LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 3
CAMPUS
Sexual assault
victims discuss
experiences
Sexual assault victims will be able to
share their experiences today in a dis-
cussion sponsored by the Sexual
Assault Prevention and Awareness
Center. The event will be hosted in the
Michigan Union Ballroom from 7 to 9
p.m. Support services will be made
available.
Medical School
students hold
classical concert
Medical School students will play
selections of classical music this
Thursday in the main lobby of the Uni-
versity Hospital. The event begins at
12:10 p.m. and is sponsored by the
Borodin Society.
'U's affirmative
action defense
lawyer to speak
Maureen Mahoney will speak
about one of the University's U.S.
Supreme Court cases, Grutter vs
Bollinger. Mahoney was the chief
author of the brief filed on behalf of
the University, and she also spoke in
the hearing before the Supreme
Court. The event will take place at
the Power Center for the Performing
Arts tomorrow from 4 to 5:30 p.m
It is sponsored by the Center for the
Education of Women
U.S. ambassador
to Slovakia to
give lecture
The U.S. ambassador to the Slovak
Republic, Ronald Weiser, will give a
lecture titled "Central European Transi-
tion: Opportunity for American Diplo-
macy and Business." Weiser is a
Business School graduate and founder
of McKinley Associates, a national
real-estate company. The event, the
37th Annual William K. McKinley
Memorial Lecture, will take place
today in Hale Auditorium in the Busi-
ness School at 4:30 p.m.
Scholar to lecture
on education in
democracy
Barbara Holland will give two lec-
tures titled "Strengthening the Role of
Education in Democracy" and "Com-
munity-Building: Progress, Patterns
and Predictions" in the 2003 John
Dewey Lecture. Holland is executive
editor of the Metropolitan Universities
journal. The event is sponsored by the
Edward Ginsburg Center for Commu-
nity Service and Learning, Arts of Citi-
zenship, Office of the Vice President
for Research and the School of Educa-
tion. It will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Thurs-
day at the Alumni Center.
Panel to discuss
issues related' to
disabled students
The Council for Disability Concerns
will discuss the opportunities and
rights of disabled students in an event
titled "Investing in Ability." Then-Uni-
versity President Harold Shapiro estab-
lished the council in 1983, a year after
the University observed the Interna-
tional Year of Disabled Persons. The
event will take place from 4:30 to 5:30
p.m. Thursday in the Henderson room
of the Michigan League. It is spon-
sored by the Office for Institutional
Equity, Human Resources and Affir-
mative Action.
University dancers
to perform trios
Mira Kingsley and University
dance grad Alexandra Beller will
perform three trios titled "Waiting
for Chekhov or a Bit of Rope," "The
Women in Question" and "Room to
Die." Kingsley and Beller's theater
work sold out in New York City in
2002. The show will be at the Betty
Pease Studio Theater in the Univer-
sity Dance Building, 1310 N. Uni-
versity Court.
Tickets will be sold for $8 at the
door beginning at 6 p.m. The event will
be at 7 p.m. today. Space is limited.
Anime films to run
at free event
Full-length Japanese animation
films chosen by the audience will be
shown at the Underworld on 1202 S.
University Ave. Admission is free, and
i t + .k0 0m 11 xyll+,-a Y111 P nrn~ 0-~L fA m \
Afternoon at the library
'U' alum, historian
discusses experience
with int'l war tribunal
BRENDAN 0'DONNELL/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Tami Tu Dyer and her 3-year-old daughter Karin Dyer read and play in the
children's section of the Ann Arbor Public Library yesterday afternoon. The trip was a family affair
that include Karin's sister Ashley.
Criminal charges included as
topic 'in new sex ed. cl*asoses
By Adam Supernant
Daily Staff Reporter
Called to be an expert witness in
the trials following the Bosnian war
of the 1990s, Robert Donia has testi-
fied against seven Serbian and Croat-
ian war criminals at The Hague during
the past six years.
The University alum brought his
experiences on how history can be
used or abused in international law
yesterday as the annual DeRoy Visit-
ing Professor in Honors speaker.
