LOCAL/S TATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 17, 2001- 3
HIGHER En
MSA attempts to move past war tension
i
Bollinger plans to
spe at MSU
commencement
EAST LANSING - University
President Lee Bollinger will speak at
Michigan State University's com-
mencement ceremonies on Dec. 8.
Bollinger was chosen for his experi-
ence in the field of higher education.
"President Bollinger has led the
University of Michigan at a time
when our two universities cooperated
as never before on many opportunities
to serve the citizens of our state, from
the historic Life Sciences Corridor to
the Collaborative Air Research Effort
to joint efforts to clean up groundwa-
ter contamination," said MSU Presi-
dent Peter McPherson.
Bollinger is one of three speakers to
address the graduates and will also
receive an honorary doctorate of laws.
U. Houston student
files suit against
campus newspaper
HOUSTON - AhakaZulu Assegai
VII, a University of Houston student,
filed an $11 million discrimination
lawsuit last week against The Daily
Cougar, the university's student news-
paper. The suit alleges that the
Cougar's editor in chief, Nikie John-
son, refused to hire Assegai as an
opinion writer and refused to publish
his views because he is, in his words
"an African, mentally and physically."
Assegai is the founder of the
Africans Coming Home Foundation
which, as he outlined in a letter to
Johnson, seeks to take "true African-
Americans" home so that they can
rebuild the "African-Empire."
Assegai also claims that Johnson
wouldn't publish his Aug 29. letter to
the editor because the letter said "no
gays, homosexuals or lesbians would
be allowed to join the Africans Com-
ing Home Foundation, and that there
were no exceptions to the rules."
Former Pakistani
prime minister visits
American University
WASHINGTON - The former
Prime Minister of Pakistan spoke at
American University last week in the
hopes of expressing her outrage at the
Sept. I1 attacks and her desire to rid
the world of terrorism.
Benazir Bhutto, who in 1988
became the first woman ever elected
to lead a Muslim nation, described the
United States as a great democracy
and safe haven for people who suffer
from oppression.
She implored Americans to "remem-
ber that at times of crisis in society,
men and women come here by the mil-
lions upon millions, seeking freedom,
opportunity, equality and pluralism."
Bhutto was forced out of office by a
military dictatorship in 1990. She was
re-elected in 1993 but dismissed again
in 1996.
Bhutto outlined the key principles
needed for democracy in the Muslim
world. There needs to be "consulta-
tion, consensus, and independent
judgment" to form a democracy,
which is exactly the opposite of what
the terrorists are preaching, she said.
Utah State reverses
gender roles with
'Mr. USU' pageant
LOGAN, Utah - As part of Utah
State's University's homecoming
week, the school will be "celebrating
America" with their annual Mr. USU
beauty pageant.
"The Mr. USU contest is basically a
beauty pageant for the men of USU.
It's hilarious. The contest is not based
on looks, it's based on humor," said
USU student Jami Voorhees, coordina-
tor of the pageant. The 12 pageant par-
ticipants will have to compete in
several different contests, including
dancing, talent, swimsuit, formal wear
and a question-answer session.
Duane Finley, a USU senior, was a
contestant in the pageant last year.
"I thought the entire thing was
more of a comedic performance....
The year before last, I emceed the
event and I got some pretty hilarious
responses from the guys during the
question/answer session," Finley said.
- From staff and wire reports.
By Kara Wenzel
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan Student Assembly representatives
apologized at last night's meeting for tensions
resulting from a resolution passed last week in
support of U.S. strikes against Afghanistan.
"It is an absolute waste of our time to be argu-
ing like we did last week," said LSA Rep. David
Goldman.
Goldman said the most important objective of
MSA should be to complete projects for students.
LSA Rep. Fadi Kiblawi resigned from his seat
last night because he thought MSA did not appro-
priately address constituent concerns about the
resolution in support of the government.
"I think what happened was completely unde-
mocratic and I resign because I don't feel MSA is
the legitimate student government," Kiblawi said.
Engineering Rep. Eric Roeder said students
"it is an absolute waste of our time to be arguing
like we did last week."
- David Goldman
LSA representative
have reason to think MSA is a productive student
government but that image was destroyed last
week when the assembly's internal conflict was
made public.
