NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 3
" ON CAMPUS
Senator Levin
comes to Union
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Detroit) will
speak in the Michigan Union Kuen-
" zel Room today at 4 p.m. The event is
sponsored by the University's College
Democrats.
Desegregationist
speaks on fighting
hate, prejudice
The Hillel Center for Jewish Activi-
ties presents Dick Lobenthal, former
director of Michigan's Anti-Defamation
League, tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. at
the Mandell L. Berman Center on Hill
Street. Lobenthal, who aided the deseg-
regation of the South and continues to
fight for the rights of various minority
groups, will share and discuss his life
experiences of fighting hate and preju-
dice in the United States.
'U' tsunami aid
groups to discuss
" future fundraising
Learn more about the University stu-
dent organizations committed to raising
tsunami aid at the Tsunami Aid Volun-
teer Meeting tonight from 6 to 7 p.m.
in the Anderson Room of the Michigan
Union. There will also be an opportu-
nity to sign up for March fundraising
events. For more information about Uni-
versity relief efforts, visit www.umich.
edu/-tsuaid.
CRIME
NOTES
Purse snatcher
loose on campus
A 19-year-old reported to the Ann
Arbor Police Department that a man
stole her purse as she was walking down
Oakland Avenue at about 1:40 a.m. Sun-
day morning. She said after grabbing her
0 purse, the man ran toward Packard Street,
but AAPD was unable to locate the purse
snatcher. The woman was not injured.
Peeping Tom peers
into woman's
bedroom window
0
A University student reported to the
AAPD that someone was standing out-
side her bedroom window watching her
change clothes at about 3 a.m. on Sunday.
The incident occurred on the 800 block
of Arch Street, but when police arrived,
they were unable to locate the subject.
Exit sign defaced
in Markley hall
A Department of Public Safety offi-
cer reported early Sunday morning
that an exit sign was damaged in Mary
Markley Residence Hall. There are
currently no suspects.
Rowdy spectator
escorted out of
Crisler Arena
DPS ejected a subject from Crisler
Arena during a basketball game on Sun-
day. DPS reports said the subject was
ejected for acting disorderly.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
'U' alum admits to
forging sarcastic
note from U.S. Rep
Feb. 22, 1990 - Dean Baker, a former
University graduate student and current
professor of economics at Bucknell Uni-
versity, admitted yesterday to forging a
letter that was supposedly signed by U.S.
Rep. Carl Pursell.
The letter sarcastically implied that the
United States should not support the El
Salvador government. It was distributed
three weeks ago to 10,000 of Pursell's
Coalition continues to rally against Coke
By Talia Selitsky
Daily Staff Reporter
The Killer Coke Coalition is reaching a
critical moment today in its campaign as
Michigan Student Assembly votes on whether
to support a motion to cut contracts with the
Coca-Cola Company.
The Killer Coke Coalition is a growing col-
laboration of 11 student groups, including La
Voz Latina, Amnesty International and Envi-
ronmental Justice. They are part of a concerted
campaign to pressure Coca Cola to amend its
business practices which they allege include
human rights violations and environmental
irresponsibility in underdeveloped countries.
On Friday, the coalition put on a panel called
"Verifying the Scrutiny" with three speakers who
are involved in the campaign against Coke.
David Kovalik, who spoke at the panel, is an
attorney representing the plaintiffs in a court case
against Coke which began in 2001.
The plaintiffs claim that many union work-
ers have been killed and injured in Columbia
as a result of Coke's unethical business prac-
tices. For instance, Panamco - a company
that had exclusive bottling rights to produce
and distribute Coke in Latin America - has
bottling plants in Colombia where union
members claim eight union workers have been
killed and many others had been harassed by
paramilitaries, which the plaintiffs claim hap-
pened under the full knowledge of the bottling
plants' managers.
However, Coke contends that only two myr-
ders have taken place in its bottling plants and
those victims were unaffiliated with the bot-
tling plants at the time of their deaths.
The plaintiffs claim that union members
have been persecuted in Columbia for more
than a decade. On Dec. 5, 1996, the plaintiffs
said paramilitaries invaded the bottling plant
in Carepa, Columbia and killed union leader
Isidro Gil and Jose Librado Herrera, a low -
level supervisor with trade union sympathies.
Louis Cardoba, who also spoke at the meeting
on Friday and worked at the bottling plant in Care-
pa, said he was kidnapped that day by the para-
militaries, but he said he managed to escape and
fled with his family to Miami.
The plaintiffs allege that Coca-Cola had
responsibility over the abuse of the workers in
Panamco bottling plants because Coca-Cola
directly administers its managers, whom the
plaintiffs believe were in collaboration with the
paramilitaries. The plaintiffs said they intend to
back their claims in court with witnesses who
have said they have seen the manager pay off
paramilitaries.
However, the court said Coke had some con-
trol in the realm of the quality of its product,
but it was not responsible for the human rights
violations.
Amit Srivasta of India Resources, a group
that supports movements against globalization
in India, also spoke at the event about Coca-
Cola's alleged unethical business practices in
India. He said that Coke has caused artificial
water shortages in six areas where its bottling
plants are present, has poisoned the ground
water with toxic metals like mercury, has sold
solid waste to farmers laden with cadmium
and lead under the guise of fertilizer and Coke
products in India have up to 30 percent higher
levels of pesticides, including Dichloro-diphe-
nyl-trichlorethane, than in other countries.
Coca-Cola disagrees with the findings.
