LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 3
THIS WEEK
Five years ago...
State legislators hosted a forum in
Ann Arbor to discuss making text-
books exempt from sales tax.
10 years ago...
The Internal Revenue Service
picked the University as one of seven
colleges to do a special audit as part
of the Coordinating Examination
Program. The IRS wanted to review
the procedures of how they taxed
universities.
Feb. 10, 1984
At a military research forum hosted
by activist groups, University Presi-
dent Harold Shapiro said that despite
his personal opposition to nuclear
weapons escalation, limiting Universi-
ty contacts with the military infringed
on academic freedom.
Feb. 10, 1988
After interim President Robben
Fleming proposed a Code of Student
Conduct, the Michigan Student Assem-
bly passed an alternative version of the
code. The main difference removed the
clause that punished students commit-
ting non-academic infractions with
academic sanctions such as suspension
or expulsion.
Feb. 11, 1972
The Housing Policy Committee
approved "in principle" the formation of
black student housing within the resi-
dence halls.
The decision stemmed from com-
plaints by black students that they were
repeatedly harassed by white resident
advisors who invaded their privacy.
Feb. 15, 1966
Gov. George Romney urged state
universities to ban Communist Party
from speaking on campus to promote
Communism or to seek new members.
Feb. 13, 1962
Wilber Brucker, former Michigan
governor and secretary of the Army,
spoke at the University.
He criticized the Kennedy admin-
istration for its handling of matters in
Berlin and Laos, and called for
America to back up its strong words
of aid with action.
Feb. 16, 1951
University PresideniAle xari,
Ruthven said a New York Times study
saying University faculty cuts would
be necessary, was "ridiculous." The
study stated that as much as 15 per-
cent of the nation's college faculty
would be downsized in Fall 1951.
Feb. 9, 1945
The Michigan Senate Business
Committee named two senators,
George Higgins and Otto Bishop, to
investigate the "Eaton resolution"
which called for the University of
Board of Regents to make meetings
open to the public.
Feb. 12, 1945
A fire that started in the basement of
the Campus Drug Store, located at the
corner of State and East Liberty
streets, spread to three other stores.
The Ann Arbor Fire Department esti-
mated between $250,000 and $400,000
in damage.
Feb. 13, 1947
Athletic Director and football head
coach Fritz Crisler withdrew his name
from a University of California search
seeking a new football coach.
Crisler did not reveal the reasoning
behind his decision, and ended up
staying at the University for another
21 years.
Feb. 10, 1976
The Ann Arbor Tenants Union criti-
cized Michigan football coach Bo
Schembechler's policy of requiring
freshman and sophomore football play-
ers to live in residence halls.
The AATU said it was unfair for
sophomore football players to receive
guaranteed space in a residence hall
when all other sophomores had to enter
their names in a lottery to get space.
Schembechler denied that the policy
existed.
Feb. 12, 1924
A new campus radio station opened
in the Electrical Engineering Building
equipped with a new wireless phone.
The phone allowed the radio station to
broadcast basketball game results all
over the country.
Students seeking fulfillment study abroad
By Kyle Brouwer
Daily Staff Reporter
Looking for an alternative to the traditional
summer vacation or internship, students are
increasingly exploring volunteering abroad as
an opportunity to aid and understand a new
culture.
One way in which many University students
do this is volunteering overseas with the Peace
Corps. The University produces the second-
largest number of alum volunteers in the coun-
try, according to Peace Corps statistics.
Volunteering abroad appeals to students for
many reasons, said University Peace Corps repre-
sentative Lisa Bobrowski.
"They want to gain cultural experience outside
the U.S.," she said. "We also see a number of appli-
cants wanting international experience to prepare
for his or her career."
A 20 percent increase of volunteers came
about just shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks,
Bobrowski said.
"Many people were feeling like Americans are
misunderstood," she said.
Students looking for a shorter volunteering
experience than the ones offered by the Peace
Corps, which take years of a volunteer's time,
can also take advantage of a variety of shorter
programs.
I-to-I International Projects, a new company
in the United States, offers programs that last
from two weeks to six months.
I-to-I seeks to provide its volunteers - 75
percent of whom are college students - with
a real experience of a different culture, not just
a vacation, company Director Kevin O'Niell
said.
