NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - 3A
ON CAMPUS
Comedy skits
about college life
to be performed
The University Unions Arts and Pro-
grams is sponsoring a series of comedic
skits about various aspects of college life.
The event will be held at Michigan League
today at 8:30. Admission is free.
'Control Room' to be
shown at Lane Hall
The Center for Middle Eastern and
North African studies will be sponsor a
viewing of the film "Control Room" and
conversation with the director, Jehane
Noujaim, today at 4 p.m.. "Control Room
is a documentary about the American per-
ception of the war in Iraq. The event will
be held in room 2239 of Lane Hall.
* Orientation theater
group to hold,.
auditions tonight
Auditions for the Office of New Student
Programs' repertory theater group, which
performs for new student orientation ses-
sions, will be held tonight from 7 p.m. to
10 pm. in Angell Hall Auditorium C.
CRIME
NO'TES
Wallet stolen from
North Campus
Chemistry Building
A wallet was stolen from the
Chemistry Building on North Cam-
pus Tuesday at about 7:30 a.m., the
Department of Public Safety report-
ed. The wallet was later recovered,
but the credit cards had been used
several times. 1
Suspect attempts
to check into 'U'
hospital with false
identification
Someone attempted to check into the
University Hospital Tuesday at about 11
a.m. using a fake name and fake social
security number, DPS reported. The per-
son was trying to obtain medical care.
Shoebox stolen
from Couzens
A shoebox was stolen from Couzens
Residence Hall Tuesday at about 1:30
p.m., DPS reported. The shoebox was one
of two delivered to the front desk earlier
that day.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
UGANDA
Continued from page 1A
crisis in Uganda.
Bobby Bailey, one of three filmmak-
ers who produced "Invisible Children,"
said he worked on the film because he
understands the impact films can have
on society.
"Media shapes the way we view our
lives," Bailey said.
At the screening,
organizers handed
out cards asking for
people to take part
in the Global Night
Commute.
The commute,
which is scheduled
for April 29, will be
a reenactment of the
Ugandan children's
commute. People
in cities throughout
the United States
"If people s
in thousan
hopefully 1
step to enc
war.
Invisible Childr
When they didn't find anything to
film in Sudan, the filmmakers trav-
eled south to northern Uganda, where
the story of the "Invisible Children"
revealed itself.
In Uganda, the LRA targets 8- to
12-year olds and desensitizes them by
forcing the children to watch others
being killed, according to the docu-
mentary.
The tour group
how up emphasized the
message that
ds, it will "awarenessisonly
the first step."
be the next They offered
attendees ways
ding the to take action. In
addition to the
commute, the
team is request-
-Joseph Bello ing that people
en Team Member buy bracelets
made by Ugan-
dan women. The
money raised will go directly to an edu-
cational program so Ugandan students
can acquire the equivalent of an Ameri-
can high school education.
The movement also asks that people
use their creativity to protest the situation.
For example, one student wrote a song.
Another sold her horse to raise money.
Bello and his group are in the sec-
ond of three and a half months they are
devoting to the cause of the children
in Uganda. The tour has widely trav-
eled through Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Illinois and Indiana. There have been
about 100 screenings since January,
ranging from one to as many as 15
screenings a day.
will walk a mile or two and then sleep
outside for the night.
Several members of Congress told
the Invisible Children Team a couple
weeks ago that if the commute were
successful, Capitol Hill would take
them seriously, organizers said.
"If people show up in thousands,
it will hopefully be the next step to
ending the war," said Joseph Bello, a
member of a group that is screening the
documentary across the Midwest.
On March 16, 2003 as the war in
Iraq began, the three young Californian
filmmakers left for Africa intending
to document the genocide in southern
Sudan.
SSA senior Sola Olubusola (right) discusses Invisible Children with Sarah Shreves (left), a member of the touring
team, after a screening of the film, a documentary about child soldiers in Uganda, at Hale Auditorium yesterday.
Men's rights group seek ight to decline fatherhood
Activists pursuing;
to challenge the lack
reproductive rights'
a lawsuit
of 'male
NEW YORK (AP) - Contending that women
have more options than they do in the event of
an unintended pregnancy, men's rights activists
are mounting a long-shot legal campaign aimed
at giving them the chance to opt out of financial
responsibility for raising a child.
