B
AMAMI
Wednesday
September 18, 2002
02002 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 12
One-hundred-eleven years of editorialfreedom
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New LSI
director to
be named
tomorrow
By Megan Hayes
Daily Staff Reporter
Saved by the bell
Haddad's time
in jail may
end
By Jeremy Berkowitz
and Loule Melzilish
Daily Staff Reporters
The announcement of a new Life
Science Institute director and the
approval of a new Cardiovascular
Center Project are two of many
items on the University Board of
Regents' meeting agenda. Tomor-
row's meeting is not only the first of
the semester, but also the first over
which new University President
Mary Sue Coleman will preside.
McGowan said she expects the
change in leadership will not hamper
the meeting and that Coleman will
proceed as someone who has been at
the University for a while. "She has hit
the ground running," she said.
The regents' agenda is filled with
numerous items, but there are a few.
that will receive greater emphasis,
some regents said.
"The issue of future leadership of
the LSI is of enormous conse-
quence," Regent Rebecca McGowan
(D-Ann Arbor) said.
The regents will announce a new
director for the LSI to fill the
vacancy left by Jack Dixon, who
plans to leave the University at the
end of the year for a position at the
University of California at San
Diego, McGowan said.
Of equal importance is the antici-
pated vote regarding the Cardiovas-
cular Center. McGowan said the
administration has proposed that
. the health system add a significant
new clinical facility to treat cardiac
patients - one that will bring all
clinical efforts for cardiac patients
to one place.
While she admitted it is a very
expensive proposition, McGowan
said the regents have been very pro-
nounced in their insistence that it
be approved.
"It is good for the financial
health of the health center and the
physical health of its patients," she
said. "The regents have felt strongly
about this for some time."
In July, the regents approved a
new University budget increase of
7.9 percent for the upcoming aca-
demic year, which will be reviewed
tomorrow, although nothing has
changed since its approval, interim
Provost Paul Courant said.
Courant said the increase in
A See REGENTS, Page 3
In a ruling yesterday that could put an end
to the nine-month detainment of Ann Arbor
Muslimi leader Rabih Haddad, a federal district
judge yesterday ordered Haddad released with-
in 10 days unless the government grants him
another deportation hearing before a different
r federal immigration judge.
Haddad has been incarcerated since federal
immigration authorities charged him with
1'overstaying a six-month visa. The charity he
co-founded, the Illinois-based Global Relief
" E Foundation, Inc., had its offices raided last
year and the government contends it has fun-
neled money to terrorists.
Haddad's rights to due process were side-
stepped because of a Justice Department's
classification of the case as "special interest,"
°k wrote Judge Nancy Edmunds of the U.S. Dis-
trict Court for the Eastern District of Michi-
gan. The classification was made when the
government considered an open immigration
hearing a threat to national security with
investigations into the Sept. 11 terrorist
r= attacks ongoing.
That classification biased Haddad's immi-
,F ;gration judge against the Lebanese native,
Edmunds said. The infringement of Haddad's
TOM FELOKAMP/Daily rights warrants either a speedy immigration
leaves the Industrial Operations and Engineering Building on North hearing or a speedy release, Edmunds added.
fter class yesterday. Under direction from Attorney General John
Ashcroft, Chief Immigration Judge Michael
Creppy, a Justice Department official, ordered
redesigns religion program
any case connected with the investigation of
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks classified as spe-
cial interest. Edmunds ruled in April that the
hearings have to be open in order to keep the
government publicly accountable, rebuffing
the national security rationale for closed hear-
ings provided by the government.
"This classification inevitably suggested a link
between Haddad and terrorists and terrorism or,
more specifically, the attacks of September 11;'
Edmunds wrote in Haddad v. Ashcroft.
"We stand by our statement that Pastor Had-
dad has never been a threat to national securi-
ty," Haddad attorney Ashraf Nubani said.
Richard Rossman, a former U.S. attorney and
top official in the Justice Department's Criminal
Division, said Edmunds' decision has a good
chance of review from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court
of Appeals because it is a legal interpretation
rather than a factual determination.
Michael Steinberg, legal director of the
American Civil Liberties Union's Michigan
branch, praised Edmunds's decision.
"Her ruling was consistent with her early
decision that the Creppy memo violates the
First Amendment," Steinberg said. "The
courts right now are standing up to the
Ashcroft administration at this stage and
they're saying that executive power is going
to be checked."
Justice Department spokesman Charles
Miller said the government has not yet decided
whether to appeal Edmunds' latest decision.
"We are reviewing the judge's order, and we
have not made any other determination at this
time," he said.
A studentI
Campus af
U'
After a two-year hiatus, a
revamped religious studies
major and minor return
By Karen Schwartz
Daily Staff Reporter
The University is redesigning the way stu-
dents study various religions, with more struc-
tured academic classes to give students the
chance to specialize in concrete religious tradi-
tions while gaining comparative perspective.
Two years ago, former LSA Dean Shirley
Neuman asked that a committee convene to
review the status of the Program on Studies in
Religion, which was suspended for further
investigation.
The program suffered from a lack of a
graduate level program and lack of commit-
ment from faculty who were disbursed across
units, Department of Near Eastern Studies
chair Alexander Knysh said.
"There were no permanent faculty associat-
ed with the program. It depended on the
'kindness of strangers' - professors whose
institutional home was in other units," Knysh
said. "They were all over the place and the
Program on Studies in Religion was unable to
coordinate their efforts efficiently."
Knysh, the program's co-chair, said there was
also a problem with the subject matter.
