*HOUSE
Continued from page 1
as an opportunity to voice serious
concerns, others had more light-
hearted questions. Coleman found
herself responding to the perennial
myths about the University. No, the
University's underground tunnels
do not connect to her house, she
said. She's not leaving to become
Harvard's president, she told sev-
eral visitors. And yes, she lives in
the house, she told another.
Atfirstglance,it wouldbe easyto
assume Coleman doesn't live there.
The ground floor, though elegantly
decorated, lacks a personal touch.
Visitors couldn't look at the second
floor and basement, areas cordoned
MSA
Continued from page 1
educational setting where no par-
ticular party or vantage point has
precedence over another to make
sure students are informed before
they make a decision in Novem-
ber," Peace and Justice Commis-
sion co-chair Art Reyes said.
CAMPUS SAFETY
Stallings said MSA wants to
more closely with the Depart-
ment of Public Safety on campus
safety.
One idea is to have student vol-
unteers escort other students home
from different campus locations.
"We're trying to get students
actively involved in their own
safety," Stallings said.
There was once a student vol-
unteer escort program known as
SAFE Walk, but over time the
escort duty shifted from student
volunteers to DPS student employ-
ees to DPS officers.
"Apparently there is an inter-
est to resurrect the volunteer part
of it,' DPS spokeswoman Diane
Brown said. "That is being dis-
cussed."
Brown said DPS and MSA
j would have to decide on complica-
tions like how volunteers are dis-
patched, which areas the program
covers and whether DPS would

Thursday, September 14, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 7A

off with velvet museum-like ropes.
But stepping into Coleman's study
was enough to make visitors real-
ize she actually spends her time
there.
Unlike the rest of the stately ground
floor, which is filled with chandeliers,
modern art and 6-foot-tall vases,
Coleman's study is an academic's
haven. Its bookcases hold hundreds of
volumes on Central America - her
husband Kenneth's expertise - with
a few science journals - the presi-
dent is an accomplished biochemist
- thrown in for good measure. The
Colemans display Latin American
trinkets and sculptures on the shelves,
making the cozy study an odd fit
among the house's high ceilings and
sophisticated decor.
Most students expressed their

gratitude to Coleman for inviting
them into her home.
Emiko Imamura, a fifth-year
graduate student in the nursing
school, bowed to Coleman before
shaking her hand.
"You don't have to bow," Cole-
man said, laughing.
"Oh, Mrs. Coleman," Imamura
replied. "It's just such a great honor
- such a really great opportunity
- to see you and speak with you
personally."
Imamura, like many other
visitors, posed for a photo with
Coleman. Two laughing students
flashed what appeared to be gang
signs while posing with Coleman,
to which she deadpanned:
"I hope all these don't end up on
Facebook."


Party convictions take
back seat in fight for
Congressional seats


continue to run its current escort
program.
"I think there's very significant
interest on both MSA and DPS
staffs to see if this can actually
take flight." Brown said.
Kate Mitroka, MSA's Campus
Safety Commission chair, said
MSA also wants to improve the
lighting in student neighbor-
hoods.
"Because Ann Arbor is a stu-
dent town, it's really important
we have that," she said.
Mitroka said the commission
hopes to identify streets that
need better lighting in order to
solicit assistance from the Ann
Arbor City Council.
Students are often unsure where
campus boundaries lie and incor-
rectly believe the University is
responsible for poorly lit areas
off-campus.
Brown said many students cite
poor lighting as something they
want the University to improve,
but the responsibility lies with the
city.
"We haven't been able to identi-
fy any particular area that students
are identifying as a problem on
campus, which is what the campus
facilities have control over," she
said.
SMALL SPORTS CROWDS
The Campus Improvement
Commission is working to bring

