LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 17, 2003 - 3A
Students First touts diverse platform, candidates
Overcrowding,
fight reported at
Touchdown Cafe
By Andrew Kaplan
Daily Staff Reporter
After claiming the majority of open seats on the
Michigan Student Assembly and LSA Student
Government last term, the Students First Party is
looking to retain its control over student govern-
ment in this week's elections.
"Students First picks people from different com-
Two separate incidents were
reported at Touchdown Cafe last
weekend. Due to overcrowding, the
bar was closed by the Ann Arbor
Fire Department Friday night at
12:30 a.m. "The fire department
closed them down because of over-
capacity," Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment Sgt. Patrick Hughes said.
The AAPD was contacted due to a
second incident Saturday, when a
fight occurred at Touchdown. "We
were called in for numerous subjects
fighting in the bar but no one was
arrested," Hughes said. Touchdown
was closed at 1 a.m. Saturday night.
After each incident, all patrons of
Touchdown vacated the building.
Man exposes self
at Taubman Library
An incident of indecent exposure
occurred at the Taubman Medical
Library Thursday afternoon. Depart-
ment of Public Safety reports state a
male subject wearing blue jeans and a
red shirt exposed himself at the
library. DPS officers were unable to
locate the subject.
Sleeping trespasser
woken, removed
from Angell Hall
A frequent trespasser was discov-
ered in the fishbowl area of Angell
Hall Friday night. The trespasser
was located sleeping in the area.
The subject was cited for trespass-
ing by DPS and escorted out of the
building.
Unattended shoes
stolen outside of
resident's room
A student reported larceny at West
Quad Residence Hall Saturday after-
noon. According to DPS reports, the
resident had two pairs of shoes stolen
from outside his room. The shoes had
been left unattended. DPS has no sus-
pects at this time.
West Quad resident
assaults neighbor
An assault occurred at West Quad
Residence Hall Wednesday evening.
DPS reports state a caller reported
that another resident had assaulted
him by pushing him into a door in
addition to verbally threatening
him. The victim sustained minor
injuries. A report was taken but no
arrests or citations were made.
Unknown suspect
breaks SECS
Building window
Malicious destruction of a build-
ing was reported at the Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science
Building late Saturday night.
According to DPS reports, a caller
stated that an unknown subject
broke a window at the building
sometime that night. DPS has no
suspects at this time.
Stop sign damaged
at Bonisteel lot
DPS reports state malicious destruc-
tion of property occurred at a Universi-
ty parking lot on Bonisteel Boulevard
Friday morning. DPS officers investi-
gated and found a damaged stop sign.
The cause of the damage is unknown at
this time.
Student discovered
with marijuana,
drug paraphernalia
DPS located a student in posses-
sion of marijuana in West Quad Fri-
day night. DPS officers confiscated
the student's marijuana and pipe.
The student was not arrested at the
time of discovery but an arrest war-
rant is pending.
Suspect harasses
law students
A trespasser was reported in
Hutchins Hall Thursday afternoon.
A caller reported that the trespasser,
a non-affiliate of the University,
was harassing students. DPS cited
the subject for trespassing and
escorted him from the building.
Unconscious
woman discovered
in East Hall
munities so they can
be together and
express the view-
points of all students
on campus;' Students
First MSA presiden-
tial candidate Angela
Winte 003
Galardi said. "I think that's
Students First leaders have sponsored a variety of
resolutions to improve student life at the University.
Such ongoing projects have sought to improve stu-
dent group outreach, move back Spring Break a
week later during the winter term and obtain $5
million from the University Board of Regents to
revamp Recreational Sports facilities.
"Students First has done amazing things in the
assembly this last year," Galardi said. "Everyone
always knows of student government, but I think
now more than ever people know what it's doing
for them."
In addition to focusing on campus life improve-
ments, Students First leaders have also sponsored
resolutions supporting University admissions poli-
cies and encouraging the federal government to
seek diplomatic relations with Iraq.
Although candidates of the University Party con-
tend these resolutions misrepresented student
views, Students First candidates said the action
accomplished by the resolutions was unbiased -
particularly in the legislation defending race-con-
scious admissions.
"That resolution that was passed was open for
anyone to participate," MSA vice-presidential
candidate Monique Perry said, referring to a
clause of the resolution supporting nonpartisan
educational activities about affirmative action.
why there's been so much success."
Currently, Students First holds the majority
of committee chair positions on MSA and has
more student representatives than any other
party in student government - a type of
clout that will most likely carry over into the
next term, Galardi said.
"All these things we've been campaigning on -
we're actually doing them now," Galardi said. "I
think the students are realizing that, so they're vot-
ing for Students First."
