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Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - The Michigan Daily
table of contents
4B THE SKELETONS IN OUR CLOSET
Michigan's standard historical narrative is
missing a few chapters when it comes to racial
discrimination in the state
6B STUDENTS OF THE YEAR
These 10 students made a name for them-
selves on campus this year.
THE EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK with WALTER NOWINSKI
A look at the big news events this week and how important they really are. Conveniently rated from one to 10.
FILE SHARING
After a standoff that lasted several
5 , weeks, the House Judiciary committee
issued another wave of subpoenas for '
files in the growing U.S. Attorney scan-
to dal. Democrats, giddy about the inves- 0
6 tigation, will probably try to extend.
it as long as possible. Maybe they'll
subpoena one e-mail at a time.
MYSPACE.COM
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that
a teenage girl's MySpace.com postings
defaming her high school principal were
constitutionally protected free speech
4 10 - grantingthe same protections to
postings about teenage crushes that
are granted to political theses like the
Port Huron Statement.
EVEN STONERS SELL OUT
Scores of aging hippies gathered on
the Diag last Saturday for the 36th
annual Hash Bash. Inthe past, these
rallies focused on big-picture issues
like liberalizing drug laws, police tac-
tics and ending war. But part of last
week's rally promoted a new movie.
Maybe next year's organizers can
secure corporate sponsorship as well.
COWBOY CONCESSION
Since the House and Senate approved
deadlinesforthelIraqwarlast monthPresi-
dent Bush has repeatedly vowed to veto the
warfundingbll. ButyesterdayBushseemed
to back down when hevowed toveto the bill
in onebreath then invited Democratsover
totalkaboutacompromiseinthe next.
Afew days after Christmas 2003, Wil-
liam Willis received some startling
news: In 24 hours his U.S. Marine
Corps unit would be deploying overseas.
The then-25-year-old Willis packed up
his belongings and prepared to leave
Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he had been
stationed since 1997. A day later he found
himself in the middle of a massive Ameri-
can military buildup in Kuwait.
Willis, who grew up in Lansing, spent
the next several weeks training with the
elite 1st Force Reconnissance Company
under the hot Arabian sun. Then in the
early morning hours of March 20, Willis
and five other Marines drove two Hum-
vees deep into Iraq, leading the opening
salvo of the war.
Willis, who joked that his six-man unit
was "a jack of all trades and the master
of none," spent the next several months
darting around Iraq in a pair of Humvees
scouting, target-spotting and providing
reconnaissance support for the invading
American forces.
While Willis seems remarkably modest
about his extensive experiecne, a fact that
other Marines say they admire in him, fel-
low Marine Option ROTC Cadet Nicole
Childs, who trains with Willis regularly,
spoke bluntly about his achievements
in the Marine Corps and what his Force
Reconnaissance job in Iraq entailed.
"Before the main body of troops moves
into an area they send a couple Rambo-
type guys ahead to scout out the situa-
tion," Childs said. "It is really physically
demanding and you have to be stealthy as
hell, but that is what he did."
Willis's position in Force Reconnais-
sance, which is considered one of the
most elite postings in the Marine Corps,
required him to attend Marine Dive
School, which is similar to the training
Navy Seals undergo.
After returning from Iraq, Willis, who
is an expert urban sniper, won a place in
the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Edu-
cation Program, allowing him to earn his
first bachelors degree and become a com-
missioned officer. Last year, while taking
over 18 credits a semester towards his
Arabic Armenian, Persian and Turkish
studies major, and waking up before 6 a.m.
most days for training, Willis managed to
graduate first in his class of 239 from the
Officer Candidate School.
Today, the lean 29-year old gunnery
sargeant, who once stayed in one of for-
mer Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's pal-
aces, lives in the University's Northwood
Vapartmentcomplexwithhis wifeAmber
and his two children, Isabelle and Ian.
Willis saidhe never really wanted to go
into the military as a child, but he enlisted.
in the Marine Corps in 1994 after gradu-
ating from Lansing Waverly High School
even though he was accepted to Michigan
State University.
"I didn't know what I wanted to study
in college," he said. "And I didn't have
the money to spend a lot of time studying
something that I didn't know I wanted to
get a degree in."
But today Willis, anticipating a return
to Iraq after he graduates next December,
studies his Arabic and Farsi diligently. He
believes that one daythose language skills
might save his life.
Childs, who said she transferred from
the Navy ROTC to the.Marine ROTC
because of the example Willis set, said she
feels fortunate to have someone with the
abilities and personality of Willis in the
program.
"I get to train with one of the best
Marines out there every single day," she
said,
Asked about his thoughts about the
deteriorating situation in Iraq, Willis, who
served two tours of duty in Kosovo and
spent time guarding former President Bill
Clinton at Camp David, replied bluntly.
