4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 25, 1998 c~Ije Skigan &Iiu 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan ^,~ r::I ' { LAURIE MAYK Editor in Chief JACK SCHILLACI Editorial Page Editor NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'm pleased to see that the University is attractive to a lot of qualified students." -Associate Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs Lester Monts, commenting on the flood of admissions applications for next fall KAAMRAN HAFEEZ A S IT H A riP E Building the perfectly dateable 'College Male' 0 Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily s editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily FROM THE DAILY Waitlist worri - U' should use waitlist but remain respectful A s spring approaches, many University students are anticipating the end of another academic year. But University admis- sions officials are focusing on the beginning of next fall. Applications are being reviewed by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions admissions office and University administra- tors are struggling to keep the size of next fall's first-year class in check. This creates more rigorous admissions criteria, an increased competition from eager applicants and fewer available spots. In this situation, the most effective way for University officials to review all applications and eventually choose the most-qualified stu- dents is by using a waitlist. This year, the University has postponed more application decisions than in prior years. As a result, the admissions office has been flooded with calls from angry parents and prospective students who are forced to wait before hearing a final decision from the University. The debate about the process of using waitlists to filter applications is argued every year. Critics of the procedure claim that it is unfair and disrespectful to the applicants, allowing the University to post- pone making a decision at the expense of the student. But however unfavorable the process of waitlisting may be, in a compet- itive academic setting such as the University's, it is a necessary evil. This year, the yield rate - a calculated percentage of admitted students who enroll -is higher than usual. Available spots in the incoming class are being filled at a faster rate, but the strongest applications are not necessarily being received first. In an effort to maintain the rigorous standards and reputation of the University, officials need to review as many applications as pos- sible before mailing acceptance letters. But this creates an unnecessary number of applicants who are expecting answers in the meantime. Clearly, the only fair and effi- cient solution is to implement a waitlist. Postponing admissions decisions helps regulate the relative size of the incoming class. The number of students offered admission is carefully watched and the tar- geted class size remains in focus. This min- imizes the effects of the more common problems associated with inflated incoming classes, such as overcrowding in the resi- dence halls and increased classroom sizes. While it may not be the most agreeable method of sifting through applications, the University must choose carefully from thou- sands of very adequate students for those it feels are most qualified. While many scon the use of a waitlist, if acceptances were cho- sen as the applications poured in, admission into the University would be based in part by postmark date, rather than the applicant's aca- demic capacity. While the waitlist is definitely a neces- sary part of University admissions, con- cerns about deadlines remain. It is impor- tant that University officials realize the lim- ited time students accepted from the waitlist have to make their final college decision. Minimizing the period of time waitlisted applicants must wait to hear from the University and allowing those accepted from the waitlist more time to decide would help alleviate negative responses to the waitlist process. The University must remember the precariousness of waitlisted students' situations and try to accommodate and respect the University's applicants. t APS 1,~s ~, Y Wlk S' VULpA,.r *AT 4N 1T ti AY NtcmMNE45 p..04f f LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Jury duty Racial quotas do not work well in federal courts D etroit's U.S. District Court agreed early this month to discontinue its policy of removing all people accept African Americans from jury pools in order to increase the proportion of black jurors hearing federal court cases. The decision comes after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled on Feb. 23 that the district court's method of racial balancing violates legal guidelines. The six-year-old practice, used only in Southeastern Michigan, sought to bring the percentage of black jurors to reflect the African American component of the district at large. Though Detroit's federal judges have yet to establish an alternative method of creating a jury wheel that repre- sents a fair cross section of the community, they are right in discarding the old policy. The contest stems from an appeal by four men who, found guilty by a Saginaw court in a marijuana smuggling case, questioned the district court's method of jury selection. The appeals court sided with the appellants, stat- ing that the selection process violated both the Jury Selection and Service Act and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment. Though the credibility of the U.S. legal system rests on Americans' belief that a true body of peers determines case outcomes, eastern Michigan's well-intentioned Jury Selection Plan failed to truly establish such a representative body. By using race as the sole factor in discarding jury candidates prior to counsel-mediated selections, the court, in