One hundred ten years ofeditorialdfreedom
NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
www.michigandaily.com
Thursday
November 30, 2000
I
--4 ~ -K
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*Minority rates
p
for
class
f 2004
By Usa Koivu
Daily Staff Reporter
Although underrepresented minority numbers
in this years freshmen class have risen, according
inumbers released by the University yesterday,
the overall percentage of minorities at the Uni-
versity has decreased.
This year's freshman class has a total of 5,418
students, of which 14.5 percent are listed under
the category of underrepresented minorities,
which include African Americans, Hispanic
Americans and Native Americans.
This percentage is up from last year's entering
class, which was made up of 11.4 percent under-
represented minorities.
Lester Monts, associate provost for academic
affairs, said the University does not set provisions
for the numbers of students per racial category.
"We set targets for the overall number of stu-
dents desired, but we don't have any targeted
goals or quotas for underrepresented or majority
students,' Monts said.
Also rising this year is the number of students
enrolled who chose not to list their race on the
application.
"There are a lot of questions about that,"
Monts said. "There are a lot of issues dealing
with affirmative action and students may not
want to indicate race."
While it is estimated the number of students
wishing to attend college will be on the rise until
2010, Monts said he is unsure whether the Uni-
versity will dramatically increase enrollment
numbers.
"The reason we keep enrollment at this partic-
ular level is to make sure we have the resources
to provide students with the best education we
can provide," Monts said. "If we go over this
number it produces an environment not con-
ducive to what we want to have."
Monts said the decrease in the overall number
of underrepresented minorities is a retention
issue which the University is trying to remedy.
"Our ability to increase our enrollment is con-
strained by our resources including the number
of faculty; infrastructure issues such as class-
See ENROLLMENT, Page 5A
Minority enrollment
for class of 2004
Total enrolled freshmen: 5,418
African American: 472
Hispanic American: 276
Native American: 39
Asian American: 724
White: 3,298
International: 207
No Indication: 402
'U' Prof.
receives
$8 million
for study
Professor to study the
effects of diversity on
African American life
By Lisa Koivu
Daily Staff Reporter
After conducting a survey 20
years ago on African American life
n the United States, University
psychologist James Jackson has the
opportunity to repeat the survey
with an $8 million grant from the
National Institute of Mental
Health.
Jackson, director of academic pro-
grams in the Center for African Amer-
ican and African studies, said the
study will last four years and will look
at the impact of diversity on about
,000 African American's across the
nited States at the start of the 21 st
Century.
The study will target four differ-
ent groups - African Americans,
African Caribbeans, European
Africans, and African American
and African Caribbean adolescents
currently living in the United
States.
Jackson said it is significant for
#frican Caribbeans to be involved in
the research because they are not often
involved in large studies.
"This is the first time to our
knowledge that anybody has done a
national study on this group," he
added.
Jackson said relatively few of the
interviews will be conducted in Ann
Arbor.
"We will be going all over the
continental United States in areas
vhich have been scientifically
selected," Jackson said. "We'll be
sending teams all over the country.
They'll be trained here and then relo-
cated."
Della Hann, a spokeswomen from
National Institute of Mental Health
said the institute was interested in
funding the study because of the speci-
ficity of the subject.
"We are in the process of launching
everal large surveys and Dr. Jackson
wanted to provide more detailed infor-
mation on African Americans," Hann
said.
"We are moving into the 21st Centu-
ry and it is important for Congress to
have as accurate of surveys as possi-
ble,' Hann said.
"Now we will be able to do that in
a much more informed way," Hann
said.
Jackson said the study will be used
o affect public policy in a variety of
ways.
"This study will be used to under-
stand what African Americans think
about a variety of things," Jackson
said.
Hann said the $8 million grant
Jackson received is large compared
to others that the institute has pro-
vided.
"That's a very large grant, but it's
important to remember that figure is
spread over a five-year period," Hann
said.
Jackson said he is the amount
will fulfill the objective of the
study.
i ihmilon Allnare isaot of
OUTTA
THE CLASSROOM
Dispute
could last
weeks
The Associated Press
Al Gore raced between TV interviews yesterday asking,
"Will we count all the votes or not?" while his lawyers
urgently sought a high court ruling with the answer he
wanted. Both Democrat Gore and GOP rival George W
Bush pressed forward with separate blueprints for building
a presidency.
"On Jan. 20, a President Bush will be ready to take the
reins of the government," said top adviser Andy Card --
awarding his boss a title that Gore still hopes will be his.
Bracing the public for more legal wrangling, the vice
president said he was pre-
pared to fight until "the mid-
dle of December" and
suggested the dispute could
drag past the Dec. 12 dead-
line for appointing state elec-
tors - to six days later when the Electoral College meets.
