Wednesday, September 22, 2004 HAWKEYE MEMORIES HAUNT BLUE ... SPORTS, PAGE 9 Weather Opinion 4 Science 5 Most of Coleman's priorities right on Solar Car Team preps for next race 11 -4F 4au g1 Hl- 84 TOMORROW: 83/5:; Arts 7 Wynton Marsalis plays Ann Arbor One-hundred-thirteen years of edtori zalfreedom www.michikandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 166 62004 The Michigan Daily MCRI back to gathering sgnatures By Aymar Jean Daily Staff Reporter When the campaign to ban race- conscious programs in Michigan faced lawsuits and internal disagreements this spring, most assumed it would implode and fade away. But the Michigan Civil Rights Initia- tive is still active, and its leaders expect to finish its goal in the next month. The group is currently gathering signatures to eliminate the use of race in public education, employment and contract- ing. It must collect 317,757 signatures by January 2005 to get its issue on the ballot for 2006. MCRI began this January and sought to complete its drive in July to place the proposal on the November ballot. But a lawsuit questioning the language on its petition stalled the campaign. Only when the state Court of Appeals ruled in MCRI's favor in June did it have the chance to make a definitive decision on whether to continue or throw in the towel. But the court ruling came too late for this year's election. In late June, MCRI officials decided to postpone the cam- paign and aim for the 2006 ballot. They restarted the petition drive on July 6 and now have 180 days to collect thousands of signatures. Those involved with the campaign say they are succeeding. MCRI officials estimate they will be finished by mid- October, more than two months before the new deadline. The campaign, how- ever, is not committing to a specific date. MCRI will not release the number of sig- natures collected so far. "We had a monkey wrench in the works because of that (initial court) rul- ing," said Tim O'Brien, who coordinates volunteer petition gatherers. But now, he said, "things are looking just fine." Paid petitioners are collecting most of the signatures. MCRI Director of Out- reach Chetly Zarko would not release information on how many paid gatherers the group has. But one circulator esti- mated that number to be between 150 and 200, and the campaign, according to its website, is still hiring more. About 1,500 people are volunteering to collect signatures. Since legal challenges have only delayed the campaign, the opposition group Citizens for a United Michigan is working to stop the campaign. But it has not done its best in trying to stop MCRI, spokesman David Waymire said. "This is not about anything except ending affirmative action," Waymire said. "They're getting the vast major- ity of the signatures by deception and deceit," he added. MCRI's opponents say it uses the rhetoric of civil rights and equal protection even though it seeks to ban affirmative action programs for women and minorities. In a major state circuit court ruling in March, Judge Paula Manderfield echoed that statement, saying that the campaign seeks to overturn rights already guaran- teed in the state constitution. United Michigan is still working to slow the initiative's momentum. Failing that, the group will dip deeper into its campaign coffers, as it perseveres until a possible showdown in November 2006. "We have a lot work to do to inform people about this," Waymire said. On campus, some members of the Young Americans for Freedom - a nationwide conservative group - are See MCRI, Page 3 THE RANKINGS ARE IN B-School No. 1 in nation By Michael Gurovitsch Daily Staff Reporter Less than two weeks after receiv- ing the largest donation in Univer- sity history, the business school had another reason to celebrate yester- day: a No. 1 ranking. The University's recently renamed Stephen M. Ross School of Business beat out the traditional Ivy League powerhouse programs to earn the top spot in the latest Wall Street Jour- nal ranking of full-time Mas- ters of Business Administration programs, pub- lished today. "It's a Septem- ber I'll remem- ber," Ross School of Business Dean Robert Dolan said, "and the work that's gone into it." The rankings were compiled based on a Har- ris Interactive Survey of about 2,800 recruit- ers. The criteria How the fared The Wall Str Journal's bu school ranki #1. The Stepht School of Busi University of N #2. Carnegie M per School of B #3. Dartmouth' School of Busin the Journal ranked the University third, behind Wharton and Tuck. "In the business school business, the two (rankings) that are most looked at are Business Week and The Wall Street Journal," Dolan said. Michigan placed eighth in Busi- ness Week's 2002 rankings, which are released every other year. The 2004 rankings are expected to be presented in early October. Dolan - in addition to recruiters, the Journal and ....