students to other University events
besides big draws like football,
basketball and hockey.
"'Go blue', doesn't mean just
football," said Michael Moses,
Campus Improvement Com-
mission co-chair. "It means go
academics, athletics, everything.
I think that having more fans
in the crowd makes the players
more excited and pumped up and
makes the games more exciting
for fans attending."
MSA also wants to bring
Maize Rage, the student cheer-
ing section at men's basketball
games, to other sporting events.
Maize Rage President Scott
Tsuchiyama said his organization
is willing to work with MSA.
"We're primarily the basket-
ball student section, but we're all
sports fans, and anything we can
do to get that home court advan-
tage at any of the sports we'll
do," he said. "We've attended
some volleyball games before,
as well as softball and baseball
games. We're definitely willing
to work with them."
Tsuchiyama also said Maize
Rage members will be cautious
when attending other sporting
events to prevent intrusion on
other sports' student fan groups.
"For example, the volleyball
team has their own group," he
said. "We never want to step on
other groups' toes."

GOP rejoices at
Chafee's victory in
Rhode Island
WASHINGTON (AP) - All
politics is national in the 2006
midterm elections, with both
parties willing to put aside deep-
ly held views over war, taxes and
more in the surpassing struggle
for control of the House and Sen-
ate.
Which explains why a conser-
vative Republican Party rejoiced
yesterday at the primary victory
of Rhode Island's incorrigibly
independent GOP Sen. Lincoln
Chafee, and struggled with the
defeat of the more moderate of
two leading contenders for a
House seat in Arizona.
Or why Democrats, whose
leaders call daily for a timetable
for a troop withdrawal from Iraq,
were less than thrilled to find
vigorously anti-war contenders
winning nominations for House
seats in New Hampshire and
New York.
Nowhere was the phenomenon
more obvious than Rhode Island,
where Republicans placed an
abundance of money and man-
power into an effort to save their
most liberal senator from defeat
- at the hands of a conservative
primary challenger.
"We appreciate him. We know
that he fits Rhode Island and
he's got a record that's effective
for the concerns of the people of
Rhode Island," Sen. Elizabeth
Dole, head of the GOP senato-
rial campaign committee, said
in praise of Chafee. The Rhode
Islander opposes the war in Iraq
and President Bush's tax cuts,
while supporting abortion rights.
In case anyone missed the
point, she recast it in more overt-
ly political terms. "This race
would've immediately fallen
into the hands of the Democrats
if, in fact, Linc Chafee had lost

this race" to Stephen Laffey.
Nationally, Democrats must
gain six seats to capture control
of the Senate.
"That would have been one
down, right there," Dole said.
She felt strongly about it, hav-
ing approved a barrage of televi-
sion commercials that depicted
Laffey as weak on immigration
and prone to raising taxes.
Not that Rhode Island is safe
for Chafee or the Republicans in
the fall.
The state's former attorney
general, Sheldon Whitehouse,
drew more votes in an essen-
tially uncontested Democratic
primary than Chafee and Laffey
combined in their heated race,
and the most recent pre-primary
polls point toward a close race in
November.
Chafee presented his creden-
tials as he returned to campaign-
ing.
"Rhode Islanders are going to
know I'm independent, over and
over again," he said.
But Whitehouse had already
served notice he would try to
undercut the claim. Speaking
to supporters Tuesday night, he
noted that the first vote cast when
the new Congress convenes will
determine which party controls
the Senate.
"I can tell you this: I will
never cast that vote to empower
the Bush agenda," he said, a slap
at Chafee.
Republican Party officials
applied the same logic in Arizona,
where Randy Graf ran on a tough-
on-immigration platform for the
GOP nomination in a district that
runs to the Mexican border.
Strategists in Washington
deemed him too conservative to
hold the seat, and ran television
commercials praising one of his
rivals, Steven Huffman.
Graf won anyway, and imme-
diately ran into difficulties. Rep.
Jim Kolbe, the Republican who

