January 9, 2003
©2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 70
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Critics: Bush's plan threatens funding
By Dan Trudeau
Daily Staff Reporter
After a day of intense analysis, the economic
recovery plan proposed by President Bush on'
Tuesday continues to draw strong responses from
supporters and critics alike.
The president's plan, which will seek to stimu-
late consumer spending largely through cuts on
investment dividend taxes and on personal
income taxes, has been the focus of debate at the
University level as well as nationally.
At the University, economic theorists have
speculated on the effectiveness of the president's
plan in creating a short-term stimulus to boost the
nation's stumbling economy from its current
recession.
"I don't think this is going to be a significant
stimulus. When you compare the tax cut proposal
to the trillion-dollar scale of the economy, this
plan is not a very big deal," Economics Prof. Joel
Slemrod said.
While the potential effects of Bush's plan on
the University community are not certain, the tax
cuts could threaten funding for public education
programs - including public universities.
"This will put pressure on government spend-
ing, including on education. There is already
speculation that the president will put a spending
freeze on many public programs," Slemrod said.
Slemrod also noted the possible benefits of the
Bush plan, which involve changes in investment
tax laws that could improve the way many corpo-
rations do business.
Some University professors had a more opti-
mistic appraisal of the proposal, asserting that the
positive effects of the Bush plan could extend
into the future.
"I think it is generally a good idea," Finance
Prof. Vikram Nanda said. "It is not clear if the
impact will be immedite or more long term ...
removal of the dividends taxation will definitely
make it easier for companies to raise capital."
Nanda said that small businesses would find it
easier to succeed under the new plan, greatly
improving the outlooks for the nation's unem-
ployed.
"The hope is that there will be a positive effect
on (unemployment) as small businesses provide
more jobs," Nanda said.
But local and national Democratic leaders
have been forthright in their criticism of Bush's
proposition. Officials from the Michigan Democ-
ratic Party claim that the president's plan is irre-
sponsible and unfairly slanted toward upper-class
Americans when compared to the alternative
plan proposed by congressional democrats.
In New York, former Democratic Gov. Mario
Cuomo accused the president of declaring war on
working-class America, and Democrats in the
U.S. House have been blistering in their criticism
of Bush's proposals.
"Unfortunately, rather than a job-creating plan
to immediately address the economic troubles
See ECONOMY, Page 7A
Party at Horton's house
Director of
Housing
leaves post
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
Planned renovations of the University's residence
halls and the construction of a new hall will have to
continue without the leadership of University Housing
Director William Zeller, who left his post Jan. 1.
Vice President of Student Affairs E. Royster Harper
said Zeller, who has served as Housing director since
1995, left to pursue new challenges, but did not provide
specific details about his departure.
"Bill is pursuing other opportunities at this point in
his career," Harper said. "From a timing perspective,
this seemed like the best time to make a change"
Harper said the Housing department felt its upcoming
projects - including renovations to all of the residence
halls and the construction of a new hall on North Cam-
pus - would progress more smoothly if Zeller stepped
down before they began.
"Bill and I agreed that if he is to turn his expertise to
other options, it would be best to do so now before we
are deep into the next phase of facilities renewal," Harp-
er said in a memo sent to the University Housing staff.
Zeller said he did not feel comfortable commenting
on his departure.
A nationwide search for candidates to replace Zeller
will begin within the next few weeks, Harper said, as a
diverse pool of people - including current Housing
employees - will be considered for the job.
"The challenges facing University residence halls are
changing rapidly along with changing expectations for
the learning environment, technology, safety and student
lifestyles," she said. "We will be looking for a leader
with energy and vision, who can help us transform our
residential environment for students over the next sever-
al years."V
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said although
Housing is currently operating without an interim direc-
tor, associate Directors Archie Andrews and Mary Hum-
mel are working directly under Harper until a new
director is appointed.
For the time being, University Housing has capable
senior leaders who will be able to continue moving
forward all of the department's current projects, Harp-
er said.
In the memo, Harper thanked Zeller for his contribu-
tions during his eight-year tenure. She credits Zeller and
his staff for increasing student satisfaction with Univer-
sity Housing and the subsequent higher return rates of
upperclassmen to residence halls.
"He has focused on living-learning initiatives,
strengthening the many learning programs within the
residence halls and helping to develop new ones," Harp-
er said. "He has worked to create a supportive climate
for staff, and has made many improvements to the quali-
ty of student residential life, including the elimination
of overflow triples."
See ZELLER, Page 7A
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Some researchers argue video games with violence, like Goldeneye, promote
unhealthy aggressive behavior among youths.
More video games
mar keted toward
adult audiences
By Maria Sprow
Daily Staff Reporter
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
Fans rushed the court of Crisler Arena for the first time since beating Duke in 1997
L after Daniel Horton made the game winning block on Wisconsin's last possession.
