Weath0r Wednesday @2002 The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 66 One-hundred-twelve years of editorialfreedom TODAY: Cloudy skies are expected to last throughout the day, clear-' ing in the later in the evening. 5 38 OW: 2 9 Tomorrow: 41i3 wwwmkhigandaily~com Armed robbery spree continues By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter Four men walking alone on North Campus were reportedly robbed at gun- and knifepoint Monday night, bringing the total number of armed robberies occurring near campus this semester from zero to five in less than two days. The Department of Public Safety believes the latest incidents all occurred within a 45-minute time span, between 8 and 8:45 p.m. Monday. All the victims were walking near Cram Circle between Bishop Avenue and Hubbard Street on North Campus, near the Northwood Housing I and II complexes. DPS Lt. Benny Chenevert said the victims each reported that they were approached by two young men - one who had a large semiautomatic hand- gun and the other who held a knife. The first suspect is described as a white male between 15 and 18 years old, standing between 5- foot-7 and 5-foot-8 and weighing approximately 200 to 230 pounds. He was wearing a dark blue jacket and his face was covered with either a hood or a hat, according to the crime alert issued by DPS yesterday. The second suspect was described as a black male between 13 and 16 years old, standing about 5-foot-6 and weighing 130 pounds. According to the crime alert, he has a light complexion, short black hair and was wearing a dark blue or black hooded jacket. It is unknown which suspect was carrying which weapon. The victims told police the suspects were originally polite, asking for directions before robbing them. Nobody was injured and Chenevert said he did not know how much money had been taken or if any other possessions were stolen. Since the incidents, DPS has taken several meas- See CRIME, Page 7 Nation's campuses reconsider race as factor in admissions Webber trial set to start after season By Steve Jackson Daily Sports Editor By Megan Hayes Daily Staff Reporter The trial of former Michigan basket- ball player Chris Webber won't take place until July 8, well after the regular season and playoffs have concluded for the Sacramento Kings star forward. "Nobody else would be accommodat- ed like this," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino told the Sacramento Bee. "Would a schoolteacher who wants to wait until the summer break? No. Would a physician who is seeing patients and performing surgery every day? No. Would a construction worker who can't feed his kids if he doesn't work when the weather allows? No." Webber, his father Mayce Web- ber Jr. and his aunt Charlene Johnson are facing charges Webbe' of obstruction of justice and lying to a federal grand jury about their dealings with banned Michi- gan basketball booster Ed Martin. Each has pleaded not guilty. Martin, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, said he loaned more than $600,000 to four Michigan basketball players, includ- ing $280,000 to Webber and his family. Webber has maintained that he only received pocket money from Martin, but his father admitted to taking gifts when he testified before the grand jury. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds postponed the trial at the request of Webber's lawyer, Steve Fishman. "You've got teammates, an organ- ization, the citizens of Sacramento," Fishman told the Detroit Free Press. "There's a lot more people than Chris Webber who are affected by this." Edmunds said the court often agrees to work around the schedule of "season- al" employees, like Webber. See WEBBER, Page 7 The response to affirmative action is changing, and states nationwide have begun adopting new admissions policies to create educational diversity without considering race. In Hopwood v. Texas, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals outlawed the University of Texas' con- sideration of race in its admissions policies, while failing to find diversity to be a compelling state interest. In order to remedy the drop in minority admissions numbers that resulted from they 1994 decision, the AtM4SION, Texas Legislature / ON iRJA a adopted what has been termed "The Top Ten Percent Plan" in 1997. Under this law, the top 10 percent of all high school graduates are automatically admitted to the Texas state college of their choice. "There are no choices to be made," said Bruce Walker, director of admissions and associate vice president for student affairs at Texas. "(Students) will be admitted if they apply." He said the percent plan was created out of con- cern for whether universities in Texas could main- tain diversity without using race as a factor. Although it has been successful so far, Walker said it cannot function effectively on its own. "There's some debate whether a 10 percent plan in and of itself will help students get the kind of diversity they want, he