Tuesday,
October 11, 2005
News 3 National Coming Out
Week organizers plan
week of events
Opinion 4
Sports 10
Chris Zbrozek hates
urban sprawl
Harris's defense
wasn't enough
for an 'M' win
One-hzundred fifteen years of edit'orial freedom
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www.mchikandaziy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 9 @2005 The Michigan Daily
IYhas
yet to
decide
on Coke
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter
The efforts of a group of students to
bring The Coca-Cola Company's alleged
human rights abuses to light have garnered
the attention of the international media.
The Wall Street Journal and The Econ-
omist have both published stories about
the worldwide movement against the soft
drink giant; The Journal specifically dis-
cussed the role of student activists at the
University. Even The Hindustan Times
has been following the response of the
University administration.
But despite making headlines around
the world, the deadline for Coca-Cola to
comply with University demands passed
last Friday without a decision from admin-
istrators as to whether it would sever ties
with the company.
In response to pressure from students,
the University told Coca-Cola last semes-
ter that it had to agree to a third-party
audit of its practices. This demand came
after an investigation into the labor prac-
tices of the company.
But even though the deadline for Coca-
Cola to agree to a third-party audit of its
labor practices passed last Friday, the Uni-
versity has still not decided whether Coke
has met the deadline and doesn't plan on
releasing its decision until the end of the
week at the earliest.
A letter from Coke that arrived Friday
does not explicitly state that the company
agrees to a third-party audit.
"We're discussing right now whether
the actions (that Coca-Cola has taken) to
date and the letter fully support cooper-
ating with the investigation," said Peggy
Norgren, the University's associate vice
president for finance. Norgren, along
with University Chief Financial Officer
Timothy Slottow, will determine if Coke
is compliant
Coke's letter says it has committed sev-
eral working teams it established during
the summer to assess the feasibility of
conducting a third-party assessment of
labor conditions in Colombia and India.
"As we understand it, one (team) is
reviewing issues such as security, scope
and assessors for a potential Colombia
evaluation, another is reviewing potential
approaches to evaluating environmen-
tal- performance in India and a third is
addressing funding issues," Edward Pot-
ter, director of Global Labor Relations for
Coca-Cola, wrote in the letter addressed
to Slottow.
Members of the Coke Campaign Coali-
tion, the group of students pushing the
University to take action against Coca-
Cola, said there was a possible loophole
that may lead the University to continue
relations with the company, despite its
refusal to conduct a third-party audit.
In a letter to Frank Stafford, chair of the
University's Dispute Review Board, Slottow
said he would take into account the progress
to date and sense of good faith action taken
by Coca-Cola prior to our acting premature-
ly to sever the contract on a (specific date) as
recommended in the report."
RC senior Clara Hardie, a member of
the campaign, said the sentence under-
mines the rest of the letter, in which Slottow
writes, "We all understand that there will
be times when it is best to sever the (Uni-
versity-vendor) relationship and move on."
Ashley Graham, a student member of
the DRB, wrote an e-mail to Norgren and
Slottow about her disappointment with
Coca-Cola's response.
"The recommendation was clear: Coke
was to explicitly agree to a third party
investigation by September 30th. ... The
September 30th deadline was set; that
deadline was missed - now something
must be done," Graham wrote.
"All we're asking the University to do is.
adhere to its own standards," LSA junior
Ben Grimshaw said.
Members of the coalition say they have
not been happy with the approach the Uni-
versity has taken in enforcing the Vendor
Code of Conduct.
"This is the first time the University is
evaluating a complaint about the Code of
rln a ofter an imctiua ticn from the
Quake affects few students
Campus groups work
together to organize vigil, raise
money for earthquake's victims
By Karl Stampfl
Daily Staff Reporter
Few or no University students or their
families were directly affected by Saturday's
deadly earthquake in Pakistan, according to
campus groups.
About 45 students are Pakistani citizens,
Dean of Students Sue Eklund estimated.
Pakistan bore the brunt of the disaster that
officials estimate killed between 20,000
and 30,000 people.
About 2,000 have been reported dead in
India and four in Afghanistan.
As of yesterday afternoon, the University
had not yet begun to contact Pakistani stu-
dents to find out if any are from the affected
regions, a process that is usually done via
e-mail.
Muslim Student Association Vice Presi-
dent Wajeeha Shuttari said she had not heard
of any students who were directly affected.
