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A2003 The Michigan Daily
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Vol. CXIII, No. 128
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Experts
link SARS
* orign to
livestock
By Erin Saylor
Daily Staff Reporter
As the death toll from Sudden Acute
Respiratory Syndrome continues to
build, experts say the disease is likely to
be connected to the mutation of a virus
among China's livestock - specifical-
ly, the country's birds.
Bi Shengli, vice director for viral dis-
eases at the Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, revealed that
the earliest patients had been in close
contact with chickens, ducks, pigeons
and owls. Chefs and bird vendors were
among the first patients to become ill
with SARS in China's Guangdong
province.
Scientists are confident that a new
type of coronalvirus, related to the
virus that causes the common cold, is
responsible for SARS.
Arnold Monto, epidemiologist and
Bioterrorist Preparedness Initiative
director, said that such an explanation
of the virus's origins is entirely in keep-
ing with what scientists already know
about how diseases can transfer from
animals to humans.
"We know that coronaviruses cause
infectious bronchitis in livestock such
as pigs, cattle and birds and that it can
jump from animals to humans," Monto
said. "But never has there been such a
severe coronavirus in humans."
Many health officials said part of the
problem of containing the disease
stems from difficulties with accurately
identifying it. While the Centers for
M Disease Control and Prevention has
developed certain technologies for
diagnosing the disease, Monto said
they are difficult, unreliable and not
ready to be widely disseminated.
"We would like to be able to say for
sure if you have this particular virus,
but we just don't have that ability right
now," he said.
Monto said he hoped a reliable diag-
nostic test would soon be available. But
he added that antiviral drugs or vac-
cines to treat the disease would take
much longer to develop.
"Part of the problem is getting speci-
mens out of China - that takes a long
tune," he said.
Robert Winfield, University Health
Services director, emphasized the need
to keep the disease under control and
out of areas of the world where other
diseases, such as AIDS, have already
weakened the population.
"The majority of the people who have
died of SARS also had some underlying
disease," Winfield said. "If it spreads to
underdeveloped countries that are severe-
ly crowded like India and Africa, it will
See SARS, Page 7
Allied troops
seize Iraqi
air ort, prison
Success of attack on
Saddam, civilian death toll
remain unknown
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces
battled the tattered remnants of Iraq's
army for control of downtown Baghdad
yesterday, crushing a counterattack and
seizing a military airport. Saddam Hus-
sein's fate was unknown after an attempt
to kill him from the air.
Inside the capital to stay, some Army
units routed Iraqi fighters from a
Republican Guard headquarters. Oth-
ers discovered a 12-room complex
inside a cave, complete with white
marble floors, 10-foot ceilings and flu-
orescent lighting.
Marines battled snipers as they
fought deeper into the capital from the
east. They seized the Rasheed Airport
and captured enough ammunition for
an estimated 3,000 troops. Ominously,
they also took a prison where they
found U.S. Army uniforms and chemi-
cal weapons suits possibly belonging
to American POWs.
The toll on civilians from four days
of urban combat was unknown. But
the World Health Organization said
Baghdad's hospitals were running out
of supplies to treat the burns, shrapnel
wounds and spinal injuries caused by
the fighting.
Two cameramen were killed and at
least three others wounded when an
American tank fired a round into the
Palestine Hotel, headquarters for hun-
dreds of journalists. Commanders said
hostile fire had been coming from the
building, although the journalists said
they witnessed none.
Separately, the Arab television net-
work al-Jazeera reported that a U.S.
warplane attacked its office on the
banks of the Tigris' River, killing a
reporter.
On the city's northern side, Army
forces set a Republican Guard bar-
racks ablaze. Warplanes flew their
bombing runs unchallenged, and
smoke poured out of the Ministry of
Planning building in the city's center.
"We are continuing to maintain our
ability to conduct operations around
and in Baghdad, and remove them
from regime control," said Capt. Frank
Thorp, a spokesman at U.S. Central
Command.
State-run Iraqi television was
knocked off the air, depriving the
regime of a key source of influence
over a population thought increasingly
eager to help the forces of Operation
Iraqi Freedom.
Four days after Americans first pen-
etrated the Baghdad outskirts, the city
showed the effects of the war. Civilians
roamed the streets with Kalashnikov
rifles in hand, uncollected garbage
piled up, and there were long lines at
the reduced number of gasoline sta-
tions still open.
There were also military losses for
the Americans.
An A-10 "Warthog" warplane was
shot down near Baghdad early yester-
day, possibly the first fixed-wing air-
craft downed by an Iraqi surface-to-air
missile since the war began. U.S. Cen-
tral Command said the pilot ejected
safely, was recovered by ground forces
and was in good condition.
A U.S. F-15E jet fighter also went
down Sunday and a search was still
under way yesterday for its two-man
crew, the military announced. Officials
did not say whether the plane was shot
down or crashed accidentally.
Outside the capital, U.S. jets
bombed Iraqi positions near the north-
ern city of Kirkuk, which remained
under control of the regime. In the
southeastern city of Amarah, Marines
See WAR, Page 2
AP PHOTO
U.S. Army soldiers from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment search a presidential palace - one of two secured in
the last four days - in Baghdad yesterday. Also in the capital yesterday, Iraqis rush a seriously wounded man to al-Kindi hospital,
one of many hospitals that are filling up with so many casualties that it has stopped counting, the international Red Cross says.
'..x~.
