Th
Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - The Michigan Daily -- New Student Edition - 9B
An early
Whenever you walk through the
Diag, it never fails that you'll
find a collection of carefully cut,
bright slips of paper being shoved in
your open hand as you run late to
class. Sometimes paper venders will
even go so far as to place them at
your seat if your class is in a big lec-
ture hall. These slips of paper would
be incredibly useful if you had some
kinda of origami fetish - but to the
general population, they are just
dead neon trees. But I am not here to
stop the handing out of paper slips
- in fact some of them are actually
informational. I just want to warn
against these ads for the highly paid
"Notetakers."
Yes, you'll no doubt run into some
obscure ad for a website that promis-
ACTION
Continued from Page 2B
This is a poor substitute for the
method it replaced because it leaves
schools without the ability actually
make any judgements about the
ability of applicants. Factors such as
an applicant's standardized test
scores, any student leadership, com-
munity service and other activities
outside the classroom that can help
demonstrate a student's skills have
been taken off the table. Assessing
the qualifications of an incredibly
diverse group of applicants, with
drastically different experiences,
accomplishments and demonstrated
levels of ability has been reduced to
a one-size-fits-all solution. The
result is more unfair than the com-
plex admissions process that includ-
ed consideration of race ever was.
Many students that did little outside
the classroom or did not take chal-
lenging courses will be admitted
over students who have demonstrat-
ed attributes valued by colleges but
did not fall in the top ten percent of
their class. The ten percent system
really will create situations where
less qualified applicants are .accept-
ed over more qualified ones, the
usual, though incorrect claim made
about the systems that consider race.
This system is also totally
unworkable for judging graduate
and professional school applicants,
which are also not allowed to con-
sider race in many places. Achiev-
*ing diversity is important, but doing
it in such an arbitrary manner
ignores the fact that students do not
demonstrate their ability to succeed
in college solely through high
school grades. The ten percent sys-
tern likely will ultimately be harm-
ful to the educational environments
of universities that use it because it
will most likely lower the quality of
their students.
The admissions policies of the
University as they currently exist
may not be perfect, but they are as
fair and effective as anyone knows
how to make them and are vastly
preferable to many other systems.
These policies provide this universi-
ty with a both a diverse and highly
qualified student body. Neither goal
is sacrificed for the other. The Uni-
versity's use of race in its admis-
sions decisions is necessary to
*maintain the best academic environ-
ment possible and it is nodiscrimi-
natory. It merely acknowledges that
race in this country affects what
opportunities people have. That
must be recognized for the best stu-
dents to be found. If race is not con-
sidered in the University's
admissions process, many applicants
who are qualified will be rejected
sand the University's educational
environment will be damaged for
others throuch the admission of less
well-qualified students.
Ours is not a color-blind society
and one's race makes a difference
in how people live and what
chances they get. For the University
to be forced by the courts to shut
its eyes to this reality would be a
grave injustice and seriously harm
its ability to effectively educate its
*tudents.
warning to students: nline notes are a scam!
' 'n,,
class!!". You'll
sign up for two
classes and
then go to Aca-
pulco for
Spring Break
figuring you
have it in your
budget. (Or
maybe that's
Just what I did.)
I mean, vou've Erin
got an extra McQuinn
S80() basically
being handed
to you for
doing some-
thing you already do! It just sounds
wav too good to be true. And sadly
THOMAs KULJURGIS
enough, it is. )o here CMuf11 bisi t
ting, in the middle of July, waitin
for that very much-needed 800
bucks so you can pay of Your credit
cards debt which is noww startin to
look a lot like what You paid for your
car.
Somehow, it becomaes a lot easier
to spend the mnoney if you never
actually see it. You'll start telling
Yourself, "Oh yeah, I can afford this,
I've got S800 bucks comlin c!And
You'll proceed to use that excuse,
over and over agcain to VourselfI unil
you've spent those S800 about 30
times over. This approach is espe-
cially easy to use if' von char<e=
things on your credit card. Because
everybody knows that ou're inot
really going to have to pay for thin(-s
it you dont tork over the cash at the
time of the transaction ...(don't we
all wish ).
You can try to explain to your par-
ents how vyou really did have a bud-
ct in your head.for all the money
you've been spending- but your
story will most likely lose all of it's
validity once you get to the point
where the SO() was going to come
from the Internet.