Representatives said that in the most recent term,
"Everyone always knows of student government, but I think
now more than ever people know what it's doing for them.
- Dana Galardi
MSA presidential candidate, Students First Party
"If you look at the accomplishments and the
things we've done, we've done so much more
than these two resolutions."
Reaffirming Perry's statements, LSA-SG presi-
dential candidate David Matz - a former Blue
Party member - said he ultimately decided to
campaign for Students First because its supporters
represented all moods of student activism.
"I saw that Students First had so many people
from all over the place that work together well -
that constructively represented their groups," Matz
said. "Students First has managed to bring them all
together for many different issues."
According to the party's website, current
Students First representatives hold member-
ships to nine academic societies, eight cultur-
al groups, seven community service groups
and three environmental organizations. Rep-
resentatives also belong to 15 fraternities and
sororities.
Although Students First members tout a complex
party agenda, some candidates said their docket is
not dissimilar from other parties' platforms.
Despite several unique ideas, including the addi-
tion of bus routes to Central Campus and increased
counseling services to off-campus tenants, some
platform items such as relaxing student access to
residence halls and expanding campus wireless
Internet are shared by Students First and the Uni-
versity Party.
But Students First candidates said the flexibil-
ity of their platform separates Students First
from other parties.
"The things we have in common (with other
parties) are things we agree on, like pushing
Spring Break forward and financial aid reform,"
MSA representative candidate Rachel Fisher
said. "But each (Students First) candidate can
develop their own specific platform for things
they're working on, or good at working on."
Tradiionaldance
group commences
Latino Unity Month
By SoJung Chang
Daily Staff Reporter
"Every dance has a story" said Hedges Elementary School student Ramon Flores,
referring to the traditional Mexican dances he performed last Saturday at the Michi-
gan Union Pendleton Room.
Flores is part of the Back of the Yards Ballet Folklorico, an award-winning cultural
dance group from Chicago with over 200 members, whose ages range from 4 to 21.
Their performance kicked off the University's celebration of Latino Unity Month.
"We wanted to have a program for the initiation of Latino Unity Month so we
thought this would be a good idea to show the community some of the traditional
dances from the culture we come from," LSA senior Ruben Martinez said. Martinez
is part of multicultural fraternity Sigma Lambda Beta, who organized the event.
"It involves a lot of stomping," Nursing School senior and Sigma Lambda Beta
member Joseph Salazar said about the group's routines, many of which utilize tap
dancing. "It's very vivid, because of the bright colors they wear,"he added.
Many of the dances, such as the Bailemos Polka from the Mexican state of Duran-
go, feature men in sombreros paired with women in long, flowing dresses, who
waved their skirts around to the beat of traditional Mexican music.
But there were also routines such as the Almudes from the state of Campeche, in
which the younger dancers performed tap routines while balancing a tray of water
cups on their heads.
"I was really amazed at the younger kids and how talented they were" Rackham
student Michelle Kelso said. "They had a lot of spirit," she added.
The group ended its performance with four ritualistic dances from the state of
Concheros that reenacted a warrior dance, a fertility dance, a war preparations dance
and a dance portraying appreciation for the gods.
The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, which runs the Ballet Folklorico, is ,
a non-profit group that provides community services to the south side of Chicago.
"It gives them a good environment to be in after school;' Engineering senior
Ramon Martinez said about the dance program. "This is kind of a place for them to
gather with friends and enjoy their culture."
Maribel Gomez, whose 14-year-old daughter Erica has been part of the group for
nine years, said the program helps keep kids off the streets while learning about their
heritage.
"Dancing is a very nice way of expressing the Mexican culture," Gomez said.
Upcoming Latino Unity Month events include "Yo Soy Latina" on March 20,
which will discuss issues affecting Latino women, and the annual Latino Cultural
Show on March 29.
The show's title, "No es o Mismo Pero es Igual," can be roughly translated as "It's
not the same, but it's equal."
Donney Moroney, the Latino coordinator for the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student
Affairs, said the show's theme addresses the fact that the Latino culture encompasses
a diverse range of individuals and ethnic categories.
"If you haven't had exposure to the Latino community, it is easy to believe that
Latino means Mexican,"Moroney said.
While Mexican Americans make up the predominant group of Latinos at the Uni-
versity, Moroney said there are also students, faculty and staff of Puerto Rican,
Argentinian, Nicaraguan, Ecuadorean and Costa Rican descent.
Moroney said the Latino Unity Month events aim to celebrate and share Latino
culture in order to raise awareness and educate the campus community. Martinez
said the Ballet Folklorico's routines reflect different regions of Mexico and encom-
pass many Mexican states.
