News: 76-AILY Advertising: 764-0554 1£ 'Ean Alga One hundred sax year of editor l freedom Monday September 15, 1997 4"'~ -*~. a a ..* U Nw~e8uuwAuuumwe~wIui~Mw/' s~tr~' *~' ~ Markley By Christine M. Palk and Katie Plona Daily Staff Reporters After the drawing of "swastikas and derogatory language" at Mary Markley dence hall last week, residents and staff n b met last night to discuss how to pr similar incidents from occurring. The group of 30 people reached a conch - they would spread the word abou Markley occurrences and encourage all i bers of the University community to take ac Associate Director of University Hot Mary Hummel said that a seminar at whic kItro classes fioed to capacity By Mike Spahn For the Daily The largest incoming class in University history is already having an impact: The approximately 5,500 stu- dents who recently arrived on campus are causing overflows in introductory LSA classes, as well as scheduling headaches in a number of popular @rses. "We've never had a boom like we did this year," said Lee Zukowski, an administrative associate in the mathe- matics department. "I can't figure it out." By the end of the summer, there were so few classes open that academic advisers wrote down open classes for orientees so they didn't spend too much time looking through the course guide, W LSA first-year student Jim ffick. "When I got here, they had three pages of classes taped up outside the offices. I just had to pick my classes off the wall," Dudnick said. After the first few orientation ses- sions, many classes were already filled, particularly those primarily geared toward first-year students. "It's been very difficult to find first- ,r courses for students in late orien- Mon," said Jean Leverich, an LSA academic adviser. "Intro comp., math, French and Spanish were all pretty much closed' This class shortage has led to notably large lecture courses. "I heard there were big classes here, but I wasn't prepared to see standing- room only and kids sitting on the steps taking notes," said LSA first-year stu- dent Sara Hutton, describing her *wded Political Science 1Il lecture. The large incoming class, plus an overall increase of enrollment in core classes, combined to overwhelm many University departments and staffs. When introductory courses filled up early in the summer months, academic advisers scrambled to find alternatives. "We had to be very creative in our scheduling advice," Levrich said, say- t she encouraged students to pursue Wrses they normally might not con- sider in their first terms. This semester, the English depart- ment was hit by several complications. As a result, several sections of English 124 and English 125 were closed. "We had a lot of late-in-the-term res- ignations from (graduate student instructors) slated to teach courses," said Ejner Jensen, interim director of first and second-year studies for the glish department. LSA first-year student Zac Sniderman was affected by the section closings. "I signed up for an English class, but then when I moved in there was a letter saying the class was canceled," Sniderman said. In all, 176 first-year students were displaced by the schedule change. The English department was able to *ace 100 of those students in alter- nate sections before classes began. However, many first-year students were unable to take the required English class this term, creating a potential backlog for winter term registration. Jensen said his staff is attempting to remedy this problem by addine more instructnrs. staff, residents discuss swastika incident entire University had the opportunity to react and contribute would be effective. "I would challenge you to have this discussion with other people - be it people you eat dinner with, friends, people in the halls," Hummel said. Although the main focus of the discussion was the vandalism and what prevention mea- sures should occur in the future, some students expressed feelings of confusion and distress regarding a quotation that appeared at the bot- tom of a Sept. 9 letter given to all Markley resi- dents, notifying them of the vandalism. The quotation read, "The Swastika did not originate as a Nazi symbol of hatred. Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit work: Svastikah, which means, 'being fortunate' One of the letter's co-signers, Marita Inglehart, director of the living-learning 21st Century Program, said the quotation was in no way meant to lessen the offensive nature of the swastikas and the possible intention of the peo- ple who scrawled the symbols on some Markley room doors. Several Hillel representatives were on hand to give a brief history of the implication of the swastika. "The swastika is clearly a powerful hate sym- bol," said Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Hillel's assistant director. "It goes against all of what the University stands for." One student said he was bothered that part of the meeting was spent defining the swastika's implications since the mark is clearly under- stood as a symbol of Nazi Germany. "We don't need to discuss the symbol itself," he said. "It's the people behind the symbol." Some Hillel representatives said this is not an issue that affects only the Jewish community. "The general consensus at Hillel is that this should really be upsetting to the University at large and seen as an attack on the University," said Rachel Bendit, program associate of the Jewish campus service corps. "It shouldn't be solely a Jewish issue. It should be upsetting for everyone. "It is something that the University should be very concerned about." Markley Resident Director Chad Bailey said he is concerned about the welfare of all resi- dents. "It's completely intolerable," said Bailey, a School of Public Health first-year graduate stu- dent. "This is not the kind of living community we want to foster." Bailey said he hopes last week's vandalism See MARKLEY, Page 5 MICHIGAN 27 