LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 5 MEAT Continued from Page 1 Campbell's Soup Co. After her own investigation, Kelkar was upset at the ambiguity of the term "natural flavors." "It's absurd that the FDA doesn't have a specific rule regarding the contents of natural flavors," Kelkar said. Faulkner attempted to clarify the confusion. "Any soup that claims to be labeled vegetarian is vegetarian. The food industry can use many ingredients to create 'meaty flavors,"' Faulkner said. Faulkner said he was unable to give a definite answer on natural flavors. "The term (natural flavors) is a catch-all for spices. Our spice vendor, McCormick, uses a variety of prod- ucts in their spices," Faulkner said. Neither the FDA nor McCormick returned calls for comment. Ruth Blackburn, the nutritional spe- cialist for Residential Dining Services at the University, admitted the inher- ent problems with "natural flavors." "Natural flavors have always been a problem for vegetarians," Black- burn said. "A company may not tell you the content of natural flavors because they want flexibility, they want to use what's less expensive," she added. Blackburn said that because almost all of the University's resi- dence hall meals are made from scratch, they can keep an accurate list of all the ingredients and can offer full disclosure on all the dish- es prepared. She did say that while the Universi- ty rarely uses manufactured goods, some of those products may contain natural flavors. "Some products we use, like our Chef Boyardee Cheese Ravioli con- tain 'natural flavors,"' Blackburn said. Blackburn said the University offers complete and customizable programs for both vegetarians and vegans and produced a list of all the vegetarian and vegan dishes the school offers. No items on the list had "natural flavors" in the list of ingredients. At a Residential Dining Services meeting last night in East Quad Res- idence Hall, vegan and vegetarian students simultaneously expressed their satisfaction with the Universi- ty's dining options and their wari- ness of "natural flavors". LSA sophomore Yosief Gheresus, a vegan, said he always checks the labels of the food he purchases. "I never gave it any thought before but then I realized 'natural flavors' could be anything. Spices are natural, so is chicken stock. It makes me very worried," Gheresus said. Journalist:News coverage of Middle East conflid unbalanced JOURNALIST Continued from Page 1 speech. "She obviously had ulterior motives for promoting divestment, but it was a powerful presentation," RC sophomore Becky Eisen said. "She promoted objectivism, but only provided one-sided information," LSA sophomore Jonathan Goldberg said. "She didn't see the suffering (of Israel)," he added. GENDER GAP Continue ' from Page 1 are highly achieving, we examine whether women are being afforded the same access to higher education as men are," said Jeanne Miller, a librarian at the Center for the Edu- cation of Women. The University's research coincides with this study, said Pamela Davis-Kean, assistant research scientist for Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Institute for Social Research (ISR). "Our research consistently shows that girls outperform boys grade-wise in schools," Davis-Kean said. The study released by OECD cited girls' strength in reading - but University research shows that girls also do noticeably better than boys in math and science, a claim that has long been disputed. "We have shown that girls' math grades at their junior year in high school are better than that of their male counterparts," Davis-Kean said. "If you actually look at SAT scores, men do better, but there has been some theory show- ing that there's a restricted range for men who take it. The higher achieving boys take it. The wide range of girls (both high- and low- achieving) that take the test bring the overall mean down," she added. Davis-Kean, who works on the Gender Achievement Research Program at ISR, added that women from all achievement lev- els strive to enter higher education, while only the most accomplished boys go to col- lege. Men, on average, have a greater oppor- tunity of getting jobs without a college degree - in fields such as mechanics and construction. Although the study did not compare women and boys' mathematical and scientific skills, University researchers and administrators in gender issues expressed both concern and hope for women in math and science. In sci- ence and engineering, the pipeline effect is especially noticeable. In 2002, the Universi- ty's engineering program conferred 14 per- cent of its doctoral degrees to women and 24 percent of its masters' degrees. "Historically, women took fewer math classes, but that's changing now, which is good. Then, they can go on to be math and science majors. And also historically, women have not done so well on the math portion of "I do not call myself pro-Palestinian," said Weir. "I am against the oppression of any human beings, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity." When visiting the Palestinian occupied territo- ries, Weir recalled being well received. "When I told Palestinians I was an American, the invariable response was 'Welcome."' The event was held in Angell Hall last night and was sponsored by Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. - Sheyonna Manns and Siabhon Sturdivant con- tributed to this report for the Daily. A lot of the girls who go into engineering are confident, having ambition to enter a male-dominated field. Going against those odds, I think, says a lot about the character of women in science and engineering. - Evita Nedelkoska Vice president, Society of Women Engineers the SAT, but that is also changing. Women are catching up," said Cinda-Sue Davis, director of the Women in Science and Engineering Program. "We work with women in the elementary and high schools. We have a large K-12 outreach pro- gram, and we encourage women to go into sci- ence and engineering fields," Davis added. But some students rejected the claim that scholastic aptitude is a gender-related issue. "I think that everybody works as hard as they want to. It all depends on your individ- ual aptitude, so it's not gender-specific," Business School junior Yanru Chen said. Evita Nedelkoska, vice president of the Society of Women Engineers, agreed with this claim. "I personally don't feel that it's gender-spe- cific. I definitely see girls who feel the need to prove themselves, because the spotlight is on us. There are girls that I see who work really hard, but it might just be their own per- sonal nature," Nedelkoska said. "A lot of the girls who go into engineering are confident, having ambition to enter a male-dominated field. Going against those odds, I think, says a lot about the character of women in science and engineering." LSA sophomore Adam Hogan agreed that academic achievement and ambition are more personal than gender-related. "I think it depends on the person. I can see that women may have added pressure, but I wouldn't say that I support (the idea). And achievement changes from person to person, even day to day," Hogan said. BUSH Continued from Page 1 lenges, it was uncertain whether the FCC would have a role in enforcing the list. "They don't have any prohibitions against them," FTC spokeswoman Cathy MacFarlane said. "They can go forward and do what we would have done." Powell noted that in yet another court ruling related to the list, a three-judge panel of the Denver appeals court on Friday denied a request from telemar- keters who wanted to block the FCC's role in the registry. Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer refused to block that decision, but the telemarketers could renew their request with another jus- tice. If the Supreme Court grants the request to temporarily suspend the FCC's rules, both agencies would be blocked from enforcing the list. The FCC joined last summer with the FTC, which operates the registry, to ensure the list applies to all industries. The FCC's do-not-call regulations mir- ror and expand upon those of the FTC, which have been put on hold. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham ruled that the do- not-call list is unconstitutional on free- speech grounds because it applies to calls from businesses but not charities. That decision effectively blocked the FTC from enforcing the list. The FTC says people can still sign up for the list and file complaints about telemarketer violations at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1- 888-382-1222. FCC officials said complaints will be forwarded to their agency for enforcement. Consumers can also file complaints directly with the FCC by calling 1-888-225-5322. "The FCC will enforce its do-not- call rules against telemarketers that have obtained the do-not-call list from the FTC, beginning tomorrow," Powell said. Adding another wrinkle to the bewildering situation, the FTC on Sunday shut down the service that allows telemarketers to obtain the list so they can know who not to call. So not all telemarketers have the list. Many of those that do have it say they will comply despite the legal confusion, The Direct Marketing Association, representing more than 70 percent of the- telemarketing industry, asked its mem- bers last week to abide by the list. Nearly 200 of the largest members have voiced no objection to the request and some have actively pledged to com- ply, association spokesman Louis Mas- tria said yesterday. "The industry seems to understand what we've said for almost 20 years: People don't want to get called, they shouldn't get called," Mastria said. H ISPAN ICS Continued from Page 1 Engineering Senior Edgar Garza, another organizer of the forum, said Hispanic students at the University are con- cerned because most of the new conglomerate's chairmen "are supporting issues that hurt us." Between 1994 and 1996 Perenchio donated money to for- mer California Gov. Pete Wilson, who supported Califor- nia's Proposition 187 to restrict the children of illegal immigrants from access to public education. Univision's news programs also cover little opposition to President Bush's policies, including the war in Iraq and Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada to the Supreme Court, Garza said. "The Bush administration needs the Latino vote to get him re-elected. The two companies in the merger support Bush," he said. "They also have very biased viewpoints. ... There was much opposition to Estrada, but it was not announced." Garza added that he is equally concerned that the merger may reduce competition in the Hispanic media and that Uni- vision's chairmen may use the revenues to donate political issues that most Hispanics do not support. Maldonado said the company has promised that program- ming would not change after the merger, adding that "we're more concerned about where the power lies." Spanish-language media are the only news source for many Hispanics, Maldonado said. "In some cases that's all they'll hear," he said. Despite the students' concerns that Univision may not accurately represent the views of the Hispanic community, the chairmen of Univision and HBC said the merger will place Spanish-language media on a level playing field with other media conglomerates. "Our employees will see expanded professional opportunities, our audiences will enjoy expanded news, information and entertainment programming and we will be able to better serve our communities, both local- ly and nationally, with even deeper involvement," said Univision Radio President Mac Tichenor, the former CEO of HBC, in a written statement. More than 100 Hispanic organizations supported the merger, including the Hispanic Media Coalition and civil rights group La Raza, Perenchio said in the statement. . Politicians encouraging the merger included Congres- sional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Ciro Rodriguez (D- Texas), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Barbara Baxter (D-Calif.), according to the statement. "We continue to be guided by our commitment to serve our audience, and we take great pride in the unique role Univision plays in the lives of millions of Hispanic Ameri- cans"Perenchio said. "We expect that Univision's new ability to offer advertis- ers the brand-building power of television in combination with the promotional power of radio will accelerate their development of Spanish-language marketing campaigns," he added. Perenchio also donated $1.5 million to fight California's Proposition 227, which would have abolished the state's bilingual public education system. The Latino Media Merger Forum is part of a greater effort to increase awareness about the merger and its possi- ble repercussions among Hispanic students at the University, many of who do not realize that the merger took place, Garza said. In addition to educating students on campus, Maldonado said he also plans to contact state legislators, Congressmen, University administrators and media outlets about the issue. Increased awareness among the Hispanics may affect how they vote in the 2004 election, he added. As a result, Bush and politicians serving constituencies dominated by Hispanics may need to address the merger and its effects, he said. Cingular's on your campus, so stop by the Cingular booth! Demo new phones and other cool products from Cingular. Color screen, Camera phone. Color screen wih di .. rlots of features. M I. Sony Ericsson NOKIA CONNECTING PEOPLE NOKIA CONNECTING PEOPLE Too cool fQor school Spin the Cingular Prize Wheel for a chance to win Cingular phones, tickets to the hottest concerts and movies, and other exciting prizes.