4 2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 9, 2002 -NATION/WORLD Campus quiet over potential war NEWS IN BRIEF A Zl By Adhiraj Dutt For the Daily As President Bush and the White House put more pressure on Congress to permit military action against Iraq, and as leaders on Capitol Hill move closer to passing a resolution giving consent to such action, some students are concerned about a lack of engagement in anti-war and pro-war movements. "I think Palestine was a bigger issue last semester because of the suicide attacks. Iraq has been a threat for a long time, like 10 or 15 years, and so what's going on now doesn't hit people. I think there will be more student involvement after there is bloodshed," LSA sophomore Nida Dada said. In the past, students at the University staged protests and movements after governmental action took place. For example, in 1965, after U.S. involve- ment in Vietnam escalated, the first anti-war protest on a college campus occurred at the University in the form of a teach-in. In most instances, these movements were formed by student organizations such as the Stu- dents for a Democratic Society, which was found- ed at the University. "Discussions about war should take place in an appropriate forum such as in the Senate," LSA senior Albert Sheng said. "I don't think it is constructive for people to take to the streets and stand under a banner in one-sided protests. I would like to see more academic sympo- "I don't think it is constructive for people to take to the streets and stand under a banner in one-sided protests. I would like to see more academic symposiums and informed debates, though." - Albert Sheng LSA senior siums and informed debates though." "Protests will occur depending on how the war, goes. If the war goes well, there will definitely be less protests but if it goes poorly, there will be more," he added. Although there has been talk about going to war with Iraq, many students are waiting for Con- gress to act before acting themselves. "I hear stuff about Iraq from students but I think that there will be more movements in the future, depending on how debates in Congress go," LSA junior Brian Polk said. "There will definitely be more student action if we do go to war. I want to see more open dialogue though." "There will be movements when serious stuff hap- pens and people see results," LSA junior Hussain Rahin said. "There will definitely be a lot more protests if a war with Iraq drags on like Vietnam," he added. Some students believe a lack of activism among student groups is why there appears to be little dia- logue about war on campus. "With Palestine, there were a lot of rallies held by Palestinians or the Mus- lim Students Association," Dada said. "There were lots of e-mails, protests, and stuff on the Diag. I don't think there will be that many rallies with Iraq because there are less students from Iraq or at least it seems like it." "I noticed the preacher on the Diag but little else. Given the liberalism here, I would expect more infor- mation or protests. I think in the future, more Islamic members will protest," LSA graduate student Maria Kalli said. For many, academics remain a top priority for many students. "I think not much is happening on campus because of midterms," Polk added. BO IE Md. *I ,.Z. Shooting spree frightens Marylanders Playgrounds and parks were empty, shoppers darted warily across parking lots and shaken parents escorted children to and from school yesterday, a day after a youngster was wounded by the sniper roaming suburban Washington. "Usually I'm embarrassed to walk around and hold my mom's hand, but I don't care today," said Amanda Wiedmaier, whose Benjamin Tasker Middle School was the scene of Monday's shooting of a classmate. Security firms across the region reported a surge in interest. About 50 Star- bucks stores removed their outside seats. And mental health counselors scrambled to set up crisis hot lines for people upset by the string of shootings that have left six people dead and two wounded since last week. "This is a person who is shooting elderly men, shooting women and now shooting little children,"Gov. Parris Glendening said. "This is the act of an absolute coward." The latest victim, a 13-year-old boy, remained in critical but stable condition yesterday with a wound to the chest. He was shot early Monday after he was dropped off at school. With few solid clues or witness accounts, a task force of federal, state and local investigators is sifting through more than 7,500 phoned-in tips. Police said they have 1,400 credible leads but refused to disclose details. JERUSALEM Israeli army enforces new Hebron curfew Israeli armored vehicles rolled into the Palestinian parts of the divided West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended an Israeli raid in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of 16 Palestinians. At the Gaza-Egypt border yesterday, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, residents and doctors said. They said soldiers fired at youths who were throwing rocks at tanks and bulldozers, and the girl was hit near her house. The Israeli military said two soldiers were injured in the clash but had no information about Palestinian casualties. Palestinian gunmen fired at an Israeli vehicle near Hebron, wounding four Israelis, one critically. Other attackers shot at one of the Israeli enclaves in the tense city from a Palestinian neighborhood, just before Israeli armored personnel carriers moved in and imposed a curfew, the military and witnesses said. Hebron is the only West Bank city split into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones. About 450 Jewish settlers live in three enclaves in the center of the city. Israeli soldiers patrol the area, which also includes about 30,000 of the 130,000 Palestinians in Hebron. F r 'I OL 0 o N Discover the School E d a Educti* Students file lawsuit to block hate, 'eakers o sPalestbze Conference Graduate Studies Programs Join us Saturday, October 19 9 a.m. - 3p.m. School of Education Building 610 East University Avenue Come visit and discover some highly focused programs * Meet and ask questions of current students and faculty * Find out about a variety of degrees and research projects * Discuss professional activities and opportunities " Ask questions about specific programs and areas of study For information or to reserve a space, contact: Office of Student Services (734) 764-7563, ed.grad.admit@umich.edu LAWSUIT Continued from Page 1 constitution, but incitement to vio- lence is not, and we believe this conference will incite anti-Semitic violence," Neuman said. Kiblawi, co-founder of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, which is sponsoring the conference, said he had no knowledge of the lawsuit. Although Kiblawi declined to further comment, other students defended the event. "I support free speech," LSA jun- ior Halim Naeem said. "I think people should say whatever they want to say on campus, as long as it's not hate. ... Maybe they are assuming that is what it is, but I've talked to a lot of the people about the issues and they don't hate anyone." "I think they should still have the conference," he said. "I don't think it's detrimental to