THE STATEMENT WOMEN'S HOOPS
Illegal immigrant workers struggle to make ends meet while With NIT bid, Michigan's first
working toward a college degree. postseason tourney in six years
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 19,2008
michigandailycom
FIXING THE FISH
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Federal court
judge upholds
Proposal 2
Pro-affirmative
action group plans to
appeal ruling
ByMATTAARONSON
and JULIE ROWE
Daily StaffReporters
A federal court judge dismissed
yesterday in a lawsuit looking to
overturn Proposal 2, a ballot ini-
tiative which banned the use of
race- and gender-based affirma-
tive action at public institutions
in the state of Michigan in Nov.
2006.
The case, Cantrell v. Gran-
holm, was filed by several high
school and college students who
claim the ban is unconstitutional
because it goes against the equal
protection clause of the U.S. Con-
stitution.
The plaintiffs, including the
pro-affirmative action group By
Any Means Necessary, argued
that Michigan colleges should be
allowed to consider race and gen-
der in admissions decisions.
LSA junior Maricruz Lopez,
co-chair of BAMN and a vice pres-
idential candidate for the Defend
Affirmative Action Party in the
Michigan Student Assembly elec-
tions taking place today and
tomorrow, said she was distraught
when she heard the news.
"This is definitely disappoint-
ing, and to me it's very offensive,"
Lopez said.
She said she was "100 percent
confident" the ban will ultimately
be overturned, saying it could go
to the nation's highest court.
"We are anticipating that we're
going to end up all the way at the
U.S. Supreme Court with this case
because it's so important," Lopez
said. "We're not going to accept
having segregated campuses and
we're not going to accept having
second-class treatment anymore."
BAMN attorney George Wash-
ington said the group plans to file
an appeal today.
"We think it's an outrageous
See PROPOSAL 2, Page 3A
ROB MIGRIN/Daily
Ray Fisher Stadium, home of the Michigan baseball team, is still undergoing renovations with the home baseball season scheduled to start this week. The first game in the
renovated Fish was scheduled for today, but it was cancelled due to rain. Coach Rich Maloney said the construction wasn't a factor. FOR MORE, SEE SPORTS, PAGE 8A
ANN A RBOR DEVELOPMENT
Plan for student high-rise tabled
amid outcry from landlords, locals
Upscale apartment
building would house
1,400 residents
By KELLY FRASER
Daily News Editor
Plans for University Village, a
proposed near-campus high-rise
marketed toward students, were
delayed last night because of con-
cerns from city officials and resi-
dents about the building's size.
The Ann Arbor Planning Com-
mission - a board that reviews
planned developments in the city
- voted at its meeting to table the
proposal submitted by the apart-
ment complex's developers until its
concerns are addressed.
The plans will now go back to
citystaffers,who will work with the
developer to revise the proposal for
the complex, to be built on the cor-
ner of South Forest and South Uni-
versityAvenues.
As proposed, University Vil-
lage would be comprised of two
L-shaped towers, one standing 15
stories high and the other standing
22 stories high. The complex would
house about 1,400 residents in about
400 units about would include about
500 parkingspaces.
More than a dozen Ann Arbor
residents who live near the build-
ing's proposed site spoke against the
project during the meeting.
They voiced concerns about the
height and the scale of the complex,
the added congestion and traffic it
would bring and whether there is
sufficient demand for luxury stu-
dent housing to fill the complex.
Many speakers said they feared
the towers' height would dwarf the
surroundingneighborhoods.
"I would urge you to throw it out
the door," said Bart Fisher, an Ann
Arbor resident and landlord. "It's
absurd."
Dan Ketelaar of Omena Real
Estate and Investment, L.L.C., one
of the project's developers, declined
to comment on the concerns raised
at the meeting.
Ketelaar, the only person to
speak in support of the project, told
the commission he understood the
decision to table the proposal and
said more of the project's represen-
tatives would attend future discus-
sions.
Kathy Sample, a co-chair of the
North Burns Park Association, said
the development would add too
much traffic to the block and does
not add enough parking to the area
to accommodate the add residents.
"Not to mention the pizza deliv-
ery," said added.
Ann Arbor landlord William Copi
said he feared the complex would
weaken the market for surrounding
student rental.
