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One-hundred-sixteen years ofeditorialfreedom


www.mihikandaiy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan m Vol. CXVII, No. 32 ®2006 je Michigan Daily

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BIG CHANGES
'U' offers public
first peek at Big
House renovations

By Gabe Nelson
Daily Staff Reporter
If the University Board of
Regents approves the Athletic
Department's new stadium
plans, the Big House could
become the Brick House.
The Athletic Department
released schematic designs
yesterday for its divisive reno-
vations to Michigan Stadium.
The drawings show club
seats, suites and a new press
box built into brick facades
on the east and west sides of
the stadium.
The brick structures would
rise 85 feet above the ground
outside the stadium, 10 feet
higher than the scoreboards
on both sides of the field.
The $226-million reno-
vation plan also includes
a number of amenities for
fans, like more bathrooms
and concession stands, wider
bleacher seats, handrails in
the aisles and handicapped-
accessible seating.
To make room for these

changes, a few thousand
bleacher seats would be elim-
inated. The addition of 3,200
club seats and 83 suites above
the seating bowl would make
up the difference and keep
the total number of seats at or
above the current 107,501.
University Athletic Direc-
tor Bill Martin said the plans
will soon be presented to the
regents for approval.
"It will be this fall for
sure ' Martin said.
But Martin said it won't be
discussed at today's regents
meeting in Flint. The Athletic
Department hopes to put the
proposal on the agenda for
next month.
University spokeswoman
Julie Peterson said the Ath-
tetic Department originally
planned to show the schemat-
ics to the public on Monday,
but released them yesterday
instead when the design was
leaked to members of the
public.
Yesterday morning, The
See STADIUM, page 7A

The Athletic Department released these schematic designs yesterday for its proposed Michigan Stadium renovations. The Univers
designs at its closed meeting yesterday. The board may vote on them as early as next month.
In case you missed it
In May, the University Board room.
of Regents narrowly approved In September, Save the Big
the Athletic Department's pro- House, a group formed in opposi-
posal to add luxury seating to tion to the renovations, proposed
the stadium by a 5-3 vote. The another alternative: a $93.1-mil-
proposal would cost $226 mil- lion renovation plan that would
lion. The vote happened on the add 10,000 bleacher seats to the
Dearborn campus during the existing upper rows of the sta-
summer when few people were dium.
here to voice an opinion, which But the Athletic Department
didn't sit well with some alumni criticized the group's design. Offi-
and faculty. cials said it left out necessary
Under the plan, total stadium additions and that it wouldn't live
seating will increase by about up to its promise to add the seats
1,000, but some regular bleacher for $1,000 each without requiring
seating will be eliminated to make an additional ticket surcharge.

L~
s ,
'U' enrollment tops
40,000 for first time

Opening
eyes to
'fasting
Fast-a-Thon
participants abstain from
food, drink from sunset
to sundown
By Taryn Hartman
For the Daily
More than 200 non-Muslim students
went hungry yesterday, fasting along-
side their Muslim peers during the holy
month of Ramadan to raise $1,000 for a
local charity.
Students who participated in the

JEREMY CHO/Daily
Muslim students pray before a reception before breaking yesterday's Ramadan fast
at Fast-a-Thon in West Quad.
Muslim Student Association's fifth sunrise until sunset.
annual Fast-a-Thon abstained from "It's an event to make non-Muslims
food, drink, foul language, negative aware of Ramadan, because not many
thoughts and even chewing gum from See FAST, page 7A

In a shift some
blame on MCRI,
black applications
decrease
By Alese Bagdol
Daily Staff Reporter
The University is bigger
than it's ever been.
Enrollment reached an
unprecedented high of 40,025
students this fall. The number
of undergraduate students also
set a new record of 25,555.
But the University avoided
the pitfall of admitting too
many freshmen, which it did
the previous two years.
Unpredictably high enroll-
ment levels caused the Univer-
sity to drastically overshoot its
enrollment target in 2004 and
2005.
"It is really hard to maintain
a quality level of education
when you are that much over
the enrollment target;' Univer-
sity spokeswoman Julie Peter-
son said.
In order to control the
growth of the undergraduate
student body, the Office of
Undergraduate Admissions set
the enrollment target at 5,400

for this year.
They were only off by one,
enrolling 5,399.
Peterson said the constantly
increasing number of admitted
students who decide to attend
proves that the University is a
very hot school right now.
"We have just as many
spaces in our freshman class
as we have in the past," Uni-
versity Provost Teresa Sullivan
said in a written statement.
"But our admissions decision
making must account for the
tremendous popularity of our
academic programs in recent
years."
Freshman applications
totaled 25,806, an 8-percent
jump from last year.
Despite the increase in
applications from most racial
groups, black students applied
in smaller numbers this year
and made up a smaller per-
centage of the entering class
than in 2005.
"Our incoming class this
year is not as diverse as we
would like to see, and we have
a great deal of work ahead of
us to encourage a wider set of
students to aspire to attend U-
M " University President Mary
Sue Coleman said.
The downward trend is par-

Enrollment
figures
students in this year's
freshman class
students in 2005's
freshman class
students in 2004's
freshman class
students in 2003's
freshman class
ticularly concerning a month
before an initiative appears on
the ballot Nov. 7 that would
ban some affirmative action
programs in Michigan.
Lester Monts, senior vice
provost for academic affairs,
said there is some evidence that
the initiative may have already
had a chilling effect on appli-
cations from black students.
See NUMBERS, page 7A

MSA aims to reform elections

 EAfter a
scandalous spring,
assembly attempts
to clean up image
By Layla Asiani
Daily Staff Reporter
The spring Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly election was

tarnished by scandal, dirty
politics and deceit.
MSA is now on a mission
to mend its reputation and
prevent a repeat of the past.
As part of a deal brokered
by three of the parties com-
peting for student government
glory in the spring election, it
created a special committee,
the Election Reform Select
Committee, to revise the

MSA Code's 15 pages of elec-
tion rules.
The committee is chaired
by Tommi Turner, who ran
unsuccessfully in the spring
for vice president on the Stu-
dent Conservative Party tick-
et, and Allen Zeitlin, a former
MSA representative.
The committee hosted an
event in MSA Chambers in
the Michigan Union last night

called"Tell-OffaREP!"in an
effort to get students involved
in the election rules revision
process.
Students trickled in and out
during the two-hour period
and chatted with MSA mem-
bers about their frustrations.
Many were lured simply by
the free pizza, but for students
like LSA senior Eric Holl-
See MSA, page 7A

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