The National Center for Men has prepared
a lawsuit - nicknamed Roe v. Wade for Men
- to be filed today in U.S. District Court in
Michigan on behalf of a 25-year-old computer
programmer ordered to pay child support for
his ex-girlfriend's daughter.
The suit addresses the issue of male repro-
ductive rights, contending that lack of such
rights violates the U.S. Constitution's equal
protection clause.
The gist of the argument: If a pregnant
woman can choose among abortion, adop-
tion or raising a child, a man involved in an
unintended pregnancy should have the choice
of declining the financial responsibilities of
fatherhood. The activists involved hope to
spark discussion even if they lose.
"There's such a spectrum of choice that
women have - it's her body, her pregnancy
and she has the ultimate right to make deci-
sions," said Mel Feit, director of the men's
center. "I'm trying to find a way for a man also
to have some say over decisions that affect his
life profoundly."
Feit's organization has been trying since the early
1990s to pursue such a lawsuit, and finally found a
suitable plaintiff in Matt Dubay of Saginaw, Mich.
Dubay says he has been ordered to pay $500
a month in child support for a girl born last
year to his ex-girlfriend. He contends that the
woman knew he didn't want to have a child
with her and assured him repeatedly that -
because of a physical condition - she could
not get pregnant.
Dubay is braced for the lawsuit to fail.
"What I expect to hear (from the court) is
that the way things are is not really fair, but
that's the way it is," he said in a telephone
interview. "Just to create awareness would be
enough, to at least get a debate started."
State courts have ruled in the past that any
inequity experienced by men like Dubay is
outweighed by society's interest in ensuring
that children get financial support from two
parents. Melanie Jacobs, a Michigan State
University law professor, said the federal court
might rule similarly in Dubay's case.
"The courts are trying to say it may not be
so fair that this gentleman has to support a
child he didn't want, but it's less fair to say
society has to pay the support," she said.
Feit, however, says a fatherhood opt-out
wouldn't necessarily impose higher costs on soci-
ety or the mother. A woman who balked at abor-
tion but felt she couldn't afford to raise a child
could put the baby up for adoption, he said.
Jennifer Brown of the women's rights advo-
cacy group Legal Momentum objected to the
men's center comparing Dubay's lawsuit to Roe v.
Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establish-
ing a woman's right to have an abortion.
"Roe is based on an extreme intrusion by
the government - literally to force a woman
to continue a pregnancy she doesn't want,"
Brown said. "There's nothing equivalent for
men. They have the same ability as women to
use contraception, to get sterilized."
Feit counters that the isuit's reference to
abortion rights is apt.
"Roe says a woman can choose to have inti-
macy and still have control over subsequent
consequences," he said. "No one has ever
asked a federal court if that means men should
have some similar say."
"The problem is this is so politically incor-
rect," Feit added. "The public is still dealing
with the pre-Roe ethic when it comes to men,
that if a man fathers a child, he should accept
responsibility."
Feit doesn't advocate an unlimited father-
hood opt-out; he proposes a brief period in
which a man, after learning of an unintended
pregnancy, could decline parental responsi-
bilities if the relationship was one in which
neither partner had desired a child.
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'U' issues plan for
new co-ed facilities
March 9, 1963 - State Rep. James
Warner (R-Ypsilanti) introduced a reso-
lution seeking legislative approval of
the University's plans to build a new co-
educational student housing center and
separate cafeteria at North Campus in
the House recently.
Warner's package of resolutions
would allow state universities and col-
leges to build student facilities that will
break even upon construction.
The University's self-liquidating proj-
ect would cost $3 million, but would.
be financed through the revenue bonds
based on charges passed on to students
who use the facilities.
Federal funds available for construct-
ing living units may also be used. James
Lewis, vice president of student affairs,
said the down payment would come
from the general housing funds.
The co-educational living center,
which currently lacks eating facilities,
is still in the early stages of planning.
This center will house about 500
upper-class and graduate students
who do not want to have their meals
included in their bill.
The center will include several
small buildings, which will offer
small unit living with mostly single
and double rooms.
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