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.