Thursday, April 7, 2005
Opinion 4A
Zac Peskowitz
bids farewell
Sports 8A M-9 bounces
back with win
over Chippewas
TAKE A LOOK AT THE LOCAL MUSic SCENE ... WEEKEND MAGAZINE
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One-hundredfourteen years of ediorialfreedom
www.michhandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 114 2005 The Michigan Daily
Flint calls
for review
of contracts
Resolutions endorsing
an examination of
investments have passed
in Flint and Dearborn
By Laura Van Hyfte
Daily Staff Reporter
The student government at the Univer-
sity's Flint campus has passed a resolu-
tion to encourage the University Board
of Regents to look into investments that it
determines to be ethically questionable.
Bishr Al-Dabagh, president of the
Flint Student Government, said the
Flint proposal was successful because it
did not include clauses that targeted one
specific country or region of the world.
"If it does anything, it might open the
eyes of the regents to the examination of
their investments; it may open their eyes
to the ethical implications of the invest-
ments," he said.
A resolution about divestment was
brought before the Michigan Student
Assembly last month that included
clauses condemning Israeli violence
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
While these clauses were struck down
in the process of the vote, the remain-
ing clauses called for the MSA External
Relations Committee to send a letter
urging the regents to create an advisory
committee to investigate the moral and
ethical implications of the University's
investments in companies that directly
support the Israeli occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Proponents of the resolution attribute
this to the fact that many people saw the
resolution as a direct attack on Israel.
Carmel Salhi, president of Students
Allied for Freedom and Equality, who
sponsored the resolution in Ann Arbor,
said that a major setback to the resolu-
tion was the very difficult opposition it
faced on campus from those opposed
to divestment from Israel, due to what
seemed to be confusion about the nature
of the resolution, Salhi said.
"There was a misleading campaign
led by the opponents of the resolution,"
Salhi said. "We wanted an investigative
committee that would look into Israel's
occupation of the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip," he said.
RC senior Matt Hollerbach, a former
MSA representative echoed Salhi, say-
ing that this same type of opposition
was seen within MSA as well.
"I think that the opinion expressed by
(former MSA president) Jason Mironov,
(MSA President) Jessie Levine and
others in MSA confused the issue and
caused a lot of assembly members to
think that if they were supporting the
issue, they were condemning Israel,"
Hollerbach said. He added that Mironov
and Levine have the authority to deliver
their opinion of the proposal prior to
MSA's vote. "Unlike other members of
the assembly, both can give an executive
report," he said, which Mirinov-used to
garner support against the resolution.
Hollerbach said that Mironov and
Levine had an impact on the failing of
the resolution because they are both
respected leaders in the campus and
more specifically in the Jewish commu-
nity. "I think that people within MSA
really galvanized support for their views
on this issue," he added.
Levine disagreed with Hollerbach
and said that the resolution was rejected
for unfairly singling out Israel.
"Singling out Israel does not make
sense given the recent development in
the peace process between the Israelis
and Palestinians," Levine said.
See FLINT, Page 7A
ALEANDDINt. iADOSZL/Dily
Elissa Lopez Pope speaks at the Michigamua EXPOSED conference in 1200 Chem last night, which was presented by Lambda Theta Phi and Native
American Student Association.
Student groups bas Mc ua~
Secret society comes under heat
for alleged use of offensive rituals
that poke fun at Native Americans
By Victoria Edwards
Daily Staff Reporter
In a bid to stymie the recruitment of the secret
society Michigamua, the Native American Stu-
dent Association and Latino fraternity Lambda
Theta Phi sponsored an event aimed at exposing
shortcomings of Michigamua yesterday.
,Some members of the two organizations hold-
ing the event alleged Michigamua members
retaliated outside of the gathering by circulating
posters criticizing the mascot of Lambda Theta
Phi as racist.
Named "Michigamua Exposed," the event was
held in the Chemistry Building and attempted to
reveal the racist nature of Michigamua by detail-
ing the secret society's replication of ritualistic
Native American ceremonies.
With the end of the semester nearing, Mich-
igamua is currently in the process of recruiting
new members, said sponsors of the event. As a
result, now is the ideal time to strike the secret
society, they added.
Recently, Michigamua drew ire from student
organizations in two events. In 2003, the presi-
dent of the Multicultural Greek Council joined
the secret society, causing three Latino frater-
nities to drop out of the'council. The second
instance occurred in 2004 where Student Voices
in Action - a coalition of multicultural student
groups - protested the use of putting Mich-
igamua on official transcripts.
Matt Stehney, NASA co-chair, said the pur-
pose of the program was to keep Michigamua
and its racist practices in check.
"We need to keep having (presentations like
these) so (Michigamua) knows we're not slacking
off, that we're still here looking for them. When
they think we're slacking off they'll re-emerge,"
said Stehney, who is an LSA senior.
These past controversies and others were
explained at the presentation that began with a
documentary shown for the first time to the pub-
lic that captured members of Michigamua - a
See MICHIGAMUA, Page 7A
MCRI-like policy
reduced minority
enrollment at UC
NIGHTSIDE COURTSIDE
UCLA and Berkeley
minority enrollment have
yet to rebound
By Anne Joling
Daily Staff Reporter
The number of underrepresented
minority students at California universi-
ties declined significantly after the pas-
sage of Proposition 209 in 1996 ended
the use of affirmative action by govern-
ment bodies in California.
But despite efforts to increase the
number of minorities, only some UC
schools have been able to rebound,
while the more competitive ones still
have extremely low numbers of minor-
ity students, according to reports issued
by the University of California system-
wide office.
Proposition 209 is nearly identical
to the Michigan Civil Rights Initia-
tive, which will be on the 2006 ballot
in Michigan if enough of the 508,000
signatures gathered are verified. Many
opponents of the initiative fear a signifi-
cant decrease in the number of minori-
ties enrolling at the University will also
occur if MCRI passes.
Underrepresented minority
enrollment levels for UC schools
% 35
30i
25,
20
15
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Bills aim
to ease
voting
Legislation proposes to
extend voting period and
expand absentee balloting
By Justin Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
Students may have an easier time vot-
ing if new electoral reforms introduced
this year are passed by the Michigan
Legislature.
The reforms focus on opening absentee
voting to more citizens to increase their
access to the polls. Currently absentee bal-
lots can only be issued to voters who are
unable to vote in person. The bills focus
on opening absentee voting to more citi-
zens to increase their access to the polls
but can not change the federal require-
ment that first-time voters that register
through the mail must visit their clerk's
office with identification before being able
to vote absentee.
State Rep. Chris Ward (R-Brighton)
introduced a bill last week that would
allow voters to vote absentee without 4
reason. His bill would also allow citizens
to cast their ballots at a polling site seven
days prior to an election.
"With people so busy commuting and
running their kids around they get too
busy to vote," Ward said. Extending the
See VOTING, Page 7A
101
v
'94 '96 '98 '00
'02 '04
While officials at the University have
expressed concerns that minority enroll-
ment will drop dramatically if MCRI is
passed, University President Mary Sue
Coleman said she does not plan on cre-
ating a contingency plan that could be
implemented to recruit underrepresent-
ed minorities if MCRI passes.
Coleman said she remains optimis-
tic that by educating the public on the
potential effects of MCRI the proposal
can be defeated.
"My goal is to really voice my
See UC, Page 5A
FOREST CASEY/Daily
LSA sophomore Derrick Yang plays tennis after dark on the Palmer Field courts last night.
Lecturers will come to final decision on strike tonight
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