NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 3A
ON CAMPUS
Dance company
and jazz ensemble
present Jazzin'
The University Dance Company and
Jazz Ensemble present "Jazzin'," an eve-
ning of modern dance set to jazz music,
tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Power Cen-
ter for the Performing Arts. The night
will feature choreography by Univer-
sity alum Alexandra Beller. Tickets are
available from the Michigan League
Ticket Office for $15 to 20 or $9 with
a student ID.
Multicultural show
raises money for
centers in Ghana
To raise funds for the construction
of educational and residential centers
in Ghana, the World Service Team is
holding a multicultural dance and music
show tonight from 7:30 to 10 p.m. in the
ballroom of the Michigan Union.
The show will include performances
from Amazin' Blue, Dance2XS and the
Ghanaian Drummers. Proceeds of the
event will assist 2005 WST participants
in construction. Tickets are $8 before
the show and $10 at the door.
Film and Video
Studies Dept. to
show classic film
The Department of Film and
Video Studies will screen the film
noir classic "The, Big Heat" in rare
16 mm form tonight from 7 to 9 p.m.
in lecture room 2 of the Modern Lan-
guages Building.
The Big Heat, directed by Fritz
Lang, stars Glenn Ford as a dedicat-
ed sergeant who encounters a violent
and secretive world while investigat-
ing the death of a corrupt cop.
The film will be introduced by
Mark Kligerman, a guest lecturer in
,the department.
Admission is free.
CRIME
NOTES
Trespasser who
escaped from
officers not found
Early Tuesday morning, a subject was
reported trespassing in Stockwell Resi-
4ence Hall but was gone before officers
arrived. There are currently no suspects,
according to the Department of Public
Safety.
Trespasser given
verbal warning
A subject was trespassing in the Sha-
piro Undergraduate Library on Tuesday
night. The individual was escorted off
of University property and given a ver-
bal warning, according to DPS.
Upset patient
damages property
A patient damaged University Hos-
pital property on Tuesday night. The
incident is still being investigated, DPS
THIs DAY
In Daily History
LGMPO under fire
because of 'U'
homophobia
Feb. 3, 1993 - Changes is person-
nel and programming have placed
the Lesbian Gay Male Programming
Office - a counseling, information-
al, and support organization for the
lesbian, gay male and bisexual com-
munity - under fire with its constit-
uents, who wonder if the office still
plays a part in their lives.
"Because there is a great deal of
°homophobia from (University Presi-
-dent James) Duderstadt and the
regents, LGMPO needs to be more
assertive and stand up for our needs,"
said Paul Verner, a Business School
iudent and memher of the Gav Les-
Students create
anti-Coke coalition
By Talia Selitsky
For the Daily
Students Organizing for Labor and Eco-
nomic Equality will continue their Cam-
paign to Stop Killer Coke with a rally on the
Diag next Wednesday.
The worldwide effort to pressure The
Coca-Cola Company to reform its business
practices is gaining speed at the University,
as the Killer Coke Coalition, a partnership
of student organizations from around cam-
pus, intensifies its campaign. The coali-
tion is a branch of the Campaign to Stop
Killer Coke, a national group organizing
against Coke.
The coalition's goal is to convince the Uni-
versity administration to break off econom-
ic ties with Coke and educate students about
the allegations against the company. The
groups involved with the coalition include
Amnesty International, Environmental Jus-
tice and Tzedek - the
Hillel committee for
Social Justice. Canniri
"When people find
out that Coke assassi- SOLE camp
nated union leaders in
Colombia and are sell- 0 Feb. 9 -
ing poisonous fertilizers Diag at noon,
to farmers in India, they teach-In and E
are generally outraged movie in Have
that the university would
do business with such N Feb. 19 -
a company," said Ryan speakers talk
Bates, RC junior, and unethical busi
SOLE member. Luis Adolfo C
He added that "(Uni- union leader I
versity's Purchasing Ser- seeking asylu
vices) has been really Dan Kovallk
responsive." representing
The University is just SINALTRAIN/
beginning its process to against Coke
review the allegations Amit $rivast
brought before them by Resource Cer
the coalition.
"At the present time,
both Purchasing Servic-
es and the Vendor Code of Conduct Dispute
Review Board have received a formal request
to look into the situation. The next step is
for Purchasing Services to summarize its
findings and make a recommendation to the
141
DRB for discussion" said David Poszywak,
assistant director of Contract Management
and Socially Responsible Purchasing.
The campaign to ban Coke from institu-
tions of higher education has become inter-
national. Six universities in the United States
- including Bard College, Salem State Col-
lege, Carleton College and Oberlin College
- and international colleges such as Trin-
ity College and University College Dublin,
have banned Coke.