COLORADO 3 get posh seating By James Goldstein and Heather Kamins Daily Staff Reporters While the majority of first-year students were dodging marshmallows on Section 30 benches in Michigan Stadium on Saturday, nine lucky students looked on from high above, munching on fruit and comfortably sitting on cushioned seats. That is because Athletic Director Tom Goss and University President Lee Bollinger invited a group of first- year students to the luxury boxes for the Michigan- Colorado football game, giving the students a birds-eye view of the action on the field. "It was really great," said LSA first-year student Mark Bilski. "They were like the best seats in the place. You could see the whole field. And there were guys walking around in tuxedos asking if you wanted anything to eat or drink." The gesture from the administration came only weeks after undergraduate, graduate, and transfer students, who ordered student football tickets for the first time, learned they would not receive tickets to all home games. Instead, the students were given tickets for half of the season. Goss, who took over as athletic director just one week ago, said he wanted to mitigate the split-season package problem as one of his first orders of business. More than 1,500 incoming students were left outside the gates since Colorado was not part of their split-season package. "I became a little bit upset," Goss said. "If you are the coach, you want the students in the stands. I was a player. That's who I wanted to get in the stands.' So on Saturday, the nine first-year students, who received split-season packages without the Colorado game, sat in the president's and athletic director's boxes instead of in front of the TV at home. The Athletic Department called the students Thursday and Friday to invite them to the game. "I can't even explain it," said LSA first-year student Dana Linnane, as she witnessed her first home Michigan game, from Goss's box. "Before this, it was like, 'Yeah, See BOXES, Page 7A Inside: Full game coverage in SPORTSMonday. Page lB. MARGARET MYERS/Daity The Michigan Marching Band gets the crowd pumped during the annual "The Run for the Roses" pep rally in front of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity house Friday. 2,000 fans display pre-game spirit By William Nash For the Daily Students chanted it, wore shirts bearing it, and held signs that said it: "Colorado sucks." Friday's 17th Annual "The Run for the Roses" pep rally featured Buffalo-bashing and a whole lot of maize-and-blue pride. An esti- mated 2,000 fans attended the pre-game rally, which was held outside Alpha Delta Phi fra- ternity on State Street. "It's important to be here because we have a great tradition of Michigan football, and we need to get the crowd to get into the game," said cheerleader Nick Offregi. The event began at 6:30 p.m. with an a- capella version of "The Victors" orchestrat- ed by the Master of Ceremonies, Damon "The Dog" Perry, a sportscaster for WDSN radio. The band marched up soon after, and all 421 members gathered on the front lawn of the fra- ternity house. "It's great to support the football team for their first game," said Sarah Pekarek, a band member. As the band played "The Victors," cheer- leaders pumped up the crowd and members of the dance team performed spirited routines. For many, however, the highlight of the event was the speakers. Perry introduced new Athletic Director Tom Goss, who began his speech with. "Go Blue!" See SPIRIT, Page 7A Miss Michigan says goodbye to pageant, savors memories By Janet Adamy Daily Staff Reporter ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Although she didn't walk away with the crown Saturday night, dreams came true for Miss Michigan Kimberly Stec. At the Miss America Pageant, the Engineering senior walked down the runway to the cheers of more than 25,000 people who filled the sparkling convention hall - a dream she's had since her first pageant nearly five years S A ago. "To make it this far is important to me,"said Stec, who was out of the running when the contestant pool was narrowed down to 10 JONA1 semi-finalists at the begin- ning of Saturday's competition. The crown went to fellow Big Ten student Miss Illinois Kate Shindle, a senior at Northwestern University and a New Jersey native. Her animated vocal way, Shindle said she felt "slightly dazed," but ready to start her new job. "I've been waiting for this all my life," said Shindle, adding that she is eager to start working on her nation- wide AIDS education and advocacy campaign. Although Stec didn't get to perform her jazz routine or show off her striking swimsuit or evening gown Saturday' night, her family members .erJ in the audience said they rIC were proud of her. "I think she definitely should have been part of the top 10, but I think she did a great job and it was exciting to be here," said AN WEITZ/Daily Alyssa Stec, Kimberly's sister and a University iATHj rare opportunity of watching his girl- friend on stage at the Miss America Pageant. "I'm just really glad that all of Anierica could see someone who's real- ly special to me," said Williams, whose friends didn't believe him when he said he was dating a Miss America con- tender. Stec said she plans to return to Rochester and spend the next year serv- ing as Miss Michigan, which will allow her to promote her healthy lifestyles campaign. Stec is taking a year off from classes and will return for her senior year next fall. "I definitely want to be back in Ann Arbor as much as I can ... but I don't know how much time my commitment will allow me to be there," Stec said. Along with dresses, souvenirs and friendships, she'll bring many memo- ries back home with her, Stec said. "It's been a great opportunity seeing how much each woman has made a dif- alumnae. George Stec said that although he wishes his daughter would have left with the crown, he'll be "glad to have her home." f l v