TODAY:
Monday
March 10,2003
©2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 106
One-hundred-twelve years ofeditorzadfreedom
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US. still
lacking bit'l
support for
resolution
Powell says U.S.
remains unconvinced by
Iraq's disarmament
attempts, sets March
17 deadline
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secre-
tary of State Colin Powell held out
hope yesterday that the U.N. Secu-
rity Council, allies across the globe
and the American public would
come to support an American-led
war with Iraq, as the United States
pressed for an ultimatum giving
Saddam Hussein until March 17 to
prove he has disarmed.
Powell said he was within "strik-
ing distance" of the necessary nine
votes to win a majority on the 15-
member council. But he conceded
on "Fox News Sunday" that the
French appeared set to "do every-
thing they can to stop it" by using
their veto. Such a veto, he warned,
would "have a serious effect on
bilateral relations, at least in the
short term."
He said it remained unclear
where two other veto-bearing
nations, Russia and China, stood
on a vote that could take place as
early as tomorrow.
Nevertheless, Powell said he was
leading intensive efforts over the
weekend to win over several other
governments, hoping to muster the
nine necessary votes.
He said U.N. inspectors should
have focused more public attention
on Iraqi shortcomings contained in
a 173-page report circulated among
Security Council members and thatI
the United States would be making
more details from it public in the
days to come.
The New York Times, meanwhile,1
reported in today's editions that,s
according to American officials, thei
inspectors recently discovered a new
variety of rocket apparently intendedI
to strew bomblets filled with chemi-1
cal or biological agents over largeI
areas. Powell did not refer to cluster
bombs in his TV appearances, but
noted that the U.N. report discussesI
the possibility of Iraq having dronet
aircraft that would violate weapons
restrictions.1
See IRAQ, Page 2A<
Rise in unemployment
rate worries economists
By Lydia K. Leung
Daily Staff Reporter
Companies slashed thousands of jobs in February, cre-
ating the steepest plunge of payrolls since two months
after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the U.S. Labor
Department. Fear of war and other uncertainties created
by geopolitical risks are said to have contributed to the
discouraging numbers.
According to a Labor Department report released Fri-
day, the unemployment rate edged up to 5.8 percent in
February after dropping in January. Furthermore, employ-
ers have cut 308,000 non-agricultural jobs, which includ-
ed jobs in various industries, ranging from services
production to construction positions.
Lynne Sebille-White, assistant director of the Universi-
ty's Career Center, said job postings by consulting, invest-
ment banking, marketing and advertising have been down
this year, while only government and non-profit firms are
hiring at a steady rate.
"Certainly we still have people recruiting on campus,
students are receiving offers, but it is not at the same rate
that it was two or three years ago," White said.
College students, especially graduating seniors who
are about to enter the job market, are significantly
impacted by the job cuts because they now have to
compete with more experienced workers that have been
recently laid off.
"The job agent in New York City told me that I have
to demonstrate the very best work in order to get a job
because of the current economic situation and massive
lay offs," Art and Design senior Joanne Liu said.
Srae conference
in Mi~ddle East
By Soojung Chang
Daily Staff Reporter
Avraham Burg, speaker of Israel's legislative body,
the Knesset, said yesterday that he is optimistic about
Israel's future.
"Israel today is an unbelievable reality of influence and
wealth," he said, addressing attendees of the 2nd Annual
Academic Israel Conference titled "Israel: Piecing -the
Puzzle together."
But Burg spent a sizeable portion of his keynote
speech, "The Future of Israel: Challenges and Opportuni-
ties," addressing pressing issues that Israel faces today,
mainly the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Burg advocated the use of the "two-state solution," in
which Israel would have to make territorial concessions
to the Palestinians as a means of achieving peace in
Israel.
"It's the kind of amputation that will enable the rest of
the body to survive," Burg said.
"The figures are telling us that the
economic expansion is plodding
along at a very slow rate right now."
- Saul Hymans
Director, Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics
The dismal job market outlook and the weakness in the
stock market have started to worry economists as these
numbers are suggesting a slower than expected recovery
pace.
