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Editorial page desk: 764-0552
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DUSTIN J.
SEIBERT
Knowing rights essential to avoid
consequences of party backlash
Tok the freshmen:
*our first words
from The Manifesto
So this is the path that you have chosen. Did you think long
and hard before you decided to make this plunge into our
esteemed university? Are you ready to enter our way of
VAre you ready to share our world? Are you ready to play by
rules? Well, college life is a bit more democratic than that,
but understand one thing before we even bother to go any fur-
ther:
Life begins here.
Suspend everything you thought you knew right at the door. If
you are coming in here under the painfully misguided impression
that you are hot shit because you made Principal Kramer's gold
star list for a 3.5 or higher GPA during your junior year, you best
develop a quick understanding for what's in store for you here.
Realize that those high SAT and ACT scores that you managed to
pull off have absolutely no bearing in determining your intelli-
qn ce or your upcoming performance in college, so get over
em FAST! (And if you need help doing so, believe that our
affirmative action troupe will help you right along with that.
many, many times over.) Did you think that you were the bee's
knees when it came to solving some puny mathematical and sci-
entific equations in high school? Does being involved with Acad-
emic Games give you a big head? Our engineering college will
break you down with the quickness ... grown-ass men have been
spotted crying on the Bursley-Baits bus following examinations.
Did you think that playing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star" on your
volin for your family during Thanksgiving dinner qualified you
*hang with our music school? Know that most of your time will
be spent locked in a small room slaving over the instrument of
your choice. Those guys spend so much time blowing on instru-
ments that you would think that they were vying for positions as
White House interns.
So were you the B.M.O.C., H.N.I.C. or popular chick at your
high school? Did everyone know who you were simply by recog-
nizing your varsity jacket number? Were you the stereotypical
square-jawed small-town jock hero who wouldn't be seen in pub-
lic wearing anything lesser than Abercrombie & Fitch? Wake-up
call, people ... there are more than 30,000 other students that
,uprise the student body, and on that, you are little more than
e split-ends on the pubic hairs as incoming freshmen. It's
gonna take you at least a full school year to earn your stripes, so
unless you have an abnormally phenomenal throwing arm, a
wicked jumpshot crafted by years of streetball, or your name is
Dustin, you don't really exist just yet. Chances are if you were
the truth at your high school sport, then there are a gang of folks
even better at it than you. Keep working on it, and maybe you
can eventually pick up some of Drew Henson's residual groupies.
Trying to get that almighty college ass? Well, being surround-
dby a bunch of horny, sheltered, newly-freed teenagers just
Uing to shed their inhibitions doesn't hurt your chances, but all
I can say is to be careful and selective about who you take home
in an alcoholic haze; I would imagine that it would be awfully
embarrassing to walk in the offices of the University Health Ser-
vice vigorously scratching your crotch with your mother's metal
dinner spatula. Believe me, I don't mean to take the fun out of
gettin' your freak on, but think about how towing a kid on your
back will ruin your chances at gaming that bad honey in your
Cult. Arch. lecture and getting her to do, well, basically what got
you a kid in the first place. And if that doesn't convince you, then
take my word on the fact that there are a rather large number of
students here who don't bathe or shower regularly - you don't
0n to be the one to find that out the hard way in the midst of a
one night stand.
Unless you are planning to be a psych major, the work here
will by no means be a cake walk ... it will require a dedication of
time that many of you have likely never put forth before. Howev-
er, a misconception that lingers about our university is that you
have to come in strictly about the books. This will stress you out
very quickly and make you want to run home to mommy in tears.
You mustn't forget that there is mad fun to be had now that you
are off on your own for the first time, so allow that balance to
omnipresent. This isn't easy at the beginning ... this is one
Smany reasons why freshman year grades tend to be the most
deplorable, so expect that that may be the case with yours, and
don't let midterms/finals/report cards hinder your confidence or
progress. Meanwhile, try to stay the hell off of academic proba-
tion, because chances are you are actually screwing up unneces-
sarily if you allow your grades to taper below a 2.0.
