A2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 4 One-hundred-eleven years of editorial freedom 3. TO DAY: Slightly humid and mostly sunny all day with a chance of afternoon and evening clouds. H1. 85 LOWS 63 Tomorrow- ra1& AATA raises fares, changes schedules By James Ng Daily Staff Reporter Sarah Claud, a School of Public Health graduate student, will have to dig a little deeper into her pockets to use Ann Arbor's public transportation system. The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority raised fares and made changes to 14 of its 27 existing routes Aug. 25. Claud takes Routes 6 and 14 daily to get from Industrial Road to Central Campus and the School of Public Health. Although she understands that fares have to be increased due to inflation, she would prefer that they stay the same. "I buy 30-day passes since I use AATA buses every day and the increase in fares is a real burden," Claud said. Under the new plan, Claud will have to pay $1 instead of the 75 cents previously charged. Fares for students ages 6- 18 and senior citizens 60-64 increased from 35 cents to 50 cents, while fares for riders with an American with Disabili- ties Act card and for seniors 65 and older, which were free before, now cost 25 cents. It was the AATA's first fare increase in 11 years, said AATA Manager of Community Relations Mary Stasiak. Stasiak cited cuts in state funding and rising employee costs among the reasons for the price hike. "Before the increase, our fares had not kept pace with inflations," Stasiak said, noting that the AATA still provides one of the cheapest city transportation systems in the state of Michigan. "If they had, the basic fare would have been 96 cents." While no routes were eliminated, some of the changes in routes and schedules are expected to have an impact on Uni- versity students, faculty and staff who commute to and from campus on AATA buses. "We routinely modify our routes according to ridership," Stasiak explained. Route 1, the Pontiac Trail, no longer covers Hubbard, Broadway and Traver. Instead, passengers from these areas would have to take Route 2, which is the Plymouth route, Stasiak said. Route 16, from Saline to downtown now only runs twice in the morning and twice at night. A new route, Route 220 now serves Saline hourly, connecting to other AATA buses at the Meijer store on Ann Arbor-Saline Road, she said. Sunday service on Route 22, the North and South Con- nectors, has also been discontinued, Stasiak added. Stasiak said she expects the schedule changes made to Routes 1U and 12U to have the biggest impact on riders on campus. Route 1U now only runs twice a day and Route 12U, once. The AATA route changes would have no effect on the University bus system. University buses will continue to serve the four transit routes of Bursley-Baits, Commuter, Northwood and North Campus in the same manner as before. "Since the AATA routes are not actually incorporated into the University bus routes, the recent changes implemented by the AATA would not affect our routes in any way," Uni- versity Parking and Transportation Services spokeswoman Diane Brown said. The changes were met with some gripes from University JESSICA YURASEK/Daily A student waits for the Briarwood Mall-bound AATA bus outside of the Michigan Union. students. "The AATA needs to justify any fare increase with invest- See AATA, Page 7 defense Granholm agrees to additional debate By Louiele ls Daily Staff Reporter The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor are now set to participate in two debates, one more than the two agreed to as of Wednesday. But GOP nominee Dick Posthumus is still calling for nine debates, a claim his opponent's cam- paign said is disingenuous. Talks had broken down Wednesday 1 with the appearance that there would be only one debate. Although the two debates between the Republican lieu- tenant governor and Democratic attorney general are certain, there is talk ofa third. Posthumus and Granholm are expected to face off Oct. 7 on Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV and in an untelevised debate at the Eco- Posthumus nomic Club of Detroit Oct. 15. P o s t h u m u s spokesman Sage Eastman said the two camps have agreed to do a debate on Sagi- naw's WNEM-TV, but no date has been set. Granholm, the Granholm front-runner in the race, yesterday rebuffed the idea of nine debates. It has been a long practice in politics of frontrunners wanting fewer debates than their underdog opponents. "That's a joke," Granholm spokesman Chris De Witt said. "Dur- ing the debate negotiations, they only talked about three." No televised debate is expected for the metropolitan area, which has the Posthumus campaign irked. Granholm "doesn't want to come to Detroit where most of the voters are," Eastman said. "And why should she if she's going to tell them she's going to raise their taxes." See DEBATES, Page 7 A matter of perspective 'U gains new head lawyer ON TRIAL BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily Novi resident Julie Harp pauses to take in a painting from the Picasso exhibit at the University Art Museum, which runs through Sept. 15. Diversity organizations draw crowds at Festifall By Shabina S. Khatri Daily Staff Reporter "'m ild thathphnvv this.hnwaiin if g .ad that~ they~~WU haveW this~ beas if Yesterday's colorful campus dis- play on the Diag, Festifall, gave stu- dents the opportunity to exchange interests, display unique talents, shop for extracurricular activities and col- lect free stuff. In addition to the familiar academ- ic, social, community service and ethnic organizations, yesterday's Fes- tifall also offered a forum for lesser- known groups, such as Dialogues on Diversity. Having recently completed two documentaries on students with depression and with disabilities, Ernesto Mejia, the program assistant for Dialogues on Diversity, said Fes- tifall gave his organization the chance to reach more students to par- ticipate in upcoming discussions and documentaries pertaining to race, gender and diversity. "We're not a new initiative, but we're not well known yet. We're just starting to pick up steam with our housing programs and documentary they didn't, I wouldn't have known that 85 percent of these groups existed." - Bridgette Burley LSA freshman By Jeremy Berkowitz Daily Staff Reporter Although the U.S. Supreme Court will not decide whether to grant a writ of certiorari to Grutter v. Bollinger for at least a month, the University is already preparing for a possible argument defending the Law School's use of race in admis- sions. attorney Maureen Mahoney joined the legal team representing the University as lead co-counsel with attorney John Payton of Mahoney the Washington law firm Wolmer, Cutler and Pick- ering. After