Donia ended up testifying at the
International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia through a
series of coincidental circumstances.
Hailed as one of the most signifi-
cant challenges facing international
law in recent history, the Netherlands-
based ICTY aims to prosecute those
responsible for violating international
law during the Bosnian war, including
Slobodan Milosevic, the former presi-
dent ofYugoslavia.
Serving as an expert witness for the
prosecution, Donia testified against
Serbian and Croatian criminals
charged with genocide, murder and
other war crimes.
The uniqueness of his position is
that since all of the trials were suc-
cessfully appealed, the focus of the
trial would be factual evidence
while the appeal would be based on
the more specific points of interna-
tional law.
Given Donia's background as a
leading historian of the region, his
work centered on testifying in the
actual trial rather than the appeal.
"If historians and lawyers were
lined up on opposite ends of the field,
John Madden could say these teams
don't like each other," he said.
Expert witnesses for the defense
would often omit certain pieces of
fact, Donia added.
They would attempt to legitimize
the Bosnian war by arguing Serbia
and Croatia's claims to the area have
been longstanding and that Bosnia
and Herzegovina was and still is part
of medieval Croatia.
Another defense argument was that
the Balkan people as a whole were
"inherently incapable of possessing
superior organizational skills," based
on the argument that while fast food
was prominent in Western Europe and
America, food preparation takes much
longer in the Balkans.
"I think it's somewhat unexpected
that history is such a part of interna-
tional law trials. It seems peculiar that
he is testifying at the war crimes tri-
bunal," Law School student Scott Ris-
ner said.
While many war criminals have
been tried and sentenced to prison
terms, the trial is moving along at
what Donia calls a "glacial pace."
"I thought it was very interesting
how (the war criminals) are afforded
all the rights of American citizens in
the trial. How long it's been going on
is insane," LSA freshman Allison
Kimmel said.
Donia was drawn to studying the
"The very existence
of the court is a very
interesting
phenomenon. The
workings of
international law are
something Americans
have become more
sensitive to in the past
10 to 15 years:'
- Stephen Darwall
Director, LSA Honors Program
Balkans by "just a series of coinci-
dences. I arrived as a graduate stu-
dent (at the University) about five
days after coming back from Viet-
nam and wanted to learn the history
of an area no one was particularly
interested in."
Donia said he fell in with a group
of like-minded individuals and
eventually wrote his dissertation in
1976 on Islam in Bosnia and Herze-
govina.
It was not until 1997, however, that
Donia's knowledge came under the
eyes of the tribunal at The Hague.
"I was invited based on the aca-
demic work I'd done 15 to 20 years
before 1997," he said.
Donia was invited to speak at the
University by Prof. Stephen Darwall,
director of the LSA Honors Program.
"He came to our attention as both
someone with a University of
Michigan connection and as some-
one with experience in human
rights in international law and his-
tory," Darwall said.
"The very existence of the court is
a very interesting phenomenon. The
workings of international law are
something Americans have become
more sensitive to in the past 10 to 15
years."
Since Oct. 1, the state has required
school districts to educate students on
penalties for having sex with minors
LANSING (AP) - Sex education classes now include
lessons in law, too.
The state now requires school districts with sex educa-
tion courses to include information on the criminal
penalties for engaging in sexual intercourse with minors.
In Michigan, it's illegal to have sex with anyone
under the age of 16, even if it's otherwise considered
consensual.
But the change, which took effect Oct. 1, could trig-
ger hearings on the subject statewide, Booth News Ser-
vice reported yesterday.
Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt), added the language
to the school aid bill after hearing from parents of
teenage boys who became registered sex offenders after
being convicted of having sex with their underage girl-
friends.
"It's not fair to be teaching'kids about sex education
without also teaching them about the legal repercus-
sions," Cropsey said.
Cropsey said he was unaware that his one-sentence
change in law could trigger hearings statewide on sexual
education curriculum, although he said it would help
raise awareness.
Another state law requires two public hearings when-
ever a district changes its sex education curriculum, said
Brad Banasik, an attorney with the Michigan Associa-
tion of School Boards. Technically, adding a new
requirement will do that, he said.
