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Tuesday
October 23, 2001

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Minority

enrollment numbers stagnant

By Maria Sprow
Daily Staff Reporter

While other universities across the
country are struggling with maintain-
ing a diverse student population in
light of setbacks to affirmative action
and similar raced-based admissions
policies, the University's minority
enrollment is so far remaining steady,
according to fall 2001 numbers
released yesterday.
"We strive every year with recruit-
ing class to have a diverse student
body, and we are always happy to see
our efforts pay off," said University

spokeswoman Julie Peterson. "We
have students of the highest academic
quality, from all parts of Michigan, all
over the country and all over the
world. We're always gratified to see
that result."
Last year, the University received a
record 24,141 applications, and of
those, 12,594 were admitted and
5,540 enrolled.
African American and American
Indian freshman enrollment both
experienced slight rises, from 472 to
499 and 39 to 50, respectively, when
compared to the 2000-2001 academic
year.

In addition, the number of interna-
tional students, who now make up
more than 10 percent of the overall
student body, grew by more than 200,
the statistics revealed.
While the freshman enrollment of
white students rose by 112, Asian
American freshmen, which are not
considered to be an underrepresented
minority, decreased in number to 692
from 724 last year. Among Hispanic
freshmen, the number also decreased
minimally from 276 to 263 this year.
Peterson said such a small decrease
shouldn't cause any speculation that
the University's minority population

is on the decline.
"They are really not that much dif-
ferent from last year," she said. "It's
still really the normal fluctuation
from year to year.',
But it is unclear what would happen
to minority enrollment numbers in com-
ing years if the lawsuits seeking to over-
turn the use of race as a factor in
University admissions are successful.
"I think that there is always a fear,"
said Lester Monts, senior vice provost
for academic affairs. "Without that kind
of diversity, I wonder about our overall
ability to attract students of the caliber
See ENROLLMENT, Page 7

African American
Hispanic American
American Indian
Asian American
White
Other
International
Total enrolled

Fall 2001
total
2,616
1,470
225
4,208
22,073
2,613
3,993
38,248

Fall 2001
freshmen
499
263
50
692
3,410
406
220'
5,540

University enrollment

Fall 2000
freshmen
472
276
39
724
3,298
402
207
5,418

SOURCE: Office of Budget and Planning

I

Anthi
WASHINGTON (AP) - Anthrax prob-
ably killed two postal workers from a facil-
ity that delivers mail to the nation's capital
and left two more hospitalized, officials
said yesterday as the country suffered fresh
casualties in the bioterrorism war.
"The mail and our employees have
become the target of terrorists," said Post-
master General John Potter.
Health officials also expressed concern
about as many as nine other Washington-
area patients who have exhibited symp-
toms consistent with the disease. The
officials did not say whether any worked
for the postal service.
With bioterrorism claiming additional
lives, Washington, D.C., health officials
issued an urgent call for 2,000 workers at
the city's central Brentwood mail facility to
undergo screening for the disease, and
stoutly defended the decision not to order
tests last week.
"I think they moved quickly, as quickly
as they could," said Tom Ridge, the
nation's homeland security director. But
some postal employees expressed anger
that officials didn't order testing when an
anthrax-laced letter showed up Oct. 15 at
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's
office.
The letter to Daschle is the only reported
case of anthrax-tainted mail in the Wash-
ington area, but all mail destined for the
city is routed through the Brentwood facil-
ity.
Congressional officials said the House
and Senate would reconvene today,
although their sprawling office buildings
on Capitol Hill would remain shut. Lt. Dan
Nichols of the Capitol Police said lawmak-
ers would have offsite work space in near-
by buildings.
In all, officials have tallied a suspected
three deaths and nine other confirmed
infections from anthrax nationwide,

a

kills

mo

e

Meeting to
seek in put'
on .search
By ShannonPettypi
Daily Staff Reporter
The search process for the next University president will
be discussed at a town hall meeting next Monday when par-
ticipating members of the Board of Regents will describe the
current and future status of the presidential search in an
attempt to get public feedback on how they should go about
choosing the next University chief.
"I'm sure we'll get a lot of ideas about what people want
and probably a lot about what people don't want in the next
president," said history Prof. Rudi Linder.
The meeting is open to students, faculty and staff, all of
whom are encouraged to attend. The meeting will begin at 4
p.m. in Angell Hall and will be televised on the University's
cable channel.
The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs
organized the meeting to ensure the viewpoints of students,
faculty and staff are not overlooked in the presidential search
process.
"In the past the regents have turned to faculty to help
guide them in their search for a president. We're not seeing
See SEARCH, Page 7

Washington postal worker Robert Terrell holds a packet of Cipro outside District of Columbia General Hospital in Washington yesterday.
Postal workers lined up for testing as officials said two Washington-area postal workers have been diagnosed with inhalation anthrax.

including six cases of the skin variety and
the other three the more dangerous inhala-
tion type.
Nearly six weeks after terrorists hijacked
airliners and struck New York and Wash-
ington, and with American warplanes
bombing Afghanistan, Ridge said the
nation was fighting two fronts in the same
war.
"There's a battlefield outside this coun-

try and there's a ... battlefield inside this
country," he said.
On a day of rapidly unfolding events,
Potter said the Postal Service had stopped
cleaning its machinery with blowers, a pro-
cedure that could have caused lethal
anthrax spores to spread through the air.
He also said equipment was being pur-
chased that "can eradicate and sanitize the
mail."