"I don't like seeing the assembly attacked," said
MSA Vice President Jessica Cash: "I feel it's my
responsibility to network and I failed miserably.
We all felt really'terrible about this, whether or not
we supported it."
Like Cash, most MSA representatives are eager
to leave the tension of last week behind them and
focus on campus issues that directly affect stu-
dents.
MSA committees and commissions are working
on several projects for students, including changes
to Wolverine Access, residents' rights door signs
and general campus improvement issues.
The Academic Affairs Commission is working
with the LSA Student Government to increase the
number of hours per day Wolverine Access is
available to students.
"We want to make the hours more accessible,
especially during registration time," Goldman said.
Goldman said the commission wants to improve
the link from the LSA Course Guide to times and
availability in Wolverine Access and create a dis-
play of distribution credits in individual course
guides.
In addition, the Student Rights Commission
created a residents' rights sign meant to be dis-
played on residence hall doors. The sign explains
what to do if a police officer or resident adviser
knocks on a student's door without a search war-
rant.
However, campus improvement task initiative
chair Steve Pietrangelo said some of MSA's imme-
diate concerns are to synchronize all clocks on
campus and to fix broken elevators in the David
M. Dennison Building.
Another issue facing the assembly is the
upcoming fall election. It will be held Nov. 14 and
15, and declarations of candidacy and registrations
for parties are now available in the MSA office,
3909 Michigan Union.
Tuition tax credit repeal
fails 1n House committee
LANSING (AP) - A state House
committee failed yesterday to come up
with enough votes to repeal a tuition
tax credit intended to reduce college
costs.
But the 5-5 vote by the House High-
er Education Appropriations Subcom-
mittee doesn't prohibit the full
Appropriations Committee from tak-
ing up the measure.
The committee may take up the
issue today. House Appropriations
Committee Chairman Marc Shulman
(R-West Bloomfield) has said he sup-
ports repealing the tuition tax credit.
The bill would provide the state's 15
public universities with the money set
aside for the Michigan Tuition Tax
Credit -- $27.5 million - to offset
tuition that increased an average 10.7
percent this fall.
Fourteen university presidents,
including the University of Michigan's
Lee Bollinger, have said they would
refund some of their tuition increases
if lawmakers repealed the tax credit.
The state's 28 community colleges
would receive $5.5 million under the
repeal that's already been approved by
the state Senate.
Rep. Sandy Caul, the chairwoman
of the higher education subcommittee,
said she wouldn't vote for a bill that
would reduce the tax credits for the
community college students who
receive it.
"This committee should be work-
ing to find a way for more students
to qualify for the tax credit, not
scrapping it ... and rewarding
schools for passingt massive tuition
hikes," the Mount Pleasant Repub-
lican said.
Opponents to the bill in the
House also asked how the money
would be distributed among the
universities and community col-
leges.
Michigan Democrats remap
state's congressional districts
YENA RYU/Daily
Philosophy graduate student Justin Shubow debates with philosophy Prof. Elizabeth
Anderson about affirmative action.last night in the Modern Languages Building.
and student debate
affirmative action
LANSING (AP) - Michigan
Democrats yesterday unveiled their
own map for the state's 15 congression-
al districts, saying it should be substitut-
ed for a GOP plan because it divides
fewer counties, townships and cities
between districts.
Republican Gov. John Engler already
has signed into law a plan passed by the
GOP-controlled Legislature.
But Michigan Democratic Chairman
Mark Brewer said yesterday that Michi-
gan has until Nov. 1 to have a final con-
gressional redistricting plan in place
and should adopt the Democratic plan
because it more closely conforms to
state law.
Senate Majority Leader Dan
DeGrow (R-Port Huron) said he hadn't
seen the Democratic plan and had no
intention of taking up the legislation.
"The worst-case scenario is the state
Supreme Court says, 'Yeah, they're
right, they do have one less break, go
back and do it"' the way Democrats
propose, DeGrow said. "We're a long
way from that."
Brewer said state law, which requires
that congressional lines split as few
counties, townships and cities into dif-
ferent districts as possible, virtually
requires lawmakers substitute the
Democratic plan for the one already in-
place.