SOLE, 'U' seek better
ethics in labor practice
For college students like LSA jun-
ior Chris Johns, video'games have
never before been such a realistic
method for escaping reality.
Johns - who said he was first
introduced to video games at the age
of five - can still spend hours in
front of his TV set, playing everything
from games like Final Fantasy to the
James Bond version of hide-and-
shoot, Goldeneye.
"I like the concentration involved in
role-playing games, and the new sys-
tems allow you to get really sucked in
to what is going on," he said. "And
killing off all my friends - but not
really - is a great way to relax at the
end of the day."
Gaming technologies and graphics
have become more realistic in the last
few years, making video games con-
tinually appealing to the youth that
grew up on Atari and Nintendo. As a
result, game designers and corpora-
tions are redirecting their marketing
strategy toward an older and mature
audience.
The same children who spent their
allowances on Pong and Mario are
now spending their paychecks on
games made specifically for adults,
said Rackham student Dmitri
Williams, who teaches a class on
video games at the University.
"Their taste for playing never went
away," Williams said, adding that the
stereotype that games are for kids is
slowly disappearing.
"In any creative industry, people
tend to make products that they them-
selves enjoy. You now have people in
their thirties and forties making
games, and their first impulse is not to
make games for teenagers, but for
people in their thirties and forties, he
said. "But the public image of who
plays games is changing very slug-
gishly."
. That impulse has driven many
video game makers to design more
graphically stimulating video games,
including the popular mobster-life, car
cruising - and stealing - Grand
Theft Auto: Vice City for PlayStation
2 and GameCube's BMX XXX, an
extreme sports game featuring full-
frontal nudity.
While most college students aren't
See GAMES, Page 7A
By Kara DeBoer
Daily Staff Reporter
The Business School's choice of where to
send its laundry has come under fire recently
for supporting unjust labor practices. Students
Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality is
pressuring the University to reconsider its con-
tract with the Toledo branch of Morgan Linen,
the laundry service for the Business School's
Executive Residence.
Workers at the branch still struggle to negoti-
ate a desirable contract with the company. Their
jobs - which often require them to work under
uncomfortable conditions - are difficult and
low-paying, according to workers' written state-
ments. Moreover, their employer is attempting
to revoke their only defense: their union,
UNITE!.
Louis Green, head of ethical purchasing for
the University, said when he was approached by
SOLE members, he immediately met with the
group to address their concerns.
"We take ethical standards very seriously,"
Green said. "We don't always get involved, and
we don't always take sides. Where we tend to
get involved is when standards violate the fabric
of University values," Green said.
Green said he believes that Morgan Linen's
standards commit such. a violation.
After meeting with SOLE, Green phoned
Morgan Linen to share his concerns and hear
the company's perspective. President Jack
Bigler responded in a lengthy e-mail. In it, he
said workers themselves "had delivered a peti-
See LAUNDRY, Page 7A
Decision allows detainment
of U.S. expatriates in combat
Book exchange
provides low
prices, options
By SooJung Chang
Daily StaffReporter
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. citizens overseas
who take up arms against their country can be
held as enemy combatants without the constitu-
tional rights afforded other Americans, a federal
appeals court ruled yesterday.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.,
affirms the government's authority to detain
indefinitely American citizens captured in foreign
battles or those who participate in terrorist attacks
against U.S. interests.
But the ruling stopped short of approving those
same powers over Americans arrested on U.S.
soil, which legal experts said leaves a major ques-
tion for courts to settle in the future.
"They have substantially cooled what has been
a legal hot potato," said Michael Greenberger, a
Clinton administration who now directs the Uni-
versity of Maryland's Center for Health and
Homeland Security.
The appeals decision overturned a lower court's
ruling that 22-year-old Yaser Esam Hamdi, a
Louisiana native captured in Afghanistan in
November 2001, must see the government's evi-
dence supporting its claims that he fought with
al-Qaida and Taliban forces against the United
States.
Courts, the judges ruled, must be "highly defer-
ential" to the government during wartime, even
an unconventional war such as that against global
terrorism. Hamdi, they added, is being held under
"well-established laws and customs of war."
"The fact that he is a citizen does not affect the
legality of his detention as an enemy combatant,"
Students looking to spend less money on books this semes-
ter have found a variety of ways to avoid bookstore prices,
from selling used books to friends and acquaintances to buy-
ing books on the Internet. Another option for students to con-
sider is the Student Book Exchange, a book drive offered the
first week of every semester.
Students frequented the Pond Room of the Michigan Union
yesterday looking for used books on subjects ranging from art
history to women's studies. Today is the final day of the four-
day drive to purchase books.
The Student Book Exchange is a non-profit organization
that relies on volunteers to help with its book drives. During
the first two days of the drive, students drop off their used
books. Other students can buy those books during the final
two days of the exchange.
RYAN WEINER/Daily
LSA senior Carrie McGee searches through stacks of books yesterday at the