LOCAL/S TATE

The Michigan Daily - Thursday October 24, 2002 - 3A

C RIME

Man leaves own
accident scene
without his car
A suspect involved in a traffic inci-
dent on Madison Street early Sunday
left the accident scene without identi-
fying himself but left his car parked on
the sidewalk. His car was later towed
and he was identified, Department of
Public Safety reports state.
Woman's keys
reported missing
for nine minutes
A caller from the North Campus
Recreation Building told DPS officers
her keys were stolen Sunday morning.
She made another call nine minutes
later, saying someone had returned the
keys and nothing was missing from her
vehicle, police reports state.
Dirty sweatpants
taken from dorm
A pair of sweatpants that had been left
unattended overnight in the Bursley Res-
idence Hall laundry room was reported
stolen Sunday afternoon, DPS reports
state. No suspects were identified.
Computer mouse
cord snipped,
mouse disappears
The security cable anchoring a
computer mouse in the Art and Archi-
tecture building on North Campus
was cut, a caller reported Monday
morning. It is unknown where the
missing mouse was taken and DPS
has no suspects.
Construction dust
coats parked car
Dust from a nearby construction proj-
ect covered a car parked in the Universi-
ty Hospital carport Monday, the DPS
incident log states. No report was filed
for the accidental property damage.
Signed check
stolen from dorm
A woman living in Betsey Barbour
Residence Hall informed DPS officers
Monday she believes a check was stolen
from her room on an unknown date and
cashed for $600. DPS has no suspects.
Items swiped from
West Quad rooms
A person entered several rooms in
West Quad Residence Hall Monday,
stealing personal property and money.
DPS officers identified a suspect and
most property was returned to the res-
idents, although stolen cash was not
recovered, incident reports state. DPS
spokeswoman Diane Brown yesterday
declined to comment about the inci-
dent or the suspect.
Biker injured in
parking lot crash
A car in a Fuller Street parking lot
collided with a bicycle Tuesday. Accord-
ing to DPS reports, the bicyclist
appeared to be in "okay condition," but
no status was given on the driver of the
car. Huron Valley Ambulance provided
transportation to the University Hospital
Emergency Room.

Diet outweighs genes
in battle against obesity

By Lydia K. Leung
Daily Staff Reporter

According to a recent American Medical Association report, two-thirds of Americans
30.5 percent are obese and 4.7 percent are extremely obese. Extraneous calories co
fast food are more likely than genetics to ensure future weight gain.
Schools try to curb
chalking chao(rs on
campus properties

LSA freshman Michael Schallman sai
six to seven fast food meals a week but is
ried about becoming an overweight adult.
"Fast food is easy, quick and convenien
difficult to find healthy food on campus. T
not many choices around," Schallman said.
But he may be heading down the same
many Americans, according to a report int
nal of the American Medical Associati
report found two-thirds of Americans ai
weight, 30.5 percent are obese and 4.7 per
extremely obese.
"No, I am not surprised. I've heard tha
and Michigan is one of the fattest states;
senior Kathryn Drake said.
The obesity issue has long been addresse
kj well known to most people, but studies sal
f' usually are overly optimistic about the
becoming overweight.
"If your parents are thin, that doesn't n
you are going to be thin as well" Kinesiolo
Jeffrey Horowitz said.
Horowitz added that the amount of foo
affects weight more than genetics, whic]
JASON COOPER/Daily having more calories than needed will caus4
are overweight, gain despite the family history of the perso:
rnsumed by eating Easy access to fast food, thousands
advertisements and a general ignorance c
STEREOTYPES
Continued from Page 1A
smile," said Wu, an expert on the impact of affirmative
action on Asian Pacific Americans. "This is the kind of
racism where you can't point to a villain, but you still have
a victim."
Wu, who was born in the U.S., described the stereo-
types and subtle forms of racism against Asian Ameri-
cans, which he said make them feel like perpetual
foreigners in their own country.
"People take one look at my skin and my eyes and just
assume that I'm not American," he said.
"Even though they may not be doing it on purpose, some
speak to us like we are the guests and they are the hosts."
Wu advocated for the continuation of affirmative action,
saying it was a strategy that was working successfully to
alleviate racial inequalities.
"If you don't have affirmative action, it's hard to remedy
the problem elsewhere," he said.
Other suggestions, such as a program based solely on

