Thursday, October 27, 2005
News 3A 'U' underage drinking
policies criticized
at MSA forum
Opinion 4A
Sports SA
Eric Jackson wantsyou to
take a statistics course
John Thompson has
made a name for himself
n-h TAL. ded OF IIfTLeny r...1 P-f STATEMENT
One-Izundredfifteen years of ediooriilfreedorn
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www.mzch/igandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXVI, No. 19
@2005 The Michigan Daily
O
'U,'
overshoots
enrollment
targets again
NOAH- ~KRN/Daily
LSA freshman Kenneth Human of New Orleans looks at photos, e-malled to him from his family, of his house after Hurricane Katrina's
aftermath.
Katrina student fights for aid
Minority enrollment up this
year; black enrollment reaches
pre-Supreme Court levels
By Anne VanderMey
Daily Staff Reporter
For the second year in a row, the Uni-
versity has exceeded its freshman enroll-
ment goal by hundreds of students. At 6,115
students, this year's freshman class is the
largest in University history, breaking last
year's record.
Admissions officers overshot their tar-
get enrollment by 755 students. The high
numbers are the result of more students
than expected accepting their admissions
offers.
According to Ted Spencer, director of
undergraduate admissions, yield rates -
the proportion of students who decide on
the University after receiving acceptance
letters -havebeen outpacingsadmissions
officers' predictions for the past two years.
Administrators said the increase is indica-
tive of the University's strong international
reputation.
"The growth in our enrollment is a reflec-
tion of academic strength, and we're grati-
fied that students continue to see Michigan
as one of their top choices," interim Provost
Ned Gramlich said in a written statement.
This year also saw record numbers of
minority students enrolled as freshman,
despite the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court rul-
ing in Grutter v. Bollinger, which struck
down the University's policy of awarding
points on the basis of race as unconstitu-
tional. While the Court found the point sys-
tem to be a crude method of admission, it
did not prohibit admissions officers from
using race as a factor, as long as the process
for admitting students was a holistic one.
The freshman class contains an unprece-
dented number of both Hispanic and Asian
students, and although freshman enrollment
numbers for black students are not at an all-
time high, they are roughly equal to pre-
The numbers are in
University enrollment results
for this year's freshman class:
This year's total freshman enroll-
ment is 6,115 students - the
largest freshman class ever, break-
ing last year's record of 6,040
students.
The freshman class includes
443 black students - 21 percent
higher than last year's number, and
exactly the same as the figure in
2002.
The number, of Hispanic
freshmen is 312, an all-time high
for the University.
More than $1 million
in tuition grants given
by University to students
By Christina Hildreth
Daily Staff Reporter
It's the end of October, and while
most University students are finish-
ing midterms and finding housing
for next year, LSA freshman Ken-
neth Human is still sorting through
paperwork and trying to get his life
back in order. Human caught the last
flight out of Louisiana before Hurri-
cane Katrina hit, arriving at the Uni-
versity just days after his mother's
home in New Orleans was destroyed
by floods when Lake Pontchartrain
breached the city's levees.
So far, the University has dispersed
more than $1 million in financial aid
for this semester to more than 70 stu-
dents whose families were affected
by the catastrophe. The University
has been "sincere and generous in
its offers of assistance to students
affected by the hurricane,"University
spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.
But some students say they are fall-
ing through administrative cracks.
"It's very distracting," Human said
on his difficulties in receiving more
financial aid from the University.
"Its hard to focus (on midterms)
if you don't know if you're going to
be able to stay at the (University)," he
added.
In September, University officials
promised free fall-semester tuition
for newly admitted hurricane stu-
dents. Financial aid administrators
encouraged previously admitted stu-
dents from southern Mississippi and
Louisiana to apply for additional aid
as well.
Yet the process has not been per-
fect. "This situation was unprec-
edented and required all sorts of
exceptions to our normal processes
and policies," Peterson said.
For example, Human's parents
asked the Office of Financial Aid to
review his aid package. All was run-
ning smoothly until Human received
an e-mail saying he was behind on
his tuition payments and would be
denied University resources if he did
not pay his bill.
Although he only qualified for
$2,600 in aid before the hurricane
hit, and his parents did not lose their
jobs because of the storm, most of his
family's dispensable income is cur-
rently being used for rebuilding their
homes, leaving them unable to pay
his school expenses.
. When he called the Office of
Financial Aid about the e-mail, he
said he was told to meet with OFA
See KATRINA, Page 7A
Grutter levels. While freshman enrollment
for black students is up, the overall black
population at the University has decreased
by 38 students since last year.
