Radiohead ups the ante once again The B-Side ~Iieffid~iganDaI& Ann Arbor, MichiganThursday, October 11,2007 THE CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY Groups target campus sales tactics michigandaily.com Since 9/11, twice as many take Arabic U.S. PIRG alleges deceptive marketing practices By DANIEL STRAUSS Daily StaffReporter Credit card companies -might have less of an incentive to hawk their cards at the University if a consumer advocacy group has its way. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group's Education Fund and several other higher educa- tion groups announced yesterday a new national campaign to combat what they call deceptive market- ing practices used by credit card companies on college campuses. The groups involved in the campaign argue that credit card companies sponsor promotions and giveaways that trick students into signingup for credit cards and then charge them unreasonably high fees. At 40 major colleges, - not including the University of Michi- gan - campaigners will work to educate students about the dan- gers of credit cards with seminars and informational pamphlets. Campaign staffers will also try to convince the universities to adopt strict policies against credit card companies advertising on campus. The campaign also plansto pub- lish original research on the credit card traps. "Basically over the last 10 or 15 years, advocates such as myself have noticed that credit cards are making bad money on top of the good money that's very easy to make in credit card marketing," said Ed Mierzwinski, the consum- er program director for U.S. PIRG in a conference call yesterday. See CREDIT, Page 7A w-{-F-, Largest spike came after invasion of Iraq in 2003 By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN Daily StaffReporter Since the Sept: 11 terrorist attacks, enrollment in Arabic lan- guage and culture courses at the University has doubled. Following the attack, enroll- ment in Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Turkish and Islamic Studies 331:. Introduction to Arabic Culture and Language - a class on modern Ara- bic culture and society only offered in winter - increased from winter 2001's,63 students to 85 students in winter 2002. Enrollment in the first-year modern Arabic language course - only offered in fall - jumped from 46 students in the fall of 2001 to 72 students in fall 2002. By the winter 2007 semester, 149 students were enrolled in the cul- ARABIC ENROLLMENT Sstudents enrolled in either "AAPTIS 331: Introduction to Arabic Culture and Language," in the winter of 2001, or "AAPTiS101: Intro- duction to Modern Arabic," in thefall of 2001. ture class. There are 100 students enrolled in this semester's intro- ductory Arabic language course. Interest in Arabic courses has been growing at a higher rate than other language courses offered at the University. Mary Fallert, senior business administrator of the Romance -Language Department, said enrollment numbers for lan- guages such as Spanish and French have held steady since 2001. Arabic courses saw the largest spike in enrollment in 2004, the year after the beginning of the war in Iraq. The modern Arabic culture class ballooned to 161 students in the winter semester that year, and the beginning language class had 110 students in the fall 2004 semes- ter. There was a small dip in both 2005 semesters, but the enrollment in both- Arabic classes has held steady since then. Mohammad Khalil, a former graduate student instructor sin the University's Department of See ARABIC, Page 7A Numbernof students whowere enrolled in either"AAPTIS 331: Introductionfto Arabic Cul- ture and Language,"inthe winter of 2007, or "AAPTIS 101, Introduction to Modern Arabic," in the fall of 2007. About 10 percent more people have joined chapters in the University's Interfraternity Council duringthis fall's rush, according t( spokesman Evan Waters. More join fraternities, sororities IFC, Pan-Hel see increase; Multicultural council, NPHC numbers unavailable By JAKE HOLMES Daily StaffReporter Interest in campus Greek life has increased for the sixth consecutive semester, statistics released Monday by the Office of Greek Life show. Campus Pan-Hellenic sororities and Interfraternity Council fraterni- ties reported larger pledge classes than last fall. Pan-Hellenic sororities saw a 16 percent increase in new members, with 683 women joining Pan-Hellenic chapters this fall, said Pan-Hellenic spokeswoman Carlie Kleinman. Also, 200 more women registered for rush this semester than they did last fall, Pan-Hellenic President Emily Gomes said. "We haven't seen