8A- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 1, 2004
NEWS
LETTER TOSTUDENTS FROM UN; ,1 - -!11 IVERSITY
e nd nmber ofoeur students have SAYAC The dni~rs tgardng the tudeit t itoss id affiliations are
} Qcernsabtad~ mins- StLudent LULSexual Assault Pre tt onn4 ira W. sted sutthe pr s snot
t Ai I . siithat affect student Center were Wafe Ri iod t to spondt e l ea Idt t i b~t t y t:h
....... <1;. rpr sed with their Estblishmnt of a Standinig SidetAdv'real ~~ nuigcnen.bu u blt'.~ h IdteRgsrrwt
pr~ettiat & M AichBoard of spry Committee - Vice President Harper will to serve alb off. studntFIXplt sta r u syo h u ~d wil cm e itd~
.11 ., , ? ut Iw isppo inted that establish an advisory committee to encourage is not .&tinn thecge ;v lealeta poptenttps
; ° "4" R ~ t h~ta m :rep ductive dia- additional student input on Uniiversity issues Universttao providea gretrli1o
<YL i~w mt a iiin onroe Trotter that have an impact on student communities. cial1ized vonel -A -Terj ae tI rp ' o 'fit1~luftS:
'. oMw r. 9.1id wo e Wecould use The advisory group will include representatives sexual a; ut an. n. i 'tP 4 id~t ....t..:
and ther protocol issues will be estblishe~d. wyt~ti epniet tdn'ed~ee eypwr oe n ~r eI9t4o
p' amntteted n s din~ to a set of Re-establishmnut of annual Prvots e
G d whr~iel icsin can tak e ussion on budge convened by M$A -In todntu ritmeth ieat i< re daiti sad e a d.Jv-
{'le ~eiv..................past years, the Micii,-.currentinolyed'in e l et fthhci> ie te a r~.at'ndS~
ta.rya tssi'on We e to ~gan.5ttident Assembly ment proesswithin the sh-o-an co dr!NIP, titte t eplrethe c'7ew
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .convened a'dialogue.lea, tttinclingtESA Studen # y ti° inp~e~sv ht cident
,a~nl. '> oi-,e.t1.ish po ucie.. between University replreettt. es .mont ro hefA pr t g mhhtus at e effort to
ot n x digeJd AdUbudget administrators Ad ansAdvsoyConii We wcheve everalgait]
let>she Y < and students, to discuss come additional studetinpnasw oniu C
tug'pitr7 b ut and a miisraor. ..Alo, the budget-setting and to evaluate our new undergra~uav ad t$ >reat $, e e w ss of the issue a~n
.es isus" C ,14 prioritization process sions process and enhance ut t~'ea~h. cad C
more 'etaiL "w4e nust ' Ud etter Provost Courant would recruiting efforts. C n~sieta ti lo exp.rince hate~
/ decisio 1-makig processes like to re-establish this ~dM. ...ttou,.....
p~rat Ihave Ct radition and ask MSA iBU get afd PIog a .S$'d md sse.I $ ts nged toaddress
h enN Utenitg IonIIIJQI r UVVI'erst to host this. discussion 'C t at by members of
l~ ~ initiafives focused on i pi gthsya n udtisTenant~
e sd t is students - proces that resulting cuts is not easy on anyd .4of o i h apu taSCuty Coin
dear e a C o g Trotter House community, The hard reapil is thatal'ffus titeisaired b ic rsdett'ad Sep~
estalish p o- Iu~Ly eiggge student .L lUUL project planning - will have to deal with cg o prms 1 ,.:. reta 1 'f 1Uiyst 'Lat~ sdo. The
C, dne ialgue - Mary Sue Coleman In April, a team of port in an effort to muane tthe normty'of i, ~t ill siu ty>group ito asst.
amnigstdnts Universit President student re resent- the short-term bud ~wthteogon e~Awfisus tted'to.
