The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com was th ADMISSIONS Seattle From Page 1A Afte initial baum, enrolling in a state University to NAAC check multiple boxes to denote Libert their race, contrasted with the favor previous system in which the did no students were only allowed to examp select one box. This change, Bur- nation sch argued, makes it more diffi- impro' cult to determine diversity. Ros Bursch argued that it's the School University's job to find ways to change achieve diversity through race- of app neutral means. Bursch noted harder that Texas employs a top 10 per- use rae cent program, in which state- other funded schools admit the top ficult students from every school. He partici said this program, which the activit University does not employ, has cations helped increase minority perfor- Man mance at socioeconomically dis- ing Ch advantaged high schools. and Ju He said the Court added scru- questio tiny to the minority admissions the ch by allowing race-based prefer- cess i ences, but limiting the extent to prefer which they can be employed.' and ho "It cannot be unconstitutional "Th for the people to choose not to has not use (race preferences) anymore, minati to accept this Court's invita- cess it tion in Grutter, to move past the can ai discussion about race and into not cr a race-neutral future," Bursch unequ said. actual Grutter refers to Grutter v. throug Bollinger, a landmark case -in baum 2003 in which the legality of the Rose affirmative action admissions ing tha policies of the University's Law cation School were upheld. an 'or Justice Sonia Sotomayor was into a the first justice to speak, cen- proces tering her questions around the Rober possibility that the amendment wheth intends to segregate schools. ' factor Bursch said this was not an "Yo effort to segregate, and it's point a university's prerogative to Equal achieve diversity with race-neu- take r tral practices. He said institu- erts sa tions can do that by eliminating the St preference for legacy students lightn or focusing more on applicants' Rose socioeconomic diversity. noting "The question is whether the off th people of Michigan have the Protec choice through the democratic the cot process to accept this Court's Fisher invitation in Grutter to try race- that P neutral means," Bursch said. the pot Bursch argued that as the sity ad court is in a "post-Seattle Afte world," in which court deci- his tim sions involving race should have chair the goal of improving diversity sary - in the future and not trying to affirm change past behaviors. court 1 "There's a difference between Court' favoring diversity as an abstract the concept on campus, whichGrut- back t ter clearly allows, and remedy- protec ing past discrimination, which whiten Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 5A ce point of the bussing in e," Bursch said. r Bursch concluded his argument, Mark Rosen- an attorney for the P and American Civil ies Union who argued in of the plaintiffs, said he t believe Seattle was an le of absolving discrimi- practices but an effort to ve diversity. enbaum, who is a Law I lecturer, argued that the e in the political process lying to a university is for students who cannot ce to their benefit just like students may have a dif- time because they didn't ipate in extracurricular ies or hold other qualifi- s. , ny of the justices, includ- ief Justice John Roberts 'ustice Anthony Kennedy oned Rosenbaum about ange in the political pro- a deciding what qualities ences should be given to, )w it affects students. e political process itself 't become outcome deter- ive; that the political pro- self be a place where we ir these discussions, but eate it in a separate and al way to make the - to ly make the decision itself gh the process," Rosen- said. enbaum continued, argu- at putting a racial classifi- in the constitution makes dinary political process' n 'extraordinary political s,' to which Chief Justice ts countered, questioning er or not race should be a first place. u could say that the whole of something like the Protection Clause is to ace off the table," Rob- id. "Is it unreasonable for ate to say, 'Look, race is a ing rod.'" enbaum concluded by that race is not entirely e table under the Equal tion Clause as shown by urt's ruling last term on v. Texas and reiterating roposal 2 racially divides litical process of univer- missions. er Rosenbaum exhausted ne, Shanta Driver, national of By Any Means Neces- - a coalition that supports ative action -, asked the to uphold the Sixth Circuit s decision and to return Fourteenth Amendment o its "original purpose to t minority rights against a majority." Justice Antonin Scalia imme- diately questioned Driver's inter- pretation of the amendment and asked her to provide an example of a case of the current court that confirms her view that the four- teenth amendment only protects minorities, which Driver could not. Justice Stephen Breyer also entered the discussion, giving Driver hypothetical situations about employment based on pref- erences and asking her where the line is drawn in