Weath1er
Tuesday
November 25, 2003
@2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 59
One-hundred-thirteen years ofeditorialfreedom
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Rill
Holiday
sales likely
to hit a
downturn
Year-round discounts
may hurt post-
Thanksgiving gift sales
By Tomislav Ladiika
Daily Staff Reporter
The holiday shopping season unoffi-
cially kicks off this Friday, but accord-
ing to a University analyst, an
increasing number of consumers are
buying presents at any time of year -
as long as they can get them at dis-
count.
This trend might hurt businesses that
expect the traditional sales boost during
the holiday season. About 40 percent of
consumers have traditionally shopped
on the day after Thanksgiving, accord-
ing to the American Express Retail
Index.
Business School Prof. Aradhna
Krishna said many consumers have
become accustomed to buying their
gifts on sale. An increasing number of
opportunistic consumers are searching
for and purchasing gifts that are on sale
throughout the year and then saving
them for the holidays.
But this trend has been hurting the
profits of businesses because con-
sumers are buying items at discounts
instead of at the regular prices, Krishna
said.
"Typically, the amount sold at regular
prices has been decreasing over time,"
she said.
LSA senior Julie Spnk said she is
planning on shopping for holiday pres-
ents during the Thanksgiving break but
added that she also buys gifts before
the holiday season if she can find them
at reduced prices.
"I have a big drawer that if I find
something that's on sale, I just put it in
there," she said.
Tree Omar, manager of the State
Street Bivouac, said people have been
buying holiday presents since the
beginning of the school year, and espe-
cially since Ialloween. He said people
occasionally buy items for their
boyfriends or girlfriends and save them
for Christmas.
Krishna added that another recent
trend has been the increase in holiday
purchases made online.
While businesses may be hoping that
the recovering economy and higher
consumer confidence will lead to a
boost in sales this season, data indicate
that holiday shopping will not increase
by a significant amount, according to
Business School Prof. Claes Fornell.
Customer satisfaction with the goods
that they buy has not changed recently,
indicating that consumer spending also
will not increase, said Fornell, who
compiles the American Customer Satis-
faction Index.
The satisfaction index differs from
the University's Index of Consumer
Sentiment in that it measures how
happy people are with the quality of
items they buy, Fornell said. Consumer
confidence measures how confident
people are that the economy will per-
form well in the future, he said.
See ECONOMY, Page 2
ACtivists recount
run-in with the law
By Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporter
People were literally hanging over the handrails
at Oneline Studio on Fourth Street and Huron
Street last night to hear first-hand accounts of
police violence toward protesters in Miami Thurs-
day.
The crowd was in a festive yet serious mood as
they mixed raising money to cover legal fees for
arrested activists, including University students
Jenny Lee and Mike Medow, with celebrating the
second edition of Moment magazine.
Students from many student groups on campus
were at hand to listen to the testimonies. Attend-
ing the event were students from Rad.art consor-
tium, Students Organizing for Labor and
Economic Equality, Anti-War Action! and
Moment magazine, a progressive magazine estab-
lished this year by University graduate students.
Donations toward legal aid for the arrested pro-
testers were accepted at the door. The event was
expected to only draw 40 people, but more than
50 filled Oneline Studio.
Lee and Medow were released Sunday and face
misdemeanor charges. They were expected to
return last night. Both were in Miami as reporters
and held official press passes from an independ-
ent news media outlet called Michigan Indepen-
dent Media Center, which falls under the
umbrella of Indymedia, according to people at the
event. Lee and Medow are also involved in
Moment, though they were not representing
Moment when they were arrested.
Moment editor Yoni Goldstein said that bail
and court fees were set at $550 each for LSA sen-
iors Lee and Medow, who were arrested Thursday
while in Miami protesting negotiations to expand
the North American Free Trade Agreement. The
negotiations were aimed at finalizing a policy
called the Free Trade Area of the Americas and
involved all countries in the Western Hemisphere
but Cuba.
The FTAA's stated goal is to lower trade barri-
ers between member nations. protesters argued
the FTAA will mean loss of American jobs and
exploitation of cheap labor and natural resources.
Recent Michigan alumni Sigh Sobin was one
of the protesters arrested Thursday. He said he
decided to go to Miami after finding out that
funding for FTAA conference preparations was
hidden in allocations in the Iraq war budget. "pro-
testers are more and more being equated with ter-
rorists," Sobin said. He said police prevented
protesters from joining the officially-sanctioned
march Thursday afternoon and opened fire with
tear gas and fire hoses as soon as the time of the
march passed, despite what he described as
peaceful dispersion of marchers.
Sobin said police action toward the peaceful
marchers led him to engage in more direct action,
such as erecting barricades and videotaping
arrests to make sure police weren't using violent
means in dealing with protesters. "With the cops
using those kinds of tactics, it forces people to
engage in direct action," he said. He was arrested
while videotaping other people being arrested;
police dropped all charges against him after he
was booked.
Goldstein and Sobin both talked about discrim-
inatory police actions toward transgendered peo-
See ARRESTS, Page 3
TOP: The band Run Little Bunny performs last night at Oneline Studio for a benefit supporting the University
students who were arrested during last week's protests. Projected behind the band is footage from the protest
(ELSE BERGMAN/Daily). BOTTOM: Police line up in Miami during the protests (Becky Tarlau/For the Daily).
'Random' registration dates
frustrate some students
By Trista Van Tine
Daily Staff Reporter
Frustrated with class registration,
some students are questioning the
University's system for determining
appointment times.
"I'm a junior and I was expect-
ing an earlier registration date, and
I don't get to register untilthe 26t.
