NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 5A

* KOZOL
Continued from page 1A
because the students do poorly on standard-
ized exams, which affect funding, he said.
Kozol said the inner-city schools force
teachers to read from scripts instead of
sharing their feelings and experiences,
as schools - fearful of budget cuts -
designate class time to train students in
test-taking.
Ben Royal, a Rackham student and
BAMN organizer, said Kozol's speech
was intended to raise awareness of affir-
mative action's importance in light of
the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative,
which is expected to be on next year's
statewide ballot and would ban the use
of affirmative action by the state and
public universities.
"We want to publicize the segrega-
tion in the state's education," Royal said.
"We want to use him to educate the Ann
Arbor community to start a new civil
rights movement."
Matt Gage, an LSA senior and
event chair of the College Republi-
cans, organized a small-scale pro-
test against affirmative action with
the College Libertarians and Young
Americans for Freedom.
Gage said he opposes affirmative
action because it has led to minority
students performing worse than others
at top universities.
"I personally support the same thing
that the proponents of affirmative action
want, that we want more minorities to
integrate," he said. "But we want them
to go to a place where they can succeed
and perform better."
Jahi Chappell, a Rackham student,
attended the event to show his support
for affirmative action. He said affirma-
tive action is necessary to correct his-
torical injustices.

MCRI
Continued from page 1A
Rights Initiative, a ballot measure expected
to appear on the statewide ballot in November
2006. MCRI will allow state voters to decide
whether race and gender should be factors in
determining admissions at public universities
and employment decisions by the state.
As the University prides itself on its race-
conscious admissions, MCRI will have major
repercussions for the school if it is passed.
LSA Student Government's Multicultural.
Affairs Committee held a panel discussion
last night to highlight the major arguments
revolving around MCRI and the affirmative
action debate. Cohen and Krislov were joined
on the panel by American Culture Prof. Maria
Cotera, Law School Prof. Richard Friedman
and Howard Schwartz, president of the Mich-
igan Association of Scholars.
For Cohen, affirmative action represents
the essence of discrimination. Once affirma-
tive action was meant to force institutions to
treat all people equally, but now groups have
hijacked the term to mean promoting diver-
sity through preferential treatment of minori-
ties, he said.
"They turned affirmative action on its

head," Cohen said. "Racial discrimination is
wrong - you don't need a philosophy profes-
sor to come and tell you."
"If you support the Civil Rights Act of
1964, then you should support the Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative," Cohen said, referring
to the law that prohibited discrimination in
public employment and facilities.
But Krislov said banishing affirmative
action at the University would not only be
a detriment to the campus, but also to the
nation. California already underscores this
reality, he said.
Because California in 1996 passed Proposi-
tion 209 - a ballot measure, nearly identical
to MCRI, that ended the use of race-con-
scious admissions in the state - public uni-
versities there have seen a dramatic decline in
the diversity of their student bodies.
Proposition 209 affected female enroll-
ment rates as well as aspects beyond admis-
sions. Scholarships, recruitment efforts and
financial aid geared toward minorities and
women have been erased by proposition 209,
Krislov said.
Last year, only 218 black students attended
the University of California Los Angeles and
Berkeley, half of which have athletic scholar-
ships - a major drop from 1995, when 469

black students attended both universities.
MCRI would do the same here, essentially
uprooting all efforts meant to foster educa-
tional equality, Krislov said.
"These are terrible things that erode our
confidence in the American dream," he
added.
American Culture Prof. Maria Cotera
agreed with Krislov, refuting Cohen's argu-
ment that affirmative action is inherently dis-
criminatory. While MCRI supporters extol
the fairness of the initiative, Cotera said the
reality is that the world is far from fair.
Because minorities are continually under-
represented in government and leading busi-
ness and tend to disproportionately suffer
from lack of proper education, Cotera said,
"To invoke fairness as a rationale for dis-
mantling the very programs that have tried to
(improve) the status of affairs is the height of
hypocrisy and cynicism."
Mike O'Brien, a Michigan Review edi-
tor and LSA sophomore, said the panel dis-
cussion was balanced because the speakers
illustrated the different points of view in the
affirmative action debate.
"Whatever the underlying tensions were
(at the event), it was a really positive environ-
ment," he added.


TICKETS
Continued from page 1A
of parking tickets."
Sara Roedener, vice president of the Alpha
Phi sorority, said the recent reports of crime
in Ann Arbor have made the new parking
restrictions a safety concern.
"I'm not comfortable with my friends and
sisters having to park a far distance away
from the house and walk back on poorly lit
residential streets," Roedener said.
Levine said he was not surprised to learn
that students were upset about the new park-

ing restrictions.
Greden, however, said he hadn't heard
any complaints before the proposal was
approved.
"I did not hear a single complaint from stu-
dents living in either of the proposed districts,"
Greden said, adding that the restrictions have
been in planning for almost a year.
Roedener said that by acting over the sum-
mer, students were shut out of the process.
"We were effectively denied knowledge
and the'opportunity to oppose the legislation
at hand," Roedener said.
Levine expressed concern about these

types of zoning districts spreading through-
out the city.
"I think these districts are going to spread
throughout Ann Arbor and take away (stu-
dents') right to park on the street. It's ridicu-
lous that students are going to have to register
their friends' cars with the City Council
whenever they hang out."
Levine said this will be an important issue
for the newly created student-city committee
to discuss.
"I think that this is one of my personal top
five priorities ... I think the committee will
definitely bring this issue up," Levine said.


FRESHMEN
Continued from page1A
After the ruling, the University changed the undergraduate applica-
tion to reflect the "holistic" admissions approach advocated in the
court's majority opinion. Administrators have speculated that the new
application, which is significantly longer than the last one and includes
more essays, was the reason the University received more than 4,000
fewer applications last year than in 2003. This year, the number of
applicants rose by 12 percent but remains below levels prior to the
new application.
In addition to being the biggest, this year's incoming class is also
the most academically qualified, said Chris Lucier, associate direc-
tor of undergraduate admissions. He added that he often hears high
school counselors use the word "hot" when describing Michigan's
popularity among high school seniors applying to college.
While they may be indicative of a good reputation, high enroll-
ment levels also present problems, most notably with on-campus
housing. Last year's record freshman class forced the University to
place undergraduate students in Northwood family housing units on
North Campus.
But Matlock said the University has the problem under control.

"All other things being equal, universities ought to continue to see more
applications. The more selective and popular institutions ... are more
likely to be able to enroll a larger class"
- Donald Heller
Researcher at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University

"Adjustments are made, and classes are added Matlock said. "It's
not like the first day of class we say, 'Whoa! What happened?"'
Donald Heller, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Higher
Education at Penn State University, said increased enrollment is the
result of a national trend of more students going to college and is
expected to continue until the end of the decade. He added that he
also expects minority enrollment to increase, saying the court ruling
was not as anti-diversity as some think. He said a "holistic" approach
to admissions is better for minorities, whose test scores and grades
often lag behind those of white students.

"All other things being equal, universities ought to continue to
see more applications," Heller said. "The more selective and popular
institutions, like the University of Michigan, are more likely to be able
to enroll a larger class if they want."
If an unusually large freshman class is a problem now, it may be a
larger problem next year, when the University will lose 500 on-campus
beds while Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall is closed for renovations.
Matlock, the associate admissions director, said he does not expect the
University to increase its enrollment target next year but rather to take
steps to bring the student population back to normal levels.


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