According to the campaign, the allega-
tions against Coke include hiring paramili-
taries to assassinate labor union leaders and
bullying workers into stopping any union
activity. The campaign contends that since
1989, nine union leaders have been killed
and many more have been threatened and
tortured.
"The world of Coca-Cola is a world full
of lies, deception, immorality, corruption
and gross human
rights abuses," said
} Ray Rogers, director
of the campaign.
aig events "No campus that
takes pride in being
ally in the a center of ethics
followed by a and morality should
n informative be lending its name,
n Hall logo and credibility
to Coca-Cola - nor
rhree should it allow it to
about Coke's serve as a marketplace
less practices: or venue for sales and
ardona, advertising," Rogers
om Colombia added.
n in the U.S. Other accusations
lawyer include massive envi-
members of ronmental damage in
L in a lawsuit India.
"They have been
na, India giving their waste
er Director away as fertilizers to
farmers in India, but
not only is their waste
not fertilizers, but it's
full of lead and cadmium. In one case in
India they have actually removed (a Coke
bottling plant)," said United Steel Workers
of America attorney David Koverlik, who is
involved with a lawsuit against Coca-Cola.
SHUBRA OHRI/C
LSA sophomore Jory Hearst pours Faygo cola for LSA senior Lauren Heldpke while she signs a petition for
the Killer Coke Campaign. SOLE wants to remove Coca-Cola products from the University because of the
company's alleged human rights violations.
Michigan company fires workers for
LANSING (AP) - A Michigan
company's decision to show the door to
workers who smoke, even if it's on their
own time, has alarmed privacy and work-
ers' rights advocates and raised concerns
about whether pizza boxes and six packs
are the next to go.
Okemos-based Weyco Inc., a medi-
cal benefits administrator, said its offer
of smoking cessation classes and support
groups helped 18 to 20 of the company's
nearly 200 workers quit smoking over the
past 15 months.
But the four who couldn't - or wouldn't
- no longer had jobs on Jan. 1.
"We had told them they had a choice,
and they chose to leave basically before
the policy took effect," said Weyco chief
financial officer Gary Climes. "We're not
saying you can't smoke in your home. We
just say you can't smoke and work here."
Such policies basically say employers
can tell workers how to live their lives even
in the privacy of their own homes, some-
thing they have no business doing, said
Lewis Maltby, president of The National
Workrights Institute in Princeton, N..,
a part of the American Civil Liberties
Union until 2000.
"If a company said, 'We're going to cut
down on our health care costs by forbid-
ding anyone from eating at McDonald's,'
they could do it," he said. "There are a
thousand things about people's private
lives that employers don't like for a thou-
sand different reasons."
Some companies, while not going as
far as Weyco, are trying to lower their
health care costs by refusing to hire any
more smokers.
Union Pacific Corp. began rejecting
smokers' applications in Texas, Idaho,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Washington state,
Arizona and parts of Kansas and Nebras-
ka last year and hopes to add more states.
On July 1, it will make all Union Pacific
property smoke-free, including trains, a
policy that now applies only to its com-
pany headquarters in Omaha, Neb.
Public affairs director John Bromley
said the company estimates it will save
$922 annually for each position it fills
with a nonsmoker over one who smokes.
It hired 5,500 new workers last year and
plans to hire 700 this year. About a quar-
ter of the company's 48,000 employees
now smoke, and Bromley said it's clear
they cost the co
"Looking a
know that) pe
have higher acc
ers," he said."
who smoke ha
nonsmokers."
On Jan.T, K
nity College si
full-time positi
campuses. Par
won't be hired
20 to 25 open
among the co
positions will g
"Our No. 1g
claims," said Sa
for human res
show that toba
smoking at home
mpany more money. from work. ... So many diseases can be
t our safety records, (we headed off if people simply pay attention
ople who smoke seem to to their health care."
cident rates than nonsmok- Some states protect workers who
"It's no secret that people smoke, saying they can't be discriminated
ve more health issues than against for that reason. But Michigan is
one of 22 states that doesn't have such a
alamazoo Valley Commu- law, according to the Washington-based
topped hiring smokers for Bureau of National Affairs.
ons at both of its Michigan Michigan lawmakers passed a bill pro-
t-time staffers who smoke tecting smokers about 10 years ago, but it
for full-time jobs, and the was vetoed by then-Gov. John Engler, said
ings that occur each year ACLU of Michigan spokeswoman Wendy
llege's 365 full-time staff Wagenheim.
go only to nonsmokers. Climes said many companies try to
goal is to reduce our health hold down health care costs by increas-
andy Bohnet, vice president ing copays and deductibles charged to
ources. "Research tends to employees. But that doesn't decrease their
acco users lose more time health care needs.
_ _ J _ .. _ __ ___.. ._ ___ ._ ----V - - I
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