Wednesday, September 14, 2005

VOLLEYBALL CLIPS EAGLES FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN ... PAGE 13

News 3 UVA appoints
diversity chief

Opinion 4

David Betts has a
better plan for A2

A 4Wfi*UiIQ

Art 10 'West Side Story'
dances onto 'U' stage

One-hundred fourteen years of edtorialfreedom
www.michiandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 146 02005 The Michigan Daily

FROM THE EDITOR
As part of our goal of providing our readers with innovative content, today The
Michigan Daily launches a weblog network consisting offour blogs: a sports
blog, an opinion blog, a news blog and a blog belonging to the editor in chief
You will be able to participate in discussions and debates with other readers
and Michigan Daily editors. Read and then respond to what our football writers
think about Saturday's game, argue with the editorial page editor about the latest
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chief about something you saw in the Daily. To join the conversation, which we're
not moderating, go to the Daily's website and find the link to the blogs. We hope to
enhance campus debate and make the Daily more transparent and accountable.
- Jason Z. Pesick
Editor in Chief

"EVERYONE KNEWV TUTS wV.S EE UALLYINGyO r P . - I A tRM . RON

LSA language
requirement
may be altered
If approved by. the decently grasping one language, bu
that it would be such a surface-leve
University students could overview of two that, in the end
take four semesters of two they would retain neither," Weiss
said in a written statement.
different apguagesBut the dominant attitude tha
night was that students should hav
By Anne VanderMey the freedom to choose.
Daily Staff Reporter Representative Katie Grossman
said that the current language require
The LSA student government voted ment made her feel restricted becaus
12 to 6 last night in favor of a proposal she had to continue the language track
that would allow students to take two she started as a freshman.
different languages instead of four "I felt like my education was

t
i,
>s
t
.e
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e
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S

ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily
Protester Larry James hands out informational flyers to passing evacuees and others near the Reliant Stadium in Houston on Monday.
Evacuees' views difer on reliefeffort

semesters of one language to fulfill the
LSA requirement.
Their decision is expected to
weigh heavily on the final outcome of
the proposal when LSA faculty and
administrators convene in October
to decide whether or not to reform
the language requirement. In April,
SG postponed making the decision
because of a lack of student input,
according to LSA-SG president and
LSA junior Andrew Yahkind.
Chair of the Romance Languages
department Peggy McCracken said
student opinion was the most impor-
tant element that was lacking in the
faculty discussion. She added that
LSA-SG's recommendation would
help LSA faculty . gauge student
views on the language requirement
change.
The LSA student government vig-
orously debated the proposal before
finally approving it. Strong opposi-
tion came from Rep. Jon Weiss.
"My fear is that the '2-2 option'
would not only keep students from

devalued when I was forced to keep
taking this language ... people
don't know where they're going to
go or what they're going to do when
they're freshman, and (the new
requirement) just gives them many
more options," said Rep. Katie
Grossman.

On campus, many students
that the extra options will
students' enthusiasm about
classes.

agree
boost
their

"It doesn't make sense to have
someone be stuck with something,"
LSA sophomore Amanda Dye said.
"If they don't like Spanish, they're
just going to trudge through their four
semesters. They won't take something
they actually want to take."
LSA junior Christina Cohen had
similar experiences. Cohen placed
out of three semesters of French,
and although she said she was more
interested in Korean and Arabic,
she was compelled to continue with
French. Cohen did eventually go on
See LSA-SG, Page 7

Some display gratitude for the aid
they received. Others criticize Bush
and FEMA for lack of response
By Karl Stampfl and Alex Dziadosz
Daily Staff Reporters
HOUSTON - Among Hurricane Katrina survi-
vors, opinions on the government's handling of the
disaster relief remain mixed. Some applaud the relief
effort's leaders, while others have a more negative
view on the official response.
With New Orleans in ruins and thousands feared
dead, all levels of government have come under fire
for their alleged lack of preparation before and after
the hurricane struck a little more than two years ago.
Of the evacuees interviewed, many seemed split
between showing gratitude for the aid they received
from the government and resentment of being aban-
doned in a city that many survivors say resembles a
war zone.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, just outside of the Reliant Center,
a Houston evacuee shelter, an evacuee who appeared
to be in his 20s thrust himself into the middle of a
high-spirited crowd and started to chant "Fuck Bush,

