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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXV, No. 78
02005 The Michigan Daily
Abbas,
Sharon
call for
peace
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP)
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
and Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas declared yesterday that their peo-
ple would stop all military and violent
attacks against each other, pledging to
break a four-year cycle of bloodshed and
get peace talks back on track.
With their national flags whipping in
the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-
to-face at a Mideast summit, smiling
broadly as they leaned across a long
white table to shake hands. In one sign
the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan
announced afterward that they would
return their ambassadors to Israel after
a four-year absence, and the Israeli for-
eign minister said other Arab countries
might follow.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas
immediately called the deal into ques-
tion, saying it would not be bound by the
cease-fire declarations and was waiting
to see what Israel would do next.
Israel will hand over control of five
West Bank towns to the Palestinians
within three weeks and immediately
release 500 Palestinian prisoners.
Those agreements, and the sight of
Abbas and Sharon shaking hands, were
the clearest signs yet of momentum in
the peace process after Yasser Arafat's
death in November and Abbas's election
to succeed him in January.
One Israeli official, Gideon Meir,
said "there was a great atmosphere in
the talks ... smiles and joking."
An invitation to both sides to meet
separately with President Bush at
the White House this spring added
another round of momentum on the
summit's eve.
"We have agreed on halting all violent
See CEASE FIRE, Page 7
Granholm
addresses
Legislature
Governor talks about
jobs, new methods of
expanding state economy
By Justin Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
LANSING - Gov. Jennifer Gra-
nholm announced a $2 billion plan
intended to diversify Michigan's econ-
omy and add nearly 72,000 new jobs,
as she stood before the state Legislature
last night for her third annual State of
the State address.
Michigan has lost thousands of man-
ufacturing jobs and has been plagued
with an unemployment rate consistently
above the national average during Gra-
nholm's tenure. The state's gradual shift
from a manufacturing-based economy
to one based on technology and ser-
vice jobs has taken its toll on Michigan
because the state was not ready to tran-
sition between sectors, Granholm said.
"We need to solve, in the next few
years, a problem that is 30 years in the
making," Granholm said.
Part of her solution is to ask voters
to amend the state constitution to allow
Michigan to use $2 billion in bonds to
invest broadly in economic initiatives,
such as technology to make cars run
cleaner.
The governor offered few details
of how the $2 billion would be spent,
something that state Republicans said
worried them.
"What I heard tonight was extreme-
ly, extremely troubling," State Senate
Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyo-
ming said. "We were handed a speech
today called 'Jobs Today, Jobs Tomor-
row.' What I heard was 'debt today, debt
tomorrow.' "
Michigan's constitution stipulates
that the state may borrow money from
the public so long as there is a specific
purpose to which the funds shall be
devoted - details Granholm has not
yet offered. Speaker of the House Craig
DeRoche of Novi took issue with the
cost of the proposal.
"I'm alarmed at the willingness to
mortgage the future of our children and
grandchildren for Michigan," DeRoche
said. He and Sikkema said that the pro-
posal is too large of a "bet" to place on
the future of the economy.
But the $2 billion initiative is not the
only solution Granholm proposed for
Michigan's uncertain economic future.
She said that the future health of Mich-
igan's economy will depend largely on
how well state residents are educated.
"Today, all children in Michigan must
grow up knowing their education must
not end in high school," Granholm said.
The largest determinant of individual
wealth is a college education, according
to the final report of the Cherry Com-
mission on Higher Education and Eco-
nomic Growth - created by Granholm
and headed by Lt. Gov. John Cherry.
The commission, which University
President Mary Sue Coleman was a
commissioner on, was charged with
giving recommendations on how to
double the number of college graduates
in Michigan over the next decade. The
commission recommended that the state
improve access to higher education and
create an attitude among parents and
students that higher education is neces-
sary to get a job.
To achieve both goals, Granholm said
she plans to create a new college merit
award to replace the current award given
to students who perform well on state
See GRANHOLM, Page 7
Gov. Jennifer Granholm gives her State of the State address in Lansing yesterday. Granholm discussed
the economy, jobs and higher education.
Regents may approve more lawyers
'U'
computers
Pending regents' approval, new
lawyers would offer legal assistance
to international students and those
facing trouble with landlords
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter
Student Legal Services plans to add two lawyers
to the current staff of four in the coming year - one
to deal with international law and another to deal
with housing affairs - once the University's Board
of Regents has approved funding for the proposal.
