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One hundredfve years of editorialfreedom
Friday
March 22, 1996
,VOL?'l, O.
oposal to
Report due this summer
would require first-year
students to participate
y Jodi Cohen
aily Staff Reporter
influential University committee will rec-
mmend this summer that all first-year students be
equired to enroll in a living-learning community,
erhaps as early as fall 1997.
Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen
iartford, who has previously advocated the ex-
ansion of living-learning programs, appointed
he 18-member task force and charged them with
inding ways to expand and improve the pro-
rams.
"If you choose to live on campus, you will be
ired to live in one of the communities," said
SPECIAL SERIES
1,1e m i es ~Beginning Monday,e i n a
William Zeller, director of Housing and chair of
the task force. "But the option to live on campus or
off campus is there for first-year students."
Only about 3 percent of all first-year students
live in off-campus housing. "Virtually all the fresh-
men wind up living with us," said Housing Pro-
gram Director Edward Salowitz.
The living-learning task force will work during
the next few months to finish developing themes
for the various programs.
"The University feels strongly enough about
this that this will be the type of housing provided,"
Zeller said. "We are trying to develop a scheme
that will accommodate 5,000 students."
Currently, the University has five living-learn-
ing communities, including the Honors Program,
the Residential College, the 21st Century Pro-
gram, the Pilot Program and the Women In Sci-
ence and Engineering Program. A section of the
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program
will join the group in the fall.
Zeller said he is not yet sure when the living-
learning requirement would begin. "At the very
earliest, we are looking at '97," he said.
LSA junior Randall Juip, vice president of the
Residence Halls Association and a task force
member, said students will benefit from this
requirement.
"The first-year students a lot of times don't
know what the University has to offer," Juip said.
"They will introduce students into a specialized
environment so they can get the most out of their
first year. These programs will give students the
skills and techniques necessary to be good stu-
dents;"
Juip said the task force will recommend that
a program be located in each residence hall. He
also said the committee is considering about
20-23 different programs, but plans to narrow
the list down to 16-- one for a section of each
residence hall.
The programs range from a focus on community
service and leadership skills to minority issues.
Many of the communities also will teach studying
and test-taking skills, Juip said.
"For students to get the maximum benefit, it
would have to be a requirement," he said. "It is one
of those things that you might not like at the time,
but you might look back and be glad you did it."
Zeller said the structure of the programs also
will differ. "Some will be more intense than oth-
ers," he said. "Some will be more academically
focused. Some will be more educationally fo-
cused."
Zeller said some communities maybe geared more
toward an academic concentration instead of a
See HALLS, Page 2
feature a week-long.
series taking a look
at "What's New in
Undergraduate
Education."
Some issues to be
covered in the five-
part series include
changes and new
initiatives in:
a living-learning
programs
graduate student
instructor training
community
service learning
language across
Sthe curriculum
/f the influence of
technology
Duderstadt
pledges to
support
diversity
y Katie Wang
)illy Staff Reporter
In light of a court decision ruling
igainst race-based admissions to uni-
/ersities in the jurisdiction of the 5th
0. Circuit Court of Appeals, Univer-
ity President James Duderstadt issueda
tatement yesterday reaffirming the
niversity's commitment to diversity.
"I do not hesitate to say the Univer-
ity of Michigan considers race along
ith a range of other factors when en-
olling students. And we will continue
o do so," Duderstadt said in a written
tatement.
On Tuesday, the court voted unani-
isly in the case Hopwood v. Texas that
h niversity ofTexas could not use race
is a factor in their admissions decisions.
The appeals panel ruled that the Uni-
ersity of Texas Law School could not
'give preferences to black or Hispanic
tudents in admissions as part ofa strat-
egy to increase racial diversity."
Tito Garcia, a senior at UT-Austin
vho is waiting to hear if he will be
dmitted to its law school, said he will
mediately affected by the court's
ecision.
"I'm shocked and disappointed,"
arcia said. "We need to wake up to the
larm that the 5th Circuit's decision has
aised in our community."
Citing the landmark 1978 Bakke case,
vhich stated that in the interest of pro-
noting diversity on campus, race could
be a factor among many in admissions
ecisions, University of Texas Chancel-
lor William Cunningham said Tuesday's
sion was a step backward.
The University ofTexas is "saddened
by the 5th Circuit's sweeping determi-
nation that Bakke is no longer the law of
he land and that past racial discrimina-
tion and diversity no longer justify af-
firmative action in admissions,"
Cunningham said.
Duderstadt's plan to increase minor-
ity enrollment at the University, the
higan Mandate, calls for the use of
We-based admissions policies here.
Under the Mandate, minority student
enrollment has more than doubled since
See DIVERSITY, Page 2
ANSING (AP) - A circuit judge
terday removed a key roadblock to a
new baseball stadium in Detroit, ruling
that a state fund had the authority to
provide $55 million for stadium con-
struction.
"The funds can go forward. ... These
arenot state funds," said InghamCounty
Circuit Judge James Giddings.
Giddings ruled that the money in-
volved never legally became state funds,
said the Michigan Strategic Fund
s authorized to transfer the money
for stadium construction.
The lawsuit was one of the last re-
maining hurdles to getting the stadium
plan off the ground.
On Tuesday, 81 percent of Detroit
residents voted against reversing a city
PU DANCN
.A
Prof. John Perpener teaches a
master class at the school of
dance yesterday. He is visiting
with the Alvin Alley American
Dance Teatre's In-Residency
assistant professor of dance at
the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, and is an
expert in early African American
modern dance.
