NEWS The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 11, 2005 - 3 . ON CAMPUS Professors to discuss elements of Muslim culture University professors Camron Amin and Douglas Northrop will hold a work- shop titled "Intimate Visions: Muslim Families, State Powers and the Veil" today from noon to 2 p.m. in room 1014 of Tisch Hall. The event is sponsored by both the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Rackham Graduate School. Prof to lecture on unwed mothers University of Pennsylvania Prof. Kathryn Edin and St. Joseph's Univer- sity Prof. Maria Kefalas will lecture today on why many young, poor women choose to have children without being married. They will also be discussing personal stories of women and address changing societal roles since the 1950s such as the redefinition of marriage, the sexual rev- olution and the increasing acceptance of cohibilitation all "in a world of increas- ing inequalities in income and wealth." The lecture will be today at 3 p.m. in the Rackham Building's Amphitheater. The event is sponsored by the National Poverty Center. One-man space musical to be performed The "Far Side of the Moon" musical performance, written and directed by Robert Lepage and produced by Laurie Anderson, will take place tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Power Center for the Performing Arts. The University Musical Society is sponsoring the one-man performance, presented as a voyage to outer space. Ticket prices range from $26 to $42. CRIME NOTES Jewel thief hits University Hospital A silver diamond ring valued at $400 was stolen from the University Hospital sometime between March 6 and March 9, according to the Department of Public Safety. There are currently no suspects. Skateboarders escape police Skateboarders were reported to be in a parking structure on Huron Street on Wednesday afternoon. They were gone when officers arrived, according to DPS. Phantom caller 0 menaces dorm A subject in East Quadrangle Residence Hall reported on Wednesday morning that they had been receiving continuous phone calls with no one on the line, DPS said. There are currently no suspects. Insult, car theft added to injury A patient was dropped off by a friend at the emergency room of the University Hospital on Wednesday afternoon. The friend then failed to return the patient's vehicle, DPS reported. THIS DAY In Daily History * Creationism removed from public schools March, 11, 1982- The State Board of Education unanimously passed a reso- lution against teaching creationism in public schools. The resolution, requires "any school district currently teaching creationism or any course in religion in an attempt to indoctrinate (students) toward any particular belief or disbelief cease and Massie: MCRI likely to pass if on ballot By C.C. Song Daily Staff Reporter The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative will probably pass if it reaches the 2006 state ballot and most likely can only be defeated by efforts to have it disqualified before the election, said Miranda Massie, lead attor- ney for the BAMN-led student intervenors in the Grutter v. Bollinger case. MCRI, a state ballot initiative that would ban the use of race and gender in University admissions and state employ- ment, submitted more than 500,000 sig- natures - well over the required 317,757 - to, the state Board of Elections in January. Massie's comments came during a forum at Hutchins Hall last night, spon- sored by BAMN and the Black Law Stu- dents' Alliance, on strategies to defeat MCRI. Massie said it is important for stu- dents to defeat the initiative and reverse the drop in minority student enrollment - which decreased 15 percent at the Univer- "h sity this year. The maj Massie cited the 1 effects of the 1996 people v passage of Califor- for(Calif nia's Proposition 209, which is nearly iden- Propositij tical to MCRI, as an example of what 209 did n Michigan can expect if MCRI passes. know the "At Berkeley, for example, there is not voting ag a single black student affirmati in the entire engineer- ing program this year," action." Massie said. Massie said defeat- ing MCRI is impor- - tant not only because CivilI of the effect it would have on Michigan but because of the symbolic importance of the University's race-conscious admis- sions policies. "I think it's important that students understand how important Michigan is in playing a role in the fight to defend affir- mative action and rebuild the civil rights movement," she said. "For students that have gotten here too late, they can expand the civil rights movement and its quality and further it to more important audiences." Although polls show that MCRI has well over 60 percent approval among the Michigan public, Massie attributed its support to confusing language, say- It ing California's similar Proposition 209 passed for that reason. "The majority of people who voted for Proposition 209 did not know they were voting against affirmative action," Massie