Nation & world briefing
High court joins affirmative-action frav
Shannon McCaffrey
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Court set the stage Monday for
what could be a landmark ruling
on affirmative action, agreeing to
decide whether universities can
use ethnicity as a factor in admit
ting students.
The high court in recent years
has chipped away at government af
firmative-action programs dealing
with such things as government
contracts. But it has not spoken on
the use of ethnic preferences in
higher education in more than two
decades, which leaves legal experts
wondering how it will rule.
At issue is whether the Universi
ty of Michigan in Ann Arbor and
its law school violated the Consti
tution by rejecting white appli
cants while accepting minority
students with lower grades and
test scores.
If the high court strikes down such
public university programs, it would
be a near-fatal blow to the use of af
firmative action, which was con
ceived of as a remedy for discrimina
tion. If it supports the university, it
could provide a blueprint for how
such programs should work.
James Gott, associate director of
the NAAGP’s Legal Defense and
Education Fund, called the pend
ing challenges to affirmative ac
tion, both involving the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the
“most important civil rights cases
to come before this court in a
quarter of a century.”
The high court’s rulings in the
Michigan cases will apply directly
only to public colleges and univer
sities. But experts say all schools,
public or private, that use ethnici
ty-conscious admission policies
are likely to take cues from the
high court’s ruling.
The white students who were
turned away claim they were dis
criminated against in violation of
federal civil-rights laws that ban eth
nicity-based bias, and the Constitu
tion’s guarantee of equal legal pro
tection. The university says its
intention was simply the enhanced
educational benefit that comes
when students of diverse ethnic
backgrounds live and learn together.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in Cincinnati ruled in fa
vor of the University of Michigan’s
law school in a 5-4 decision hand
ed down in May. The court heard
arguments in the undergraduate
case but has yet to rule. The high
court’s decision to hear that un
dergraduate case before the lower
federal court had ruled is unusual.
Attorneys called on the
Supreme Court to clear up confu
sion from its 1978 ruling on affir
mative action.
In that case, Allan Bakke, a
white man, was turned down for
admission to medical school at the
University of California at Davis
while minorities with lower scores
were admitted. The school re
served 16 percent of its admission
slots for minorities.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme
Court ruled that such quotas were
impermissible. But Justice Lewis
Powell wrote in a separate opinion
that schools could consider ethnic
ity as long as they did not use quo
tas. Universities often have used
the late justice’s opinion as a
benchmark for affirmative action.
It also has been criticized as vague.
Attorneys in the current case
said there was a “sharp and sub
stantial disagreement in the lower
courts about the lawfulness of us
ing race and ethnicity as a factor
in admissions to achieve a ‘diverse’
student body.”
The court is expected to rule by
the end of June.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Venezuelans strike, seeking ouster of president
Tod Robberson
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
CARACAS, Venezuela —
Venezuela’s political crisis deep
ened Monday as business leaders,
labor unions and millions of mid
dle-class consumers joined forces
in a nationwide strike — the fourth
this year — to demand President
Hugo Chavez’s ouster.
The increasing radicalization of
both sides, underscored earlier this
year by a bloody military coup that
briefly forced Chavez from power, has
prompted calls from Washington and
international mediators to find a ne
gotiated solution quickly before the
country explodes in civil conflict.
Leaders from both sides as well as
independent analysts acknowledged
Monday that the prospect of re
newed violence, possibly involving
armed conflict, has reached danger
ous levels. Chavez deployed troops
on the streets of Caracas on Monday,
four days after the dismissal of 15
high-ranking military officers who
Were accused of encouraging civil
disobedience.
“There are indications that both
sides are arming. The risk of vio
lence is high,”«aid a Latin American
diplomat who asked not to be iden
tified. “If the country continues on
its current path, Venezuela will be
heading toward civil war. I’m not
saying it will happen tomorrow, but
it is a possibility in the future.”
Chavez claims to he fighting for
social and economic reforms and
the redistribution of the nation’s oil
wealth among Venezuela’s poor.
The opposition says he is trying to
introduce a Cuban-stvle commu
nist system.
Monday’s strike occurred without
violence, although there were isolat
ed reports of confrontation between
opposition members and supporters
of Chavez. Strike leaders announced
late Monday that they would contin
ue their general work stoppage at
least through Tuesday.
Earlier, the leader of the nation’s
largest labor union, Carlos Ortega,
appearing alongside chamber of
commerce and industry leader Car
los Fernandez, urged government
representatives to return to the ne
gotiating table after talks mediated
by the Organization of American
States were suspended over the
weekend. Both leaders demanded
that the government agree to a na
tional referendum on whether
Chavez should step down.
Cesar Gaviria, the president of the
Organization of American States and
the chief mediator in talks between
the two sides, said the talks had been
advancing toward a negotiated solu
tion until they were suspended over
the weekend. He said he was opti
mistic that negotiations would resume
and that an accord was possible.
Gaviria said he was trying to move
both sides toward invoking elections
that would setde the issue of Chavez’s
legitimacy once and for all.
Political observers doubted that
the government would agree to an
electoral solution along those lines.
They said the opposition, likewise,
has rejected any solution that would
allow Chavez to remain in office.
“Chavez is a proud man. He has
made up his mind, and he would
never agree to a vote that shows
the country how much power he
has really lost,” said Anibal
Romero, a political scientist who
supports the opposition.
