Tuesday, April 4, 2006 News 2 Jury rules Moussaoui eligible for death penalty GATORS CHOM PA bRUINS, WIN TITLE ... SPORTS, PAGE 10 Opinion 4 From the Daily: Listen to SOLE Arts 8 Tsotsi is a triumphant passage into manhood One-hundred-sixteen years f editorialfreedom www.mzihigandady.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 105 42006 The Michigan Daily Thursday the new Friday? Not anymore Push back those weekend plans: Administration considers scheduling more Friday classes to better utilize facilities By Ashlea Surles Daily Staff Reporter No one will be saying thank goodness it's Thursday anymore. The University is considering redistrib- uting courses more evenly throughout the week, scheduling more classes on Friday to. better utilize facilities. There are significantly fewer classes on Fridays than any other weekday. Twelve per- cent of classes are held-on Fridays, compared to 22 percent each Monday through Thurs- day. Phil Hanlon, associate provost for aca- demic and budgetary affairs, said the low percentage of Friday classes indicates an underutilization of University facilities. In the face of budget constraints, the University is trying to remedy this, Hanlon said. Most University buildings are powered 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week, but are actu- ally used far less than that - especially on Fridays. "The cost of maintaining our facilities is one of the things that increases most in our budget," Hanlon said. Hanlon said part of the University's strat- egy for managing the budget crisis is a more efficient use of facilities. If the University schedules classes proportionally throughout the week, it would justify powering facilities evenly. Class scheduling is largely dependent on when faculty want to teach and when stu- dents want to take classes. "Faculty are asked directly while students are asked indirectly through class enroll- ment," Hanlon said. Faculty and students generally avoid scheduling Friday courses, so the provost's office is considering offering financial or special incentives to departments and col- leges that schedule more classes on Fridays. The change would inhibit the three-day- weekend lifestyle many students, especially upperclassmen, have adopted. Many stu- dents see Thursday night as another night to party. As a result, low attendance and enrollment levels plague Friday courses. In one French 102 course last semester, an average of 17 percent of students were absent on Fridays, compared to 6 percent for the three other days of the week. Art History Prof. Rebecca Zurier said she noticed lower attendance in her History of Art 102 class on Friday but said the trend has not prompted her to change her syllabus to accommodate students. In an extended exchange with Zurier last semester, one student complained that too many of the assignments in her 400- level course required studying over the weekend and thus interfered with seniors' See FRIDAYS, page 7 ANGELA CESERE/Daily LSA freshman Pert Weisberg, dressed as Uncle Sam, stands yesterday beside a poster of mug shots collected at an antiwar protest last month. Activists tried to give the FBI the pictures Friday in protest of domestic wiretapping, but authorities refused to accept them. FBI on mugs: Thanks, but nothanks Activists tried to hand over their own mug shots as 'pre-emptive' strike against domestic surveillance By Becky Kollar For the Daily Uncle Sam, an FBI agent and even Presi- dent Bush himself made an appearance in downtown Ann Arbor Friday afternoon - in character form, of course. As a continuation of an antiwar rally on the Diag two weeks ago, protesters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Michigan Peaceworks gathered outside the Ann Arbor Federal Building on Friday to turn over 176 mug shots of willing antiwar activists to the authorities in a symbolic pre-emptive strike against domestic sur- veillance. Authorities, though, refused to accept the photographs. FBI Special Agent Dawn Clenney said protesters were informed ahead of time that their mug shots would not be received by officials. Clenney applauded the protesters for exercising their First Amendment Rights, but said the FBI has no need for the pho- tos. "It's not necessary, because we are not trying to surveil those people," Clenney said. Determined protesters mailed the pack- age of mug shots to Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff shortly after the rally Friday evening. Phillis Engelbert, Michigan Peace- works's executive director, said the« FBI's refusal to "W e hope to accept the photos ta has not discouraged message tha protesters. who "To us it doesn't oppose matter to whom the president's fo photos go - the mes- P sage is the same," policies are r Engelbert said. "We hope to send and will not the message that b domestic people who oppose bet the president's for- eign policies are not afraid and will not be silenced by Executiv domestic spying." The protest was sparked by evidence that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the National Security Agency has been infiltrating paci- fist organizations, activists said. One such organization, the Thomas Mer- ton Center in Pittsburgh, recently learned its group has been under FBI investigation since 2002, said director Jim Kleisser, who spoke at Friday's event. "Because of our position against the Iraq war, we have been under investigation," Kleisser said. "But if they spied on every- t n re watch 180 million or so Americans." Michael Steinberg, legal director of Michigan's chapter of the ACLU, also addressed the protesters. "We are in a Constitutional cri- send the sis," Steinberg said. people "These people are peopleengaged in free he speech. They are not terrorists." reign Steinberg said the ACLU will continue lot afraid to fight domestic surveillance. be silenced "Dissent is the ,,in "purest form of patri- otism," he said. The ACLU has - Phillis Engelbert two University chap- ters, an undergradu- director, Michigan ate branch and a Law Peaceworks School branch. The ACLU filed suit against the NSA on Jan. 17 in an attempt to halt the spying, calling for a full investigation into the legality of the issue. "Anybody engaged in dissent now has a legitimate fear that they are being spied on in the name of national defense," Steinberg said. "That is un-American." Michigan Peaceworks has employed more than 30 University interns since its creation. Members of the "Turn-Yourself-In" guerrilla theater troupe and nearly 80 free- See FBI, page 7 Applications from it'l students up' U.S. State Department's streamlining of visa process likely increased international applications to grad schools By Kelly Fraser Daily Staff Reporter When Rackham student Proj Ghosh first applied for a visa to the United States in his home country of India six years ago, it was typical for prospective travelers to line up to wait outside the visa office a day ahead of time. Ghosh and his family alternated hold- ing a place in line through the night to ensure that he would get the visa he needed to go to graduate school. To improve the experience of international graduate students, the U.S State Department has streamlined the visa process, signifi- By the numbers 1 International grad school applica- tions rose 11 percent in 2006. R Applications dropped an average of 23 percent each year between 2003 and 2005. * As of March 26, Rackham had received 7,292, up from 6,575 at this point last year cantly decreasing the time it takes to process applications. This effort is one of several factors that have led to a national jump in international graduate applications at universities. The number of graduate school applica- tions by international students to American Universities has bounced back this year after See APPS, page 7 one opposed to the Iraq war, they'd have to Panelists discuss free speech vs. hate speech Panelists deliver impassioned speeches about media's role in stereotypes, significance of racism and trek toward change By Leah Graboski Daily Staff Reporter AARON HANDELSMAN/Daily Neva U, secretary for the Shooters' Allance for Firearms Rights, speaks with the winner of the College Libertarians' gun giveaway, University alum Laura Dodd, last night. Gun giveaway shoots for ownership rights Panelists hashed out controversies over the media's representation of minorities last night in Hutchins Hall at the Law School. TOMMASO GOMEZ/Daily Rackham student Mohammad Khalil, a doctoral candidate in Islamic Studies, speaks at a panel yesterday about the I -- -44 -T - .r......... ant]. T-..-I a ..1...-. T..,T..-. i i