4
Tuesday
December 10, 2002
@2002 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXII, No. 65
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-H 11
Many int'l
students
find fitting
in difficult
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
While the University aims to encour-
age interaction among students of all
races and ethnicities, several internation-
al students say campus organizations are
not sufficiently facilitating such interac-
tion.
Michigan ranks ninth in the nation for
the number of international students
with 4,149 enrolled, according to the
Chronicle of Higher Education, but
many of these students do not complete-
ly integrate into the student body.
Although LSA junior Joy Kaung left
Hong Kong three years ago to attend the
University, she said she feels she has
only partially succeeded in associating
with American students.
"In terms of integration, there's the
part where people just don't personally
reach out," Kaung said. "It's not really
working that well because for most of
the students I know that are international
students, they don't mingle well with the
locals"
But international students do not
always avoid associating with American
students by choice - they just have
fewer opportunities to interact with
American students, LSA sophomore
Pragav Jain said.
"International students do feel left
out," he said. "At orientation you only
meet a few people. Initially in the first
year, they don't hang out with American
students."
LSA sophomore Akshay Bajpaee,
who is an Indian from Hong Kong and a
member of three international student
groups, said the University needs to cre-
ate "more programs promoting the mix-
ing of international and American
students.
"I don't think mentorship programs
or other programs on campus have
achieved that success of mixing yet,"
he said.
The University is not entirely respon-
sible for encouraging greater interaction,
said Jain, a member of the Indian Stu-
dents Association. He added that some
international student groups primarily
organize activities for their members to
interact with one another.
"Whatever activities they hold are
amongst themselves rather than involv-
ing American students," he said.
Onur Cetin, president of the Turkish
Student Association, said some interna-
tional students try to isolate themselves
within their respective national associa-
tions.
"It's not a good idea," he said. "The
national associations should help out for
the first few months, but then encourage
the students to integrate"
Yet some international student organi-
zations are realizing the importance of
integration and are encouraging their
members to associate with Americans.
"I've been trying to encourage the
Turkish students here to live with Amer-
icans in the houses," Cetin said. "Start
living with the Americans, start working
with them, which will get the fastest
adaptation"
Both Kaung and Bajpaee said they
had the opportunity to interact with
many Americans through AIESEC, a
student internship exchange organiza-
See INTERNATIONAL, Page 7
Prior Court
rulings lend
to predictions
PATRICK JONES/Daily
LSA sophomore Stephen Crafton and Art and Design freshman Michelle Schuster walk on a path along Murfin Avenue on North
Campus yesterday afternoon. A student was robbed on a path like this the night before.
North Campus robbery
second of the semester
By Megan Hayes
Daily Staff Reporter
As the US. Supreme Court prepares
to hear arguments in the lawsuits against
the University's use of race-conscious
admissions policies, recent Supreme
Court rulings regarding the use of affir-
mative action may serve as predictors of,
the fate of university admissions.
"Without exception, the Court has
been very reluctant to allow state institu-
tions in particular
to use racial and
ethnic classifica- ,MisrS%
tions," said Roger 'N IA
Klegg, general
counsel for the
Center for Equal
Opportunity, a
Virginia-based think tank opposed to the
use of race in admissions.
"The general rule is that any racial or
ethnic classification is presumptively
illegal."
In addition, Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor, who will most likely be the
swing vote in the University's cases, has
rejected the use of affirmative action in
previous cases and wrote the Court's
opinions in two other cases questioning
affirmative action.
Klegg said this makes it very likely
she will vote against affirmative action
again in both of the University's law=
suits.
While O'Connor has shown an
awareness of the problems inherent to
affirmative action, the fact that she has
typically stood on the side of former
Justice Lewis Powell could mean that
she will not vote for the University said
Robert Post, a law professor at the Uni-
versity of California at Berkeley.
In Regents of the University of Cali-
fornia v. Bakke, Powell invalidated the
University of California at Davis' use of
a quota system as part of its admissions
policy, and specified the extent to which
race could be used as a factor in admis-
sions. But the University of Michigan
maintains that it does not use quotas.
Post said he believes O'Connor will
similarly strike down the University of
Michigan's use of race as a factor in its
admissions policies and place more
stringent constraints upon its use at uni-
versities nationwide.
"She'll make it a little harder to do,
but she'll still allow you to do it," he
said, adding that she will use the Univer-
sity's cases to provide a recipe for the
future use of affirmative action.
Although she seems to'have created a
voting pattern, Georgetown University
law Prof. Susan Bloch said O'Connor's
vote in the cases cannot be predicted
with certainty.
"She believed in very case-by-case
specific analysis," she said. "I don't
think with her you can generalize."
Analysts added that proving such"
classifications necessary is an uphill bat-
tle in which parties must prove there is
no way to achieve their purpose without
considering race.
Past cases may also foreshadow
how the Court will vote. In 1989,
the Court, in City of Richmond v.
See LAWSUITS, Page 7
By Jeremy Berkowitz
Daily Staff Reporter
The Department of Public Safety posted a crime alert yes-
terday for the second armed robbery on campus this semester,
which occurred on North Campus late Sunday night.