and administrautors tives, facilties right when they ask us to al" 1-a1~O~ai~tssfey n ts~eb~shpcue
- and in some experts and staff will support our University's work to rba C' 10. # t h t a
cases, accelerate.deisions that have taken too be established to recommend possible diverse and inclusive coiintui CC'stuea t e r$~t t1V C The commitee oa
"YIlong. Also . w m ust b id bet rdecision-m ak- o ti nsfor Trotter ouse. V ice PreCientC l~ i' C 'NC
ing processes on major University initiatives Harper has asked Patricia Aqui Pacania~, We will work to identify some additionalNCN
focused on students'- proceses that fully director of the Office of Multi-Ethnic Stet- resources, through reallocation, forareas.Tra gen. a.iexu.1, Le~bian
engage student input, dent Affairs1, to lead this fast-track planning where the funding lvels ar~e such that pro- WAFc e
effort, The group's work will be shared grams are at special risk. Also,;,we will work and a&y :: ki: .e
It is 'not possible for the administration to .widely with the campus community in the with students to ensure that the.impact of 'C
always be in 100 percent agreement with stu- fall. We are looking 'carefully at the Univer-. budget cuts is minimized. Specifically with The ThWOTask foce, charged b~y Provo~st
dents oni every issue, We. will certainly have sity's fundraising capacity and the Office of respect to Ann.Arbor Dance for Mother Earth Courant, is tpcted to isua e port in April.
some differences of opinion along the way. Development will provide counsel on realis- Pow Wow, the University will cover the pro- We wM1.ii a pon othereport's recommen-
But when we do, I am prepared to share the tic fundraising goals. I have made a com- gram's deficit this year as it hasini th.e past., dations in the coiningrtmonths. .. .C,>
prinipe ad acs ha hve ude urfnl imettob ersonallyvnagdin W ilwr odevelop 'a.Custainab.eCbudget
decisions,. fundraising for Trotter House as well. model for the~ future IC Cmmay, w are payingcareful ttn-~
'tion to thIe cocernstaudns hay .
On March 29, Provost Paul Courant, Vice Greek System discussion~ - We believe Latino Coordinator .- We are moviing- Som~e actions will takeplace immediately,
P'resident for 'Student Affairs E. Royster this subject needs more ti'me for considera- ahead and the position will be posted within and in other cases wehave moe wrk to'do
Harper and I wanted to, share several actions tion and discussion. There are many serious two week. s a cummunity. My~ goal, and Itrust it is a
we have planned to address many of the con- issues that need our attention. We want to, shared #3 is to ma~ke the~ best decisions we'
cerns that have been expressed,' Also, we establish a clearly prescribed process to I) Mkhigamu~a- The Uniersity took can kr hstudents who are here now and for
watt'epted n o e o otn e i - o ti et eis e n ol,2) m t al to gato st oy asa ot sals n toet .m .* 1cussion on these and other issues that will agree on the student and faculty advisors, 3) environmnent of respec~t related to Native
take more consideration and study. I hope our provide for open discussion, and 4) deter- American heritage. The Office of the' Since.
students and other members of our campus mine an end date by which final ,decisions Provost has begun investigating the' tran-.
commurnity w ilt join us in this work. will be made. script issue raised at th~e March Regen~ts President MarvySSue Co.leman......
meeting. We have discovered that over20
Coleman
,proposes
new inp,-ut
meckanisms
LETTER
Continued from Page 1A
often free of budget difficulties.
The letter also referred to a meeting
at the William Monroe Trotter House
on Monday held by Student Voices in
Action where Coleman said she was
"disappointed that we were not able to
have a more productive dialogue." The
meeting, however, catalyzed, the forma-
tion of the letter sent to students.
"There was a lot of work done to pull
it together," Peterson said. "(The letter)
had a two-fold purpose - to follow up
with the meeting and to express the
information she had prepared but didn't
have the opportunity to share."
Members of SVA agree that the letter
complimented the information that was
presented and discussed at the meeting.
"We're happy to see in writing the
ideas they have," said LSA sopho-
more and SVA member Lisa
Bakale-Wise. "We were looking for
concrete responses to all of the
demands we presented and that's not
what the administration came pre-
pared to give (on Monday)."
SVA also looks forward to cooper-
ation between students and adinins-
trators. "We're conscious, of the
complexity of the issues and will con-
tinue to work on them'" Pacheco said
In the letter, Coleman also proposed
to form a group of student representa-
tives to discuss options for changes to
the Trotter House.
She said she is committed to the
Greek system discussion, and
addressed changes to the Sexual
Assault Prevention and Awareness
Center, student recruitment, reporting
bias incidents and a Transgender,
Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Task Force.
Including topics pertaining to
budget allocation and program
issues, SVA originally elicited
response on these issues from the
administration.
Coleman's letter was sent out yester-
day to The Michigan Daily, as well as
members of the Michigan Round
Table, SVA and MSA.