said. "They thought they were voting for an expansion of the civil rights movement." But in an earlier interview, Chetly Zarko, MCRI director of outreach said that the language of the proposition is not deceptive, unlike what BAMN claims. "We're confident that the language of our petition is legal," Zarko said. Massie said she along with BAMN would challenge the petition before the Board of State Canvassers - the body that verifies signatures before a pro- posal can be put on the next ballot. The Board of State Canvassers is going to allow BAMN and its supporters 10 days to invalidate the signatures collected by MCRI after the signatures have been put into the computer. The computer is going to randomly select 500 signatures and if a significant )rity Of number of the signa- tures is proven invalid, the proposition will not ornia's) be put on the ballot. Massie said MCRI's on opponents will try to convince the courts ot that the language of the proposition is vague y were and deceiving. Also, they will try to ainst convince the courts that ve MCRI has hired black parolees to administer the petition in order to appeal to minorities. MCRI, Massie said, iranda Massie has also tried to col- ights attorney lect signatures by using fraudulent language to describe the petition. "Without affirmative action, what you have is an unrestrained regime of white privilege," Massie said. "It's harder on black and other minority students. Affir- mative action offsets that." Ben Royal, a first-year graduate stu- dent in the School of Education and an organizer for BAMN, said affirmative action is vital to a just society. "I prefer to live in a society with jus- tice, and we can't have it without affir- mative action," Royal said. Royal said the most effective action that students can take right now to defend affirmative action on campus is to involve in the campaign to defeat MCRI. JULIA TAPPERL/Daily Attorney Melinda Mirassi speaks In Hutchins Hall at the Law School yesterday on strategies to defeat the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot measure that would ban the use of affirmative action by the University and other state institutions. Appointee who questioned Prop. 2 language rejected LANSING (AP) - The Republican- controlled Senate yesterday rejected the reappointment of an eight-year member of the state elections board, faulting the Democrat for blocking two contentious issues from the November ballot. As expected, the Senate voted 22-15 along party lines to reject Dorothy Jones, whom Gov. Jennifer Granholm sought to reappoint to the Board of State Canvass- ers. It was the first denial of a gubernato- rial appointment in 15 years. Sen. Martha Scott (D-Highland Park) was absent and did not vote. The Senate debated the appointment for 45 minutes. Some Democrats said Republicans ignored the importance of having a racially diverse board and were kicking her off for partisan reasons. Republicans called those charges absurd. They said Jones, who is black, ignored her duty to certify petitions for a gay marriage amendment and an effort by Republicans to get presidential candi- date Ralph Nader on the ballot. The four-member board, which reviews petitions filed by candidates and groups with ballot proposals, has two Republicans and two Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) said he took no pleasure in rejecting Jones for another term but argued the move was justified. "I wish we had not come to the point we are today," he said. He added that he gave Granholm a chance to withdraw Jones' appointment, as he'd done with six of her nominees for other positions, but she declined his offer. Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Granholm will make another appointment in place of Jones, but she didn't know how soon the governor would name the nominee or who it would be. Republicans said Jones violated her oath of office last August by not approv- ing language for the marriage measure. At the time, Jones and the board's other "If we don't reject this nominee for a breach of duty, there is no role for advise and consent," he said. Democrats, however, said it is shame- ful to toss a highly qualified candidate, the board's longest-serving member, because of two votes among many she made dur- ing her eight years on the board. Jones, of Ypsilanti, was first appoint- ed to the board by Republican Gov. John Engler in 1997 and reappointed by him in 2001. The Senate had confirmed her previ- ous appointments to the elections board, as well as her appointment by Republican Gov. William Milliken to the Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse Servic- es and her appointment by Democratic Gov. James Blanchard to the Michigan Women's Commission. Congratulations Betsy Kuller Account Executive of the Week Dinner is on as for a job well donel -D'Amato's "4 stars" -Detroit Free Press 734-623-7400 www.damatos.com PJ S RECORDS & USED CDS 617 Packard Upstairs from Subway Paying $4 to $6 aa.