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NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
www.michigandally.com
Tuesday
February 6, 2002.
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By Jen Fisht
Daily Staff Reporter
As the trial challenging the Law School
admissions policies moves into its final
stages, an appeal in
t undergraduate ;Al'iNw
case could be filed (JN IWAC
this week.
The decision
handed down by
federal district
court Patrick Dug-
gat on Dec. 13, which decided the case
without holding a trial, was certified for
appeal last Monday. Each side has 10 days
t spond, making the deadline to file Feb.
ippeal
Friday.
Normally, each side would have to wait
until the litigation in the case is completely
finished before filing an appeal. But Dug-
gan's certification will allow an appeal
before proceeding with the damages phase
of the case, which has not yet begun.
"In the opinion of this court, this Order
involves the following controlling questions
of law as to which there is substantial
ground for difference of opinion," Duggan
wrote in a court order.
These questions, he continued, would first
be the questions of whether diversity is a
compelling interest that justifies taking race
into account in admissions and second
whether the University's admissions
e xpected
this
eek
processes "are properly designed to achieve
that interest."
In his earlier decision, Duggan granted
summary judgment in favor of the Universi-
ty, writing that using race as a "plus" factor
in admissions was permissible. Duggan also
excused former University President James
Duderstadt and President Lee Bollinger as
defendants in the case.
Duggan also wrote that diversity is a
compelling government interest, in accor-
dance with U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Lewis Powell's opinion in the 1978 case,
Regents of the University of California v.
Bakke.
But Duggan also ruled the "grid" admis-
sions policy used from 1995-1998 was
unconstitutional because "it is clear from
the face of the grids themselves that in
some cases, the only defining factor was
race."
"We jointly requested this certification to
promote efficiency because there's such
important questions at stake," said University
Deputy General Counsel Liz Barry.
Barry declined to comment on whether
the University will appeal.
Bollinger said, "We have not made a
decision yet to seek any appeal."
Bollinger added that he "continues to be
extremely pleased with the outcome of the
undergraduate case. It is truly a seminal vic-
tory for the University"
See APPEAL, Page 7
Law School trial resumes today
The lawsuit challenging the Law School admissions policies
will resume today in U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's
Detroit courtroom. The intervening defendants, a coalition
of civil rights and affirmative action advocates, will contin-
ue their case with the following witnesses:
0 Jay Rosner, executive director ofth sPrinceton Reidw
Foundation. Rosner will resume his testimony on standIard-
ized testing.
3 Martin Shapiro, a professor at Emory University. Shapiro
is also expected to testify on testing questions.
Connie Escobar, a University Law School Student.
The intervenors are not sure when they will finish their
case presentation and each side is entitled to call rebuttal
witnesses before making their closing arguments.
Students
keep eye
on vote
outco-me
By Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporter
Profs. question
timing of Bush
tax cut plan
With conservative hard-liner Ariel
Sharon seemingly poised to defeat
Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak in
day's elections, many students are
keeping close tabs on the political
events unfolding half a world away.
Whether they are from the Middle
East themselves or have relatives
there, opinions among students and
local residents abound.
Rabbi Alter Goldstein said he
feels Israelis lost faith in Barak after
his numerous unsuccessful attempts
to secure a peace deal with the
alestinians.
He said the attitude of many
Israelis is that a new leader is need-
ed.
"We need someone else, whoever
it is,"he said.
Many Israelis feel Sharon's popu-
larity among voters reflects Israelis'
frustration with lHarak's failure to
establish peace with the Palestinians
and end the fighting between Israelis
d Palestinians that flared up last
September.
"The left has led us to believe that
picking Sharon would mean starting
a war and while Sharon does not
seem to be the happy face that the
Arabs want to see in the Middle
East, where political windschange
faster than the weather in Michigan,
one can never know," said Ziv
Ragowsky, an Israeli soldier who
was drafted in 1999 and left the Uni-
sity to enlist.
"If Sharon is elected I think we
will be in for a period of continued
stalemate and drift," said University
of Arizona political science Prof.
Marc Tessler.
By contrast, Palestinians remem-
ber Sharon as the man who was
found "indirectly responsible" for
the 1982 massacres of Palestinians
Lebanese refugee camps, said
See REACTION, Page 7
By Hanna LoPatin
Daily Staff Reporter
President Bush is preparing to
make an announcement Thursday
on the details of a $1.6 trillion tax
cut over a 10-year period, but some
University economics professors
think the current economic slow-
down makes for poor timing.
"From an economic standpoint, it
doesn't make any sense," said Prof.
George Johnson. "It won't do any
good in terms of averting the reces-
sion."
In order to stimulate the econo-
my, Johnson said, it is more impor-
tant to direct the federal surplus
toward paying down the national
debt than to cut taxes.