content are the reasons students said the over-
weight population in America is quickly rising.
Horowitz said corporate behaviors, like advertis-
ing and extracting all consumer surpluses by offer-
ing cheap extra food, which consumers do not need,
are causing people to overeat. "It's the super size
phenomenon," Horowitz said. "By just adding 25
cents, you can get a third more product. It's to your
benefits. You are losing money if you don't get it."
High-calorie fast food is one of the most popular
foods on campus because students typically do not
have time or money for other types of food.
"There's just so much emphasis on convenient
food," LSA freshman Fallon Leplay said. "It's so
easy to go to McDonald's and pick up a value
meal. It's so much eAsier than cooking and less
time-consuming."
Though the price of getting satisfaction for the
stomach is getting cheaper, the cost of obesity is
significant. According to studies, more than $100
billion are spent on treating obesity-related illnesses
in the United States. Obesity may cause diabetes,
hypertension, stroke, heart disease, cancers, arthri-
tis and other diseases, according to the report, and
reducing weight is beneficial.
"Exercise alone cannot help to lo'ose weight.
The calories intake must also be restricted,"
Horowitz said. Changing unhealthy lifestyles,
knowing more about obesity, reducing food intake
and having regular exercises are methods that help
to produce weight loss, studies have found.

class, would not. be as effective because they would not deal
with the problem of race directly, Wu said.
"Although African Americans and people of color are dis-
proportionately poor, most poor people are white" he said.
"Therefore, if you did a straight class-based program, the
majority of recipients would be white."
Wu testified in the Law School trial that addressed
the issue of race in admissions, Grutter vs. Bollinger,
that took place last year in Detroit in the United States
District Court. He pointed out that although Asian
Americans are often referenced in the social and legal
debate" over affirmative action, his was the first testi-
mony ever heard in affirmative action litigation from a
person of Asian descent. He expressed that he felt the
image of Asian Americans was the model minority and
the exaggeration of their success was often exploited to
justify racial inequalities.
"It is as though people look at African Americans and
Latinos and then point to Asian Americans and say,
'They made it, why can't you?"' said Wu. "We don't
want to be a part of that."

The Associated Press

Stroll through any university today
and you'll likely tread on an invitation
to a fraternity party or campus-wide
event scrawled in multicolored chalk
across a sidewalk.
But some colleges are taking steps to
limit what's known as chalking, con-
cerned that their walkways will
become low-tech chat rooms or, worse,
billboards for ethnic hatred.
Minnesota State University Moor-
head this semester adopted a policy
requiring student organizations to get a
permit before leaving messages in spe-
cific sections of campus where chalk-
ing is allowed.
Approval of content is not required
for a permit, although the policy does
prohibit "counter-chalking" - advo-
cating an opposing point of view any-
where near the original message.
"It's a way for the people who do the
chalking to make themselves known so
we don't have anonymous hate
speech," said university spokesman
Doug Hamilton.
During Holocaust Awareness Week
last spring, anti-Semitic messages
appeared in chalk on the University of
Colorado campus in Boulder. Universi-
ty spokeswoman Pauline Hale said
administrators there are now mulling a
chalking policy, though she says their
concerns were not prompted by last
spring's incident.
At Minnesota State, the president of
the student senate, Peter Hartje, said he
and his schoolmates view the restric-
tions as the "university coming up with
a standard to ensure dignity and to
guarantee that our campus didn't turn
into a giant hopscotch box."
A get-out-the-vote message chalked
prior to the 2000 presidential election
landed David Hutchinson before the

