The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Longtime voice of
the Red Wings dies
Budd Lynch, a veteran radio
broadcaster who spent more than
60 years working for the Detroit
Red Wings and became the team's
public voice, died Tuesday. He was
95.
Lynch, the hockey club's public
address announcer, died follow-
ing a brief illness at a Detroit-area
rehabilitation center, the team
said in arelease.At63years, Lynch
was the longest-tenured employee
in team history.
"Budd Lynch was a dear mem-
ber of the Detroit Red Wings
family and legendary icon of our
community," Red Wings' owner
Mike Ilitch said. "Hearing Budd's
voice on the radio and over the
public address at Joe Louis Arena
was something that every Red
Wings fan looked forward to and
loved. His calm, friendly and dis-
tinguished voice was symbolic of
who Budd was as a person."
Lynch began his broadcast-
ing career in 1936 at a Hamilton,
Ontario, radio station shortly after
graduating from high school. He
switched stations the following
year and volunteered in1939in the
Canadian Army. Lynch served as a
major in the Essex Scottish Regi-
ment during World War II, losing
his right arm and shoulder in a
rocket attack following the D-Day
invasion at Normandy.
DENVER
Missing Marine
* buried with honors
A Colorado family's years of
waitingendedTuesdaywhenthey
finally buried a fallen Marine who
had been missing since a helicop-
ter crash during the rescue of an
American ship crew seized by
Cambodia's Khmer Rouge in 1975.
Pfc. James Jacques (HAW'-
kas) was laid to rest with full
military honors at Fort Logan
National Cemetery in Denver on
what would have been his 56th
birthday.'
About 50 Vietnam War veter-
ans holding American flags lined
a street in the sprawling hilltop
cemetery. Doves were released
after three volleys were fired into
the air.
"We never lost hope that he
would come home, and that day
has come," said Delouise Guerra,
Jacques' older sister. "Now we all
have closure."
RAMALLAH, West Bank
Palestinians
propose talks
The Palestinian president
appears to be backing away from
his longstanding demand for Isra-
el to halt West Bank settlement
construction before peace talks
resume.
Mahmoud Abbas told Euro-
pean diplomats Tuesday that he
will resume talks after the U.N.
votes on a Palestinian request for
"nonmember state" status. A vote
isexpected in November.
Abbas made no mention of
a settlement freeze, and offi-
cials said Abbas believes a freeze
would no longer be necessary if he
receives U.N. recognition of a state
that includes all of the West Bank.
LONDON
Lady Gaga visits
WikiLeaks chief
Ecuador's Embassy in London
says WikiLeaks boss and would-
be refugee Julian Assange has
had a celebrity visitor: Lady
Gaga.
On Monday the 26-year-
old American superstar singer
posted a photograph of herself
standing next to the 41-year-old
Australian to her littlemonsters.
com website with the caption:
"No headline."
The embassy confirmed Lady
Gaga's visit Tuesday butgave few
other details. An embassy visit
would've been convenient: The
singer, whose real name is Ste-
fani Germanotta, was just down
the street at Harrods depart-
ment store to promote her new
perfume, "Lady Gaga Fame."
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
HIGH COURT
From Page 1A
automatic admission, and this
policy fills up 85 percent of open-
ings inthe freshmanclass. Fisher
was then forced to compete for
one of the remaining spots, for
which race is taken into consid-
eration.
The justices will consider
most directly whether this sys-
tem is legal in light of the Gratz
and Grutter decisions. However,
it is widely expected that the
court will use the opportunity to
review the overall role of affir-
mative action and possibly revise
or reject the 2003 rulings.
Due to Proposal 2, also known
as the Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative, consideration of race
in higher education admissions
has been outlawed in the state
of Michigan since 2006. There-
fore, the Supreme Court's deci-
sion will not have any effect
on the University's practices
directly, but may resultin sweep-
ing changes for higher education
across the nation.
On the eve of the oral argu-
ments, University officials
weighed in on the future of affir-
mative action and its role in high-
er education.
University President Mary
Sue Coleman, who led the Uni-
versity through the Gratz v. Bol-
linger and Grutter v. Bollinger
cases and later championed the
campaign against Proposal 2,
said the University submitted an
amicus curiae brief to the court
reaffirming its commitment to
diversity in the classroom.
Coleman emphasized that
arbitrary admissions diversity
targets failed to adequately rec-
ognize the fluctuating demo-
graphics of college-aged youth.