anyone." Engineering junior Avi Jacobson, co-chair of the American Movement for Israel, said that while AMI opposes the conference's principles and any plan to divest from Israel, he still feels the event should take place. "We fully support this conference's right to go on as planned and do not believe any attempts should be made to stop it," Jacobson said. "I would like to be able to put my faith in the decency of those putting the confer- ence together. The (burden) should be on them to maintain a peaceful and open environment." - Daily Staff Reporters Jeremy Berkowitz and Jordan Schrader contributed to this report. KUWAIT Kuwaitis dead after assaulting U.S. forces Two Kuwaiti gunmen in a pickup truck attacked U.S. forces during war games yesterday on an island in the Persian Gulf, killing one Marine and wounding another before they were shot to death by U.S. troops. Kuwaiti officials called the assault a "terrorist act." The Pentagon said the assailants pulled up to a group of Marines con- ducting urban assault training on Failaka, an uninhabited island off Kuwait's coast, and opened fire with small arms. They then drove to another site, stopped and attacked again before being killed by Marines, the Penta- gon said. Marines later found three AK-47s and ammunition inside the vehicle, according to a statement released in Washington by the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet. It said the injured Marine was hit in the arm. SALEM, Ore. Free healthcare for Oregonians on ballot Every man, woman and child in Oregon would receive full medical insurance - no co-payments, no deductibles - under a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot that would create the first universal health care plan in the nation. The question is whether Oregoni- ans are willing to pay higher taxes for a plan so generous it would cover even acupuncture and massage therapy. "What we are proposing is ambi- tious and audacious, but we believe the health care system now is in a cri- sis," said Mark Lindgren, spokesman for the Health Care for All Oregon campaign, sponsor of Measure 23. Under the existing system, he said, an estimated 423,000 of Oregon's 3.3 million residents have no health insurance - about 70,000 of them children. Nationally, the number of uninsured is about 41 million. NEW YORK Less teen abortions in the past decade The U.S.abortion rate dropped sig- nificantly during the second half of the 1990s, particularly among teenagers, and experts attribute the decline to bet- ter awareness of contraception and a fear of disease that has cut down on sexual activity. The rate fell 11 percent between 1994 and '2000, from about 24 abortions for every 1,000 women of childbearing age to 21, the nonprofit Alan Guttmacher Institute reported yes- terday. The rate among girls ages 15 to 18 declined a dramatic 39 percent, from 24 abortions per 1,000 girls to 15. At the same time, researchers were surprised by a sharp increase in abor- tions among poorer women, or those who earn less than twice the federal poverty level of about $17,000 for a family of four. "Their abortion rates were increasing while they were going down for everyone else," said Rachel Jones, who led the study. - Compiledfrom Daily wire reports. DIVESTMENT Continued from Page 1 ment in companies economically tied to Israel. They will be speaking out on the issue at a conference this weekend. The Second National Students Con- ference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, sponsored by SAFE, aims to educate members of the University community, SAFE co-founder and LSA senior Fadi Kiblawi said. "We're using this campaign to increase awareness, to open the circle of debate and spark interest in people who are otherwise apathetic or indif- ferent,"Kiblawi said. In an e-mail to members of the Uni- versity community, President Mary Sue Coleman wrote "As a matter of University policy, we do not believe political interests should govern our investment decisions." Kiblawi said the current situation in Israel resembles a past period of injus- tice when the University chose to divest from its tobacco and South African economic interests. "Look at precedents. (The Uni- versity) divested from South Africa which is the paradigm we're using to divest from the Israeli occupa- tion," he said. "Apartheid is a big term right now because South Africa's apartheid heroes ... have been outspoken in making the correlation between their struggle and the Palestinians' struggle." The suppression of civil rights can end if organizations stop funding Israel, Savabieasfahani said. "The focus of divestment is to get rid of military occupation. There's a lot to study about this," she said. "It leaves scars for life. It must be eradi- cated. Occupation is affecting Israelis. You cannot turn off violent behavior - it is within you." The reasons for divestment are not anti-Semitic in nature, SAFE spokesman Eric Reichenberger said, adding that divestment is not an attempt to deconstruct Israel. "Divestment is a movement based on moral concerns arising from the oppression of the Palestinian people;' he said. "It is the only way effective pressure can be placed on the Israeli govern- ment to convince it to discontinue its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The objective of divestment is not, and has never been, the destruction of Israel. If I honestly believed that, I could not support this divestment movement." Supporters of divestment said cut- ting the financial ties between the Uni- versity and Israel will not solve the conflict in the region, but will be a step towards ending the occupation. "Divestment is a huge step," Sav- abieasfahani said. "The only thing. divestment will address is an end to military occupation. Once military occupation ends, they will have a much clearer head to figure out what is wrong in Israel and the Middle East. An end to occupation will be a bless- ing to Israel. Divestment is something that has worked in the past and I think it will work here." In the end, Israeli military occupation will only create two possible outcomes in the future, Reichenberger said. "Israel will comply with interna- tional law and withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip or wide-scale divestment will take place. The ball is in their court, and justice is on our side," he said. The University's response came after two "spoofed" e-mails were sent from Kiblawi's account. Kiblawi said he was offended by the inappropriate timing of Coleman's statement. "I found it disturbing. It's the first time I have ever seen the president use a crime against students as the pretext to springboard her own political dis- agreement with those students. I find it particularly irresponsible because it exacerbated the unsafe atmosphere I have been put in as a result of this spoof e-mail," he said. "By referring to the divestment campaign, she prejudiced debate, effectively attempting to shut down open and civil discourse." SPEAK OUT Continued from Page 2. "He said there was nothing he could do and at least I had learned my lesson." The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscrip- tions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. 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