""m." ,.n . es Tuesday. September 17, 2002 ©2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 11 One-hundred-eleven years ofeditorialfreedom TO DAY: Partly sunny for most of today and tomorrow, changing to thunderstorms Wednesday evening. H~ 3 LOW: 57 #91160 wwwmichigandaily~com Students online, not .studying in stacks 95 percent of college students use e-mail at least once a week By Lydia K. Leung For the Daily The Internet has become an essential component of college life, both for communication and aca- demic purposes, according to a recent survey done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The survey of 2,054 college stu- dents nationwide found that 42 per- cent of students use the Internet most often to communicate socially. In addition, 95 percent of stu- dents surveyed said they use e-mail for social communication at least once a week while 21 percent of them said they send social related e- mails at least once a day. LSA sophomore Nicole Vanneste, who checks her e-mail a couple of times a day, said she uses e-mail over 75 percent of the time for e- mailing and communicating with friends. "My cell phone bill went up, once I couldn't get the Internet access for two weeks," Vanneste said. The most commonly used Internet communication tool by students who responded to the survey is e- mail, followed by instant messag- ing, which accounts for 62 percent and 29 percent of the students, respectively. In addition to using the Internet for social purposes, the study also found many students turning to the Internet to help with work for their classes. ._.~The survey found that 73 percent of the students use Internet more than the library for searching for information while only 9 percent of the students do the opposite. "The library is overwhelming," said LSA freshmen Alex Leb, who said he prefers doing his research at home on the Internet because he can have more personal space there and thinks it is more controllable. Due to the convenience and avail- ability of information on the inter- net, the library is no longer the only place for searching for different kinds of information, which is the r main cause for the switch in research habits, student said. "Going online is much simpler," first-year Dental student Scott Behnan said. He added that using search engines such as Google and Yahoo is better than going to the library because of its convenience. The Internet also acts as a bridge for students and professors to com- municate. Seventy-seven percent of the stu- dents who participated in the survey said they have used e-mail to ask their professors questions about an assignment. See INTERNET, Page 7 A clean slate Trial to begn for suspected carport felon By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter The preliminary trial for one of the people suspected of robbing two victims at gunpoint in the Church Street parking structure begins tomorrow. Keith Mitchell-Lucas, a 23-year- old Ypsilanti resident, was arraigned Sept. 4 on four counts of felony. Charges, include possession of a firearm by a felon, which carries a possible sentence of five years in prison and/or $5,000 and posses- sion of a firearm while committing a felony, which carries a possible sentence of two years. In addition, he faces two counts of armed robbery, which can carry a. minimum sentence of two years to life in prison. His preliminary hearing is sched- uled for tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the 22nd Circuit Court on Huron Street. Judge Lloyd Powell will dversee the examination. The charges stem from a July 28 incident on the second floor of the Church Street parking structure. According to Department of Public Safety reports, two suspects, one of which had a small caliber handgun, stole a small amount of money from two people before fleeing on foot. Mitchell-Lucas was arrested early Sept. 4 following a DPS investiga- tion. DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown declined to comment on the investigation. Brown said Sunday that there is a possibility the victims knew the men who robbed them. The first suspect, allegedly Mitchell-Lucas, was described as being a black man, 19 to 20 years old and of stocky build. The other suspect, who is described as being a 19- to 20-year- old black man standing 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-11 and weighing 160 pounds, has not yet been apprehended. Brown said she could not comment on whether any other arrests will be made in the immediate future. According to reports, he was not carrying a handgun. A suspect in an unconnected attempted robbery Thursday, which also took place in the Church Street parking structure,.has not been apprehended. Despite the robberies that have taken place in the carport, some people who park there say they will continue to do so. "It's the only place to park," said Ann Arbor resident Jared Smith, who uses the structure about once a week when visiting the South Uni- See TRIAL, Page 7 PATRICK JONES/Daily Members of the Jewish community gather at Hillel yesterday for a Yom Kippur break-fast dinner following a day of fasting and prayer services. Teach for America hopes to increase By Rahwa Ghebre-Ab - 'U' recruitment Daily Staff Reporter After receiving the largest number of applications to their program last year from University of Michigan students, Teach for America representatives are hoping for an equal response this year. The program will