4F 4br ig Summr eely41 One hundred two years of editorialfreedom Volume C111, No. 3SAnn Aror, Michigan -- Wednesday, May 12, 19931993 The Michigan Daily' SAY GOODBYE TO APRIL SHOWERS Alleged kill r of IU' doctor " By J.B. AI "fonnedby Kemink. FOR THE MICGANDAILY Pusby was declared mentally un- Almost a year after the incident, stable and wasunabletostandtrialata Chester Posby, the suspect for the hearing last January. murder of ear specialist Dr. John Posby has undergone psychiatric Kemink, will finally stand trial. treatment and Washtenaw Circuit Apre-trial hearing was held Mon- Judge Kurtis Wilder decided to allow day to hear motions from Defense At- Posby to stand trial. torney Timothy Niemann. The court Wildermadethedeision basedon M granted Niemann's requests that it set aletter that was submitted by Posby's an early trial date and that Posby re- psychiatristfromtheCenterforForen- main in psychiatric care pending his sic Psychiatiy in Ypsilanti. In the let- trial ter, the psychiatrist rendered Posby Posby allegedly walked into mentally competent to stand trial. Kemink's at the University of Michi- The defense's last request was for gan Hospitals June 25, 1992, for an an early trial date. Niemann cited the appointment and shot Keminkrepeat- availability of witnesses and an ex- HEATERLCWMAMDy edly. pected lengthy trial as reasons for his The Troop 220 Dance Ensemble from Studio 1 School of Dance perform a maypole dance Upon his arest, Posby alleged the request. Sunday at Ingall's Mall during the 100th birthday festivities of the annual May Festival conflict erupted due to balance prob- Wilder set the trial for Sep.7, the lems he sustained after surgery per- earliest date available. *Regents probe academic diversity in 21st Century program By NATE HUI.EY DAILY STAFF REPORTER The University Board of Regents listened to presentations on how to increase the success rates of minority students at its Thursday's meeting. On display at the meeting was the 021stCentury Programforundergradu- ates -aliving-learning program cen- tered in Mary Markley residence hall - designed to improve the academic success of both minority and majority students at the University. The 21st Century program signifi- cantly raises the grade point averages of students enrolled, according to data presentedat themeeting.Thecause for the increase has not been singled out Ofrommany possible factors. 'beprogramjustcompleteditssec- ond year and currently enrolls 266 students.Theracialandethnicmakeup oftheprogramis:55 percent male and 45 percent female; 70 percent white and 30 percent Black. David Schoem, assistant dean of LSA, presented some of the rationale for starting the program. 0 "The campus climate continues to perpetuatestereotypesandracism.Tbis is present at the University of Michi- gan," he said. Schoem presented a video that stated58 percent of Black students do not finish college within six years. But the Office of the Registrar re- ported that 62 percent of all Black students graduate fromtheUniversity. Also,ofgraduating Black students, only 18percenthavegrade-pointaver- ages at or above 3.0. In comparison, the Office of the Registrar reported 12percent of white students drop out of college. The movie stated 64 percent of white students graduate with a grade point average at or above 3.0, Schoem said. Schoemsaidthereasonsforthisare not lack of skills but other barriers to achievement. He said amajorproblem is the distinction between academics and social life among Black students. Schoemsaidthe21stCenturyProgram was set up to address these problems. Renee Friselo, an LSA first-year student, related her experience with the program. "We supporteach other as friends and as students," she told the regents. "I couldn't think of a better way to spendmy year and Iknow I'll always remember the friends I made there." The video cited "institutional suc- cess" but "personal failures" among minority students at the University. Blackstudents who graduate with lower grade point averages do so in fields which they did not originally wish to enter, the video stated. Many of the students, according to the video, come to the University with very high SAT scores, but "dis-iden- tify with school."There is a separation between their personal lives and aca- demic lives. Regent Paul Brown (D-Mackinac Island)questioned which aspectof the program causes theincreaseingrades. Schoem said, "We clearly don't know what the reason is. Maybe it's a smaller community. "I think integrating the academic and social aspects of their lives might be apart ofit.When the twoare linked together,studentstend to be more suc- cessful." Brown suggested the increase in grades may have been exaggeratedby or createdby self-selection of the stu- dents in theprogram. "Those students who choose to go into this program are more interested in learning than those students who don't, and therefore, you have better raw material," Brown said. He also said student-teacher ratios couldbeinvolvedinthereportedgrade improvements. These are the percentage of students that are no longer enrolled four years after they first entered the University. 37% __ 19781 27.9% 19' 25.4% 26.4% 1 1 % 13.4% 15% BLACK WHITE TOTAL o ce R" Regent Shirley McFee (R-Battle Creek) disagreed. "I don't think it's onlythestudent-treherratioherethat's creating the improvement," she said. "I think there's an element of a support system that all students who didn't participate in did not fare as well. Maybe what we're looting at hereisasuppoitsystem thatpomotes an environent that is favorable to leaning." McFee continued, "The support system is what isimportant- notthe racial backgrond."