NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 3
" ON CAMPUS
Harvard lecturer
to speak about
fertility treatments
Susan Kahn, associate director at
the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
at Harvard University will be speak-
ing today on high-tech fertility treat-
ments in Jewish life in her lecture titled,
"Constructing Jewish Life in the Age of
Reproductive Technologies."
The event will take place in the Mich-
igan Room of the Michigan Union from
4 to 6 p.m. The free event is sponsored
by the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center
for Judaic Studies.
Surviving police
* abuse subject of
film screening
A free film screening of "BUSTED:
The Citizen's guide to Surviving Police
Encounters," will be held tonight from 7
to 9 p.m. in the McGregor Commons of
the School of Social Work.
The film aims to help educate people
on their rights during a police encoun-
ter. After the film, there will a be panel
composed of two attorneys and a retired
police officer to answer questions.
Ceremony held to
honor victims of
the Holocaust
A 24-hour ceremony to honor Holo-
caust victims will start at noon today in
* the Diag. The annual vigil, hosted by
the Conference on the Holocaust, will
give various student groups and indi-
vidual students the opportunity to read
the names of those who perished during
the Holocaust. For more information
contact (513) 673-5210.
CRIME
NOTES
University vehicle
for children's
center stolen
A caller reported to the Department
of Public Safety Monday that a Uni-
versity vehicle assigned to the Pound
House Children's Center was missing.
The vehicle was last used on March 10
* when it was parked in the carport on
Hill Street. On March 11, the vehicle
was missing from the carport.
Vacuum cleaner
sets off fire alarm
in League
An electrical plug blew in the Michi-
gan League at about 2 a.m. yesterday
after a vacuum was plugged in, setting
off the fire alarm, DPS reported. The
fire department and an electrical shop
* responded to the incident but found no
problem. There was minor smoke dam-
age to the wall above the outlet.
Unattended items
stolen in CCRB
A subject reported to DPS that an M-
card, cell phone, keys and some cloth-
ing were stolen from the main gym in
the Central Campus Recreation Build-
ing while left unattended Monday night.
There are currently no suspects.
THIs DAY
In Daily History
New director
named for Student
Legal Services
March 16, 1983 - Detroit attorney
Margaret Nichols has assumed director-
ship of Student Legal Services, ending a
year-long search for a new administrator
to lead a reorganization of the program.
The Legal Services Board of Direc-
tors decided last April that the pro-
gram was not running efficiently and
a new director was needed to handle
the administrative work burdening the
expanding program, board member
David Chars sa 'id.
Attorney: Reproductive rights still an issue
By Amber Colvin
Daily Staff Reporter
Attorney Sarah Weddington, who
argued to legalize abortion more
than 30 years ago in Roe*v. Wade,
said yesterday she is still concerned
about the future of women's repro-
ductive rights.
"I worry about it every day," she
said. "I thought we had won."
Weddington was Norma McCor-
vey's, or "Jane Roe's," attorney in the
U.S. Supreme Court case that estab-
lished a woman's right to an abortion
under the 14th Amendment's protec-
tion of privacy.
Weddington said, however, that
with today's conservative government,
reproductive rights are not secure.
"Never have pro-choice votes had
fewer friends," Weddington said. "We
don't have the president, we don't have
the administration (on our side)."
Drawing on her experience as a
leader in the fight for women's rights,
Weddington listed ways that women
can contribute to the cause. She
encouraged the audience to be willing
to change directions in life, to prac-
tice leadership and to constantly learn
from others.
"I hope students will use this time
to develop their own leadership poten-
tial," Weddington said. "Reproductive
rights are really under attack, and we
need to help."
Weddington traced her path from
studying law and facing employment
discrimination to arguing one of the
most famous Supreme Court cases
and writing a book on her experience
defending abortion.
Underlying her speech was a con-
stant concern for the future of repro-
ductive rights.
"I'm hearing these refrains from the
past that make me worry about Roe v.
Wade," she said.
To illustrate the battle still faced by
proponents of abortion, Weddington
shared in her speech the recent story
of a Texas pharmacist who refused to
fill a married woman's prescription
for birth control.
"It's interesting how the things
(Weddington) witnessed 30 years ago
are still happening, School of Public
Health student Malinowski said.
