Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Weather News 3 Dems for Dean: College Democrats endorse Dean Opinion 4 Jordan Schrader: How to fight MCRI One-/undredfourteen years ofedzorialfreedom HI: 30 LOW: 1 TOMOiRROW1: 2/14 Arts 8 Low sinks with style change on new album www.mzi'hiandaily. com 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- ! _ .:'