4 Tuesday December 10, 2002 @2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXII, No. 65 TODA kg One-hundred-twelve years ofeditorialfreedom Mostly sunny, with winds from the Southwest and clear skies in the evening. 39 LOW: 26 Tomorrow www.michigandaily.com -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