Weddington also served as former
President Carter's special assistant on
women's issues and as a member of
the Texas House of Representatives.
Weddington's lecture, titled "Some
Leaders are Born Women," was filled
with anecdotes from her experiences
in the classroom, the courtroom and
the White House. Her speech was
the 2005 Elizabeth Charlotte Mul-
lin Welch Lecture, presented each
year since 1989 by the University's
Center for the Education of Women
in memory of Mullin Welch -a 1939
University alum, successful business
woman and advocate of women's
rights.
Sarah Ely, a CEW senior counselor,
agreed with Weddington that the fight
for reproductive rights is not over.
"We're very honored to have (Wed-
dington) here, especially with her mes-
sage that the issues are not settled. We
have a student body here that needs to
carry on her work," Ely said.
Weddington has also served as
a muse for those defending similar
causes today.
"I just think it's so inspiring for
us who are young and working on
women's rights to listen to those who
worked before us. We can learn a lot,"
School of Social Work student Lily
Davidson said.
However, Krysta Bartnick, Business
School senior and president of Stu-
dents for Life, said much has changed
since Roe v. Wade and that the gov-
ernment should respond accordingly.
"We now have a lot more evidence
on the aftereffects of abortion," Bart-
nick said. "So much has changed over
the past 30 years. The law needs to
catch up with science."
Bartnick also noted that McCorvey
has gone on record saying that she no
longer supports legal abortion.
"That says a lot for the cause," Bart-
nick said.
SHUBRA OHRI/Daily
Roe v. Wade attorney Sarah Weddington speaks at Rackham Auditorium
yesterday as part of the Elizabeth Charlotte Mullin Welch Lecture.
DIVESTMENT
Continued from page ±
language in the proposal that condemned the state of
Israel and pointed to human rights abuses and violations
of international law.
After hearing these concerns from Mironov and other
members of MSA, MSA Representative Matt Hollerbach
and other authors of the resolution made a motion to strike
every clause but the last three from the resolution, in hopes
to find more support for the formation of a committee. This
move eliminated direct condemnation of Israel and called
for an "advisory committee consisting of members of the
University Senate, students, administration and alumni."
Students Allied for Freedom and Equality President Carmel
Salhi emphasized that the resolution called for the formation
of a committee to investigate University investments.
"There are investments that many students on this cam-
pus find morally and ethically questionable," Salhi said.
RC junior Ashwini Hardikar said that the resolution was not
intended to University to immediately divest from Israel, but
called for an investigation into potential human rights violations.
"It's not an issue of whether or not you're pro-Israel
or pro-Palestine. It's a question of whether or not human
rights violations have been committed," Hardikar said.
Other proponents of the resolution echoed these sen-
timents.
"This resolution is about academic freedom, and the
right to know whether the businesses that the University
invests in realize international human rights principles
and business ethics," said Nadine Naber, professor of
American Culture and Women's Studies.
But Mironov said that the language of the resolution
proposed a verdict before the trial.
"If it were simply a resolution to create a committee, it
wouldn't have 14 clauses condemning the state of Israel,"
Mironov said prior to the elimination of 12 clauses.
Opponents of the resolution also complained that it
unfairly singled out Israel for condemnation.
While the audience seemed evenly split between both
sides, opponents of the resolution were noticeably not sport-
ing their "Stand with Israel" T-shirts, which have generated
some controversy. In addition, supporters of the resolution
asked Blaine Coleman, a sharp critic of the state of Israel,
not to attend the meeting out of a fear that his strong opin-
ions could damage their chances of success.
The result of the vote invoked even more emotion from
both supporters and opponents of the resolution.
"You can't silence this issue any more. We know that
this occupation is immoral and unethical, and we won't
be silenced any longer," said LSA freshman and member
of Amnesty International Nafisah Ula.
Vice-chair and co founder of the Israeli Students
Organization Ziv Ragowski said he hoped the debates
would open up talk between Palestinians and Israelis.
"People are recognizing the (desire) of both nations
to move towards peace and to end the bloodshed,"
Ragowski said.
Think you know it all? r
The Campus Information Centers are hiring!
Applications are available online or at one of our
two locations-in the Michigan Union or Pierpont
Commons. Applications are due by
Friday, March 18!
www.umich.edu/info/
764-INFO
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