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One-hundred fourteen years of editorial freedom
www.mizhigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan * Vol. CXV, No. 11 c2004 The Michigan Daily
Debate
tackles
domestic
policy
By Jameel Navi
Daily Staff Reporter
President Bush and Democratic
presidential nominee John Kerry
are busy prepping for what will
be the final word in a series of
debates that have grown increas-
ingly heated.
The final debate will be held
tonight at Arizona State Univer-
sity at 9 p.m. and will focus on
domestic policy.
The debate will allow the can-
didates to confront each other on
what voters consider to be the sec-
ond most important issue of the
election: the economy.
It will also be the last oppor-
tunity the candidates will have
to address the entire nation and
directly influence public opinion.
Kerry will likely seize on last
month's unemployment report
from the U.S. Department of Labor
to support his claim that the eco-
nomic recovery has been largely
jobless.
The report found that job gains
during the month of September
were weaker than originally pro-
jected.
On the campaign trail, Kerry has
capitalized on popular fears over
outsourcing and attacked Bush for
catering to corporations that cre-
ate new jobs overseas.
"I'm going to close the loopholes
that actually encourage compa-
nies to go overseas. The president
wants to keep them open," Kerry
said in last week's debate.
Kerry has promised incentives
such as tax breaks for firms that
keep their operations in the U.S.,
although economists say these pol-
icies are unlikely to stem the tides
of globalization.
Bush has pursued mostly liberal
economic policies, with an empha-
sis on free-trade agreements at the
regional and global levels.
He has also enacted protection-
ist policies, including tariffs on
steel imports and increased aid
to the already heavily subsidized
agricultural industry.
The steel tariffs resulted in
penalties from the World Trade
Organization, which have forced
Congress to repeal the trade bar-
riers.
The president will likely tout
his tax cuts, which he claims have
sped the economic recovery.
"We cut taxes for everybody,"
he said in last Friday's debate.
"Everybody got tax relief, so that
they get out of the recession."
But Kerry argues these tax
cuts have done more harm than
good. Bush has signed three tax
cuts while drastically increasing
spending on homeland security
and defense.
This policy has racked up record
deficits that the younger genera-
tion - which also must bear the
burgeoning cost of Social Security
and Medicare as baby boomers
retire - will have to pay off.
"It's the president's fiscal poli-
cies that have driven up the biggest
deficits in American history," Kerry
See DEBATE, Page 8
AN AUTUMNAL VIEW
Latino
houses to
reshuffle
Three chapters weigh options after
dropping out of rmulticult ral Greek
organization
By Victoria Edwards
Daily Staff Reporter
When three out of four of the
Latino organizations in the Multi-
cultural Greek Council discovered
at the end of last semester that
Jaya Soni, president of the coun-
cil, had joined Michigamua - a
secret society of University seniors
whose historic practices have been
called racially demeaning of Native
Americans - they immediately
demanded her resignation from the
council.
"The council didn't take it as
seriously. So we decided that the
council was not looking out for
our best interest. (As a result) we
resigned from MGC at the end of
last year," said Ricardo Ramos, a
member of the Latino fraternity
Lambda Theta Phi.
But when Soni refused to step
down, the three Latino groups
dropped out instead.
Now, the Latino organizations
are exploring three options for their
future, Ramos said.
One option is to only secede from
the Multicultural Greek Council for
a year, rejoining after Soni gradu-
ates. Another possibility is to team
up with black fraternities and soror-
ities in the National Pan-Hellenic
Council. Finally, they say they may
form their own council comprised
of just the three groups.
Ramos, an LSA senior, said his
fraternity, along with the Latino
sororities Sigma Lambda Gamma
and Lambda Theta Alpha, dropped
out of the council out of respect for
their close relationships with Native
American students on campus.
"There were always good rela-
tions between the Native Ameri-
can students and Latino students.
We collaborated a lot," said Matt
Stehney, Native American Student
Association president and an LSA
junior.
Still, some of the groups that
remained loyal to Soni do not sup-
port possible reorganizations of the
council. Gabby Nguyen, a Kinesi-
ology junior and publicity chair of
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, a member of
the MGC, said she is opposed to the
Latino organizations forming their
own council outside of the MGC.
See COUNCIL, Page 8
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
A student goes to class early yesterday morning as seen from a lifting device of Diag horticulturists,
who were working on the trees.
Democrats send lawyers to monitor polls
By Donn M. Fresard
Daily Staff Reporter
Jason Moon.
