LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 3A
Coleman requests smaller budget cuts
Police investigate
possible criminal
sexual assault
A woman called police from Mosher
Jordan Residence Hall Monday morn-
ing to report that she had been sexually
assaulted by an acquaintance on Friday.
Department of Public Safety Lt. Crys-
tal James said both the victim and the
suspect are affiliated with the Universi-
ty, and that DPS does not suspect alco-
hol or drugs to be involved.
James added that because the case is
still under investigation, DPS could not
provide further information about the
assault. Officers said it is unknown
whether any arrests will be made.
Second-and third-degree criminal
sexual conduct is punishable by up to
15 years in jail. Suspects convicted of
first-degree sexual assault can face life
imprisonment.
Vehicle stolen from
Glazier Avenue lot
remains missing
DPS reports state that a dark green
1998 Ford Ranger was stolen from a
University parking lot on Glazier
Avenue sometime Tuesday. DPS has no
suspects, and the vehicle had not been
recovered as of last night.
Police apprehend
pot, paraphernalia
from trio in MoJo
Three females in Mosher Jordan Resi-
dence Hall were questioned Tuesday
night after DPS officers suspected them
of possessing a controlled substance.
Police collected marijuana and other
paraphernalia from the suspects, who
were released pending warrant authori-
zation.
Light falls from
museum ceiling,
injures passerby
A man was reportedly injured Mon-
day morning when a light fixture fell
from the ceiling of the Ruthven Muse-
um. The man called DPS but declined
an ambulance, reports state.
Officers contacted the University
Electric Shop to make the repairs.
Cell phone left
unattended stolen
from 'U' building
A cell phone that was allegedly
taken from the Central Campus Recre-
ational Building on March 10 was
reported stolen a week later. The caller
said he had left his cell phone unat-
tended in the building.
Solicitors selling
cologne escorted
from Couzens hall
A man and a woman selling cologne
on the fifth floor of Couzens Resi-
dence Hall were escorted from the
building after residents complained to
DPS officers about the solicitation
Monday afternoon. DPS reports did
not state how long the solicitors had
been present in the building.
Man given MIP,
taken to hospital
after passing out
A 19-year-old man was taken to the
hospital Monday night after being dis-
covered unconscious in Couzens Resi-
dence Hall. The man was later cited for
possessing alcohol, DPS reports state.
Police respond to
multiple reports of
skaters, cyclists
Unseasonably warm weather on St.
Patrick's Day led to several calls made
to DPS regarding skateboarders,
rollerbladers and bike riders failing to
comply with city ordinances.
The first call occurred at 5:30 p.m.,
when a person complained that several
subjects were skateboarding on a
handrail between Glen Street and the
Taubman Medical Center. DPS respond-
ed to a second call at 6:15 p.m., when a
caller from the Medical Science Unit II
building on Catherine Street reported
that a group of juveniles were skating
near the building. A third call was placed
from the Horace Rackham Graduate
Studies building on Washington Street at
8 p.m., when a group of cyclists were
discovered riding their bikes on the front
steps of the building.
Police were not able to locate any of
the suspects.
Pedestrian light
By Dan Trudeau
Daily Staff Reporter
"A significant reduction of our state appro-
priation will lead to an adverse effect on the
education of our students," University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman said yesterday in
Lansing.
At the Michigan State Capitol testifying
before the House Higher Education Appropri-
ations Subcommittee, Coleman and the presi-
dents of four other public universities asked
the committee members to soften the budget
cuts to higher education proposed by Gov.
Jennifer Granholm earlier this month.
Under Granholm's proposal, the University
will suffer a $23.4 million decrease in fund-
ing. Should the Legislature approve the meas-
ure, the cut would have strong negative
effects on the state's economic prospects,
Coleman said.
"The lifetime economic benefits of educa-
tion are well understood by our students,
who seek to join us in record numbers,"
Coleman said. "It is true that we depend on
our appropriation from the state - but at the
University of Michigan, we give back far
more to the state than we receive in our
appropriation."
Coleman noted the University has made many
important state contributions, including the cre-
ation of new economic opportunities through
$456 million in federal revenue to Michigan for
research last year.
Rep. Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor), a mem-
ber of the subcommittee, said Coleman's
remarks were helpful in creating a dialogue
about the importance of higher education as
an economic development resource for the
state. He added that while the future of
statewide universities' funding is uncertain,
there is support for higher education within
the house.
"There's a vocal minority who are looking
to see what can be done to help the universi-
ties. Where that effort goes from here - I'm
not sure," Kolb said. "We need to start look-
ing at the long-term impact of our decisions.
(The universities) can weather a one-year cut,
but we cannot support a long-term reduction
in the quality of our higher education."
Coleman also affirmed the University's com-
mitment to provide sufficient financial aid
resources for students in need and to keep
tuition from increasing too dramatically.
"We have kept tuition increases as low as
possible over the past several years, espe-
cially in comparison to our Big Ten counter-
parts."
"In this state, the University of Michigan and
Michigan State University have been leaders in
tuition restraint," Coleman said.
Provost Paul Courant said while there is no
legal limitation to the amount by which the Uni-
versity can raise tuition, the University Board of
Regents will not rely solely on tuition increases
to cover the cuts to state funding and rising costs
in utility, medical care, security systems and
other expenses.
"It is true that we depend on
our appropriation from the
state - but at the University
of Michigan, we give far
more back to the state than
we receive in our
appropriation:'
- Mary Sue Coleman
University president
"There is no possible way that tuition
increases could be large enough to cover the
cuts and the $50 million in new costs for next
year," Courant said.
"We will certainly be taking expenditures
out of the budget."
The Michigan legislature is expected to make its
final decisions on the governor's proposals in June.
Up and Down
Bakke decision scrutinized
in CIR's undergraduate brief
By Jeremy Berkowitz
Daily Staff Reporter
Although they make up only a
fraction of the 150 points in the
University admissions selection
index, the 20 points received for
race comes under attack in the Cen-
ter for Individual Right's brief in
Gratz v. Bollinger. .
CIR will present its
oral arguments in thew
case, challenging they
University's undergrad-
uate admissions poli-
cies, before the U.S. ,
Supreme Court April 1.w
"The automatic Prthe
award of a fixed pref- pour-pe
erence to every mem-
ber of a specified racial or ethnic
e
not heavily weighted, especially
considering the fact that an appli-
cant's academic credentials com-
prise 110 points.
"There's no way that 20 out of 150 is
the overwhelming factor," Alger said.
"The Supreme Court is unlikely to fix in
on a particular number."
The legacy of the 1978 Bakke
decision remains at stake
as the trial approaches.
The plaintiffs repeatedly
claim that the University
misinterprets Powell's
opinion, speaking for the
"Ymajority of the court,
that race can be used as
a one of many factors in
,Ie, deciding admissions.
CIR questions the mean-
ing of Powell's statement that race
could be meant as a factor.
"I think that universities have attempt-
ed to distort the meaning of Bakke,"
CIR spokesman Curt Levey said.
But Alger added that the University
modeled its admissions system after that
used by Harvard University where race
could be used as a plus factor, as pro-
posed by Powell. "I think it's important
to point out that Bakke did actually spec-
ify guidance," Alger said. "It's possible
that they could decide to clarify Bakke."
The brief also emphasizes that diver-
sity is a vague principle and cannot be
narrowly and properly defined in col-
lege admissions systems.
"To justify the use of race and
ethnicity as considerations in
admissions on the basis that diversi-
ty is a compelling interest would be
to make a substantial and dramatic
break from this Court's articulated
equal-protection principles. It
would infringe on fundamental
rights protected by the Fourteenth
Amendment and the other civil
rights statutes at issue here," the
brief states.
The plaintiffs use the minority opin-
ion from the Bakke decision to help their
cause, showing that there is no differ-
ence between quotas and the addition of
points in the selection index.
"There is no sensible, and certainly no
constitutional, distinction between, for
example, adding a set number of points
to the admission rating of disadvantaged
minority applicants as an expression of
the preference with the expectation that
this will result in the admission of an
approximately determined number of
qualified minority applicants and setting
a fixed number of places for such appli-
cants as was done (at Davis)," Justice
William Brennan wrote in Bakke.
group is nothing like what Justice
(Lewis) Powell approved in Regents
of the University of California v.
