44 The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 8A COLEMAN Continued from Page 1A that are focused on financial aid. Michigan has taken a stance, and I have cer- tainly admired it from afar, that it wants to be a really great University. And that has driven the tuition increase. We always have to be careful though, we always have to be aware of the issues that students face, and their families face. We don't want to make Michigan a place that only the wealthy can attend. I think we'll be looking closely at the issues of financial aid. Also, you always do your best with tuition. I am concerned about the economic situation in the state. We have been told there is a huge deficit and I don't know how that is going to play out in the state legislature. I was pleased we were able to keep the tuition increase under 8 percent. I understand that is still a lot of money, and so I am going to be trying to work with the state and really talk about the value of higher education. TMD: Are there places in the University where you believe it is possible to cut back, even when times are good? MSC: We always have to be looking for ways to save money and I have been asking those questions about the infrastructure improvements. (By) reducing paper flow and going to credit card purchases rather than invoices, you can save a huge amount of money. Michigan has been very much out front in changing to systems that reduce internal cost. I have already started asking questions about what are other ways that we can drive down cost, because we have to do that. It is our responsibility and we will keep trying to do it. We did that at Iowa, and we will do that here. TMD: Do you believe you are a role model for other women, seeing how you are the first University president who is a female? Are you comfortable playing that role? MSC: I want to be a role model for all young people. TMD: How devoted are you to making sure that lawsuits are defended in every way possible not only in the Supreme Court if they go there, but on campus as well, and at the state level. MSC: I have been watching pretty closely in the last few years as this unfolded in Michigan. I have been impressed with the stance the Uni- versity has taken. I firmly believe the Universi- ty's policies are based on the (Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke) decision, the law of the land for the last 20 years. I have looked carefully at the way Michigan has con- structed its undergraduate and Law School admissions, and it looked to me that the educa- tional aspects of diversity were at the forefront. They have always been at the forefront, and that supports the fact that the University is defending it so vigorously. I assume these cases will go to the Supreme Court. In my life, I have been privileged to see the educational benefits of having a diverse student body. When I was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the '60s, it was a very homogeneous campus. There wasn't much diversity at all, and there wasn't much diversity on the faculty. Then I had the privi- lege of going back 20 years later, in the early 1990s to be an administrator. It is so much more vibrant. The faculty was diverse, the stu- dent body was diverse, it was intellectually alive with different points of view. It made a huge impact on me. TMD: One of the things that you were known for at Iowa was taking a strong stance on student alcohol use. You are also a member of the President's Leadership Group for Alcohol and Drug Prevention, and you have helped to keep alcohol a 'front- burner issue'. Do you plan to continue that work here in Ann Arbor, and what type of impact do you want to have? MSC: One of the first things that happened when I first went to Iowa was that there had been a death. A young man died, 18 years old, in a fraternity. Aspirated his own vomit and died. It was a real tragedy and it was a wake-up call for me that there was a real problem. In surveying students, they reported that one of the most important, pressing issues on cam- pus was alcohol abuse and its secondary effects - that is assaults, unwanted sexual advances, vandalism, drunk driving. We got that from the students. I was intrigued to see similar survey results here at Michigan. Students report that it is a big problem on campus. TMD: In Iowa, there is going to be a poli- cy this year that a letter will be sent home to the parents of students under 21 who have been charged as a Minor in Possession of alcohol. Would you continue to determine what the current student opinion is about alcohol is first before going about these types of policies? MSC: I want to look at things very carefully. What I've discovered is that when you come into a new circumstance, there can be a lot of differences. So I am not intending to carry the Iowa circumstances to Michigan. I want to lis- ten very carefully to what people have to say. Student opinion is very important to me. TMD: What kinds of things led the Uni- versity of Iowa to make the decision to send letters to those parents? MSC: We had a lot of interest from parents, we had a lot of interest from law enforcement. We had interest from certain students, but it was- n't a unanimous opinion that this should be done. We had a little bit of a different issue in Iowa than here. In Iowa, there are some very large bars close to the campus and we had an inci- dent last year where some bartenders were throwing alcohol out on the bar and they lit it and some students got very seriously burned. It was a circumstance that could have easily erupted into a fire and hundreds of students could have been killed. I was very concerned about it. I mean it was total recklessness and abdication of responsibility. TMD: How involved do you plan to be with the individual decision processes of dif- ferent colleges? MSC: Well there is a process in the Univer- sity that, depending on what the particular mat- ter is, in some areas, the faculty have final say on what is going to happen, they control the curriculum, and all these issues. In other situa- tions, the faculty opinion comes up to the deans, and the deans make decisions. I believe in delegating those kinds of respon- sibilities. They know best what they need for their college, and the curricu- lum they need. I'll rely on a lot of people to make those decisions for themselves. TMD: How are you going to ensure that Michigan athletes are not going to be involved in scandals similar to the one with Ed Martin? There is currently a debate about changing the amateur status of college athletes, how do you feel about that and how do you think the University should approach athletes so that these scandals don't occur? MSC: I believe very firmly that if our ath- letes are not students first and are not amateurs, then there is no point in having them. I am not in favor of having professional athletes repre- sent universities. I think it misses the whole point, and it would lose fan support extremely rapidly. I believe people like to watch college