The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2002- 23
Q: WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU
SAW?
A: It's been so long. I tell you a movie I_
want to go see and it just kills me that I
haven't gotten there, it's "Monsoon
Wedding." But it has been so long, I
can't even remember what the last movie
was I've seen. ..(couple of questions
later)... Oh! The most recent one I prob-
ably saw was when I was visiting my son,
in Denver, about Shackleton (a true
Q: WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR
SPARE TIME?
A: I like to read. I like to spend time
with my family -I have a new daughter-
in-law of about three weeks.
Q: Who did you most admire when
you were our age.
A: That was bac in the early 1960s and it
was a fabulous, reat time.
It was when fohn Kennedy was first elect-
ed and there was a great optimism in the
country. It was such a fabulous time. We had
to confront, while I was in college, his death
and that was very tough. That was a very
unsettled time.
Initiative - stretch out and reach not just those in
medicine or research, but undergraduates and
other departments, including those dealing with
ethics and society.
"I think these are going to be very exciting for
the University, and I am very excited to get
involved," she said.
Initiatives are a way to expand, Coleman
added, addressing the fear some have raised
that the University will become too focused
on the LSI, especially since a bulk of Cole-
man's career has been studying the life sci-
ences - she spent 15 years, from 1983 to
1990, at the University of Kentucky as a bio-
chemistry professor and three years as a bio-
chemistry and biophysics professor at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
before beginning her administrative work.
She said new initiatives should not overpower
older initiatives or departments, but rather blend
in with them.
"I think it is very possible for universities to
embark on new initiatives but still remain strong
in many areas," she said. "There are many, many
areas across (the University), and all of those will
be nurtured and attended to."
She also said the role of undergraduates at any
university, whether research institutions or not, is
"crucial" and called undergraduate eduction "the
centerpiece of what we do"
"My information about the undergraduate
experience at Michigan is that it is excellent," she
said. "I still believe that we always need to be
searching for improvements and ways to
improve."
On the issue of the Ed Martin indictment and
conviction, Coleman said she thinks the Universi-
ty has done what it can, "given the limitations of
its investigations" but plans to pursue the truth of
the situation.
"The University has to get to the truth and
expose the truth and make sure it never hap-
'pens again," she said, adding that she does not
know what should be done if the truth is
something that may end up harming the Uni-
versity.
"You can't forecast the future until you know,
and so I am dedicated to finding the truth, but
precisely what that truth will be, I cannot predict.
I don't know."
As far as her view on the University's admis-
sions policies, Coleman said she believes Michi-
gan "has tried to find a principle stand" and that
"they have defended themselves on the basis of
principle."
She said Iowa does not have the same pressures
facing their admissions system as the University
of Michigan because the circumstances are differ-
"I still believe that we always need to be searching
for improvements and ways to improve."
ent - Iowa draws from a different pool of in-
state candidates than the University of Michigan.
African-Americans make up 14.2 percent of
the state of Michigan's population while they
make up 2.1 percent of the state of Iowa's resi-
dents, according to U.S. Census Bureau 2000
reports.
The percentages of Hispanics and American
Indians in Michigan are also higher than the per-
centages of Hispanics and American Indians in
Iowa.
Coleman said she was pleased that the Univer-
sity is pursuing the lawsuit "because the lawsuit
is going to be very, very important to the whole
country."
"I am very happy in working with the regents
in defending their lawsuits," she said.
She would not comment whether she believes
race should be a factor in admissions.
- Mary Sue Coleman
University President-elect
She said she is still in the process of educating
herself about "everything at the University,"
including the University's Statement of Student
Rights and Responsibilities, formerly known as
the Code of Student Conduct, which undergoes
revisions every other academic year.
The president has the sole authority to amend
the statement.
After the last time amendment to the Code,
under former President Bollinger, some students
were angered because they said the statement
retained troubling judicial procedures, including
the admission of hearsay evidence and the prohi-
bition on legal counsel speaking on students'
behalf.
"I just look forward very much to being at the
University. I have enormous respect for the Uni-
versity and its history, and I am very excited
about the opportunity of joining it," she said.