WAeatimer
TODY
Wednesday
January 22, 2003
02003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 78
One-hundred-twelve years of editoriadfreedom
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M4Bush to stay ambiguous
.... *-'- on admissions stance
The Supreme Court will
hear oral arguments April 1
for both lawsuits challenging
University admissions policies
By Jeremy Berkowitz
and Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporters
ence and th
April 1.
Twice, B
"define the
by deciding
the race ofa
"There a
to achieve
race-neutra
Less than a week after declaring the Univer- have put it
sity's admissions policies "fundamentally and that w
flawed" and filing a brief with the U.S. outer limits
Supreme Court arguing against the policies, As gover
President Bush yesterday declined to take a of Texas's
more general stance on the use of race as a col- was struck4
lege admissions factor at a press conference, of Appeals.
Hours after Bush's comments, the Supreme anteeing ad
Court announced oral arguments for both law- dents in tf
suits against the University, which challenge school's gr
the race-conscious admission policies of the On natio
Law School and College of Literature, Sci- the Unive
Unprepared
students get
extra help
In summer
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
he Arts, will be heard back-to-back
3ush said the Supreme Court must
outer limits of the Constitution"
g whether universities can consider
an applicant.
are clearly unconstitutional means
diversity," Bush said. "There are
1 ways to achieve diversity, which I
n place as the governor of Texas,
ill lead the courts to define the
of the Constitution."
ror, Bush opposed the University
use of race in admissions, which
down by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court
. Instead, he supported a law guar-
mission to a state university to stu-
:he top 10 percent of each high
aduating class.
nal television last week, Bush said
rsity's admissions policies are
unconstitutional because they rely on racial
quotas to promote diversity. But this weekend,
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
said admissions criteria should be able to
include race as a factor, and Secretary of State
Colin Powell said he supports the University's
policies.
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson
said she is not surprised by Bush's most
recent comments because the brief he filed
with the Supreme Court is unclear. Peterson
said she interpreted Bush's argument as a
claim that any admissions policy considering
race is unconstitutional, without openly
opposing the Court's last ruling on race-con-
scious college admissions policies - the
1978 University of California Board of
Regents v. Bakke decision. The Bakke ruling
banned racial quotas but permitted the use of
race as an admissions factor.
See BUSH, Page 7
LSA senior Vanessa Furtado sits on her porch. The porch collapsed more than four months ago, breaking
her leg and sending her to physical therapy.
Housing conditions
hospitaize tnant:
By Layla J. Merritt
For the Daily
Celebrating a football victory against Penn
State last season, LSA senior Vanessa Furtado
and eight of her friends assembled on her porch
to take a picture. But before the picture was
taken, the porch collapsed, causing Furtado and
her companions to fall six feet into a pit of black
dust.
"We were all stunned," Furtado said. "It just
sank out from underneath us. It looked like a
bomb hit."
An old black sofa on the porch also fell into the
pit, landing on Furtado's leg and breaking her
knee. The injury prevented her from walking or
running for three months.
Furtado, who wore an immobilizing hip-to-
ankle cast and underwent eight weeks of intensive
physical therapy to repair her knee, said she was
disappointed by her landlord's response to the sit-
uation. Oppenheimer Properties, the contract
manager for the house, addressed the incident by
calling to express their sympathies and sending a
card and gift certificate to Cottage Inn to the
housemates, but denied responsibility for the
accident, Furtado said.
"They said it was a freak accident and they felt
really bad about it, but
there was nothing they
could do about it. They
said it was the city of
Ann Arbor's fault
because the city said the
house was up to code,"
Furtado said.
When Furtado and
her roommates inspect-
ed the house last year,
they noticed problems
with the structure of the
concrete porch, which
was uneven because of a crapk running the length
of the porch, Furtado said.
Her roommate, LSA senior Andrea Grady,
remembered discussing the condition of the
See HOUSING, Page 7
Critics of the University's race-conscious admissions poli-
cies say some minorities are accepted fromurban high schools
that do not adequately prepare them for the University's aca-
demic programs. But classes offered by the Comprehensive
Studies Program help such students catch up to classmates
from more rigorous high schools.
For 27 years, CSP has sponsored Summer Bridge classes
tailored primarily for minority students in the College of Liter-
ature, Science and the Arts. Many Summer Bridge participants
were significantly aided by the college's consideration of race
in admissions, CSP Director William Collins said.
Some of these students "may have an uneven academic
background" compared to other admitted students, he said.
Students attend classes during the summer before their
freshman year, taking courses in English and mathematics, as
well as a seminar designed to help them adjust to the Universi-
ty's academic and social environment, Collins said.
"We certainly give students a good foundation," he said.
"Students have an excellent springboard into the University."
