U -W v Frieze Right There It's Over Your Head I Architecture Column identify rare is that applicants like Chip and Vic- toria, who used the essay to provide a rundown of their extracurricular activities, wouldn't have their race considered. Of course, no matter how the University fac- tors race into the admissions process, opponents of affirmative action like Cohen will continue to consider the policy morally wrong for treated peo- ple differently based on their skin, and supporters of affirmative action will continue to consider the policy vital to leveling an unequal playing field and maintaining a diverse campus community. Reactions to the new policy S o which of the four applicants - Chip, Victoria, Mason and Anne - did the University accept? The consensus among the high school counselors was to admit Chip and Victoria, reject Mason and defer Anne or accept her with reserva- The final results By Austin Dingwall f the dozen or so current and future build- ing pejects presented as part of the Cen- tral Campus Planning Update, the far most intriguing is the highly anticipated North Quad, which was dubbed the future centerpiece of the Central Campus Plan. Although still in the sche- matic design phase where any outcome is possi- ble, the University is already boasting about North Quad - which is scheduled to open in 2009 and will replace the existing Frieze Building. It will serve as a gateway to Central Campus from the north and will consider the shopping areas on State Street, the residential areas to the north and the green landscape to the east. Along with the 202 Thayer Street building, North Quad will strengthen the vitality of the northwest por- tion of campus both in terms of program and architectural elegance. In all, a complete makeover of the Washington and State intersection will then be complete. What was once an archipelago of random buildings and an ancient high school will soon be a cluster of sleek University buildings and a high-rise apart- ment. But how would you feel if you went on "Extreme Makeover" and they fixed your teeth, straightened your nose and gave you the perfect body in every respect - except your left ear? It's not that your left ear is extremely important to you, but it provides balance to your face and they just left it. The newly conceived North Quad is undergoing that very same treatment by keeping the Carnegie Library standing. Down goes the beat-up Ann Arbor high school building posing as a distinguished university edi- fice, and here comes a "state-of-the-art" academ- ic facility combined with much needed housing. By infusing cutting edge information technology and communal student spaces, the University and Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott Architects of Albany, N.Y. are hoping for dynamic enclosures that fea- ture exciting activities with diverse participants. This is no renovation or makeover; it is a com- plete demolition and reconstruction to create the ultimate academic space mixed with a brand new North Quad, the missing and final link to the University's four-quad combo. Everything is exciting and fresh - except the adjacent, dingy Carnegie Library. Already, the Carnegie Library looks old and dejected against the backdrop of the dilapidated Frieze Building, yet the University plans to pre- serve this historic relic by incorporating it into the new complex and renovating the interior. Architects love to contrast or adapt their designs to surrounding buildings as justifica- tions for their proposed ideas, but this tech- nique also limits the possibilities of design. Any element that suggests homage to the aged library through mimicry is an unneces- sary, stylistic element that could be avoided if the library was demolished along with Frieze. Even if, the new architecture ignores all pres- ence of the library, the physical relationship of the two buildings would create a comparison. Imagine the modest stone Carnegie engulfed by the proposed eight-story North Quad. No concrete design shows the new building yet, but the proposed mass and floor plans show tall residential wings along the north and south. How the Carnegie fits in to these plans is already beyond me. In either case, the architec- tural design's fresh impact will be diminished because of this dinky, stone remnant. The artistic style of North Quad is not the only thing limited by the Carnegie Library, there are also pragmatic considerations. Facing north, the existing Carnegie looks onto Huron Street and. away from the pedestrian traffic of central cam- pus. Currently used primarily as a back entrance to the Frieze, the Carnegie's facade is rarely seen except for the graduate students living on North Thayer. Nevermind having a makeover and for- getting about a left ear, at least an ear can hear. Why would anyone preserve all or even part of a building's back entrance when the rest is being annihilated without a second thought? Even worse, the south facade of North Quad that faces the rest of Central Campus is being considered for the service entrances when most people will approach the building from that direction. Built at the turn of the century through Andrew Carnegie fund, the library does have historical significance - but so does every single Carnegie Library in the Midwest built at that time. There is Li niversity officials and the. leaders of many minority stu- dent groups now actually