Miami Hurricane, November 10, 2000

              Coral Gables, Florida	Since 1927
Volume 78, Number 21
WWW.HURRICANE.MIAMI.EDU
Friday, November 10, 2
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Eyes of nation turn to Florida for presidential race
By Gariot Louisna and Jessica McNeill
Of the Staff
“Frustrating,” that’s what University of Miami staff associate Andres Marin called the situation Wednesday.
Marin was among a dozen or so University staff, faculty and students surrounding the television in the lower lounge of the University Center (UC) to get the latest news on what was history in the making— the Nov. 7 election
First, a seated first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was elected to the Senate. A deceased candidate,
Democratic Missouri governor, Mel Carnahan, defeated his opponent Republican Sen. John Ashcroft, and Carnahan’s wife, Jean, will hold public office in his place.
More importantly, the nation was still waiting to find out who the next president of the United States would be.
When the poles closed Tuesday night and the votes were tallied, Republican candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush had seemingly defeat ed his opponent, Vice Fresident and Democratic candidate Al Gore With 25 cruciri votes from Florida, Bush
had 271 Electoral Votes; Gore had 260. Two-hundred and seventy votes are needed to win the election.
But election reports had been confused Tuesday night when news organizations reported Gore had won Florida. Later that night, those reports were cleared up and Bush had seemingly gained the election, and Florida’s votes were given to him.
It seemed as if Gore, the man with the largest number of popular votes (48,976,148), could lose the race to the elccto'al winner, Bush (with 48,783.510 popular votes) This hasn t happened in over a 100 years.
But because Bush and Gore both had 49 percent of the popular vote in Florida, the ballots had to be recounted.
Election officials said Wednesday that they’d finish the recount by 5 p.m. Thursday. They have to recount every presidential ballot cast statewide, and must take into account previously uncounted absentee ballots coming in from overseas. If those overseas ballots “prove to be a factor," reported CNN.com, “the uncertainty in the presidential race could drag on for 10 days."
By late Wednesday, 19 of 67 Florida
counties had recounted the ballots cast. Bush had 2,909,465 votes while Gore had 2,907,722.
One of the students checking out the news reports in the UC, senior Deidra Logan, said the situation was “a little shaky.”
“How long can we drag it out?” Logan said. “The whole country thought the polls were closed, then all of a sudden, they recall Florida.”
Politicians weren’t short on comments either.
Bush said in news reports that the recount would “bring him the victory he tasted for just a few short moments
on election night.”
In a brief statement Wednesday, Gore said,“We now need to resolve this election in a way that is fair and forthright"
Florida Senator Bob Graham said, in a statement sent to the Hurricane Wednesday, that voters have to be patient.
“Caution must outweigh expedien-cyr Graham said. “A rush to judgement would undermine the integrity of Floridians’ participation in the process. The worst possible result would be one that causes the electorate to lose faith in the system."
RYAN WOLF / Hurricane Staff
LOOKING TO RELIGION: Dr. Liyakat Takim of the Department of Religious Studies speaks at the InterFaith Dialogue Nov. 6, part of Islamic Awareness Month.
Critical looks at race relations
End of an era for Art building?
Engineers condemn Historic campus site, top floor closed today
By Jessica McNeill
News Editor
The An Building—which may look to some like an old, wooden beach house set on the shores of New England and not like the newer concrete buildings that make up the rest of the University— housed all of UM’s art classes until today, after being condemned for structural instability fears earlier this week.
According to Luis Glaser, executive vice president and provost, he, along with outside engineers, visited the building Sunday at 9 a m. and Monday decided the second floor of the building could no longer be used and that everything needed to be removed by Friday.
Sometime this semester, Glaser said support beams were put up on part of the building, but while work went on, people kept noticing different problems.
“They found some damage that needs extensive care on the second floor," Dr. Marcilene Wittmer, chairperson of the Art and Art History Department said. “We felt that, to be on the safe side, we should move everyone and everything out.”
The building, which has important historical value to some, is one of the oldest buildings on campus, dating back to the World War II era.
“The building was designed by a woman architect by the name of Marion Manley,” Wittmer said. “I got here 28 years ago and even then it was considered an old building”
As of now, the second floor will be closed for the rest of the semester, and, according to Wittmer, probably for next semester as well.
As for the future of the art building, Glaser said that cannot be determined as of yet.
“We need to first take care of the acute problem, reassess the building and make a judgement from there on what to do with the building [first and second floors)," he said.
Research and time are two very important aspects, which will weigh into whether or not the building is kept, rebuilt, or removed.
For now, all classes have been relocated to either the Physics building next door or to the first floor of the art building which houses classrooms as well as the New Gallery.
“The |upcoming) exhibition schedule for the New Gallery will have to be reevaluated," Wittmer . said. “But, I am sure we will find space for everything.”

Month provides insight, awareness
By Serena Moss
Hurricane Staff Writer
November is Islamic Awareness Month (1AM) at UM, intended to unveil misconceptions often associafed with one of the world’s most popular religions, Islam, and is being co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of UM (ISUM) and the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA).
