INSIDE: THE Si
THE DAILY'S CLASS OF '05: 'WE WA
NOSTALGIA AP STORIES
Friday, January 28, 2005
NIORITIS EDITION
ITED 4 YEARS FOR THIS?'
0 OTHER WAYS TO FILL SPACE
PAGES 3 -
One-hundredfourteen years ofeditorialfreedom
www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 69 2005The Michigan Daily
'U' must
pay part
oflegal
costs
By Jameel Naqvi
Daily Staff Reporter
A district judge yesterday slashed
the attorneys' fees and costs requested
by the plaintiffs in the lawsuits over
the University's use of race-conscious
admissions policies prior to 2003.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan
reduced the total amount the University
must pay to all attorneys representing
the plaintiffs from the fall of 1997 to
June 30, 2004 from more than $2 mil-
lion to less than $700,000.
Duggan did not rule on a lawsuit that
seeks refunds of application fees for all
whites and Asians who applied to the
University prior to 2003.
"We are gratified that Judge Duggan
agreed with the University that the fees
requested were excessive. The judge's
opinion clearly reflects a thoughtful
analysis of the issues," said Marvin
Krislov, University vice president and
general counsel.
The bulk of the reduction in attor-
neys' fees and costs was due to the fact
that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003
decision was only a partial victory for
the plaintiffs. The court struck down the
University's point system, which award-
ed a set number of points to applicants
that met certain conditions, includ-
ing membership in underrepresented
minority groups. But the court upheld
the University's use of race as a factor
in admissions.
Duggan determined that the plaintiffs
were "prevailing parties" and therefore
entitled to attorney's fees and costs.
However, he reduced the award by 50
* percent to reflect the failure of the plain-
tiffs to abolish race-conscious admis-
sions at the University altogether.
"While Plaintiffs now attempt to
downplay the primacy of their argu-
ment that the use of racial preferences in
undergraduate admissions always vio-
lates the Constitution, the Court agrees
with Defendants that Plaintiffs' main
goal in this litigation was to prevail on
this issue," Duggan wrote in his opinion.
"The Court therefore finds it appropri-
ate to reduce Plaintiffs' requested award
to reflect that they failed to prevail on
this issue."
Duggan reduced the fees and costs
awarded to the law firm of Maslon,
Edelman, Borman and Brand by a fur-
ther 10 percent because of vague billing
entries and "block" billing - the item-
izing of several tasks completed in a
block of time.
"As a result of such 'block billing,' the
Court is not able to determine the num-
ber of hours expended on each discrete
task. Thus the Court cannot determine
. whether the number of hours billed are
reasonable," Duggan wrote.
Duggan determined that some of the
attorneys charged the plaintiffs more
than the "prevailing market rate" for
their services, and he reduced their
awards accordingly. He also ruled that
some of the attorneys charged excessive
hours for travel, media and public rela-
tions and services related to intervenors
- parties not named in the lawsuits that
made arguments on the defendants'
behalf. The fees were reduced 5 percent
for Maslon and 10 percent for the Center
for Individual Rights, which also repre-
sented the plaintiffs, due to unnecessary
or redundant services.
Breslin
COMMENTARY
By Daniel Bremmer,
Gennaro Filice, Bob
Hunt, Sharad Mattu
and Brian Schick
Daily Sports Senior Editors
For tonight's game, the five
senior editors who weren't
able to go to the Breslin Cen-
ter for the Michigan basketball
game watched it at the Daily
last night. Here is a collective
running commentary on their
views:
7:03 p.m. Damn, Erin
Andrews is looking reeeeeally
gooooood.....
7:05 p.m. Dani Wohl is
starting? Jesus Christ...
7:06 p.m. Holy shit, we're
winning!
7:08 p.m. Does Amadou Ba
really bother to put a jersey on
for this game? If he took off his
warm-ups off, he's probably
got a T-shirt on.
7:09 p.m. We're taking
bets... will seven points be the
biggest lead of the game?
7:10 p.m. John Andrews
enters the lineup. Why did
Amaker decide to start Wohl if
he was only going to play one
minute?
7:14 p.m. The first "Tilt"
promo of the night. We doubt
that Brent Musburger's enthu-
siasm could be any lower. We
know this isn't football, but
show us something.
7:17 p.m. Hard to believe
that out of the lineup on the
floor - Wohl, Andrews, J.C.
Mathis, Brent Petway and Ron
Coleman - that the freshman
would be the No. 1 option.
7:19 p.m. Boy, Courtney
Sims really has a sheepish look
on his face at all time. This
is the look of Michigan's big
man?