"The demographics are con-
stantly changing, so it's inter-
esting to me the argument that
'Well, we somehow reached a
goal we had ten years ago,"' Cole-
man said. "But the demograph-
ics aren't the same as we had 10
years ago."
Coleman added that she
couldn't foresee a day when the
nation would be able to com-
pletely do away with affirmative
action policies, even if such pro-
tocols would no longer based on
race.
Residential College Prof. Carl
Cohen was one of the main oppo-
nents of the use of affirmative
action during the University's
struggle with the issue.
In 1996, Cohen released
findings from a Freedom of
Information Act request he sub-
mitted about the University's
use of affirmative action in
admissions. Cohen's information
revealed that minority students
received 20 points toward the
required 100 points needed for
admission, while a perfect ACT
score was worth 12 points. This
information formed much of the
basis for Gratz's 1998 lawsuit
against the University.
After the Grutter and Gratz
decisions in 2003, Cohen and
then University of California
Regent Wardell Connerly led the
campaign in favor of Proposal 2.
,Connerly had previously led sim-
ilar campaigns in other states.
Today, Cohen says the change
in the composition of the court
since 2003 works in favor of a
stricter reinterpretation of the
issues raised in Grutter. Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor - a liberal
jurist who wrote the majority
opinion in the 5-4 decision - was
succeeded by the more conserva-
tive Justice Samuel Alito in 2006.
Alito has previously expressed
strong opinions against the use
of affirmative action in higher
education.
"It's likely that Abigail Fisher
will prevail in some fashion, but
what fashion?" Cohen said. "Is
she going to prevail because they
say, 'no, you can't do that under
Grutter?' Is she going to prevail
because the justices decide Grut-
ter was bad medicine and get rid
of it?"
Cohen said the phrase "affir-
mative action" originated in the
1960s under Presidents John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in
an effort to prevent government
contractors from using prefer-
ential hiring practices. He added
that the idea of using affirmative
action as "preferential" treat-
ment dates from the 1970s.
"There will come a day when
we look back on this race prefer-
ence with a little bit of embar-
rassment," Cohen said. "We give
preference based by race largely
out of white guilt. The minori-
ties have suffered so much
oppression over the generations
that we feel we should make
something up to them. I don't
think that justification for pref-
erence will long stand."
Cohen said his beliefs are
grounded in the principles of
equal protection outlined by the
14th Amendment and the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
"It's morally wrong to give
people more or less because of
the color of their skin," Cohen
said. "Good motives don't make
wrong acts right. And giving
presence by skin color by my
view is morally wrong, and a vio-
lation of the constitution, and a
violation of the law."
Philosophy Prof. Elizabeth
Anderson, a supporter of affir-
mative action, said she also bases
her opinions on the spirit of the
14th Amendment and the ruling
in Brown v. Board of Education.
However, she said she finds
some faults with the University
of Texas's 10 percent rule. The
goal of the policy, and one of
the chief points of contention in
Fisher v. University of Texas, is
to create a more diverse campus.
"The only way it achieves
diversity is by depending on de
facto massive racial segregation
at the K-12 level," Anderson said.
"If you think the constitutional
imperative of Brown v. Board of
Education is to give a license to
the states to practice racial inte-
gration ... You shouldn't have to
rely on de facto racial segrega-
tion at the K-12 level tojustify
racial integration at the higher
education level."
Anderson said she prefers the
holistic view of race as a factor
in admissions allowed by the
U.S. Supreme Court under Grut-
ter to the Texas 10 percent rule.
However, she said the outlook
for affirmative action in the case
is "very bad," especially given
that Justice Elena Kagan, a lib-
eral-leaning justice, has chosen
to recuse herself. Kagan previ-
ously worked on the case when
she was the United States solici-
tor general the Department of
Justice, creating a conflict of
interest.
Anderson cited research
findings that claim elite higher
education institutions that use
affirmative action doubled rep-
resentation of African-Ameri-
can students on campus. Half
of African-American students
were found to have similar
demographics to their white
peers, but the other half came
from poorer, less stable family
environments.
"African-American students
have a much broader experience
of the condition of Americans,"
Anderson said. "Even middle
class African Americans have
less access to sheltered neighbor-
hoods than equal income whites.
That's the direct product of mas-
sive housing discrimination."
She added that the value these
diverse students bring to higher
education institutions is not
about finding about the "other
side of the tracks," but about
showing the "future elites of
America" what life is like out-
side wealthy neighborhoods.
Rackham student Daniel
Hirschman, who is currently
working on a paper about the
University's affirmative action
practices between the 1960s and
2004, said the court's findings
seem counterintuitive.