effect, eliminated the randomness essential to selecting an unbiased cross sec- tion of the community. Increasing the homoieneity of iurv nools. the selection The system failed primarily because it did not make similar efforts to establish equitable representation for members of all racial and ethnic groups. Latino/a defendants had com- plained that while the court made efforts to appease the black community, it did not enact plans to balance the representation of other minorities. Consequently, the court failed to offer equal opportunity to all its defendants. Even if it had endeavored to establish similar plans for all underrepresented groups in east- ern Michigan through the same "subtraction" method. Clearly, the jury selection policy was a complicated route toward achieving fair rep- resentation. Random-draw selection - the standard method used for finding jury candidates - ideally should turn up a jury that is more or less representative of the district's population, including its underrepresented groups. Noting this statistical phenomenon, the district court should have sought to remedy flaws within its random-draw procedures before tampering with jury pools. But instead of refining a selection process that has become national protocol, the court established a policy remi- niscent of illegal quota system. It removed non-black candidates to achieve an ideal per- centage of black jurors - about 20 percent. Despite its error, the court deserves praise for making an effort to establish racial equity within federal court juries. A recent study commissioned by the American Bar Association found that Americans deem race a highly important factor in fair jury selection, second only to income brackets. Detroit's federal court's Jury Selection Plan aimed to meet public demand for eauitabilitv. Though its most Daily failed to give important statistic s To THE DAILY: Regarding the Daily's March 18 article, "Prop. 209 Affects UC," I was very disappointed with the bias in the reported figures. The Daily mentioned how much Black and Latino/a admis- sions dropped in a few schools, but it failed to give the whole story. It failed to mention that the white admissions at UC-San Diego and UC-Davis fell 9.8 percent, UC-Irvine fell 10 percent, and UC-Santa Cruz fell 9.5 percent. The decrease in white admis- sions at Santa Cruz was more than that of Asian Americans (8.6 percent), Hispanics (7.4 percent) and African Americans (1.8 per- cent). At Irvine, the Daily failed to mention that the Asian American admissions dropped by only 1.5 per- cent, which is much less that that of white enrollment (10 percent). At Davis, the only category that showed an increase in admissions was Asian Americans. Furthermore, although the Daily mentioned that UC- Riverside reported "increas- es in minority acceptances," it did not mention the extent of the increases. At Riverside, admissions increased 75.9 percent for American Indians, 47 per- cent for Hispanics, 41.9 percent for African Americans and 12.9 percent for Asian Americans in rela- tion to the 13.7-percent increase for whites. Next time, the Daily should report all of the infor- mation. AFSHIN BEYZAEE LSA SOPHOMORE US. military deserves praise, not punishment To THE DAILY: I just read Noah Robinson's letter ("Soldiers must think about their actions," 3/11/98) and Josh White's column ('"Babykillers?' The men and women in uniform deserve better," 2/24/98) and I was appalled but not surprised to see yet another naive and misinformed stu- dent unknowingly bashing the U.S. military. Believe it or not, the military has rules and laws that enforce moral conduct upon its soldiers. unexpected, people could end up dead. More important, one of the foundations of the U.S. government is civilian con- trol of the military. The second it has soldiers set- ting policy, as Robinson suggests, then it has a prob- lem. Unless Americans would prefer to live in one of those countries where the military really is in control of public policy. I was also very surprised that Robinson's arguments have so little substance. If he is going to make an emo- tional appeal, he should also include a rational argument. And don't the ultraliberals ever get tired of calling peo- ple "Nazis?" When they degenerate to name calling, they lose any chance of per- suading peoplehand even more, they're trivializing some truly horrific acts that were perpetrated by actual Nazis. Lzet me reiterate that the military does what the U.S. president tells it to do. Under President Clinton's adminis- tration, that means whatever is in the latest opinion poll. Therefore, if people don't like what the military is doing, they should elect a different government and stop ripping on people that are selflessly trying to serve and protect the country. IAN CUMMINGS RACKHAM Hayden did not support his arguments TO THE DAILY: We are writing this letter of concern regarding Brian Hayden's Feb. 20 letter, "Daily interview disappoint- ed with ordinary questions." In his letter, Hayden responded to what he thought "was an interview that wasted Rudy T's time." He also said that "thetDaily should ask questions that actually incite newsworthy answers," Well, we've got news for him. We may not have the chance to read the Daily everyday, but for the first time in three years, there are Q&As in almost every SportsMonday. It seems like Daily Sports Writer Jordan Field does all of the inter- views and Hayden should thank him, not berate him with questions Field should or could have asked. Hayden is correct that the Daily should be thankful for getting these types of inter- views with big-time athletes like Jalen Rose, Rudy T, Desmond Howard and Glen Rice. But what Hayden does- NBA magazines to read about those things. The Daily may be a major paper, but it is still the University's