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www.michigandaily.com

Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 97

©2004 The Michigan Daily


Kerrys
stance on
gay rights rt
criticized
ByAn oigFor the Daily
With Democratic presidential candi-
date Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts
winning 14 out of 16 states so far,
many interest groups are beginning to
focus on Kerry's stances on specific
issues. The University's lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender community is
honing in on Kerry's stances on gayt
marriage and gay rights.Z
Many students in the LGBT commu-
nity said gay marriage rights are the
most important issue for them right
now. Kerry's stance on the issue has
been support of civil unions with full
benefits for gay partners, but not mar-
riage itself.
This view is keeping many members
of the gay community from offering
him their full support.
"(Kerry) doesn't believe in marriagew
for gay people, but he's for civil *Nm
unions. This is problematic because I
believe gay people should be able to
marry, so, in that way, he's not really a
friend of the community," said LSA
junior Holly Peterson, a member of the s
gay women's group VOICE.'
While all of the Democratic candi-
dates say they support equality for the
gay community, each candidate offers
varying degrees of support.
Like Kerry, former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean supports civil unions "t-
with full benefits, but not gay mar-
riage. .
Sen. John Edwards of North Caroli-
na has said he believes the issue of The windows of the Delta Kappa Epsilon house have been patc
See LGBT, Page 7A least 16 windows broken.
Library plans to update
MIRLYN, offer better
search capabilities

CRIME
Frat brawl
may spur
litigation

Ann Arbor police say
they will notpursue case,
calling incident childish'
By Donn M. Fresard
Daily Staff Reporter
Violence erupted at the Delta Kappa
Epsilon fraternity house Friday night,
leaving 16 windows broken and at
least one student filing a civil suit
against members of Sigma Alpha
Epsilon, another campus fraternity
whose members allegedly instigated
the fighting.
LSA sophomore Calvin Kattola said
he is currently pursuing legal action
against SAE members who allegedly
assaulted him and broke a side mirror
on his car.
Kattola, a member of Alpha Sigma
Phi, said he was on his way to visit
friends at DKE when four to 10 mem-
bers of SAE approached him near the
front door of DKE's fraternity house.
"A bunch of guys just came up,
apparently from SAE, and they just
started trying to kick the door down,"
Kattola said.
When Kattola and his friends tried
to stop the vandals, he said the SAE
members physically assaulted him. The
fighting stopped when several DKE
members came out of the house to
confront the attackers.
Before long, however, an estimated 25

to 50 SAE members arrived and again
attempted to forcibly enter the DKE
house, breaking most of the first floor
windows in the process, Kattola said.
He added that he later learned the
name of the student who attacked him,
and confirmed that the student in ques-
tion was a member of SAE.
SAE president Dustin Nelson
declined to comment on the incident,
only saying the parties involved are
currently discussing a resolution.
Members of DKE and the Office of
Greek Life also refused to comment.
Ann Arbor Police Department
records indicate that three incidents of
fighting were reported at the DKE
house Friday night.
Officers responding to the first two
calls reported that any students
engaged in fighting had dispersed
upon their arrival. Officers approached
the house after the third call, when
they observed the broken windows.
Students at the scene told the officers
that members of SAE were responsible
for the violence and damage.
Kattola said the AAPD officers who
responded to the incident showed no
interest in pursuing the alleged vandal-
ism and assaults, instead issuing cita-
tions for minor in possession of alcohol
and possession of false identification.
AAPD Sgt. Tom Seyfried did not
deny the claims made by Kattola. He
said the AAPD does not believe the
See BRAWL, Page 7A

FOREST CASEY/Daily
shed over after an altercation Friday night that resulted in at


