I Monday,January 10, 2005 News 3A Bob Barker may fund 'U' law program ' 4[ - 1~S~ NT RI~~Y. I Weather Opinion 4A Dan Adams struggles with being pro-choice One-hundredfourteen years ofeditorialfreedom 24 TOMORROW. Vimanw Arts 5A R&B artist John Legend goes solo with 'Get Lifted' 11 11 all IIIIIAN III I I I I; I III jkgR5 in allologaill - ------- - ---------------------- - wal IMP *ww w. mihiandaiy. com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 56 ©2005 The Michigan Daily o MSA: Tenants need 'legal aid By Jeremy Davidson Daily Staff Reporter To improve tenant-landlord relations, the Michigan Student Assembly is aim- *ing to expand Student Legal Services to include a lawyer for housing issues, said Michigan Student Assembly General Counsel Jesse Levine. Since the Ann Arbor Tenants Union - which provided advice to students renting off-campus prop- erties - was dismantled in April 2003, MSA has been looking for a replacement to protect the rights of student tenants. The AATU was founded in 1968 but lost MSA funding because its use of funds was "inefficient at best, and reckless at worst," MSA President Jason Mironov said. Prior to 2003, MSA provided the AATU with $20,000 yearly. During last year's MSA presidential cam- paign, Mironov said in a debate that "$20,000 or more of (MSA's) budget should be allocated to an organiza- tion like AATU, whether it is AATU or something like it." In the absence of the union, students and other tenants in Ann Arbor have had to depend on different resources to resolve conflicts with their land- lords, and Levine said he has taken ctions to replace the AATU. One project underway is to coordi- nate with SLS and its director Doug Lewis. In September, Levine met with Lewis, to discuss options for See TENANTS, Page 7A Tenants' rights Improving relations MSA began a website in the summer where tenants can rate their landlords MSA Student Legal Services have hosted three sessions on tenants' rights MSA now wants a new lawyer at SLS to deal with housing conflicts Abbas x - - -landslide RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian Authority president by a wide margin yester- day, exit polls showed, giving him a decisive mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, rein in militants and try to end more than four years of Mideast bloodshed. The victory of the staid and pragmatic Abbas, who has spo- ken out against violence and has the backing of the interna- tional community, was expected to usher in a new era, after four decades of chaotic and corruption-riddled rule by Yasser Arafat who died Nov. 11. "We, the Palestinians, are drawing our future with our own hands. We will be the symbol of democracy and freedom," said Aya Abdel Kader, 45, a lawyer voting at a Gaza City school. Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, has promised to reform the Palestinian Authority, overhaul the unwieldy Palestin- ian security services and quickly resume negotiations with Israel, stalled for four years. Palr enanesto ate ic Wsank, GazuStinripdand eastJeruse, ~However, his political objectives are the same as Arafat's: a and a solution for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. After results of three exit olf were announced -g,"ing Ay Adl aer 5,alayr ing at GazaCit givingl Abbas between 66 percent and 69.5 percent of the vote - his sup- porters celebrated in the streets. In the West Bank city of Hebron, motorists honked horns and waved Abbas posters. In Ramallah, gunmen fired in the air. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects to meet with Abbas soon, his aides said. Israeli officials said that in a gesture to Abbas, Israel plans to release some of the more than 7,000 Pales- tinian prisoners, provided Abbas stop militants from firing rock- ets at Israeli towns. AP PHOTo "I think this vote shows a change in the Palestinian street" moving Interim Palestinian leader and presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, gestures after voting at a polling away from support of violence, said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin. station at the late Yasser Arafat's former headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday. See PALESTINIANS, Page 3A 'H,'professors to be trained in rtesearch ethics By Rachel Kruer Daily Staff Reporter For $950, Engineering alum Tony Cabanero said he allowed clinical researchers conducting a study at the University Hospi- tal to insert a syringe in each of his cheeks, one of them inject- ing a pain-inducing saline solvent. Meanwhile, the IVs in each of his arms carried an experimental medicine, of which Caba- nero does not now remember the name, into his bloodstream. This procedure was repeated several times with varying doses of the solvent and the drug to investigate the drug's abil- ity to inhibit pain, he said. Cabanero added that the doctor conducting the research told him that he would experience discomfort 30 percent as intense