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News 2
Opinion 4
Arts 5
)ctober 13, 2006 BUE COULD FIND STUMBLNG BCK ... SPORTS, PAGE 8
Warner bows out
of presidential bid
Diag dispatch: YAF
scores a victory k~b i~ ~ u1 a~
thanks to BAMN
'Pajama' production
a party for all
One-hundred-sxteen years ofeditorialfreedom
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www.michiandaiy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVII, No. 29 2006 The Michigan Daily
"It's scary and xenophobic. I just think it's important that immigrants, inter-
national students and international communities know they're welcomed."
-Rackham student Meg Ahern
Loophole
renders
lease law
ineffective
V;
Landlords exploit
clause that allows
tenants to sign waiver,
eliminate 90-day rule
By Kirsty McNamara
Daily Staff Reporter
A loophole in the city's new stu-
dent-friendly leasing law seems to
have rendered it largely impotent
in stopping the fall housing rush it
was designed to correct.
Citing pressure from landlords
and other students and a lack of
awareness about the ordinance,
many current and prospective ten-
ants said they are feeling no less
anxiety about their housing now
then they were at this time last
year.
City Council passed the ordi-
nance in the spring in an effort to
push back the earliest lease-sign-
ing date so students don't feel
pressure to scramble for housing
early in the school year.
The ordinance, for which the
student leaders lobbied the Coun-
cil heavily states that landlords
cannot show property or sign
leases until 90 days of the current
lease period has expired.
But a condition in the language
of the ordinance provides a loop-
hole, giving students the option
of signing a form to waive the
required 90-day waiting period.
The waiver allows landlords
to show their properties and sign
leases early if the current tenant
signs.
A signed waiver form is essen-
tially a golden ticket for landlords
who want to sell early and students
who want to find housing early.
Landlords have proven extremely
careful and clever about approach-
ing tenants to with the forms.
A current Campus Rentals ten-
ant said her landlord asked her
to sign a waiver form when she
picked up the keys to her house
during move-in in August.
"They handed me a form that
asked whether or not we were
Ordinance in
brief
Landlords cannot
sign leases with or
show to prospective 90
days into the current
lease period.
EThe loophole: If ten-
ants give notice in writ-
ing to the landlord that
they do not seek to re-
sign their leases, then
the landlord can show
and sign the property
earlier
planning on signing the lease for
the following year," said the ten-
ant, who requested anonymity to
avoid conflict with her landlord.
"That was shocking to me. I mean,
I hadn't even walked in the front
door of the house yet."
According to several students,
the practice of asking tenants
to sign the waivers immediately
upon moving in is not uncommon
among major campus rental com-
panies.
Many tenants have already
received at least one - if not two
- follow-up letters regarding their
status for the upcoming year.
Although many letters appear
simply to ask for information,
students said they made them feel
pressured to make decisions about
their upcoming plans.
The feeling of pressure is com-
pounded by the fact that most ten-
ants do not know the details of the
new ordinance.
Phil Choi, an electrical engi-
neering graduate student who
rents from Oppenheimer Proper-
ties, described a letter he received
in the mail, which left him under
the impression that if he did not
re-sign his lease by Oct. 30, he
could lose his apartment.
"It was pretty vague - they sta-
pled a paraphrased version of the
See LOOPHOLE, page 7
BOTTOM RIGHT: ALEX DZIADOSZ/Daily; TOP, BOTTOM LEFT: MIKE HULSEBUS/DAILY
TOP: Engineering sophomore Mike Marcantonio stands on the steps of the Grad Library yesterday dressed as Christopher Columbus next to a woman
dressed in Native American costume. BOTTOM LEFT: Angry protesters scream at Andrew Boyd, chair of the University's chapter of Young Americans
for Freedom. BOTTOM RIGHT: Boyd tries to read a statement but is drowned out by the screams of BAMN members.
YAF plays 'Catch' amid protest
r Radical group BAMN
* makes surprise visit, drowns
out other protesters
By Andrew Grossman
Daily StaffReporter
Young Americans for Freedom thought they
could start a dialogue by trotting out a Christo-
pher Columbus look-alike and a woman in Native
American garb on the Diag.
Campus activists, though, weren't inspired to
hold a discussion.
More than a month after a Republican activist
sparked outrage across the political spectrum by
saying that she was considering holding "Catch
an Illegal Immigrant Day" on campus, one con-
servative group finally followed through with her
plans yesterday.
