LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 16, 2004 - 3
Corporate leaders credit
Paid gig is prize
at open mic night
A paid gig at the Atrium is the prize
for the audience's favorite performer at
open mic night tonight from 8 to 10
p.m. at thelierpont Commons Atrium
on North Campus.
All are invited to perform, and the
audience will choose the winner.
Film depicts history
of anti-segregation
movement
The Ann Arbor District Library
on the corner of Fifth and William
streets will show a documentary
depicting the fight against segrega-
tion led by famous black lawyer
Charles Houston.
The film, titled "Road to Brown,"
culminates with the 1954 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board
of Education. The showing is free and
is held from 7 to 8 p.m. tonight.
Lecturer discusses
distinguished
filmmaker's work
Marsha Kinder will give a lecture
tomorrow about filmmaker Pedro
Almodovar's depiction of mother-
hood. The lecture is titled "Rein-
venting the Mother: Almodovar's
Braindead Trilogy," and it will be
followed by a showing of Almod-
ovar's film, "Talk to Her."
Sponsored by the Institute for the
Humanities and the Program in
Film and Video Studies, the event
takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. in
Auditorium two of the Modern Lan-
guages Building.
Harvard Prof. to
deliver MLK
symposium keynote
Harvard law Prof. Lani Guinier
delivers the keynote speech of this
year's Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Symposium at Hill Audito-
rium on Monday at 10 a.m. Guinier,
the first African American woman
appointed to a tenured position at
Harvard Law School, will focus her
speech on the relationship between
legal and political solutions to
social-justice challenges.
In addition, Guinier will discuss
the role and importance that educa-
tion plays in our democracy and
ways in which the recent Supreme
Court decisions on the University's
admissions programs have contin-
ued the conversation between
lawyers, public policy officials and
grassroots activists.
The program is sponsored by the
Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and
Transgender Affairs.
Symposium to
delve deeper into
landmark ruling
A forum to discuss the progress
and challenges involving the
momentous U.S. Supreme court rul-
ing Brown v. Board of Education
will take place at the Michigan
League tonight at 8 p.m.
The panelists featured include
Hanes Walton, professor at the Cen-
ter for Afroamerican and African
Studies, and Marco Davis, director
of Leadership Development at the
Washington-based National Council
of La Raza. This group is the
nation's largest Hispanic civil rights
organization.
The last speaker is Women's
Studies Prof. Anna Kirkland. The
program is sponsored by Sigma
Lambda Beta International Fraterni-
ty and the Michigan League Pro-
gramming Office.
BAMN to rally
against Connerly-
sponsored initiative
Students from the University as well
as other colleges and high schools will
meet to march against the Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative to end affirma-
tive action in public education,
employment and contracting in
Michigan. The march will start from
the corner of South University and
Forest avenues Monday at noon.
The march will end at the Diag
and is sponsored by BAMN.
Lecture examines
migrant education
after Brown ruling
A lecture at the Michigan League
1 will take place on Sunday at 2:30
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technology for e
By Melissa Benton student at the Business School.
and Scott Cederbaum The conference, a collaboration
For the Daily between the School of Engineering,
the School of Information and the
Representatives from Hewlett- Business School, featured keynote
Packard, Microsoft, and other industry- speaker Michael Eskew, chairman and
leading companies have gathered at the chief executive officer of United Parcel
Business School through tonight to Service.
discuss "Pervasive technology and the Eskew discussed the history of his
advantages of the informed" - the company's technological development
theme of the sixth annual FuturTech at last night's opening.
Conference 2004. "We were founded in 1907 by a 19-
Organized by students, the confer- year-old kid who was trying to help
ence hopes to show how far technolo- his mother," Eskew said. UPS cur-
gy has come and where it will lead rently invests $1 billion annually in
business in the future. improving technological efficiency,
"Regardless of what industry you he added.
go into, whether it is financial servic- "The beauty of the Internet and the
es, high-tech - and regardless of beauty of technology is that it makes
what function, whether it is finance or the small look big and the big act
operations - technology will help small," he said. "Business strategy
your company succeed," said Susan drives technology."
Tahir, co-chair of FuturTech Confer- Whereas tracking a package used to
ence 2004. cost two dollars per inquiry, modern
"We wanted students to realize what development and the use of the Inter-
these companies could do for them and net has streamlined this process and
what they can do once they leave removed the middle men so that today
school," added Tahir, who is a graduate tracking a package costs only pennies
fficiency
per query, Eskew said.
He added that technology pro-
motes efficiency, which cuts opera-
tional costs. "Every company needs
to understand the financial side of
their business - it's a strategic
imperative," he said.
Another technological advancement
is UPS Worldport, located in
Louisville, Ky. The complex, which is
the center of UPS package routing, is
larger than the Pentagon.
Automated conveyor belts move at
400 feet per second, and a package in
the building can be located within an
inch of its location at any second,
added Eskew.
Conference events will continue
today with one panel discussion from
8:30 to 10:00 a.m. and another from
10:15 to 11:45 a.m. in William David-
son Hall.
Larry Lesley, senior vice president
of Hewlett-Packard corporation, will
give a keynote address at 1:30 p.m. in
Hale Auditorium.
-Daily StaffReporter Andrew
McCormack contributed to this report.
SETH LOWER/Dily
United Parcel Service Chief Executive Officer Michael Eskew explains how technology
increases efficiency at the FuturTech Conference 2004 at the Business School last night.