Collins said students who completed the Summer Bridge
classes generally felt the program "made them more confident
about meeting the academic demands" of the University. Most
of the students who complete the program are successful in
their freshman year and go on to graduate, he added.
Yet the program also upholds the University's aca-
demic reputation by ensuring that students who cannot
handle the University's academic rigors disenroll.
Collins said if a student fails one of the Summer Bridge
courses, "then we have a chat with them and tell them
they should go to school somewhere else."
Although many Summer Bridge students received a sig-
See CSP, Page 7
about the IsraelI-alestinlan conflict last night in the Michigan Union.
debate provokes
heated discussion
By Rahwa Ghebre-Ab
Daily Staff Reporter
Chants, jeers and cheers filled the
Michigan Union Ballroom during an
Arab-Israeli public forum and debate
featuring speakers Ali Abunimah, vice
president of the Arab-American Action
Network, and Morton Klein, national
president of the Zionist Organization of
America.
The two men focused much of the
discussion on debating the merits of
establishing a Palestinian state.
"The best way to stop terrorism is to
undermine the regimes that promote ter-
ror," Klein said.
"There are 22 Arab countries and only
one Jewish state. Let them have that,"
Klein said. "It's the Arabs that went to
war against Israel. Do we need another
Arab state?"
Klein added the best way to resolve
conflict between the two sides is by first
stopping terrorism.
Abunimah spoke in response to
Klein's statements, clarifying his'
position.
Klein "is basically advocating ethnic
cleansing," Abunimah said. "He is say-
ing, 'Why don't Palestinians go to one
of the 22 other Arab countries."'
Abunimah said Klein used faulty rea-
soning, assigning total blame to one
group and innocence to the other. He
See DEBATE, Page 7
Pre1sdent's approval
at post-Sept. 11 low
Bundled up
By Kyle Brouwer
Daily Staff Reporter
Continuing a slow but steady decline
since the beginning of the "war on ter-
ror," President Bush's approval ratings
have nearly fallen to the level they
were prior to Sept. 11.
A poll by the Gallup Organization
on Jan. 12 placed Bush's ratings at 58
percent, their lowest point since Sep-
tember 2001, when the ratings sky-
rocketed up to 90 percent. However,
Bush's approval ratings still have not
dropped to the level they were before
the Sept. 11 attack, 54 percent.
Prof. John Brehm of the University
of Chicago political science depart-
ment said there are some obvious
explanations for Bush's low approval
ratings prior to the attack.
"The economy was in tough shape,
the tax cut was widely seen as benefit-
ing a very small group at the expense
of a balanced budget, and he had a
slew of unpopular people in powerful
positions around him," Brehm said.
But, Bush's approval rating skyrock-
eted after Sept. 11 most likely because
of his quick and effective response,
Brehm said.
"Bush was a very visible and effec-
tive leader. The attack on the Taliban
was swift and their collapse even more
so," Brehm said.
A graph of Bush's approval ratings
throughout his term shows that, after
the initial spike to 90 percent, his
approval ratings have shown a steady
drop. The most probable reason for
this, Brehm said, is that none of the
factors existing before Sept. 11 have
really changed.
"My read is that Bush gained signif-
icant support solely for his response to
Sept. 11, but hasn't done anything to
win widespread approval since, and
this slide is inevitable," he said.
The American public, showing a
steady decline in support for their
leader, have a number of concerns for
the present state and future of their
country, said University political sci-
ence Prof. Paul Huth.
Huth said the falling approval rat-
ings might be caused by "continuing
doubts of the Bush administration's
See APPROVAL, Page 7
Coleman to receive
March inauguration
By Dan Trudeau
Daily Staff Reporter
Nearly seven months after she took
the office as leader of the University,
President Mary Sue Coleman will be
inaugurated March 27th, the Universi-
ty announced this week.
Coleman, the former president of
the University of Iowa, has served as
president since Aug. 1. She replaced
Lee Bollinger, who left the University
in January of 2002 to become presi-
dent of Columbia University.
University of Michigan officials
noted that while the delay has been
lengthy, it is customary for a new pres-
ident to have a period of acclamation
before her official initiation.
"This is not unusual. Typically the
president has a lot to learn and the
inauguration is her way of looking at
her vision for the University," Cha-
cona Johnson said, inauguration chair-
woman.
The inaugura-
tion will take
place at Crisler
Arena at 10 a.m.
and will seek to
bring the entire
campus communi-
ty together to hear
Coleman's ideas
for the future of
Coleman the University,
said Nancy Connell, director of the
University's news and information
department.
"Inauguration often offers an oppor-
tunity for a university to articulate its
See COLEMAN, Page 7
Freshman Jessica Moorman walks down South University
Avenue as temperatures dropped into single digits yesterday.