Friday, October 21, 2005 News 3 Second Detroit debate takes place IKICKERS SNAP LOSING STREAK IN DOUBLE OVERTIME ... PAGE 9 Opinion 4 Zack Denfeld reviews Bush & Dick's latest play Arts 5 The Ditty Bops bring their sound to EMU One-hundredfifteen years ofeditorialfreedom www.mkchigandazdy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 15 x2005 The Michigan Daily INSIDE THE SUKKAH Higher Ed 0 committee convenes Members will release report with suggestions on improving universities By Anne VanderMey Daily Staff Reporter The Commission on Higher Educa- tion, organized by U.S. Education Secre- tary Margaret Spellings, met for the first time Monday. The commission, which is designed to give the federal government a clearer picture of the inner workings of American universities, will release a report on Aug. 1 with recommendations for improving the system. Spellings, who recently sent her old- est daughter to a private college, said she hopes the commission will be able to address some of the problems she witnessed firsthand in her daughter's application and admissions process. According to a framing document, the commission will focus on making higher education more accessible and affordable to people from varied back- grounds and equipping graduates with the skills they need to be competitive in a global marketplace. "We are at a crossroads. The world is catching up," Spellings said in her opening address to the commission in Washington. "Our students need better critical thinking skills and better training to compete in a world where what you know means much more than where you live," she said. The commission will meet four or five times at different sites around the country. Each meeting will be set up as a hearing to solicit the opinions of various constituencies, such as stu- dents and parents, business and indus- try, educators and officials in state and local government. Former University President James Duderstadt, a member of the com- mission, said it will probably break up into groups to address the four major issues Spellings has identified: access, affordability, accountability and quality. Each group will consult a variety of sources before making recommenda- tions but will not conduct independent research, Duderstadt said. He added that the commission has already received stacks of written material - both requested and unsolicited. The commission is made up of a diverse group of individuals, ranging from high-level executives like Rich- ard Stephens, senior vice president for human resources and administration at Boeing, to higher education supporters like Sara Martinez Tucker, president of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, to rep- resentatives from universities and the federal government. Duderstadt said he was confident the body would be able to form recommen- dations by the Aug. 1 deadline. "While there will be many different perspectives, we believe this is very important to get the key issues out on the table," Duderstadt wrote in an e- mail. He added that he welcomes inevi- table differences of opinion that will arise within the commission as "cre- ative dialogue." Some educators have expressed doubts that more federal action will benefit universities. Christie Daw- son, director of federal relations at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said she would watch the commission with interest, but said she is uncertain it will be able to make significant improvements. "Just by virtue of having (the com- mission), they're implying that we're not doing these things well," Dawson said. "AASCU institutions are already quite accountable and quite affordable and See COMMISSION, Page 7 AAROUN SWICKX/Daily LSA junior Nathan Steinnon pauses on his way to class to shake the Lulav with Chaim Goldstein yesterday. This ritual is part of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, which began Oct. 17 and runs until Monday. Coun-mty replaces vote miachie By Julia F. Homing Daily Staff Reporter In compliance with the Help America Vote Act, Washtenaw County has upgraded its voting technol- ogies to ensure accurate vote tabulations and limit errors during elections. Every community in Washtenaw county has switched to optical scanners, replacing more out- dated voting apparatuses. The system works like a Scantron; voters complete a ballot and feed it into a machine that tallies the votes. When the polls close, election officials retain the paper ballots in case they are needed for a recount. Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the federal government is funding a required update of voting technologies within all states. HAVA phased out punch-card and hand-counted ballots, two older forms of voting technology. Michigan is in the midst of transitioning to optical scanners, a technology chosen by Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land in 2003. The plan calls for the entire state to transition to one uniform technology - optical scanners - by 2006. Derrick Jackson, the director of elections for Washtenaw County, said the only problem with the machines has been the occasional paper jam. Jackson emphasized the importance of these tech- nologies in ensuring the accuracy of the vote count. "If you use the machine wrong, the machine spits (the ballot) out and tells you exactly what you did wrong," he said. "(Voters) know for sure now if (their) See VOTING, Page 7 FBI forms advisory board on universities WASHINGTON (AP) - The idea of academics collaborating with the FBI might once have aroused loud complaints on some campuses where agents had spied on student protesters and govern- ment institutions were viewed with mistrust. But when FBI Director Rob- ert Mueller announced he had recruited 17 university presidents to offer advice on the culture of higher education, there were a few laudatory e-mails and a couple of mentions in campus newspapers, but mostly silence, according to several school presidents. The National Security Higher Education Advisory Board plans to hold its first meeting today in Washington. Set to attend are rep- resentatives from schools across the political spectrum, from the more "The times have changed, and they've changed in this case or the better." - Amy Gutmann President of the University of Pennsylvania liberal University of Wisconsin and its history of protest to the more conservative Texas A&M Univer- sity with its Corps of Cadets. The board includes former CIA Director Robert Gates, Texas A&M's president, and former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a member of the Sept. 11 commission and president of the New School University in New York. "The times have changed and they've changed in this case for the better," said board member Amy Gutmann, president of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. "The idea that we can sit down at a table and have a true dialogue which is open and aimed at mutual understanding across differences is terrific," Gutmann said. "We're under no illusion that we'll agree on everything, but we do agree on the importance of reaching some common understanding." See FBI, Page 7 AARON SWICK/Daily David Kay, who led the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said the U.S. Intelligence community's overconfi- dence exposes it to national security risks, including the threat posed by Mexico, which he characterized as corrupt. Kay warns of Mexico threat Culture Bus give students taste of Detroit's culture 0 Professors say trips to cultural attractions in metro Detroit complement material taught in class By Deepa Pendse grown to involve more than 500 students each semester. The program is not limited to under- graduate students but is open to all University faculty, students and staff. Participants - who pay a nominal fee to participate - receive dis- counts at the various locations they visit. Former U.S. weapons inspector says country is one of the most corrupt in the world By Karl Stampfl Daily Staff Reporter David Kay, the man who led the fruitless search for weapons of mass "Because we like margaritas and tacos and grew up in Texas, we think we understand Mexico," Kay said. "But this is a state that is among the most corrupt in the world." In a recent survey by Transparency International, Mexico ranked as the 21st most corrupt country. Eight countries have declared nucle- ar weapons programs - the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and matter of skill, it's a matter of cost." Kay said firms will develop nuclear weapons for countries that do not have the technologyyfor about $10 million. "Virtually anyone can become a nuclear power overnight," he said. Kay said the current political system is ill-equipped to deal with the threat of increased nuclear proliferation. Efforts to stem nuclear proliferation failed in the 1980s when several nations, includ- ing India and South Africa, developed i