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Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVII, No. 31
02006 The Michigan Daily
Study: Race is
more of a factor
since lawsuits
'U' disputes
methodology of
study's authors
By Walter Nowinski
Daily Staff Reporter
Race is weighed more heav-
ily in undergraduate admissions
at the University this year than it
was under the point-based affir-
mative action policy overturned
by the U.S. Supreme Court
in 2003, according to a study
released Tuesday.
University officials have dis-
missed the findings. University
spokeswoman Julie Peterson
questioned the validity and tim-
ing of the study, calling it "flawed
and shallow."
The study, conducted by the
conservative think tank, Center
for Equal Opportunity, looked at
the standardized test scores and
grade-point averages of Univer-
sity applicants from 1999, 2003,
2004 and 2005.
The Virginia-based center
found that the University gave
more weight to an applicant's
race in 2005 than was given in
1999, one of the years considered
by the Supreme Court in Gratz v.
Bollinger.
The 2003 Supreme Court deci-
sion overturned the University's
policy of awarding extra points
to underrepresented minorities
because it was "not narrowly
tailored, according to Chief Jus-
tice William Rehnquist's ruling.
But the court upheld considering
an applicant's race as part of an
See STUDY, page 7A
Admission
rates
1999 black rate
2005 black rate
1999 Hispanic rate
2005 Hispanic rate
Source: Center for Equal
Opportunity
Black graduation
rate up 10 percent
LSA sophomore Sarah Jukaku and LSA senior Abdul EI-Sayed laugh together at the New York
Pizza Depot on East William Street last week. They were married in May.
Married
with classes
By Alex Dziadosz I Daily Staff Reporter
'U' administrators
still concerned rates
lag behind those of
white students
By Mariem Qamruzzaman
Daily Staff Reporter
The gap in graduation rates
between black and white stu-
dents at the University has
narrowed significantly in the
past 10 years, but Univer-
sity officials are not satisfied.
They want to understand why
that gap still remains.
University records show
72 percent of black students
who started school in 2000
graduated within six years.
Ten years ago, only 62 percent
graduated within that time
period.
Over the same period of
time, white graduation rates
have not increased as rapidly
but are higher - 86 percent in
1995 and 89 percent in 2005.
Lester Monts, the Univer-
sity's senior vice provost for
academic affairs, is heading
a task force to examine where
the other 18 percent of black
students are going and why
they are leaving the Univer-
sity before earning a degree.
Monts said 95 to 97 percent
of the freshman class returns
for sophomore year on aver-
age - it's during junior or
senior-year that they leave.
Although the task force is
in its preliminary stages, it
has found that black students
are not flunking out. The task
force suggests that black stu-
dents often leave if they don't
get admitted to an upper-divi-
sion school such as the School
of Business or School of Edu-
cation.
See GRADS, page 7A
BURNING PASSION
Muslims balance
marriage, religion and
student life
By Alex Dziadosz
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA sophomore Sarah Jukaku looked
tenderly at her husband as the couple sat
together at New York Pizza Depot on East
William Street last week.
"When he proposed to me, I was a fresh-
man," she said, smiling. "I was young, and
one of the things he said was, 'We're still
growing, now we can grow together."'
Grinning, LSA senior Abdul El-Sayed
leaned toward her.
"I'm romantic," he joked.
This sort of devotion is unusual in the
morass of campus hook-ups and break-
ups, to say the least. Facebook.com photo
albums dedicated to wedding cakes, rather
than beer bongs and keg stands, stick out
like thin squirrels on the Diag.
But the student body is diverse. Every so
often, an undergraduate couple walks the
aisle.
This is true for students of all faiths, but
Muslims - particularly devout ones like El-
Sayed and Jukaku - are often more likely
to marry young because of their values.
"Islam teaches us not to let our desires
play too much of a role in our lives," El-
Sayed said. "The fact that we're so willing
to commit to marriage is a byproduct of this
general self-control."
Because it is associated with premarital
promiscuity, dating is discouraged in many
Muslim cultures. Marriage is a practical
decision for some young Muslims who have
found partners.