In order to further stimulate spending and investment,
some analysts on Wall Street are predicting that the Feder-
al Reserve will cut the short term interest rate by a quar-
ter-point again in Wednesday's up-coming meeting.
"The figures are telling us that the economic expansion
is plodding along at a very slow rate right now," said Saul
Hymans, director of the University's Research Seminar in
Quantitative Economics.
Hymans said Americans are extremely cautious with
their spending when economic fears are generated by the
uncertainties created by war-related issues.
"Households and businesses are too jumpy and jittery
to make heavy investment decisions, whether these deci-
sions are buying cars or investing capital ... all these
things are scary things to do if you are not sure what
things are going to be like in the economy in the future,"
he said.
But Hymans added that once the geopolitical risks
See JOBS, Page 7A
KYLENE KIANG/For the Daily
A member of Pledge of Resistance, a national anti-war organization, is arrested for
blocking the entrance of the Ann Arbor Federal Building Friday.
Aar.ested .anti-war
protest at Federal Builing
By Soojung Chang
DailyStaff Reporter
Anti-war activity in Ann Arbor esca-
lated last weekend in two separate
events; a blockade at the Federal Build-
ing and a protest march.
Dissenters against the war in Iraq
formed a human barricade in front of
the Federal building Friday at noon by
locking arms and refusing to leave.
'The Federal Building symbolizes the
federal government, and the federal
government is engaging in this danger-
ous action against the citizens of Iraq,"
Ypsilanti resident Malcolm Marts said.
Marts is a member of the local chapter
of Pledge of Resistance, a nationwide
anti-war organization that organized the
blockade.
The blockade ended when Ann Arbor
Police,'Department officers escorted
several protesters to the police station.
Sgt. Tom Hickey confirmed that six
people were arrested on a disorderly
persons charge.
Pledge of Resistance member and
Ann Arbor resident Jim Russo was one
of the protesters who was arrested. He
said the police told them they were tres-
passing and had to leave. He said all of
the protesters were almost immediately
released from the station after being told
that the court would contact them in the
future.
See PROTEST, Page 7A
Keynote speaker and Israeli Knesset member Avraham Burg
speaks at the Academic Israel Conference yesterday.
Many in the audience, such as Canton resident Abe
Kandah, came only for Burg's portion of the conference.
Kandah, who is Palestinian, said Burg seemed to be
knowledgeable about the Palestinian viewpoint.
"He's not afraid to show his dream for a greater Israel,
See ISRAEL, Page 7A
- - I - - - ---- I
Leaders talk'
about roles
of females
in PO ltics
By Carmen Johnson
Daily Staff Reporte
Duets
Legal, ethical issues of genetics discussed
By Emily Kraack
Daily StaffReporter
Every person carries within him- or herself
one of the hottest legal controversies in Ameri-
ca. Genetic identification and the moral and
ethical questions it raises were the topic of Fri-
day's "Life Sciences, Technology, and the Law
Symposium" at the Law School.
The symposium attempted to educate the
public about issues involved in genetic research.
Matt Mock, editor in chief of The Michigan
Telecommunications and Technology Law
Review, which sponsored the event, said there
are no easy answers to questions about genetics.
"There are a lot of answers but every answer
brings up more questions," he said, comparing
genetics to Pandora's box.
Executive Editor and conference chair Larry
LaVanway said the Law Review timed the event
to coincide with construction of the Life Sci-
ences Institute.
"We wanted to tap into the energy that's on
this campus with the Life Sciences Institute,"
Mock said.
The symposium consisted of a keynote
speaker followed by three panels and closing
remarks. The panels dealt with life sciences in
the court, the regulation of life sciences and
what was referred to as "technology- transfer,"-
the process of turning new research into mar-
ketable products.
Keynote speaker Philip Reilly, president of
the American Society of Law, Medicine and
Ethics and the CEO of Interleukin Genetics,
Inc., gave a broad overview of the evolving role
of genetics and the questions this evolution rais-
es. "Genetic information is affecting the activi-
ties that are held most closely to our hearts" he
said, noting that genetics can even affect how
we evaluate each other as people. "We underes-
timate the role genes play."