Campaign to outlaw certain
abortion procedures begins
The view from above
LANSING (AP) - Abortion oppo-
nents said yesterday they are beginning
to gather the hundreds of thousands of
petition signatures needed to outlaw a
certain abortion procedure without
going through the governor.
The initiative is aimed at returning
to the state Legislature a bill that
would define the moment a person is
legally born as being when any part of
a fetus is expelled from a woman's
body and is intended to ban what
abortion opponents call partial-birth
abortion.
The bill won approval in the state
House and Senate last year, but Gov.
Jennifer Granholm vetoed it. She said
it didn't include an exception for the
health of the mother and added that the
way the bill defined life could make it
apply to first-trimester abortions.
The petition-gathering effort, called
"The People's Override," has to collect
254,206 valid petition signatures by
May 26 to return the bill to the state
House and Senate where it would take
a simple majority vote for approval. It
wouldn't need the governor's signature
to take effect.
"We will drain the ink from the gov-
ernor's veto pen," Michigan Right to
Life president Barbara Listing said at a
news conference in the state Capitol.
Abortion rights advocates are
expected to challenge the measure in
court if it becomes law.
Shelli Weisberg, legislative director
for the American Civil Liberties Union
of Michigan, said opponents of the
measure are beginning to organize
against the petition drive.
"It's not about a single procedure,"
Weisberg said of the bill. "It's about
knocking out access to health care.
These decisions are up to a woman, a
doctor and her family."
Michigan failed in 1996 and 1999
to have the courts declare constitu-
tional a ban on so-called partial-birth
abortions mostly because they didn't
include exceptions for the health of
the mother.
Sen. Michelle McManus, a Lake
Leelanau Republican who sponsored
the vetoed bill, said it allows for a late-
term abortion if the physical health of
the mother is threatened.
The view from the Maynard Street parking structure overlooks
the top of the nearby St. Mary Student Parish.
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Study: Mich. ranks among middle
states in federal funding legislation
MIK DAY
Continued from Page 1
he will do on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day but doesn't plan on attending any
University sponsored events.
"I would (attend events). It seems
like something I should do, but I'm
probably going to spend the day
sleeping in, living up the day off,"
he said.
But that doesn't mean he and other
students do not appreciate King or rec-
ognize the importance of having the
holiday.
"I think the University people appre-
ciate him. He'll always continue to be
the hero for civil rights, but convincing
college kids to attend an hour-long dis-
cussion is pretty difficult," Begeny said.
Other students said they already
understand the meaning of the holiday
and don't feel they need to attend the
events.
"I think they understand the history,
isn't that all there is to understand? I
mean the holiday is to just remember
what he did. If you are educated on it,
that's pretty good in itself," LSA soph-
omore Bert Brown said.
Yet, there are also many who think
students will attend the events not only
to remember King, but also to learn
more about the current issues dealing
with race.
LSA senior Kyle Meteyer said he
usually attends an event but added, "I
think students definitely care about it.
It's just that there's a difference
between caring about it and participat-
ing in events."
Meteyer said some students might
feel they can be productive in other
ways, like doing homework. But he
added that the symposium and its
events offer a unique experience they
cannot receive every day.
"I think it's important that they get
the understanding of the issues more.
Rather than getting it from CNN or a
textbook, they can get it from a first-
hand source," he said.
Others think students should natural-
ly be interested in lectures.
"We are a highly intuitive academic
school. People aren't here just for their
careers, they are here to learn, and so
many people will be interested in the
events," said LSA junior John Lund,
adding that he plans to attend some
events.
Still, some think students should
take more time to remember King and
the message for which he stood.
Rackham student Meredith Mira said
students lack the knowledge that Mon-
day is more than just a holiday, but a
day of service as well.
"It's important to get back and rec-
ognize there is a larger purpose ... and
that we can look at the holiday and
work to create a better society."
LSA sophomore Camecia Davis
said she doesn't think many students
take the holiday for granted, but she
added, "Going to these events is sup-
porting what (King) stands for and
recognizing that what he has done in
the past and passing that (knowl-
edge) on to other people and future
generations."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Michigan ranks in the middle
in terms of the amount tle state will get if senators
approve a major spending bill when they return next week,
according to an analysis released yesterday by a fiscal
watchdog group.
About $154 million is set aside for Michigan projects in
the bill, including $41 million for Detroit, according to Tax-
payers for Common Sense. That makes Michigan No. 25 in
terms of how much it would get from the bill.
California is first with $965.4 million, while Wyoming is
last with $15.4 million. Iowa would get slightly more than
Michigan with $166.5 million, while Oklahoma would get
slightly less, with $152.4 million. Michigan had 169 proj-
ects included in the $373 billion spending bill, according to
the analysis.Tle most expensive is a $25.3 million border
station construction project in Detroit.
Numerous conservation projects are in the bill, including
$12.2 million for the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission,
and cultural grants, including $500,000 for the Michigan
Jewish Institute in Oak Park and $225,000 for the City
Opera in Traverse City.
There also are grants for hospitals, airports, American
Indian tribes, local transit authorities and road projects,
including $750,000 for a bridge in Rochester Hills.
Keith Ashdown, a spokesman for Taxpayers for Common
Sense, said the projects aren't necessarily wasteful pork.
We're concerned.
Last year's winner for
Best Slang was hella.
Whatever happened to
sketchy? Or even tubular?
Correction:
A quote on page 3A of yesterday's Daily was incorrectly attributed. LSA
freshman Christina Talamonti should have been credited for the quote.
Just wond
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