regards to pref- erential treatment for jobs and admissions. In response, Driver said she believes the Seattle ruling pro- vides the line and that the court should uphold the precedent-set in that case. Justice Samuel Alito ques- tioned Driver about when exact- ly the problem with Proposal 2 becomes an issue in the admis- sions-decision process. After back-and-forth between the two, Sotomayor stepped in to provide her opinion, which Driver said summed up the point she was attempting to make. "I thought the line was a very simple one, which is if the nor- mal academic decision-making is in the dean, the faculty, at whatever level, as long as the normal right to control is being exercised then that person could change the decision," Sotomayor said. "It's when the process has changed specifically and only for race, as a constitutional amend- ment here was intended to do, that the political doctrine is vio- lated." Driver's final moments in front of the Court centered on whether or not affirmative- action programs are beneficial to a minority group specifically, or to the University as a whole, as ruled in Grutter. This discussion stemmed from the earlier points made by Bur- sch about minorities benefiting from Prop 2. Driver combated this in her final moments by say- ing 90 percent of Black voters in Michigan voted against the pro- posal and that whether or not affirmative action is beneficial is for a different case; specifically the already resolved Grutter. The oral arguments concluded with a four-minute rebuttal from Bursch, which emphasized that- Seattle is not a direct parallel to this case. Lawyers involved in the case posit that the deciding vote will likely come from Kennedy, who questioned specific arguments from both sides but said he had trouble distinguishing between the ruling on the Seattle case and the debate over Proposal 2. WASHINGTON From Page 1A take on Shuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, which questions the legality of a 2006 amendment to Michigan's constitution - commonly known as Proposal 2 - that bans race- or sex-based admissions policies at the states' public colleges and universities. After the arguments conclud- ed, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in a statement that the University values diver- sity but is firm in its admission practices. "The University of Michigan places a high value on achieving a richly diverse student body," Fitzgerald said. "It is a corner- stone of our academic character and excellence. Proposal 2 has made-admit- ting a diverse student body more challenging. And, as we indicat- ed in our brief, we do not believe that one can assess the impact of Proposal 2 by looking at the experiences of other institutions in other states operating under other laws." Lawyers arguing on behalf of the coalition, including Mark Rosenbaum, attorney for the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union and Shanta Driver, chair of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, said they thought the oral arguments went well, citing some of Justice Anthony Kennedy's statements as particularly encouraging. "We wanted to see if there was any responsiveness from any of the other five justices to our argument, and I think we achieved that goal." Driver said in an interview after the oral arguments. "I think where we saw the openness was on Judge Kennedy, but none of the justices seemed that comfortable with (Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's) argument." Michael Steinberglegal direc- tor of the ACLU of Michigan, also said he thought the arguments went well for the Coalition. "Given the questions that were asked, we're very optimistic that the court is going to do the right thing," Steinberg said. "They seem to understand that a sepa- rate, unequal system for students of color to lobby for programs that will help them is unfair and unconstitutional." Schuette, the petitioner in the case, said in a merit brief pre- sented to court that past prece- dent and the Constitution should uphold their argument. "The people of Michigan con- cluded that not having affirma- tive action in higher education was the best policy for the state," Schuette wrote. "Nothing in the Constitution bars the people of Michigan from making that choice." In an op-ed to the Washington Times Schuette elaborated on his position saying that the real problem with underrepresented minorities in colleges lies within our public schools. "This legal challenge against Michigan's constitution misses the point. The problem that needs to be solved is this: too many minority students are trapped in failing public schools. The system is failing them," Schuette wrote. "Graduation rates are far toolow; illiteracy far too high. This is where drastic change and reform are needed." Before, during and after the oral arguments, protesters from the By Any Means Necessary, a national organization that advo- cates for affirmative action, held a rally that started at the Lincoln Memorial. The group marched from there to the Court's steps, rallyingsupporters of race-based admission