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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Monday, February 9, 2009
ONE NIGHT, ONE MIC: NAS IN YPSI

michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY
Two cands
emerge for
MSA pres.

Michigan Action
Party dissolves, new
parties set to form
By TREVOR CALERO
Daily News Editor
Over the past five semesters, the
Michigan Action Party has main-
tained a monopoly over the Michi-
gan Student Assembly, claiming a
majority of the seats on the assem-
bly since the party's inception in
2006.
But the students who actually
decide to vote for this year's stu-
dent government election will not
see the party known for its hot
pink and black campaign pam-
phlets anywhere on the ballot.
Faced with an internal struggle
to relate to a disaffected student

body - further magnified by
recent criticisms from their con-
stituents - two representatives
have chosen to forgo the MAP dis-
tinction in search of a new direc-
tion for MSA.
Engineering junior Abhishek
Mahanti and LSA junior Gibran
Baydoun will run in opposition
to one another for MSA president
under the banner of two new par-
ties.
When MAP got together last
month to decide who it was going
to run as its candidates for the
upcoming March election, it chose
Baydoun and Mahanti to run as
its president and vice president,
respectively.
The two then met, along with
other party members, to outline
their platform. During their dis-
cussions, both Baydoun and Mah-
See MSA, Page 7A

CLIF REEDER/Daily
For a slideshow oftother photos from the Nas Hip-hop star Nas performs at Eastern Michigan University's Convocation Center on Friday night. The concert
concert, head over to michigandaily.com. also featured a variety of local opening acts and dancers from the University of Michigan. The concert was
sponsored by a newly formed campus group called Social Studyz.


How the LSA Student
Government spends the
$1.50 in fees you give it

Apps from abroad
expected to rise

ASIA BUSINESS CONFERENCE

By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporter
LSA Student Government is
the student government body
that presides over the College
of Literature, Science and the
Arts. Its budget comes from a
$1.50 that each LSA student is
billed per semester. The money
is received by the student body
usually in the first three weeks
of school or so. Then the LSA-
SG treasurer begins dividingthe
money up based on applications
by student groups and in coordi-
nation with LSA-SG committees.
WHERE YOUR $1.50 GOES

Examples of such committees
are Academic Affairs, which
works with the university to bet-
ter the academic life of LSA stu-
dents, and the Public Activities
Committee which plans events
for students. Other student
groups and clubs submit budget
proposals to LSA-SG to allocate
some of the budget. LSA-SG's
committees and its treasurer
in particular then decide if the
budget proposals are worthy of
allocations and if enough money
is available. If everything works
out, the student groups then get
the money.

Officials say
largest increases
could come from
India and China
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily StaffReporter
University administrators
expect international applications
to soar this year, andthey're saying
that Michael Phelps might be one
of the reasons why.
Provost Teresa Sullivan report-
ed that while the number of under-
graduate applications is expected
to remain in line with previous
years, international freshman and
graduate applications have greatly
increased. Sullivan said she is con-
cerned with whether admitted
students will choose to attend the
University.
The largest increases among
international applications have
been from China and India, she
said.
"We really don't have anything
more than some hypotheses about
it," she said.
One possible reason for this
increase is Michael Phelps's suc-

cess in the Olympics and his
appearances in Michigan apparel,
University President Mary Sue
Coleman said with a laugh at a
meeting last month.
"The Michael Phelps hypoth-
esis is aninteresting one," Sullivan
said.
The meeting took place before a
recent incident involving a photo-
graph that showed Phelps smoking
a marijuana pipe.
Sullivan said other possibilities
are the University's "very success-
ful" joint institute in Shanghai or
another program that has allowed
70 transfer students to join the
College of Engineering.
"One possibility is that they've
e-mailed people back home and
said Michigan is a great place to
be," she said.
Taking into account the
increased number of international
applications, Sullivan said she is
uncertain about whether or not
the University will be able to accu-
rately predict this year's yield. A
school's yield is the percentage of
admitted students who actually
choose to attend.
"We're holding the line in the
sense that we're goingto admit the
number of people that we think
See FRESHMAN APPSPage 7A

How each cent of the money you give to LSA Student Government is spent. For
an explanation of all the funding targets, go to michigandaily.com.
Room Rental Advertising
,' $0.05 .U $0.07
Supplies $0.-7,Advisory Panel
Retreat -$0.04 o$0.01
$0.04
Partnerships
$0.07

SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of the Associationof Southeast Asian
Nations, talks at the 19th Annual Asia Business Conference in the Blau Audito-
rium at the Ross School of Business building on Friday.

Speaker talks on U.S. rights abuses

P
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ign
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Fundingtargets that
get lessthan onecent:
$0.04 Diag Days Campus * TD
Elections $0.01 Safety st M g
$0.04 $ Tasteof Michigan
SvUREJEtrREtY WOJCIt, LA-SGTREcvSURER

ublic interest according to Monique Harden,
the co-director of Advocates for
wyer says gov't Environmental Human Rights.
But, rather, she believes that cri-
ores hazards to ses of human rights are taking
place on domestic soil, right here
'eople's health in the United States.
Harden, who is also an attor-
By EMILY ORLEY ney for the public interest law
DailyStaffReporter firm in New Orleans, spoke at the
"Human Rights in Crisis" con-
man rights abuses are not ference this weekend. The event,
ome foreign phenomenon hosted by Human Rights Through
ing in a far-off country, Education, featured activists

from around the globe.
HRTE is a University stu-
dent group working to promote
the discussion and education of
human rights issues both domes-
tically and abroad.
Harden discussed how alack of
fundamental human rights in the
United States is affecting minor-
ity communities.
She began her speech by saying
that, "there is a gap in the way in
which environmental advocacy
and litigation is being conducted

in this country."
Harden said that many com-
munities within the United States
are being destroyed and the gov-
ernment is taking no action.
"There has been a lot of work
by our country to focus on human
rights abroad, in the Congo and
Darfur," she said. "Butwhat about
Flint, Mich.?"
She cited Morrisonville, La., a
small town that was established
in the late 1700s. The Dow Chem-
See HUMAN RIGHTS, Page 7A

Hu
just s
occurr


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Wolverine gymnast earns spot on national team
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INDEX NEW S -........................- ......2A ARTSA.................................. A
Vol. CXIX, No. 90 SUDOKU............... .....3A CLASSIFIEDS-......................6A
OuOheMchigan~aily OPINION-..........................4A SPORTSMONDAY.............. B
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