dean of students at the University of
Kentucky.
Accused of defacing public property,
Hutchinson learned his school lacked
specific chalking regulations.
Hutchinson, now a senior, initially
enlisted the American Civil Liberties
Union to determine if the university
violated his free speech rights, but
then began to work with Kentucky
officials to develop an official policy
on chalking.
"I understand that they're trying to
attract students or whatever, but this
actually shows that there is student
involvement on campus," said Hutchin-
son, who faced the threat of suspension
if he was nabbed putting chalk to side-
walk a second time.
Two years later, Kentucky is about to
join other schools limiting chalking to
designated areas.
University of Nebraska junior
Chris Norton said student activism at
his school is hindered by a rule that
confines chalking to what he called
two obscure locations on the Lincoln
campus.
"'Not only does it restrict our right
to free speech, but it also seems kind
of silly," said Norton, president of
Nebraska's chapter of the Campus
Freethought Alliance. "It's only
chalk, after all. It's not going to be
there forever."
That thinking played into Ohio Wes-
leyan College's decision to reject a
chalking policy earlier this year. Plus,
administrators wanted to send a mes-
sage that the school trusts its 1,860 stu-
dents.
"It's a good way for people to get
their messages across," said Dean of
Students John Delaney. "And all it
takes is a good rain and it's gone, so it
works out pretty well for everyone."

KNOW OF SOMETHING HAPPENING ON CAMPUS?
PLANNING AN EVENT?
WE CAN'T COVER IT UNLESS WE KNOW A U
EMAIL NEWSMICHIGANDAILYCOM

Tired of being a

Bicycle parked in
Kresge hall taken
An unattended and unlocked bicycle
parked in a hallway in the Kresge
Hearing Research building on Ann
Street Friday was reported stolen Tues-
day. DPS has no suspects.
Dogfight tangles
pet, injures owner
A dogfight that occurred Tuesday on
Elbel Field ended in a possible broken
wrist and a trip to the emergency room
for one of the dogs' owners, DPS
reports state. During the fight, one of
the dog's paws became entangled in the
other dog's choke collar. While trying
to separate her dog from the fight, one
of the dog owners was bitten. DPS offi-
cers sporting a pair of bolt cutters even-
tually freed the dogs from each other.
An ambulance transported her to the
University Hospital emergency room.
Her dog was taken to a veterinarian.
Malnourished
female found
semi-conscious
A semi-conscious female found in the
Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science building on Beal Avenue was
taken to the ER Tuesday after having

Court upholds
$290M award in
Ford Bronco case

Want to be a

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The
California Supreme Court yesterday
let stand a $290 million personal
injury jury award levied against the
Ford Motor Co. stemming from a
Bronco rollover accident in 1993.
The justices, without publicly com-
menting, decided at their private
weekly conference to uphold what
Ford, in court briefs, called the
nation's largest personal injury award
ever affirmed by an appellate court.
The case involved a rollover acci-
dent of a 1978 Ford Bronco near
Ceres, about 80 miles south of Sacra-
mento, in which three members of the
Romo family were killed and two oth-
ers injured. The Romos sued the
Dearborn, Mich., automaker and a
Stanislaus County civil jury awarded

"would crush flat as a pancake in a
rollover."
"The legal system works," Carcione
said yesterday. "It's finding a way to
punish conduct that is outrageous and
is criminal, and the only way to pun-
ish outrageous and criminal conduct
of a huge, monolithic rich corporation
is you have to hit them in the wallet.
"You have to punish that corpora-
tion, and the only way we know how
to do that is with dollars."
Ford attorney Theodore Boutrous,
echoing business interests that had
urged the state's highest court to over-
turn the verdict, said the justices
missed an opportunity to rein in run-
away verdicts.
"This is an extreme and unconstitu-
tional award," Boutrous said. "We

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