policies. As people exited the Court after oral argu- ments, members of the rally shouted "Detroit, what do we want? Affirmative Action. When do we want it? Now." Among the faces in the audi- ence listeningto the chants were Education senior Ariam Abra- ham and University alum Laura Washington. Both said they drove from Michigan on Monday to hear the case and support the affirmative-action ideals iterated by BAMN. Abrahamsaid that, as a minor- ity student at the University, she has seen changes Oin the envi- ronment on campus during her undergraduate years. She came to the court to show support and act as a face for the people who will be directly affected by whether or not affirmative action is reinstated in the state. "For me, I just understand the role that affirmative action plays at the University and the role not having it plays at the University," Abraham said. Abraham and Washington listened to the plaintiffs' argu- ments and said it seemed like the lawyers spelled out their argu- ments well. "I definitely think that the jus- tices had their biases. It's hard to tell when you're swaying them, and when they're combatting you constructively-or when they are doing it with malintent," Abraham said. "It was difficult for me to distinguish between the two so I'm not sure what to expect." Washington, a 2012 gradu- ate, said she was interested in comments several of the jus- tices made that might show how they're swaying on the case. "There was a lot of back- and-forth for Sotomayor, who was standing up for affirmative action, it was very noticeable that she was in support of it," Washington said. "Kennedy was asked a lot of questions, which was interesting. Based on my research of the case, I wasn't sure if he was going to be a swing vote or not. But it seemed like that could be a likelihood." A group of students from Michigan high schools also trav- eled to Washington, D.C. to dem- onstrate and march with BAMN. Markeith Jones, a student at Lutheran Northwest High School in Macomb, Mich., said he organized the trip because he felt strongly about affirmative action. "I took it offensively that they would try to block minorities from going to these different Michigan colleges. I took it per- sonally," Jones said. Jones, who is considering applying to the University, said he is unsure if he would want to go to a school that would have a less diverse student body. Amnesty: Hundreds killed in Nigerian military detention Freed detainees testify to cruel treatment, lack of medical care LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Hun- * dreds of people are dying in mili- tary detention from shootings, suffocation or starvation as Nige- ria's security forces crack down on an Islamic uprising in the northeast, Amnesty International said Tuesday. More than 950 people died in military custody in the first six months of this year, according to "credible information" from a senior Nigerian army officer, the rights group said. The Associated Press reported in August that hundreds of peo- ple detained by security forces in northern Nigeria have disap- peared. The new Amnesty Inter- national report may help explain what happened to all those peo- ple- a horrifying result for their loved ones who are still searching for the missing. Military and government offi- cials did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails request- ing their comments. If the number of deaths in military custody cited by the Amnesty International is accu- rate, that means Nigeria's mili- tary has killed more civilians than the extremists did during the first half of 2013. Amnesty International called for an urgent investiga- tion. Detainees "were reportedly shot in the leg during interroga- tions, provided no medical care and left to bleed to death," the London-based human rights group said in the report, which includes testimony from freed detainees. The AP reported three months after President Goodluck Jona- than declared a state of emer- gency in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe on May 14 that hundreds of people were being rounded up in night raids. The state of emergency gives a Joint Task Force of sol- diers, police, intelligence and cus- toms and immigration officials the right to detain people and move them from place to place, as well as the right to search without warrants. Distraught relatives, human rights organizations and jour- nalists have asked the army, the police, intelligence services and government officials where the arrested people are, but have received no answers, the AP reported. Amnesty International says dozens of bodies are being deliv- ered by soldiers to the mortu- aries of the main hospitals in Maiduguri and Damaturu, capi- tals of Borno and Yobe states. Human rights activist Shehu Sani of the northern-based Civil Rights Congress of Nige- ria told AP in August that he believes thousands had been detained. Amnesty International said those killed were detained as suspected members or associ- ates of Boko Haram, an armed Islamic extremist group that has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds