Wednesday, September, 212005

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Jeff Cravens: Giving
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Ile

One-hundredfourteen years ofeditorialfreedom
www.mzhiandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan . Vol. CXV, No. 151 62005 The Michigan Daily

MCAT
faces
* digital
overhat 1
* Test will be taken
on computers by 2007
while paper version is
phased out next August
By Kingson Man
Daily Staff Reporter
Come April and August of every year,
more than 60,000 nervous students cram
into classrooms and test centers across the
country to take one of the most important
tests of their adult lives: the Medical Col-
lege Admission Test, or the MCAT. The
Association of American Medical Colleg-
es - the organization that administers the
MCAT - announced during the summer
that the grueling eight-hour exam will be
truncated to a five-hour test that students
must take on a computer.
The MCAT will be administrated
exclusively by computer starting in 2007,
with the last of the paper exams to be
given next August.
Ellen Julian, director of the MCAT and
associate vice president of the Association
of American Medical Colleges, said the
full transition to a computer-based exam
was made to take advantage of the effi-
ciencies of the electronic format.
"We don't have to print and ship tens
of thousands of test books and arrange
rooms and hire proctors and such," she
See MCAT, Page 7

"TO M1E. TS IS A NO-BRAINER - JESSE LEVINE,MSA PRESIDENT
MSAdenies
ol~ation 0
1iT hlaison
v''

Motion aimed to increase
communication between
students and city officials
By Rachel Kruer
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan Student Assembly President
Jesse Levine suffered his first defeat as
president last night when the assembly
rejected his motion to create an MSA liai-
son to the Ann Arbor City Council.
Levine's motion called for the forma-
tion of an Ann Arbor City Council Liaison
Select Committee to improve communica-
tion between the Ann Arbor City Council
and MSA. The liaison would have been
chair of this committee and responsible
for attending city council meetings, plan-
ning committee meetings and then com-
municating back to the assembly.
Levine said he did not expect his motion
to be defeated by the assembly.
"To me this is a no-brainer. City Coun-
cil needs to be communicating in a better
way with MSA. The current structure is
not enough between the two bodies ... We
as an assembly need to take a strong step
to ensure that the students' interests are
represented," Levine said.
Levine said the need for the liaison

derived from a city ordinance passed
over the summer that affected many stu-
dents living near North Burns Park and
Oxbridge. Under the ordinance, the resi-
dents were required to pay $40 for parking
passes and only allocated three parking
passes per residence. Prior to this ordi-
nance parking was free and unrestricted.
"It is my feeling that this ordinance is
inherently antistudent. Clearly, many stu-
dents live more than three to a house," he
said.
MSA North Campus Affairs Co-Chair
and Engineering junior Bretlan Fletcher,
said he thought a new committee would
be redundant and infringe on the External
Relation Committee's responsibilities of
maintaining relationships with organiza-
tions like the City Council.
"We need to add to the (External Rela-
tions Committee) instead of creating a
whole new committee. It is. a valid con-
cern, and (Levine) is going in the right
direction," said Fletcher, who opposed the
motion.
Student General Council Russ Gar-
ber said that although he agreed that one
person should be held accountable for
relations between the two entities, he still
supported the assembly's decision.
"We have the infrastructure and a place
See MSA, Page 7

JEREMY CHO/For the DAILY
MSA President Jesse Levine leads an MSA meeting in the Michigan Union yesterday evening.

Death toll for American forces in Iraq passes 1,900

1,479 U.S. service
members have died in
hostile fighting
BAGHDAD (AP) - The war in Iraq
passed a sobering milepost yesterday
when U.S. officials reported 12 more
Americans were killed - eight of them
members of the armed forces, raising
to more than 1,900 the number of U.S.
service members who have died in the
country since the invasion.
A Diplomatic Security agent attached
to the U.S. State Department and three
private American security guards were
killed when their convoy was hit by a
suicide car bomber Monday in the north-
ern city of Mosul, the U.S. Embassy in
Baghdad said. The four were attached to

the U.S. Embassy's regional office in
Mosul.
The announcements came as Brit-
ish and Iraqi officials issued stinging
charges and countercharges about the
storming of a Basra jail to free two
British soldiers who had been arrested
by Basra police. During the raid, Brit-
ish forces learned that Shiite Muslim
militiamen and police had just moved
the two men to a nearby house. The
British then stormed that house and res-
cued the men.
British Defense Minister John Reid
said his forces in the southern city were
"absolutely right" to act. But a spokes-
man for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari said the operation was "very
unfortunate."
Britain's Foreign Office later released

The announcements came as British and Iraqi
officials issued stinging charges and countercharges
about the storming of a Basra jail to free two British
soldiers who had been arrested by Basra police.