John Matlock, associate director of
admissions, said he attributes rising enroll-
ment to intensive recruitment efforts on
the part of the admissions team. He said
the University has aggressively targeted
minorities, citing University President
Mary Sue Coleman's recruitment visits to
several black churches.
"What you see is the fruit of all of that
work, as well as Michigan just continuing
to be a very popular place that students
want to go to," Matlock said. "We have a
commitment to diversity across the board,
... racial and ethnic diversity, as well as
diversity from students all over the country
and all over the world."
The intensive recruiting drive was
spurred by the drop in minority enrollment
after the Supreme Court ruling in 2003.
See FRESHMEN, Page 5A
. Students angry about $25 tickets for parking on street
Summer parking ordinance goes into
effect, limiting parking spots for nearby
sorority and fraternity members
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter
When classes got out last April, many students felt parking
in Ann Arbor was a serious problem. This fall, it seems to
have gotten worse.
The City of Ann Arbor has begun issuing $25 parking tick-
ets to cars without residential permits parked on the streets
in North Burns Park, and next month it plans to enforce the
same rules in the Oxbridge neighborhood, a measure that has
hit many students who are used to parking in the neighbor-
hoods.
Last May, Ann Arbor residents living in the two neighbor-
hoods petitioned the city for changes in residential parking.
They requested that all parking spots in the two neighbor-
hoods become two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon-
day through Sunday, except for residents with city-issued
permits.
City Council approved the restrictions at their meeting on
July 25, despite vehement opposition from Michigan Student
Assembly officials and members of nearby fraternities, who
urged the Council to wait until students were back in town
to voice their opinions on the issue. LSA junior Stuart Wag-
ner, a former MSA representative, symbolically presented the
Council with ear-plugs, because he said he felt they were not
listening to the opinions of student-elected representatives.
At the following City Council meeting, student leaders
from MSA and the LSA Student Government urged the coun-
cil to amend the resolution to allow residents of group houses
in the area, such as fraternity or sorority houses, to apply for
12 passes instead of eight, and for residents to be allowed to
apply for six passes instead of four. Under the current restric-
tions, residents of group houses in the area can only apply for
eight parking passes, and residential houses can only apply
for four. The Council did not amend the resolution to accom-
"This ordinance is inherently anti-student. (We) made this perfectly
clear to the City Council during the summer."
~Jesse Levine
MSA president
modate this request.
Councilman Leigh Greden (D-Ward 3) said the changes
were intended to control commuter traffic in the area.
"The number-one reason (to implement the program) was
to remove cars from commuters who were parking there for
free and then walking to work - people who did not live in
the area. In fact, those are the people who have complained
the most about (the parking ordinance)," Greden said.
Student leaders and members of fraternities in affected
areas disagreed.
"This ordinance is inherently anti-student," MSA President
Jesse Levine said. "I along with members of MSA made this
perfectly clear to the City Council during the summer."
Many members of the Greek system said they are upset
with the new ordinances.
"I think it's ridiculous because there's nowhere else to
park," said Alex Feldman, outgoing president of the Sigma
Nu fraternity. "People are already getting a lot of tickets as it
is. I think this is a move by the city to make more money off
See TICKETS, Page 5A
'U' profs sound off
on affirmative action
Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative debated at panel
discussion
By Michael Kan
Daily News Editor
Two men unfolded two very different stories
on affirmative action last night.
Philosophy Prof. Carl Cohen, who began
teaching at the University five decades ago,
approached the podium outfitted in a cardigan
public sphere."
"Of course he was dead right," Cohen said.
"He was dead right in 1954. ... And he's dead
right today." The message, according to Cohen:
Students should abolish affirmative action to
promote a society based on equality.
Marvin Krislov, the University's general
counsel, couldn't disagree more.
A member of the University's legal team
in the 2003 Supreme Court affirmative action
cases, Krislov pleaded with audience members
to look at the present and face reality: Despite
efforts to sow the seeds of equality, poverty and
Author: Schools
remain segregated
By C.C. Song
Daily Staff Reporter
Half a century after the U.S. Supreme Court mandated the desegre-
gation of public schools, the American school system has not become
more integrated but is getting worse, civil rights activist and author
Jonathan Kozol said last night.
Kozol garnered some controversy, with proponents and opponents
of affirmative action lining up in front of the Power Center for the
Performing Arts to attend and protest his speech.
In spite of about 20 protesters, hundreds of students and faculty
filled the Power Center's auditorium to listen to Kozol.
"If you took a photo of a typical inner-city school, it is indistinguish-
able from a school in Mississippi and Alabama in 1940," he said.
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