How the University shaped a president
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C ourt: Stop affirmative action now
Admissions office
stops reviewing apps
until next week
By JAKE HOLMES
Daily StaffReporter
The University must immedi-
ately stop using affirmative action
admissions, an appeals court said
last week. In response, the Univer-
sity has halted the processing of
all applications until Jan. 10 while
the administration considers its
options.
On Dec. 29, the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals overturned a
six-month delay granted earlier
in the month by a lower court
that delayed the implementation
of Proposal 2 at Wayne State Uni-
versity, Michigan State University
and the University of Michigan.
The three universities had asked
for the delay to avoid admitting
part of next fall's class under one
set of guidelines and the other part
under another.
Students whose applications
were processed on or before Dec.
29 will still receive notification of
their application status, and the
University is still accepting new
applications. University spokes-
woman Julie Peterson said she
expects the University will con-
tinue to receive new applications
during this period.
Peterson said that although the
University has formulated plans
for post-Proposal 2 admissions, she
refused to release the details. She
said the University will announce
changes to its admissions policies
by Jan. 10.
In the original stay request, the
University had argued that chang-
ing admissions procedures part-
way through the application cycle
is unfair to incomingstudents.
Changing standards after stu-
dents had already applied could
disenfranchise some students,
lawyers for the three universities
argued in court documents.
Despite the debate over Proposal
2, Chris Lucier, associate director
of admissions, said applications
are up 7 percent this year over last
year. So far the University has filled
about half of next year's freshman
class, he said.
Pro-affirmative action group
By Any Means Necessary plans
to continue to fight Proposal 2,
said Maricruz Lopez, chair of the
University's chapter of BAMN. She
said the group hopes that Michigan
State University, Wayne State, and
the University of Michigan will
work with BAMN to fight the Sixth
Circuit's decision, perhaps taking it
as far as the U.S. Supreme Court.
But in its opinion overturning
the injunction that had delayed
Proposal 2's implementation, the
6th Circuit Court of Appeals said
there was no legal basis for the
case to be taken to federal court.
The appeals court said that if such
a delay was necessary, a state court
would grant it.
US32, Michigan 18
Bill
Clinton
to speak
to grads
Presidential
commencement
choice thrills
students
By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN
Daily Staff Reporter
After a string of relatively low-
profile commencement speakers
drew complaints from many grad-
uating seniors, this year's choice,
former President Bill Clinton, is
eliciting a much different reaction.
Clinton will address an audience
of about 40,000 in Michigan Sta-
dium on April 28.
Having a speaker as famous as
Clinton is a cause for excitement
among many members of the class
of 2007.
Students said the past several
speakers have lacked name recog-
nition.
"The University has focused on
distinguished alumni in the past,
but I think we're a lot more excited
with someone we see as a world
figure," LSA senior Allison Jacobs
said.
Recent speakers include CNN
correspondent Christiane Aman-
pour, who spoke during last year's
ceremony, and former Xerox chief
scientist John Seely Brown.
Documents obtained through a
FreedomofInformationActrequest
filed by The Michigan Daily in 2005
show that the University tried for a
big name by inviting former Secre-
tary of State Colin Powell, but Pow-
ell declined.
The fact that Clinton was a world
leader as the class of 2007 was
growing up is a bonus, Jacobs said.
"We watched him when we were
in middle school and just learning
about politics," she said.
Gary Krenz, special counsel to
See CLINTON, page 7A
Robbie Thornbladh (25) and Jamar Adams (22) leave the field after the 3rd-ranked Michigan football team's 32-18 loss to 8th-ranked USC in the Rose Bowl on Monday. The Wolverines finished the season 12.
By STEPHANIE WRIGHT
Daily Sports Editor
PASADENA, Calif. - This year's
Rose Bowl was billed as a consola-
tion prize for two teams that came
up just short of playing for the
National Championship.
Southern Cal won the prize.
Michigan still needs consoling.
Nearly a month after Bowl
Championship Series voters select-
ed Florida to face No. 1 Ohio State
in the BCS Championship game,
the third-ranked Wolverines had
a chance to prove they deserved
another shot at the undefeated
Buckeyes.
A chance to become just the sec-
ond 12-win team in program his-
tory.
A chance to regain their position
as the nation's No. 2 team.
Michigan blew its chance.
On Monday, No. 8 Southern Cal
embarrassed the Wolverines 32-18
in a game that was considerably
more lopsided than the final score
indicated.
Michigan couldn't move the
ball against the Trojans' imposing
defense - and couldn't stop their
explosive offense, either.
"(The Trojans are) a great team;
they can score points, and the
offense put the defense out there
too many times," co-captain Jake
Long said. "That type of offense,
with that many chances, you know
they're going to score points."
For the Wolverines (7-1 Big Ten,
11-2 overall), it was a disappointing
finish to an otherwise impressive
season.
After racking up 11 straight wins
to start the year, Michigan ended
its season with back-to-back losses
for the third year in a row.
The Wolverines have dropped
their last four bowl games, includ-
ing three Rose Bowls, and haven't
won The Granddaddy of Them All
since the 1997 season.
In contrast to the loss to No. 1
See ROSE BOWL, page 7A
Regents approve revamped North Quad plans
After delay, board
OKs 'northwestern
gateway' to campus
By BRIAN TENGEL
Daily StaffReporter
The University Board of Regents
approved a new design for North
Quad at its December meeting. It
will be campus's first new resi-
dence hall since Bursley Hall was
built 1968.
The schematic design and bud-
get for North Quad were originally
scheduled to be approved at the
Regents meeting in March. At the
last minute, though, administrators
decided to delay the approval, cit-
ing concerns over the aesthetics of
the building's exterior.
In an interview after the meet-
ing, Coleman said the original
design wasn't welcoming enough.
A nine-month delay means that
the dorm University President
Mary Sue Coleman has called the
northwestern gateway to Central
Campus will open at least a year
later than scheduled. The hall is
ON ARCHITECTURE
Read Daily architecture critic Austin
Dingwall's take on the new design
at www.michigandaily.com/thewire.
now slated for completion in 2010.
It will also cost an extra $38 mil-
lion.
The University hired architec-
tural firm Robert A.M. Stern to
rework the designs with help from
Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, the archi-
tecture firm behind the original
designs.
Coleman said the new structure
will echo many of the other build-
ings on campus, reflecting the aes-
thetics of structures like Weill Hall,
also designed by architects at Rob-
ci t A.M. Stern.
"It's more urban, it's more Mich-
igan, it's more who we are," Cole-
man said of the new design.
The architects said the building
will cost $175 million, up from the
original estimate of $137 million.
University Chief Financial Offi-
cer Tim Slottow said the extra
expenses reflect a one-year delay in
the original construction schedule,
See NORTH QUAD, page 7A
Schematic drawings of North Quad approved by the Regents in December
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