"These are programs where you are thrust
into the middle of things," he said. "We're more
into helping those (in) extreme need as opposed
to sending people on a tour."
Recently, many students have been volunteering
for conservation projects, O'Niell said.
"Our most popular project is environmental
work in Central America," he said.
There are many different volunteering programs
available to students, making it easy to find a pro-
gram that fits their interest, said LSA sophomore
Elizabeth Horevitz, who volunteered recently in
rural Bolivia.
Volunteering abroad helps you understand people
on a global scale, she said.
"You're not just stepping outside your normal
boundaries, you're getting a broader perspective on
how the world works."
A panel presentation for students interested in
volunteering abroad will be held tomorrow from 7
to 8 p.m. in the Maize and Blue Room in the Stu-
dent Activities Building.
'
alum speaks about
how biracial identity
affected experiences
Atkins said she found writing
helped her overcome confusion
of identity
By Min Kyung Yoon
Daily Staff Reporter
An estimated seven million people checked
more than one box on the 2000 census, indicating
an increasing number of mixed race identities in
the United States.
University alum Elizabeth Atkins, the best-
selling author of "White Chocolate," "Dark
Secret" and "Twilight" spoke about the impor-
tance of biracial identity in last night's book
signing.
As a University biracial student during the late
1980s, Atkins asked herself an important ques-
tion: "Am I a tragic mulatto?"
Crying in her South Quad Residence Hall
single after a night of racial insensitivities from
peers, she began to realize she was having a
racial identity crisis, she said.
While she was originally a pre-medical stu-
dent, the crisis prompted her to change her
career path.
She chose an English major and became a
news editor at The Michigan Daily. With
these changes, she realized how therapeutic
talking and writing helped her to find her
identity.
With a black mother and a white father, Atkins
said she'believ'ed that this identity crisis was a
unique experience only felt by her.
"I was always caught in the middle," she said.
"I felt black but I'm half white."
Due to herflight skin tone, many people didnot
believe she was black, Atkins said.
"I felt black on the inside, yet someone would
always make comments like, 'Have you looked in
the mirror?"'
As a biracial child, Atkins said she always
knew she was unlike most other children.
"I was always different," she said. "I was
always the oddball."
Atkins stressed the importance of the role
of her parents while growing up with the
uncertainities and questions of being biracial.
In a time when biracial marriages were
uncommon, Atkins's father, a former Catholic
priest, changed his life to marry a black
woman who was 25 years younger and preg-
nant. "All they gave us was love and encourage-
ment," she said.
Although growing up biracial had difficult
moments, Atkins said she believes it made her
who she is today.
"Never fitting in made me stronger," she said.
"I cherish the fact that I never fit in."
It is through her experiences as being bira-
cial that she found her calling in life, Atkins
added.
"I sort of see this as my life mission," she
said, referring to spreading awareness on bira-
cial identity.
Marie McCrary, whose granddaughter is half
black and half Japanese, said it is important to
have people like Atkins to raise awareness on
mixed race identity.
"There is nothing wrong with half black, half
white," she said.
" 'or birac a'c hildren, Atkins said it is important
to remain strong in the face of adversity.
"People are going to make fun of you and
make issues about ,you. she said. "It's a negative
reflection of them. Don't let it deter you. Stay
strong."
SARAH PAUP/Daily
Auret van Heerden of the Fair Labor Association speaks to Lawrence Root of Instituteof Labor and
Industrial Relations last night before a discussion in the School of Education building.
Panel'iscusses labor
rights issues related to
Universcity -merchand ise
AATU
Continued from Page 1.
5 percent.
MSA President Sarah Boot said her organiza-
tion has already paid AATU $15,000 of its fund-
ing for Fall 2002 and will offer the remaining
money if AATU continues to press for it, but
completion of payment would sever the ties
between the organizations. Boot said she has
made no plans to renew MSA's contract with
AATU unless the group presents a specific plan
for how they will spend the money..
"If they want (the money) that badly, they
can have it" by the Friday deadline, she said.
"The problem is that expires their contract
with us."
Bernstein said MSA is hesitant to continue fund-
ing AATU because the organization has not man-
aged its money appropriately.
