WHAT DICK CHENEY SHOULD PUT IN BUSH'S STOCKING OPINION, PAGE 4A FREE SAMPLES DAILY ARTS RECOMMENDS SOME FAVORITES B-SIDE WHY THE BCSSYSTEM ISN'T AS BAD AS YOU THINK SPORTS, PAGE 5A ( (NE HUND ED-SIXT'EI.N YEA IS 1 E ITI i EiTiDM Ann Arbor, Michigan wwwmithigandaily.com7 Thursday, November 30 2006 BIG HOUSE RENOVATIONS Disabled vets: Stadium plan violates law A Vi( The Depar with a can be to add Stadiu The erans the U saying would Disabi insuffi chair- them a "We said IM deputy an issu The the wh from b last ro of the The this a, require given includi Afte the st wheel Tha He: follow Stadiu seating users a chair-a Bec was m diuma archite Univer Notre I Her Univer discus "Th advocacy group resolve this issue, but they didn't indicate how far they would go says proposal to do that," Harris said. "If they make a good faith effort, we're )lates ADA rules willingto do so also." University spokeswoman Kelly By GABE NELSON Cunningham said the meeting Daily StaffReporter was productive and the Univer- sity will continue to discuss hand- University's Athletic icapped accessibility with the tment might have to deal veterans group. nother road block before it "As we have throughout every gin construction on a plan stage of the project, the Universi- i luxury boxes to Michigan ty continues to welcome feedback im. from all interested persons," she Michigan Paralyzed Vet- said in an e-mail interview. of America has threatened Two weeks ago, Harris e- rniversity with a lawsuit, mailed all eight members of the the proposed renovations University Board of Regents about violate the Americans with the potential ADA violation. lities Act by providing an At the board's meeting earlier this cient number of wheel- month, Regent Kathy White (D- accessible seats and placing Ann Arbor) motioned to postpone all in one location. consideration of the renovation plan are all wheelchair users," until University lawyers could look Michael Harris, the group's into the the group's concerns. executive director. "This is At the time, University General e that we take very seriously." Counsel Marvin Krislov said he renovation would move had looked into the matter and heelchair-accessible seating decided the renovation qualified 'ehind both end zones to the as a "repair" of the seating bowl w of seats on the west side and therefore was not required to stadium. meet ADA regulations. veterans group considers The act says that renovations violation of the ADA, which or alterations must comply with es that disabled people be the standards, and it is an issue multiple seating options, of semantics what the Athletic ng different prices and views. Department's plan is. rr the planned renovation, White's motion failed, and the adium would contain 76 regents approved the stadium chair-accessible seats. designs by a 6-2 vote. t's not enough, Harris said. Harris said he expects the said the University should University to comply with ADA the model of Notre Dame regulations and change their ren- m, which has 17 different ovation plan to accommodate dis- g options for wheelchair abled people. and more than 400 wheel- Alawsuitseems unlikelyexcept accessible seats. as a last resort, he said. ause Notre Dame Stadium "I would be surprised if it ends odeled after Michigan Sta- up going that route," Harris said. ndwas designedbythe same Harris said the University has cts, there's no reason the been sensitive to these types of sity of Michigan can't follow concerns in the past. Dame's lead, Harris said. "The University of Michigan met with lawyers from the has a history of inclusion and sity yesterday morning to- diversity, and I feel confident that s his group's concerns. they're going to do what's right," ey definitely wanted to Harris said. PrHOOS anrETR sCHOnnoNtcS/Daily Jarrett Smith (right), president of Phi Beta Sigma, and Jared Averbuch (left), president of Pi Kappa Alpha, in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house last night. The two fraterni- ties co-sponsored a party at the Pike house last month to promote mingling between members of fratemities that are largely divided by race. After years of self-segregation, Greeks say it's time to THE SYSTEM Bv Aleax f7iadszc7 I fDail St af f Recnr+er n the Friday night before Hal Kappa Alpha President Jared watched something strange u party at his Washtenaw Avenue fratern It wasn't the number of people - a ed 1,500 cramming Pike's dance floor and narrow hallways - that was unus It was their faces: a mingling of white on a level he had never seen. And it wasn't the festive "Get Your emblazoned across the event's custom shirts that made him smirk with pride It was the Greek letters above the s ones that listed Phi Beta Sigma, a tra black fraternity, as the party's co-spo The feeling was something "you words on," Averbuch said. He described a gushing of energy a ment so profound that its afterglow into the