con- sider the University to be better off with the new admissions policy. The policy "gives us a lot more information about the stu- CAITLIN KLEIBOER/Daily The Carnegie Library will still stand when North Quad opens in 2009. nothing special about Ann Arbor's, and Carnegie didn't care about Ann Arbor in particular. A pub- lic library was built in his name to any city that pledged to maintain it afterward. In fact, there were a total of 2,811 Carnegie Libraries built, and 1,946 of them are scattered throughout the entire United States while the rest reside in the United Kingdom or Canada. The special parts of the Frieze Building are where the faculty and students have left their emotions and feelings, like the theater and basement arts facilities. Concern has been brought up about maintaining those fea- tures in the new North Quad, but sadly are not being considered. The University has enough beautiful, turn- of-the-century, neo-historical buildings so that the demolition of this mediocre and not entirely extraordinary library is no big deal. Histori- cally, the University also has many older and more respectable buildings since it was founded nearly one hundred years before Carnegie's phi- lanthropy. Yet the preservation of this building is deemed important although it may impede the creation of a truly unique architecture designed solely for the university and its needs. If the University is dishing out $79 million for a new multi-programmed facility, they should not receive a "schmorgashbourgh" project but a highly integrated design. The Carnegie Library should be destroyed not as disrespect to the past, but because it has lived a long, meaningful life and should retire in order to provide the Univer- sity room to grow. Dingwall is the Daily's architecture columnist and can be reached at adingwal@umich.edu. dents who are applying," says Director of Admis- sions Ted Spencer. "The essay tells you a lot about the student." Lindsley adds that "the richness of information you have about a student is immeasurable com- pared to what you had before." Admissions officials credit the new applica- tion - and in particular the increased number of essays - for enabling them to more effectively select students who are truly excited about attend- ing the University, as opposed to those appli- cants merely relying on the University as a safety school. Enrollment figures back up this claim, as the University has seen record enrollment the past two years, because the percentage of accepted applicants who actually attend is higher than ever before. At the same time, after a one-year substantial dip in minority enrollment, numbers are up close to the levels under the points system. University officials now believe many mainstream minorities didn't want to apply to the University immediately following the court ruling because the school had become such a hot bed of controversy. While the new policy may deserve some credit for this, the University also significantly increased minority recruiting efforts in response to the court ruling - for example, University President Mary Sue Coleman has begun visiting predominantly black church services in western Michigan. Minority students also said they prefer the indi- vidualized review of the new policy to the strict distinctions of the old points system. LSA senior Riana Anderson, president of the University chap- ter of the National Association for the Advance- ment of Colored People, said many blacks were not truly satisfied with the points system, adding that the new policy is "more fair and equitable." LSA junior Brittany Marino, member and former co-chair of the Native American Student Associa- tion, said the new policy "looks at a person as a whole rather than at segments." Students who oppose the use of race in admis- sions, like LSA junior Katherine Miller, secre- tary of College Republicans, also favor the new policy to the points system. Miller said consid- ering diversity more generally constitutes and improvement, but that "it doesn't mean (Univer- sity officials) aren't considering race. They're just doing it in a more covert manner." Miller added that she wouldn't be surprised if admis- sions officials are weighing race heavily under the new policy, even as they claim to consider it as one of many factors. Cohen, though, said in some aspects the new policy is actually more "racially aggressive" than the points system. He said he is particularly dis- turbed by a phrase in the mission statement of the new policy, which states that the University should, not can, consider race in admissions. "That's mor- ally wrong ... and damaging to all minorities," he said. tion. The reality was much different: Of all the applicants, only Victoria was rejected and is not currently attending the University. It may come as a surprise that a University that prides itself on only accepting students that can successfully keep up with a challenging academic curriculum would pass over an applicant with a 34 ACT score and a multitude of advanced classes in favor of an applicant with a 20 ACT score and few college preparatory courses. Yet the new policy places significant emphasis on the context of each applicant's educational background, and Sanders points out that Mason was an above-average stu- dent at his high school and could have scored bet- ter on the ACT with access to AP courses or test