LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - 3

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'U' debate team ranks high
in national competition

Five years ago...
Former University President Har-
lan Hatcher died at the age of 99.
Hatcher served as president from
1951 to 1967, overseeing the huge
post-war expansion of the Universi-
ty, which saw its student body
increase from 17,000 students to
37,000.
He also spearheaded the creation
of North Campus, the Flint and
Dearborn campuses and the Under-
graduate Library,which now bears
his name.
Ten years ago...
A letter written to University
officials by seven Housing staff
members protested the promotion of
gay and lesbian lifestyles in resi-
dence halls.
The staff members raised complaints
about literature that they said promoted
homosexuality in East Quad Residence
Hall and University contributions to
the Lesbian Gay Male Promotion
Organization.
March 3, 1988
Ten University students traveled
to Washington along with 350 other
college students from around the
country to protest President Ronald
. Reagan's recommended higher edu-
cation budget.
Despite the fact that Reagan pro-
posed an increase in appropriations
for higher education, the students
desired an additional $2.5 billion.
The students met with lobbyists
and congressional aides to voice
their complaints.
March 4, 1981
* The Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment recovered a dead woman in
her '20s out of the Huron River
right near Nichols Arboretum.
AAPD could not determine the
cause of death, although foul play
was not suspected.
March 2, 1972
Six students filed an injunction
against the University to stop charg-
ing out-of-state tuition to students
registered to vote in the state of
Michigan.
March 2, 1979
Former President Gerald Ford
gave a series of lectures at the Uni-
versity criticizing then-President
Jimmy Carter's foreign and domes-
tic policies.
Ford said Carter needed to be more
consistent in his actions when deal-
ing with countries such as Iran and
stronger steps needed to be taken to
stop soaring inflation.
March 3, 1961
Regent Eugene Power announced
the University was looking into
revising the school calendar to offer
classes all-year round.
Power said spring and summer
courses would allow the University
to accept more students and enable
students to graduate more quickly.
March 2, 1965
LSA faculty passed a resolution
calling for controls on college
growth for the next four years,
is including a cap of 3,100 students
for freshman classes.
Professors desired a need for
more classroom space and faculty
as well as reexamining teaching
methods.

March 5, 1958
At a Political Issues Club meet-
ing, senior Mary Ellen Carter
reported that her League house
director forbade her from having
black callers visit her.
Although the League Houses fol-
lowed University regulations that
permitted discrimination, Dean of
Women Deborah Bacon said the
owner of the house possesses the
right to impose her own rules.
March 2, 1947
Two University students Bill Hay-
ton and Jane Schact went to Wash-
ington to urge the House Veteran
Affairs Committee to increase pay-
ments for student veterans using the
G.I. Bill.
Hayton and Schact sought monthly
payments of $100 for single veterans,
$125 for married veterans with an
extra $10 for each dependent.
March 2, 1941
Charles Edmunds, a medical
school professor for 39 years, died of
a heart attack. Edmunds was one of

By Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporter

What comes to mind when you
think of top-ranking competitive
teams at the University? Football,
hockey and basketball might top
most people's lists. But how about
debate?
The Michigan debate team, made
up of LSA seniors John Oden and
Jonah Feldman, is ranked among the
top 16 teams in the country. Debate
director Joshua Hoe, a former
national champion himself, said 300
teams compete in the National
Debate Tournament, the college
debating conference.
In April, Oden and Feldman will
head to Emory University in
Atlanta to compete at the NDT, for
the third time.
Last year, the duo arrived at the
NDT by winning the district tourna-
ment in Illinois. They won their pre-
liminary rounds at the NDT and made
it to octofinals.
This year, they received a first-
round bid from debate coaches who

ranked them among the top 16,
granting them an automatic berth in
the NDT.
Hoe described the first-round bid
as an honor for Oden and Feldman.
"The coaches across the country
recognize them as one of the top 16
teams out of all those (300) teams,"
he said. "It's what everyone's work-
ing for."
Feldman and Oden both said
receiving the first round did not
surprise them. "We expected it,"
Feldman said. "We did really well
at the end of last year."
The team has overcome turnover in
coaching staff in the last three years,
but its members are pleased that Hoe,
who came from the University of
North Texas, has taken over. "We've
had a lot of coaching changes. But the
results we've had are really good,"
Feldman said. "We're really happy
with Josh."
"We'd had a lot of turbulence,"
Oden said. "(Hoe) is a stable, long
term choice for the team."
Oden said the team will definite-
ly bring out some new tricks at the

