NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - 5

NEWDOW
Continued from page 1
the same case can be brought up again.
"I imagine the court was relieved to
find a way to dismiss this case on stand-
ing, but they may not be able to avoid the
question much longer," Law School Prof.
Chris Whitman said.
Newdow expressed his intent to con-
tinue fighting the phrase. "I plan on con-
tinuing the case in every circuit in the
 nation," Newdow said.
Most recently, Newdow challenged
the recital of a prayer at the U.S.
presidential inauguration. He com-
pared the inaugural prayer to prayers
before high school football games
and at commencement ceremonies,
which have been deemed unconsti-
tutional by the Supreme Court. His
request for an injunction to stop the
prayer was rejected, but he said the
case is still alive.
Newdow said the Constitution and the
intents of the Founding Fathers bolster
his case.
"I have the Constitution on my side.
ROBBERY
Continued from page 1
As a precaution, the University
released a crime alert yesterday,
warning students to protect them-
selves by locking their doors and
walking with a trusted friend when
outside.
TSUNAMI
Continued from page 1
Sekhar said.
The search for students lasted just
over a month, and Eklund said the
length of the search depended on how
quickly students responded.
"Basically it took that long because
while we did the outreach, it was real-
ly up to the students to respond to us.
I think just human nature being what
it is, some of them, knowing that
they were okay, didn't really realize
how important it was for us to know
that they were okay," Eklund said.
Though all the students have been
located and the search is complete,
Eklund said the University will con-
tinue outreach to affected students.
"While this is a check basically on
people's physical safety, we all have
to remember what a devastating event
this was," she said.
There will be a tsunami panel dis-
cussion tonight at 7:30 in the Michigan
Room of the Michigan Union, followed
by a letter-writing workshop.
The discussion will center on aid for
S the affected countries and media cov-
erage of the disaster and its aftermath.
CIR
Continued from page 1
U.S. District Court Judge Patrick
Duggan requested further briefings
by both parties during a status con-
ference this week.
The University and CIR must agree
on when they file their briefs, but Pell
expects the new round of briefs to be
delivered in the next few months.
Even if Duggan finally rules on the
case, it may not be the end of court
action, as each side may appeal the
decision, Pell said.
In a related motion, Duggan ruled
last week that the attorneys' fees
and costs paid to CIR and other law-
firms be reduced from $2,070,000 to
$672,000.
Duggan said the University did not
have to pay the full fee because the
point system was abolished, but CIR
did not succeed in eliminating race-
conscious admissions completely.

Krislov said the University was
grateful Duggan reduced the fees.
CIR accumulated the legal costs
beginning in 1997 when it accepted
the Gratz case.
"There is certainly legal support
to not award the amount we asked
for. The law for the prevailing party
 says you don't have to win on every
issue. It would have been nice to win
on both issues, but all we had to do
is win on one of the issues to benefit
our clients," Pell said.
The 2003 case challenged the Uni-
versity's LSA admissions policy that
assigned a certain number of points
to minorities when they applied to
the University.
The court ruled the point system
was tantamount to a quota but said
considering race was acceptable to
achieve an academically diverse
environment.
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When it was written, it was clear the
founding fathers wanted the separation
of church and state," he said.
He praised the Constitution, calling it
"a phenomenal document."
"To think our country is based on
those 4,500 words is pretty amazing,"
Newdow said.
The audience was generally support-
ive of Newdow's aims.
"What he's doing is really important,
and his speech was enlightening," law
student Trish Rich said.
She said the argument that tradition or
ceremony can defend religious language
in state-sponsored activities is invalid.
"This causes non-Christians to be
demonized," she added.
Some students, however, voiced mild
concern about Newdow's activism.
"I think he is before his time. I
agree that state and religion should be
separate, but he may have polarized
too many people," LSA sophomore
Peter Pienkowski said.
Newdow will speak again today at
noon about the American family law sys-
tem in Room 218 of Hutchins Hall.
"We're warning our University
community (the robbery) did hap-
pen adjacent to campus, and we want
folks to be aware of it," said Diane
Brown, Department of Public Safety
spokeswoman.
Ann Arbor authorities are offering
a $1,000 reward for any information
about the robbery.