A male student, whose name could not be released, was
walking along a path alongside the woods right near the south
side of Bursley Residence Hall when two men approached
him at around 11:30 p.m. One of the men, bearing a black
handgun, demanded his belongings and then ran off. DPS Sgt.
Stacy Richmond could not say what items of the student's
were taken.
The suspects were described as two black males, one 6 feet
tall and the other 5-foot-8. They were both said to. have been
wearing black clothing.
Richmond said officers responded to the scene and began
an investigation. Although a police tracking dog was unable to
pick up on the scent of the suspects, officers were able to col-
See ROBBERY, Page 7
New discoveries
Student speaker chosen for
Winter Commencement
By Margaret Engoren
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Jacob Roth will try to'
capture an entire college experience in
five minutes as this winter's commence-
ment speaker.
"At first I didn't know what the
speeches were supposed to be about, so
I just wrote a speech about what was
important to me about Michigan, a mes-
sage of hope and youth and education,"
Roth said. "I was surprised to win
because I wrote it overnight and it ended
up being about 1,500 words, which was
way too long, so I had to cut it in third
and I thought a lot of the message was
lost. I have worked on it since, though,
and I think it has come together well."
Although the speech was written in
one day, Roth has been brewing over its
content for almost a year.
"I started thinking about the speech
last winter during a workshop for my
English 325 class. A girl submitted a
commencement speech for the class to
critique. Editing her draft, I thought of
my own speech," Roth said. "My speech
is intended to be provocative and to
invoke memories. I tried to include song
lyrics everyone would relate to."
Although delivering a speech to the
entire Winter 2002 graduating class
could be a daunting assignment, Roth
said he is not worried, but honored.
"Its an honor to be representing the
student body, at least for five minutes,"
Roth said. "I a'm not nervous because I
feel adequately prepared, I have a back-
ground in public speaking and Professor
Al Storey has been helping me to refine
my speech"
LSA senior Sarah Worden is not grad-
uating this month, but said she would be
happy to have Roth represent her. She
will attend commencement to hear
Roth's speech.
"I am absolutely unsurprised that
Jacob is the one who was chosen to
present the speech. I think he is singular-
ly qualified to speak for the student
body," Worden said. "The way he
expresses his thoughts is above and
See COMMENCEMENT, Page 7
KELLY LIN/Daily
Zachary Sedgwick looks at a new "hovering" toy, the Vectron,
outside the Discovery Channel Store inside of Briarwood Mall.
U' announces plans to survey
Arab-Americans on relationships
Prof awarded
Golden Apple,
standing ovaion
By Karen Schwartz
Daily Staff Reporter
Medical Prof. Tom Gest was making routine
announcements before his Gross Anatomy 500 class
yesterday afternoon when he was interrupted mid-sen-
tence by another group that had an announcement to
make - Gest received this year's annual Golden
Apple Award.
Gest, who said the award was completely unexpect-
ed, also received a standing ovation from his more
than 170 students.
"I feel very honored. I really am surprised that I
would be chosen from so many extremely qualified
people. Receiving the award was a surprise to me and
a distinct honor," he said.
Gest, who began teaching at the University five
years ago, is the 13th individual to receive a Golden
Apple Award, presented by Students Honoring Out-
standing University Teaching. The award gives stu-
dents the chance to nominate professors via a form
online asking why the professor would be a worthy
recipient.
For Gest, the most exciting part of teaching in the
Medical School is being able to follow the students
from the first day of class until graduation and seeing
ANN ARBOR (AP) - The Univer-
sity of Michigan will survey Arab-
Americans in the Detroit area, a
population now estimated at somewhere
between 100,000 and 300,000 people.
The University Institute for Social
Research will sample 1,000 Arab-
Americans in the Detroit area, plus
another 500 non-Arabs.
Researchers hope to show the sim-
ilarities and differences in attitudes,
behavior and opinions among vari-
ous Arab-American groups and
between these groups and other
Americans.
"The aftermath of Sept. 11 has
brought new urgency to issues of
national identity, multiculturalism and
means," said Wayne Baker, the pro-
ject's team leader.
"In defending themselves against
the suspicion of terrorism, Arab-Amer-
icans have been forced to confront
their own national, religious and ethnic
commitments, as well as their trust in
U.S. institutions.
"This survey will also explore their
relationships to each other, to non-
Arab Americans and to their relatives,
friends and other Arabs in the Middle
East," said Baker, who will work with
the school's Dearborn Center for Arab
American Studies researcher Ronald
Stockton.
The Detroit area's Arab-American
and Chaldean community is one of the
the world.
Baker and Stockton call it one of the
most diverse, in religion as well as
national origin, with Lebanese, Pales-
tinians, Yemenis and Iraqis living
alongside Syrians, Jordanians, Egyp-
tians, Moroccans and people from
other Middle Eastern and North
African countries.
Face-to-face interviews with ran-
domly selected residents are sched-
uled to begin in the early spring of
2003 and will continue throughout
the summer, the University said.
Preliminary findings will be avail-
able in the fall of 2003.
Established in 1948, the Institute
for Social Research is among the
JONATHON TRIEST/ Daily
Medical Prof. Thomas Gest received this year's Golden
i