Bather onight: Cloudy, chance of howers, low 50. omormow: Morning howers, high around 60' 2~'trw rno One hundredfve years of editonal freedom Tuesday October 17, 1995 Vol lvI 14. 3-"hg eT " to ducation Zachary M. Raimi ally Staff Reporter As lawmakers continue to debate the ffects of welfare on children as part of n attempt to overhaul the system, Uni- ersity researchers have added a twist o the discussion. Researchers Becky A. Smerdon and alerie E. Lee, in the University's chool of Education, have concluded fter years of research that being on elfare does not hurt and may even elp the academic achievement of high chool students. The researchers tracked 5,283 Ameri- an high school students between 1988 nd 1992- from eighth grade to their igh school graduation - assessing their achievement on the basis of stan- dardized tests de- They veloped by the U.S. ered,. Department of Edu- cation. The students he came from welfare- receiving families me aS andmodest-income families. ther "Theylearnedthe same as other kids ds and and in some cases learned more," said n 50M1 Smerdon, a third- year doctoral stu- aISeS dent. Smerdon said that the results dis- pel the myth that oreM welfare creates a Becky A. dependency for SmCryo. children that hin- Smer ders their educa- Researcher tional performance. "I'm still puzzled ythe expectation that welfare would urt. The fact is that the program is esigned to help families and kids." Smerdon and Lee, an associate pro- essor of education, concluded that he welfare recipients may be helped y their status because of their char- cter. "We do have students who are excep- ionally resilient and can cope," merdon said. In addition, Smerdon said the gov- rnment program is designed to help amilies pay rent and purchase food nd other essentials that allow the chil- ren to pay more attention to their ducation. toLee was unavailable for comment esterday. Smerdon and Lee presented their find- ings last month at the National Associa- tion for Welfare Research and Statistics in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The researchers looked at 377 chil- dren who received welfare for two years or less, 94 students who were on wel- fare continuously over a four-year pe- riod and 4,812 who never received wel- fare, but whose families earned modest incomes. Due to the technically-complex sta- tistics of their research, Smerdon said that data would not be released. She also was unsure of how welfare in block-grants to the states would af- fect high-school students on welfare. Men__rch, pledge peace I Farrakhan, 400,000 gathereon From Daily Wire Services WASHINGTON - In an unprec- edented gathering amid the nation's monuments, hundreds of thousands of black men shouted promises to renounce violence and improve their lives in a revival-style chant led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. "1 pledge that from this day forward, I will never raise my hand with a knife or gun to beat, cut or shoot any member of my family or any human being, ex- cept in self-defense," they chanted yes- terday at the climax of the daylong gathering ofblack men amid the nation's monuments. Farrakhan's "Million Man March" called together black men for a peace- ful day of praying, singing and reveling in racial unity. The throng, estimated by the U.S. Park Police at 400,000, stretched for 12 blocks down the grassy expanse, from the foot of the Capitol to the Washington Monument. March or- ganizers asserted the crowd numbered 2 million. By mid-morning, co-organizer Ben- jamin Chavis Jr. said the crowd had passed the 1 million mark. The Na- AP PHOTO tional Park Service said it would pro- vide its own estimate in the afternoon, using pictures taken from helicopters. During the rally's dramatic finale, Farrakhan spoke for 2 1/2 hours, often addressing white America. "White su- premacy," he said, is the root of America's suffering. "That makes you sick," Farrakhan said, "and you produce a sick society 'rye and a sick world." III Farrakhan urged the men to go home and join black organizations- even those that refused to endorse his rally Mall in - to take hold of political power, unite 'throngs against racism and cleanse black com- o whites munities of crime, drugs and violence. merican He brushed aside critics who have elves of condemned his inflammatory state- ments about Jews, Catholics, gays and nton told Asians, saying he had divine guidance remarks in bringing to Washington the largest h began. assemblage of black Americans since ols ofthe the 1963 March on Washington. han, and "Whether you like it or not, God n - got brought the idea through me, and he y name. didn't bring it through me because my personal heart was dark with hatred and anti- ight one Semitism," he said. ,inaline Participants said the march was