If the plan is approved, the fee that students pay
to the Michigan Student Assembly would increase
by $1.03 per student, each semester, to pay the law-
yers each about $50,000 per year.
SLS Director Doug Lewis said this is a good
investment for the University that will be a service
to students. The housing lawyer will be brought in
to assist students with landlord problems, while the
immigration lawyer would focus on international
students.
According to Lewis, adding an immigration law
specialist will be financially beneficial for interna-
tional students who are burdened with high costs if
they find themselves with a legal problem. Lewis
said that most of the time, hiring an attorney to
handle a single immigration issue would cost more
than $2,000 to $3,000. But the new lawyer could
provide international students with the same service
for about $7.
The cost is much less when compared to stu-
dent legal service charges at other universities. For
example the University of Minnesota charges $150
to litigate an immigration case. Lewis said the two
lawyers would make SLS one of the three largest
student legal services in the country.
There has been an increased demand for legal
representation for international students because of
stricter legislation after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror-
ist attacks, which often makes entering the United
States difficult for them. Nationwide, there was a
decline for the first time in over 30 years in inter-
national student enrollment between the 2002-03
and 2003-04 academic years. International Cen-
ter Director Rodolfo Altamirano said a large part
of this decline was due to the increased amount of
legal paperwork that international students must fill
out.
Lewis said many more questions have been
brought to his office since the attacks. He added
that the new restrictions can be baffling for inter-
national students, and misunderstanding them can
often get them into legal trouble. Lewis said he
hopes the proposed immigration law specialist will
be able to provide better assistance for international
students for the small $7 fee.
With 4,282 international students enrolled in the
University this semester, these issues are of great
importance for a large number of individuals.
"There are hundreds of students who are coming
through who need changes in status. There are lots
See SLS, Page 7
"
recovering
from spy ware
Computers infected with spyware could
be fixed as early as today by IT services
Laura Van Hyfte
Daily Staff Reporter
Activist promotes
.peac methods
In response to the recent attacks on University computers, IT
Security Services has taken on a campaign to inform students and
faculty of the dangers associated with Marketscore - spyware
that can retrieve the users private information - and will be tak-
ing measures to protect computers already infected with it.
Marketscore has infected 400 to 500 computers on campus,
exposing them to outside parties who could potentially view cred-
it card numbers, Social Security numbers, grades, pay stubs and
transcripts, said Paul Howell, chief IT Security Officer.
VirusScan 8 will remove most versions of Marketscore that are
installed prior to VirusScan but there is at least one version of
Marketscore that VirusScan can't deal with entirely yet, said Com-
puter Systems Consultant Bruce Burrell. Still, he said he expects
the problem to be fixed long before the end of the month and even
as early as today.
The spyware was installed by students, faculty and staff on per-
sonal and University computers that are used to access institu-
tional data.
This installation may have been intentional, or the software may
have been included with other software products, such as games,
screensavers, Internet accelerators or while using peer-to-peer
file-sharing programs, according to the University.
Right now the main concern for ITSS is to raise awareness and
to prevent Marketscore from infecting more computers on campus.
In addition to a mass e-mail - which warned students about the
capabilities of Marketscore - beginning Feb. 21, Internet-block-
ing will be underway on all computers infected with the spyware.
In what is known as "network blocking," infected computers will
be denied access to University Internet services and redirected to
a website that will inform and assist them so that they may take
the spyware program off of their machines.
If after Feb. 21 students still have Marketscore on their personal
By Amber Colvin
Daily Staff Reporter
Author Rebecca Walker encouraged
students and community members to
exchange the traditional forms of activ-
ism, such as boycotts and marches, for
a search for inner happiness and peace,
last night in the Michigan League.
"We can change laws and make new
policies, but we will never be happy,"
Walker said.
Hr snpech was nart of a series of
were both active in the civil rights move-
ment, and her mother won the Pulitzer
Prize for her book "The Color Purple."
Growing up in an activist family,
Walker said she was once a very militant
activist. Over the course of time, she said
she realized the true path of activism is
an inner journey.
"We are not spending enough time
cultivating ourselves, cultivating our
highest expectations for who we can be
as human beings," Walker said.
The evolution of activism - oarticu-
! _ .:'