"What does anyone do when they get mar-
ried? You find the person you want to marry
and you marry them," El-Sayed said. "Isl-
See MARRIAGE, page 7A
First-year Washtenaw Community College student Max Vincent makes a marble for a
friend last Saturday in Ann Arbor's Unearthed Rock and Glass Studio, where he also
teaches lampworking classes.
MSA gets rowdy over election director
MCRI would also
affect women
{ At last week's meeting,
dispute devolved into
shouting fest
By Layla Asiani
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Student Assembly
chose a new director for its November
elections last night, but the decision
was made a week later then expected
because of internal drama reminiscent
of past assembly turmoil.
LSA junior Ryan Bouchard was
unanimously approved by MSA to fill
the position of election director, the
person responsible for making sure
elections run smoothly.
Last spring, campaigning got ugly in
the four-party race to control the assem-
bly. The election devolved into a mess
of accusations that ended in three of the
parties brokering a deal that certified
the results. One of the provisions of the
deal was that no student affiliated with
Students 4 Michigan, the long-domi-
nant party, be election director.
Bouchard is involved in Army ROTC
and has been active in other govern-
ments on campus like the LSA Student
Government, the Residence Hall Asso-
ciation and the Mosher-Jordan Resi-
dence Hall Council - but not an MSA
faction.
"He's not affiliated, nor has he ever
been affiliated, with any student gov-
ernment party on campus," said MSA
Student General Counsel Zack Yost
said. "He has no biases, no loyalties
and he's an overall good fit for the posi-
tion."
With the instatement of Bouchard
to the position, MSA hopes to have a
smooth election - hopefully smoother
than the events leading up to Boucha-
rd's election.
At the MSA meeting on Oct. 10,
the process to find a director lead to
shouting and the decision to schedule
the fall elections for one day later than
expected.
Traditionally, the MSA Rules and
Elections Committee is responsible for
advertising, interviewing and recom-
mending a director to MSA. The MSA
Code states that a nomination must be
made 36 days before the election.
This year, due to apparent com-
munication problems, the Rules and
Elections Committee did not have a
nomination by that deadline, which was
Oct. 10.
"I had been telling the Rules and
Election Committee chairs for some
time that their priority item needed to
be finding an election director," Yost
said. "I think they knew they had to do
it, but I didn't know if they knew 100
percent that it had to be this Tuesday."
Rules and Elections Committee Chair
Laura Van Hyfte said people communi-
cated the urgency of finding an elec-
tion director to the Rules and Elections
Committee vice chair Kenneth Baker,
but not to her.
"The urgency of what was going on
wasn't expressed to me," she said. "I
realized Sunday night 'Oh, you need to
have this done by Tuesday."'
Meanwhile, Baker said he had been
waiting for Van Hyfte to take charge.
"I was still waiting for Laura to say
See MSA, page 7A
Head of women's
rights organization
explains possible effects
of affirmative action ban
By Emily Barton
For the Daily
Throughout much of the 20th
Century, women were treated as
second-class citizens, especially
in the workplace. Help-wanted ads
were segregated by sex, females
earned far less than men and sex-
ual harassment was common.
Affirmative action created and
continues to create opportuni-
ties for women and serves as a
counterweight to sexism, said
Kathy Rodgers, president of Legal
Momentum, a women's rights
organization.
Rodgers spoke at a lecture yes-
terday in Rackham Assembly Hall
titled "For Good or Ill? Affirma-
tive Action for Women."
"Affirmative action is one of the
key tools for continuing women's
progress," she said.
Rodgers said women are rep-
resented in all professions, but in
Michigan women are still making
only 67 cents for every dollar men
make.
"Progress is not success," Rod-
gers said. "Rights are fragile and
can be rescinded. Progress can be
reversed."
Proponents of the Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative, a proposal
on the next month's ballot would
ban some affirmative action pro-
grams in Michigan, say that affir-
mative action is not progress but a
form of discrimination.
See MCRI, page 7A
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