And Mitchell Cohen of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention confessed
that investigators did not understand how
victims had inhaled anthrax because the
letter to Daschle was taped shut. "This
phenomena...is an evolution," he said, "...
How it's actually occurring isn't clear, and
that's part" of the investigation."
Despite a heightened sense of alarm,
See ANTHRAX, Page 7

-U.S. paves way for advance to Kabul

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S.
jets struck Taliban front-line positions
yesterday as the United States tried to
pave the way for the opposition to
advance on Kabul and other major cities.
In an appeal for Muslim support world-
wide, the Taliban accused America of
Wwaging a campaign of "genocide."
The president of neighboring Pakistan,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said he hoped
military operations in Afghanistan would
be over by mid-November, when the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins.

Leaders throughout the Muslim world
fear a backlash if operations continue
against Muslim Afghanistan during
Ramadan.
While saying the U.S.-led campaign
should continue until its objectives are
met, Musharraf said bombing during
Ramadan "would certainly have some
negative effects in the Muslim world."
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from
sunrise to sunset.
"So one would hope and wish that this
campaign comes to an end before the

month of Ramadan, and one would hope
for restraint during the month of
Ramadan," he said on CNN's "Larry
King Live."
The Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan,
Abdul Salam Zaeef, claimed U.S. and
British jets attacked a hospital in the
western Afghan city of Herat yesterday,
killing more than 100 people.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H.
Rumsfeld denied the claim, and Britain
said none of its planes took part in any
raid against Herat. Rumsfeld also denied

Taliban claims that they had shot down
two U.S. helicopters.
With the shift toward front-line tar-
gets, U.S. jets spared Kabul on yesterday
for the first time since the bombing was
launched Oct. 7, aimed at rooting out bin
Laden and his chief lieutenants in theal-
Qaida terrorist network and punish the
Taliban for sheltering him.
However, the jets returned before
dawn today and dropped at least 10
bombs on targets in the north of the city.
See AFGHANISTAN, Page 7

Fall break proposal awaits final
approval from administration
By Kara Wenzel ident Matt Nolan. to include a fall break, Nolan said.
Daily Staff Reporter "We're creating a two-day break, giving MSA and LSA-SG have the backin

ALEX HOWBERT/Daily
Cutouts of women killed In domestic assaults line the hall of
the Pierpont Commons as part of a SAPAC exhibit.
Exhibit serves
as reminder of
assault victims
By Rachael Horowitz
For the Daily
As students prepare for midterms in the Michigan Union
Study Lounge, a life-size image of Tamara Williams, a Uni-
versity student who was killed by her boyfriend on campus
in 1997, looms over them as part of an exhibit focusing on
victims of domestic and dating violence.
"The Silent Witness Exhibit," sponsored by The Sexual
Assault and Protection Center, is intended to teach members
of the University community about the realities of domestic
violence, said SAPAC's interim director and Crisis Line
coordinator, LaTresa Wiley. The exhibit, featuring silhou-
ettes and short biographies of local victims of domestic vio-
lence, is on display in the Michigan League lobby, the
Michigan Union study lounge and the Pierpont Commons
atrium.
"The exhibit's purpose is to remind the community of the
effort we need to make to end domestic violence and to
remind us of those who did not survive," Wiley said. ,
"The point is really good especially because the women
are so young," said LSA junior Lane Clark.
"The fact that they're from around here and that they're
oir ae are the most comnelling thihs about this exhibit."

ng of

A joint committee of the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly and LSA Student Govern-
ment has drafted a recommendation for a
fall study break in mid-October that is
awaiting administrative approval before it
can be implemented next year.
The proposed fall study break would
change the academic calendar by starting
the fall term one day earlier - the day after
Labor Day - and adding a two-day break
- a Monday and Tuesday - during the
second or third week of October.
"For any academic calendar change, the
normal process is for the registrar to
approve the change, send it to the provost,
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students more time to study for midterms
and work on papers and projects, which
will consequently improve the mental and
physical health and the academic quality of
work done at this university," Nolan added.
After analyzing all of the University's
actual and proposed academic calendars
from 1992 to 2009, MSA concluded that cal-
endars for future academic years will have
fall and winter semesters of roughly the same
length even with the inclusion of a fall break.
One of the concerns voiced by critics of
the fall break proposal was that it would
make the fall semester shorter than the win-
ter semester.
However, last fall, 78 percent of students
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an important ally in the administration.v
"I'm going to work to help (Nolan) make
this idea become a reality," said Lester
Monts, senior vice provost for academic
affairs.
Monts said it is difficult to say whether
the fall break will be added to next year's
academic calendar because it would require
that the regents, housing and the faculty
approve the change.
The regents have already approved the
academic calendars for the next two acpde-
mic years.
These calendars would need to be
amended to accommodate a fall study
break. The 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07
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