The court found in 2003 that
the more "objective" system
involving formal point award-
ing was considered illegal in
Gratz, while the more subjective
evaluation of diversity from an
application was allowed under
Grutter.
"Affirmative action is only an
issue at a small number of selec-
tive universities," Hirschman
said. "It's a function of a fact that
you're trying to admit a smaller
number of students than are
applying."
Hirschman also questioned
the meritocratic idea that only
the most academically quali-
fied students should be allowed
to attend these elite schools. He
cited the long-standingdisparity
in SAT scores between races as
an indication that the test cap-
tured a racial bias, and therefore
race was needed to adequately
consider an applicant.
"I think there's an assump-
tion in a lot of the public dis-
course, the (U.S. Supreme Court)
debates as an example, that stu-
dents that deserve to get in are
the ones who are the most aca-
demically talented," Hirschman
said. "That's not how universi-
ties have ever worked ... How
do we define 'merit' in the first
place?"
LEVIN
From Page 1A
tion over the potential damage
that could be done to the prestige
of the American higher educa-
tion system if lawmakers fail to
allocate proper attention to the
institutions.
"It's an election year, we'll
make choices," he said. "This is
a year where we decide where
our priorities are. You want tax
cuts? (They'll) lead us to dras-
tic reduction in education sup-
port."
Levin said despite his fervent
support of Obama, he was dis-
appointed with the president's
performance in the Oct. 3 presi-
dential debate. He noted there
were a number of areas where
Obama could have easily chided
Republican presidential nomi-
nee Mitt Romney.
Specifically, Levin said the
president could have gained
leverage by mentioning Rom-
ney's tenure at Bain Capital, his
desire to repeal the Affordable
Care Act and what Levin believes
is an apathetic attitude toward
the middle class.
"I would have been much
more aggressive. And I would
have pointed out the contrast of
differences on positions," Levin
said. "(Romney) is a flip-flopper."
As the longest serving U.S.
Senator in Michigan history,
Levin said his years of experi-
ence in public life have given
him crucial insights, and he
expressed his firm belief that
disappointment serves a greater
purpose, as one failure may lead
to another success.
"One of the things that I've
learned is that ... not getting
something you had your heart set
on could turn out to be the best
thing that ever happened to you,"
Levin said.
The personal connection
Levin provided is exactly the
kind of experience that Ander-
son said the University's Detroit
Center is seeking to breach the
gap between politicians and
their student constituents.
Central Student Government
President Manish Parikh, who
moderated the event, said he
enjoyed discussing higher edu-
cation with Levin.
"It was an honor moderat-
ing the Town Hall with our
Senior Senator Carl Levin,"
Parikh said. "He's known for
bipartisan compromises (and)
he delivered once again bring-
ing the Champion Wolverines
and MSU Spartans together. I
couldn't agree more with his
assessment that Michigan's
Public University System is the
best in the nation."
GOOGLE
From Page1A
faculty indicated that Google
was heavily preferred. She
added that many students tad
already been forwarding their
University messages to Gmail
addresses before they decided to
contract Google's services.
Despite ongoing communica-
tion with Google, she said the
company's services still have
not met the University's desired
level of accessibility, according
to studies conducted by the Uni-
versity.
In response to the inadequa-
cies, Patterson said the Univer-
sity has delayed forcing people
to migrate to Google. She said
that of the three main prod-
ucts Google is offering students
- calendar, e-mail and online
documents - the calendar is
acceptable, but Gmail and docu-
ments still need work.
Patterson added that she will
meet with University Provost
Philip Hanlon on Wednesday to
ask him to bar administrators
and professors from requiring
students to use GoogleDocs.
After Patterson's speech, CSG
Vice President Omar Hashwi
asked her if the University had
provided Google with a timeline
to solve the accessibility issues.
Patterson said the University
will complete its tests on the
system and give Google a priori-
tized list of problems within the
month.
"We haven't settled on a time-
line, but we are definitely going
to give them a timeline," she
said. "Our preferred timeline
is 6 months, they're probably
going to push back on that and
say they would like to have more
time."
Rackham representative Pat-
rick O'Mahen, who authored the
resolution against the Google
migration, asked Patterson if the
assembly could view a copy of
the contract, but Patterson said
it was against University policy
to disclose it.
However, Patterson noted
that the contract was reviewed
by a committee of administra-
tors that included several high-
profile administrators such as
Hanlon, Chief Financial Officer
Tim Slottow and Ora Pescovitz,
the executive vice president for
medical affairs.