~ CNBC - cred- it the "Action y1 Based Learn- ing" system as a key factor in the school's prestige. set The system is Slness based upon stu- ngs: dents working in real-world sce- en M. Ross narios with real iness at the stakes. Wichigan. When Dolan, a former profes- ellon's Tep- sor of market- usiness. ing at Harvard University, took s Tuck over as dean in less. the summer of 2001, he decided to expand the out of the classroom opportunities that were piloted in MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University has received the Wall Street Journal's No. 1 rank- ing among the nation's business schools. included leadership potential, ability to work in teams and analytical and problem solving skills. The rankings also take into consideration faculty quality, core curriculum and career services. The Journal's ranking system is different from others because it relies on the actual recruiters' opinions. While other rankings focus on the "inputs," like students' test scores, the Journal focuses on the "outputs," Dolan said. Trailing the University in this year's rankings are Carnegie Mel- lon's Tepper School of Business, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and the Wharton School at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. Last year, 1992. "(I) saw it as a comparative advan- tage over other schools," Dolan said. "It's a phenomenal investment in time and money. (The ranking) is a validation of the basic strategy." The Ross School currently has more than 260 field-based programs. Projects range from managing a portion of the endowment fund to working with groups such as the "Landmine Survivors Network" in Vietnam and Bosnia. The announcement was broadcast live yesterday around 8:15 a.m. on CNBC, with a camera crew provid- ing live feeds of students celebrat- See RANKING, Page 3 c ELECTIONS '04 Muslim groups to endorse soon For some international students, a long, uncertain road to U.S. By Karl Stampfl For The Daily Four years ago President Bush won one of the closest elections in U.S. history with the help of an endorsement from influential American Muslim leaders. This year's election is once again shaping up to be tight, making the upcoming endorsement of major Muslim groups all the more important. The American Muslim Task force, an umbrel- la organization of 10 major Muslim groups, expects to make a decision on which candidate to endorse by the middle of next month. The endorsed candidate will likely receive many of the 3.5 million Muslim votes expect- ed to be cast this election, including many of the 100,000 Muslim votes in Michigan, a key swing state. "We believe very large segments of the Mus- lim community would act on our endorsement," said Agha Saeed, chairman of the task force. The endorsed candidate will likely receive many of the 3.5 million Muslim votes expected to be cast this election. Immediately after Bush received the endorse- ment of major Muslim organizations in 2000, Democratic candidate Al Gore's approval rat- ing dropped a full 12 percent among Muslims, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. This electional season, Bush's campaign considers the Muslim leaders' endorsement a key to winning the White House again. "The president recognizes, especially after the 2000 election, that every single vote counts," Bush- See ELECTION, Page 3 By Alexa Jenner For the Daily After completing her undergraduate degree at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, Wenjie Chen, an international student from Germany, decided she wanted to come to Ann Arbor to get her doctorate in economics. Even though she had spent four years study- ing in the United States, she still had to go through the new procedures of applying for a visa. "It's a long process, and definitely a frus- trating one," Chen said. Since the 1800s the University has accepted international students from around the world, but with tightening homeland security mea- sures, the process of coming to America has left many international students feeling like crimi- nals, Chen said. This month, the government passed another law that will affect next years' applicants to the University. Now, before international or foreign exchange students can even apply for a visa they must pay a $100 Student and Exchange Visitor "How would you feel if you had to go through that? I felt like I was in prison. - Wenjie Chen Rackham student Vnformation System fee. The SEVIS fee goes to the officials who work with the system's electronic database that track all international scholars in the United States. The database has become a major part of homeland security since the September elev- enth attacks. In 1993, after the first World Trade Center terrorist attack involved an international student, the government created this electron- ic database to track all international students See STUDENTS, Page 2 Festival encourages students to use alternative energy sources By Shaun Nurrenbern For the Daily Students need not look far for infor- mation - and even a little entertainment "If you put one unit of fossil fuel into a power plant ... you only get 0.3 units of electricity," he said. "That means they are only about 30 percent efficient." Keoleian co-directs the University's performed on the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library in the afternoon. A group of students from the Ann Arbor Open School, a local K-8 institu- tion, were also in attendance as a teacher <, .: