NEWS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 13, 2004-- 3 ON CAMPUS Information forum brings 100 grad schools to campus Students can meet with more than 100 graduate schools from across the country to explore options, get application information and ask about financial aid today from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Michigan Union. Visit the Career Center's homepage, www. cpp.umich.edu, for a list of schools and programs scheduled to attend. Meeting offers students tips on MIP citations The Michigan Student Assembly will hold a "townhall meeting" to provide students with information on how to avoid getting minors- in-possession-of-alcohol citations today at 6 p.m. in room 3909 of the Michigan Union. Doug Lewis, director of Student Legal Services, will be on hand to answer questions students may have about MIPs. Free pizza and soda will be available. Student debate previews tonight's presidential clash The American Movement for Isra- el, along with the College Democrats and College Republicans, will be hosting a bi-partisan foreign policy debate and presidential debate view- ing party tonight in anticipation of tonight's third and final presidential debate on domestic issues. The event will be held from 7:30 to 11 p.m. at University Hillel. 'Saved by the Bell' creator to discuss hit TV show Peter Engel, the creator of hit TV show "Saved by the Bell," will hold a lecture and discussion today in room 1270 of Davidson Hall from 7:30 to 9 pm.Engel has recently been working on NBC's show "Last Comic Stand- ing," which attempts to find the fun- niest person in America. CRIME NOTES Wallet stolen from residence hall A wallet was taken from a room in Coman House of Vera Baits II Residence Hall Monday night, according to reports from the Department of Public Safety. DPS has no suspects in the case. Caller concerned with fire from July A caller reported to DPS on Monday an ethanol fire which occurred in July. The caller extinguished the fire with an office fire extinguisher and Occupa- tional Safety and Environmental Health was notified at the time. THIS DAY In Daily History 400 protest the suspension of chemistry prof Great Lakes bill awaits passage amid criticism By Farayha Arrine Daily Staff Reporter When Ice Mountain Spring Water Co. announced that its western Michigan plant would begin bottling water withdrawn from the Great Lakes, a bevy of environmentalists as well as local Native American tribes objected to what they felt was exploitation of a natural treasure. Two years later, after judges threw the case out, companies like the bottled-water giant and its employees may face problems because of a series of proposals that tighten scrutiny on water extrac- tions from the Great Lakes, as well as regulations on groundwater withdrawal from the area. The most recent of these proposals is a bill the Michigan House of Representatives passed two weeks ago, which would add an amendment to the state Constitution banning new water withdrawals from the Great Lakes around Michigan. But the proposal is drawing sharp criticism from oppo- nents as well as experts; even supporters call for a few modifications. And even as the proposal makes its way through the state Legislature, two other pieces of policy wait in the wings. The Water Legacy Act, a package of bills being moved through the Legislature by two Ann Arbor lawmakers, would go beyond the proposed amend- ment by implementing more detailed standards for water withdrawal from just Michigan's lake water or groundwater. In addition, a highly criticized 1986 charter - signed by eight U.S. governors and two Cana- dian premiers - will most likely receive an overhaul next week. The changes to the charter would apply a uniform set of standards for water withdrawals over all eight Great Lakes states and the two Canadian provinces that signed the original agreement almost 20 years ago. With these revisions pending and research surrounding the effec- tiveness of the Legacy Act moving along, the proposed amendment to the state constitu- tion seems unnecessary, according to many state officials. Waterworld An amendment in the state Senate seeks to buffer a 1986 charter that allows Great Lakes states to form their own water management policy. The amendment has passed the House but received much criticism. The Water Legacy Act, currently being researched, would provide a more detailed management plan than the amendment, which would only ban new withdrawals from Michigan waters. Revisions to the eight-state, bi-national charter are also underway, seeking a common standard on water usage. ter that has not passed its own state-level leg- islation to formally enact it. The proposed amendment, which is a paragraph long, is seen by some lawmakers as largely ineffective in the protection of state water resources. For this reason, it has met with disapproval from officials. The amendment must pass in the Sen- ate and then gain the approval of state vot- ers in a 2006 election in order to take effect. State Rep. Alexan- der Lipsey (D-Kal- amazoo), who voted against the proposed amendment, said the bill most likely will not pass in the Senate ues on the Legacy Act. "The timing ofthis clearly will have a naxinum impact before the November elections," Lipsey said. "We can't help but think that it was designed to make people think (the House) is doing some- thing about (the Great Lakes problem)." Just 10 representatives voted against the proposed amendment. Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor) supported the measure, but told the Associated Press after it was passed that this move did not go far enough in protecting the Great Lakes and that he would be pro- posing changes. Like Lipsey, SNRE Prof. Jon Bulkley ques- tioned the benefit of passing legislation to enforce an agreement that is nearly two decades old. Bulkley pointed to the fact that reform on Great Lakes water diversions is needed, but a uniform set of standards must be adopted between the eight states and Canada on water management. He added that the bill passed by the House would not stop the other states from diverting large amounts of water based on their own stan- dards and would only pay lip service to the charter agreed upon in 1986. "The legislation passed in the House is strictly for show," Bulkley said. "In my view it doesn't exterd to anyone beyond the shoreline of Michi- gan. I really don't understand why anyone would seriously consider that as a useful piece of legisla- tions. There's other ways of setting up reporting procedures." Already the target of much criticism in and and that it is not enforceable because it lacks any outside the Legislature, the proposal risks not detail or attempt to standardize water manage- making it out of the Senate at all. ment throughout the Great Lakes. He added that the amendment was introduced The proposed amendment for political reasons, in an attempt to reflect well Michigan is the only signing party to the 1986 char- on members of the House while research contin- 'U' study seeks to close gaps in prenatal care By Tina Hildreth Daily Staff Reporter Black women are three times more likely