has held the seat for more than
20 years, issued a statement that
said, "There are such profound
and fundamental differences
between his views and mine on
several key issues that I would
not be true to my own principles
were I to endorse him now for the
general election in November."
Democrats must gain 15 seats
to win control of the House, and
like Republicans, looked past
their policy views - then con-
ceded they had run afoul of vot-
ers who preferred a nominee with
a sharper position on the war.
Judith Aydelott was the early
choice of the Democratic estab-
lishment to run in the Hudson
Valley of New York. The voters
weren't as impressed, giving her
little more than one-fourth of the
votes cast.
Singer-songwriter John Hall
carries the nomination into the
fall campaign against Republi-
can Sue Kelly.
For months, party officials
had touted Jim Craig as the type
of challenger who could make a
New Hampshire congressional
seat competitive. A leader in the
New Hampshire legislature, he
had the support of party officials
in Washington as well as at the
state capital in Concord, N.H.
He lost, in a rout, to Carol
Shea-Porter, who raised a mere
$40,000.
Of the war, she said recently,
"We need to get out. We don't
have to tell insurgents over there
the exact date, but we better tell
ourselves what the date is and
better start planning to leave."
That sounds like something any
one of dozens of congressional
Democrats could say with pride.
Now, they'll find out whether
their calculation was correct -
that it might have been preferable
to mute opposition to the war in
districts like the one around the
New Hampshire seacoast or the
military academy at West Point.


GOP
Continued from page 1
said. "We support the CRNC
fully."
University College Republicans
have made other, less controversial
plans for the campaign leading up
to the Nov. 7 election.
"I think we'll educate a lot of
people on issues that they might
not be informed about," Scott
said. "I think we'll be able to moti-
vate a lot of people to volunteer
for candidates and possibly vote
for candidates they otherwise may
not have."
Part of that effort will be a GOP
rally on Elbel Field the day of the
Michigan State University foot-

ball game. The group has invited
gubernatorial candidate Dick
DeVos, senatorial candidate Mike
Bouchard and other prominent
politicians to attend. DeVos and
Bouchard have yet to accept the
invitation.
Both the University chapter
of the College Democrats and
the Michigan Democratic Party
issued a statements yesterday con-
demning the events that Wilkins
proposed.
Meanwhile, the College Repub-
licans chapter at MSU, where
Wilkins has worked, announced
its support for her in a press release
sent to news outlets Tuesday night.
MSU students created a group on
Facebook.com called "I support

Morgan!" One post on the group's
message board reads "Fire Mehl-
man! Hire Morgan!" - a refer-
ence to Mehlman's disavowal of
Wilkins and her proposed activi-
ties.
The events Wilkins sug-
gested were not entirely new
ideas. Last April, the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette reported that Col-
lege Republicans at Penn State
University had planned to play
what they called the "catch an
illegal immigrant game" there.
The event was called off after
sparking a massive outcry from
student groups, including PSU's
Latino Caucus.
Wilkins did not return calls
for comment yesterday.


FLOOD
Continued from page 1
was gushing through the tunnel
like it was a Roman sewer. I had
to find a different route."
On North Campus, Archi-
tecture student Karl Schmeck
said he stood in the rain for an
hour and a half trying to catch a
bus back to his Central Campus

apartment.
"I just wanted to get home,
but all the buses were late, bro-
ken down or too full of people to
even get on," Schmeck said.
Even those indoors were not
spared from the flash flooding. In
Angell Hall, School of Education
student Heather Whitehead looked
with dismay at the flooded class-
room where her 8 p.m. tango class
was supposed to take place.

In Lorch Hall, faculty stuffed
newspapers under their doors
in an effort to save their offices
from the storm water running
down the ground floor halls.
Brown said that Plant Opera-
tions was working hard to clean
up the flooding.
"Nothing critical failed,"
Brown said. "It is just that the
storm water systems cannot cope
with a major rainfall like this."