Andrew Boyd,chairoftheUniversity's chapter
of the Young Americans for Freedom, stood on
the steps of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
and asked people to go out and look for someone
wearing a sign reading "illegal immigrant" hid-
den somewhere on the Diag.
The crowd was composed mostly of protesters.
The activist groups on the Diag said they hoped
to hold a quiet protest against an event they said
was offensive.
Then came the boisterous chants of "No rac-
ist harassment on campus" from members of
the radical pro-affirmative action group By Any
Means Necessary.
Only one person actually played the game. He
refused to give his name.
A short time after Boyd started the game,
a blond woman dressed in a Native American
costume climbed the steps of the Grad alongside
the "illegal immigrant," who turned out to be
Engineering sophomore Mike Marcantonio in a
Christopher Columbus costume.
The Native American costume was far from
authentic. It consisted of a headdress with a plas-
tic red feather and a brown synthetic tunic. The
woman wearing it, who refused to give her name,
See CATCH, page 7
Carr, coaching
staff threatened
BOTTOMS UP
Suspect apprehended
standing outside Union
with an aluminum
baseball beat
By Ashiea Surns
Daily Staff Reporter
A man was arraigned yesterday
after making a series of threats
against Michigan football coach
Lloyd Carr and members of his
staff, campus police said.
Tobi Akinmusuru, 23, was
arrested Tuesday by campus police
standing outside the Michigan
Union holding an aluminum base-
ball bat at about 1:20 p.m.
Akinmusuru was yelling out
threats involving Carr and other
football staff to, passersby, police
said.
Earlier that morning, Carr and
other coaching staff members
received e-mails that were of a
"threatening and harassing nature,"
Department of Public Safety
spokeswoman Diane Brown said.
Brown said no e-mails to foot-
ball players have been reported.
Police first confronted Akinmu-
suru Monday night after he was
seen peering into car windows in
the Schembechler Hall parking lot,
Brown said.
Officers issued him a warning to
leave campus and warned that he
would be charged with trespassing
if he returned.
Akinmusuru was coherent when
speaking with police both times
and is not suspected to have been
under the influence of drugs or
alcohol, Brown said.
Akinmusuru has a Detroit
address but has been living with
his parents in Ann Arbor.
Brown said the suspect "is not
and was not ever affiliated with the
University."
His motive is still under inves-
tigation.
Akinmusuru is being with
charged with three misdemeanor
counts: use of a computer to com-
mit a crime, malicious use of a
telecommunication service and
malicious annoyance by writing.
If convicted, he could face pen-
alties of up to $6,500 or nearly two
years in jail.
Akinmusuru is being lodged at
the Washtenaw County jail on a
$10,000 bond. His pre-trial hearing
is set for today.
"DPS will address whatever
security needs are necessary,"
Brown said of the safety of Carr,
other coaching staff and the team.
Carr and the team are heading to
College Park to face off against Penn
State University Saturday night.
Ford admitted
to hospital,
undergoes tests
Former U.S. president, alum had
canceled trip to campus today for
Weill Hall Dedication
From staff and wire reports
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) - Gerald Ford,
the nation's oldest living former president, was in a
hospital yesterday and undergoing medical tests, his
office said.
Ford, 93, was doing well at Eisenhower Medical
Center, spokeswoman Penny Circle said ina statement.
She did not disclose the nature of the tests.
The University alum was expected on campus today
for the dedication of Weill Hall, the new home of the
school that bears his name.
On Wednesday, it was announced that he would not
be attending. University spokesman Jared Wadley said
Ford does not "feel strong enough."
University officials expected Ford to come as late as
3 p.m. Tuesday, when University President Mary Sue
Coleman said that it was "day-to-day" and that she was
optimistic.
Today's invitation-only dedication is at 10:30 a.m.
this morning. Members of Ford's family are expected
to attend.
The former president has been hospitalized repeat-
edly this year.
He underwent heart procedures in August at the
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., then returned to his
home in Rancho Mirage. He received an implantable
cardiac pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat and under-
went angioplasty, with stents in two of his coronary
arteries to increase blood flow.
See FORD, page 7
Ann Arbor resident Loren Lalonde (second from right) samples beer
during Oktoberfest at the Ann Arbor Brewing Company yesterday. The
beer-tasting featured 17 beers from around the world.
p