Some Michigan schools already include the criminal
aspect in their health curriculum.
Cheryl Blair, health coordinator for the Kent Inter-
mediate School District, said sex education in her
county already includes talks with prosecutors.
"I think that students who are choosing to be sexually
active aren't always aware there are legal consequences.
They just think it's their personal choice," she said.
Teen sex offenders are generally charged with third-
degree criminal sexual conduct for engaging in sex
with those ages 13, 14 or 15, or;fourth-degree criminal
sexual conduct for sexual contact with those same ages,
said Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse.
A third-degree eonviction is punishable by upto 15
years in prison, although most people convicted of hav-
ing consensual but underage sex don't end up behind
bars, Morse said.
A fourth-degree conviction, which also requires the
person charged to be five years older than the minor
sex partner, carries a penalty of up to two years. Sex
with those under 13 is more serious, and could be
charged as a first-degree felony, punishable by life in
prison.
InlUX of immigrants entering
Michigan creates demand for
more bilingual police officers
MENNE
DETROIT (AP) - When Jorge
Casanas called Detroit police to
report a hit-and-run accident, the
response he got wasn't what he
expected.
"I dialed 911 to get help for my
friend, who was bleeding from his
shoulder, but they said something
like 'no speak Spanish' and hung
up," said Casanas, who doesn't
speak English.
"I tried it again, and again the
same thing happened, until one of
my friend's relatives who speaks
English got through," the 60-year-
old told the Detroit Free Press for
yesterday's story.
Detroit police officials say they
don't condone that kind of behavior
and would disci-
Urdu.
"The two things we talk about
most when hiring at the Sheriff's
Department are ... for officers that
speak another language and candi-
dates that know how to use comput-
ers," said Macomb County Sheriff
Mark Hackel.
"For us, language is becoming as
important an issue as technology."
"It is vital that our officers be
able to communicate with resi-
dents," said Lt. Col. Peter Munoz of
the Michigan State Police.
In Dearborn, where roughly one-
third of the city's almost 100,000
residents hail from the Middle East,
several of the police department's
180 officers speak Arabic and
Spanish.
-f e i It also has
cieny police officers
nguage can who speak
Japanese, Pol-
ference ish, Italian and
e and death. Maltese.
Detroit police
Lt. John Serda,
president of the 120-member His-
panic Police Officers Association of
Michigan, said the number of first-
generation Hispanic immigrants
arriving in areas patrolled by offi-
cers in the 3rd and 4th precincts has
jumped.
Most speak little to no English
and Serda says he's worried the lan-
anna harrierm n npnon rA itinn l
"There is a barrier between offi-
cers and citizens," said Lisa Alvara-
do, an officer in Detroit's 3rd
Precinct who said she uses her
Spanish-language skills daily while
on patrol.
"A lot of people in the community
don't come to the police for help
because of the language issue," she
added.
STUDENTS WITH
CROHN'S DISEASE
OR
ULCERATIVE COLITIS
Please join
Dr. Ellen Zimmerman
Associate Professor of
Gastroenterology, U of M
for an special session
discussing:
Sugical Options for IBD
Next Meeting will be
Thursday, October 23rd at
INTERNSHIP OPPORTUANITY
RIGHT ON CAPULS!
Interested in building, your resume
while you're still in school?
Want to work during
Fall/Winter Semesters?
The Michigan Daily will give you the opportunity to gain the
following business experiences:
" Sell Advertising to Local and National Businesses
" Manage your own account Territory
* Work in a team-oriented environment
* Earn Commission-based pay
Please pick up application at
ThUbCHIGAN DAILY
Student Publications Building
pline operators who
just hang up.
But Casanas'
experience under-
scores the chal-
lenges confronting
both departments
Police say p
a second la
mean the d
between lifi
and residents as
immigrants from Latin America,
Asia and other part of the world
arrive in Michigan speaking little or
no English.
Police officials say proficiency in
a second language can mean the dif-
ference between life and death, and
it's something they're working to
promote in their departments.
A TT C 0Cnen Rm a -an m-nrt