preparation materials. Sanders also adds that students who the Uni- versity believes have the potential to succeed, but without the opportunities in high school, are often sent through the University's Summer Bridge pro- gram. The program allows them to take college classes during the summer before their freshman year in a more personal setting to ensure that they are prepared for the University's academics. According to Sanders, two of the three accepted applicants enrolled in and completed the summer bridge program and are now doing well at the Uni- versity. Unfortunately the workshop didn't shed much light on the still-unanswered question of how admissions officials treat applicant's race. Anne's test scores were several points below the Univer- sity average, and the rest of her application wasn't outstanding, so her race probably helped her get in - although the fact that she was a female applying to engineering also likely played a substantial role. But Mason, who appeared to be the least-qualified applicant, is not an underrepresented minority and his race probably wasn't a significant factor. During the workshop, Sanders mentioned each applicant's race but did not discuss it beyond that. When one counselor asked Lindsley how race was weighed, she gave the standard response: that it is one of many factors, but no applicant who is not prepared academically will be admitted based on race. As Mason's admission reveals, the level of an applicant's academic preparation is itself a subjec- tive distinction. So the bottom line is that after all the debate and court rulings, how the University actually applies race in admissions remains an unan- swered question, like the more general ques- tion of whether affirmative action is ethical. And no matter how much University officials stress the holistic, individualized nature of the new admissions policy, the success of the new policy, just like its predecessor, will ultimately be determined by the numbers of minorities admitted. University officials proudly report how minority admission rates, after a one year dip, are back up to the levels before the court ruling. Some minority students say they will support the new policy, as long as minor- ity enrollment stays the same. "If I see diver- sity going up, but African American numbers going down, then that's a problem," said Kine- siology senior Kreston Martin, president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. And if the Michigan Civil Rights Initia- tive to ban affirmative action in the state government's programs and public education makes its way onto next year's election ballot as expected, even the future of the new under- graduate policy will be determined by a num- ber - the percentage of state voters who vote in favor of using race in admissions. Erica Sanders reviews undergraduate admissions applica ough read by at least two different readers. The Weekend List Macbeth The Rude Mechanicals will present this popu- lar Shakespeare tragedy set in Scotland. The per- formance will take place tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Lydia Men- delssohi Theatre. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for all others and can be purchased at the door or at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Skate Night This open ice-skating session will benefit Dance Marathon. The skate will begin at 8 p.m. at Yost Ice Arena: Admission is $4. The Sopranos The all-female a cappella group will present their annual fall concert with this year's theme, "Bohemia." The concert will take place at 8:30 p.m. at the Forum Auditorium at Palmer Com- mons. Admission is $5. HEAR ME Presented by F.O.K.U.S., musicians, sing- ers and writers will gather to spread AIDS/HIV awareness and encourage communication in fighting the epidemic. The event will take place at 9 p.m. in the Michigan League. Free. Brendan Benson The pop-rock artist will perform with special guest SSM. The performance will take place at 9:30 p.m. at the Blind Pig.. $16 cover. 18 and over only. Satz IRV Sunlday %.o4o Gimble 'The a cappella group will perform works from Jason Mraz and Van Morrison, among others. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. in Auditorium 3 of the Modern Languages Build- ing. Tickets are $7 at the door. Handel's Messiah The University Musical Society Choral Union will combine with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra to present this old holiday favorite that originated in Dublin. The performance will take place Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Tickets are $10-30 and can be purchased through www.ums.org. Marching Band Concert The Michigan Marching Band will present their final performance of the year, featuring songs from this year's halftime shows. The show will take place at 12:30 p.m. at Crisler Arena. Tickets are $9 for adults and $3 for children 11 and under and can be purchased at Revelli Hall. Relay for Life Relay for Life will be holding their annual kickoff event which will have an information and sign-up session. The event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Pendleton Room at the Michigan Union. LSA and RC senior Sharon Brett shows off a dorm room i and their families. Under the new admissions procedures must write an extra essay and face new criteria to gain a 4B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 1, 2005 The Michigan Da' }