-
Citing fears that Republicans will try to
intimidate and disenfranchise voters at the
polls, the state Democratic Party announced
yesterday that it will send lawyers to hundreds
of polling sites with high proportions of minor-
ity and student voters to ensure that election
rules are followed properly.
Polling places at the University and in other
parts of Ann Arbor are expected to be among
those targeted by the team of about 400 attor-
neys, said state Democratic Party spokesman
Democrats pointed ELEC
to the 2000 presidential
election in Florida, where
they allege that some voters in predominantly
black areas were turned away from the polls
wrongly, as an example of the type of situation
they hope to prevent this year in Michigan.
"We just want to make sure that all voters
are aware of their rights and not intimidated at
the polls by Republicans as they have been in
past elections," Moon said.
But the state Republican Party has accused
Democrats of making empty accusations in
T
order to score polit-
IONS '04 ical points. Chris
Paolino, a state GOP
spokesman, said the
Democratic Party rebuffed offers from Repub-
licans to enact a bipartisan poll-monitoring
effort on election day.
"They rejected (the offer) in favor of playing
politics," Paolino said. "Unfortunately, after
the last election people are cynical. ... (Demo-
crats) basically just used (poll watching) as a
chance to attack the Republican Party."
Paolino said Republicans will still send vol-
unteers to observe polling sites.
Software takeover won't shake 'U'
Jamaine Dickens, a spokesman for the Mich-
igan Democratic Party, said students attempt-
ing to vote are vulnerable to intimidation or
misguidance because they often are unaware
of their rights and are voting away from home.
"We believe that the Republican Party has a
20-year history of intimidation and voter rights
violations," he added.
Moon said one technique that has been used
in the past against student and minority voters
waiting in line at the polls is to "ask them ques-
tions about whether they've paid their parking
tickets - things totally unrelated to casting
See POLLS, Page 8A
"
computing
One ongoing suit between the companies will decide
whether PeopleSoft has illegally made a takeover
exceedingly costly for Oracle, and another involv-
ing the government ended with a California district
court's decision that Oracle's takeover would not vio-
late antimonopoly laws.
Steve Swasey, spokesman for PeopleSoft, said
Oracle's actions have damaged its business and his
firm is seeking $1 billion in compensatory damages.
The chance of a takeover caused consumers to be
wary of purchasing new software and thus affected
PeopleSoft's business.
In a news release, PeopleSoft said Oracle's over-
tures were "a deliberate campaign to mislead People-
Soft's customers and disrupt its business."
Oracle says it is interested in acquiring PeopleSoft
because the combined company will be more inno-
See PEOPLESOFT, Page 8
By Koustubh Patwardhan
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite mutliple court contests between Oracle
Corp. and PeopleSoft, Inc., the University and its
systems that are supported by PeopleSoft software
will remain unaffected, University officials say.
In June 2003, Oracle proposed a takeover of
PeopleSoft despite management's resistance, issu-
ing a series of bids for the company that PeopleSoft
rejected wholesale.
Linda Green, spokeswoman for University
Administrative Information Services, said even if
Oracle were to purchase PeopleSoft - the firm that
manages Wolverine Access and some University
records and payroll services - University opera-
tions would not be affected.
"If Oracle is acquiring PeopleSoft, they will have
According to PeopleSoft, the company rejected all of
Oracle's bids because they did not reflect the true value
of the company.
purchased the software as well as a customer base,"
she said.
The University switched to its new Wolverine
Access system in the winter term to honor its con-
tract with PeopleSoft.
She added that currently the University has a good
relationship with Oracle and that she hopes that this
continues even if PeopleSoft is acquired.
Jennifer Glass, vice president of global external
affairs for Oracle, said Oracle would continue to
support existing PeopleSoft customers for 10 years
before transferring them to Oracle software.
The takeover process between the firms has
caused much commotion.
According to press releases from PeopleSoft, the
company rejected all of Oracle's bids because they
did not reflect the true value of the company.
The transaction has also generated court battles:
DPS won't follow Michigan
SState's rules on tailgating
--I
The crackdown
Michigan State new
regulations
No beer bongs, roulette
wheels, or tables and boards
By Melissa Benton
and Ashley Dinges
Daily Staff Reporters
Despite recent tailgating regula-
tions put in place at Michigan State
University to curb binge drinking
before football games, the University
of Michigan does not have reason
to enforce similar regulations, said
becoming a problem," Denbow said.
The on-campus tailgating lots regulat-
ed by the new policy fall under the juris-
diction of Michigan State's Department
of Police and Public Safety. Public safety
departments at both Michigan State and
the University of Michigan generally
have jurisdiction only over university-
owned property, and Brown said most
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