Friday, September 23, 2005 News 3 Experts critique John Roberts and his stance on Affirmative action FOOTBALL PREPARES FOR G EN OPENER .PfGfE Opinion 4 Zack Denfeld returns to the Daily opinion page Arts 5 Innovative film maker comes to 'U' One-hundred-fourteen years of editorialfreedom www.michkgandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 153 ®2005 The Michigan Daily Fire destroys house Trotter House reopens More student groups will be able to base their offices in the renovated center By Carissa Miller Daily Staff Reporter MR YKINAVY/For [th y ily A fire destroyed a house on Arbor Street early yesterday morning. All seven students living in the house were able to get out, but one is currently being treated at the University Hospital's Burn Trauma Center. One student was critically injured after jumping from a second-story bedroom window By Rachel Kruer Daily Staff Reporter Asleep in his basement room, Engineering senior Scott Perrin did not smell or see the smoke that was gradually engulfing his house. Not until his roommates called his cell phone at about 4 a.m. did Perrin wake up to realize the life-threatening situation he was in. Without thinking, Perrin grabbed his wallet, put on his shorts and ran upstairs. He escaped to safety through, a side door as the front porch blazed. Five of his seven roommates were waiting outside - many half-dressed and shoeless - watching the fire swell into their house. The last of the roommates did not wake as easily as Perrin - his roommates tried unsuc- cessfully to wake him minutes earlier by first pounding on the door and then kicking it down. About five minutes after everyone else escaped, the 21-year-old senior jumped out his second-story window. He is currently being treated at the Burn Trauma Center at the Hospital. LSA senior Jon Pargament said his house- mate's condition has stabilized, but he is still in serious condition. All of the housemates spent most of yesterday at the hospital to follow up on his recovery. Pargament said the fire alarm went off, but it was not heard until everyone made it to safety because the fire started outside. The house, located on 730 Arbor St., did not have a fire escape. Landlord David DeYoung did not return repeated calls from The Michigan Daily. LSA senior and former Daily editor Andrew Kaplan, who lived in the house, said many of the cars nearby were severely damaged - three of them belonging to his housemates. "The bodies of the car melted along with the headlights," said Kaplan, a former Daily news editor. "One of the car's windows shat- tered. Basically, anything plastic was singed and melted." Kaplan said all of his roommates were in agreement that the fire started on the porch. Assistant Fire Chief Chris Brenner confirmed the residents' suspicion. Due to the excessive charring on the porch, he said fire inspectors See FIRE, Page 7 --NI7 3..1 fter shutting down last April for summer reno- >ns, the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural ter is set to reopen its doors this Saturday after rgoing a facelift and preparing to accommodate e students. he renovations, which were prompted by ands from the now-defunct student-interest ip Student Voices in Action and the Michigan lent Assembly in the spring of last year, focused nproving the infrastructure and interior appear- of the facility. 'he renovations are the result of students and activism," said Patricia Aqui Pacania, director ie Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs. We tried to think of everything students might 1, and hopefully this is a step toward serving stu- s better." Ithough major structural renovations, such as ibing, electrical wiring and the construction of tional bathrooms were finished in early Septem- Pacania said more time was needed to complete >uilding's interior. ther improvements include increased handicap :ssibility, cappuccino bars, electronic equipment -ades and new carpeting, paint and furniture. i addition, as requested by the Trotter House isory Council - composed of students, fac- members and Trotter staff - the center is also pped with Ethernet and wireless Internet capa- ies. 2004, when students were rallying for improve- ts to the multicultural center in response to MESA budget cut, the University allocated 1,000 for the renovation project and an addi- i $200,000 for immediate repairs. rotter House, which is most often used for ent group meetings, informal gatherings and arsals, also hopes to provide a variety of new :ational programming for the various multicul- I communities. [he staffs of MESA and Trotter House work ther to develop student organizations and stu- leaders," Pacania said. We believe Trotter House is a facility that bring together different members of the imunity." one such program is the Student Success Pro- n, which aims to offer a holistic approach to help ents develop life skills, Pacania said. The pro- n provides academic and financial advice, health reness and tips on time management. ether programs in the planning stage focus on the es of bias, racism, oppression and inclusion. dward Burnett, facilities manager of Trotter se, said he feels the University responded well :udents' demands, which he feels were very rea- ible considering the usage of the facility. ['ve been here 11 years, and there was a definite I for renovations," Burnett said. urnett added that he expects students to be :ked at the drastic changes to the center. am very pleased with the way (the renovations) ,ed out, and I can't wait to see the reactions of the Tents," Burnett said. "I think they will be pleas- . surprised." i the future, Burnett hopes Trotter House will ible to make further improvements, such as the llation of elevators and an addition to give the ding more space. We want the center to be very student friendly," nett said. SA senior and Korean Students Association nber Mary Hong said she believes the renova- s will increase the center's appeal to students student groups. (The center) seemed outdated compared to the of campus," Hong said. "Hopefully the renova- s will help people realize how nice the building sally is." Long added that she feels Trotter House is a good ipus resource that is often underestimated. See TROTTER, Page 7 U'hospital In 1998, the University hired Strong, and later gave him the permanent position of chief financial officer at UMHHC in 2004. Strong received his M.B.A. in health care admin istration from ITniveritv of Pennsvl- The remains of the student rental house on Thursday morn- ing after the fire. Cole man condemns MSA will pick liaison to city e a urinating incident Faculty members and students hope to fight discrimination against Asians in following weeks By Karl Stampfl Daily Staff Reporter Mobilized by last week's racially motivated assault on two Asian students, the faculty of the Asian-Pacific Islander American Studies program have demanded that the administration take steps to eliminate similar crimes on campus. Led by American Culture Prof. Amy Stillman, the faculty sent an open letter to top-level University leadership calling on it to "honor its commitment to valuing diversity, by taking a public stand against racially motivated bias and attacks, and to marshall Elected member will serve to improve communication between students and the City Council By Anne VanderMey Daily Staff Reporter Michigan Student Assembly President Jesse Levine endured the first defeat of his presidential term Wednesday night when his proposal to create a liaison between MSA and City Council was shot down by the assembly, but quickly recovered last night by forging a compromise with an MSA committee. Instead of creating a new committee to establish a relation- ship with Council members, as Levine had originally proposed, MSA's External Relations Committee, which traditionally han- dles relations with other governments - and whose members saw Levine's original proposal as an intrusion on their authority - will elect a liaison by itself. "It's almost exactly the same thing," said Tim Wiggins, vice chair of ERC. Wiggins said the ERC's decision will create a committee nearly identical to the one Levine originally wanted. The only difference is that ERC will be responsible for nominat- ing and electing the committee chair independently from the rest of MSA. Levine said on Wednesday that he felt relations with City Council was an important enough issue to warrant its own com- mittee. But after the meeting, he said that he felt the ERC's solu- tion was just as good. "(This is) very similar, and I think the assembly is behind it implicitly," he added. Mike Forster, chair of ERC, said the reason he didn't vote for the original proposal was a lack of communication on Levine's See LIAISON, Page 7 New interim CEO named for By Marlem Qamruzzaman For the Daily nationwide search to find a permanent CEO may take six to nine months. "Thm e IIner'rta "Doug has served the health system very well in several roles as interim associate vice presi- dent, interim chief financial officer and perma- nent chief financial officer," Kelch said. "He's well nrenare- tn srve ainterimC O." University Hospitals and Health Centers n-A ih af a ncial:nffrar .. n- etnn 1 C I