Cancer pprevention
studies find common link
By Acn Go
Daily Staff Reporter
Increasing exercise, eating healthy and quitting smoking could lead to 60,000 less
cancer deaths each year, according to a study released by the Institute of Medicine
last week. The statement is a compilation of conclusions made by the medical com-
munity over the past six years and contains a series of 12 recommendations to policy
makers and those who are able to make a difference in health care and medical
research, said Susan Curry director of the Health Research and Policy Centers at
University of Illinois at Chicago. The recommendations run from calling for a
nationally organized cancer prevention program to a motion to increase the cigarette
tax.
The report examines and underscores the importance of cancer prevention, early
detection and a need for interventions to alter smoking, poor eating and exercise
habits. Also addressed is the necessity for professional education and training and
government programs that support the cause.
"The objective of this report is to emphasize the potential to reduce the incidence
of cancer," Curry said.
But LSA senior Janice Liao, president of University Students Against Cancer, said
she believes the report to be overly idealistic. "To tackle the issue of cancer at a
national level seems like a very unrealistic goal, but then again, there are no other
better alternatives,"she said.
USAC now focuses on cancer treatment and research, but Liao said this informa-
tion could be a great opportunity to encourage a shift in focus toward prevention.
Aside from affecting policy, the report emphasizes individual informed-decision
making. According to the statement, lung cancer was virtually unheard of before the
emergence of the tobacco industry. The report also concluded that quitting smoking
would dramatically reduce the existence of lung cancer, the top cancer killer.
"Students need to take a proactive role in their own well-being. The onset of
Holocaust survivors share stories,
emphasize hope and forgiveness
HOLOCAUST
Continued from Page 1A
never saw them again."
Butter's family was not taken to Auschwitz, but to the
concentration camp Bergen Belsen, where "every morning
you would wake up and see who was still alive."
LSA sophomore Yael Holoshitz said he wanted to learn
about survivor's personal stories to keep their messages alive
by sharing them with others in the future.
"A lot of people who know first-hand what happened are
getting older and soon won't be able to tell their stories,"
Holoshitz said. "I want to be able to tell their stories."
Miriam Brysk, who at age eight hid from the Nazis in a
forest near Lida, Poland, recounted her experience of living
in a plank-covered hole in the ground for two years, while
her father, a surgeon, performed daily operations for wound-
ed Jews without antibiotics.
"My father allowed me to watch all of his work except
the abortions he performed for women who had been raped
by German soldiers," said Brysk. "I had a shaved head and
wore boys clothes so I wouldn't be raped. Many of the other
children, however, were smothered to death for fear they
would yell out and give everyone away."
Jon Lim, an LSA sophomore, attended the panel's
presentation to learn more about individuals' personal
experiences. .:.
"People think the Holocaust happened a long time ago,
but there are people here who lived through it," Lim said.
"Listening to their stories is more valuable than going to a
museum or reading a book."
Eva Kor, who with her twin sister Miriam had been a
part of Josef Mengele's medical experiments, presented
a message of forgiveness. "Forgive your worst enemy,"
said Kor. "It will heal your soul and set you free."
Kor was 10 years old in the spring of 1944, when
she became ill after an injection in Mengele's lab.
Told she had two weeks to live and given no food or
medicine and little water, Kor spent the next five
weeks in the hospital - a place, it was rumored,
from where no one returned. Kor, however, did recov-
er and was reunited with her twin sister Miriam. The
two were experimented on until Jan. 27 - four days
before her eleventh birthday - when "the guns were
silent because the Soviet Army had liberated
Auschwitz."
Although the Nazis killed her family and subjected her
and her sister to torturous medical experiments, Kor said she
has forgiven them.
"Healing through forgiveness is my legacy from
Auschwitz," Kor said.
The survivor's memories left Victoria Shapiro; an LSA
freshman, with a sense of hope and self-evaluation. "I was
really inspired by their recollections," Shapiro said.
"They really forced me to reevaluate what I get upset
about and make me marvel at the human spirit."
"The goal of the conference is to bring the lessons of the
Holocaust and its history to as many people as possible.
There is always more to learn," said Courtney Rangen, LSA
senior and conference chair.
"When I tell friends from other places that in Ann Arbor
we have a week-long Holocaust remembrance with the
reading of victims'.am s scheduled programs and survivor
speakers, they are surprised," Brysk said.
"Most people are good if they remember it one night
year at the synagogue. Here, in Ann Arbor where there are
108,000 people, we do itfor a full week. I have lived4n
other college towns and I have never seen this before."
The weeklong conference will conclude Wednesday with
a 7:30 lecture by Dan Raviv, a Washington-based National
Correspondent for the CBS radio network, at Rackham
Auditorium.
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