Why college k*ids are p3y'n poke g a'n
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
michigandaily.com
TER PROPOSAL 2
Touted by 'U,'
outreach
often absent
in city schools
MAX COLLINS/Daihi
Mohammad Dar, then the vice president of the Michigan Student Assembly, and more than 90 onlookers waited for Zack Yost to arrive at the body's meeting in the
Michigan League last night. Shortly after Yost called the meeting to order, he addressed the assembly and offered his resignation as president. Dar was then sworn in.
i s ani
Former president
says decision best
for MSA, campus
By DAVE MEKELBURG
and SCOTT MILLS
Daily StaffReporters
Zack Yost resigned the presi-
dency of the Michigan Student
Assembly at the body's meeting
last night. Mohammad Dar was
sworn in to the post.
Yost's resignation comes a week
after MSA Rep. Kenneth Baker
made public a private Facebook.
com group that mocked MSA
Rep. Tim Hull and referenced his
Asperger's syndrome, a mild form
of autism, with the words "I'll give
that kid a fucking disability he
can write home about if he keeps
sending these code amendments
to everyone." Baker, also amember
of the group, resigned last week
under pressure from LSA Student
Government.
At least 90 observers came to
watch the first MSA president
resign since F. Scott Kellman in
1977. The meeting was held in
the Hussey Room of the Michi-
gan League to accommodate the
crowd, which at most meetings is
only a handful of people.
Yost was the last to arrive to the
8 p.m. meeting, and when he did,
the noisy room went silent. He
called the meeting to order, pound-
ing the gavel harder than usual.
About five minutes into the
meeting, Yost asked the assembly
if he could deliver a statement.
He stood up and walked over to a
podium facing the assembly and
audience.
He then delivered a speech
announcing his resignation from
the MSA presidency.
"I want to make itvery clear that
in no way am I being forced out of
the presidency of MSA," Yost said.
He said his decision is best for
MSA and the University.
"I'm holding myself personally
responsible for our current situa-
tion," he said. "But the issue here
is much larger than my transgres-
sion."
During and after the speech,
several members of the assembly
were sobbing.
After apologizing to Hull and
laying out his plans to participate
in MSA's Students with Disabilities
Committee - a revival of which is
in the works - Yost addressed the
assembly members.
See MSA PRESIDENCY, Page 3A
Guidance counselors
wonder: Where are
the recruiters?
By CHRIS HERRING
Daily News Editor
Dan Crosato, a guidance coun-
selor at Crosman Alternative High
School in Detroit, said he's not sure
why he hasn't seen any admissions
recruiters from the University of
Michigan at his school this year.
In past years, he said, University
of Michigan admissions recruiters
came early and often to talk with
his students about applying to the
University.
Not this year.
"I guess us moving buildings
could be a reason," Crosato said.
"But then again, I guess we get
brochures and applications from
them in the mail, so if they know
our address, they must know
where we are."
Crosato is one of many guidance
counselors at Detroit public high
schools who claim the University
hasn't recruited as aggressively in
their schools since last year's pas-
sage of Proposal 2, which prohibit-
ed public institutions in Michigan
from using race- or gender-based
affirmative action.
As of Friday, officials at 10 of
17 public high schools in Detroit
said they have seen University
admissions recruiters less fre-
quently than in the past. There are
29 public high schools in Detroit.
Officials at 12 of those schools
didn't return calls for comment or
refused to comment for this story:
Seven reported that recruiters vis-
ited their schools at the same rate.
University administrators have
repeatedly talked about the impor-
tance of strengthening outreach
efforts to high schools with high
underrepresented minority enroll-
ments, which the Detroit high
schools generally have.
After Proposal 2 passed, the
University formed the Diversity
Blueprints Task Force to come up
with ways to maintain and encour-
age a diverse campus. One of the
task force's recommendations was
to "expand engagement in targeted
partnerships with underserved K-
12 schools" and "on-campus high
school counselor partnerships."
