The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, October 25, 2010 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, October 25, 2010 - 5A
Community members honor two University graduate students who died in a car accident last week at a candle light vigil Friday
night. The vigil was hosted by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.
More than 1,000 gather at
candle light vigil Fr
CLINTON
From Page 1A
"I almost gag when I hear these
Republicans," Clinton said, "lam-
basting the president and the Dem-
ocrats in Congress, 'Oh they're
such big spenders, they're crazy
quasi-Socialists, they've gone hog
wild.' I have a simple question.
Who was the last president to give
you a balanced budget?"
Clinton added that in the quest
to develop a strong economy, vot-
ers should arm themselves with
knowledge just as they would going
into a football game.
"I guarantee that half this crowd
could give me a detailed discussion
on the probability of Denard Rob-
inson playing in the next football
game," he said.
"When something matters to us
like football, the facts are impor-
tant to us, and we know them,"
Clinton continued. "I propose we
conduct this election like we are
getting ready to play a football
game because this is exactly what
we're doing in the international
economy, and we better be ready
when we play."
To increase international com-
petition, Clinton said the U.S. must
continue focusing on financingjobs
and education in the small busi-
ness, green energy, technology and
infrastructure sectors. Since these
types of jobs require more special-
ized skills and knowledge than
some other jobs, Clinton said it is
crucial to continue fighting for stu-
dent aid programs to allow more
students to embark on these pro-
grams - something he said Dingell
has always fought for.
"If you care aboutputting people
to work, who can go to work tomor-
row morning, you've got to vote for
John Dingell," Clinton said.
In closing, Clinton stressed the
importance of mobilizing the youth
vote. He said expected voter pro-
files show that the number of stu-
dent voters is expected to decrease
55 percent from the 2008 presiden-
tial election.
"Young people who don't vote
are literally playing Russian rou-
lette with their own future," Clin-
ton said. "We've got to get back to
number one, and we can do it if we
re-elect John Dingell."
Dingell spoke before Clinton,
thanking audience members for
their support in his campaign
efforts. He said that while he has
had the ability to work in Washing-
ton for the past 55 years, he never
forgets the constituents he is repre-
senting in Michigan when working
to implement policy.
"I might have the pleasure and
privilege of working for you in
Washington, but I've never forgot-
ten who sends me there and who
I work for," Dingell said. "I work
for the working men and women
of Michigan, for jobs in our auto
industry, for medical care for all
Americans, for information tech-
nology and clean energy jobs in the
future."
To help working families, Din-
gell said he hopes to prevent
Republicans from giving tax cuts
to the wealthy, privatizing Social
Security and cutting Pell grants.
Dingell said that many Republi-
cans call this fight "class warfare,"
something he said he believes the
Republicans made possible.
"It's a Republican war on mid-
dle-class family," Dingell said.
"Not on my watch and not on your
watch. "
Before introducingClinton, Din-
gellsaid Democratic presidents like
Clinton and Barack Obama have
led the country with kindness and
consideration for the greater good
of the American people, something
he said the Bush administration
failed to do.
"He governed this country with
great compassion," Dingell said
of Clinton. "That's something we
lacked for the next eight years of
the administration of our 43rd
president, but that we regained
two years ago with President
Obama."
Numerous other Democratic
leaders and political candidates
spoke while the crowd waited
for Clinton and Dingell to arrive,
including an opening message from
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje and
special appearances from For-
mer Congresswoman Lynn Riv-
ers, Congressman Sandy Levin,
United Auto Workers President
Bob King, Deborah Dingell, wife of
John Dingell and a political activ-
ist, and Brendan Campbell, chair of
the University's Chapter of College
Democrats.
Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor)
who is vying for a State Senate seat
spoke too, as did Jeff Irwin who
is running for a seat in the State
House of Representatives. Secre-
tary of State Candidate Jocelyn
Benson, Attorney General Candi-
date David Leyton, and Michigan
Supreme Court Justice Candidates
Alton Davis and Denise Morris also
spoke.