rakhan's peaceful. n, whose "There is no violence here, no rac- ivotal in ism," said Omar Holt of Detroit. "It's es, "The very moving." utrage." Young men dressed in jeans, hat aides sweatshirts and jackets dominated the night - crowd. But men ofall ages werejammed :ks have shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the easoned, stage. Others climbed onto statues, light e. posts and trees for a better view. A few ton said, waded through the Reflecting Pool, one Fmodern wearing few if any clothes. d to talk Scores of Nation of Islam members, See MARCH, Page 7 A participant in the Million Man March raises his hand in a salute before the start of the rally yesterday. March Reactions Black women and whites reacted in many ways to yesterday's march. Some recalled the O j. Simpson trial and acquittal while others hoped the would start to heal wounds opened by racial differences. Stories, Page 7 President urges all Amnericans to rid themselves of racis AUSTIN, Texas - A thousand miles from the Washington, President Clinton yesterday said the' of men" gathered there could serve as a reminder t "that most black people share their old-fashioned A values," but only if people of both races purge thems prejudice. "America, we must clean our house of racism," Clir students at the University ofTexas yesterday morning, in shortly before the main programatthe Million Man Marc Two men who for many Americans are potent symb house's soiled condition - march leader Louis Farrak former Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Furhma prominent attention in Clinton's speech, though not b "One million men are right to be standing up forI responsibility, but one million men do not make r man's message ofmalice and division," Clinton said. that aides said was intended as a rebuke to Far history of anti-Semitic remarks. Turning to Furhmar taped interviews laden with racial epithets became p the O.J. Simpson murder case, Clinton lectured whit taped voice of one policeman should fill you with o Yet the mood of the president's address - one th said he and speechwriters labored over through ther was not so much judgmental as empathetic. Blac some reason for mistrusting white justice, Clinton r just as whites have some reason to fear black crim It's not simply racism that's dividing people, Clin but the "different ways we experience the threats of life," as well as "the fact that we still haven't learne frankly, to listen carefully ... across racial lines." President Clinton gives the "Hook 'em Horns" sign to the crowd at the University of Texas after his speech yesterday. I 5th Ward City C focus on wide sp By Maureen Sirhal Daily Staff Reporter In the City Council's 5th Ward, which covers the northwest side of town, the spectrum of issues is a little wider than the other races - the third- party candidate would like to legalize marijuana. The three candidates running for the council seat include incumbent Democrat and Mayor Pro- Tem Christopher Kolb, Re- publican John Ballew and O nC I Libertarian Renee Emry. Emry, who was arrested on two felony counts for sell- ingmarijuana to undercover ouncil candidates ectnum of issues, AmeiCorps' fate not completely finished sources and setup policies to promote accountability. Kolb supports addressing budget problems with the recommendations made by the Budget Review Committee - which he sponsored to study ways the budget can be trimmed to maximize revenues. "The good news is that the audit shows there is $10.9 million in the general fund," he said. "That is 5 million more than this year's budget projected." Emry said she is tired of seeing waste in city government and wants to improve the quality of city services, such as garbage collection. Public safety is also a strong election issue with recent break-ins and campus violence. "I like the idea of the Community Oriented Polic- ing," Ballew said. "I want to see that continue." SHoekstra expects Republicans will have to compromise By Ronnie Glassberg Daily Staff Reporter Despite votes in the Senate and House to eliminate funding for the AmeriCorps national service program, Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra said Republicans will probably need to compromise on the issue. Hoekstra, who chairs the oversight .,.. .>- . #:rr .n y.n~v ~ t n n t arm, that found the average AmenCorps participant is supported each year by $25,000 in federal funds. "AmeriCorps doesn't appear to be a very efficient way to get money to kids," Hoekstra said. Hoekstra said he wants to compro- mise and will offer a plan to expand work-study programs to include com- munity service. He said this would al- low the funds to serve five or six times more students than AmeriCorps. "I really think the opportunity of do- ing work study and those types ofthings I -' ~.r