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ws: 76-DAILY
vertlslng: 764-0554
One hundred seven years of editoridfreedom
Wednesday
November 19, 1997
Ih e Showdown
U'
to
limit housing
options
I ff
.-OF
3DAYS
o Michigan vs. No. 4 Ohio State
Saturday, noon (ABC)
side: Ohio State's head coach says his
m is ready for the match-up. Page 10
Ca r
kalist for
coach of
te year
Alan Goldenbach
ily Sports Editor
ki~igan head football coach Lloyd
a as one of six finalists for the Paul
ear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award.
An official announcement of all final-
ts will come today from the presenters
the award, the National Sportscasters
d Sportswriters Association, at a press
nference in Houston.
The award, named after the leg-
dary coach at Alabama, Texas A&M,
entucky and Maryland, will be pre-
r.. Dec. 11. Bryant was the second-
inningest coach in NCAA Division 1
story.
This marks the
first time in his
coaching career
that Carr has been
named a finalist
for the honor.
The other five
finalists are Mack
Brown of North
Carolina, Jim
Donnan of Georgia,
arr Tom Osborne of
ebraska, Joe Paterno of Penn State and
>eTiller of Purdue. All six men have led
ams that are among the nation's top 25,
id Brown, Carr, Osborne and Paterno's
ansare in the top 10.
Paterno is the only finalist who is a
revious winner of the award, capturing
eknor in 1978, 1982 and 1986.
l arr wins, he will follow Bo
chembechler as Michigan recipients
F the award. Schembechler won it in
969, his first year as coach of the
lolverines, when he led Michigan to a
[ctory over Ohio State and a trip to the
ose Bowl for the first time in five
ars - the same scenario that Carr
pes plays out this weekend, when the
olverines host the Buckeyes. A
lichigan victory would give the
V~rines their first undefeated,
ntied regular season since 1971.
Arizona State's Bruce Snyder won
te award last year after leading the
un Devils to a surprise trip to the Rose
owl as Pac-10 champions.
By Janet Adamy
Daily Staff Reporter
University Housing will deny upperclassmen
the option to live in traditional residence halls in an
effort to alleviate a housing crunch ihat jammed
nearly 1,000 first-year students into lounges and
converted triples in September.
Beginning this year, juniors and seniors who wish
to remain in the residence halls will have four hous-
ing options: Baits, Cambridge, Fletcher and Oxford
Housing, none of which provide meal services.
The new system will give priority to incoming
first-year students, who will be guaranteed spaces
in one of the campus' "traditional residence halls"
- those that typically house undergraduates and
have cafeterias.
"The rationale is that these are the newest mem-
bers of the community, the youngest without the
most experience ... and that an on-campus hous-
ing experience, at least for the first year, is a criti-
cal part of the college experience," said Alan Levy,
director of public affairs and information for
University Housing.
Levy said the change is necessary in order to
accommodate the increasingly large incoming
Mlasses of the past seven years. The size of the
first-year class has jumped from 4,755 in 1990 to
5,534 in 1997 - an increase of nearly 20 percent.
"That has never been a planned increase," Levy
said. "We have done everything we can do short of
adding a new building ... but the growth of the
freshman class has outpaced our ability to add new
spaces to the system."
This year, Housing accommodated the increase
by putting 900 students in converted triples and 34
students in residence hall lounges that were tem-
porarily converted to rooms.
Under the new system, students wishing to
return to residence halls as sophomores will be
forced to enter a lottery rather than having the
option of reclaiming their same room. Levy said
housing will make exceptions for resident advi-
sors, Residence Hall Association officers, some
scholarship students and select residence hall stu-
dent employees. Levy said housing will also give
priority to students wishing to participate in living-
learning programs.
Maureen Hartford, vice president for student
affairs, said the new system returns to a similar
sophomore lottery that existed during the 1980s.
"In terms of finding places to live, it's the
See HOUSING, Page 2
Reunited in Detroit
A2 native Ken
Burns to speak
at graduation
AP PHOTO
Chinese dissident Weil Jingsheng visits with his nephew Sabastian and sister Wei Shanshan yesterday at Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit. For recent developments on his condition, see story on page 3.
A cMcademi ersiyexamined
By Heather Kamins
Daily Staff Reporter
Winter commencement will bring
distinguished historian and filmmaker
Ken Burns back to Ann Arbor.
Burns, who was raised in the city
and attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High
School, has been highly praised for his
true-to-life storytelling in his docu-
mentary series "The Civil War,"
"Lewis and Clark" and "Baseball."
He will be the keynote speaker at
the graduation and will receive an
honorary degree. Former president
and CEO of the U.S. Committee for
UNICEF Gwendolyn Clavert Baker
and chemist Richard Smalley will also
be awarded honorary degrees.
University President Lee Bollinger
said it is a great pleasure and honor to
welcome Burns.
"He is really an extraordinary film-
maker and performs this extremely
important role of mediating between
high scholarship and public under-
standing of the field," Bollinger said.
Through his films, Burns has
attempted to interpret historical
moments and present them to the pub-
lic. History Prof. Maris Vinovskis,
who served on the honorary degree
advising committee, said Burns will
be able to share this with the gradu-
ates.
"The academic class graduating in
December is very privileged," he said.
"He can instruct them on how to use
the best of the academic knowledge
they learned in college and how to
make that accessible to the public."