Most parents just don't understand
the Internet. All they hear about are
the little girls that get 45-year-old
stalkers from some weirdo chat
room. And what they really won't
understand is that you're actually
making money off the Internet.
You'll probably get a response like,
What are these 'notes' that you're
posting? Is that slang for pornogra-
phy?"
But I suppose online notes can
have their benefits. When you don't
go to class, it's a pretty nice way to
get an idea of what the lecture was
about. Of course, no one's responsi-
ble enough to look up the notes on
the day of class. Most likely you'll
reference them when you realize that
your Historv notes go from the
Renaissance to World War II without
much in between. And at that point
the final will undoubtedly be no
more than three days away and
there's no way to learn that much
anyway. So notes are a giant lost
cause.
The only benefit that one can hope
to reap is that in posting your notes
en the Internet. it helps to learn them
better. Re-typing, them really, does
solidify the notes in your memory. Of
course they will onlIy be compiletely
discarded after the final is over
So what will you really gain iromi
this little "online notetaker" excur-
sion? Sometime over the summier,
vou'll look back at a giant folder
entitled "NotesU'" and see all the
wasted time in typing up those st-
pid lecture summaries. Then you'll
wonder what the heck you were
thinking signing up for some internet
scam you learned about by a little
neon paper slip with those three little
words that no sane college student
can resist ''Make money fast."
irin AlcOuinn can he rachetd
tit CqutinttlwtCatJumich.edlu.
CHIP CULLEN
WATR 6WIFTY ww
Gi4s t
54-
;'
C
Ob
Gic 5,
h
h
r
..r i I
t
C.
F
.- Y
v is
A A
~ . A.
,;J~ ~r
S#
7.7
-~--
MALEU Ot~n1.
r1
F- 1 '
K'
v, 1 5
A'
v - '
,.
..,. 4 ° "4.=.
,*.y " Sx
d
.;
"II
~~p'
|
. a., . {
. w,'
,;.. : ,
, "-
A"-
:
5,
I UA~
'~
~
.5
F.
""'-A' ~I '"~' ," 1
44
t~v ..si
if <.5:
\$ 4fN~
7.
~ N
E~ Yr4
C~~
L
:
x
' :,
A * ' t.
r&;~; N&r
°LK S r (
5 , l 1e U ' 5"
ti
'"2
MARIJUANA
Continued from Page 88
Marijuana is a safe, natural plant
with thousands of years of legitimate
medicinal and recreational use in every
Old World culture on the globe.
Commercials produced and fund-
ed by the Partnership for a Drug
Free America have recently made
the claim that marijuana "takes you
out of the game." It certainly does.
But by doing so it also lends a help-
ful perspective.
Think of bein lost in a crowd of
order, morality and philosophy are
reasonable and which are simply
setups to maintain hierarchy. position,
status, wealth and other forms of
unnecessary superiority in society.
Simply stated, cannabis can be threat-
ening to those in charge.
But prohibitory practices have long
overstayed their welcome. D.A.R.E.'s
failure to make an impact has been
highly reported in recent months.
More and more people are waking up
and lighting up not because of.
peer pres-
s u r e , b lit "P flfI e shOL
wake up, light up and take action.,
leaders will respond.
People should have the t1ight to
choose what they put in their own
bodies. The prohibition of marijuana
is essentially a civil rights issue.
When citizens are denied the right to
the pursuit of happiness just because
it conflicts withl1 the drug enforcement
bureaucracy s goals, people suffer.
Otherwise law-abidinc, constructive
membeis of society are rottngt away
n prisoI. Marijuana is already' Amer-
ica's numi1-
Id hav the ber one
ety we would like to believe.
And if this strikes you as odd. Ii cht
up a joint and find emotions you
didn't even know yO)u had. Take a
time out for yourself. Examine the
assumptions of the dominant cultural
paradigmcs vith the aid of a healthy,
harmless, effective plant. EIxamina-
tion of the internal workings of the
rmind cannot be undertaken from the
standpoint of objective science. See
for voursellf.
iature has been outlawed. If you
don't find this utterlv off ensive, then
thec is no hope. Ilumans ecvolved in
Christian Music, Books, Bands, Coffee, Snacks, Fellowship, Relax
Um
ve--ek'
A... ~ C" 1 U U"' ~ I 9t
l
_'S