as the worst pain imaginable. He scanned the highlighted por- tions of the paperwork and listened to the doctor's reassurances that he had conducted this experiment multiple times and that nothing disastrous had ever occurred to the human participants in his previous trials. "I really didn't care what they were doing; I just signed and wanted the money," Cabanero said. Susan Goold, director of the Bioethics Program and asso- ciate medical professor, said many people that participate in clinical testing like Cabanero do not understand what exactly their commitment entails. "One of the things that we know nationally, even internation- ally, is people often don't know what they are volunteering to do. They sign long consent forms that they may not read. Or if they do read them, they do not understand them," said Goold. To combat this problem, Goold applied for and received a grant for $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to create a program to teach researchers from any field how to better inform research candidates of what is expected of them before they consent to participate. The program seeks to thereby improve communication between researchers and par- ticipants. Goold said the program will be implemented mid- to late spring. "... People often don't know what they are volunteering to do. They sign long consent forms that they may not have read." - Susan Goold Director, Bioethics Program She said the motivation for the program did not derive from any specific incident at the University, but out of her desire to improve the already functioning process of informed consent. Instead of the traditional semester-long course, Goold's pro- gram will offer a series of scheduled conferences for research- ers. The curriculum will use multiple teaching methods, See RESEARCH, Page 7A Background, finances factor in differing graduation rates By Victoria Edwards Daily Staff Reporter Former Engineering student Michael Powers describes the three years he spent at the University as an isolating, upward battle that he even- tually lost because of financial and health issues. "Being here was making me sick. I'm not the only minority who feels this way. I felt ignored and left behind. I was working hard and struggling just to be ignored by the university (that) I'm paying all this money to. It takes its toll," said Pow- ers, who is black. Powers eventually dropped out of the University. His plight is not especially rare - a higher percentage of whites graduate every year than Hispanics or blacks. Although 66 percent of black stu- dents and 75 percent of Hispanic stu- dents that entered the University in 1997 graduated within six years - a higher fraction than the national average of 41 percent and 49 percent, respectively - there is still a dis- crepancy between these graduation rates and that of whites, 88 percent of whom graduated in six years or ess after entering the University. Like Powers, many minority 40 c 0 c 90 80 70 60 50 AnatrexrmAioai iigcmlit gis ihelMoessece tvroscmue costecuty o . 4gsfd ti" e, O, iphism ~t P w er ""otete *t gsix io le r sinaAMts 4C GRAPHIC BYt active in initiative. LINDSEY UNGAR providing a ... All of hard to make ends meet. ... Another (factor) has to do with family. A lot of these students come from first- generation college families and they are not accustomed to their first child being away from home," Monts said. But Monts added that the Univer- sity provides assistance to under- represented minorities by offering programs to help them deal with added challenges that they may face. "There are programs on campus like the Summer Bridge Program that helps acclimate students to the Uni- versity environment and gives them University is multicultural An attorney from Arizona is filing complaints against Michael Moore's speeches at various campuses across the country, saying that Moore's endorsement of Kerry and the payment he received from universities violate campaign finance laws. Legal complaints filed over Moore 's campus speeches these contribute to a student's suc- cess if they engage those programs in a meaningful way," Monts said. LSA junior Tiffani Commander said she found the Summer Bridge program to be extremely helpful to her, adding that she is still benefit- ing from the resources the program provided her. "I still do (benefit) because I go in to see the academic advisor," Com- mander said. But Powers, who used another Lawyer claims Moore was paid in violation of campaign finance laws By Julia Homing the ban on corporate donations to a political campaign. Hardy emphasized that it did not matter for whom Moore campaigned. "(If they're) paying a man who is giving a speech to influ- ence the election, then they are breaking the law," he said. Hardy said he selected the universities using an Internet search engine. "I tended to emphasize a university where there was a good deal of reporting on the content of the speech," he said. Hardy I I