of Mus- lim and Christian civilians this year in their mission to overturn democracy and force Nigeria - Africa's most populous nation which is almost equally divided between the predominantly Mus- lim north and mainly Christian south - to become an Islamic state. Boko Haram itself routinely commits human rights abuses, gunning down schoolchildren, health workers, government officials, Christian pastors and moderate Muslim clerics. In 2009, security forces bombed and destroyed the Boko Haram head- quarters in Maiduguri. The sect's leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in police custody. Amnesty International said most of the deaths it documented at the hands of security forces took place at the Presidential Lodge guardroom and a deten- tion center in Damaturu, and at Giwa Military Barracks in Mai- duguri. "The details of what happens behind locked doors in these shadowy detention facilities must be exposed, and those responsible for any human rights violations brought to book," said Amnesty International's deputy AfricaI director, LucyFreeman. Amnesty International quoted a second senior army officer as saying: "Hundreds have been killed in detention either by shooting them or by suffocation. People are crammed into one cell. There are times when people are brought out on a daily basis and killed." ENDOWMENT From Page 1A The project will provide 38 construction jobs and is slated for completion by fall 2015. REGENTS TO CONSIDER CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH SITE Pendingthe regents' approval, the University will move for- ward on plans to construct a mobility transformation facility - a testing ground for automated and connected vehicles. The College of Engineering and the University of Michi- gan Transportation Research Institute have proposed the project in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Trans- portation. As part of the col- laboration, MDOT has provided grant money to fund part of the $6.5-mijlion project, the rest made up by University sources. The University's Trans- portation Research" Institute announced the establishment of the Michigan Mobility Transfor- mation Center during a three- day symposium last May. The center seeks to implement new technologies into vehicles in order to make advancements in vehicle efficiency and safety. At a site located off of Huron Parkway between Plymouth and Hubbard roads, the University will construct simulated urban streets, roads and ramps to mimic real driving conditions. To complete the facility, site modifications will include road construction, storm water man- agement and electrical infra- structure. In a communication to the regents, Timothy Slottow, Uni- versity executive vice president and chief financial officer, said design plans are scheduled to begin immediately with the firm Mannik & Smith Group. UNIVERSITY TO AWARD PROJECT BIDS FOR MUNGER GRADUATE RESIDENCE, PENDING FRIDAY APPROVAL While demolition has begun at the site of the planned Munger Graduate Residence, the regents will green-light University administrators to seek construc- tion bids and award contracts. The projected is expected to cost $185 million, funded by . University Housing resources and a $100-million gift from Charles Munger. The Univer- sity announced Munger's dona- tion last April and approved the building's schematic designs last month. According to the sche- matic designs, Munger Graduate Residence will provide housing for 630 students in seven-bed- room apartments. The project is expected to be completedby the summer of2015. ATHLETIC CAMPUS TO OFFICIALLY BE RENAMED THE STEPHEN M. ROSS ATHLETIC CAMPUS Following another record- breaking private-donation, this time a $200-million donation from real-estate mogul Stephen Ross, the regents will vote to rename the University's athletic campus the "Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus." Last month, Ross directed his $200-million gift to be divided equally between his namesake School of Business and the Ath- letic Department. His donations to the University have totaled $313 million - including a $100 million gift that prompted the University to rename the Busi- ness School in his honor. In a communication to the regents, Slottow and Athletic Director Dave Brandon said the name change is "in recognition of his exceptional gene-sity in providing the finest facilities to University of Michigan student- athletes." The Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus will include Univer- sity property adjacent to athletic facilities south of Hoover Street, between State a'nd Main streets. Also on the Athletic Campus, the regents will vote on brand- ing the Softball Center in honor of University alum Donald R. Shepherd, whose donations to the University have totaled $25 million. Shepherd has previously sup- ported the Women's Gymnastics Training Center, the Michigan Marching Band and scholarships Buyy one sandwich get one FREE! Limit One offer per customer with coupon. Cannot be combined with any other offer. 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