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Section
Wednesday, September 3, 1997
Avoid the routine,
seek the unique
in your 'U'days
y did you choose the
University of
Michigan?"
It's a question you thought you
would never hear again when you
finally told everyone from high school
that you decided to be a Wolverine.
But, more realistically, it's a question
you'll hear over and over again during
your 4 (or maybe 5 or 6) years as an
% rgraduate here in Ann Arbor.
ou're lucky, though. You should
never be without an answer.
Perhaps you chose the University
for the possibility to study almost any
subject possible with 24,000 other
undergraduates from every U.S. state
and many countries around the world
Perhaps you want to dress proudly
in a maize and blue T-shirt and join
104;000 excited fans filing down State
t to the tune of "Hail to the
hors" on a sunny fall Saturday
morning.
Perhaps you aspire to be a doctor,
and want to spend some free time
learning from the leaders of the profes-
sion at the
University
Hospital and
Medical Center,
one of the top
medical schools
in the country
where almost
JODI 900,000 patients
S. COHEN are treated each
COHEN'S year.
CORNER Or perhaps you
want to meet stu-
dents with similar
interests, and with more than 500 stu-
dent organizations ranging from the
A ti-Domestic Violence Group to the
rski Club, you know the
University is the place to be.
Sounds like you picked the perfect
place to live and study for the next
few years, doesn't it?
You did ... with one condition.
The University can be all these
things and more, but it's up to you to
take full advantage of it. It's up to you
to find the little treasures about the
University that make each experience
ue. You need to make your own
personal map of the University, with
your favorite spots along the expan-
sive 2,500-acre campus, and your own
guide to navigating to these places.
You're bound to share some special
spots along the path with crowds of
other University students, like sharing a
pitcher or two late at the Brown Jug
with friends or skipping classes to hang
out on the Diag on a sunny afternoon.
Out there are also treasures that will
be unique to each person, and it's your
responsibility to fill in the legend to
your individual map. The range of pos-
sibilities is as diverse as the student
population, ranging from taking classes
with a special professor to becoming
the leader of a campus group to finding
the perfect fraternity during spring rush.
The students who take the most
from the University are those who
take the time to try new experiences in
*ch of their Ann Arbor treasures.
Too many students spend their four
years at the University without chal-
lenging themselves. They take classes
like Comm 100 and then go home to
watch MTV They never get to know
the Arb on the first day of spring or
the white-light-lined trees on Main
Street in the winter. They never sift
carefully through the course guide,
r izing they could never take all the
ses they want in just four years.
So instead of getting into a comfort-
able routine, continue to explore dif-
ferent parts of the University. Instead
of sitting inside the Union to eat
lunch, sit in Regents Plaza and watch
as passersby spin the cube. Instead of
taking the popular easy class, try
something a little more challenging.
There was a well-known speech at
my high school that every incoming
hman heard - "high school would
be like your buffet. There were many
things to pick and choose from. Keep
going back for more."
If my high school was a buffet, then
the University is a hearty meal with
unlimited courses. It's a buffet the size
of 10 football fields at Michigan
Stadium, or the length of 100 trips
across the Diag.
Try something new every day. Visit
ifferent part of campus. Go to a few
mass meetings during your first
semester until you find the organiza-
tion that's right for you. The students
who benefit the most from the
University continue to learn and dis-
cover during their years here.
They find that the University's trea-
olli rs
balance
New '1 reient
faces peril, promise
By Heather Kamins
Daily Staff Reporter
After a two-year absence, Lee Bollinger came home again.
Bollinger, who served as Dartmouth College provost from 1994-96 and University
Law Dean from 1987-94, stepped into the presidency on Feb. 1, arriving in the after-
math of a year-long tempest of controversy surrounding the search to fill the post.
But serving as president of an institution as complicated as the University can be
a tempestuous task in itself. Pressure from alumni, politicians, students and the
media is often intense. Bollinger's still-young term has already witnessed inevitable
spells of controversy.
As opinion on the new president's performance continues to coalesce, one thing
remains clear: From managing the financial crisis at the University Medical Center
to confronting controversy surrounding the Michigan men's basketball team, the
pressures of the presidency remains constant.
One perpetual pressure point is the national debate over affirmative-action poli-
cies. Late this spring, four legislators in the Michigan House of Representatives
called for the elimination of racial and ethnic preferences in deciding University
admissions. The four legislators - Reps. David Jaye (R-Washington Twp.), Greg
Kaza (R-Rochester Hills), Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) and Deborah
Wyman (R-Canton Twp.) - encouraged aggrieved students to file a class-action
lawsuit against the University.