athletics, and they like it because they know the participants are students, and they are at the university getting degrees and they are playing on behalf of their university. I think the Athletic Department has already started, and already done, quite a bit in terms of really working with student athletes to let them understand what the problems are and not to get in the type of circumstance that apparently hap- pened with the Ed Martin case. I have had sev- eral conversations with Athletic Director (Bill Martin), and I feel like he is on top of this. He has already started to institute some changes. TMD: How do you think you can encour- age a closer connection between the Univer- sity and Ann Arbor? MSC: I think that is important. I enjoyed a good relationship with the city when I was in Iowa. I have met with Mayor (John Hieftje) already. We all work together here - we depend on Ann Arbor, they depend on us. Our interests won't always coincide, but we ought to be able to talk to each other to figure out how we can make this community a better place. I also think that it's really important for us to connect with the state, so I am going to be going out and speaking to groups around the state about what we are doing at Michigan and why it is important. TMD: When the University is negotiating DEBBIE MIZEL/Daily Mary Sue Coleman speaks to faculty and students May 29 in the Michigan Union Kuenzel Room after the announcement that she was chosen to be the University's 13th president. contracts with companies such as New Era and Nike, and contributing to organizations such as the United Way, how concerned should the University be with looking at the business practices and policies of those organizations? MSC: I know we've been working through some of the issues with the United Way, and we've certainly made our opinions known to the board. In terms of licensing apparel, I know that there is a committee here on campus that has been helping to advise the University on what it should do. We need to continue to look carefully at everything we are doing. TMD: Do you fear the privatization of the University as tuition goes up and the percent of state funding goes down? MSC: You always have to worry about that. That's why I want to get out in the state and talk about the importance of supporting great public institutions. I do think that there has been, over the last 20 years, a move all over the country to begin to pull back from support of public institu- tions. It's important for us to keep talking about how that helps the nation, how that helps the state. It provides access. It is a forum. It is a place that is really accountable to the people of this state. TMD: As housing costs in Ann Arbor go up, it becomes more difficult for students to live in the same places that they have histori- cally lived. Would you,,in your relationship with Ann Arbor, try to strike a deal between where new upscale housing is being located and where student neighborhoods exist, so that those costs don't continue to rise? MSC: That is a difficult question because you are talking about private developers mak- ing decisions about what to do. The mayor and I have already touched on the issue of housing, and his concern - and the city council's con- cern - for housing and the opportunities avail- able for students. I think we should continue that dialogue and see if there are ways we can move forward that would be helpful both to students and to the city. I know it is a big issue. TMD: What is your message to students about helping them to enjoy their under- graduate education? MSC: Don't come in with blinders on. Don't start out thinking that you know exactly what you want to do. Take a little sideway step every once in a while. And most of all, get involved. All the research shows that students who get connected, students who get involved, do better - both socially and academically. Don't stay isolated in your room, get out and do stuff. Think about the opportunities here. There are hundreds and hun- dreds of organizations that students can get involved with. It is just fabulous. And the com- munity is fabulous too. You can do volunteer activities all over the city. You've got this great city that is right next to the campus. It is a dyna- mite combination. "... We ought to have great public universities, and this is one of them. I happen to think it is the best." - Mary Sue Coleman University President BORED WIrH CLASS ALREADY COME WRIE FOR THEAILYY. CALL 76-DAILY. High Holy Days Come Early Be sure to pick up your required tickets at Hillel's Open House, Wednesday, Sept. 4 from 8am - 10pm OR at the Hillel office (1429 Hill St.) M-F 9am - 5pm. Tickets are free of charge to students with a valid University ID. Please obtain tickets no later than Thurs. Sept. 5. Hillel Rosh Hashana Services ATTACKS Continued from Page 1A LSA freshman Casey Crocket said the news that it happened dur- ing the day was surprising. She added that being from a relatively safe hometown worrying about crime is not something she has adapted to. "If it's light, I feel safer. You don't think something like this hap- pens during the day," she said. "I don't feel unsafe, I just feel more conscious." Some events that happened earli- er in the summer also surprised stu- dents, like a shooting involving two Michigan football players. After a night of drinking on May 17, Michigan football players Markus Curry and Carl Diggs were walking home from a party on the 200 block of Packard Street that had been broken up by police around 11:30 p.m. after a fight broke occured. Curry and Diggs did not partici- pate in the fight, Ann Arbor Police Department Sgt. Michael Logghe said. When they reached the corner of Madison Street and Fifth Avenue at around 12:30 a.m., they were con- fronted by four males, who police believed had been involved in -the earlier altercation. One man had a gun and began shooting. Only Diggs and Curry were hit - Diggs in the leg and Curry in the back. Both were driven to University Hospital by friends and treated for their injuries. AAPD eventually arrested a shooting suspect, 18-year-old Ypsi- lanti resident Joshua White, who was charged with two assault charges with intent to murder, as well as carrying a concealed weapon and two felony firearms counts. White had turned himself in after police issued a warrant for his arrest, but he pleaded not guilty to all counts and was eventually released. Students said they found the shootings more shocking than the robbery. Date Fri. Sept. 6 Sat. Sept. 7 Sun. Sept. 8 Conservative Orthodox Reform 7:40pm* 7:40pm 7:40pm 9:00am* 9:00am 10:00am 7:30pm 7:30pm 9:00am 9:00am 7:40pm *These services are at the Power Center (121 Fletcher). All others at Hillel. Hillel Yom Kippur Services Date Sun. Sept. 15 Mon. Sept. 16 Conservative 7:25pm* 9:00ain* 6:15pm** Orthodox 7:25pmt 9:00am 7:15pm*** Reform 7:25pm 10:00am 6:15pm** *These services are at the Power Center t Minha ** Minha & Ne'ilah *** Ne'ilah (121 Fletcher) Holiday Meals Rosh Hashana