begin recruiting in Ann Arbor next week with campus repre- sentatives, mass meetings and program presentations. Teach For America recruits about 2,000 recent college graduates a year, trains them during summer institutes and places them as full-time, paid teachers in urban and rural public schools for a two-year period. Many of the schools where Teach For America places students are located in low-income and under-resourced commu- nities, making the need for teachers all the more necessary. "I'm interested in Teach for America because it gives me an opportunity to give back to my community," LSA senior Aun- drea Johnson said. Johnson, who said she plans to apply for Teach for America, said there is a "It's been three years since I left teaching and I'm still reflecting on my experience. It made me more confident and made me realize what I really want to do in life." - Michelle Debaroncelli Former corps member and Social Work student need for more students of color to work with the Teach for America program to aid the many minority-based public schools. "One of Teach for America's biggest problems is getting minorities to sign on to teach," Johnson said. "It would mean a lot to me to be able to do something for a child of color," she added. Teach for America representatives said they are particularly interested in recruit- ing blacks and students with backgrounds in math, science and engineering. "The University of Michigan is one of our main focus schools for both areas and we hope to attract a lot of students," said Erica Burroughs, national recruitment director for Teach for America. Teach for America organizers on cam- pus said they believe they will see as many or more applicants this year as in the past. Last year, 188 students applied. "We're only just getting started and already the response has been excellent. We hope that Michigan will be a strong contributor this year as it has been in past years," said LSA senior Meagan Carlock, a Teach for America campus coordinator. Many seniors do not know what they See TEACH, Page 7 Bill would provide thousands to city fire protection, services, FRANK PAYNE/Daily Kappa Kappa Gamma, a sorority located on Hill Street, will participate in Fall 2002 Rush activities under new policies beginning this week. Newpolicies make rush -more open By Jennifer Misthal Daily Staff Reporter As Greek organizations begin recruitment this week, they are implementing new policies to make the system more approachable for perspective members. For the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Asso- ciation, rush is a three-week process beginning this week with open houses and mixers, culminating with Bid Days in early October. IFC is taking a different approach to rush this year with the creation of the recruitment task force to attract potential rushees, IFC Vice President of Major Events Matt Van Wasshnova said. The task force, composed of 20 Greek members not affiliated with the recruitment process, serves as an informational resource for perspective members, Van Wasshnova said. Prohibited from answering house-specific questions, task force members answer general questions about IFC and the Greek community designed to match potential members with a house they will be comfortable with, Van Wasshnova said. The new IFC system more closely resembles the Pan- hel system's Rho Omegas, responsible for chalking sidewalks and advertising Greek events, Van Wasshno- va said. "The recruitment task force is one tangent of what the ladies already have," he added. Panhel began revising recruitment rules last winter, By Louie Molzlish Daily Staff Reporter The state Senate is expected to take up a bill today which would restore more than $850,000 in state funding for fire protection to the city of Ann Arbor. The funds would make up about 8 percent of the Fire Department's annual budget. City Administrator Roger Fraser, who until this morning was serving as interim Fire Department chief, said the city would have to elimi- nate some operations should the funds not be restored. The depart- ment currently operates six stations, some of which maintain several sets of firefighters ready to respond to slower to respond to any particular emergency," Fraser said. The fire protection grants, which go to many cities with large state institutions, were vetoed in May by Gov. John Engler. The House over- whelmingly voted to restore the funds last month, but it is unclear whether Engler would veto the funds again if the Senate votes affirmatively. Recipients of the grants usually are the sites of prisons or state-sup- ported colleges, which are exempt from local taxes that support local fire departments. Senate Majority Floor Leader Joanne Emmons, the No. 2 Republi- can leader from Big Rapids, said "Those fire protections grants are spread so far across so many places in Michigan that we've got a lot of support," said Emmons, whose dis- trict encompasses' both Ferris State University in Big Rapids and Cen- tral Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. Engler had vetoed the fire protec- tion grants earlier this year, saying the budgetary impact of the poten- tial passage of three statewide bal- lot proposals - one of which will not be on the ballot - required him to free up dollars in the budget. His veto of general revenue shar- ing payments to counties and municipalities was overridden by the Legislature last month in the r! TONY DING/Daily F I