NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 6, 2006 - 3A

" OAN CAMPUS
New campus
journal to host
kickoff party
The Michigan Israel Observer, a new
campus journal run by students, will
host a kickoff party today in the base-
ment of Ashley's Restaurant and Pub
on State Street. Interested students are
invited to talk with the staff and writ-
ers and to look over the first issue of the
publication as well as get a preview of
the second. The event will begin at 7
p.m. and free food will be available.
Rally and march
to protest
sexual violence
As part of the 27th annual Take
Back the Night, Ann Arbor and
Ypsilanti community members
will hold a rally and march today
against sexual violence. The event
is organized by the Ann Arbor
Coalition Against Rape and Uni-
versity Women Against Rape. The
rally, featuring drummers, singers
and speakers, will begin at 7 p.m.
on the Diag. The march will follow
immediately afterward.
Cattle rancher
turned vegetarian
to give lecture
Howard Lyman, a fourth-genera-
tion cattle rancher turned vegetarian
activist, will speak today about the
environmental and health impacts of
our food choices. The event will begin
at 7:30 p.m. in the Kuenzel Room of
the Michigan Union. After the lecture,
Lyman will be available to sign copies
of his books "Mad Cowboy" and "No
More Bull!"
". CRIME
NOTES
Phone call cons
unsuspecting
student
After receiving a phone call last
February saying that he had "won"
something, a Fletcher Hall resident was
tricked into giving his checking account
information for a "shipping fee," the
Department of Public Safety reported.
The resident claimed fraudulent charges
were recorded on his checking account.
Falling concrete
damages car
parked in structure
A vehicle parked in the East Medical
Center parking structure was damaged by
a piece of falling concrete Tuesday, DPS
reported. Police deemed the incident acci-
dental property damage.
Student passes

out on bus
A student fainted while riding a
University bus Tuesday afternoon.
She was unconscious when an ambu-
lance arrived but was still breathing,
DPS reported. The victim was trans-
ported to the University Hospital
Emergency Room. Police said she
may have had an epileptic episode.
0 THIs DAY

GRADUATES
Continued from page 1A
public bus to return home, often arriving at 6 pm.
Although his schedule is overwhelming at times,
Hall said it has made him more disciplined.
"What I learn from track is what doesn't kill
you makes you stronger' Hall said. "You per-
form best when you have nothing left."
Hall's teachers attested to his strong work ethic
and determination.
"He's not afraid to go for what he needs to
get," AP Calculus teacher Robert Williams said.
"If he's supposed to know something, he's not
afraid to ask the question to know"
Although Hall grew up in Detroit, he said he
looks forward to a change next fall.
"As much as I love Detroit, I want to leave,"
he said. "I want to help myself so I can help my
community."
Apart from focusing on his career goals, Hall
hopes to dispel negative myths about Detroit.
"We work hard, we're well-educated, strive for
the highest, try to achieve excellence. I would try
to bring that kind of attitude to the University of
Michigan," he said.
Despite high hopes for his collegiate years,
Hall said he has heard rumors that the campus
climate is not welcoming to minorities.
People have warned him that he might be ver-
bally abused or that he may encounter racism.
"I'm not saying it's not true, but I don't see the
University of Michigan having that type of atmo-
sphere," he said.

True or not, he says he won't let racial tensions
to distract him from his dreams.
"Words are not going to affect me in achieving
my goals," he said.
On his way out
Engineering senior Alfred Davis had a choice
to make after graduating from middle school: He
could walk a block to Ecorse High School or get
up early every day for the 45-minute ride to Cass
Tech.
Davis took the latter option. Every day of his
high school career, he spent 90 minutes on I-75.
"It was not fun," Davis said, laughing.
Born in Detroit but raised in Ecorse, a suburb
southwest of Detroit, Davis said his mother did
not like the Ecorse public school's curriculum and
decided to have him go to school in Detroit after he
completed third grade.
Because it requires in-city residency for
enrollment, Davis filled out a relative's address
when he transferred to the Foreign Language
Immersion Cultural School in fourth grade to
take Spanish.
He then moved on to Hutchins Middle School
and eventually did well enough on a citywide
entrance exam to continue his education at the
competitive high school.
He graduated summa cum laude with a GPA
of 3.8 and entered the University that fall, follow-
ing his childhood dream to design video games
by pursuing a computer science degree.
Davis, who now plans to pursue business
administration because he doesn't want to code