Greek system see1i~simprovement i~'i&i;'&<~-.
.............................................. ~ *
By Katie Glupker
Daily Staff Reporter
Gathered around a conference
table, proposals, visions and strate-
gies were offered up for discussion
- not at a meeting of the Univer-
sity Board of Regents, but by
leaders of the Greek community.
Last night, an advisory board com-
posed of leaders from the four
Greek councils, faculty members,
staff advisors and a professional
consultant met to discuss the future
of the University's Greek system
and the changes that lie ahead.
Plans are still in progress, but
include modifications in Greek
leadership, membership, funding,
social events and housing. The
planning committee is in the
process of developing a long-
term improvement plan that
involves nine key issues, and pre-
sented 59 recommendations for
the Greek community at the
meeting: "I'm very excited -
this is the first time we've done
anything like this where we take a
good look at the future and where
we want to be," said Mary Beth
Seiler, director of Greek life.
Ron Binder, Greek life consult-
ant for universities nationwide,
was hired to help the team plan
and make recommendations.
"We're also looking at what other
Big Ten schools are doing in their
Greek systems," he said.
The meeting involved a series
of discussions about the planning
committee's various recommen-
dations.
See GREEKS, Page 7
Read my book
Students voice concerns
over campus integration
By Ryan Vicko
Daily Staff Reporter
SARAH PAUPDai+y
University alum and "Found Magazine" creator Davy Rothbart hosts
his own book release party of "The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas."
.Al hlres new fire chlef
after 2-year search
The University has engaged teams of resident
advisors, minority peer advisors, multicultural ini-
tiatives and students to promote interaction among
races. But in most campus residence hall cafeterias,
Asian Americans, African Americans, Arab Ameri-
cans and caucasian Americans often sit separately,
but there's no all-Americans table.
Derek Liu, who was involved in campus integra-
tion efforts for three years before graduating in
December, said he feels that more students need to
take the initiative and meet all kinds of people -
not just those of their own race.
"I don't feel this campus is integrated at all. On
one side there's white students, on the other there's
minorities," he said. He said it is very hard to get
people to step outside what he calls "their comfort
zone." But students must still learn to empathize
with people of other races, he added.
Liu said he planned parties with live bands and
tried to promote discussions about pertinent issues,
in addition to being a member of Ambatana, a
South Quad Residence Hall group that focuses on
multicultural issues. He recalled one discussion
among whites and blacks about affirmative action
that turned into a heated argument.
"Race is salient," he said. Liu recalled
another situation in which a white student
who had previously assumed all minority stu-
dents are under-qualified, lost that precon-
ceived notion when a black peer articulated
an intelligent response in class.
LSA senior Jonathan Jones, an R.A. at South
"I don't feel this campus is
integrated at all."
- Derek Liu
Former resident advisor
Quad, said his job is geared toward student inter-
ests, rather than minority interests.
"In general the idea is integration,"he said. Jones
mentioned some specific activities that were held in
his hallway, such as a "squarnival," or a carnival
with raffles, and karaoke, as well as academic activ-
ities, such as helping students find the right major.
When asked about integration on campus, most
students began by explaining where they are from.
Business School senior Krupesh Mehta, said he is
from a diverse neighborhood in New York.
LSA senior Ryan Hudson said he grew up in a
small, all-white community.
Mehta said interaction with other races is not dif-
ficult for him and University residence halls were
not that big of a change.
"It depends on the person. Most college students
are open-minded," he added.
But Hudson said the residence hall he lived in
was one drastic change among many others for
him. "For people coming from a racially homoge-
nous community, the University is the first expo-
sure to integrated living," he said.
He added, however, that most of the real interac-
tion he had with other races was a result of his own
initiative, because he came from a community in
which people make an effort to get to know their
neighbors.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION by SARAH PAUP/Daily
An upcoming University study suggests a strong correlation
between caffeine intake and migraines. See inside for story. Page3.
Filmlamb asts,
U.S. Iraq stance
By Michael Gurovitsch
Daily Staff Reporter
America's immoral and incongruent policies toward Iraq
have caused irreparable damage, according to a film pro-
duced by Arab Film Distribution titled "Hidden Wars of
Desert Storm," which was shown last night in Angell Hall.
The movie claimed the only reason the U.S. military is
involved in Iraq for its oil and that the U.S. government has
been actively lying to the world about its role in the Middle
East for decades.
It also asserted that the current economic sanctions on
Iraq are immoral and hurting the country's people, rather
than Saddam Hussein's regime.
"I think it is important to look at the history of U.S.
engagement in the region. (The movie) gave the viewers an
insight of what truly motivates the U.S.," said LSA senior
Fadi Kiblawi, chair of Students Allied for Freedom and
Equality, which organized the event.
"The discourse surrounding the war has really been igno-
See FILM. Page 3
By Elizabeth Anderson
Daily Staff Reporter
After an exhaustive two-year search
process, Ann Arbor finally hired a new
fire chief, Joseph Gorman, who is
scheduled to start in early May.
Gorman currently works in Saudi
Arabia on a contract job with the U.S.
Army. Gorman has previously worked
in several fire stations across the coun-
try, as a fire chief and in other high-
ranking administrative positions.
City Councilman Robert Johnson (D -
1 st Ward) stressed the importance of
Gorman's experience in his selection.
"He's working in Saudi Arabia, which is
a pretty interesting job," Johnson said.
The interviewing process was
See FIRE CHIEF. Page 7
I