Monday, February 20, 2006
Opinion 3A Sam Singer on
Bush and Hamas
Arts
4A 'Date Movie' truly
horrendous
CONTROLLING THE MINDS OF SHARIS ... SCIENCE, PAGE 5A
One-hundredfifteen years of editorialfreedom
Sports 1B Cagers split
series with intra-
state rivals
I '' I I, Is 1: 11 a
www.michikgandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
m Vol. CXV, No. 79
02006 The Michigan Daily
A2 lawyer
tries to spur
boycott of 'U'
Mott hospital
design given
green light
Former student
asks Native American
students to boycott
undergraduate programs
By Neil Tambe
Daily Staff Reporter
In addition to suing Michigamua and the
University Board of Regents, a local lawyer
wants prospective Native American students
to boycott the University's undergraduate
programs.
Christopher Bell's lawsuit claims the Uni-
versity breached a 1989 agreement by allegedly
allowing Michigamua
to use rituals and other f
symbols associated "I feel that w
with Native American
culture. In the 1989 make the U
agreement, Mich- choose betwN
igamua agreed to elim-
inate all references to and M ichigo
Native American cul-
ture after complaints
from the Native Amer- - C
ican community that Ann
the secret society was
demeaning its culture.
University representatives have criticized
the lawsuit and are calling the proposed boy-
cott, the latest development in the saga, irre-
sponsible.
"It is extremely irresponsible to recom-
mend that students boycott our academic
programs," University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson said. "Our University is strongly
committed to creating and nurturing a diverse
community."
Bell, a former University student, sent out
the boycott request in an e-mail to members
of the campus's Native American community
last week.
"It may feel weird that I am asking that
you support a boycott of U-M undergraduate
programs when you yourself have benefited
from that very opportunity," Bell wrote in
the e-mail. "But I feel that we need to make
the University choose between us and Mich-
igamua - because the two cannot co-exist
without keeping us in the position of being
third or fourth class students."
Bell said he will not make comments to any
media outlet until Wednesday, when he will
hold an off-campus media event. LSA senior
Cynthia Biro, who is of Native American
descent, said she does not support the boycott.
Biro said she thought it would hurt the
Native American community if a boycott
e need to
niversity
veen us
amua.
Christopher Bell,
Arbor attorney
ble, but did not speculate
about what conclusion the
group would reach.
While Marino said
she doesn't think having
fewer Native American
students at the University
will solve anything, she
feels that Native Ameri-
can students should not
support a university that
oppresses them.
Marino also said she
finds that the relationship
happened.
"How are we supposed to represent our
people? How are we supposed to get an edu-
cation? It doesn't make any sense," she said.
But Biro also said a boycott was a way to
garner attention and support for the issue.
LSA junior Brittany Marino said given the
University's history with Native American
students, she understands where the lawyer is
coming from.
"I think that the boycott is asking a lot, but
I don't think it's asking too much," she said.
Marino's a Native American Student Asso-
ciation co-chair, said a consensus among the
group has not been reached. She said the
group will discuss the issue as soon as possi-
New C.S. Mott
Hospital to be
completed by 2011,
could cost $523m
By Gabe Nelson
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents
approved the design for the much-
anticipated new C.S. Mott Chil-
dren's and Women's Hospital at its
meeting Friday.
When it opens its doors in
spring 2011, the state-of-the-art
facility, will replace the existing
Mott children's hospital and the
women's hospitals.
The most notable features of the
hospital will be its environmental
friendliness and its comforting
interior.
Most patients will be able to
see the Nichols Arboretum and
the Huron River from their rooms.
Suggestions from patients and their
families guided the design, which
will include an outdoor courtyard
and abundant natural light. It will
be the length of two football fields
and is expected to accommodate
4,500 births per year.
The facility will house both
inpatient and outpatient programs
and is slated to cost $523 million.
In addition to approving the
between students and administration can be
impersonal, and sometimes it takes an action
that could affect the University's bottom line
for student needs to be addressed.
"I think that not just native students, but
anyone who gives money to this university
should know something about this universi-
ty's history," Marino said. "Based on this his-
tory and the decisions the University makes
today, that individual needs to decide if it's
something they want to be supporting."