A WOMAN THING

By Melissa Benton
Daily Staff Reporter
Those long hours spent in the library are about
to become a little easier, library administrators say.
The library will update the Michigan Research
Library Network, which is based on software
developed 20 years ago at Northwestern Univer-
sity, on July 6.
"Researchers will have a much more powerful
search capability, and the interface will make it
easier for students to use," said Barbara
MacAdam, head of Reference and Instruction at
the University Library. "It will still be called
MIRLYN, but we will make it clear that it's a new
and dramatically improved MIRLYN."
The new MIRLYN will enable students and
researchers to do one search across multiple data-
bases at the same time, said MacAdam, chair of
the steering committee implementing the new sys-
tem. Users can then sort and limit the search based

on criteria such as date, language, library and jour-
nal name. It will no longer be necessary to search
through individual databases for an article.
MacAdam said that the new MIRLYN should
be more helpful for students. "I think students
will find MIRLYN easier to use because it will be
more user-friendly and more powerful. This will
allow students to use a much wider content for
scholarly work and their papers," MacAdam said.
At the same time, the new program will still
have all of the services and features that the cur-
rent MIRLYN has, such as ability to access
course reserves, put a book on hold or order a
book from another location. But it will have more
power and flexibility, MacAdam added.
The University must change MIRLYN
because the old software - NOTIS - is no
longer being updated, and a better system is
expected at such a large research university,
MacAdam said.
See MIR LYN, Page 7A

Physics lecture investigates
possibility of life on Mars

An ensemble cast performs a piece entitled "Wear and Say" at the annual V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues last night. The cast
performed at the Power Center.
V-Day uses T-shirts, performance to
h l it violence against women

By Nalia Moreira
Daily Staff Reporter

As NASA's rovers journey across Mars's sur-
face and new satellites orbit the planet, a wealth
of information on the
red planet is now avail-
able to the public, said ,
astronomer and author
Kenneth Croswell.,
Croswell sp oke at
this semester's first
installment of Saturday
Morning Physics, a
lecture series hosted by IN Ma4c 1
the University's
Physics Department.
More than 350 people 1
filled two auditoriums i
in the Dennison Build-
ing for the talk - a
typical turnout for Sat-
'o #thAt3 "

images of Mars towered on a screen in front of
the audience while he spoke. Some of the
images, including a panorama of the Martian
surface and the first photo of sunset on Mars,
were recently taken by NASA's Mars Spirit and
Mars Opportunity.
The two rovers landed
on Mars in January.
Cro swell's talk
painted a vivid picture
of a planet only half
Earth's size that
nonetheless has much
to offer both scientists
and the public.
Mars is particularly
fascinating, Croswell
Ing Isaid, because it has pre-
served its ancient ter-
rain much better than
Earth has. Erosion pro-
ceeds slowly on Mars
aiu nto the nlanet's thin

. I

By Mona Rafeeq
Daily Staff Reporter
Red ribbon encircled the Diag and decorat-
ed T-shirts fluttered in the wind while a group
of students staged the V-Day Rally on Friday
afternoon.
The rally was organized to kick off the global
weekend performances of the Vagina Mono-
logues, a play written by Eve Ensler about
women reclaiming power over their own bodies.
LSA senior Jenny Abrams, a V-Day rally
organizer, said the purpose of the rally and
the play was to inform the public about vio-
lence against women.
"We're not just trying to raise awareness
about domestic violence, but also trends of
sexual violence and body image violence,
like eating disorders. that are prevalent in

ogy at the University Hospital, as the keynote
speaker. He spoke about the state of global
health and brutality toward women. In partic-
ular, he mentioned female genital mutilation,
a practice that is common in parts of Africa.
He said it is important to remember that vio-
lence against women does not always occur at
the hands of men. "There are a lot of societies
that involve women against women. Mothers,
grandmothers and daughters often can act
aggressively towards their relatives," he said.
In addition to student poetry readings and
cheers like "Barbie" and "Gender Binary," led
by a student group called the Radical Cheer-
leaders, the rally also included presentations
on each of the organizers' personal "vagina
warriors."
"Vagina warriors are women from all over
the world who are trying to change the sys-

"It is so important to
empower women because
rape and other forms of
violence are big problems
that are usually not
discussed.'
- Samuel Blake
Sophomore, RC

Ashwini Hardikar, chair of the Michigan
Student Assembly's Women's Issues Commis-
sion, said the committee felt a need to support
the struggle for violence against women.
"In addition to bringing awareness to the

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