"The University is not adding
1,400 people to enrollment just so
these people can fill up University
Village," Copi said. "It will come
from rental properties that consti-
tute the neighborhoods stretch-
ing down State and Hill and other
streets. When these houses become
marginalized as rental properties in
a down housing market you may end
up with vacancies in droves."
Burns Park resident Andrea Van-
Houweling also questioned wheth-
er the amenities University Village
advertises were necessary.
"I think we need affordable hous-
ing for students, not luxury hous-
ing," she said.
Planning Commission Chair
Evan Pratt said that while Com-
mission members often question a
developer's 'intent or whether the
market can support a proposed proj-
ect, it isn't within the commission's
role to make judgments on these
matters.
"Our role here is to determine if
the proposal meets the ordinance,"
he said.
The project also came under fire
during a public meeting earlier this
month when residents aired many
of the same grievances.
The complex, which developers
hope will be completed by 2010,
would be constructed in two phases
over several years. The project is
advertised as upscale student hous-
ing, offering amenities like retail
space on the first floor, a washer
and dryer in every unit and staff
on every floor - similar to resident
advisors in residence halls.
THE NATION'S ECONOMY
Union leader: U.S. late
to take economic action
AFL-CIO official
pushes for policies
that help middle class
ByIVYWEI
For theDaily
Richard Trumka, an executive
in the nation's largest labor union,
said the country's economic infra-
structure is failing the working
class and is to blame for the grow-
ing wealth gap in America during
a talk yesterday in the Michigan
Union.
Addressing about 40 people,
Trumka, the secretary-treasurer
of the American Federation of
Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organization, better known as
the AFL-CIO, said people are only
now stepping back to examine the
nation's poor economic situation.
"It takes the collapse of the
housing industry, the subprime
mortgage crisis, and a15-percent
plunge in the stock market to get
the nation's attention," said Trum-
ka intheUnion'sPendletonRoom.
He added that the nation has
been "growing apart economical-
ly, politically, and socially for the
past 30 years."
To avoid wage stagflation, job
losses, eroding health care ben-
efits and decreasing pensions,
middle-class Americans must
now work more jobs with longer
hours in order, Trumka said.
See TRUMKA, Page 3A
MSA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
Known to stand up for others,
DAAP's Stenvig battles for self
Stenvig hopes to fight
inequality at the University
By MIKE DOLSEN
For the Daily
Ever since she was a child, Kate
Stenvig has noticed the race and gen-
der discrimination of society. Now, as a
Rackam Graduate student, Stenvig sees
many of the same problems at the Uni-
versity.
After the Michigan Student Assembly's
elections, taking place today and tomor-
row, Stenvig hopes to be in a better posi-
tion to address those issues.
Stenvig. running for president of MSA
on the Defend Affirmative Action Party
ticket, said she feels compelled to stand
up for groups that have been oppressed
throughout history.
SAID ALSALAH/Daily See STENVIG, Page 7A
For MAP's Shingwani, image
and transparency are everything
Funding student groups
excites' MAP candidate
By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily Staff Reporter
For most students, one of Michigan
Student Assembly presidential candidate
Sabrina Shingwani's interests probably
seems a bit strange.
"Funding really excites me," she said.
"As boring as that sounds."
Currently serving as MSA treasurer
4 and as a sociology major with a sub-
concentration in economics, business and
society - the LSA junior explained that
she likes to see students' events come
together from beginning to end.
"Seeing them from scratch, and then
seeing the event completed and done and
when everyone came to it, that's kind of
MSA ELECTIONS 101
STonaote guto:
vote.umich.edu/
Polls for the Michigan
Student Assembly and
student government
electionsopened at
midnight and close
tomorrow at 11:55 p.m.
Students may vote in
elections for the college
or school in which they
are enrolled and for their
college representative
in MSA and the MSA
presidential elections.
Half of the assembly's 52
elected seats are up for
election.
Students may write in
candidates on the ballots.
See SHINGWANI, Page 7A
RuoIGuOnYA/oaiy
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INDEX NEWS................................2A
Vol. CXVI1, No.k116 OPINION ...........................4A
(02008TheMichigan Daily ARTS .................................5A
michigandaily.com
CLASSIFIEDS......................6A
SPORTS .........................6A
THE STATEMENT..................1B
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