Bakke," the brief states. "Indeed, he
rejected the systematic award of
preferences, based solely on race or
ethnicity, that the University's pref-
erences entail. Justice Powell voted
to strike down the quota system
under consideration in Bakke."
But University Assistant G al
Counsel Jonathan Alger se y ce
DAVID KATZIDaily
LSA junior Ryan Bari of Alpha Gamma Delta continues the 36-hour
teeter-totter marathon for diabetes research in the Diag yesterday.
Student apathy, mud-
slingng contribute
to low voter turnout
By Andrew Kaplan
Daily Staff Reporter
Although voter turnout for the Michi-
gan Student Assembly fell last year -
nearly 1,000 fewer students voted in the
2002 fall elections than in the 2001 fall
elections - the rate of undergraduate
turnout has stayed steady at about 20
percent since 1998.
Some students said candidates' inabili-
ties to acquaint themselves with their
constituents has led to a sense of apathy
toward student government.
"Especially because the campus is so
large, it's hard to encompass all students
and all their views," LSA junior Uzoma
Anyanetu said.
While most candidates in today's
student government elections have
channeled their energies into cam-
paigning, a core of party members has
also spent its time trading barbs over a
contentious e-mail.Since campaigns
began three weeks ago, an anonymous
source has circulated e-mails to stu-
dents accusing Adam Haba, a Univer-
sity Party candidate for MSA from the
College of Literature, Science and the
Arts, of racist remarks in a February
2002 e-mail he sent to African Ameri-
can Cultural Show organizer Canethia
Henderson. Haba sent the e-mail in
response to Henderson's invitation ask-
ing him to attend the cultural show.
Responding to Henderson, Haba said
he would not "sit through an hour of 'I
hate whitey' racial slurs, in your 'Nazi-
esque' attempt to convince me that I am
the cause of your oppression, for the
sole reason that I am white."
Haba also added in the e-mail that he
is "all for equality and an end to dis-
crimination," but that the cultural show
disseminated propaganda.
"If you read through the e-mail,
nowhere does it state that I am racist -
that I hate anybody different from
myself," Haba said. "Any rumors going
around about me are completely untrue.
I truly believe in a colorblind society."
While Haba admitted that his remarks
who it is and I don't know how he got
that information," she said. "I think
(Haba's e-mail) might have been taken
out of context and I think that needs to
be considered."
Reflecting on a relatively low voter
turnout in student government elections
at the University, several students said
MSA representatives do not serve stu-
dents' interests.
"Students think MSA is a waste of
time," Rackham student Eric Miller said.
"I don't think MSA does anything useful."
"Students feel (student government) is
just self-serving, resume-stuffing posi-
tions," Anyanetu said, adding that she
approves of MSA resolutions advocat-
ing campus improvements. "If (resolu-
tions) are in the University, it's fine, but
with Iraq it's a waste of time."
"Bush doesn't care what we think,"
she said, citing an MSA resolution dis-
couraging war with Iraq.
But students said when MSA can ful-
fill their purpose as campus leaders by
passing resolutions that seek to improve
University life.
"One thing that sticks out is the trans-
portation service to the airport," Rack-
ham student Mohammad Khalil said,
referring to the MSA airBus that offers
rides to Detroit Metro Airport during
Spring Break.
Khalil -- who is coordinator of the
Muslim Graduate Students Association
- added that MSA was quick to fund
his student group.
"It's the little things like that - it just
makes the process more convenient," he
said. "They've always been quicker than
they tell me (at providing funds)."
In addition, the assembly's troubles are
not unique among student governments
of other Big Ten universities. "In terms
of voter turnout, 17.5 percent of under-
grads voted last year," said Allison
Young, Undergraduate Student Govern-
ment chief of staff at Pennsylvania State
University. "I would say feelings are
mixed about the role of the USG."
Rasha Aly, a reporter at the -Lantern at
Ohio State University, said sentiment