7:21 p.m. We really hope
that the trainer who told Lester
Abram to rehab his shoulder
and not to have surgery will be
See COMMENTARY, Page 7
beat down
State hands
Blue its thirdI
straightloss
By Josh Holman
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - In basketball, 10 out of 11 is
usually pretty good. For the Wolverines, 10 out of
11 is a reminder of just how bad things have been.
Michigan State (5-1 Big Ten, 13-3 overall) beat
Michigan 64-53 at the Breslin Center last night,
their tenth victory out of the last 11 matchups
between the two teams.
"We're very disappointed," Michigan coach
Tommy Amaker said. "We didn't come here just to
show up, we came here to win."
Michigan State guard Maurice Ager led all scor-
ers with 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting.
Michigan (3-3, 12-8) brought a balanced scor-
ing attack to the court, with four players scoring in
double digits. Sophomores Dion Harris and Court-
ney Sims each had 12 points while freshman Ron
Coleman and junior Chris Hunter each chipped in
10 points.
But past those four players, Michigan sorely
lacked any sort of offensive output.
Despite remaining close into halftime, the Wol-
verines could not fend off the Spartans for long.
Michigan State began the second half with an 8-0
run, giving it enough breathing room for the rest of
the game.
"I thought that their ability to get some easy (bas-
kets) quickly really put a dent in our gameplan to
try and manage the game and keep it within strik-
ing distance," Amaker said.
The Wolverines closed the gap to nine at one
point, but spent most of the second half out of that
proverbial striking distance.
"We look at it as a positive, considering how we
ended the game," Coleman said. "We didn't just
give up. We kept playing hard."
Both teams began last night's game with uncer-
tainties prior to tipoff.
Hunter and Michigan State forward Paul Davis
were both doubtful with ankle injuries while
Michigan faced the prospect of a game on the road
without guard Daniel Horton who was suspended
indefinitely after being arraigned on domestic
violence charges. Junior Dani Wohl started in his
place, but posted zero points, two rebounds and two
assists on the game.
See SPARTANS, Page 7
ALANDERZI DOMS/Daily
Michigan junior Chris Hunter watches the final minutes of last night's 64-53 loss to Mich-
igan State. It was the first game Hunter played after an injury that kept him out for a month.
CU' hopeful ostate
money for construction
By Emily Kraack
Daily News Editor
University administrators have
declaredrthat they remain optimistic
the state will grant their multi-million
dollar construction funding requests
despite Michigan's difficult financial
situation.
As part of the annual state capital
allocation process, the University has
submitted as its top construction prior-
ity a new biology building that would
at least partially replace the Kresge
Science Buildings. The University has
requested around $75 million for the
new building, which is estimated to
cost a total of $100 million. In con-
trast, the usual request from public
universities and community colleges
for a capital outlay runs around $15 to
Debt downgrade, low
revenue threaten funds
$20 million.
Each year, public universities and
community colleges submit facilities
evaluations to the state Joint Capital
Outlays Committee.
Applications submitted to the com-
mittee will be evaluated this year in
the context of a tight state budget and
in light of the recent downgrading of
Michigan's bond rating by Moody's
Investor Services.
The state funds capital appropria-
tions by taking on debt, which must
be paid in subsequent years. The rates
at which this debt must be paid back
rely on bond ratings issued by invest-
ment services such as Moody's, which
evaluates how risky it might be to
offer debt to the state. A higher rat-
ing allows the state to pay back debt
more cheaply; the rating downgrade
indicates that debt issued this year
will be more risky, and therefore is
more expensive. The amount of debt
the state can take on each year is also
limited, so legislators must consider
how much debt can be used for capital
See CONSTRUCTION, Page 7
ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily
The renovations of the LSA Building, which administrators say will produce no
visible changes, are funded in part by a 1996 state capital appropriation.
Attacks multiply as Iraqis prepare to head to polls
UPS. troops spread out to take on insurgents
The interim government will deploy an ad
tional 2,500 troops to help guard the electio
the Defense Ministry said. A total of 300,0
Iraqi and multinational troops will prov
security, with Iraq's U.S.-trained forces tak
the lead role. Bring the troops home!
di- fired mortar shells at four schools designated as
ns, polling stations.
00 U.S. troops and rebels also exchanged fire
ide yesterday on Haifa Street in central Baghdad,
ing witnesses said.
One Marine was killed and five others were
BAGHDAD, Hawaii (AP) - Insurgents
stepped up attacks yesterday against polling
ally: "You traitor, wait for the angel of death."
To protect voters on Sunday, hundreds
In the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah,
where opposition to the balloting is strong, U.S.