NEWS The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 8, 2004 - 3A. ON CAMPUS Rivals' Blood Battle kicks off this week Students may make appointments to donate blood today and tomorrow as part of the annual Blood Battle. The blood drive, which runs until Nov. 19, pits Michigan and Ohio State against each other in a competition to donate the most blood before the two schools face off in the annual football game on Nov. 20. Students who are donating should go to Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall from 2 to 8 p.m. today, or to the Chrysler Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomor- row. Students can sign up to give blood and find out more dates and locations by logging onto the battle's website at www.givelife.org. Symposium looks at meaning of Roman sculptures A conference held from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Rackham Building will examine the multiple, and at times even con- tradictory, meanings and functions statues served within the complex world of the Roman Near East. New York writer and stage director to lecture on poetry Arnold Weinstein - a playwright, lyricist, poet, translator and stage director from New York - will give a lecture titled "Poetry for the Page, the Stage, and the Human Voice" today at noon in Rackham Audito- rium. The talk is part of the Brown Bag Lecture Series of the Institute for the Humanities. CRIME NOTES Two arrested in purse-snatching incident The Ann Arbor Police Department reported making two arrests while in Department of Public Safety jurisdiction early Sunday morning. AAPD arrested two juvenile men in connection with a purse snatching that occurred in the 600 block of Oxford Road - the young men alledgedly robbed a woman. Hospital reports pain killer theft Hospital security called DPS Saturday evening to report that six Vicodin pills had been stolen from the University Hos- pital. There are currently no suspects. Harassing of passengers spurs police call A bus driver at Bursley residence hall requested a police response to a stop on the north side of Bursley. The bus driver reported harassment from riders on the bus. DPS responded and found no problems at the stop. . THIS DAY In Daily History Magic Johnson retires after testing positive for HIV Nov. 8, 1991 - Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced that he had test- ed positive for HIV and would rertire from professional basketball. "Because of the HIV virus that I have obtained, I will have to retire from the (Los Angeles) Lakers today," Johnson told reporters gath- ered at the Forum, where he played 12 seasons. "I plan on going on living for a long time ... and going on with my Fair, lecture seek freedom for Burma ,. 4 Y By Rachel Kruer and Andrew Perrine For the Daily Describing the Burmese government as amongst "the most cruel governments in existence," Oakland University polit- ical science Prof. Martha Zingo railed against civil rights violations and atroci- ties taking place in Southeast Asia During Free Burma Day in East Quad Residence Hall yesterday, organizers said they refuse to call the country by its official name of Myanmar because a military junta rather than the people chose the name. Zingo chastised the Burmese govern- ment, saying, "between drugs, sex and oil the Burmese government have all the money they ever need, while the Bur- mese people are being systematically abused." She listed a myriad of injustices against the Burmese people such as murder, torture, religious persecution and systematic starvation. Zingo gave several statistics to back up her claim. "By the end of 2001, 600,000 to one million Burmese were internally dis- placed," she said. She added that these "displaced" peo- ple must forage in the forests for bark, leaves and grass for survival. They also live in constant fear of being found by the Burmese military, Zingo said. Despite these disturbing claims, the United States and France both helped fund an oil pipeline in Burma. "The United States has a dual policy on Burma. Bush just signed into law a 1973 statute that would end economic ties with Burma. Yet on the other hand, the U.S. makes exceptions with things that are important - oil," she said. Zingo stressed the repressive mea- sures Burma uses to control its people. Possession of a fax machine is punish- able by 15 years in prison, she said. She also noted that after Sept. 11, the Burmese government labels ethnic minorities as terrorists to give legitima- cy to its actions against citizens. The speech was a climax to a day that included a bazaar of Burmese hand-made products ranging from linen shirts, wicker baskets and lac- quer boxes. Burmese refugees made all of the items, and the promoters of the event said all proceeds will go directly to the Burmese Relief Center based in Flint. These donations are used to aid dis- placed people on the Thailand-Burma border and support several refugee orphanages and medical clinics that offer emergency assistance. Attendees of the event perused the selection of wares to pick out holiday presents. "It can be a gift and you also feel that you are contributing to charity," RC freshman Jessica Delaney said. Ken Kawasaki is co-director of the American branch of the Relief Center, which among other fundraising ven- tures coordinates the importation of fabrics woven by refugees, to be sold in the United States. He said as a result of Thailand's nar- row definition of refugee status, hun- dreds of Burmese asylum-seekers are rounded up throughout Thailand as ille- gal aliens and bused to points of depor- tation. "Sometimes they are dead when they arrive," Kawasaki said. After a hazardous journey, women are preyed upon by pimps and taken back into nearby Thailand. He said the women who produce his clothing were given employment in hopes that they would not be lured away into prostitution in Bangkok, Thailand's capital. Four hundred Burmese nationals are sent back from Thailand every month, Zingo said. She added that in the pro- cess they are tested for eight diseases, including HIV. Those who test positive disappear, according to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The few that did show up said they were touched by Zingo's speech. "I defi- nitely will send a letter (to the Burmese government) and give a monetary dona- tion (to the relief center). I feel bad not doing anything," said RC freshman Karl Schmeck. Others, such as RC sophomore Marilia Kyprianides, seemed disgust- ed by what they called the hypocrisy of the United States. "I think there's so many countries that we don't know about and I wasn't surprised to find that the U.S. had violated their own human rights policies to fund an oil pipeline in Burma," she said. Zingo shed her view on the turnout of the event: "I think we're doing well; we had a fair turnout today. The more we have events such as this - even if we do not raise money - we can just get people to be politically active and possibly contribute to helping the situation." ,, t1a i 'it" R t ', x f . ' e 'y. a tee r' x ,A 4. ix . ft VICTOR PUDEYEV/Daily'I Martha Zingo, representative of the Burmese Relief Center, spoke on the ^A political and social situation in Burma as part of Free Burma Day in East Quad Residence Hall yesterday. The event also held a bazaar of hand-made goods, the revenues of which will go toward relief aid. 'U' hunts for applicants through guidance counselors By Kim Tomlin For the Daily While some colleges and uni- versities court high school guid- ance counselors with ski trips and spa packages in order to get more top students to apply, the Univer- sity chooses to instruct counselors. University officials say the strat- egy hasn't had a negative impact on enrollment. Dempsey Scott, the guidance director at Okemos High School, said he and his family were once offered an expense paid weekend visit to a private college in Michi- gan in order to persuade him to tell more students to apply to that school. The Supreme Court and various federal courts have ruled that it is legal for universities to offer such perks to high school counselors, said Jonathan Alger, University assistant general counsel. But these cases leave the specific details on how to follow the rulings to the interpretation of the specific uni- versity, Alger said. The University's decision not to offer benefits to counselors does not appear to have a negative impact on its enrollment, said Associate Director of Admissions Christopher Lucier. "I don't think those pro- grams are orienting students away from Michigan," Lucier said. The University wants to be responsible because the money comes from taxpayers and tuition, Lucier said. Instead of courting high school counselors with expen- sive perks, the University maintains contact with counselors and stu- dents through representatives who visit most high schools in the state of Michigan. The University also uses bro- chures, flyers and two annual conferences to increase visibility among high school students. With these the University provides news and information to answer ques- tions and inform both the counsel- ors and the students on policies, admission requirements, the accep- tance process and how the counsel- ors can help the students prepare in high school before attending the University, Lucier added. The University's annual Fall Counselor Workshop, gathering high school counselors from across Michigan, will take place tomor- row in Lansing. Here the counsel- ors will be provided with breakfast and lunch and will do a case study about admissions, where they will be given fake student files and asked to go through and select the students they believe would make good applicants for the University. The second conference is only for the Detroit Public Schools and is known as the Urban Counselors Conference. Here high school coun- selors from Detroit discuss issues such as the urban outreach effort to recruit minority students and changes on campus or in admis-. sions that would affect these stu- dents, Lucier said. At the conference, counselors discuss various issues ranging from the SAT to changes made on the application because of the Supreme Court's affirmative action rulings, said Lucinda Kanczuzewski, a counselor for Kettering High School near Detroit. She said that each year the discussions are appropriate for the students of her high school, a majority of whom are black. By providing updated informa- tion to the counselors, the Universi- ty can answer student questions and concerns with regard to applying to the University and the current atmosphere on campus. The Univer- sity has recently been criticized for the diminishing number of applica- tions from black students, dropping 25 percent this year. University President Mary Sue Coleman has discussed ways in which the Univer- sity can increase its image among black students, including personal : appearances at high school events about colleges. JOIN TiE MCIHIGAN DAILY. ALL - 2459. R lUNGS ISLAND Actor5 Dancers ,ingers Chiaractcr5 Tec~nicians _--,. .r........ M.M. . I WWWJUUITWUIowJmh Headaches? Michigan Head*Pain & Neurological Institute is conducting an in-clinic research study evaluating an investigational medication for migraine. Participants must be 18 to 75 years old and suffer no more than 2-8 headaches per month. A total of three clinic visits are required. Visit 2 is a three to four hour treatment visit while having an acute headache. Participants must be available to come to the clinic during normal business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). I ~ " -. \.wL F.S. '