Shuttari said most Pakistani students at
the University do not come from the affect-
ed regions, which are less developed than
major cities such as Islamabad, the capital,
which lies about 60 miles southeast of the
quake's epicenter and sustained only minor
damage and casualties.
"A lot of international students here
come from (Pakistan's) bigger universities,"
she said.
Neal Pancholi, co-chair of the South
Asian Awareness Network, said that he has
not heard of anyone whose families have
been affected.
"(Pakistani students) confirmed that their
family members are safe," he said. "Some
of their families are worried about the relief
effort though."
It will be difficult to get aid to the region
because of inadequate transportation, Pan-
choli said.
Pakistani Student Association Execu-
tive Chair Nida Javaid said she also had
not heard of anyone affected by the disaster
because most Pakistani students come from
Lahore and Karachi.
Despite the fact that students at the Uni-
versity have not been directly affected by
the quake, student groups have still mobi-
lized in support of earthquake victims.
Three student groups, including the
Indian American Student Association and
PSA, have collaborated to hold a vigil for
victims on the Diag at 9:30 p.m. Thursday
night.
MSA plans to collect money on the Diag
tomorrow.
It also plans to team up with PSA to hold
a benefit dinner tomorrow night, with pro-
ceeds from a required minimum donation
going toward relief efforts.
The dinner, which will be held at 7 p.m.
in Betsy Barbour Lounge, is open to all. It
is part of a month-long series of daily din-
ners to mark the end of the day's fasting
during Ramadan.
Students can find information about how
to donate to relief efforts at PSA's website,
www.umich.edu/-pakistan.
Survivors
of Rwanda
genocide
to reunite
Man who inspired 'Hotel
Rwanda' to give lecture in
honor of Holocaust hero
Raoul Wallenberg
By Christina Hildreth
and Kelly Fraser
Daily Staff Reporters
Thomas Kamilindi was on his way out of the
Hotel des Milles Collines in Rwanda.
But since he had recounted his story to a
French reporter the day before, the Hutu militia
had increased its threats on the hotel. As one of
the country's top radio personalities, Kamilindi
thought it may have been safer for the hundreds of
refugees inside the hotel if he left.
It was Paul Rusesabagina, then manager of the
hotel and the inspiration for the movie "Hotel
Rwanda," who talked him out of leaving.
"He said, 'You leave this hotel and I will tell
the peacekeepers to kill you themselves,"' remem-
bered Kamilindi with a laugh.
Although Kamilindi knew UN peacekeepers
could not kill anyone, and could only fire in self-
defense, Rusesabagina's joke was enough to calm
Kamilindi's fears and convince him to stay inside
the hotel walls.
Tonight, the two men will meet at the 15th
Annual Wallenberg Lecture for the first time since
Rusesabagina fled Rwanda in 1996. Rusesabagina
will be honored for his efforts that saved 1,268
refugees taking shelter in the hotel during the
1994 genocide that killed almost a million people
in 100 days.
"I'm excited to see him," said Kamilindi. "We
have many things to talk about."
"I wanted to leave, but I didn't
know how."
Kamilindi recounted his
harrowing story yesterday
from one of the cozy rooms at
the Wallace House on Oxford
Street. The house is the head-
quarters for the University's
Knight-Wallace Fellows, a
$55,000, one-year journal-
ism fellowship program that
allows experienced journal-
ists to research and develop a
topic of their choice.
Kamilindi, a fellow in the
program who studies repre-
sentations of violence in the
media, got connected to the
University's program through
the Committee to Protect
Journalists, an international
nonprofit group based in New
York.
"We
survived (by
drinking)
the
swimming
pool water,
that is
correct "
- Thomas
Kamilindi
Knight-Wallace
Journalism Fellow
Candidate's son arrested 1n A2
Son of Detroit mayoral
candidate Freman Hendrix
L 1 "Mt- AKIA - I^1 A A1
County Jail.
The arraignment is likely to occur at 10 a.m.
today at the Washtenaw County 15th District
Court the A APD sid. The AAPD would not
Freman Hendrix, deputy Detroit mayor under
Dennis Archer, is running against incumbent
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the Nov. 8 elec-
tion He canceled his nublic annearances today
In Rwanda, the government controls the press,
he explained. "Journalists who try to do their
job are threatened, intimidated, newspapers are
seized, journalists are put in jail - because of
their job only," he said.
Leading up to the massacres, Kamilindi lived
under intense oressure at the national radio sta-
i
1