Woather Monday January 13, 2003 ©2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 72 £-Lt isuuOai4g One-hundred-twelve years of editorialdfreedom TODAY: Windy with few snow showers during the day, mostly cloudy with wind from the West in the evening. LOW: 12 Tomorrow: 22/111 www.mkchigandailycom :::: i: 1 1: 1 1 i: I I I i:: I I 1 11 1 : 1 : I : I : 1 : 1 ; 1 im 1:11 : !;1 1 ; 1 ! 1 1 p ; '111 p III Ill I III 111 11 11111 : I I! i I i! i 1: 1: 1 11 Analysts: Economic conditions to improve By Lydia K. Leung Daily Staff Reporter More U.S. ships depart for Gulf VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Four of the seven Virginia-based Navy ships that have received deployment orders in the past week headed out to sea yesterday as a mili- tary buildup continued ahead of a possible war with Iraq. The amphibious dock landing ships Port- land and Ashland set sail from the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, and the amphibious assault ships Kearsarge and Bataan left Norfolk Naval Station. The ships and three others that left Friday can carry a total landing force of about 8,000 Marines. As the Ashland pulled away from its dock, a couple dozen family members waved from a cold, wind-swept parking lot. Kerri Rodriguez wiped away tears as she said goodbye to her husband, Petty Officer 2nd Class Edgar Rodriguez. She doesn't know when she and their three children will see him next. "It's their job. If they've got to go, they've got to go," she said. "I'm just very proud of him that he has the opportunity to serve his country and bring a lot of pride and honor to his family." Elsewhere, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall headed out to sea from Morehead City, N.C. A Marine spokes- woman, Capt. Kelly Frushour, said she did not know how many troops were aboard the amphibious dock landing ship. The Ashland hadn't been scheduled to deploy until this summer. Leaving six months early their families, is tough on the sailors and said Cmdr. Sam Howard, the ship's commanding officer. "I have a seven-month old son and I was expecting to see him walk before I deployed," Howard said. "There's the emotional aspect of it," he said. "But that's also balanced with the emotional aspect of doing something so important." The Navy declined to say where the ships were headed. Despite rising concern over job- lessness, the Labor Department announced Friday that after reach- ing an eight-year high in November, the unemployment rate remained at 6 percent - even after employers slashed 101,000 jobs in December. "Generally, 6 percent is relatively high for the United States but it is not extremely high," Business Prof. Katherine Terrell said. However, some economists said the unemployment rate would have been higher had less people not given up on trying to find a job amid the sluggish economy. Since the unemployed were not considered part of the labor force - people who are either employed or unemployed and actively finding a job - they were excluded from the calculation of the unemploy- ment rate. Business Prof. Nejat Seyhun agreed with the economists. "It's exactly why when the economy loses a hundred thousand jobs, the unemployment rate doesn't go up," Seyhun said. Their view was supported by data compiled by Anthony Chan, Banc One Investment Advisors chief economist. The data indicates that the labor force grew at a much slower rate in 2002 when the average number of people added to the labor force was 38,000 per month, down from an average of 153,000 since the 1970s. Though the unemployment data is not likely to excite most people, the economy is not as grim as it seems and students should stay optimistic, Seyhun said. The unemployment figure is typ- ically the lacking indicator, even if the economy improves, the unem- ployment rate will not react very quickly and it changes last." Seyhun said the stock market is often the leading indicator of the economy and with the recent rally in the markets, it seems the econo- my is improving slowly. "Many economists are expecting growth between 2 to 3 percent in 2003," he added. Terrell said college students were especially discouraged by the decrease in job openings and want- ed to delay their entrance to the job market, which contributed to the relatively meager growth of the labor force. "Students are more likely to study in graduate schools when the economy is bad and the unemploy- ment rate is high," Terrell said. According to the University's See ECONOMY, Page 7A Activists convene to oppose potential war By Kara DeBoer and Carmen Johnson Daily Staff Reporters More than 800 people joined to advocate mounting disdain for the potential war on Iraq at an anti-war conference this weekend. University students, Ann Arbor residents, journalists and political activists came to the Law School to listen and participate in the conference, organized by Anti-War Action! and the Muslim Students' Association. After an opening speech by Mahdi Bray, a civil and human rights activist, various lectures and panels explored topics such as the historical background of the Iraq conflict and the impact of war. Engineering junior Molly Hegarty, a transfer student from the Rochester Institute of Technology, said she was happy to find a politically active community on this cam- pus. "This conference is so cool because it's a diverse group of older people, students and professional people getting together and getting informed," Hegarty said. "Every cam- pus should have something like this." One of Saturday's 19 speakers, Andrea Buffa, coordina- tor for the United for Peace organization, spoke about wartime journalistic failures and emphasized the need for accurate reporting of the anti-war movement. "If we could get the media to cover the fact that there is an anti-war movement, people would feel more comfort- able getting involved," Buffa said. She added the media's drive for profit and inherent bias both perpetuate the lack of coverage Speaking in the panel discussion of "The War at Home," Riva Enteen, program director of the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, addressed the vulnerability of immigrants, saying they are often profiled as terrorists who subsequently face deportation. "(Anti-war activists) have to be on the street, we have the numbers and we have the moral high ground," Enteen said. "We shouldn't be frightened of terror, we should be fright- ened of repression." Ann Arbor resident Leon Cribbins said he enjoyed histo- ry of science Prof. Susan Wright's lecture, "Iraq, Biological Weapons, and the Rush to Preemptive War." "What I thought was powerful was when