to die during pregnancy than white women, and their babies are also twice as likely to die during infancy, according to the University's Medical School. Every year billions of dollars are spent to define and explain social health disparities such as these. Many of the disparities, though heavily researched, remain unresolved. This is especially true in the outcome of pregnancies, where dif- ferences in the amount of health care blacks and whites receive is not uncommon: For example, 89 percent of white women seek prenatal care, com- pared to 75 percent of black women, according to the University Medical School. Now 17 different University departments have teamed up to begin a new three-year research ini- tiative called "Health Disparities: Leaders, Provid- ers, and Patients," prompted by a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Health. The departments will seek to understand and fix disparities in outcomes of births for all pregnant women, and disadvantaged women in particular. Scott Ransom, director of the University Program for Healthcare Improvement and Leadership Development, said the dispari- ties between the outcomes of black and white pregnancies is due in part to lack of correct research techniques. Traditional research programs have been confined to one or two academic disciplines, with medical researchers focusing on biologi- cal problems faced by pregnant women and social researchers seeking to understand the effect of socioeconomic status on pregnant women. Little or no collaboration has occurred between the two groups. That, according to Ransom, is precisely the problem. "While there has been tremendous effort and a lot of money spent to address the prob- lem, in my opinion almost nothing has been accomplished with all that investment. Indi- vidual niche programs are Band-Aids that . v {e ?3 Ai health care," she said. She said many leadership models have been successfully applied within the business world, but these same models have never been applied to health care systems. Wooten and her team will look at what fac- tors make a good health care leader, and how their leadership abilities affect the organization of their providers, the motivation of their doctors and nurses and what kind of vision they have to help alleviate health care disparities. The second area will examine how health care providers' personal biases and other ste- reotypes may affect the care their patients receive. This area will focus on communica- tion between the doctor and the patient, seek- ing to understand how providers can offer better multicultural care to the various minor- ities within their patient base. The third area will examine the psychological and social aspects of expectant mothers by exam- ining such aspects as whether or not they are eat- ing correctly, whether they are sleeping in warm places, or living in stressful environments that might negatively affect their baby's health. This part of the research, spearheaded by Social Work Prof. Brigett Ford will use focus groups and interviews to find out how favor- ably patients view available systems of pre- natal and post-natal care. This exploratory program will seek infor- mation to create augmented prenatal care, described by Ford as "medical care plus," tai- lored more to patients' needs. Examples of this are ways to get patients connected with avail- able financial assistance, educational support and job training, if needed. "There are many resources out there," Ford said. "We will try to figure out what resources a person needs and how we can incorporate them." At the end of their project, leaders of the Health Disparities group hope their research will help develop a new discipline that encom- passes a range of social disparities, birth out- comes in particular. Such a discipline could include, under one title, aspects of business, social work and engineering. MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Faculty from various University departments collaborating In a project to examine the discrepancies in the outcomes of black and white pregnancies: (from front) Scott Ransom, Lynn Wooten, Briggett Ford, Elizabeth Yakel, and Kristine Siefert. don't solve the problem," Ransom said in a written statement. Ransom said the project will examine preg- nancies from a broader perspective, examin- ing how prenatal care is coordinated between health care providers and expectant mothers. "This involves a lot more than the medical aspects of prenatal care," he said. Instead, Ransom and his team will examine questions such as whether expecting moth- ers have trouble finding transportation, what communication issues exist between their healthcare providers and family members, and whether gun violence occurs in their homes. "We are going to look at this from precon- ception up through delivery and beyond," Ransom said. The program is the first to coordinate research from many disciplines on the issue of birth outcome disparities. Program coordina- tors said they have high hopes for the outcome of their teamwork. The new Health Disparities program will explore three holistic areas of health care and their influences on birth outcome disparities. The first area will focus on how a health care provider serves as a leader in prenatal care, and how that leadership might influence the outcomes of patients' pregnancies. Busi- ness Prof. Lynn Wooten is leading this aspect of the project. "Several (leadership) models have developed that haven't been applied in Saddam is operation on hernia successful BAGH DAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein underwent an operation to repair a hernia about 10 days ago but has made a full recovery, Iraqi sources said yesterday. The ousted dictator was taken to Baghdad's Ibn Sina hospital near the U.S.-controlled Green Zone for the pro- cedure, which was performed by Iraqi doctors, according to sources close to the Human Rights Ministry. The operation lasted about an hour and Saddam was returned to his cell the same day, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Efforts to contact U.S. officials were unsuccessful because their offices were closed for the day. Saddam has been in U.S. custody since Dec. 13 when he was captured by American troops in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit. He is believed to be held in an Amer- ican-guarded facility near Baghdad International Airport. He appeared in court in July for a preliminary hearing into charges for which the government intends to pros- THE[ TRUTH IS.. ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS AND FILLFRS? ThAT'S LIKE EATING A TURK E'I' 2hIAST WITH IMPLflINTS. I October 13, 1972 - Marching from the Diag to the Chemistry Building, 400 protesters comprised of students and faculty demanded the University revoke its suspension of chemistry Prof. Mark Green. Green was barred from teaching days earlier after playing a slide-show condemning the Vietnam War during his Organic Chemistry class. In support of Green, professors Book your Crip rn nXA -a-','-. Acapulco >7 nights at the La Pala iCancun $849 ipa $689 ,t4Vy I I 1 taw NITS a BEAm JUST THE WIC m w s0 dlhk I