One hundred eleven years of ed~nrl freedom
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NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
www michigandaily. com
Thursday
October 4, 2001
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I
U
I1,
p By Rachel Green
and Elizabeth Kassab
Daily Staff Reporters
Columbia University's presidential search
committee officially announced yesterday that
it will recommend Lee Bollinger to be the next
president at the Board of Trustees meeting this
Saturday.
Bollinger, who had previously declined to
comment, acknowledged that he will be leaving
Ann Arbor, although he did not say exactly
when.
"I've indicated that I will accept," said
Bollinger, who has been president of the Uni-
versity of Michigan since 1997. "I didn't seek
this out. Columbia brought this to me and after
giving it very serious and hard consideration, it
seemed to make the most sense."
Bollinger was first approached in June by
Columbia's search committee, said University
of Michigan Regent Andrea Fischer Newman
(R-Ann Arbor).
"We think that Lee Bollinger will be great
for Columbia and that Columbia will be great
for Lee Bollinger," said Henry King, chair of
the Columbia search committee.
King, who had earlier refused to discuss the
search process publicly, confirmed the commit-
tee's selection after The Michigan Daily report-
ed yesterday that Bollinger would be leaving
Ann Arbor.
"We concluded that he is an outstanding
president of a wonderful university, that he has
a great track record of dealing with faculty,
staff and students, that he has a great vision of
the life sciences," King said.
King said the committee sought candidates
who "demonstrate the ability to do the job, and,
certainly Lee Bollinger has done that."
The committee looked for someone with
"vision, leadership ability, ability to mix with
faculty and students and the neighborhood,"
King said. He also said Bollinger's interest in
the arts and sciences should serve him well in
New York.
"He will thrive in this Qity," King said.
Newman said yesterday that the regents have
not yet planned a course of action to replace
Bollinger. The regents could meet before their
scheduled Oct. 19 meeting to get a search
process under way.
"Thiere has been no discussion yet among the
board and Lee in regards to what happens
next," she said.
The search committee started working in
March shortly after Columbia President George
Rupp announced his plans to retire on June 30,
2002. Bollinger would take office July 1.
King declined to say whether there were any
other finalists for the position.
"We have tremendous momentum under
George Rupp," King said, noting that applica-
tions and fundraising have risen since Rupp
became president. "That momentum has be to
continued and even advanced."
King said the search committee feels
Bollinger can do just that. "He's got a lot of sta-
mina and vigor. The president of a major uni-
versity has to have stamina because it is a job
that is all-consuming."
The search committee was also impressed
with Bollinger's staunch commitment to the
benefits of diversity in higher education.
"We do have an effort to have a very diverse
student body," King said.
Columbia admits students through a need-
blind admissions policy, accepting students
regardless of financial need and then working
with individuals to determine financial aid
packages. This widens the pool of applicants
the institution can accept, King said.
The search committee was impressed by "his
acknowledging that life sciences is and is going
to be the most important research a university
can do in this century. He saw it and he moved
it forward," King said.
Columbia has the resources and the interest
to further its own research in the life sciences,
King said.
Bollinger's development of the University of
Michigan's Life Sciences Initiative is consid-
ered the biggest project he has undertaken as
president - and one that could suffer in his
absence.
Michael Welsh, chair of the cell and develop-
mental biology department, a division of the
Life Sciences Initiative, said Bollinger has been
the most proactive president he has seen in 22
years with regard to advocating the life sci-
ences.
"I hope that the institution and the initiative
are far enough along now to be minimally
impacted," Welsh said. "His leadership and his
advocacy of the Life Science Initiative have
been impressive although probably now things
won't be quite as they would have been with
him here."
Welsh said the LSI should remain stable
without Bollinger but questioned whether the
program will advance until a new president is
selected.
"Whoever sits in that chair next will have a
big impact on our progress," Welsh said.
"There is always a reluctance by an interim
president to make big decisions or changes so it
is only when we have a bona fide president that
we are able to advance our vision."
Bollinger said he is confident any progress
made in his four years as president will not
soon be forgotten.
"All of the things that are in motion will con-
tinue to grow and they'll shift some as is appro-
priate," he said. "It takes a decade to do things
like this ... so whenever I left these things
would have been left unfinished."
Life Sciences Institute co-director Jack
Dixon was optimistic that the University has
the kind of leadership necessary to keep current
projects moving forward on an everyday basis,
but agreed that without a permanent president
See BOLLINGER, Page 7A
University President Lee Bollinger, shown here at his inauguration ceremony in 1997, has verified that
he will in fact accept the presidency at Columbia University after It is offered.
Bush
prepares
plan for.
recession
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Bush and his top economic adviser
urged Congress yesterday to approve a
stimulus plan of between $60 billion
and $75 billion to avert a steep reces-
sion triggered in part by last month's
terrorist attacks. "I know people are
hurting," Bush said.
Proposing tax cuts for individuals
and businesses, Bush told business
leaders in New York that Washington
must "provide a kick start to give peo-
ple reason to be confident, and we will
do that."
Bush said the administration is con-
sidering tax rebates for people or accel-
erating the tax cuts approved earlier this
year. For businesses, corporate tax cuts
and investment tax credits are among
the options. Laid-off workers need extra
relief, he said, because the attacks
"shocked our economy just like it
shocked the conscience of our nation."