The most important thing that I feel I can say to you all is that
the college experience will undoubtedly change you as a person.
It is a life-defining passage that will allow you to realize things
about yourself and other people that you may never have come to
realize in your teenage years. You will probably come home from
r first year and have a completely different aspect on your
ends from back home, and vice versa. The lifestyle you had
with your family before you moved away will probably be much
different (as you will come to realize painfully once you come
home next spring). Those relationships from back home you
swore you would make work out can and often will come crash-
ing to a halt during the year. Finally, you will find yourself doing
a lot of "soul searching" in attempts to come into your own.
Expect it to happen; it's almost unavoidable.
I speak all of this from experience, as I was where you are two
rs ago, and though that time has gone by so fast, I have
ugh stories to make up another five or six years of school. I
certainly don't wish most of my experiences on you all, but sur-
prisingly, I wouldn't take them back for the world ... they have
and continue to shape the person that I am today. There is so
much to be said, but there is only so little space, so I will leave
you with this: Humble yourself, because you will take some falls,
trv as you may not to: realize that you are not vet a grown-up
By Jim Secreto
Editorial Page Staff Writer
As the chains of adolescence lift with the
entrance to college, every year the Universi-
ty becomes a high concentration of young
adults faced with the absence of real
parental control for the first time. While
many students already participated in their
fair share of partying before they even step
foot on University grounds, the transition
inevitably means increased exposure to the
party life.
This situation also means students find
themselves in confrontation with local law
enforcement agencies and the University
without the knowledge of how to deal with
the situation effectively. According to the
1999 Student Life Survey conducted by the
University, 72 percent reported they
increased their use of alcohol once they
arrived on campus. And since the majority
of undergraduates are underage, the Ann
Arbor Police Department, the University's
Department of Public Safety, and other offi-
cials have ample opportunity enforce the
law. Yet, with the awareness of one's rights
during encounters with the law, students can
avoid a number of potentially harmful cir-
cumstances.
For example, partying in the residence
halls leads to encounters with residents
advisers, law enforcement and housing
security. If someone you don't know comes
to your door, always ask if they are housing
security, police or someone working for
housing security before you open the door.
If they are, ask if they have a search war-
rant. If they do, you can't stop them from
entering but are not required to speak or
give any information.
If the they do not have a warrant to enter
your room, that's a different story. You are
not required to let anyone into your room
unless they have probable cause to enter,
which means reasonable suspicion some-
thing illegal is going on. "Probable cause"
See RIGHTS, Page 3B
MICHAEL
GRASS
Does 'U'AAPD want students
to riot? We almost did. So
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VANALYSIS
W hen Michigan State students rioted in 1998
and 1999, 1 laughed. That would never hap-
pen here, I said. In Ann Arbor, I thought we
would be too civilized and sophisticated to take to the
streets, break plate glass windows and begin torching
parked cars along South University Avenue. In East
Lansing, students burned couches over the right to drink
cheap beer at tailgates. At the University of Michigan,
when students get pissed off, they chalk sidewalks, occu-
py an administrator's office or make signs and march
through the Diag.
Well that changed this past spring.
True, students have not rioted so far this year. But as
seen at the Naked Mile in April, a conscience effort by
the University and the Ann Arbor Police Department to
restrict student traditions has laid the foundation for a riot
in the years to come. It may not happen this fall, but if
the "authorities" enforce more and more stringent in loco
parentis (in lieu of parents) policies, University President
Lee Bollinger's shiny blue SUV could be torched in his
driveway.
Killing the Naked Mile
So there was along South University Avenue. Classes
were over and I was looking forward to summer. I was
with a large group of friends to watch this year's install-
ment of the Naked Mile. It's one of the University's
newer student traditions that became very famous around
the world. On the evening of the last day of classes, thou-
ABBY ROSENBAUM/Daily
Thousands of students sat down and occupied South University Avenue for 45 minutes during the Naked Mile in April.
