The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2003 - 5C U'U students benefit from campus organizations By Soojung Chang Daily News Editor For students interested in more than just academics, the University offers many opportunities to become involved in student groups. "It's just a really strong campus for students to get involved in politics and the issues they really care about;' first year law student Margaret Vincent said. Vincent said the student groups on campus have allowed her to pursue her inter- ests in political work. She first got involved as an undergraduate at the University. "I went to festifall as a freshman and learned about a lot of groups from that," she said. Festifall, held early in the fall semester, allows student groups to recruit new members by setting up tables in the Diag. With events like festifall, winterfest and all of the flyers and chalkings around campus advertising mass meetings and different events, it is hard for students to remain unaware of student organizations. "I feel like a lot of people don't get involved because they don't know how," LSA Senior Irfan Shuttari said. "But there's so many postings ... all you have to do is look at a kiosk," he added. Most mass meetings, where groups recruit most of their members, are held early in the semester. "Just really take the opportunity in the fall when you don't have that much of a workload ... try to get to (mass meetings) and see what sparks your interest," Shuttari said. "For someone to come to the (University) and not get involved in many student organizations is their own loss," he added. For new students on campus, the number and variety of student groups can be overwhelming at first. Chances are, there is a student group out there for almost any political cause, social issue, minority/ethnic group, hobby andk community service activity that you can think of. The Maize Pages website lists some of the many groups at http://uuis.umich.edu/maizepgs/. Maize Pages is an online directory of student organizations where students can look up information about groups such as website addresses and contact infor- mation. Guides such as Synergy, a booklist which lists descriptions of student groups, can also aid stu- dents who are looking to get involved. Recent graduate Deepa Challa said new studentsx should branch out and try out many groups. "Don't get so involved in one thing before you try out a bunch of different things. Try to go to a bunch of different meetings," she said. The benefits of getting involved in student groups are hard to ignore. In addition to having allowed them to explore different interests, many students said their experiences were invaluable in helping them to explore career options. Vincent said by exploring her political interests by becoming involved in the Student Democrats and Students for Choice, she figured out that she wanted to go to law school. In addition, her experiences gave her something to write about in her application. "To have a number of experiences on my law school application made a big difference,' Vincent said. "My law school statement involved something about my interest in political work... and to have proof that I'd been Casey Nodel, dance mar doing that was very beneficial," she added. Carey Larabee, a Unlve Challa said her experiences in the Encompass Mul- Dance Marathon.i ticultural Show, Imagine Advertising Club, and Pro- ject Serve helped her to develop leadership and time management skills - important qualities that she will utilize in the future. "Probably the main thing (I learned) is how to get something accom- plished with very limited resources and how to motivate people to actually get them to go and do something without ordering them around," she said. In addition, Challa said her experiences gave her something to talk about during job interviews. "At interviews, people care a lot more when you talk about your activities than about how high your GPA is," she said. "I know that when I got my job I know it's because of the stories I told during my interview," she added. While Challa admits her academics suffered as a result of her many commitments, she says she doesn't regret devoting time to her activities. "I definitely didn't do as well in school as I should have ... but I don't regret a single thing about it," she said. "I definitely don't recommend people to sit around all day and study" she added.. Here's just a sampling of the many groups with which students can get involved. Community Service - Dance Marathon Vincent said Dance Marathon was one of the first groups she became involved in at the University. "I got really involved in Dance Marathon because my friends were involved in it," she said. Dance Marathon, one of the most popular student groups on campus, is a national organization that works yearlong to build awareness and support for children in need of physical and occupational rehabilitation. Members participate in events such as hospital visits to build relationships with chil- dren who benefit from the program. The group's efforts culminate in a thirty hour event, where thousands of student dancers and volunteers raise money for children needing physical rehabilitation. Minority/Ethnic - La Voz Latina Latinos only constitute 2.5 percent of the University population, but La Voz wants to make sure they make themselves visible on campus. "La Voz is a Latino organization where we try to represent as many Latin Ameri- can nationalities as there are on campus" LSA senior Valle said. "We do a little bit of everything, we try to encompass all of the Latino students at (the University)," Valle said. "Because Latinos is such a diverse ethnic group and we're so big, we try to educate each other as well as the general campus," he added. Valle said he thinks Latinos tend to be marginalized on campus, which is something his organization is working to stop. "To a certain degree, many issues are seen in Black and white," he said. "I know Native American and that they really don't have a stand. We just kind of get pushed off to the side because usually all of these different issues get really oversimplified," he said. "There's a lot more to the (University) commu- nity than just Black and white." While Valle said La Voz has been a support group for him and other Latinos at the University, he said they also work to integrate themselves into wider campus. "I've been able to reach out of my own comfort zone," he said. "It's helped me to network ... commu- nicate with other organizations and people from n aother backgrounds." "It definitely helped me become comfortable at the University. Miscellaneous - TheAnn Arbor JugglingArts Club Not all student groups deal with serious issues. While Shuttari is a part of SSAA, Anti-War Action, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, the Muslim Students Association and the Minority Affairs Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly, he is also a part of the Ann Arbor Juggling Arts Club. "They send out e-mails every other week," he said. "They juggle usually in East Hall or somewhere in the Diag when the weather is nice." Jugglers of all skill levels, from beginners to experts, juggle together and take lessons for free courtesy of the club. Joining is not difficult, as is often the case with many