NDT, but its strategy will remain a
secret until the tournament. "We've
got a lot of new stuff, a lot of sur-
prises," he said. "It's weird -
there's a lot of secrecy."
This year's topic is international
treaties. While on the affirmative
side, a team must argue that the
United States should ratify one of
five treaties and give reasons why.
The International Criminal Court,
the Kyoto Treaty, a treaty banning
the death penalty, an arms control
treaty between Russia and the Unites
States and the Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty are the five topics a team
could choose from. Oden and Feld-
man typically run an affirmative
case saying the United States should
ratify the International Criminal
Court treaty because it would pre-
vent genocide.
A negative team must come up
with arguments against their oppo-
nents' affirmative position. One
strategy Oden and Feldman have
used is to discuss how these treaties
negatively affect Israeli policy
toward Palestinians.

Music School freshmen Karl Pestka and Keith Reed rock out on the Diag
yesterday to advocate the message of "Make Art Not War."
Students turn to art.
not war for solution

Assembly will solicit students'
opinions on admissions policies

ARTISTS
Continued from Page 1
Music School freshman Keith Reed
said he played bass guitar during the
protest to spark interest in the topic
among students who would then
hopefully become educated about it.
He added that if the United
Nations were to support the war, he
woukl take a more serious look at
the situation.
RC freshman Becky Eisen stood
among the performers and quietly

viewed the protest. She said it was
interesting how the protesters
expressed their opinions in different,
creative ways.
"Arts is a really powerful medium
for expressing opinion," Eisen said. "I
think what's really sad is a lot of peo-
ple are walking by and not stopping to
listen"
A larger protest by Acting Out will
take place today in the Diag at noon
with more than 50 performers,
painters, bands and Royal Shakespeare
Company members participating.

By Andrew Kaplpl
Daily Staff Reporter
Readying themselves for the March 19 and 20 elections,
representatives of the Michigan Student Assembly passed a
number of resolutions last night allowing students to com-
plete online surveys when voting for candidates.
At last night's meeting, the assembly agreed to post ballots
seeking student opinions on the University's race-conscious
admissions policies, on the establishment of a human rights
center at the University and on the extension of the Newspa-
per Readership Program it launched last semester.
"People on MSA always pretend they know how stu-
dents feel," said Kinesiology Rep. T. J. Wharry, who
sponsored the resolution creating the admissions policies
ballot question. "Nobody ever asks the students how
they feel."
Wharry's ballot allows students to support, disapprove or
request more information on the admissions policies.
Previously at each election, MSA posted online ballots that
poll students on issues pertinent to the University. The results
of the surveys are often delivered to the University Board of
Regents for evaluation, MSA Treasurer Liz Mullane said.
Earlier in the semester, MSA voted to support the cre-
ation of a University human rights center intended to edu-

"People on MSA always pretend
they know how students feel....
Nobody ever asks the students how
they feel"
- T. J. Wharry
Kinesiology representative, Michigan Student Assembly
cate students about human rights issues in addition to secur-
ing scholarships and internships for them.
"If we get overwhelming support, my plan is to send
those results along with the resolution that was already
passed by MSA in support of a human rights center to
administrators across campus,"Mullane said.
"A lot of other Big Ten and Ivy League schools have (a
center)," she said.
The final ballot proposal requests that students vote on the
continuation of the Newspaper Readership Program. Last
semester, the program gave students free access to major news
publications including USA Today and The New York Times.
For the upkeep of the program, MSA has suggested a $2
increase in the student activities fee - a measure that voters
will examine on the ballot.


HOUSE
Continued from Page 1
they take in to account that students
from different parts of the state do not
have the same educational opportunity.
The resolution, if you look at how it is
written, also denies preference to in-
state students."
However, the issue is not drawn
purely on party lines. Some Repub-

licans, including Rep. Gene DeRos-
sett (R-Freedom Twp.), feel the
notion of having a resolution is
inappropriate.
"This particular issue should not have
come up to the Michigan Legislature,"
said Peter Wills, DeRossett's
spokesman.
"This was something he felt should be
left up to the Supreme Court," said
Willis..

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