said. "Just making students eligible... is not enough" \' In addition to implementing the new admissions plan, Walker said universities have strengthened outreach to high schools and have created scholar- ships for eligible students who cannot afford a col- lege education. "We are out there trying to change this socially- imbedded behavior," he said. "What we are trying to do is demonstrate to students we are a good place to go regardless of race." Walker added that this type of community involvement has broadened the reach of universities across the state. "The loss of affirmative action made us smarter, made us think about things we wouldn't have thought of before,"he said. Since the introduction of the 10 percent plan, Walker said retention across the university has gone up, academic performance is stronger and minority enrollment has returned to "pre-Hopwood levels." Even given these positive results, he said the per- cent plan cannot be thought of as a substitute for using racial considerations. "I don't think there is an absolute replacement for affirmative action;' Walker said. Suffering a fate similar to that in Texas, the.state of California was forced to eradicate its use of race- conscious admissions after the passage of Proposi- tion 209. The 1996 ballot initiative outlawed preferential treatment resulting from affirmative action programs, among them admissions policies. "In the wake of Proposition 209 the (minority) numbers had declined," said Lavonne Luquis, director of outreach and admissions communica- tions at the University of California. She said this downturn in numbers, combined with the desire to See ADMISSIONS, Page 7 Selected as a semifinalist by GQ Magazine's "Big Man on Campus" contest, LSA senior Joshua Schwadron will now compete against eight other semifinalists from universities across the nation. GQ's hnt for hunk comes to, campus By Adhiraj Dutt Daily Staff Reporter After undertaking the task of narrowing the 2,400 nominations down to nine in their "Big Man on Campus" contest, Gentlemen's Quarterly selected LSA senior Joshua Schwadron as a semifinalist. If he is chosen as the national winner he will have his own photo spread and feature in an issue of GQ and get to rub elbows with celebrities in Hollywood for the GQ Movie Issue party. A fea- ture on the winner will probably appear in the March 2003 issue of GQ. "As a semifinalist, I won $500 and get to shoot a commercial," Schwadron said. "All the finalists are being flown to different places in the country. On the 16th, I am going to Chicago and will shoot a commercial for GQ and Pierre Cardin which should air toward the end of the month." Though he originally decided not to enter the contest, he changed his mind with the encourage- ment of LSA freshman Kerry Ederer. "He men- tioned the contest to me in passing. He is an avid reader of the magazine and keeps up to date," Ederer said. "He went out on a limb but it turned out to be a very exciting thing." See GQ, Page 7 Ye MSA anti-war resolution passes with much deb ate At the Michigan vs. Illinois football game earlier this year, tailgaters protested the University of Illinois' mascot, Chief Illiniwek for Its racist portrayal of Native Americans. School mascots blamed for escalation of stereotypes By Carmen Johnson Daily Staff Reporter After weeks of debate and postpone- ments, the Resolution Against a War in Iraq was voted upon and passed, 22 to 13, at last night's Michigan Student Assembly meeting. MSA will now events pertaining to the war. It has also been resolved that MSA will urge President Bush not to pre- emptively or unilaterally start a war with Iraq and encourage the Bush administration to pursue a peaceful diplomatic resolution built upon inter- national support. By Allison Yang Daily Staff Reporter Most students will spend their winter break in front of the television cheering on their favorite sports team - possibly while wearing apparel adorned with their team's mascot. But while a wolverine might not be seen as offensive, other university mascots are coming under fire because of their misrepresentation of Native Americans. According to the American Indian Movement, from childhood to adulthood, people encounter more than 3,000 culturally insensitive names of sports teams and mascots. can mascots inappropriate and offensive. "There shouldn't be Native American mascots at all. They are disrespectful and a mockery," said Fox, an LSA junior. Vernon Bellecourt, president of the American Indian Movement's National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, said mascots demean and trivialize the Native American people, their spiritual and cultural symbols and their self-esteem. "More indigenous is the fact that children are lit- erally brought into this world thinking cowboys and Indians;' Bellecourt said. Bellecourt said children play for sports teams with names like Redskins, Braves, Savages and Chiefs. Then they move on to the 4-H clubs, which FRANK PAYNE/Daily I