interviewing several appli- cants, the University General Coun- sel's Office, Law School Dean Jeffery Lehman and other members of the University chose Mahoney because of her familiarity with the Supreme Court. "She's a very experienced Supreme Court litigator and is widely respected in the legal field," General Counsel Marvin Krislov said. "We think (she) will add some strength to our team." Mahoney has worked for the Washington firm Latham and Watkins for more than 20 years and served for two years as a United States Deputy Solicitor General. She is an expert in constitutional and appellate litigation and won 10 out of the 11 cases she has argued in front of the Supreme Court. Mahoney also recently won a case representing the U.S. House chal- lenging the Commerce Depart- ment's policy of using statistical sampling in the 2000 census. University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said it is common before a case reaches the Supreme Court to bolster legal representation. "It seems very logical and natural to add someone who has good deal of experience at the Supreme Court level," she said. Peterson added that Mahoney's hiring is simply a move of prepara- tion and not in prediction of whether the Supreme Court will decide to take the case. "Hiring her is not a statement of probability," Peterson said. "We're trying to do all the things to make sure we're prepared." Mahoney will be in Ann Arbor Sept. 18 for a forum hosted by the University discussing the lawsuits. Presenters, including University President Mary Sue Coleman, Krislov, Mahoney and Lehman will address the forum attendees from 4 to 6 p.m. Peterson said the University would like to give members of the community an opportunity to ask questions and become more informed about the recent events and origins df both the lawsuit against the Law School and the case regarding LSA admissions policies. "We just want people to learn all the developments that have hap- pened to find out what it all means to them," Peterson said. The 6th Circuit reversed a deci- sion made by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, in the case Grut- ter v. Bollinger. The court declared in a majority opinion that diversity is a compelling state interest. The Center for Individual.Rights, representing plaintiff Barbara Grut- ter filed papers Aug. 9 asking the Supreme Court to hear an appeal in the case. The University has 30 days to ask the Supreme Court to deny CIR's request. series," he said. Other seasoned groups chose to forgo the usual free candy, buttons and stickers commonly used to attract students to their tables in favor of new, innovative tactics. The Arab Students Association and the Arab Anti-Discrimination Com- mittee shared a hookah, inviting stu- dents to take hits from a long tube passing through an urn of water that cools smoke as it is drawn through. "Our membership list has doubled in the last hour!" ASA President Brenda Abdelall said. Project Community, a community. service and social action organiza- tion with an academic component, passed out bottles of hot sauce as part of their "Spice up your Sched- ule!" program. Sean deFour, the organization's assistant director, said the hot sauce was very effective in bringing in stu- dent interest. "Buttons and pins are kind of, lame," he said. LSA freshman Bridgette Burley, who signed up for Project Communi- ty as well as four other community service organizations, said she enjoyed the variety of groups present at Festifall. "I'm glad that they have this, because if they didn't, I wouldn't have known that 85 percent of these groups existed," she said. See FESTIFALL, Page 7 vWESTERN r v s S O0f... "MICH IGAN Tomor-row, Michigan Stadium 12:10 p.m. ESPN-plus THE OPPONENT: Western Michigan utilized its aggressive spread offense in its 48-17 win over Indi- ana State last week, completing passes to nine different receivers for 330 yards. THE OUTLOOK: Despite Michigan's pass defense looking vulnerable last week against the Huskies - giving up 318 yards in the air - the Worverines should have no problem with Western. LAST WEEK: Philip Brabb's last second, 44-yard field goal clinched the Wolver- inpc' im I'1-?9 win nvr Nn Students wane on Iraq intervention By Christopher Johnson Daily Staff Reporter President Bush's announcement regarding his desire to oust Iraqui President Saddam Hussein from his post in several recent speeches has sparked a variety of opinions among students on campus. "I think eventually-Saddam Hussein is going to end up causing world war trouble," LSA junior Dustin Oswald said. "If they can prevent any prob- lems before they happen, then I support it. All those military people are gung-ho about it any- ways, so there's no stopping them." LSA junior Adam Haba, president of the Col- lege Republicans, said war in Iraq may be neces- sary. "We support what the President and the admin- istration are doing and we trust that they have the righ~t cztrntato -nrntor't Ao-,,nrrnr'rzin Amnni " Despite Bush's argument that Hussein has com- mitted heinous crimes in Iraq, many students do not believe that the situation warrants military action by the United States. "I don't feel that George Bush has made a good claim for a war against Iraq," said LSA junior Lena Masri, chair of the Muslim Student Associa- tion's political committee. "He has no proof of nuclear weapons and no support from other coun- tries. This war is nothing like the first one because all of the allies who supported us then are not sup- porting us now." LSA senior Michael Geske said, "I don't think there's a threat significant enough to endanger the lives of American soldiers overseas. I don't think there's a proven capability for Iraq to the attack the U.S. mainland." Rackham student Jennifer Palmer said Bush is "trying to make up for past deficiencies, which mitment that might be regretted later." At a meeting Wednesday with congressional leaders, Bush called for foreign intervention, claiming that Hussein is procuring weapons of mass destruction that threaten the world and that his administration has caused the Iraqi people to suffer. Bush indicated that he will use force in Iraq, but will not strike alone: Bush will speak with British Prime Minister Tony Blair tomorrow and other world leaders next week.. He will also address the United Nations on Sept. 12. In addition to interna- tional support for war, Bush said he wants the con- sent of Congress, but did not specify whether he would refrain from military action if he failed to obtain a formal declaration of war. "Doing nothing about that serious threat is not an option for the United States," Bush said Wednesday. "Saddam Hussein is a serious threat. e~ is a sinifiant nroblem. 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