KATRINA
Continued from page 1
winter 2006 semester and pick up a hefty
out-of-state tuition fee.
"I love Michigan, both the University and
Ann Arbor" Hines said. "I wouldn't rule out
the possibility of living here permanently."
But having been born and raised in New
Orleans, Hines said he feels "a moral obliga-
tion to return 'despite the current conditions.
Hines said it will be interesting to see how
the city rebuilds.
For the time being, though, he is thankful
to be at a university that offers such "tremen-
dous academic opportunities, friends, social
life, athletics - all the things that keep
your mind off what's happening at home."
KENNETH HUMAN
Kenneth Human sped down the emer-
gency lane of Interstate 10 on August 28
last year, the last flight out of Louis Arm-
strong International Airport from New
Orleans. He made the flight.
The next day, the hurricane hit. It was his
birthday.

From a television set in Ann Arbor's
Courtyard Marriott, he watched as his
hometown of Slidell, La., was washed away.
Today the LSA sophomore is studying soci-
ology at the University and trying to put the
past behind him.
Just last October, Human did not think
returning to the University would be an
option.
The hurricane had left both of his parents
unable to work. It had virtually destroyed
each of their homes, leaving them in debt
and unable to pay for their son's college
tuition.
"My parents weren't able to work or
access their jobs" Human said.
Any dispensable income his par-
ents had went to rebuilding their homes.
With little financial aid and pressure from
the University to keep up with tuition pay-
ments, Human's situation was grim.
Time was running out.
Then, following an October article in
The Michigan Daily chronicling Human's
plight, the manager of Student Financial
Operations told him not to worry about the
payments.
Human received $23,000 in disaster

relief money from the University. A schol-
arship worth $10,000 per year was also
anonymously deposited into Human's stu-
dent account by an alum.
"If it wasn't for the University's new-
found willingness to help and that alum, I
wouldn't be here," Human said. "My family
and I are very thankful towhoever that was."
Although Human was able to return to
school, he said his family is still in dire
financial straits.
"My mom is cynical and thinks that there
will be another hurricane," Human said.
"She bought a new house is Charleston,
South Carolina this summer. She doesn't
want to go back."
His father decided to rebuild his home in
Slidell, 20 miles north of the Big Easy.
Humanspentthesummerguttingthehome
andreplacing electrical wires andplumbing.
While Human said his life has improved,
he laments that the city is still in sham-
bles.
"The damage is so pervasive, and
the fact that people haven't returned yet
doesn't help" he said. "The city can only
do so much in those areas where people
have just cut their losses."

ZACHARY BROMER
He went home to his family in Geor-
gia days before the storm hit, but Zachary
Bromer was still hit by the hurricane.
He watched on a television
screen as the storm devastated his
adopted home of New Orleans
Following the hurricane, Bromer trans-
ferred from Tulane University to the Uni-
versity of Michigan, but remained for only
one semester.
He is now staying in the same one-bed-
room apartment he called home before
Katrina.
"It was really strange to go back," Bromer
said. "Things had still not really returned to
how they were pre-storm."
The third-year law student left the city
temporarily this summer for a job in Atlan-
ta.
"I was a little exhausted with New
Orleans," Bromer said.
Even living uptown - which suffered
less of Katrina's terrible force - Bromer
said potholes still dot the area.
"Stores and restaurants close early, traf-
fic lights don't work;' he said. "It just seems
like there's a lack of manpower."

Bromer returned to the Big Easy for the
first time in October to evaluate the damage
to his home and retrieve some of his belong-
ings.
"I didn't have to deal with too much in
terms of housing or replacing furniture,
so financially I was OK;' Bromer said.
The only thing he had taken with him to
Georgia was a backpack with some sum-
mer clothes in it.
"We evacuated the year before for Rita
and nothing happened;' he said.
When the storm hitand Tulane shut down
for the semester, students were on their own
when finding an alternative school, Bromer
said.
"We weren't in direct communication
with Tulane, and they didn't have any way
of getting in contact with us, so everyone
had to call schools on their own."
Bromer applied to schools where he
knew he would have a place to stay, which
brought him to Michigan, where his
girlfriend was attending the University.
But after Tulane reopened, Bromer
said the school discouraged other law
schools from accepting former Tulane
student.


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