Each specific religion needs to be placed in
a social, political and institutional context so
it can be studied holistically, along with the
history and language through which it is
expressed, Knysh added.
The study of religion will be conducted by
units that specialize in the languages, regions
and specific spiritual traditions students elect.
Students selecting this major or minor will
focus on a particular religion and take a few
courses in other units offering courses on
other religious traditions to acquire a compar-
ative perspective.
Emphasis will be placed on student special-
ization and proficiency in a particular tradition.
"The idea is to study each religious tradition
in its own environment, in its own terms, in its
own language, rather than study something that
has no connection to reality - a religion, a reli-
gion that is not qualified by any adjective" such
as Islamic, Christian or Jewish, he said.
Knysh also said he looks forward to the
opportunities and options the program will
offer students.
"I think the (University) has great strengths
in the study of religion and we feel that the
new arrangements would give units and stu-
dents a wider range of possibilities of study of
religion," he said. "I see a bright future for the
program and I think it's good news for stu-
dents also because it's going to be good for
students and faculty."
Other additions include an annual confer-
See RELIGION, Page 3
'WebRoomz' pairs roommates together
By Allison Yang
For the Daily
Many students arrive at the University
prepared to spend a year living with another
student they know very little about. But for
students at some universities, a new online
program called WebRoomz allows students
to pair themselves up with other incoming
students based on their living habits and
personality traits.
Students fill out a detailed profile which
other incoming freshman from their universi-
ty can view. Those students can rank their
potential roommates and contact them online
or over the phone. With both students' con-
sent, they choose their ideal roommate, resi-
dential hall and room - getting immediate
"We can learn to get along with people in our
classes, but we shouldn't be stuck in a living
situation with people you know nothing
about."
- Maria Spear
Music freshman
ing hours, study habits, music types, hob-
bies and other interests.
But the University of Michigan asks only
four questions to students who request to be
assigned to a roommate in the residence halls.
These questions include location of residence
halls, hallways that are substance or sub-
stance-free, smoking preference and whether
the applicant wants a single or co-ed floor.
"The University definitely should have
asked more questions about our preferences.
I was actually very surprised they didn't,"
LSA freshman Dustin Hughes said.
"WebRoomz sounds like a great idea. It
may take a little work for the University, but
in the long run it would help with conflicts
such as room reassignments and swaps. I
See ROOMMATES, Page 3
confirmation from their university.
The University of Tennessee at Chat-
tanooga and Kennesaw State University in
Georgia currently use WebRoomz for hous-
ing assignments. Other universities, like the
University of Texas at Austin and Ball State
University, created their own web programs
similar to WebRoomz.
Though only a few universities use
roommate-matching programs, most have
incoming freshman fill out a survey
about their preferences regarding sleep-
Couple seeks to spread peaceful
UA VIU v In/La i. y
Wayne State University Board of Governors candidate Richard
Bernstein would be the first blind person elected statewide.
Bernstein urges
stu dents to vote
in next election
By Loule Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
With the deadline for voter registration quickly approach-
ing, political groups on campus are revving up their efforts
to register as many voters as possible for the Nov. 5 general
election, a task that one candidate says could shape the way
interest groups respond to student concerns.
Twenty-eight-year-old Richard Bernstein, a 1996 University
graduate, said his race for statewide office is being watched by
power brokers in the state Democratic Party to determine how
influential younger voters are. If elected to the Wayne State
University Board of Governors this fall, he would be only the
second blind person serving in any office in the state.
"It's very easy to gauge the influence students have because
(interest groups) can see where students are voting," Bernstein
said during a recent interview with The Michigan Daily.
An attorney and recent graduate of the Northwestern Uni-
versity Law School, Bernstein is the first blind person seek-
ing statewide office. But voter turnout among students has
traditionally been low, political analysts say.
"Generally, not even half of people under 24 vote," said
Ed Sarpolus, a pollster and vice president of the Lansing-
based EPIC/MRA, Inc. "The problem of past experience is
people on campus don't follow politics."
The University's chapter of College Democrats was on
the steps of the Michigan Union yesterday registering stu-
dents and several groups plan to have voter registration
tables on the Diag, in the basement of the Union and outside
mnessage In
By Rob Goodspeed
Daily Staff Reporter
Newlyweds Robin Goldberg and
Erik Foley had been planning to
travel to Europe for their honey-
moon after graduating from college.
Instead, they ended up driving
across the United States to promote
nonviolence and peace.
Motivated by the events of Sept.
11, the couple decided to plot out a
road trip across the U.S. that would
spell out "NO WAR" on the map.
Ann Arbor was the most recent stop
on their trip, which will conclude in
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Americans could pause for a minute." road trips," said Foley, who added that
Foley said they are trying to after Sept. 11, he saw the words "no
nake people "stop and think about war" spray-painted on the ground. "As
heir lives." soon as I saw it, I said 'that's it."'
The two embarked on the 20,000- The two decided to go on the trip
nile trip in a Volkswagen van deco- by the end of last September,
ated by a friend. The decorations departing shortly after they gradu-
ncluded paintings of the Trail of ated from the University of Massa-
Tears, the Crazy Horse Monument, chusetts at Boston last spring.
:he eternal flame at John F. "My mom thought it was pretty
Kennedy's grave and a large sun. ridiculous," Goldberg said. "I don't
They plan to stop at 50 places to think either (family) thought we
nemorialize victims of violence would do it."
md recognize those working for They began their journey by vis-
>eace. Stops include Walden Pond iting Doris "Granny D" Haddock.
n Massachusetts, the National Civil Haddock walked 3,200 miles across
A& TONY DWG/Daily