AFRICA
Continued from page 1
Programs, said the major cause of
these statistics is simply that students
are not as interested in studying in
Africa as they are in studying West-
ern Europe or Australia.
"For most students," she said,
"there is a list of what they want to
see first, and Western Europe is at
the top of their list."
She explained students are more
inclined to study in Europe because
they are more familiar with the conti-
nent's history and various cultures.
"I think we are a country that
looks mostly to Western Europe for
our heritage," she said.
"The languages that students learn
in high school and at the University
and the kinds of courses that they
teach are very much focused on
Europe," she added.
Elizabeth James, program manager
for the Center for Afroamerican and
African Studies agreed. "The tradition
of (academia in the United States) fol-
lows the western academies that you
find in Europe, and (students aren't)
as familiar with the universities say in
Timbuktu or ancient Mali."
LSA senior Carrie Calcutt, who
went to South Africa last semester to
participate in the study abroad pro-
gram at the University of Cape Town,
said the negative stigma surrounding
Africa and lack of knowledge about

the continent "has a lot to do with the
lack of students interested in studying
there."
Misconceptions of Africa cause
many Americans to view the continent
as impoverished and overrun by vio-
lence and war, said LSA junior Wiata
Weeks who studied in Ghana.
"Many parts of Africa are developed,
thriving cities, not all jungle and wil-
derness," she said.
Calcutt echoed those sentiments, say-
ing, "My friends even warned me not
to get AIDS and malaria when I went
abroad, as though these (diseases) were
easy to contract."
She added that safety is a major con-
cern for students considering studying
abroad in an African country.
However, she said in her own experi-
ence, this fear was unfounded.
"Going to South Africa, I knew
that I was going to a big city, Cape
Town, and knew that I was not going
to be in the middle of a political war
within the country," she said. "I did
not feel in any more danger when
I was abroad than ... in the United
States or anywhere else."
Although program coordinators
expressed assurance for students' secu-
rity in study programs in Africa, safety
concerns last year caused the tempo-
rary termination of the OIP's program
in Accra, Ghana.
Dickerman said the safety issues
with the program centered around the
security of students within the dorms

"For most students, there is a list of what they
want to see first, and Western Europe is at
the top of their list."
- Carol Dickerman
Director of the Office of International Programs

on the campus in Accra, involving
several incidents with non-University
American students.
While she said she could not pro-
vide specific details about the inci-
dents, Dickerman said, "There was a
perception based on actual incidents
that the dorms (at the University of
Ghana) were not safe. We discussed
it with our executive community. The
decision was that until we thought
it was safe on campus, we shouldn't
send students to Ghana."
Despite the termination of the pro-
gram, Dickerman stressed the safety
issues were isolated on the campus of
the University of Ghana and did not
reflect the overall security within the
country of Ghana.
"Those concerns have been large-
ly addressed now, and at this point
we are going to be working with
CAAS, because I think that they are
interested in developing a program
in Ghana. It's not that the country is
unsafe," she said.
Several different types of programs

are offered through OIP, including Uni-
versity collaborations with foreign uni-
versities, small trips led by University
professors and programs through other
American universities.
In spite of the numerous programs
available to undergraduate and grad-
uate students, Dickerman said most
students' interest in places such as
Africa and Asia develops after they
are finished with college, often as
graduates who volunteer in African
countries with aid-relief organiza-
tions like the U.S. Peace Corps.
She added that she does not expect
to see these figures increasing in the
near future, pointing back to most
students' unfamiliarity with African
language and culture.
"I wish we did send more students
to Africa," she said, "but we also have
to realistically keep in mind that we're
never going to send comparable num-
bers of students."
She added that as long as European
languages are more popular to study
this trend will continue.


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