He said the group has maintained the same
level of services, aiding 45 students per year in
the past term, despite the drop in funds from
$50,000 to $20,000.
Bernstein added that additional funding for
AATU has little purpose because the same services
can be received for free at Student Legal Services.
"Last year it cost $103 for AATU to talk to a
GRANHOLM im
"We have fulfilled every
part of the contract they
have not fulfilled their
part. ... We continue to
serve in a good-faith
effort. And now they
have stalled
negotiations."
- Amy Ament
AATU executive director
student," he said. "This year it's $65. Student
Legal Services can provide the same thing better
and for free."
Roumel said although SLS provides exemplary
services for students, AATU can advise students
with smaller problems much more quickly.
"It's like telling someone with minor cuts and
bruises to go to the hospital," he said.
By Alison Go
and Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporters
Who made your Michigan sweatshirt? This was
the question posed to students who gathered in
the School of Education for yesterday's forum of
the same name.
The forum featured Auret Van Heerden, the
executive director of the Fair Labor Association
- a collection of corporations that voluntarily
agree to a code of labor conduct that applies to
their entire supply chain.
Also speaking was Scott Nova, executive direc-
tor of the Worker Rights Consortium, an inde-
pendent group that monitors and enforces fair
labor standards in industries that produce universi-
ty logo goods. The FLA and WRC often collabo-
rate on dealing with workers' rights issues.
Van Heerden and Nova discussed the Universi-
ty's ability to affect workers' rights and working
conditions.
"Globalization has outstripped all the existing
methods of regulation we had," Van Heerden said.
He pointed out that private citizens and student
activism can put pressure on industries to provide
humane working conditions.
"In the export sector at least, we will ensure
that these rights are respected," he added.
Van Heerden emphasized the many ways students
can get involved in the fair labor struggle. "Mobiliz-
ing on campuses is one of the best things you can
do," he said. He pointed to internships with monitor-
ing organizations, field research at factories and
campus activism as some methods of involvement.
Both Van Heerden and Nova emphasized the
importance of unionization and collective bar-
gainingto ,change. industrial power structures ate
a grassroots level. "If you want to see sustain-
able change at a factory then you have to rec-
ognize that it's much more likely to occur if
workers are able to defend their own rights,"
Nova said.
School of Public Health junior Richa Mittal,
an audience member who has visited several
Bengali sweatshops, said the personal testi-
monies of sweatshop workers will increase
awareness of the real face of third-world labor.
Rather than ordering management level initia-
tive, she proposes teaching workers about their own
rights.
Students Organizing for Labor and Econom-
ic Equality member Mike Swiryn, an RC jun-
ior, said he was initially dubious of hearing an
FLA representative speak.
"I think that there should be a great amount of
emphasis on the fact that the FLA can't function
without the WRC," he said. "It's been the experi-
ence of people that the FLA has served as a
smokescreen for corporate abuse."
Other members of SOLE agreed, but said they
noticed some change in the FLA's stance lately.
"They seem definitely for workers' rights in what
they're saying," said SOLE member Adrian Esquiv-
el, an RC junior. He questioned whether these
changes would translate into actions in the future.
The panel discussion was presented by the
University Committee on Labor Standards and
Human Rights, SOLE and the Peace and Justice
Committee for the Michigan Student Assembly.
a"'.'a' ..,<''t<**kX.:Z.:~V* U 3
Continued from Page 1
will hopefully have an impact on the
court's decision.
But some feel Granholm's position
as governor will have little influence
on the Supreme Court.
"With the court, the amicus brief has
no political weight," said Wayne State
University constitutional law Prof.
Robert Sedler. "If there are interesting
points in the brief, the clerk might
show it to the Supreme Court, but it's
not going to matter if 'the president' or
'the governor' filed a brief."
"Groups file amicus briefs largely
for their own purposes. Bush filed his
brief for his reasons, and Granholm is
filing her brief for her reasons," Sedler
added.
The attorney general has similar
thoughts about the issue, Eastman said.
"We don't feel the justices will be
swayed by who signed the brief, but
by the points made in the brief," he
added.
Cox also feels the admissions
policies of other universities accom-
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