ate o a
Wednesday
September 3,2003
©2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
One-hundred-twelve years ofeditorialfreedom
TODAY:
Isolated thun-
derstorms
throughout
the day, part-
ly cloudy at
night
Mar 78
LOW: 6
Tomorrow;
70152
Vol. CXIV, No. 2
wwwmihigandailycom
Cracking
the Code
To read the code, visit
http://www.umich.edu/-oscr
Timelines for the appeals procedure have been
clarified.
0 The non-discrimination clause now includes gender
identity.
! New language guarantees that students may have
a lawyer present during code violation procedures.
Revised student code clarifies rights
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
University students now have the explicit
right to legal representation and trial rights
for proceedings to resolve conflicts with
other students, under changes to the Uni-
versity's Statement of Student Rights and
Responsibilities announced yesterday.
Gender identity was also added to the
statement's non-discrimination clause, said
Keith Elkin, director of the Office of Stu-
dent Conflict Resolution. Student leaders
said that will guarantee protection to stu-
dents who are not necessarily covered by
the statement's ban on sexual orientation-
based discrimination.
The changes to the statement include
language added to clarify that the advisor
who can accompany students to conflict
arbitration hearings may be an attorney,
and that evidence presented during hear-
ings must be "clear and convincing" for a
student to be convicted of violating the
statement.
"Clarifying language has been added to
the Statement to ensure students under-
stand that their advisor may be an attor-
ney," Elkin said in an e-mail sent to the
student body yesterday. "The standard of
proof - clear and convincing evidence
- used during student conduct proceed-
ings has been explicitly added to the
statement."
In the e-mail Elkin also said language
was clarified to ensure that students under-
stand the timeline for submitting an appeal
to decisions made under the statement.
A provision was also added to prohibit
students from sending e-mails using anoth-
er person's identity without authorized per-
mission, Elkin said.
The revised statement can be found on
OSCR's website, www.umich.edu/~oscr.
Elkin was unavailable for comment yester-
day evening.
Formerly called the Code of Student
Conduct, the statement was criticized by
some students and members of the Michi-
gan Student Assembly for infringing on
students' legal rights and for regulating stu-
dent behavior off University property.
Earlier this year, the MSA's Students
Rights Commission addressed these con-
cerns by proposing seven amendments to
See CODE, Page 5
Ragers to
get free
basketball,
tickets
By Dan Rosen
Daily Sports Writer
Entering his third season at
Michigan, basketball coach Tommy
Amaker continues to embrace the
student body. After an anonymous
gift to the basketball program, the
coach announced yesterday that he
would give student season ticket
holders a chance to renew their
tickets at no charge. Last season's
Maize Ragers have until Sept. 30 to
claim their free seats.
The donor's name and the amount
of the gift have not been released.
"Our students are a critical part of
our program," Amaker said. "We can-
not reach our goals without their sup-
port and spirit. We wanted to extend
to our entire 'Maize Rage' section an
opportunity to support us without
any cost to them. Through this gener-
See BASKETBALL, Page 5
Assemby.
pans v gil
on Sept. 11,
voter drive
By Carmen Johnson
Diy StaffReporter
Walk into the room on a Tuesday
night and you'll see it packed with stu-
dents. Sometimes, you won't see them
leave until the early morning.
It might sound mysterious, but the
Michigan Student
Assembly cham-
bers on the third
floor of the Michi-
gan Union are
where the student
government repre-
sentatives meet
and get work
done.
After a summer
apart, the repre- Galardi
sentatives met last
night to work for their constituencies
and plan upcoming events such as a
vigil on Sept. 11 and several "Rock
your Vote" events, bringing speakers
and bands to campus to draw students
to the polls.
"We have all worked hard this sum-
mer to ensure that students will have a
lot of opportunities to get involved
with organizations and events on cam-
pus," said MSA Rep. Courtney Skiles,
who took office last spring. "Our first
priority is to the students, and doing
what we can to make the University of
Michigan a place where its students
actively participate in their communi-
President Angela Galardi said she is
proud of MSA's accomplishments,
such as the new fall break and the
cheap busing to the airport. This year,
Galardi wants MSA to be even more
effective.