"(The University's administrators) are the most egregious user of these kind of
policies, in my opinion," Kaza said. "They're
bullies that are used to walking over 17- and
18-year-olds." WWe need a
Bollinger, a vocal advocate of affirmative-
action policies, defended the University's new master plan
admissions standards.g
"My belief is that the policies that the for achieving a
University has followed are consistent with the
Supreme Court precedents," Bollinger said. true sense o
"They are consistent with our intellectual mis- unificatio f
sion."
Even before these complaints were leveled Lee Bollinger
against University policies, issues of diversity
in the student body were on the cutting edge of University president
campus debate. Members of Latinas y Latinos
Unidos for Change, a Latino/a student initia-
tive, crashed an April reception between Bollinger and student leaders, bringing an
abrupt end to the gathering.
"The members of LUCha will no longer be kept down by the University's
Eurocentric focus," said LUCha member Nora Salas, an RC senior. "At this time, we
demand a meeting with President Bollinger."
In a brief speech before the crowd, Bollinger said he would listen to the students
and acknowledged their right to express their concerns.
"I am very much in favor of student idealism and activism," Bollinger said.
Bollinger has indicated that bringing the campus together is one of the primary
goals of his presidency. As a presidential finalist in November 1996, Bollinger said
he saw himself as someone who governs through consensus, rather than through an
agenda. On April 9, he pledged a symbolic move to bring the presidency closer to
the heart of campus. He announced that he would transfer the president's office from
_the "bunker-like, repelling structure" of the Fleming Administration Building to a
yet-to-be-determined building on Central Campus.
"There has been some good work done on planning for the University campus, but
we need a new master plan for achieving a true sense of unification," Bollinger said.
"More than a bridge to the 21st century, we need a bridge to Palmer Field."
Bollinger did not specify where his new offices will be located, and is yet to
release the specifics of the transfer. But the symbolism behind the declaration struck
a chord with members of the Board of Regents.
Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) supported Bollinger's decision to relo-
cate the President's office.
"It is an apt metaphor for his larger point," McGowan said. "The point that we
need a more human and engaged face by the leadership towards the various-people
who make up the University."
Nearly from the start, Bollinger has enjoyed a good working relationship with the
Board of Regents, whose rapport with former President James Duderstadt was noto-
riously strained. Immediately after taking office, Bollinger established a compensa-
tion policy for the University's top executives. Many of the regents were vocally
angry after learning the details of salary agreements between Duderstadt and top
University officials.
Bollinger has also impressed many student leaders. Like McGowan, Michigan
See BOLLINGER, Page 7C
Above: WARREN ZINN/Daily
Left: MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Above: President Lee
Bollinger (right) walks near
Regents' Plaza with Vice
President for University
Relations Walter Harrison
and wife Jean Bollinger,
soon after being named
University president.
Left: Bollinger stands
outside the president's
official residence on South
University Avenue.
Bollinger assumed the
office of president on
February I this year.
Messy crows flock to U' perches
Droppings, cawing are
murder for disgusted
'U' students
By Daniel Nolan
Daily Staff Reporter
Caw, Caw!
A murder of crows that circle each
night outside Angell Hall and around
the Diag - with their cackling calls
and noisy flapping of wings - has
been plaguing students.
And then there are the droppings.
The women who live in nearby
Betsy Barbour residence hall said
they're especially affected by the
crows' habits.
"I think someone should get a BB-
gun," said Betsy Barbour resident and
LSA first-year student Melita Alston.
"I've been pooped on before. They are
awful."
Other Barbour residents said even a
love for animals doesn't stifle their
scorn for the "Betsy Birds."
"Normally I'm all good about birds
and everything, but I think they're a
schedule.
"I've been wok
by them because
Dewitt said abou
until early mornir
Other students
are alarmed abou
Rackham
Goodman said
she felt the
crows were
"follow in g
her," because
of their sheer
numbers and
ominous pres-
ence.
The roost out-
side Angell Hall
can be crowded
with, "up to
10,000 crows,"
campus, including protection from
ken up in the morning predators - mainly owls. The lighting
they are really loud," and tall trees outside of Angell Hall also
t the crows that stay make it an ideal spot for crows to land,
ng Kulesza said.
on campus said they But Kulesza said the crows' stay in
t the crows as well. Ann Arbor is only temporary; they gen-
student Amanda erally leave by the end of March.
"They are
winter roosts
WI think someone only," Kulesza
said.
should get a BBwgun.
... They are a
menace."
-Melita Aiston
LSA first-year student
The campus
crows, or
C o r v u s
brachyrhyn-
chos, spend
their evenings
on campus from
November to
said Rackham student Cynthia Sims
Parr, an expert on the Ann Arbor birds.
Parr recently completed her dissertation
on the local crows.
"A lot of these birds are migrants, but
local birds participate too," Parr said.
about mid-
March. They are
diurnal and omnivorous, which means
they will eat anything and spend their
days scavenging for food, Kulesza
said.
The birds even have their own daily
schedule, according to Janet Henshaw,
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