she said that economic sanctions are a form of weapons of mass destruction," Cribbins said. "It's just interesting to hear these kinds of lectures." Local speakers were also represented at the anti-war conference. Detroit activist Maureen Taylor, president of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, asked the audi- ence "where's the money?" referring to the rise in military defense funding in the midst of an economic slump. "Students go to college and everyone's studying because they expect a job afterward, but they can't find one," Taylor said. "Instead they are still paying money that goes to the defense department." Max Sussman, event organizer and AWA! member, said he was extremely happy with the outcome of the confer- ence and said he knew*of a few attendants that were not anti-war. "Some of the speakers asked the audience if there were any people in the audience that were for the war and a few people raised their hands," Sussman said. "The majority of the people there were againk the war af wantedto iearn about the war in general and talk about all the issues." Bill Thomson, a clinical psychology professor at the See CONFERENCE, Page 7A REBECCA SAHN/Daily Civil and human rights activist Mahdi Bray gives opening remarks during the "Stop the War" conference Saturday morning. HSSP finds i hmproved. facilities i new home By Jeremy Berkowitz Daily Staff Reporter For 35 years, the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program has been fortunate enough to have a large amount of classroom and recreational space in Alice Lloyd Residence Hall to work with. But it is now planning to share the abundant space. University Housing announced last week that the Health Science Scholars Program - current- ly housed in Mary Markley Residence Hall - will be moving across the street to Alice Lloyd in September. HSSP Faculty Director Michelle O'Grady said Alice Lloyd would give the pro- gram quality instructional space, and a location on the Hill area of campus, near the Medical School. "Markley is not equipped to provide classroom space," O'Grady said. "We want to provide first- year seminars that we sponsor as well as curricu- lar and co-curricular activities." In its second year, HSSP is one of 10 living- learning communities, intended for first- and sec- ond-year students interested in the health sciences. In addition to offering a wide array of See HSSP, Page 7A The skeptical eye Talk focuses on state of multiculturalism I By Soojung Chang Daily Staff Reporter A discussion about the role multi- cultural communities play in projects that involve the University and the local community on Friday was the first event on the calendar for this year's 16th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium. The discussion, titled "Reflecting on multiculturalism and community collab- orations," took place at the International Institute and focused on the challenges and benefits of working with diverse communities. Silvia Carranza, program associate for the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives - and a member of the plan- ning committee for the symposium - said the discussion's topic fit in perfectly with the goals of this year's symposium. "We must be the change we wish to see in the world," is the symposium's theme, a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, who helped lead India's independence movement. Carranza said they wanted to emphasize the significant contributions that individuals can make. Carranza said while making that change often involves individuals look- ing internally and in the areas closest to them, it also involves working with peo- ple outside of their own communities. "Communities sometimes get focused on themselves and don't real- ize that it pays to work with one another just to get a different perspec- tive and also to discover similarities with one another," she said. The participants of the discussion talked about a range of topics, from the definition of multiculturalism to their experiences in working with diverse communities in their own projects. Some of the difficulties that were described included tensions between dif- ferent ethnic communities and following through once multicultural projects have been initiated. The discussion was sponsored by the Arts of Citizenship Program, which explores how the University's arts and humanities departments can contribute to the public through different projects and initiatives in conjunction with the local community. They hold monthly See MLK. Page 7A AP PHOTO General Motors' Cadillac Sixteen was one of many of concept cars featured at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. International auto show debuts new hybids, SUVs By Andrew Kaplan and Eric Weiler Daily Staff Reporters DETROIT - Despite an ailing economy and demands by environmentalists for more fuel-effi- cient cars and trucks, the 2003 North American International Auto Show showcased more-high- performance and sport utility vehicles than in years past. "Every company's making SUV's. That's the trend," said Engineering sophomore Rachit Jain, who attended the auto show's Saturday opening. "Everything's heading in the same direction," he said. Car manufacturers like Porsche and Lexus, which traditionally produce lavish passenger sedans, have also begun turning out new lines of off-road vehicles. The 2003 Porsche Cayenne, the carmaker's debut truck model, took center stage in the Porsche display while its traditional sport cars sat off to the side. Lexus distinguished itself from other luxury car manufacturers by offering three lines of SUVs, including the four-wheel drive 2003 GX. Mitsubishi spokesman John Bouvier said increased gasoline prices and recent advertise- ments linking fuel consumption for SUVs to terrorism have not discouraged companies like Mitsubishi from offering new models of "crossovers" - off-road vehicles that support an SUV body on a car frame, but typically burn more fuel than passenger sedans. "Sport utility vehicles blended with sports cars is a definite intent of the auto industry," he added. "Until the public's not willing to buy them, (automakers) will make them." Although several manufacturers have worked toward developing new lines of hybrid cars - which save gas by operating on both petroleum and electricity - some showgoers said they still prefer the good looks, versatility and speed of SUVs and crossovers. "(Hybrids) don't have power. I want power," Jain See AUTO SHOW. Page 7A REBECCA SAHN/Daily A woman views a painting in Pat Steir's exhibit at the University's Museum of Art yesterday. i i u.,..,...,, .,.., .,......