Although unplanned, the spontaneous protest, one of the largest in Ann Arbor since the 1960s, was sparked by the
Ann Arbor Police Department arresting Naked Mile participants. The authorities killed the student tradition this year.
sands of people, many of them undesirable perverts with
video cameras, converge on Ann Arbor to see one of the
University's storied traditions. It's one night when 99.9
percent of the student body turns out to celebrate the end
of classes with their fellow classmates. Spirits are high,
many people are quite intoxicated and in jubilant celebra-
tion, a collection of brave souls take their clothes off and
run through campus.
But this year was different. The "authorities" - the
University administration, the Department of Public
Safety and the Ann Arbor Police Department - aimed to
kiLl the tradition. And did they ever. The AAPD massed at
the beginning of the route and began arresting anyone
who bared it all. They also threatened to arrest anyone
blocking them from arresting runners.
In my first two times at the Mile, I found it very
impressive that one event could bring the entire student
body out. The euphoria, celebration and unity that the
Mile brought together is one of the greatest things at the
University.
Well, that night, the is was turning into a was.
I understand why the University and the city have con-
cerns with the Mile. Having the greatest number of sex
offenders per square mile anywhere in the nation once a
year is troubling. And this year, the event was being
broadcast on the Internet.
In the weeks leading up the Mile, the University
launched a massive scare campaign to freak out the stu-
dent population. The campaign blew the problem way out
of proportion. If the University's aim with the campaign
(with massive un-attributed ads in the Daily) was to paint
the Mile as a group orgy where women would be very
likely to be a victim of sexual assault, they were success-
ful. Yes, there are plenty of perverts and there is a greater
risk of sexual assault, but not to the degree that it was
painted by the authorities.
The administration also convinced prominent student
groups to oppose the Mile. And it worked.
Before our very eyes, the authorities were killing a tra-
dition held sacred by many students. With police perched
on rooftops, armed with video cameras, everyone knew
they were being watched. But the thousands of students
did something that night that was, in absence of a better
word, impressive. The students fought back that night and
took control of the street. And I was caught in the middle
of it.
Taking a stand at South U. and South Forest
In terms of student action, it was one of the largest stu-
dent protests in University history, though few knew it at
the time. Around 11 p.m., the drunken crowd was getting
frustrated. There were no runners. A bunch of my friends
and I made our way east through the South U. crowd to
confirm what we heard was going on at the beginning of
the route. For the first time in the Mile's history, the
police were doing much more than average crowd con-
trol. They were making massive arrests.
About a half hour later, trouble was a brewing. Some
of the campus' more noted student activists were using
the situation to arouse the crowd. What happened next
would turn the destruction of the Mile into one of the
largest spontaneous acts of student protests in Universi-
See GRASS, Page 6B
FILE PHOTO/AP
Do the authorities want to turn Ann Arbor into couch-
burning East Lansing?
Affirmative action issues N
divide, confuse students
By Johanna Hanink
AssEd oi Pa ditor
Shortly after dinner last Oct. 29 you might have
caught a few minutes of an unremarkable piece by 60
Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley about it. Or maybe
you have forgotten that you heard Juan Williams, host
of National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," say a
few words about it on March 29 while you were in the
car scanning for a better radio station.
But at the University of Michigan it's nearly impossi-
ble for a day to go by without someone offering their
opinion on affirmative action. The two affirmative
U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan ruled in favor of
the University's use of race in the LSA admissions
process. But in March, U.S. District Judge Bernard
ruled against the University arguing that the Law
School's use of race was unconstitutional.
Both the LSA and Law School case will be heard at
the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Similar
cases in Texas and Washington state have other cir-
cuits saying different things about the use of race as a
factor in college admissions.
So where are the University cases going? Many say
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The potential ramifications of these cases are seri-
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