Bush made the remarks shortly after
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told
the Senate Finance Committee he
expects negative real growth in the
third quarter but said similar poor per-
formance could be avoided in the
fourth quarter if consumer confidence
V quickly rebounds.
"The depth of this contraction, as
well as the pace at which the economy
returns to a healthy rate of growth, will
depend in large part on how fast con-
sumers regain their confidence and on
our success in incorporating new pro-
tections against terrorist acts without
material reductions in productivity,"
O'Neill said.
O'Neill said the president had set
the range for the additional economic
stimulus at between $60 billion and
$75 billion. Congress has already
approved a $40 billion emergency
spending plan and $15 billion airline
aid package.
Administration officials said Bush
wants quick agreement on the size of
the stimulus package before the White
House and congressional leaders delve
into the details and comments from
FACEOFF
AT THE
50-YARD
LINE
Outdoor hockeyis a
whole new ba igame
By Seth Klempner
Daily Sports Writer
SEAST LANSING - With a
hockey rink fully in place, Spartan
Stadium has been transformed from
a midsized college football stadium
to the largest hockey arena in the
world.
Most college hockey arenas pro-
vide intimacy with only the glass
serving as separation between fans.
Sound in these barns, field houses
and arenas reverberates between
small walls magnifying the noise,
producing an atmosphere unique to
college hockey.
Spartan Stadium, on the other
hand, is expansive and open with the
closest fans being 20 yards away
from the ice and on the 50-yard line
rather than the red line.
Luckily, there will be more than
70,000 fans on hand for this game
to make up for the escaping noise.
For fans going to the game, it will
take on a football atmosphere, with
the main attraction not being the
game inside the stadium, but rather
the celebration inside and outside.
Another factor unique to this.
game will be the weather. Saturday's
forecast calls for a chance of show-
ers and highs in the upper 40s.
While most fans see the game
more as an event, the players are not
so lucky. Michigan State players
must focus on preparing for it as
they would any other game with
Michigan. This is particularly
important for the Spartans, who
have seven freshmen to familiarize
with the team's disciplined defen-
sive systems.
Furthermore, Michigan State
must also handle the duties that
accompany hosting a world record-
breaking event. The Wolverines, on
the other hand, must simply geuff
the bus and play.
"We are just trying to do the
See HOCKEY, Page 7A
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Ice crews work to prevent the ice from melting during the unseasonably warm weather yesterday afternoon in preparation
for the Cold War outdoor ice hockey game that will take place Saturday night, when temperatures will be in the upper 40s.
International students face lockout
By Lisa Hoffman
Daily Staff Reporter
With Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein's pro-
posed moratorium on foreign student visas on
the table, University community members fear
the loss of the rich cultural atmosphere that
embodies Ann Arbor.
The moratorium, which would prohibit inter-
national students from acquiring visas for six
months, is one suggestion to help the Immigra-
tion -and Naturalization Service establish an
extensive background check and tracking pro-
gram for foreign students before entering the
country.
"Some of these hijackers were students, so
there is a whole push to put new rules on immi-
gration," said Toby Smith, the University's
director of federal relations in the office of the
vice president for research.
"It's a tough world out there. We need to be
able to service students in the best way possible
and still reassure them that we are doing our
best to make sure there is no hatred," he said.
Though University officials are concerned
for the welfare of students, faculty and staff,
they hope increases in safety won't harm the
diversity of the area.
"It would be just a terrible thing to have hap-
pen," said John Godfrey, the assistant dean of
international education at Rackham. "It's just
taken totally out of line. Our international stu-
dents contribute so much."
Panayiotis Georgiopoulos, an international
graduate student from Greece in the College of
Engineering, feels the moratorium would harm
the Ann Arbor atmosphere.
"I think if you go anywhere else in the Mid-
west, the environment is totally different," Geor-
giopoulos said. "International students give
The moratorium could lead to the first class
without international students since the Univer-
sity began admitting them in the 1920s.
"It will impact the cultural richness of the
University," Altamirano said. "We bring in the
cream of the crop of the world. Once you're
opening doors to international students, the
opportunities are limitless."
Besides social implications, international stu-
dents also have a major influence the economy.
Last year, they brought $12 billion to the U.S.
economy and $126 million to the economy of
the University.
International students seem to have the gener-
al feeling of questioning what is in store for
immigration, said Altamirano, who meets with
groups of international students on a regular
basis.
"Everyone is afraid of what will happen next,
even in Greece," Georgiopoulos said. "I'm
lose something."
In the past, students were wondering what
would happen with immigration rules and ask-
ing questions, Altamirano said.
"They're wondering if they have to go home,"
he said.
Concern also surrounds international students
in research labs, who make up a large propor-
tion of graduate students.
"We are very concerned about the impacts
that (restrictions and monitoring) might have, as
well as foreign students working in labs," Smith
said. "We need to find a balance between acade-
mic openness and classification."
Already, according to an article in Science
Times, foreign national students across the
country have been told they couldn't work on
their proposals, leading to even greater concern
about the backlash and impact of the events of
Sept. 11.