student groups. "After an exam I walked out of East Hall and I saw these people so I went out and joined them;' Shuttari said. hon volunREBECCA SAHNdaily Political -Students SupportingAffirmativeAction y alumni, dance at SSAA is a collective of a diverse groups of student organizations working to educate and take action on the issue of affirmative action. Some events they have spon- sored in the past year include the Student of Color Day of Silence and a trip to Washington D.C., where members rallied in front of the Supreme Court. "Many of us are part of organizations already and other are not so that makes it a really interesting collective," Valle said. "It's a fun group to work with and I think we definitely make a statement. While SSAA has recently come to the forefront of campus politics as a result of the Supreme Court rulings on the University's admissions poli- cies, it is a group that has been around for some time. "I think it started a while ago, just as another organization, another place out there to speak out on affirmative and it really took off this year with affirmative action going to the Supreme Court," Valle said. "In the future we definitely hope to keep the University accountable in imple- menting affirmative action into the admissions policy and making sure that we do achieve a greater diversity here at (the University)," he added. Religious - Muslim Student Organization MSA, recently honored at the 24th Annual Michigan Leadership Awards as this year's Outstanding Student Organization, is the representative body of the local Muslim student community. "There's over 2000 Muslims on this campus," Shuttari said. "It brings together a large group of people just through weekly events and it's a good way to make new friends," he added. Throughout the year, MSA sponsors events such as its annual cultural shows, a conference on Islam, and celebrations of religious holidays in order to serve the community. rat rsit SETH LOWER/Daily SOLE members Tricla Burmeister and Marlowe Coolican splash each other during a wash out on the President's lawn to protest for workers' rights. issues get left out, Asian Pacific American issues aren't seen as important DECISION Continued from Page 1C -ther use of race-conscious admissions, such as those already passed in California and Washington. "The Supreme Court doesn't have the final word. States on their own can consider (that a policy) like the Law School system ... is a bad system,"he said. In a separate dissenting opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia predicted the decision's ambiguity would pro- voke more lawsuits, including issues regarding the controversial definition of critical mass, or whether a University is making a "good faith effort" in achiev- ing racial diversity. In contrast, legal experts predicted a decrease in the number of lawsuits, saying Grutter and Gratz have more legitimacy than Bakke because they were written by majorities of the court. "I'll assume that there will still be lawsuits, but this will be a huge loss for the people who are bringing those lawsuits," University of Texas law Prof. Douglas Laycock said. Michigan State University law Prof. Frank Ravitch said the ruling is a definitive approval of the use of race in admissions policies, although he added that the deci- sion only extends to higher education institutions. "You now have a clear majority of the court saying diversity can be a compelling state interest," Ravitch said. Bakke banned racial quotas but Justice Lewis Pow- ell wrote a concurring opinion stating that race could be used as one of many admissions factors. Some legal analysts and CIR had questioned whether Pow- ell's opinion spoke for the majority of the court. University of California at Berkeley law Prof. Robert Post said he had expected the court to rule only one policy constitutional. "I think the point, from the court's point of view, is to send a tactical message. The court's message is affirmative action is constitutional, but suspect;" he said. O'Connor wrote that the court expects race- conscious admissions policies to be unnecessary in 25 years. Post said the clause is not an official deadline but an additional restriction on the use of racial plus fac- tors. "Putting a number of years is a little unusual, and I don't think it stands for a drop-dead day." The ruling may open the way for schools like the University of Texas and the University of Georgia - schools that have had their race-conscious admis- sions policies overturned by federal courts - to reinstate racial plus factors into their policies. Ravitch said the ruling will allow them to do that, but their policies must be modeled after the individu- alized review used by the Law School. Reaction to the decision spread beyond the nation's capital today. Back in Ann Arbor, several student groups held a press conference at the Diag. "Affirmative action has been upheld, Bakke has been deemed good and we move forward today knowing that we are moving in the right direction," Michigan Student Assembly President Angela Galar- di said. "The Court upheld the principle while cri- tiquing the process." But recent University graduate James Justin Wil- son, a former editor of The Michigan Review, said diversity is not an excuse for racism. "This is the worst decision," said Wilson, who was present in the courtroom. "It leaves a very ambigu- ous precedent in Bakke. Now they won't tell us how they create a class - the transparency is gone." The decision ends the University's admissions saga, which began in 1997 when three rejected appli- cants - Barbara Grutter, Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher - sued the Law School and LSA over their race-conscious admission policies. During the past year the two cases, Grutter and Gratz have gripped the attention of much of the nation, including thousands of students, numerous corporations, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and even President Bush, who denounced the policies as disguised quotas in an address to the nation. Today Bush issued a statement in which he praised the court for "recognizing the value of diversity on our nation's campuses." "Today's decisions seek a careful balance between the goal of campus diversity and the fundamental principle of equal treatment under the law," he said. "My administration will continue to promote policies that expand educational opportunities for Americans from all racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds." O'Connor was joined in her Law School opinion by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, while Rehn- quist and Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy dissented. In the LSA case, Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Breyer voted against the policy. Stevens, Souter and Ginsberg dissented in that opinion. MSalsa members perform a salsa routine at the Encompass multicultural show at the Michigan League. I - As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there's no telling what you'll work on. (Seriously, we can't tell you.) United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer on our team you'll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. Are you an undergraduate or graduate student in a technical field? Interested in opportunities for