streets and stayed there for w This was the kind oftranscendence o Uy MIALL y pJLLJI1 IXt:PSJIL5t loween, Pi Race and the Greeks system's f 1 Averbuch ._ action is t anfold at a This is thefirst article in a two-part Greek1 nity house. series on race in the Greek system. A designedt .n estimat- second installment on how Greeks are one at Pik s, porches This ye sual. addressing the issue will appear on black and black and Monday. signing up of Helleni Booze On" al racial boundaries that the diversity advocates in tionally do m-made T- the University administration dream about. Last yea e. But it takes a particular social allure - some- nity found logan, the thing the administration often lacks - to pull exclusivit aditionally off an event on this scale. Randal nsor. Student organizations have a unique ability torically b can't put to break down the racial, ethnic and religious said chang boundaries that often split the student body. "This is nd excite- of these groups, few are better positioned to spilled out create change than the University's huge net- veeks. work of fraternities and sororities. Averbuc ftradition- And now, accordingto executives in the Greek our governing councils, the desire for aking hold. leaders are discussing social events to break down racial barriers, like the e, on an unprecedented scale. ear, growing numbers of historically Latino fraternities and sororities are p for Greek Week, a seven-day torrent i pride in March that has been tradi- ominated by majority-white houses. ar, a chapter of Pi Lambda Phi, a frater- Jed at Yale in 1895 to counter the racial y of the era, sprang up on campus. Seriguchi, vice president of the his- lack National Pan-Hellenic Council, ge is overdue. stime to wake up," he said. EFFECTS OF PROP 2 ch might appear an unlikely candidate See GREEKS, page 7A cOURTESY OF THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT An artist's rendering of proposed renovatians to Michigan Stadium. A disabled veterans grasp is arguingobhe plans do noat fallow ADA guidelines. Penguins + Weird Al+ red heels Mr. Engineer as _ MCAT CHANGES Way to med school? Point and click. Women engineers crown winner in annual pageant By EMILY ANGELL Daily StaffReporter This year's Mr. Engineer knew he needed an edge to win the com- petition. So he dressed as a woman. When Engineering junior Brian Foster was first introduced to a crowd at the Chrysler Center last night, he sported a penguin-print tie and claimed to love dorm food. During the talent portion of the competition, he abandoned the suit and replaced it with a pink sweater, a knee-length skirt and red heels. It was in this getup that he sang a ren- dition of Weird Al's "Truck Driving Song." At this point, he appeared to have the competition in the bag. Foster would end up winningthe annual Mr. Engineer last night. The Society of Women Engineers creat- ed the competition in 2000 to bring together the engineering commu- nity. It has since become a tradition on North Campus. This year, the 13 contenders represented a variety of engineer- ing societies on campus like Theta Tau, Sigma Gamma Tau and Pi Tau Sigma. The night began with brain teas- ers. Contestants were given one min- ute to answer a riddle. While most contestants came up with ridicu- lous solutions and fed off of the See MR. ENGINEER, page 3A Computerized MCAT shorter, given more often By ALESE BAGDOL Daily StaffReporter Please put down your pencils. The MCAT is becoming computer-based. Over the summer, the Association of American Medical Colleges revamped the test to improve efficiency and elimi- nate unnecessary paperwork. The new format, which takes effect in January 2007, will be administered over the computer. The shift from paper and pencil to a computer-based test will shorten the length from eight hours to just over five. Because of the changes, the test will now be offered on 19 testing dates per year. Currently, the MCAT is admin- istered twice a year - in April and August. Steven Gay, the University Medical School's assistant dean of admissions, said the changes to the MCAT were "fairly positive." "The increase in the number of test- ing dates will give students the oppor- tunity to take the test when they are most comfortable," Gay said. See MCAT, page 7A STEVEN TAI/Daly Engineering junior Brian Foster is crowned Mr. Engineer 2007 at the annual Mr. Engineer pageant in the Chrysler Center last night. TODAY'S WEATHER HI: 54 GOT A NEWS TIP? LO: 29 Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michgandaily.com and let us know. COMING FRIDAY More bugs in the residence halls: Markley infest- ed with cockroaches. NEWS INDEXNES... ol.CXVII, No.9 NWS. 02006 The Michigan Daily SUDO K U... michigandaily.com OPINION.. .................2A SPORTS.. . ...........5A ................3A CLASSIFIEDS ...............A....... 6A ................4A B-SlDE.. . . .........1B 1 4- {