paper. We want to read about how the University helped these athletes and coaches become more suc- cessful and learn from that, MIKE FELD LSA JUNIOR JON CANARICK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Cartoon promoted Irish American stereotype TO THE DAILY: I was truly offended when I opened the March 17 Daily and saw Yuki Kuniyuki's insulting cartoon "Ground Zero The cartoon contained the top five reasons that make St. Patrick's Day spe- cial and unique in Ann Arbor and then promptly lists rea- sons all having to do with drinking heavily. The implication that St. Patrick's Day is a day designed to drink excessive- ly is ignorant and represents insensitivity to people of Irish descent. The day is meant to honor St. Patrick of Ireland, who is credited with converting most of Ireland to Christianity. The holiday is a celebration of a religious figure, and I don't remember a priest advocat- ing drinking beer the last time I went to church. Additionally, I opened the March 18 Daily and saw an article ("Students toast to St, Patrick") that details how stu- dents celebrated the holiday. The article mentioned only drinking-related activities such as going to the bar and partying. There was no mention of students going to church to honor St. Patrick or showing their Irish pride in ways other than drinking. It is funny how the Daily preaches sensitivity to all cultures and ethnic back- grounds and an abhorrence of stereotyping, but then promptly goes and promotes a holiday as an excuse to get drunk and wear green clothes. If Kuniyuki and the editors were really aware of other cultures, they would realize that this is Irish American month and take an opportunity to learn about Irish culture. In the future, I hope the Daily is more cautious in its cartoons and reporting about religious or cultural holidays without bowing to ve spent years observing my class- mates flirt, touch, grope, fondle, grind and humiliate themselves and each other in the name of the drive to continue the species. I have copiou4 notes and hours of stories and anec- dotes. In the process of sorting through all of this material, 1 have uncovered the key to understanding and exploiting col- lege sexual poli- tics, In the name of scientific advance- ment and the good of 18- to 22-year- olds everywhere, I AMES hereby volunteer to MILLER become The Perfect IER, College Male., o ' y) "Gentlemen, we have the technology. We can rebuild him." The first step is to transfer to a new college out of state. Too many people here already know I'm not The Perfect College Male (in fact, the light from The Perfect College Male won't hit me for another several hundred years). So I must start anew and transform myself into the man that no undergraduate female could resist. Next, I need a new body. To be blunt, my God-given form tends to be uncoordinated and remind women of their gay theater group friend or their dark, sexually repressed English teacher. On top of that, I have a crookedleg and 15 pounds of Labatt anchored to mly waist. If I'm to be the darling of the psych lecture, I'll need a host body. At least 5-foot-9, narrow waist and slightly curly, dark hair. Eddie Haskel smile, good-sized pecs (but not too big. We're not capable of being shallow now, are we ladies?). The important thing is that I have toE be attractive enoughsothe sort of women that all live together can sit around an episode of "ER" and argue about whether I look more like Noah Wiley or George Clooney, but not so pretty that I make them feel self-con- scious or guilty for having sex dreams about me. The specifics are not too important. Anyone from a male fashion layout or an Abercrombie and itch bag will dc - that kind of raffish, beatnik-of-the- soccer-team effect. As long as he looks deep, we're money. Interested appli- cants should sent a photo and current EEG to James Miller, c/o The Michigan Daily. History: Worldly and well-traveled is ideal. Perhaps the child of Peace Corps volunteers or an Army brat. Being a dorky child is always good too because it creates the illusion tha attractive people have the same prob- lems that we tro.s do. (lint: They don't.) So my new p:iw il include a few embarrassing sories from el mentarv school, the pefect firt-date todder. When she sees that I've turned into such a "hottie" after coming from such Poindexterish roots, I'll look all the more accomplished and human instead of the calculating trim hunter that I am. Subsection, romantic history: The jilted-yet-resilient lover. Let me explain: We're going for kind of a Lloyd Dobbler thing here. I'll pretend I used to be a little pimpdaddy, white boy player in high school and the first two years of college. Further, I'll pretend like I'm not proud of it, making generous refer- ences to how "that sort of thing really degrades both people, doesn't it?" But at some point, I met this cruel, blond- haired mean mistreater of a woman. Das ubershixa. And she cast my love aside. Now, armed with my new knowl- edge of painand sorrow, I've learned temperance and respect. The advan- tage of this fiction is that it will make me look experienced, so she won't have to worry about whether or not I can get her to scream like a banshee on Guy Fawlkes Day, but I'll also look softened by heartbreak and neutered enough to lull her into complacency. It's great. Myenew identity: I have to be in a band. It seems like a cliche that women like guys in bands, but it's true that musical talent goes a long way to enhancing one's sex appeal. But not just any Blind Pig-playing slob with long, thin sideburns. Something that seems like it has a lot of character, if you don't think about it too hard. Say, the trom- bone player in a ska band. That way, I can have that kind of out- law appeal but still have the hipster fla- vor, with John Coltrane records scat-