numbers like this in quite some time," Gomes said. IFC chapters accepted about 10 per- cent more new members during this fall's rush than last fall's rush, said IFC spokesman Evan Waters. They added about 420 new members. IFC President Jared Averbuch said the increased recruitment might be because of better marketing about Greek life. He said the IFC sent more mailings and v-mails to freshmen than in previous years. The IFC also added an extra day of open houses and pushed its Diag recruitment day back to give prospec- tive students more time to adjust to campus and learn about Greek life, Waters said. See GREEKS, Page 7A ENROLLMENT IN FIRST SEMESTER ARABIC 120 100 80 60 0 20 0 Faii Pall Faii Faii Faii Faii Faii Faii 2000 2O0t 2002 2003 2004 2000 2006 2007 SOURCE: DIVISION OF ARABIC, ARMENIAN, PERSIAN. TURKISH AND ISLAMIC STUDIES NATURE OR NURTURE? * 'U' to help track thousands of Mich. kids for 21years Ethicist: Why steroid use is bad for sports Some participants will be found before they're even born By ARIKIA MILLIKAN Daily StaffReporter University researchers have joined a study that aims to explore the intricacies of a topic that has stumped psychologists for decades: Is it nature or nurture that most affects a developing human being? To answer this question, researchers from institutions across the country will track the development of 105,000 children in 105 counties. It's all part of the National Children's Study, a multi-decade effort to determine the effects of the environment on growing children. Congress man- dated the study in 2000 but did not approve funding until 2007. While the first set of results should be ready by 2009, the study is not slated to be completely finished until 2034. UniversityofMichiganresearch- ers are working with research- ers from Wayne State University, Michigan State University and hos- pitals and clinics around the state to monitor 5,000 children in five counties from before birth until they are 21 years old. State researchers, including those from the University of Mich- igan's Institute for Social Research, will take on the Michigan portion of the study. Daniel Keating, the director of the University's Center for Human Growth and Development, said this study is "unprecedented in scope." Because anything could affect a child's development, the research- ers plan to routinely collect sam- ples of air from inside the study subjects' homes and soil from their yards and neighborhoods to see if See STUDY, Page 7A Murray seeks to refute five arguments against steroid bans By SARA LYNNE THELEN Daily StaffReporter A discussion 'about steroids in sports last night began with pes- simism. "It appears that no one is a good sport anymore," said Emeritus Psy- chiatry Prof. Philip Margolis in his introduction to ethicist Thomas Murray's lecture. Murray presented several argu- ments for doping - like an ath- lete's freedom of choice, arbitrary enforcement policies and the argu- ment that athletes should use sub- stances to enhance their natural ability - and then refuted each argument. He gave his speech to an audi- ence of mostly medical profession- als at the University Hospital's Ford Auditorium last night. He charac- terized steroids and other perfor- mance-enhancing drugs asa moral complication of biomedicine. The lecture came less than a week after track and field gold medalist Marion Jones admitted to using performance-enhancing ste- roids and agreed to return her five Olympic medals. Murray served on the U.S. Olym- pic Committee's Anti-Doping Com- mittee for 16 years. He's currently president of The Hastings Center, a research institute focused on bio- ethics. According to Murray, support- ers of doping say that discerning between nutritional supplements like Creatine and performance- enhancing drugs draws lines that are too arbitrary. "They see no conceptual, ethical or practical distinction among dif- ferent kinds of enhancement," he said. He said it is irrelevant wheth- See STEROIDS, Page 7A Ethicist Thomas Murray presented five arguments against steroid bans in his lecture last night. Then he sought to prove each one wrong. TODAY'S H:53 WEATHER LO:38 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-24s9 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILYSLOGS Notes from the GOP debate MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THEPODIUM INDEX NEWS2..............I...............A2A SPORTS ..5A Vol. CXVi II, No. 28 SUDOK -U............................3A CLASSIFIEDS ..............6A ®2007 TheMichigan Daily OPINION ............................4A THESTATEMENT......1..........18 mirhigsndiiyrcom i