Like Clinton and Dingell, the
speakers emphasized the impor-
tance of the youth vote in the
midterm election in order to move
Democratic ideals forward.
Hieftje's opening statement
stressed the importance of ral-
lies and events like this across the
nation in increasing Democratic
turnout, especially among youth
voters.
"We want you to be the disciples,
the people who will go out and con-
vince others that they need to show
up at the polls and they need to vote
Democratic," Hieftje said.
Campbell also spoke about the
importance of the youth vote in
helping to shape the policies of the
state of Michigan, and in turn the
country. He said he aims to over-
turn sentiment that student partic-
ipation will decline in this election.
"I know they're wrong, you
know they're wrong," Campbell
said. "But it's up to us to show them
they're wrong in nine days."
In a passionate speech pre-
ceding the brief break before the
introduction of her husband and
Clinton, Debbie Dingell told the
crowd how her husband's cam-
paign is "not going to leave a single
stone unturned" in the quest for
Democratic support.
"We're fighting for jobs, we're
fightingforthe economy, we're fight-
ing for health care, we're fighting for
the future of America," she said.
Many students in attendance said
they felt excited about voting after
the event, including LSA sophomore
Yonah Lieberman, who is also a
member of College Democrats.
"Students are a huge percentage
of the vote, and we really need to
get out there because we're impor-
tant, we're the next generation,"
Lieberman said. "The things that
the lawmakers do now are going to
affect us tomorrow."
LSA sophomore Emee Ta said
she enjoyed the fact that Clinton
localized his speech and made it
relatable to Michigan residents
and students. As a first time voter
in this election, she said she was
glad to be there to listen and get
involved in the campaigns.
"I really liked the fact that he
related it to students and he even
mentioned Michigan football,
which is nice that he can relate to
people like that," Ta said. "It was
definitely interesting."
From Page 1A
accident is currently being investi-
gated.
The accident that killed Xu and
Xie comes in the midst of a recent
rash of fatal car accidents involving
university students. LSA freshman
Heather Comstock died in a car
accident on Oct.10 while drivingon
U.S. 23 with three other students
from Okemos and Williamston,
Mich. According to FOX 2 Detroit,
University graduate student Ash-
ley Thomas was also killed in a car
accident onthe Southfield Freeway
on Friday.
in the wake of the recent acci-
dents, Diane Brown, Department
of Public Safety spokeswoman,
wrote in an e-mail interview that
students need to stay alert, be
aware of road conditions and fol-
low all traffic laws while driving in
order to ensure their safety.
School of Music senior Siyi Fang,
CSSA vice president said she was
glad to see so many students on the
Diag paying tribute to Xu and Xie.
While the Facebook event page
said there were 32 confirmed
guests, about 300 students gath-
ered at 8 p.m. when the vigil
started. As the vigil continued, the
crowd grew to more than 1,000
individuals as people crowded
around the Block 'M' and stood in
line to receive a lit candle.
ENROLLMENT
From Page 1A
the decreases in underrepresented
minority enrollment. "I don't think
there's a silver bullet, but we have
to be more aggressive."
Coleman added, "What I can do
and will continue to do and have
our colleagues in the administra-
tion do is to make sure that we're
continuing the outreach ... I did
that work last year, I'll do more of
that work this year, my colleagues
will continue to do the work. But
there's a lot of work (to do)."
However, many - including
Coleman - have said compet-
ing against schools in other states
where affirmative action is legal
is difficult, because unlike those
other schools, the University can-
not offer special scholarships
geared specifically to minorities.
Other University officials, like
Director of Undergraduate Admis-
sions Ted Spencer, have said they
would like underrepresented
minority enrollment to increase,
but have acknowledged that no
guarantee can be made because of
the University's rigorous academic
standards and the state's ban on
affirmative action.
"There's no guarantee that we
can do anything when you can't
use race as one of your factors,"
In addition to placing candles
around the 'M,' attendees signed
cards that were pinned to bulletin
boards in the Diag. Photos of the
victims were also placed in the cen-
ter, alongside a bouquet of roses.
