past, and one of the major reasons is we've not had an executive whose made it one of their top priorities - and that Kolb stressed the urgency of Michigan's urban development problems, and how some people are not really aware of the issue at hand. "What we call 'urban sprawl' is the inefficient use of land. ... Our rate of development is increasing five times faster than the population," he said. "We will use as much land to house the next one million people in Michigan as the first nine million." Sprawl has grave economic and environmental ramifications for the state, he added. Overhead for extending sewers, roads, schools, trash service and water lines cost the state on average 40 percent more than their tax revenues generate. He added that in spite of the state budget's $1.7 billion deficit, Engineering junior Charles Igwekala has spent countless hours searching websites and flipping through book pages in what he said he feels is almost a vain attempt to find scholarships. "I don't doubt that"the scholarships and grants are out there, but it's very time-consuming to actually find the scholarships that are beneficial;' he said: Over the past two years, Igwekala has successfully attained a few scholarships of a few hundred dollars each, but the money does not add up to the cost of attending the University. As a result, Igwekala estimated he has borrowed more than $11,000 thus far in federal loans - not including interest. The University's tuition increased 7.9 percent this year, and the University esti- mates the total cost of attending and liv- year for Michigan residents and $32,553 for non-residents. As states reduce budg- et allocations to public universities, many schools are raising tuition at rates exceeding inflation. About half of all University students receive some type of financial aid, said Margaret Rodriguez, senior associate director of the Office of Financial Aid. The average debt upon graduation for a University undergraduate student is $19,000, she said, a figure that is slightly higher than, but consistent with, national averages. The University's rate of loan default is exceptionally good - 2.3 per- cent compared to about 6 percent nationally - indicating that students are finding employment after graduation, Rodriguez said. Sunita Sachdev, branch manager of TCF bank in Ann Arbor, said she has witnessed a 20 percent increase in stu- dent debt over the past two years from 1