“This awareness provides an opportunity to dispel myths about the Islamic community and provides an opportunity to educate people about it,” said Steven Clark, director of MSA.
Najia Hussain, president of the ISUM, believes that much of the blame for such misconceptions lies with the American media.
“It has distorted the image of Islam | ranging from| cartoons like Aladdin to claiming that every terrorist is Arabic—
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they brand the whole religion [based] on the individual," said Hussain. She explained that Islam in itself signifies “submission to God and peace,” so to consistently label it as violent is clearly ironic.
Hussain said she feels it is important to have IAM because “people on campus here are not aware at all of what Islam is; they don’t know that | Muslims believe in | the same God as the Jews and Christians believe in,” she said.
Universities all across America host a similar week or month, with the intent being to promote education about the cultural and religious practices of Muslims—the word for followers of the faith, Hussain said.
Throughout the month, ISUM will be presenting a series of events to promote Islamic awareness
“The Children of Abraham," on Tuesday in the Learning Center, was the first event to occur. It consisted of a discussion on the three Abrahamic religions of the world—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—concentrating on contemporary
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issues and challenges, and included a number of UM speakers from all three faiths. Hundreds of people were in attendance for the event.
An Islamic Ftoetry Reading took place on Thursday at the Lowe Art Museum Courtyard, with Islamic readings varying from the works of the Turkish poet Rumi to other Islamic literary figures, and personal works.
Upcoming will be a lecture on Wednesday by Dr. Liyakat Takim, visiting assistant professor of Islamic Studies for the Department of Religious Studies, who will discuss contemporary issues of Islam in America—where it is one of the fastest growing religions.
On Nov. 20, “Islam’s Unsung Heroes,” will consist of student presentations celebrating various Muslim heroes. On Nov. 27, a contemporary film will locus on Islamic issues, followed by a discourse. Finally, an “Inspirational Dinner” will take place on Nov. 30 to conclude IAM. Speakers will include converts expressing how they made their journey to “Al-Islam.” See the Calender section for info.
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Students, faculty give reactions to Hurricane series
By Brian Petit
Hurricane Staff Writer
Over the past several weeks this newspaper has published a variety of news articles and opinion pieces in a series entitled,“A Look At Our Colors, A Series On Diversity.” The purpose of the series has been to explore both the benefits and problems associated with the University’s notably diverse student body.
However, there are many differ ent perspectives on the issue and something of a controversy has developed over the scries, as evidenced in two recent opinion articles.
As the final piece of the series, this article will attempt to gauge the state of diversity and race relations on this campus and in the United States, address issues raised by the controversy and provide possible solutions
By Katie Conley
Hurricane Staff Writer
The Hurricane will be losing a very important staff member: Staff Associate Connie Lackey.
Lackey is a significant part of the newspaper that many will be sorry to see leave.
“She’s been very nice to me. I know I'm going to miss her,” said Joy Williams, who also works for The Hurricane.
Lackey, a University of Miami graduate, has worked with the University for 16 years filling various roles over her time here.
She started out in the School of Architecture as a receptionist. She stayed there for two years before deciding to move on to Stanford Residential College, where she worked for another two years. She then proceeded to work for Student Activities, where she remained for six years. Her last stop on the roller coaster ride was in The Hurricane business office, where she has remained since.
She has various duties to keep everything in the office running smoothly. “It’s a really good environment," says Noberto Leal, of her office managing skills.
For the newspaper, Lackey’s tasks include the payroll for other employ-
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to still-existent racism and other problems with race relations.
Much has been said and written on this topic but a resolution has yet to be reached and, as this is a problem of the people, race relations will continue to be a topic erf' relevance to all members of society.
In that spirit, an ethnically diverse group of UM students and faculty were interviewed for this story.
The State Of Diversity and Race Relations on Campus
In the Sept. 29 Hurricane article “‘Diversity is our last name,’" UM was shown to rank 13th in the nation in “overall campus diversity for 2000” Most UM students don’t need to be reminded that white, non-Hispanic students—the usual on-campus majority group for many colleges—account for only 50 percent of UM’s student body (substantially less than other schools) to know that we are blessed with a culturally and racially diverse campus.
See DIVERSITY • Page 2
ees, bookkeeping and supervising student employees.
Not only does lackey work with The Hurricane, but she also oversees the financing of the Ibis and WVUM radio station.
One honor that cannot be forgotten is the fact that she was inducted into the prestigious Iron Arrow Honors Society in November of 1993.
However, Lackey is not leaving the University to go lie on a beach in the Caribbean.
Instead, she plans to continue working at her husbands’ construction business. She will be filling a role similar to the one she did here at UM by managing his finances.
She said she feels that she has obligations to the family business, where her skills are needed.
One advantage to the job switch will be a more flexible schedule and the chance to spend more time with her children. Of her transition she said, “I loved working here and hate leaving, and I wouldn’t leave unless I had to."
“I really enjoyed the time I’ve been here with her. She’s a very outgoing person’” said Vanessa Garcia, an employee of The Hurricane.
Sarnia Siddique began taking over for Lackey this week.
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« so Kit’s orx diversify
Lackey says goodbye