Even after 9 p.m. - the sched-
uled end of the event - students
and community members contin-
ued to arrive and light candles for
the victims. For many, the shock
and the tragedy of the accident
were difficult to handle.
University alum Husnah Khan,
who shared mutual friends with
Xu, attended the vigil after par-
ticipating in a Jewish religious cer-
emony. She said the transition from
one event to the other made the
vigil that much more solemn.
"I just came from the Shabbat
celebrations, so going from such a
celebratory atmosphere to this is
very shocking ... it teaches you how
mortal you are," Khan said, add-
ing that she planned to perform a
poem about the students during an
open mic night at Borders later that
night.
CSSA members were pleased
with the amount of support and
sympathy that the University com-
munity showed, according to Fang.
However, Engineering senior
Yang Xu, an acquaintance of the
victims, said he was surprised by
the lack of awareness about the
tragedy among fellow University
Spencer said in an interview with
the Daily last year. "But we're
going to do everything we can to
start early outreach programs,
identifying students in the ninth,
tenth grade."
And when consideringthe grow-
ing classes that have enrolled in the
University in recent years, keeping
the percentage of underrepresent-
ed minority students from slipping
is an even greater challenge.
Coleman has repeatedly told the
Daily she would like to see a small-
er overall population of students at
the University.
"We've been working on trying
to shrink a little bit and some years
we've been more successful than
others in holding the line," Cole-
man said last month. "I mean, I'm
thrilled that so many people want
to come to the University of Michi-
gan, but we also have to be very
cognizant of the experience stu-
dents get, and we want that to be a
good experience."
Despite those wishes, the class
size has continued to soar - pri-
marily due to uncertainty in pre-
dicting the yield.
Officials, including then-Univer-
sity Provost Teresa Sullivan - who
now serves as the president at the
University of Virginia - told the
Daily last year that the economic
downturn made it difficult to pre-
dict how many students would
students. He explained that the
accident was mostly talked about
within the Chinese community.
"I think many American stu-
dents don't know anything about it
because Chinese students use this
Chinese version of Facebook (to
communicate) and very few Amer-
ican students have access to that,"
he said.
According to a flyer that was
printed in Chinese and English,
both Xu and Xie were the only
children in their families. The fly-
ers asked community members to
donate money in an effort to help
the victims' families.
The flyer stated that "Ran had
a giving heart," and that she vol-
unteered as a teacher in less privi-
leged areas in China before she
came to the University.
Before the accident, Xie was
working on a video tribute for his
graduating class. "Now, sadly, it is
our time to say farewell to him,"
the flyer stated.
Yan Tang, a Ph.D. student in the
Institute for Social Research who
met Xu through the University's
Ballroom Dance Club, said all stu-
dents can do now is pray for the
victims.
"We were from the same prov-
ince in China, we met at Ballroom
... maybe I will be lonely when I
go to dance now," Tang said as she
began to cry.
accept offers of admission to the
University in 2009, saying it was
one reason a larger than expected
class was admitted.
Though it may be easier to more
accurately predict economic fac-
tors as the recession winds down,
University officials say they are
now concerned with how accurate-
ly they will be able to predict the
yield because the University has
switched to the Common Applica-
tion.
Coleman told the Daily over the
summer that as the switch to the
Common Application creates more
uncertainty in the admissions
office, Spencer would need to bet-
ter predict the yield.
"We need to sort of look at our
models again and figure out how
we're going to manage this again
because next year when we go to
the Common Application, every-
body predicts that we're going to
go up again (in applications)," Cole-
man said in July. "We're going to
test Ted Spencer's ability to build
this class because you know it's
going to be a bigchallenge."
No figures on the number of
applications submitted to the Uni-
versity so far this fall have been
released by the office of Under-
graduate Admissions. Typically,
specific numbers are not released
until the application deadline has
passed, which occurs in February.
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