for the rest of his life, said he chose the University
because he had always wanted to come here.
Coming from a high school that is 95 percent
black, Davis experienced a bit of uneasiness dur-
ing his first few months at the University - partly
because there were only two other black students
living in his hall in South Quadrangle Residence
Hall. Yet Davis, who is black, said he did not find
it difficult to adjust to the University's campus,
which is mostly white.
"It wasn't easy or hard," Davis said, "I'm
colorblind in a sense. We have different cul-
tures and different backgrounds, and that's
what makes us unique."
He said that although he never felt intimidated,
he did sometimes feel uncomfortable in class.
"At times I feel an interesting feeling when
I go to class and I am the only black person,"
Davis said.
Still, Davis said because he was brought up
in a Christian home, he is able to look past skin
color. As a pastor's son, Davis said he believes
that There is no race in Christianity.
He said although he would not mind going
back to Detroit after graduation, he plans to
leave Michigan in search of a warmer climate.
The past few years in Ann Arbor have
exposed him to a life that he never experienced
before, he said, and he wants to explore more
outside of Detroit.
"College is unlike any other educational
venue a student experiences - exposure to dif-
ferent cultures, ideals, food, people, et cetera,"
he said. "Once you're done, you crave more."



TEACH ERS
Continued from page 1A
After earning his degree in molecular
biology, Jones returned to teach at Cass
Tech.
"I had some very difficult teachers
here;' he said. "I try to be at least as good
as they were. I try to make Cass Tech live
up to the legacy it has had as being one of

body than they do today. Less than 5 per-
cent of University students were black.
"It disturbed me that there were so
few African-Americans at the school so
close to Detroit," she said. "There are
things that a fantastic university like U of
M could do to empower more kids from
repressed poor areas to come."
Davidson said she did not indicate her
race on her application to the University
because she did not want race to be a fac-

the exemplary schools
of Michigan."
Jones's fellow
teacher Dana David-
son, who attended the
University at about the
same time as Jones,
had a much different
college experience.
Davidson, who
has taught literature
at Cass Tech for 11
years, was active in
various black com-
munity groups during
her time on campus.
She served on the
executive board of the

I try to make
Cass Tech live
up to the legacy
it has had as
being one of the
exemplary schools
of Michigan."
- Michael Jones
Teacher at Cass Tech

tor in her admission.
"I thought I had the
grades and the test
scores," she said, add-
ing that her personal
confidence helped
her adjust to the over-
whelmingly white
campus.
Her rigorous high
school education
helped.
"Cass is academi-
cally competitive,
so going to a school
that was academi-
cally competitive was
a very similar fit for

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Black Student Union and also ran on the
University's track team.
While she played a part in major civil
rights protests during the 1980s, she said
she "did not feel a sense of 'me against
white people,"' Davidson said.
"It was more getting the University
to respect and respond to the concerns
of people of color and making it a place
where more students of color would feel
that was hospitable and comfortable to
be at," Davidson said.
At the time, black students made up
an even smaller percentage of the student

me," she said.
Davidson, like Jones, decided to pour
her talents back into her alma mater, tak-
ing a job at Cass in 1994. In her class-
room, she urges students to consider not
only their personal lives but to reflect on
issues from city, state, national and glob-
al perspectives.
"I think that if you create a class where
students can talk about those things, then
as a teacher you're helping to form the
folks who are going to come out here and
change policy, raise families and sustain
communities," she said.

ill ccepting students

NOT just for BIOLOGY majors
check out classes for ANTH RO, ENGLISH &
others, to fulfill NAT SCI distribution


How far will you go
this summer?

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LC=I- Kir,

In Daily

History

* Straw poll shows
support for lower
voting age
April 6,1945 - Last night at Town Hall,
a discussion took place regarding the pro-
posal to lower the voting age to eighteen.
Following the debate, a poll was conducted
to gauge the opinion of attendees. Accord-
ing to the poll, 65 percent of the people
present were in favor of lowering the voting
age, though most were under the age of 21.
Indicating that they believe people
between the age of eighteen and twenty-
one are ready to be voters, concerned citi-
zens Joyce Siegen and Sheldon Selesnick
argued that both the social and financial
standing of this age group demonstrates


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