fuck Bush, fuck Bush."
But the crowd protested, drowning out his cries.
"We ain't here for that," someone shouted. See-
ing that the crowd did not share his anger, the man
stopped chanting and walked away.
Meanwhile, inside the center, Louisiana Gov.
Kathleen Blanco defended President Bush in a press
conference Sunday.
"Help in those critical moments was slow in com-
ing, but not by any fault of the President," she said.
Blanco diminished the recent public outcry over the
response to the disaster by saying "Everyone becomes
a scapegoat."
She also defended her own administration and her-
self by detailing their relief efforts and saying that the
storm was so large and unexpected that it was almost
impossible to adequately prepare for.
Some evacuees, including Deion Armstrong, dis-
agreed.
"Louisiana was so unorganized," he said. "Every-
one knew this was eventually going to happen."
He cited inadequate law enforcement, old pumps
and the lackadaisical nature of New Orleans citizens
as some of the problems.
"If people hadn't had gone to help us, we wouldn't
have helped ourselves," he said. "We try to party too

much. That's why they call it the Big Easy."
He compared Houston's response to New York's
four years ago after the terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Centers, adding that New Orleans was not as
prepared.
Evacuee Ricky Hampton echoed Armstrong's
statement.
"The governor ain't done her job," he said. "A lot
of kids should have been on buses a week before the
storm. They've known what was going to happen for
years."
Evacuee Wilford Jones waited for three days on a
bridge in News Orleans for someone to rescue him.
"No one ever came," he said. "We all had to rescue
ourselves."
Some survivors, including Walter Davis, said they
were just glad to be alive.
"I can't ask for no more (from the government)," he
said. "They're just like us, they're human. You can't
point your finger."
About 15 people protested Bush's slow response to
the hurricane on Monday just outside of Reliant City,
the nickname for the makeshift community of two
shelters housing evacuees. The protesters criticized
Bush's alleged indifference to hurricane victims as
See HOUSTON, Page 7


Muslims
want
prayer
*room
Group will petition
Student Affairs for building
space on North Campus
By Christina HIldreth
Daily Staff Reporters
For most, prayer is strictly spiritual.
But for some Muslim students, it can be
a logistical nightmare.
Devout Muslims pray five times a
day - sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset
and evening. Even though University
students make time for prayer in the
midst of their busy schedules, some say
they cannot find a place to pray. They
look for empty corners or classrooms,
but that doesn't always cut it.
"Prayers are very personal. It's very
hard to do that when you have 500 kids
rushing by you in the hallway," said
Wajeeha Shuttari, vice president of the
Muslim Students' Association and an
T ..A e M ~-

Meeting to cover
SOLE's allegations

'U' responds to last week's
sit-in over alleged labor violations
committed by Eddie Bauer
By Amber Colvin
Daily Staff Reporter
In response to last week's sit-in staged by an activ-
ist group in the lobby of University President Mary
Sue Coleman's office, the University has pledged to
examine its relationship with the Fair Labor Asso-
ciation next month.
The group Students Organizing for Labor and
Economic Equality received a letter from the Uni-
versity on Thursday. The letter explained the Uni-
versity plans to use the first meeting of the Advisory
Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights
to determine whether the activities of the FLA are
in compliance with the University's code for labor
practices and the manufacture of licensed products.
The advisory committee hopes to convene for their
first meeting on Oct. 7.
SOLE member and engineering junior Sam Rah-
man said this was just a tactic of the University to
stall until SOLE's concerns are forgotten.
"We're obviously not satisfied with the response,"
Rahman said.
SOLE's complaints center on PT Victoria, a fac-
tory in Indonesia that is owned by Perdana Gar-
ments. The factory shut down unexpectedly in 2004,
allegedly without naving workers. many of whom

"There should be student
presence on the committee
when it meets."
- Sam Rahman
SOLE member
of its licensed products, but is a member of the FLA,
which monitors companies like Eddie Bauer for
unjust labor conditions.
The FLA recently accredited Eddie Bauer for
being in compliance with its workplace standards
program.
At last Tuesday's sit-in, SOLE members
delivered a letter to Coleman, requesting that
the University make the FLA hold Eddie Bauer
accountable for the money owed to workers, or
leave the FLA.
Special counsel to the president Gary Krenz,
who wrote the University's response to SOLE,
said in the letter that among the responsibilities of
the University's labor standards committee is to
"assess (organizations') effectiveness in assisting
the University to implement its code of conduct."
"Assessment of and recommendations about
the University's participation in the FLA ... are
therefore within the purview of the committee,"
Krenz wrote.

I