"Of course, I supportourctroops andthe
conflict," Willis said. "I know that I will
eventually go back."
- Walter Nowinski
LONG
From page 1OB
as a bad person because I'm not."
There was nothing bad about Long's
performance on the field in 2006-07.
Coming off an injury-plagued season
during the 2005-06 campaign, Long
was still elected a captain of this year's
team. He more than lived up to the pres-
sure that comes with a leadership role.
Following the regular season, Long
was named a consensus All-American,
a unanimous all-Big Ten first team
selection and Big Ten Offensive Line-
man of the Year. He was also a key cog
in Michigan's run to the Rose Bowl.
But ask Long about his favorite
moment from the 11-2 season, and the
answer has nothing to do with all of
those individual accolades.
"I will always remember when we
went down to South Bend and beat
Notre Dame," Long said. "At that point
in the season, nobody gave us much of
a chance, and we were a huge under-
dog. But we came out with a win and
it carried us through the rest of the
season."
The high of that win over the Fight-
ing Irish only made the close to the sea-
son, in which a previously undefeated
Wolverine squad lost to Ohio State and
then USC in the Rose Bowl, that much
harder to swallow.
But Long is past that and is now look-
ing ahead to his final year of being a stu-
dent and donning the winged helmet.
"Myself and the team came a long
way this year and proved a lot of people
wrong," Long said. "I'm satisfied, yet
disappointed. It's just left me wanting
more."
- Mark Giannotto
KIRK KERKORIAN
Only 30 people in the world have more money than Kirk Kerkorian, but none of them can
put the Big Three on edge like he can. Kerkorian appeared to be retiring
from his years of meddling in Detroit when he sold off the bulk of
his stake in General Motors late last year. But last week, his private
investment company made a $4.5 billion offer to buy Chrysler. Ker-
korian claims he's looking for a "true partnership" with Chrysler, but
don't believe it. His idea of a partnership is cutting employees, pen-
sions and benefits, and passing on the handsome profit to himself.
Is it any surprise Chrysler doesn't seem too interested?
rule 34: It doesn't
matter if you're at
Zingerman's - don't
pay $15 for mac and
cheese. rule 35:
Don't bid a sentimen-
tal summer goodbye
to people you never
talked to just because
they lived in your
hall. rule 36: Never
spend your birthday
at a restaurant where
the wait staff will sing
to you upon request.
- E-mail rule submissions to
TheStatement@umich.edu
Like many University fresh-
men, Troy native Jennifer
Hsu flipped through her copy
of the maize and blue Welcome
Week booklet when she first
arrived on campus in the fall of
2004. The annual Gayz Craze on
Palmer Field immediately caught
her attention.
Now an LSA junior, member of
The Order of Angell's class of 2008
and chair of the Michigan Student
Assembly's Lesbian Gay Bisexual
and Transgender Commission,
Hsu recalls the impact that event
had on the rest of her time here.
"I had never experienced any-
thing like it before," she said. "It
motivated me to become active in
the community."
The next year, Hsu ran for a rep-
resentative seat in MSA with a new
left-wing party, and though she
lost, she returned to her post as the
LGBT Commission chair and went
on to become one of the assembly's
most effective members.
"She was behind so many proj-
ects this year and really dedicat-
ed a lot of her free time to MSA,"
said Justin Paul, former MSA vice
president. "She wasby far the most
active chair of any commission."
Hsu said she focused primarily
on improving the structure of the
commission.
"The meetings have become
very family-like, very interactive,"
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she said. "We threw a lot of social
events this year to get people more
involved, because the more educat-
ed they are about us, the more will-
ing they are to fight for our cause."
Jill Berberich, a member of the
LGBT commission who has known
Hsu since high school, says Hsu is
so effective because she is great
with people.
"She organizes rallies, protests,
people," Berberich said. "She is
very informed and realizes that
these issues affect everyone, not
just this one commission."
Ashley Schwedt, vice chair of
the LGBT commission and a close
friend of Hsu's, said her dynamic
leadership style has rallied more
people than ever to the commis-
sion and to the cause.
"We have the largest commis-
sion on MSA, and that's mostly
because of her," she said.
Known as a "doer" among
friends, Hsu is also a member of
the Stonewall Democrats, the
LGBT caucus of the College Dem-
ocrats and the Student Affairs
Advisory Board run by E. Royster
Harper, the vice president for stu-
dent affairs.
"I thrive on problems that need
to be fixed and issues that need to
be addressed," she said.
As to life after Ann Arbor, Hsu
says she hopes to work for a non-
profit organization.
"I never thought I'd be an activ-
ist, but now I can't imagine my life
without it," she said.
-Emily Angell
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