In his address to Patterson,
CSG president Manish Parikh
said students came to his weekly
office hours almost exclusively
to ask about CSG's efforts to
improve the accessibility of
Google's products.
"What I find unfortunate is
that I am unable to give (stu-
dents) a response," he said.
Patterson said she will attend
another CSG meeting to discuss
the issue in early November.
Following the, discussion of
Google services; the assembly
unanimously passed a resolu-
tion allocating $3,000 from
the CSG Sponsored Activi-
ties account to help fund a pep
rally on the Diag on Oct. 18, the
Thursday before the Michigan-
Michigan State football game.
Business senior Jeremy Kla-
ben, one of the event's orga-
nizers, spoke to the assembly
about the resolution. He said
the rally already has 800 con-
firmed attendees on Facebook.
Attendees can earn a point in
the University's H.A.I.L. app -
a recently launched incentive
program that encourages stu-
dents to attend sporting events
- and Parikh will also speak at
the event.
The assembly also unani-
mously passed a resolution to
add an internship program
within CSG, which assembly
speaker Michael Proppe jok-
ingly referred to as the "CSG
pledge program."
The resolution will become
part of the CSG compiled code,
ensuring that it will continue
for years to come.
HEALTH
From Page 1A
ized treatment plans take into
account the patient's unique
genetic makeup, drug tolerance
and other information in order to
determine treatment protocols,
as opposed to giving all patients
with the disease the same treat-
ment and waiting to see what
works.
She stressed that the con-
tinued success of UMHS lies in
innovating the diagnosis and
treatment of patients to better
serve their specific needs.
"The University of Michigan
Health System experience is the
outstandingcare we provide cou-
pled withthe way we provide it,"
Pescovitz said. " ... I believe the
future of medicine is in person-
alized medicine, and I believe
this future is being created right
here at Michigan."
To illustrate her point, Pesco-
vitz showed a video of Alexis,
Noah and Zach Beery, who were
treated at UMHS for Segawa -
a mood disorder that inhibits
motor skills and developmental
abilities. By personalizing their
treatment, Medical School Prof.
John Fink was able to success-
fully eradicate the disease.
Joe Beery, the father of the
three children, spoke during
the address and thanked UMHS
for pursuing the treatment plan
that cured his children.
"What you guys continue to
do is change people's lives, and
I hope that you see through this
story and other people's stories
that it's not just the connection
you make with the patient that
comes to see you like us," Beery
said. "It's the global connections
that connect across the globe. It's
a connection that you guys cre-
ate every single day."
In addition to highlighting the
personalized treatment, Pesco-
vitz said she was dedicated to
improving and continuing the
connection and communication
between all parts of the system.
"No matter what we do in our
daily work we all play a role,"
Pescovitz said. "Each one of us
impacts at least one of these
goals, and each one of our dots
is connected to our success as an
entire system."
Arul Chinnaiyan, the direc-
tor of the Michigan Center for
Translational Pathology, is
one of the doctors behind the
personalized treatment plans.
Chinnaiyan sequences the
patient's genome to discover
mutations and attempts to
match the mutations with prop-
er drugs for each individual
patient. Since beginning his
work in April, he has sequenced
genes belongingto 75 adults and
five childen so far.
In an interview after the
event, Chinnaiyan said person-
alized treatment can signifi-
cantly improve the chances of
a positive outcome for patients.
Medical School Prof. Michael
DiPietro said he shared Pesco-
vitz's optimistic vision for the
Health System.
"The way U-M is going to get
through (the economic down-
turn) is to work together to use
the talent and resources that
we have, like she said," DiPietro
said. "And how we are not only
goingto survive, but how we are
going to thrive."
Still, Registered nurse Julia
Morrissey said she was disap-
pointed Pescovitz did not men-
tion the nurses's impact on the
development of medical science.
"I don't think there was very
much positive input on the nurs-
ing effect, on the whole Health
System as a whole, Morrissey
said. "I think it is great that we
are doing successfully but we
are not a business, we are here
to take care of human beings
and as nurses that's what we
spend our entire lives doing."
Most of those in attendance
praised the personal anecdotes,
which showed the advance-
ments of UMHS. Registered
nurse Desiree Conyers said she
was moved by the speeches of
individuals that were positively
impacted by the University.
"It was so nice seeing the
personal testimonials," Conyers
said. "It was very heartwarm-
ing and reminds me why I do my
job."
A history of Michigan Football as it was
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the University's student-run newspaper.
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