Confidentiality of genetic information was
one topic discussed in detail by Reilly and pan-
elists. "I am highly confident that confidentiali-
ty as we know it will be rewritten in the next
decade by genetics," Reilly said.
Speakers in the first panel pointed out that
genetic information is unlike widely-used iden-
tifiers such as fingerprints because it is familial
- parents and children have similar genes. This
raises medical confidentiality concerns. For
"Genetic information is
~affecting the-activities:'that
are held most closely to
our hearts.'
- Phillip Reilly
CEO, Interleukin Genetics, Inc.
instance, if a person develops Huntington's dis-
ease, siblings carry a 50 percent chance of
developing the disease. Does a doctor have a
moral obligation to inform family members in
this situation?
Another issue raised was the existence of
genetic databases of convicted felons created
for research and criminal justice purposes. Reil-
ly and law and sociology Prof. Richard Lem-
pert, a panelist, said there is a possibility that
future arrestees or even all infants could be test-
ed and have their genetic information added to
the database.
The role of universities in generating life sci-
See GENETICS, Page 7A
Women have come a long way since
gaining the right to vote, but still have
a long way to go. This was the mes-
sage conveyed in a panel discussion
last night where Michigan Democratic
women leaders joined with female
campus leaders to address the role of
women in politics.
But the notion that female elected
officials should support other elected
women, even if they have opposing polit-
ical beliefs, is questionable, said state
Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor).
"It's important to have a critical mass
of women in office, however just
because it's a woman, don't assume
she'll have progressive views on
women's issues," Brater said. "A lot of
men have feminist views too."
Other members made similar state-
ments focusing on womens' issues rather
than gender. Democratic National Com-
mittee member Debbie Dingell said it is
important for women's issues to not be
pigeonholed to topics like abortion. She
said improved healthcare and education
are also integral to women's issues.
Unfortunately, women working for
women's issues in a mostly-male envi-
ronment may need to pay attention to
how they are perceived, Brater said.
"I'm aware that some people are sen-
sitive about an outspoken woman
because women tend to be socialized to
See DEMOCRATS, Page 7A
Conference looks at perceptions of Holocaust
By Min Kyung Yoon
Daily Staff Reporter
With the continuing violence in the Mid-
dle East and the impending war in Iraq, the
media has become an important tool in shap-
ing public discourse. The 24th Conference
on the Holocaust, which starts today, will
analyze the role of various forms of media in
shaping the world's and individual's percep-
tions through current events and its portrayal
of the Holocaust.
"Examining the Holocaust's connection to
modern-day events will hopefully provide stu-
dents with a greater understanding of the histor-
ical basis for many of the (United States')
current humanitarian initiatives, and promote a
greater moral consciousness amongst students,"
conference chair Courtney Rangen and LSA
senior said. "Most importantly, the conference
will raise awareness of the power - good and
bad - the media has to record histories and
trigger action, demonstrate the importance of
tolerance and educate our community about the
horrors that arise through racial and ethnic prej-
udices."
LSA freshman Jillian Steinhauser, a member
of the conference organizing committee, said
the conference also aims to raise awareness and
educate people about the Holocaust.
"I believe that the only way to ensure that
something as horrendous as the Holocaust
never happens again is to teach people about it,
and that is why we have the conference here at
the U of M - to educate and remember,"
Steinhauser added.
Organized by University Hillel, the confer-
ence will feature Washington-based CBS radio
and television correspondent Dan Raviv as the
keynote speaker and several Holocaust sur-
vivors. Raviv will address the media's represen-
tation of the Holocaust and how it would be
reported in today's media industry.
"We wanted someone who would be able
to speak about how the press covered the
Holocaust during and after the war, and to be
able to relate that to more current issues
involving press coverage of major events,"
Rangen said.
One of the planned events is the screening of
See HOLOCAUST, Page 3A
TONY DING/Daily
LSA senior Sean Izor and RC senior Paul Kuttner
perform In the play "Marcia: True Tales from the
Venezuelan Cordillera" Saturday.