Campus Notes

Panel discussion to cover census-taking, politics

U.S. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt will discuss how to distinguish between politics and the science of census-taking at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rackham Auditorium.

His speech, titled "Political Questions/Scientific Answers," will be sponsored by the Institute for Social Research and the Ford School of Public Policy.

His talk will be followed by a panel discussion, which will give the public an opportunity to ask questions and make comments on the role of politics. Panel members include University political science Prof. Vincent Hutchings; University political science emeritus Prof. John Kingdom; University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Prof. Margo Anderson; and Robert Teeter, president of Ann Arbor business consulting and research firm Coldwater Corp. and former president of Detroit-based Market Opinion Research. Teeter coordinated the political polling strategies for presidents Ford and Richard Nixon.

DPS to sponsor safety open house

The University Department of Public Safety and the Occupational Safety and Environmental Health Department will sponsor the Safety Open House on Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The open house will include facility tours and many displays featuring safety issues at 1239 Kipke Drive.

Visitors will be able to sit in a police car, tour the communications center, try on personal protection equipment, and learn more about special environmental projects.

Efforts to keep storm water drains clean will be one of the environmental projects displayed.

Refreshments will be available. For more information, call the Department of Public Safety at 763-3434.

Study shows race affects juries

A study by graduate student Samuel Sommers and law and psychology Prof. Phoebe Ellsworth on the effects of race in jury trials will be published in the November 2000 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Their studies used 211 adults as mock jurors in the case of an assault by a man against his girlfriend. Three-quarters of the recruited jury members were white and about one-quarter were black. In each version of the case, the race of the man and the woman were different.

A similar sentencing trend appeared among the jurors: White mock jurors were not influenced by the race of the defendant while black mock jurors recommended longer sentences for white defendants.

Future studies are planned to examine different ways race can be made salient in a trial and to investigate how the discussion of racial issues during deliberation differs on juries that include black members compared with all-white juries.

Laser scientists hold conference

The International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics Conference will be held today through Thursday at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn.

The conference will feature leading laser scientists, industrial decision makers and Nobel laureates who will discuss laser applications in industry and their economical importance.

Presentations by some of the most prominent laser scientists in the world will take place throughout the conference. Engineering Dean Stephen Director will introduce the industrial decision makers for the afternoon session.

Laser applications in automotive, aerospace, electronic, medical and microfabrication fields highlight presentations tomorrow through Thursday. A series of short courses ranging from marking to micromaching will be offered as well.

- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Lisa Hoffman.