With the stakes so high, the Republican-dominated Flori-
da Legislature inched closer to securing Bush a backup
plan: House Speaker Tom Feeney said yesterday he is con-
vinced lawmakers need to go into special session as early as
next week to name its own slate of presidential electors.
And Senate President John McKay agreed that was a "rea-
sonable conclusion."
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the candidate's brother, said he
would sign the necessary legislation "if it was the appropri-
ate thing to do." Still, with the recount case headed to the
highest court in the land, Jeb Bush said, "The United States
Supreme Court trumps the Legislature." Gore himself told
CNN that Florida voters would not stand for "the expres-
sion of their will taken away by politicians."
Gore is trying to overturn official results of the decisive
Florida election before the public's patience runs out on the
22-day ordeal. "I certainly believe that I did" win the White
House, Gore told NBC. Needing a quick court victory, Gore
authorized his divided legal team to ask the Florida Supreme
Court to recount contested ballots or order a lower court to do
it, two Democratic legal sources said late yesterday.
One million ballots were being hauled 400-miles from
southern to northern Florida, where the precedent-making
case has been thrust upon a circuit judge in Tallahassee. "Pack
em up and bring 'em up," Judge N. Sanders Sauls said.
Bush planned to meet today with retired Gen. Colin Pow-
ell, his still-to-be-announced choice as secretary of state.
Powell has told associates that if offered the post he would
accept. The Texas governor also was calling GOP congres-
sional leaders, telephoned one conservative Mississippi
Democrat himself and assigned his staff to call other Demo-
cratic lawmakers as Gore struggled to keep his party in line.
See GORE, Page 7A
ABBY RO$ENBAUM/Daily
RC junior Andy Wiginton Andy Wiginton and LSA sophomore Shoshana Glick rehearse for the-play "Peer Gynt" yesterday afternoon.
Experiential classes offer alternatives
By Anna Clark
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Stephanie Romano went home
from her final day at an Ann Arbor elemen-
tary school last week with an armful of glue-
sticked construction paper cards, each,
scrawled with markered good-bye messages
- as well as memories of "one of the more
rewarding experiences" of her life.
Romano spent the semester teaching Ann
Arbor history to fourth and fifth graders.
She worked on a team that regularly put
together new methods of making stories of
the past come alive for their young stu-
dents.
"I learned something myself everyday I
was there," Romano said.
But Romano wasn't just a teacher in this
project; she was also a student. The teach-
ing experience resulted from her class, UC
313: "Community Projects through the Arts
and Humanities", taught by associate Archi-
tecture prof. David Scobey and scheduled
again for next semester.
The class is one of many experiential
opportunities for students to enroll in
each semester. Experiential classes offer
active alternatives for students to tran-
scend the typical textbook and exam
class structure and instead learn by
doing.
In Scobey's class, students work in teams
and focus on a "culture-building" project
that involves collaboration with the commu-
nity, Scobey said. He added that the class
also meets "seminar-style" to discuss issues
of public culture.
"Students are analyzingculture while
also adding to the culture of the commu-
nity," Scobey said.
"They learn how they can transform the
outside world," he said.
"This gets you out of the monotonous
setting of the University," Romano said.
"You can get isolated here, I think. But this
kind of class shows you that all that you are
learning here is really leading you some-
where."
This semester, students in Scobey's class
worked on projects ranging from teaching
poetry in Ann Arbor elementary schools to
Detroit restoration.
Lloyd Hall Scholars Program Resident
Fellow Joseph Gonzalez teaches LHSP 113
titled "Get On the Bus 2001: In Search of
the American Civil Rights Movement."
While it's in the LHSP, the class is open to
all University students. Gonzalez said that
See CLASSES, Page 7A
Tying the knot
Cold weather
causes influx
into shelters
By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
With temperatures expected to drop as low as 21 degrees
during the following week, local homeless shelters are shift-
ing gears to cope with the problem of increasing demand
for shelter from the cold.
"No matter who you are, you need to have a roof over
your head," said Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of
the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County.
The problem, she asserted, has been exacerbated by the
fact that "much affordable housing has been shut down."
But, she added, the shelter association "is dedicated to pro-
viding housing to people, especially people with drug and
alcohol problems."
The shelter association currently has a day center -
known as Ashley Place - for members of the community
who need shelter during the day. They also have two night
shelters where the homeless can sleep. The men's shelter at
JUSINNFITZPATICK~/Daily
Shelter employee Latish Sample (left) interviews Marketa
Thomas a client at the Ashley Shelter.
cots and busses overflow to local churches, such as St.
Andrew's Episcopal Church on Division Street.
Another 25-bed shelter is planned to go up at 314 Huron
St. Groundbreaking on the new shelter is scheduled for
Dec. 14, according to Mark Roby, community development
manager for Washtenaw County. The new shelter is a joint
development project between the county and the City of
Ann Arbor.
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