The work performed over the last
few years in the ,elimination of the
debt has been immense, Johnson
said.
"With one swift stroke we'd undo
all of that good that we finally
accomplished," he said.
Prof. Paul Courant said the pro-
posed tax cut won't necessarily hurt
the economy but it will not provide
a quick solution.
"It's not an inappropriate time to
make some kind of tax cut in terms
of the business cycle," Courant
said. "If you want to stimulate the
economy quickly, it's better to
spend."
Though the economy is falling at
a rapid pace, Courant said there is
no way to predict where we will be
in 10 years when the full effect of
the tax cut would be felt.
Both the extreme recession of the
1980s and the unprecedented
growth of the 1990s were "extraor-
dinary," Courant said. The economy
of the next 10 years will probably
"settle down to a more normal
point."
Though Bush has received back-
ing for his tax plan from Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan,
the man responsible for controlling
the country's interest rates. Courant
said the state of the economy is an
excuse used by the Bush adminis-
tration to push the tax cut.
"Bush and (Vice President)
Cheney want to cut taxes ...
They're just using the economy as a
reason," he said. There is "no nec-
essary connection."
Kerin Polla, spokeswoman for
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.),
echoed Johnson's sentiments on the
tax-cut plan.
The junior senator "believes that
we have to keep our economic pri-
orities in order," Polla said. "That
means paying down the national
debt first."
Polla said Stabenow, who spoke
out against the tax plan on MSNBC
yesterday morning, is also con-
cerned about keeping Medicare and
Social Security fully funded.
"Nobody knows what's going to
happen,;" Polla said with regard to
the economy. "What's going to
See TAXES. Page 7
AP PHOTO
An Israeli soldier casts his vote in the election for prime minister at a polling station for soldiers in Bethlehem yesterday.
The rest of the electorate will vote today in the general election for prime minister.
Thret of violence heightens-
securit as Israeli plsopen
IGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian gunfire
killed an Israeli soldier along the Israeli-Egyptian border
yesterday on the eve of Israel's election that Palestinians
promised to turn into a "day of rage."
Islamic militants threatened to set off bombs on election
day; the Israeli army announced a tight closure of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip to contain violence.
The United States urged the Palestinians and Israel not
to seize on the election for prime minister in Israel as
provocation for violence. "We all want to go through this
period with minimal violence," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, Palestinians
exchanged fire with Israeli troops. At the Rafah cross-
ing between Gaza and Egypt, an Israeli tank fired 20
shells, apparently in response to Palestinian gunfire that
killed Israeli soldier Rujia Salameh, 23, a Bedouin
Arab.
Israel ordered the crossing and a Palestinian airport in
the Gaza Strip closed in response to the shooting, the
Defense Ministry said.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is
trailing hawkish challenger Ariel Sharon by about 20
points in the polls, tightened a ban on Palestinian travel,
ordering most Palestinians in the West Bank confined to
their communities.
Far out
Students mixed
on Napster fees
By John Polley
For the Daily
For many Napster users, the change
may hardly have been noticed. Tucked
in the upper right-hand corner of Nap-
ster's most recent software download
is a small, blue link that reads, "Shop
for music at CDNOW."
Despite its small icon, the link is a
tiding of the full-scale effort to change
Napster from a free service to a prof-
itable business venture, and is the first
tangible sign of change since Napster
entered into a partership with German-
owned Bertelsmann AG in October.
Bertelsmann, the owner of the major
record label BMG Entertainment, will
aid Nannter in oeneratinir nrofits from
"We're keeping things on schedule,"
said Melinda Meals, a Bertelsmann
representative. "Talks are ongoing
with all the major labels."
The company aims to entice other
labels into offering their music
libraries to the Napster service while
also attempting to convince the music
industry that Napster has had a posi-
tive effect on record sales.
As evidence, the company points to
recent research done by Jupiter Media
Metrix, a new economy research firm,
that suggests Napster users are 45 per-
cent more likely to increase their
spending on music than non-Napster
users.
Students, meanwhile, remain tenta-
tivelv skentical of Nanster's attempt to
JOYCE LEE/Daily
SACUA Chairman Moji Naavab and Provost Nancy Cantor discuss faculty issues
yesterday at the SACUA meeting In the Fleming Administration Building.
Cantor proposes
gun-free ordinance
By Whitney Elliott
Daily Staff Reporter
University Provost Nancy Cantor
visited the Senate Advisory Commit-
tee on University Affairs yesterday
"The current student code of con-
duct says the (Standard Practice
Guide) would cover students and fac-
ulty but we would like that to cover
visitors as well," Cantor said.
To obtain a un-free ordinance, the
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