"We are encouraging the representa-
tives to put in even more time this
year," said Galardi, who spent the
spring and summer terms on campus
meeting with University administrators
more
Students say
work,
but will
it work'
new
policy could cause headaches for applicants
By Jeremy Berkowitz
Daily Staff Reporter
Whether the new undergraduate application addresses
diversity questions in a practical way concerns many Uni-
versity students.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions released new
application policies last week to comply with the June
U.S. Supreme Court rulings, which allow the University to
consider race in admissions but not under a point system
that offers 20 points out of a possible 150 for underrepre-
sented minorities.
The new application requires two 250-word essays and
one 500-word essay. Students have several choices of essay
topics, such as their past experiences and how they think
diversity has played a role in their lives.
"One of my primary concerns is
that a high school student of color Second in
will not be able to accurately assess
how their race and ethnicity has _WO.art
affected their experiences," said seneS
Tania Brown, vice president of LSA
Student Government. "This process
is essentially asking a student to
relay 17 years of the way in which
they have experienced their identity
in a 250-word essay."
LSA senior Adrian Reynolds said he wonders whether
students would feel nervous about writing on a subject they
are unfamiliar with.
"I think they could, but the question is whether they
would actually want to," Reynolds said.
LSA senior Eli Segall said he is concerned that the new
application addresses only racial and ethnic diversity.
"Why not diversity of opinion or political affiliation?"
Segall asked. "It's hard to define what diversity they're talk-
ing about."
But most students agree more essays and questions will
not deter applicants from applying.
"Michigan was actually my shortest application," Business
School junior Cassandra Pringle said, adding that she applied
to both Northwestern University and the University of Chica-
See ESSAYS, Page 5
Photo Illustration by JASON COOPER and BRETT MOUNTAIN/Daily
Some University students believe the new essay-heavy admissions application may cause some high school students additional anxiety if they
do not know how to express their experiences, while others believe the new policy will benefit a more diverse group of applicants.
Res hall libraries end loans
of movies, CDs, magazines
[Changing lanes
By Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporter
The cheapest movie rentals in town just closed up shop.
As students returning to residence halls have probably
noticed, most residence hall libraries no longer loan out
CDs, DVDs, movies or magazines. The libraries in all dor-
mitories except Bursley and East Quad are being trans-
formed into Community Learning Centers, which will
have more of an academic focus. The new CLCs are slat-
ed to be operational by fall of 2004.
LSA sophomore Matt LeDuc, who was studying last
night in the South Quad library, said he noticed the library
changes when he moved into the dorm.
"I definitely was kind of disappointed about the fact
that they got rid of the DVDs and the movies," he said. "I
used it several times (last year). I liked checking things
out."
Darlene Ray-Johnson, assistant director of Residence
Education, said the library spaces will remain open to stu-
dents during the 2003-2004 school year and the East
Quad and Bursley libraries will change over after the new
CLCs open.
She said the movie and CD rental capacity will not
resume under the new setup, although games can be
checked out through residence hall front desks and stu-
dents can still browse the book collections and use dorm
computers.
"Resources that are there will remain there," Ray-John-
son said.
New services will include academic programming and
See LIBRARIES, Page 5
Students return to Ann Arbor to find part of the downtown area
- including State, Maynard, Liberty, and Thompson streets and
North University Avenue - accepting two-way traffic.
'U' hospital expands foreign
language interpretation staff
By Andrew Kaplan
Daily Staff Reporter
When a patient who speaks little or no English meets'
with a doctor, "potential clinical consequences" - such
as taking the wrong dose of a medication - usually
result, a study by doctors of the Medical College of Wis-
consin has found.
To counter this problem - and to comply with civil
rights law ensuring equal medical treatment for all
patients, regardless of their English proficiency - many
hospitals, including those at the University, have expand-
"A doctor cannot fill the medical
interpreter position.... They're
very busy."
-Jane Miller
Staff trainer for the University of Michigan Health
System's Interpreter Services Program
tion, medical mishaps followed 63 percent of the time.
"A lot of this area is multicultural, and if the doctors don't
I . : ' i .o ,,t .,. ,. fit" .' i!