Arts 9 'Art School' aims too high Sports 13 Softball wins second consecutive Big Ten title www.michigandaily.com One-hundred-sixteen years ofedtorialfreedom Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 118 Monday, May 15, 2006 Summer Weekly 02006 The Michigan Daily 'Dangerous' Prof. fights extremism with books Cole shifts focus from job candidacy at Yale University to helping rebuild the U.S. image in the Middle East By Walter Nowinski Daily Staff Reporter Despite numerous reports that Yale University is consider- ing offering him a position, outspoken LSA Prof. Juan Cole refused to comment on whether he will leave the University. "As things stand, no offer has been made," Cole said. Cole said he will not comment until he receives an official offer from Yale. "Right now it would be like asking me if I am running for president," he said. Earlier this year, Cole was named one of the nation's 101 most dangerous academics by right-wing author David Horowitz. Numerous conservative commentators have criticized Yale's consideration of Cole, based on comments he has made on his blog, Informed Comment. On the site, Cole has been highly criti- cal of Israeli defense policies and the Iraq war. John Fund, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, censured Yale for considering Cole and accused him of being "a notori- ous anti-Israel professor." According to Fund's column, Cole said Israel was the "the most dangerous regime in the Middle East." Cole responded to Fund's allegation of being anti-Israel on his blog, calling it a lie. He said while he is not anti-Israel, he does believe that Israeli policies of assassinating suspected ter- rorists were dangerous to U.S. interests because they inspire sympathy for fundamentalist groups like Hamas, Palestine's leading political party. A spokesperson for Yale University said the university had not yet made a decision on whether to offer Cole a position as profes- sor of contemporary Middle Eastern studies and would not com- ment on Fund's column at this time. 'While Cole's commentary on the Middle East remains contro- versial, his most recent endeavor, the Americana Translation Proj- ect, has drawn widespread support. The organization, founded earlier this year, will partner with Arabic language publishers to translate important works of Amer- ican political thought into Arabic and distribute them throughout the Middle East. Cole hopes that his project will help to educate people about core American values - such as freedom of religion and democ- racy - in a region where most information about the United States comes from television and film. Cole said the widespread ignorance of the United States in the Mid- dle East creates a fertile environment for anti-American propaganda. He also said the lack of information available about America is not only troubling from an intellectual standpoint but is also potentially dangerous. For example, there is not a single Arabic university that teaches American history in Arabic, Cole said. "The kind of anti-American propaganda that fuels terrorism flour- ishes in an intellectual atmosphere of near ignorance," Cole said. Cole hopes that his organization will help to combat that igno- rance by making important American texts widely available. In the past, the United States Information Agency translated important American books and operated a series of libraries across the Middle East. However, the agency was scrapped in the See COLE, Page 3 LSA Prof. Juan Cole receives frequent media attention for his of U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East. City weighs in on plans for new high school - Recent graduates, residents and school board members debate details By Marlem Qamruzzaman Daily Staff Reporter Ann Arbor Public schools officials have long recognized the need for a third high school in the city. Forty years after purchas- ing land for a new facility, passions are heating up as Ann Arbor parents and students argue against proposals surrounding the school. But University students who graduated from local high schools said some of the controversy is overplayed. The Board of Education has owned the property on the corner of M-14 and Maple Rd. since the 1960s, but decided a new school has now become a necessity, said Liz Nowland- Margolis, communications director of Ann Arbor Public Schools. There are currently 2,200 students at Huron, M 450 at Community High and 2,300 students at Pioneer. The Board is building the school to alleviate the problems of overcrowding, Nowland-Mar- golis said. The new school is slated to open in the fall of 2008. LSA senior Sheena Darty, a Pioneer High School graduate, said the halls were often so crowded that students had to push their peers out of the way to get to class. "It was like a fight for your life to get to class,' Darty said. She added that most of the classes consisted of 3 or more students, despite the portable classrooms located on the tennis courts and behind the school. LSA sophomore Aaron Markel, a gradu- ate of Huron High School, said his classes were not crowded but the hallways were often jammed. "The design had more to do with (over- crowding) than the actual number of stu- dents," he said. "Five hallways converge at one point." The new school's $96.3 million bud- get - $8.4 million over the Board of Education's original budget - is a main point of contention between parents and administrators. Additional expenses include a geother- mal heat pump, which will save thousands of dollars per year for the district and a wind turbine, which will be used to study wind speeds in science classes. The school will have a state-of-the-art the- ater as well. While some University students said the current budget seems somewhat excessive, many others said they think designing an attractive building is important. See HIGH SCHOOL, Page 3 GRAPHIC BY BRIDGET O'DONNELL/Daiy The Ann Arbor Board of Education recently approved a budget of $96.3 million for a new high school, located on the outskirts of the city. Contractors have already begun constructing the foundation of the new building, scheduled to open in the Fall of 2008. The name of the new school is yet to be determined.