Julie Deschryver, a guidance
counselor at Pershing High School
in Detroit, said she's unhappy
with the University's admis-
sions recruiters and their lack of
engagement with her school. She
said about 20 students there have
qualifying grades and test scores
to attend the University but this is
the second straight year she hasn't
See OUTREACH, Page 7A
SEX TALK
MAX iiCLrvLDilyX
As Zack Yost announced his resignation from his post as Michigan Student
Assembly president, some representatives and members of the audience sobbed.
"I wouldn't trade my MSA experience for anything," he said. After he spoke, he left
the meeting immediately.
On Liberty, a holiday wonderland
Chabad aims to
raise profile of
Chanukah
By JAKE HOLMES
Daily Staff Reporter
Amid the boughs of holly and
carols December brings, Shternie
Zwiebel doesn't want people to
forget about Chanukah.
That's why Zwiebel and the
University's Chabad House, where
she is activities director, rented
out a storefront on Liberty Street
and transformed it into Chanukah
Wonderland.
Chanukah Wonderland is set
up like a state fair with meno-
rahs, a multimedia room showing
films about the Jewish holiday and
edible dreidels made out of marsh-
mallows.
The exhibition opened yester-
day across from the Necto night-
club and expects to receive more
than 500 visitors over the course
of Chanukah, the eight-day long
Jewish holiday that started at sun-
set last night.
"The event is to help raise
awareness of Chanukah at a time
when most people's attention
is on Christmas and Kwanzaa,"
Nicole Adelman, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Mid and South
Michigan, spoke at a forum on sexual health in East Hall last night.
'U' group helps you
loan to small businesses
Microloans aid LSA alum Loma Colombo is in
the process of creating a microfi-
Ecuadorian nance advocacy group on campus.
Microfinance involves loaning
clothing businesses, small amounts of money to people
in developing countries so they
restaurants in Lagos can start or maintain their own
businesses. The group will oper-
By SARA LYNNE THELEN ate under the name of its non-profit
DailyStaffReporter sponsor, Impact Humanity, one of
more thaniO,O000 non-profittmicro-
Ginger Marcillo is asking for finance operations in the world.
$1,200 to expand the inventory of The group will sell microloan
her door-to-door clothing sales gift certificates tomorrow from
business in Ecuador. noon to 5 p.m. in Room D of the
Kamal Bayishov is asking for Michigan League and 11 a.m. to 1
$600 to buy 10 sheep so he can p.m. Friday in the Mason Hall Hon-
begin breeding them and selling ors Commons.
them in the Bilasuvar region of Here's how it works: You buy
Azerbaijan. a gift certificate in your mother's
Emem Okoh is asking for $600 to name for $25 or more. You give it
buy more food for her restaurant in to your mom as a gift. She logs onto
Nigeria's Lagos state. Kiva.org and scrolls through list-
And a new University student ings of people needing microloans.
group wants you to help them. See MICROLOANS, Page 3A
Chabad House has turned an empty storefront on Liberty Street into an exhibition called "Chanukah Wonderland"
goal of raising awareness about the Jewish holiday.
Zwiebel said. "Our goal is solely to
bring Chanukah alive for everyone
here."
Similar exhibitions have taken
place in other communities around
the country and the world. Zwieb-
el approached Chabad in August
about creating a store in Ann
Arbor. Zwiebel and others from
Chabad spent the last week setting
it up, which is housed in an empty
bank on East Liberty Street.
Chabad Associate Director
Rabbi Alter Goldstein said that,
especially in American culture,
Chanukah is one of the bigger Jew-
ish holidays. He said he's glad to
see it getting attention when most
people think of Christmas around
this time.
Moreover, he said it has a uni-
versal message of good conquering
evil and that Chanukah celebrates
freedom.
University of Michigan Hillel is
also holding Chanukah events.
See CHANUKAH, Page 3A
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