Former History Prof. Thomas
Collier, a Civil War scholar, said
Burns' depiction of the war in his doc-
umentary was "beautifully" done.
"It brought out the feeling of the
Civil War," he said. "They were very
different people than us. I think that is
the strongest part of his show. By
using letters and real music from the
time, he made you feel like you were
back there."
Collier said that Burns' combination
of artistic skill and deep sense of his-
tory makes him an excellent candidate
to speak to the 1997 winter graduating
class.
Bollinger personally chose Burns as
the speaker from a list of committee-
recommended candidates.
For the spring 1997 commencement
ceremony, choosing a speaker wasn't
as easy. The University had difficulty
finding a keynote speaker so Bollinger
was then named in accordance with
University tradition to invite new pres-
idents to address the graduating class.
Bollinger said he is relieved not to be
the keynote speaker in December.
Engineering senior Pike Sowle, who
will graduate in December, said that
he has heard of Burns, but only
remembered him after his roommate
mentioned the baseball documentary.
"I'm a little bewildered as to what
the relevance of a baseball documen-
tary maker is to me, Sowle said. "One
of the things you look forward to is
hearing from someone you really
admire or look up to. If you don't get
that, then oh well."
Sowle said some of the past speak-
ers have impressed him, while others,
like Bollinger, would have been a dis-
appointment at his own commence-
ment.
See GRADUATION, Page 7
By Katie Plona
Daily Staff Reporter
During the second forum of a four-
day symposium zeroing in on affirma-
tive action, about 175 members of the
University community
gathered last night to
discuss and question the
social policy's signifi-
cance in academia.
Four speakers-
addressed the audience,
bringing to light both
individual and shared
views regarding affir-
mative action and relat-
ed topics.
Philosophy Prof. Peter Railton said
the strongest argument for affirmative
action is that it assists higher education
institutions in efforts to recruit students
from different locations - but not nec-
essarily geographic ones.
"To find these pools of talent, we
need to have some way to
look beyond simple num-
bers," Railton said.
Railton prefaced this
viewpoint by noting vari-
ous talents, including
those possessed by rural
students and inner-city
students, that may be over-
looked if students are
admitted to universities
based solely on grades and test scores.
Until inequalities in society no
longer exist, affirmative action is nec-
essary, Railton said.
History Prof. Maris Vinovskis said
the University should recognize the
need to broaden the range of opinions
represented on campus.
"This is a surprisingly homogeneous
group of academics," Vinovskis said.
In addition to admissions practices,
Vinovskis said the University can cre-
ate greater equality by improving other
areas, including financial aid and K-12
education.
"What are we doing to the poor when
the only thing we are giving them is
loans?" Vinovskis asked, suggesting an
increase in grants would better aid eco-
nomically disadvantaged students. "I
don't think we have a commitment
(now) to helping the poor."
See FORUM, Page 2
Five parties vie for
MSA seats, control
SA request
r evaluations
auses tension
Suswn T. Port
aily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Student Assembly successfully obtained pre-
ily unreleased course evaluations last week, but MSA's
iforts to publish certain instructor evaluations have left hard
elings with some faculty members.
Lew Morrissey, the University's Chief Freedom of
formation Act officer, said that since some departments
ready released evaluation results, it would be inconsistent to
flow others to withhold data.
"Under the FOIA act, no exemptions excluded that kind of
rformation," Morrissey said. "There is no basis in withholding
he information for many courses when already they are out
here'
* early November, MSA submitted a Freedom of
nformation Act request asking for the release of course evalu-
tion data submitted by students for classes taught during the
vinter '96 semester. While most departments released evalua-
ons, others --including the math and physics departments -
ept the evaluations confidential.
The newly released information consists of student respons-
s to four evaluation questions that solicit student opinions on
nn.. a inam tre
Recycle routine
By susan t.Port
Daily Staff Reporter
As candidates nervously wait outside
polling sites biting frayed nails and
blowing on cold hands, the future of the
Michigan Student Assembly rests with
student voters.
Those flocking to the polls today and
tomorrow will have five parties and a
wealth of independent candidates from
which to choose. The Defend
Affirmative Action Party, Liberty Party,
Michigan Party, Students' Party and the
United Rebels Front are all vying for 23
open assembly seats, eight of which are
open in LSA.
MSA President Mike Nagrant said
the Students' Party platform consists of
four core promises: creating a fall
break, extending graduate and law
library hours, revising the University-
wide speaker series and placing a stu-
dent on the board of regents.
Nagrant said a fall break would help
alleviate pressure from students.
"The idea is students go for too long
from September to November without a
break" said Nagrant, whose party is
running 14 candidates. "There seems to
be higher rates of alcoholism, which is a
direct relation to students becoming
very stressed out."
Nagrant also said the Students' Party
WVin t r E ae t io n
IJOTEJ
N b r t h a n d 20th
Whre to vote
NortCampus:
Media- Union.
B<ursley
Cetl acmpus:
Fishbowl
Union
East Quad
Alice Lloyd
South Quad
8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m~.
4:15730p.m.~
4:30-6:30 p~m.
4:45-6:45 p.mf.
Onlne voting will be available from 12
a.m. today until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow.
Students can vote online at
http://www.umich-edu/~vote
Hillel and LSA government to attract
potential speakers.
LSA Rep. Dan Serota, who heads the
Michigan Party's 14-candidate slate,
I