Phil Deloria, a professor of Native Ameri-
can Studies, said in a written statement that
the faculty in his department will be drafting
a collective response to the lawsuit and to the
boycott shortly.
The University has not yet been officially
notified of the lawsuit, but Peterson said the
lawsuit has no merit and the University will
seek a dismissal.
Until 2000, Michigamua was a student
group and the University could oversee its
practices. In 2000, the University and the
group severed their ties with each other.
"The University does not have any power
to regulate how students choose to affiliate
with organizations that are outside of our
boundaries and processes," Vice President
for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper said in
a written statement.
COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Design plans for the new C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital. The
project could cost up to $523 million. Mott Hospital will replace the parking
lot on East Medical Center Drive and East Hopsital Drive.
design, the regents approved a
$25-million increase to the proj-
ect's budget. The money will
primarily go toward Leadership
in Energy and Environmental
Design certification. LEED certi-
fication indicates that a building is
enivornmental sustainable.
The change of the hospital's
plans to include LEED certifi-
cation was spurred, in part, by
student input at previous regents
meetings.
"We absolutely value input from
students, but it had been in our
minds already," said Krista Hop-
son, spokeswoman for the Uni-
See HOSPITAL, page 7A
Group leads
discussion
on cartoons
Muslim Students' Association
hosts dialogue, film about
Prophet Muhammad
By Kelly Fraser
Daily Staff Reporter
Turning the focus onto education and understanding and
away from ink sketches, the Muslim Students' Association
hosted an overflowing crowd at a dialogue and viewing of a
film on the role of the Prophet Muhammad in Islam, at the
Michigan Union Friday night.
The event, "Not in the Name of Our Prophet," was an effort
to educate the community about exactly why the recent Danish
cartoons negatively depicting the prophet were so offensive to
Muslims around the world.
The cartoons were published last September. Since then,
they have appeared in other newspapers that believe printing
the cartoons is within the realm of responsible speech. In one
cartoon, the prophet Muhammad appears in a turban shaped
like a bomb. In another, he tells suicide bombers lined up at
the gates of heaven that he is out of virgins to reward them for
their sacrifice.
While mnnv nennle thmnk' Muss find the cartons to be
Student dies in boarding accident
0 Freshman died Saturday
after week in coma; friend
remembers him as greatest
guy I have ever known
By Drew Philp
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA freshman John Mitchell died Saturday morning
at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City after a week
.in a drug-induced coma following a snowboarding acci-
dent. He was 18.
Mitchell's funeral will be held on Thursday at St.
Andrews church in Livonia.
Visitation will be held on Tuesday from 5 to 9 p.m.
and Wednesday 2 to 9 p.m. at the Will Harry J. funeral
home on Six Mile Road in Livonia.
He was born on June 17, 1987 and grew up in Livonia
with his mother Chris, father Harold and sister Katie.
With Mitchell's clothes still hanging in his closet and
personal effects still resting on an empty desk, his long-
time friend and roommate, LSA freshman Josh Wilson,
described him as "the greatest guy I have ever had the
pleasure to know."
Wilson said Mitchell was a great athlete who loved
sports and his girlfriend of five years.
"(Mitchell) brought everyone around him up," he
said.
Wilson remembered his friend's sense of humor, rem-
iniscing about lying across from each other in the lofted
beds of Mary Markley Residence Hall. Mitchell would
yell "torpedo" and launch a soft object across the room,
lightening the mood after a hard night of studying.
In high school, Mitchell was a varsity basketball play-
er and an all-conference track runner who also volun-
teered as a reading tutor.
He was contemplating applying to the business school
or a medical school.
LSA freshman Linda Sobh said Mitchell was some-
one she could confide in.
"His friends relied on him," said Chris Mitchell, his
mother.
Sobh said Mitchell was the kind of person who would
leave a party to "walk someone home and make sure
they were OK."
"I wish everyone would have had the pleasure to meet
him," Wilson said.
Neighborhood groups to
represent student tenants
MPP offshoot
aims to form student
neighborhood
associations
SPAN is a sister group of the
Michigan Progressive Party, which
was formed to challenge the domi-
nant Students 4 Michigan in next
month's Michigan Student Assem-
blv elections.
"We want it to be something
students can take ownership
of," she said.
So far, it only has one associa-
tion, for the precinct that extends
from the corner of Packard Street
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