Navigating Tuesday's key issues.
ELECTION GUIDE
Ay
Ann ArborMichigan www michigandaily corn Wednesday, Nov 1, 2006
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Prop 2 could split up this year's applicants
Unless enforcement divided into two groups: those who mentation, the constitutional eral council for the University, said day the amendment takes effect. whether we would be required to
are considered for admission while amendment would immediately there are some legal strategies the "We would certainly want to be adjust our admissions practices in
is delayed, applicants the University uses race-conscious become binding on all state actors, University could employ to delay the fair in our interpretation of when an midstream," Sullivan said. "But we
affirmative action and those who includingthe University. This could implementation of Proposal 2, but action (on an application) has been would do our utmost to ensure the
could be judged on are considered while it doesn't. create a situation where applicants once it comes into effect the Univer- taken," Kobersy said. "But an appli- fairness and integrity of our admis-
Proposal 2 is a constitutional are evaluated on different criteria, sity would abide by the law. cation that hasn't been reviewed sions process."
two sets of criteria amendment that would ban the depending on the date their applica- Kobersy said the amendment hasn't been reviewed." University officials are not cur-
consideration of race, gender and tion is reviewed, only applies to actions taken by the University Provost Teresa Sul- rently saying what, if anything, the
national origin in university admis- As it stands, the University con- University after the amendment livan, who was at the University of University would do to fight the
By WALTER NOWINSKI sions policies as well as public hir- siders an applicant's race in under- takes effect. Texas system when the Hopwood implementation of Proposal 2 if it
Daily StaffReporter ing and contracting. graduate admissions decisions. Even ifa high school senior sent v. Texas decision ended affirmative passes.
If passed, Proposal 2 will likely According to Law School Dean an application to the University action programs in Texas, said the After Proposition 209 passed
If the ballot proposal to ban some take effect in late December - in the Evan Caminker, Proposal 2 would today, the application may be con- University of Michigan would likely in California in 1996, a court case
forms of affirmative action in Mich- middle of the undergraduate appli- forbid the University from consider- sidered under a post-Proposal 2 need to revisit its admissions poli- was filed to block the implementa-
igan passes next week, this year's cation cycle. ing race in any way. admissions policy if admissions offi- cies if Proposal 2 passes. tion of the proposition, which was
applicants for next fall might be Unless a court blocks its imple- Maya Kobersy, assistant gen- cers haven't made a decision by the "We don't know for certain See PROP 2,page 7A
A law that takes effect today and
* increases the maximum height of
t buildings to seven stories has South
University Avenue ...
LOOKING
SKYWARD
MSA IN COSTUME
Business owners,
though, say they
don't have plans for
upward expansion
By BRIAN TENGEL
DailyStaffReporter
South University Avenue might
be growing up.
Earlier this month, City Coun-
cil unanimously approved a zoning
change that will permit buildings as
high as seven stories in the popular
student shopping district,
Under current law, buildings can-
not rise higher than three stories.
The change reclassified the street
from a campus business district
to a central business district. As a
central business district, the larg-
est buildings could double in size.
A seventh story can also be added,
but only if it provides public benefits
such as parking space or affordable
housing.
The changes go into effect today.
City Council member Leigh Gre-
den (D-Ward 3) said he hopes the
zoning change will spur the devel-
opment of housing and business in
the area.
"South U is an important part of
the downtown, and these changes
will help ensure its long-term suc-
cess," he said in an e-mail inter-
view.
When asked if seven-story build-
ings lining South University would
have a positive or negative effect on
the campus environment, students
were divided in their responses.
"It would take away from the
architecture," LSA senior Agatha
Duszynska said.
Engineering sophomore John
Sawicki was also concerned about
the aesthetics.
"It would detract from the envi-
ronment on campus," he said. "If
they started building stuff now, it
would stick out."
Not all students thinkbuilding up
is a bad thing.
Some don't cringe at the thought
of vast structures looming over
South U, saying a small-town feel
plays only a minor role in the street's
charm.
Business School sophomore Xavi-
er Fuller said that new and expanded
businesses could revitalize the area
economically. On the other hand, he
said, the atmosphere on the street
would be noticeably different.
"It might take away from the
environment," he said.
Nothing may change at all.
Many of the district's businesses
See SOUTH U, page 7A
Michigan Student Assembly Rep. Gibran Baydoun, dressed as rapper Flava Flav, listens to speakers on Proposal 2, which if passed on Tuesday would ban some
affirmative action programs in Michigan, at the MSA meeting last night. The assembly members, most of whom wore Halloween costumes tothe meeting, voted 19
to 7 with one representative abstaining to pass a resolution to support and defend affirmative action.
'New aid form gets
i positive reviews
DON'T LOOK UP
Site could help
boost your income,
research or both
Financial Aid Office:
Worst fears of new
form go unrealized
By CHRISTINE BEAMER
Daily StaffReporter
The results are in, the numbers
have been crunched and the CSS Pro-
file is here to stay.
The profile is the form University
students started filling out last year
to receive non-federal financial aid.
Previously, students only had to fill
out a FAFSA form.
Pam Fowler, director of the Office
of Financial Aid, said a higher per-
centage of students are receiving
need-based aid this year than last.
This is good news for Fowler,
who said she was concerned fewer
students would qualify for aid this
year as a result of implementing the
profile.
The profile is more detailed than
the FAFSA in its assessment of a
family's financial circumstances, and
the Financial Aid Office hoped that
the form would distribute aid more
fairly. The purpose of both forms is
to determine how much a student's
family should be expected to contrib-
ute to tuition. The lower the expect-
ed contribution, the higher the aid
award.
The concern was that the profile
would disqualify some students from
receiving need-based aid because of
the more detailed analysis of paren-
tal assets.
"I think we've done a better job of
targeting the money to the neediest
students, and that's what we wanted
to do," Fowler said.
Fowler said students from the low
and middle-income brackets have
benefited the most from the switch.
They received more generous aid
packages with fewer loans this year,
she said.
As a result of the more detailed
analysis of assets, some high-
income families are seeing less
need-based aid.
See FINANCIAL AID, page 7A
On Chacha.com,
guides help searchers
in real time
By KATHERINE MITCHELL
For the Daily
A new search engine may make
the steps to finding what you want
online a little easier - or at least
livelier.
Launched at the beginning of
September, chacha.com lets users
comb the Internet with a human
guide.
ChaCha uses a real-time chat
interface similar to AOL Instant
Messenger.
After entering an item into the
search field, a user is automatically
connected to the most appropri-
ate guide for the topic of interest.
Guides are experts in subjects like
arts, health, news, science, society
and sports.
"People really like the one-on-
one interaction they have with
guides," said Danielle Stealy, Cha-
Cha's online marketing director.
Guides add websites to the right
side of the screen as they chat with
the user on the left. The user can
evaluate the websites as they appear
and provide instant feedback to the
guide. The guide asks the user more
questions to clarify the search and
provide better results.
"We wanted to solve the problem
search engine users are experienc-
ing with existing services - that
is, the massive volume of search
results they must sift through
See WEBSITE, page 7A
AARON HANDELSMAN/Daily
LSA junior TJ. Sanford scales the wail dressed as Ace Ventura yest '
day at Planet Rock on Aprill Drive. Members of the Michigan Climbing
Club climbed free on the condition that they do soin costume.
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