a statement it said was from al-Jaafari's
office, insisting there is no crisis in rela-
tions between the two countries.
"In response to recent events in Basra,
the Iraqi government wants to clarify
that there is no 'crisis' - as some media
have claimed - between it and the Brit-
ish government," said the statement
from al-Jaafari's office, according to the
Foreign Office. "Both governments are
in close contact, and an inquiry will be

conducted by the Iraqi Ministry of the
Interior into the incident."
The latest American deaths, which
raised the overall toll to 1,907, included
a soldier from the 18th Military Police
Brigade killed in a roadside bombing 75
miles north of the capital yesterday, the
military said.
Four soldiers attached to the Marines
died Monday in two roadside bombings
near the insurgent stronghold of Rama-

di, 70 miles west of Baghdad. They
were attached to the 2nd Marine Divi-
sion, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
Three soldiers died Friday but their
deaths weren't announced until yester-
day: Sgt. Matthew L. Deckard, 29, of
Elizabethtown, Ky., killed when a bomb
went off near his tank during patrol
operations; and Army Spc. David H.
Ford IV, 20, Ironton, Ohio, and Army
1st Sgt. Alan N. Gifford, 39, Tallahas-
see, Fla. killed when an explosive deto-
nated near their tank in Baghdad.
Before the eight military deaths were
announced, a Pentagon count said 1,479
U.S. service members had died in hos-
tile action in Iraq since the start of the
war in March 2003. The toll includes
five military civilians and excludes
American service members who died

from other causes.
Names of the victims were not
released in Baghdad, but Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, in a statement
issued in New York, identified the Dip-
lomatic Security officer as Stephen Eric
Sullivan. His age and address were not
given.
"Steve's death is a tragic loss for all
of us at the Department of State. Our
thoughts and prayers are with Steve's
family. We grieve with them in their
loss and stand with them at this difficult
time," the Rice statement said.
A new poll showed dwindling sup-
port among Americans for President
Bush's handling of Iraq. Two-thirds
in an AP-Ipsos survey said the United
States was spending too much in Iraq,
See IRAQ, Page 7

Students may face
charges for racially
* motivated felony


FASHIONING ART

Hillel opens new
learning center

Police say there is a
* good chance victims
will file a lawsuit
By Rachel Kruer
Daily Staff Reporter
The Ann Arbor Police Department
has issued warrants for two University
students for allegedly yelling obsceni-
ties and urinating on two students in a
racially motivated act.
The incident began when one of
the suspects, a 21-year-old, allegedly
urinated from a second-floor balcony
on two Asian students walking down
the 600 block of South Forest Avenue
Thursday night.
After the couple asked why they
were being urinated on, the suspect and

could not enter without a warrant.
However, the AAPD knows the iden-
tity of the student, who could face jail
time if prosecuted.
AAPD Lt. Michael Logghe classi-
fied the crime as ethnic intimidation,
or verbal or physical attack against a
person of another race or gender. Log-
ghe said ethnic intimidation is a felony
and carries a maximum penalty of four
years in jail. The suspects could also
be charged with assault, and one of the
suspects could face a charge of indecent
exposure, which would require him to
register as a sex offender.
Keith Elkin, director of the Office
of Student Conflict Resolution, said he
could not comment on whether OSCR
was handling the case.
However, he said crimes involving
ethnic intimidation do not only break

By Laura Frank
Daily Staff Reporter
The new Jewish Learning Center at
Hillel, which officially opened on Mon-
day, is only the size of an average Uni-
versity classroom, but organizers hope
the spirit of learning that grows from this
one room will be much larger.
The center will offer classes on a wide
variety of subjects, from politics and
philosophy to Torah study, Hebrew and
meditation. All of these classes are free
for all University students.
Rabbis and religious teachers from a
wide variety of backgrounds will lead
classes and help with informal study.
Organizers hope to make the Jewish
Learning Center a place "where people
want to teach," said Rabbi Jason Miller,
who will serve as the director of the new
center. Miller said he hopes to attract reli-
gious scholars from around the country.
Also known as a Beit Midrash or

It will be "sort of a
dating service, but for
study."
--Jason Miller
Director of the
Jewish Learning Center
In addition, a computer in the new cen-
ter offers Internet access and software
focused on Jewish learning. A mini-
fridge and microwave ensure that no
students will have to go hungry while
engrossed in study.
While the room is small, Jenna Eisen,
an LSA junior and member of the inau-
gural class at the Beit Midrash, said she
appreciated the new center's intimacy.
"It was nice because there were just
the three of us, and it was easier to learn;
there was open conversation and a com-


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