The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.comW

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
BAGHDAD
Iraqi Cabinet says
U.S. pact needs
change
Iraq's Cabinet decided yester-
day to ask the U.S. forchanges to
the draft agreement that would
keep American troops here three
more years, as key Shiite lawmak-
ers warned the deal stands little
chance of approval as it stands.
The decision, reached in a
closed-door meeting that lasted
nearly six hours, raisedl doubt
that the agreement can be ratified
before a new American president
is elected next month.
Parliament must approve the
draft before the current U.N. man-
date expires on Dec. 31 or no legal
basis will exist for the U.S.-led
military mission.
Such an outcome would force
hard decisions in Baghdad and
Washington on the future of the
unpopular war.
Critics maintain the draft falls
short of Iraqi demands for full
control of their own country after
nearly six years of U.S. occupa-
tion.
LONDON
World stocks
lower on recession
fears
World stockmarkets were most-
ly lower yesterday on renewed
fears about the U.S. economy after
a number of high-profile U.S. com-
panies warned of trouble ahead.
One of the world's biggest los-
ers was Argentina, where stocks
plummeted 11 percent as word
spread that President Cristina
Fernandez was nationalizing
nearly $30 billion in private pen-
sion funds in response to the glob-
al financial crisis.
Markets were mixed in Asia
but European markets - with the
exception of France - were pulled
lower by weakness on Wall Street
as investors come to grips with
prospects of dwindling corporate
profits in the fourth quarter and
2009.
The Dow Jones industrial ended
down 231.77 points, or 2.5 percent,
at 9,033.66.
ANCHORAE. Aaska
Report: Alaska
funded Palin's
kids' travel
Gov. Sarah Palin charged the
" state for her children to travel
with her, including to events
where they were not invited, and
later amended expense reports to
specify that they were on official
business.
The charges included costs for
hotel and commercial flights for
three daughters to join Palin to
watch their father in a snowmo-
bile race, and a trip to New York,
where the governor attended a
five-hour conference and stayed
with 17-year-old Bristol for five

days and four nights in a luxury
hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the
state $21,012 for her three daugh-
ters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip
commercial flights since she took
office in December 2006. In some
other cases, she has charged the
state for hotel rooms for the girls.
Alaska law does not specifically
address expenses for a governor's
children. The law allows for pay-
ment of expenses for anyone con-
ducting official state business.
BEIJING
China releases
terror blacklist in
Olympic plot
Chinese police called yesterday
for the extradition of eight alleged
separatists accused of plotting
a campaign of terror to coincide
with the Beijing Olympics - a
scheme that reportedly included
bomb attacks within China and in
unspecified countries in the Mid-
dle East and South Asia.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
. 4,186
Number of American service
members who have died in the
war in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. There were no
deaths identified yesterday.

McCain aims to remind voters
that he's been tested in crisis

- 11 .

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -
Republican John McCain told
voters in this key electoral state
Tuesday he was personally test-
ed by the same kind of crisis that
Democratic vice presidentialnom-
inee Joseph Biden warned Barack
Obama will almost certainly face
if elected president.
McCain recalled being ready
to launch a bombing run during
the October 1962 Cuban Missile

Crisis, which Biden said over the
weekend tested a new President
John F. Kennedy and was the tem-
plate for the kind of "generated
crisis" the 47-year-old Obama
would face within six months of
taking office.
"I was on board the USS Enter-
prise," McCain, a forme: naval
aviator, said in the capital city
of Harrisburg. "I sat in the cock-
pit, on the flight deck of the USS


That same year, Texas out-
ENROLLMENT lawed the use of racial preferences
From Page 1A in higher education. Since then,
minority enrollments at public
es in admissions in 2006. The ban schools there have stayed about
was implemented in 2007 in the the same, largely due to the fact
middle of the University's admis- that the state has implemented a
sion cycle, lessening the ban's pos- controversial Top 10 rule. The sys-
sible impact that year. tem guarantees admission to every
The percentage of black stu- state school to any student who
dents enrolled in this year's fresh- finishes in top 10 perceot of his
man class increased to 6.4 percent, high school class.
a one percentage point increase After Washington state voters
from last year and the highest level banned affirmative action there in
since 2005. 1999,the state's two largest schools,
Drops were seen with other the University of Washington and
minority groups, though. About 70 . Washington State University, saw
fewer Hispanic students enrolled underrepresented minority enroll-
this fall, lowering the group's ment drop by a third.
enrollment percentage about a Florida became the first state to
point to 3.4 percent. Both Native voluntarily ban affirmative action
Americans and Asian Americans in 2000, implementing aplan simi-
were enrolled at a lower rate this lar to the one in Texas. Admission
year, but each saw a decrease of and enrollment numbers have
less than one percentage point. stayed consistent since the ban.
The proportion of white stu- University officials have long
dents increased by 4 percentage touted diversity as one the school's
points, to 67 percent. best qualities. Even since the pas-
University President Mary Sue sage of Proposal 2, the Univer-
Coleman lauded the University's sity, which fought to continue
outreach efforts, but said more using affirmative action before
needs to be done to ensure minor- the Supreme Court in 2003, has
ity enrollment doesn't taper off. continued targeted recruiting at
"While we are pleased with inner-city schools. Officials have
holding our own with regard to repe'atedly said that nothing legal-
underrepresented students, we ly restricts them from recruiting a
cannot become complacent in our certain way.
diversity efforts," she said in a Senior Vice Provost Lester
written statement. "There is still Monts said the University of
much work to do." Michigan's ability to hold under-
Still, the University has fared bet- represented minority enrollment
ter than some schools in other states numbers steady is a small victory
that also banned affirmative action, when contrasted with other col-
In 1996, California voters passed leges that have faced affirmative
Proposition 209, which banned action bans.
affirmative action. Most state "Underrepresented minority
schools there sawimmediate plung- student enrollment has plummeted
es in underrepresented minority at several major public universities
admissions and enrollment. operatingunder similar laws in other

Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a
target. My friends, you know how
close we came to a nuclear war."
He added with dramatic effect:
"America will not have a president
who needs to be tested. I've been
tested, my friends."
Bidentold two fundraising audi-
ences in Seattle over the weekend
that he expected world figures to
test Obama early if he wins the
election in two weeks.
states," he said in a press release.
A relatively new admissions
tool, Descriptor Plus, may be one
reason the University avoided sig-
nificant drops in underrepresented
minority enrollment. The service,
which the University implemented
in admissions last year, provides
information about applicants'
socioeconomic background based
on demographicsoftheirneighbor-
hood and high school. University
officials have said the system helps
admissions officers create diverse
incoming classes without knowing
an applicant's race or gender.
"It's not a device that's oriented
solely at social or ethnic diver-
sity," said Chris Lucier, director of
recruitment and operations for the
University's undergraduate admis-
sions office, in an interview with
the Daily last year. "It's another
tool for us to identify populations
that might not have access to higher
educationasother populations."
Because Descriptor Plus only
accounts for geographic and edu-
cational statistics - and not racial
or ethnic ones - the system is legal
under the ban, Lucier said.
In an effort to counteract the
ban, the Alumni Association of
the University of Michigan cre-
ated a race- and gender-based
scholarship program shortly after
Proposal 2 passed. As a 501(c)3
organization, the Alumni Associa-
tion is not legally restricted by the
constraints of Proposal 2.
Fewer freshmen enrolled at the
Ann Arbor campus this year com-
pared to last year. Altogether, 5,783
freshmen enrolled for the fall term
- down from last year's 5,992. As
a result, slightly fewer students
are enrolled at the University as a
whole this year (41,028) compared
to last year (41,042).

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