I
4
MINORITIES
Continued from Page IA
process of reviewing its programs to ensure
that they comply with the Supreme Court's
June 2003 ruling.
The court upheld the Law School's policy
of using race as one of many factors in
admission but eliminated the point system
that gave 20 points to underrepresented
minorities in the LSA application process.
While Univ~ersity scholarships would be
affected by the initiative, private scholar-
ships would be untouched, said Justin
Lacroix, coordinator for the ballot initiative
on campus.
"Nothing private is affected by the
MCRI," said Lacroix, an LSA sophomore.
"I don't think (the initiative) would have
anything to do with private scholarships."
Depending on how broadly the initiative
would be interpreted by organizations in
Michigan, it could have the effect of elimi-
nating race as a factor in admissions deci-
sion making for University programs such
as the Undergraduate Research Opportuni-
ty Program and Women in Science and
Engineering.
"UROP is (a program) that is open to stu-
dents of all races but it does have an
emphasis on underrepresented minorities
and women in science so it could be affect-
ed," University Assistant General Counsel
Jonathan Alger said.
This eradication of race as a basis for
admission into outreach and academic pro-
grams would be detrimental to the quality
of education at the University, Alger said.
"All of these tools work together to pro-
duce a diverse student body," Alger said.
"Anything that would restrict our ability to
ensure diversity in these programs would
have an effect on the quality of education in
these programs."
If the MCRI obtains 317,575 valid signa-
tures by July 6, :state residents will vote on
the issue in the November election. The
MCRI petition form was recently ruled
invalid by Ingham County judge Paula
Manderfield for not stating the article of
the constitution that it is seeking to alter.
Michigan attorney general Mike Cox has
chosen to appeal the case at the state Court
of Appeals. A ruling 'from that court is
likely within the next few weeks.
I
WOMEN
Continued from Page 1A
-sity or government to give students
something based on their gender or
race," Lacroix said.
"If there is a disadvantage to women
and minorities other than education,
the problem that needs to be solved is
the recruitment and secondary educa-
tion," he added. "Outreach programs
would not be affected and pretty much
everyone (in MCRI) is in favor of out-
reach programs."
On the pre-emptive front, the need
for education about MCRI's effect on
women's issues is a sentiment echoed
by the leadership of CEW and WISE.
"I think if there was more public
understanding of the issue of gender,
there would be much more opposition
(to the initiative)," Kaufinann said.
Kate Stenvig, an LSA senior and
member of BAMN, said she agrees.
that the question of women's equality
has always been linked to affirmative
action, but added that refocusing
opposition to MCRI on women's
issues instead of race could be detri-
mental to their cause.
"The attack on affirmative action
has traditionally been on race-based
issues. ... We need to take head-on
the issue of racism," Stenvig said.
"I don't think taking the emphasis
off of race is effective."
Supporters of MCRI disagree with
Stenvig's assertion that the initiative is
a sexist and racist attack.
"There is nothing in the MCRI that
is trying to hold women back, minori-
ties back or anyone back," Lacroix
said. "We just want to take away the
discrimination of people outside of
character and intellect."
In the end, administrators worry
about the impact MCRI will have on
women and society in the long run.
"A mother's education level is the
strongest prediction of a child's edu-
cational attainment. There is a vested
interest in a women's education,"
Kaufmann said. "We really need to
invest more in educating women."
4
VARIETY
Continued from Page IA
intermission of the three-hour
event. They poked fun at the Greeks
by singing their original composi-
tion "North Face Girl" to the tune
of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl."
Clad in brightly colored clothes,
sororities and fraternities paired to
do renditions of their favorite pop
songs and competed for the charity
prize. Now and then the auditorium
erupted into applause and chants as
audience members cheered for
friends performing on stage.
Recent allegations of sexual
assault at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fra-
ternity house, which have since
been dropped, failed to dampen the
spirit of the event and the primarily
Greek-system crowd was in high
spirits.
"It obviously hurts to see some-
thing negative. But the focus is to
bring everyone together and focus
on the positive. (Rape) is obviously
something horrible," Butler said.
Co-Director Charles Cooke said
the stigma of the community made
it hard for him to raise money from
local businesses in Ann Arbor for
Greek Week.
"But kids are not here to drink
and party but help. When the
(Greek) system is so large, we're
trying to raise money for 'charity
and take away the stigma,"' Cooke
said.
I
e