© 2002, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
boldiers kill two Palestinians, injure 37 in West Bank
Christine Spolar
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
JENIN, West Bank — When Israeli
armored jeeps pulled into the mar
ket square Monday, Mutaz Odeh, a
husky boy carrying a sack of nuts
and seeds for his diabetic dad,
moved too slowly to avoid the bar
rage of bullets that followed.
One sliced through the 15-year
old’s back, and Odeh died before
reaching the hospital.
His death was one of two Monday
in the West Bank — not remarkable
in the two-year-old spasm of unrest
between Palestinians and Israelis —
but it marked a day of extraordinary
calamity for Palestinian civilians.
In Jenin, 23 people were injured
by the bullets and shrapnel, accord
ing to doctors there. In nearby
Tulkarem, a 19-year-old was killed
and 14 people injured by shrapnel
and bullets fired Monday afternoon
by soldiers chasing a suspected mili
tant across a downtown area, wit
nesses and doctors said.
In both cases, army spokesman
said Monday night, Israeli forces
opened fire on Palestinians who
were breaking curfew in the center
of their cities and, in Jenin, one Is
raeli soldier was lightly wounded.
The Palestinian Red Crescent or
ganization, which tracks death and
injuries from Israeli gunfire each
month, claims that, on average in
the last six months, about 92 people
are injured per month by live ammu
nition. The West Bank injury toll on
Monday comes close to about half of
the average monthly total.
Palestinians who saw the shoot
ings in Jenin said soldiers moved
into the market as people left their
homes to shop for food in anticipa
tion of Eid al Fitr, the first day after
Ramadan. In Tulkarem, witnesses
said, Israeli forces drove into a
crowded market in search of a sus
pect. Gunfire followed. Among the
injured were four teen-age boys, a
10-year-old boy and a 39-year-old
woman.
“It’s one of the worst days of in
juries and shooting that I can re
member,” said Mahmoud Abu Gha
di, director of the General Hospital
in Jenin. “We haven’t had these
numbers in Jenin for a while.”
Ahmed Abu Bakr, director of the
Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem, said
people got caught trying to shop for
the feast at end of Ramadan, likely to
be Thursday or Friday depending on
the lunar schedule.
© 2002, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by
Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
Stomach illness strikes on third cruise ship, sickens 200
Tom Stieghorst
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (KRT)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The
remarkable run of illness on cruise
ships continued on Monday, with
nearly 200 passenger* on the Miami
based Fascination showing symp
toms of Norwalk virus.
Passengers disembarking on
Monday morning said many people
got sick, including some children,
on their three-night cruise to the
Bahamas.
Vonda Mazzarella sat glumly after
disembarking, still recovering from
the effects of the virus. “Vomiting, di
arrhea, chills like crazy. I couldn’t
get warm,” said the Pittsburgh
homemaker. Her husband, David, a
computer consultant, said they vis
ited the infirmary Sunday night.
“There were 176 people signed in
at 10 p.m., and they were still com
ing in,” he said.
Health authorities say they can’t
find a common cause of the out
break, other than sick passengers.
Norwalk virus has hit at least three
Premium Pour Bartending
www.preniiym-pBBr.jcom More than just a school!
1010 Oak Street • Eugene, OR 97401 • (541) 485-4695
What we have to offer..
Want to get (give)
the best gift
this holiday?
Gift certificates are
available for all services.
Open House
Dec. 5th, 6-8pm
Just stop in and
check us out!
Special Session
class hours
11 am-4pm or 5 pm-lOpm
12/14 to 12/22
Special Rate
Save hundreds with this
one time offer. Graduates
earn $18-$22 per hour
0154261
Why are you waiting?. ,.r
You're ready to earn more $$£ am t yoy* r.. ,.
ships in the past month. The ships,
Amsterdam, Disney Magic and Fas
cination, sail from different ports for
different cruise lines.
Holland America Line’s Amster
dam left Port Everglades on Sunday
after a 10-day scrubbing. No one was
reported sick on Monday, spokes
woman Rose Abello said.
Norwalk is a common gastroin
testinal bug spread by personal
contact. It can also be transmitted
through food or water contamina
tion. About 75 percent of those sick
on Fascination ate in one of two
main dining rooms, but that could
mean they infected each other, said
Steve Williams, Carnival’s medical
director.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Cen
ters for Disease Control and Preven
tion said it was investigating the Fas
cination illness but it would be at
least a few days before it could con
firm it as a Norwalk outbreak. Carni
val is treating it as if it is, said line
President Bob Dickinson.
Separately, the CDC boarded the
Radisson Seven Seas Cruise ship
Mariner when it docked at Port Ever
glades on Monday morning, after it
reported that 21 people fell ill from
salmonella bacteria on the ship dur
ing its 10-day Transatlantic voyage
from the Canary Islands.
CDC spokeswoman Susan Mc
Clure said the agency was reviewing
medical logs on the ship, but that the
outbreak appeared to be over.
© 2002 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
If
Take Ben Sherman home for the holidays!
Do your holiday shopping at A Bizzillion where we have a great selection of:
■ Ben Sherman for men and women
■ Three Dots for men and women
■ Custo Barcelona for men and women
■ Marithe Francois Girbaud
901 Pearl Street Eugene
(on the ground floor of the historic Eugene Hotel)
Telephone: 541-485-1570
0 Tuesday-Friday 10:30-5:30 Saturday 11-4
$§ i'l* i : J i.'J I >' . 1 i i t: . i t.* ;I*i *, i »
Hir 3|* J * •. )<)' : :*<i rn ./.i v n«i> •* ■ i t • > t f ? ■> ->