I have 75 credits and I know people
that have less credits than me, but
are registering first," LSA junior
Molly Kalahar said.
University Registrar Associate
Kortney Briske said the registration
process has proven to be unsettling
for numerous students.
"We get a number of calls every
term from students thinking that
their appointment should be earlier
than the one they received. Occa-
sionally they are right - late trans-
fer credits, for example - but in
general, they keep the same
appointment they were assigned,
with the understanding that there is
some randomness within the
groups. Sometimes you come at the
end, sometimes at the beginning,"
he said.
The breakdown of the registration
appointment process is as follows:
Students are first distinguished as
graduate students or undergradu-
ates.
Then, both of these groups are
separated into seven registration
groups, determined by the student's
overall credits and current term
credits - the number of credits that
were taken this fall.
Students within each of these seven
groups are then randomly assigned an
appointment date and time.
"It changes from term to term, but
there are roughly 3,000 students in
each group," Briske said.
He added that on each of the
appointment days, students fall under
different time slots, the first begin-
ning at 8 a.m. with the final slot at
6:45 p.m.
Grad students began registration
on Nov. 17 and their last assigned
appointments were Thursday.
Undergraduate appointments began
Wednesday and will end on Dec. 9.
No appointments are assigned on
the weekends.
Another complaint during the
backpacking and registration
process has come from students
who are unable to enroll in classes
they need because the slots are full
by the time they are assigned to
register.
"I have found a lot of problems
with classes that say reserved seat-
ing - where they have 10 opena.
seats, but they are already reserved
for people," LSA junior Mary Heis-
er said.
"There are also classes that are
only offered in the fall and not in
the winter, which makes it really
hard to get classes you need."
For other students, the process is
just another part of University life.
"I think it is fine. You can't
always get the classes you want, but
that's what happens when you go to
a big school like this," LSA fresh-
man Abigail Smith said.
Esrold Nurse, LSA assistant dean
for academic affairs, said the most
popular time slots for courses are
between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Mon-
day through Friday, and between 9
a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through
Thursday.
"These are the most popular
times students want, but there are
only so many courses that can be
offered in these time slots," Nurse
said.
"We are also limited by the avail-
See CLASSES, Page 3
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
Congressman John Dingell discusses underage drinking yesterday at an event In
the Michigan Health System Trauma Burn Center.
Hospitallaunche-s
Jieaci pre vention program
By Jeremy Berkowitz making responsible choices.
Daily Staff Reporter Both centers hope to spread the use o
f
One-man show
Race plays a role in
marital, relationship
stability, 'U' study finds
Your friend passed out at a party
after too many shots of vodka. He's
breathing lightly and his skin is
clammy. Do you call 911 and take
the risk of getting in trouble with
police, or do you let your friend
sleep it off and hope he recovers?
This is one of many interactive
scenarios in a new alcohol educa-
tion program planned by the Uni-
versity Hospital Trauma Burn
Center in con-
junction with
the Century T
Council, a a p
non - pro fit Computer wo
organization Court erai
funded by six craludr
of America's
leading di s - The program, A
tillers. funded In part byt
The two cen- Council, a non-prof
ters plan to offer America's top dist
a new computer 0Coptrsm
program called teachopuere-imu
Alcohol 101, tec coseguebce
th o AfQ*" " I" lE"
the computer program throughout
Michigan.
"The program was designed for
high school counselors," Century
Council spokeswoman Maria Tildon
said, adding that it is up to the dis-
cretion of each school on how they
use the program.
"The hope is to really focus on high
school seniors,"she said.
Tildon noted the numerous ten-
sions that arise for
I
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it
iu
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kshop seeks to
lc ol 10
th Centu
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oti ers.
utions will
un e s
es of underage
college and high
school stu-
dents, espe-
cially seniors
getting ready
for prom and
graduation.
"They will
be faced with
new chal-
lenges and sit-
uations that
will bring
about pressure
to consume
alcohol ,"
Tildon said.
Dingell com-
plimented the
By Aynw Jean
Daily Staff Reporter
Even as divorce rates climb ever high-
er, many still view stability as marriage's
biggest boon. But, though some assume
that getting married makes separation
less likely, a new study suggests it is
more complex.
The study, conducted by the Institute
for Social Research, investigated the
separation rates - the amount of insta-
bility - among cohabiting and married
couples and the implications it held for
children. Although the study found that
cohabiting couples part ways more often
and that married couples are more sta-
ble, it did not see similar trends for black
and Hisnanic families.
For children whose parents were mar-
ried, only 15 percent had parted ways.
But on average, minority families
faced the same rates of separation
whether couples were married or simply
living together. The study concluded that
black and Hispanic families face the
same levels of instability with or without
marriage.
The causes are, as of yet, unclear. But,
although study co-author and sociology
Prof. Pamela Smock could not control
for socioeconomic status in her study,
she hypothesizes that income may be a
key indicator for blacks and Hispanics,
who are disproportionately poor.
"When you're worried about putting
food on the table, it's difficult to worry
about having a 'normal family life'"
geared toward drinking.
high school sen-
iors ready to go
to college.
"Throughout the alcohol pro-
gram, students are asked to make a
decision and there are consequences
for each decision," Century Council
employee Pamela Beer said at a
press conference yesterday in the
University Hospital.
U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Dear-
born), Ann Arbor Police Chief
Daniel Oates and doctors from the
preventive nature of the program, noting
that it taught teenagers lessons before
they made poor choices.
"One of the great worries about rais-
ing kids is how you're going to get them
in a wholesome health'state of adult-
hood," Dingell said.
Dingell can relate to problems of rais-
ing teenagers.
He noted that his experience
raising four kids - two of them as
Ak I
In I