In its opinion, after doing studies through
the Central Science Lab. As one of the most
respected science labs in the world, Ott said
the science lab found that the samples of solid
wastes were below Indian standards of lead
and cadmium.
"We believe the environmental damage allega-
tions are false," said Harry Ott, director of global
environmental assurance for Coca Cola. "But
India's a democracy. We will obey all laws put into
affect," he added.
Through hip hop
and pasta, Greeks
raise tsunami aid
By Amine Tourki
Daily Staff Reporter
When LSA freshman Matthew
Klein, who is a member of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon, wanted to give back
to the community and help rehabili-
tate the Greek image, he started the
Greek Philanthropy Organization to
coordinate and encourage participa-
tion in charity.
"A lot of good things that happen
in the Greek system are overlooked.
Hopefully, by working with different
organizations on campus, people will
realize that we have good hearted peo-
ple," Klein said.
LSA freshman Jeffrey Chod, who is
the chief financial officer of GPO and a
member of SAE, also said fraternities
need to focus more on charity. "Frater-
nities are based on three things: social,
academic and community involvement.
We felt the community involvement
part has been overlooked. This is a way
to bring them back to it and emphasize
it," Chod said.
So far, GPO has registered 75 people
from the Greek community to do chari-
table work.
"We have already set up a few
events for this semester. We will be
partnering with organizations on
campus and we will be putting on
Best of All Worlds to help Tsunami
Victims" said LSA freshman Laura
Zeligman, who is a member of Alpha
Phi and Director of University Rela-
tions for GPO. Zeligman added that
'Best of All Worlds' is a hip-hop,
freestyle dance show that will be per-
formed on April 8; the proceeds will
benefit tsunami victims.
One of the events that was advertised
during their first meeting last Wednes-
day was the annual Kappasta chaity
dinner that was served last Sunday and
was sponsored by Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Tickets to the dinner were sold for $8 and
over 90 pounds of pasta was served. ILSA
sophomore Beth Turk, who managed the
event, said they sold more than 500 tick-
ets and raised more than $2,000 to aid
tsunami victims.
"As soon as the tsunami happened we
knew we wanted to donate toward that
fund," said LSA sophomore and presi-
dent of KKG Erin Stierwalt.
Stierwalt added that the two months
of planning and advertising made a big
difference.
LSA sophomore Kathryn Burnside
of KKG also said that Kappasta was a
huge success.
"It is a great opportunity for all stu-
dents and the great Ann Arbor commu-
nity to have a great dinner on a Sunday
night, meet each other and donate to a
cause," said Burnside.
LSA freshman Chris Johnson, who
attended the dinner, said he heard
of the event from his neighbor, LSA
freshman' Henry Pubin, in Couzens
Residence Hall. Johnson said they
thought the pasta was almost as good
as a home-cooked meal.
The next GPO meeting will be
March 24 in the Michigan Union,rand
it is open to anyone who wishes to get
involved.
Voters participate in first election under new law
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Voters in 28 Michigan
counties will cast ballots today in the first of just four
elections this year.
The move is part of the state's new election con-
solidation law, which limits the number of elec-
tions to the fourth Tuesday in February and the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in May, August and
November.
The goal, according to Secretary of State Terri
Lynn Land, is to save money and make elections
more efficient and accessible.
The secretary of state said consolidating elections
will allow voters to better plan for elections and put
elections in the hands of trained local clerks.
Land said Tuesday's election will mark a new
chapter in the state's election process.
"Consolidating elections is a progressive and com-
monsense step," she said in a statement. "Our goal is
to have more efficient, economical and inclusive elec-
tions. This law will help to get us there."
According to the state House Fiscal Agency,
less than 5 percent of eligible voters in nearly
half of Michigan school districts voted in the
2000 school board elections. In three-quarters
of the districts, the turnout was less than 10
percent.
Critics of the low election turnout said there were
too many elections in the past, citing a hodgepodge of
election dates at various levels of government. With
so many elections, critics said, voters became over-
whelmed.
Voters on Thesday will decide matters involving
school districts, community colleges, cities, villages,
townships, counties and library boards.
Most K-12 and intermediate school districts will
have their elections May 3. A handful of districts plan
to hold school board elections in November.
School districts currently run some of their own
elections. The new law, signed in 2003, mandates that
municipal and county clerks run the elections.
The law does include an exception from the four
dates for a special election called by the governor
or the Legislature, or a special election held by a
school district.
PIRGIM
Continued from page 1
chair. "We don't want to get into that
gray area."
But there is a still a question of wheth-
er Student PIRGIM's activities would be
construed as lobbying, Wells-Reid said.
CSJ delayed the vote until it could be
sure that MSA's tax-exempt status was
not in danger.
"We'll send it to the trial and let the
trial figure it out," CSJ Chief Justice
Pierce Beckham said. If the verdict of
the trial is that the vote can go through,
the earliest it could happen is March 15.
"We've been working on this for the last
four or five years, and it's really unfortu-
nate that something wrong is causing this
to be delayed for so long," Hwang said. "I
just feel like (the petitioners) don't have a
case. This is delaying something that will
empower students."
Hwang said PIRGIM has been meet-
ing with MSA representatives since
the beginning of the semester, but the
injunction to suspend the vote was only
brought up last Friday, limiting PIR-
GIM's time to respond.
"I'm extremely disappointed that
members who are concerned with the
tax structure did not speak with us to
voice our concern earlier," said Rese
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