- s
sE
Phto ty ARAETMYRSDal
c1
Samne-sex
benefits may
lead to cuts
State committee adds
amendment that could
alter school funding
By Jeff Eldridge
Daily Staff Reporter
TheUniversity's policy of extending
health benefits to same-sex couples drew
fire from the state's Senate Appropria-
tions Committee on Wednesday.
The committee, in a 7-6 vote, ap-
proved an amendment to the $1.5-bil-
lion higher education appropriations
package. The amendment would re-
scind taxpayer funds equal to the amount
colleges pay for domestic partner health
benefits.
The University Board of Regents ini-
tial ly extended the benefits in a 6-2 vote
in November 1994.
State Sen. Bill Schuette (R-Midland),
who co-sponsored the amendment with
Sen. George McManus (R-Traverse
City), said taxpayers should not fund
benefits for same-sex relationships.
"Marriage is recognized as being
gan State University, where the Board
of Trustees is considering extending
benefits similar to the ones offered here.
Smith said there "are trustees at MSU
who are uncomfortable making that
decision" and might have asked state
legislators to take the issue into their
hands.
"We have people up here posturing
on family values, and then find a situa-
tion where they're invading people's
privacy in a punitive sanction," Smith
said.
Smith said the amendment was dis-
cussed for 20 minutes before approval.
Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann
Arbor) said she is determined to main-
tain benefits in same-sex partnerships
"We are a long way from this being
enacted," McGowan said. "I expect the
University to make a forceful case
against this."
Ronni Sanlo, director of the
University's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Programming Office, said the amend-
ment sends "a message of hate."
"They're denigrating the excellent
between two mem-
bers of the oppo-
site sex," Schuette
said. "(The ben-
efits) seem an in-
appropriate expen-
diture of public
money."
Regent Daniel
Horning (R-Grand
Haven) said he fa-
vors the Schuette-
McManus amend-
ment. Horning,
who came to the
board after the re-
gents voted to ex-
tend the health ben-
efits, said the re-
gents overstepped
their bounds in of-
fering the insurance.
"We are a long
way from this
being enacted. l
expect the
University to make
a forceful case
work and pro-
ductivity of les-
bian, gay, bi-
sexual anc
transgenderec
people on (the
state's) cam-
puses," Sank
said.
Assoc iatc
Vice President
for University
Relations List
Baker would no°
against f
i
Ks stadium funing Tiger Stadium Funds
Yesterday, Judge James Giddings
5
attorney for the Tiger Stadium Fan Club
Inc., which filed the suit.
"We're going to sit down and talk
about it," said state Sen. George Hart
(D-Dearborn) a plaintiff in the suit.
"We have 21 days to file an appeal. We
want to see if we have the foundation
for an appeal."
James Tervo, executive assistant to
Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, said he
was excited by the ruling.
"The judge understood the impor-
tance for an expedited ruling," he said.
"This is it. Everything else is in place."
The Strategic Fund put $55 million
into a bank account last fall to cover its
share of stadium costs. The money con-
sists of $26 million from Indian casino
profits, $19 million diverted from a
could do with the money, about half of
which was received from Indian casino
operations.
Giddings, in ruling from the bench,
noted the money was "never in the state
treasury."
"They are private funds, ... not state
funds subjectto appropriations," he said.
"These are private funds, in my view,
ending up in the Michigan Strategic
Fund."
Pat Masserant, spokesperson forGov.
John Engler, praised the ruling.
"We're pleased, obviously, but it
doesn't come as a big surprise," she
said. "We expected this decision. This
was such a clear-cut case he (Giddings)
didn't have a choice," she said, adding
that "there's no room for appeal."
ruled the Michigan Strategic
Fund has the authority to transfer
an additional $55 million to the
stadium fund.
"I don't think it was right for a uni-
versity board to deal with an issue like
this, when the laws of the state of
Michigan do not recognize domestic
partners as a married couple," Horning
said.
Horning said he wanted to testify
before the committee to encourage
them to pass the amendment, but was
unable to attend because of prior obli-
gations.
Sen. Joe Conroy (D-Flint) said the
amendment may be in violation of a
clause in the Michigan constitution
guaranteeing public universities au-
tonomy from the state in determining
their policies.
"The Legislature's not supposed to
be instructing the University on specif-
ics," Conroy said. "That is dictated by
the (state) constitution. The amendment
is probably illegal on its face."
But Schuette said the Legislature has
a responsibility to see public money is
spent wisely.
"You (the taxpayers) have a right to
have your legislators have some ac-
countability for how money is being
'his.." comment or
whetherthe Uni-
Regent Rebecca versitymightul-
McGowan timately chal-
D-Ann Arbor lenge the
amendment in L
legal case.
"It's very early in the legislative pro-
cess," Baker said. "We certainly hope
to have the opportunity to make our
views known."
Smith said the regents should di-
rectly confront the matter.
"Ican't imagine the board would no
take a unified vote of all eight of it
members, if this amendment become:
law, to challenge its constitutionality,'
Smith said.
"I can't believe they would sit or
their hands and let this challenge to it:
authority go uncountered."
Schuette said that if the Universit:
wants to continue extending health ben.
efits to unmarried partners, they shouk
raise student fees or tuition. He said ht
is a backer of the University and tha
this amendment shouldn't be viewed a
an attack against it.
"The decision the University regent
made some time ago was unwise,
Schuette said.
Horning also said his views shouldn'
be seen as undermining the University',
funding.
"I don't want to get between the ap-
propriations process and the Univer
could start any kind of construction."
The battle is one of several going on
across the country as sports team own-
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