LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 8, 2003 - 3A
C RIPME
Fight breaks out
after car injures
pedestrian
A traffic injury in which a car
reportedly hit the leg of a pedestrian
escalated into a non-aggravated
assault early Saturday morning.
According to Department of Public
Safety reports, the incident -
which occurred in the Thompson
Street parking garage - worsened
after the victim allegedly punched
the vehicle that hit him. Two people
then got out of the vehicle and
assaulted the victim, who sustained
several minor injuries, the reports
said.
Program stolen
during football
game Saturday
DPS reports state that a Michigan
Football program valued at $5.00 was
allegedly stolen Saturday afternoon
during the Houston-Michigan football
game at Michigan Stadium. DPS has
no suspects.
In other events at the stadium, DPS.
officers handed out more than 20 cita-
tions for minor in possession of alco-
hol. Nine other citations were given
for alcohol in the stadium, one for.
public urination and two more for
throwing projectiles. Across the street
at the University Golf Course, four
subjects were given MIPs and one
person was arrested for possessing
marijuana.
Shelf breaks,
impairs computer
A resident of Mary Markley Resi-
dence Hall reported to DPS Satur-
day that a shelf in her room broke
and fell, causing damage to her
computer. According to DPS
reports, the student said the shelving
had been owned by the University.
Reports did not state who was at
fault.
Car vandalized by
eggs, exterior
destroyed
A caller informed police on Satur-
day night that his vehicle had been
maliciously damaged sometime
between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. that morn-
ing. DPS reports state that eggs strik-
ing the vehicle caused damage to the
vehicle's paint job.
Washing machine
cause of smoke
in Law Quad
DPS reports state that the haze of
smoke coming from the Law Quad
basement on Thursday morning orig-
inated from a damaged washing
machine. DPS officers became
aware of the problem after receiving
a call from someone who had been
alarmed by the smell of "electrical
burning."
DPS officers also responded to
two false alarms that also occurred
Thursday morning. Reports state
that the first incident, which
occurred in the Alumni Center on
Fletcher Road, was due to a dirty
smoke detector. Officers could not
locate a cause behind the second
alarm, originating in the Medical
Science Unit I building on Cather-
ine Street.
Chair stolen out
of East Quad
reading room
A chair belonging to the Carl
Cohen Reading Room in East Quad
Residence Hall was reported stolen
Thursday afternoon, DPS reports
state.
The reading room, located near
the building's front desk, is protect-
ed with a keypad lock, as well as
several cameras located in nearby
entranceways.
Alcohol, pre-
weekend drinking
lead to citations
Two people were given citations
for having open containers of alcohol
on the Diag Thursday afternoon dur-
ing Festifall, DPS reports state.
Officers also issued several MIP
citations later that evening. The cita-
tions were the result of three separate
incidents, one of which involved the
usage of a fake drivers license, reports
state.
Bead-azzled
State struggles with
faulty dropout rates
LANSING (AP) - Unreliable
records and a lack of data from a new
state system designed to track dropouts
have left Michigan schools struggling
to address the chronic problem, offi-
cials said.
Schools and state leaders said
they cannot solve the problem with-
out knowing how many students are
leaving. But for decades, schools
have failed to produce reliable
dropout and graduation rates. And
the new state system has not yet
produced data, the Lansing State
Journal reported yesterday.
"If people knew the true numbers
of dropouts, they would be horri-
fied," said Mary Reimer, informa-
tion specialist for the National
Dropout Prevention Center in Clem-
son, S.C. "In some urban schools,
you have 60 percent of the popula-
tion that's not going to function well
in society."
Michigan is one of 13 states that
does not report data to a federal clear-
inghouse for education statistics, and
therefore was ineligible last year for
up to $100,000 in dropout prevention
funds.
The most current figures Michi-
gan has provided on graduation and
dropout rates are from the 2001-
2002 school year. The state said its
system of collecting data is not
working because schools are over-
burdened, confused and unable to
submit the information.
Until 2000, the state left it up to indi-
vidual school districts to monitor and
report graduation and dropout rates.
But schools had different ways of
counting students, resulting in incom-
plete, unreliable and, some officials say,
doctored numbers.
Now, the state requires school dis-
tricts to assign numbers to all students
and track them as long as they attend
school in that district.
The Michigan Center for Education-
al Performance and Information has
spent months working with schools,
often sending experts to the districts to
help them get the right data, said Lani
Elhenicky, the center's external affairs
manager.
NICK AZZARO/Daily
Ann Arbor local "Spik" sits in the grassy area on the corner of North University Avenue and State
Street selling beads necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry yesterday.
"How to be MAWf EhulC?
the daily
m e nsapuzzle
LThe
inceton
Review
"flexing your mind"
gay class
draws ire
in 3rd term
1By Abike Martins
For the Daily
The University course titled
"How to be Gay: Male Homosexu-
ality and Initiation" continues to
receive scrutiny in its third year at
the University. Since the course's
inception, it has received criticism
from conservatives who claim mate-
rial taught in the class is morally
objectionable.
This year, the course is raising
eyebrows once again, including
those of state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk
(R-Kalamazoo) and the American
Family Association. AFA President
Gary Glenn said that attention
would continue to rise because "as
more people learn about it, more
people get upset."
Hoogendyk said taxpayer dollars
should not be used to teach a
lifestyle choice such as homosexu-
ality. "There is a difference between
studying a culture or lifestyle, but it
is not the same
as an indoctrina-
tion class."
The class3
instructor, Eng-
lish Prof. David
Halperin, said
the English r"
Department hass
been very sup-
portive of the
course and class Halperin
enrollment has
increased every year since 2000.
He added that the criticism has
not influenced the manner in which
the course is taught.
"None of these politicians have
ever contacted me to find out any-
thing about the course, to ask for a
copy of the syllabus, to find out
what I'm doing in it or what the the-
ory behind it is," Halperin said.
The three-credit course, a section
of English 317, is billed on the Uni-
versity's website as examining "the
role that initiation plays in the for-
mation of gay male identity."
It "examine(s) a number of cul-
tural artifacts and activities that
seem to play a prominent role in
learning how to be gay: Hollywood
movies, grand opera, Broadway
musicals, and other works of classi-
cal and popular music, as well as
camp, diva-worship, drag, muscle
culture, taste, style, and political
activism."
"The complaint is that taxpayer
money should not go toward a
course which is deemed by most to
be morally objectionable or to pro-
mote a lifestyle that significantly
raises one's chances of a shorter
lifespan or mental illness," said
AFA's Glenn. He said college men
who are gay could die up to 20
years younger than the average pop-
ulation.
Noting that the University has
one of the best English programs in
the state, Halperin said, "Taxpayers
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