"I expect the Republicans to follow
the law. If they follow the law, they'll
adopt this plan," Brewer said. "This was
drawn to have fewer breaks."
But Ed Sarpolus, vice president for
Lansing polling firm EPIC/MRA and a
redistricting expert, said Democrats
have little chance of getting their plan
adopted legislatively this. late in the
process.
"It's not as easy as saying, 'We've got
a better plan,"' Sarpolus said. "Right
now, unless there's some (federal) judge
out there that wants to go with this, I
don't know where they go."
Democrats already are challenging
the GOP plan in federal district court.
So far, no hearings have been held,
Brewer said.
The GOP plan has 11 places where a
county is not wholly within one district
and 14 cities or townships that are split
between districts.
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
Hoping to show the validity to both
sides of the affirmative action contro-
versy, the Philosophy Club sponsored a
debate on the issue last night.
The debate was held at the Modern
Languages Building between philoso-
phy Prof. Elizabeth Anderson, who
supports affirmative action, and philos-
ophy graduate student Justin Shubow,
who argued against it.
Anderson has written a review of a
study on the use of affirmative action
in higher education that was published
in the Journal of Legal Education and
set up a website of affirmative action
resources. She said the policy is impor-
tant because the United States still suf-
fers from racial problems and
Michigan is one of the most racially
segregated states.
"People come to campus not really
familiar with inter-racial interaction.
That causes a lot of tension as people
learn to interact, and so racial issues
are particularly salient on this campus,"
Anderson said.
Shubow said the debate is pertinent
because the University has received
national attention from the two lawsuits
challenging the race-conscious admis-
sions policies of the College of Litera-
ture, Science and Arts and the Law
School. He said the money used to
defend affirmative action could be used
more efficiently to improve the quality
of life in lower-class communities and
public education.
Anderson opened the debate, saying
racial segregation has increased in pub-
lic schools since the landmark 1954
case Brown v. Board of Education,
which eliminated segregation laws in
public schools. She blamed this
increase on housing discrimination
which creates minority communities.
"In major metropolitan areas, a
black person searching for housing
faces well over a 90 percent chance of
being turned down on account of race
if he visits three or more units," she
said
Anderson added that racial segrega-
tion leads to minority isolation from
social networks, racial ignorance,
uncomfortable interaction and commu-
nities of minorities living in areas of
little job growth.
Anderson said affirmative action,
which promotes integration, is an obvi-
ous solution that has benefited the Uni-
versity.
"Society has an obligation to dis-
mantle entrenched barriers to equal
opportunity in the United States," she
said. "The empirical evidence from U
of M and other campuses suggests that
universities that practice affirmative
action have had a significant impact in
reducing racial tension and segrega-
tion."
Shubow argued that proponents of
affirmative action admit the policy is a
necessary evil to promote a greater
good but the rights of white students
cannot be suspended. He said Brown v.
Board of Education forced a high
school to integrate but did not violate
the students' rights, whereas university
admissions policies favoring minorities
are discriminatory to white students.
Anderson said a student's academic
merit includes the ability to promote a
college's mission, which includes
diversity in the case of the University
of Michigan. She said minority stu-
dents help create an integrated environ-
ment that benefits all students.
Shubow said affirmative action is
not effective because the preferences
given to minorities often place them
into colleges that they aren't prepared
for and the minority drop-out rate at
schools practicing affirmative action
is twice as high as the rate at other
universities.
Shubow said affirmativeaction treats
Native Americans, Hispanics and
African-Americans equally, even
though their levels of segregation are
different. He said affirmative action
helps middle-class minorities most.
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
Study Abroad Programs -
Australia; 4:00 - 5:00
p.m., International Insti-
ttt _Dnm 16.16
p.m., Hussey Room, Michi-
gan League
Environmental Chal-
lenges for the 21st Cen-
tury: A Matter of
Degrees:" Featuring
Alpha Psi Fraternity, 6:30
- 8:30 p.m., William Mon-
roe Trotter House
"University Women's Club
Fall Reception;" 12:00
p.m., Michigan League
SERVICES
Campus information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edu, or
www.umich.edu/~info
Northwalk. 763-WALK.
M === m - - ELM =- = = U E-M