e ic ig n 4:3allij

Ann Arbor, Mich. michigandaily.com Monday, July 9, 2007 Summer Weekly

OPINION
From the Daily:
Brown v. Roberts
When the Supreme Court
ended overthrew segregation
in public schools in 1954, it was
the crowning achievement of
the civil rights movement. Now,
five irresponsihle conservativv
justices have made it their goal
to undo more than five decades
of racial progress in our country.
For all the talk of precedent, this
decision was both a reversal of
legal precedent and an abomi-
nation to the spirit of one of the
High Court's most courageous
decisions, Brown v. Board of Edu-
cation.
See page 4.
ARTS
Funky feline
Cat Power brings her recently
sobered up soul music to Detroit.
See page 9.
SPORTS
A look back
Daily sports editor Dan Feld-
man and Daily sports writer Alex
Prosperi pick the
best and worst
of the 2006-07
season of Michigan
sports.
See page 11.
INDEX
Vol. CSViI, No. 147
02007 The Michigan Daily
michigandoily.com
NEW S.................................. 2
O PIN IO N .......................................4
C LA SSIFIED ...................................6
SU D O K U ........................................8
ARTS..............................................9
S PO RT S .........................................11

Mrs. Potato Head mans a desk in the new Google office on South Division Street where employees of the lucrative Internet
company play with toys and eat free food. See page 2 for a full story and michigandaily.com for more photos.
Supreme Court limits diversity
programs in public schools

FLINT CAMPUS
Chancellor
steps down
a year early
By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN
ManagingNewsEditor
Juan Mestas, who has led the
University of Michigan at Flint
as chancellor for nearly a decade,
announced his resignation July 3
after a five-month medical leave to
recover from a stroke.
Having overseen the creation
of the Flint campus's first doctoral
program as well as its expansion
across the Flint River, Mestas will
end his eight-year tenure on the day
ground is broken for the campus's
first residence hall - a project that
interim Chancellor Jack Kay said
was a long-time goalof Mestas.
Kay said Mestas seems to be in
good health, but has chosen to step
down a year before his term is over
to pursue personal interests like
academic and creative writing.
A letter from University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman to the
Flint campus community said Mes-
tas will likely return next year as
chancellor emeritus and advisor to
the chancellor and provost.
"Dr. Mestas effectively led UM-
Flint through exceptionally difficult
budgetperiods,"Colemansaidinher
letter. "He successfully addressed
long-termstructuralfundingissues,
developing approaches to increase
enrollment and broaden the service
area of the campus."
Coleman will appoint a commit-
tee in the fall to search nationally
for a candidate to fill the position.
Kay, who officially serves as the
provost at Flint, said Mestas was a
campus icon who went out of his
way to connect with students.
"He was incredibly involved
with students," he said. "He knew
so many by name. He'd frequently
invite students and student groups
over to his house."
Mestas hosted a yearly holiday
See CHANCELLOR, Page 3

Ruling may dictate
future of college
admissions policies
By EMILY BARTON
Daily News Editor
In a case last week concerning
racial integration programs in pub-
lic school systems the U.S. Supreme
Court voted 5-4 to prohibit racial
methods of pursuing diverse stu-
dent bodies.
Some predicted the Supreme
Court would use its ruling as an
opportunity to alter precedent
concerning race-based affirmative
action in higher education.
The justices left the issue
untouched, but public policy
experts are analyzing what the
MINOnRITY

June 28 ruling might foreshadow
for the admission policies of public
universities in future years.
Law School Prof. Mark Rosen-
baum said the court's decision wor-
ries him.
"The atmosphere is troubling,"
he said. "You can't erase genera-
tions of racism by pretending it
doesn't exist."
Rosenbaum said that although
the decision has no impact on
Proposal 2, or the appeals being
brought against it by the American
Civil Liberties Union and the pro-
affirmative action group By Any
Means Necessary, it follows a polit-
ical trend limiting the use of race
and affirmative action to achieve
diversity.
"I think it's frightening," he said.
"It's a very serious moment in our
history."

But the fact that Justice Antho-
ny Kennedy, who voted with the
majority, refused to sign the major-
ity opinion - which said that while
diversity should be a goal of pub-
lic schools, considerations of race
made by the two school districts in
question were unconstitutional -
has others thinking that the ruling
can be seen as a 4-4-1 split and will
not be influential to future cases.
Instead of signing the majority
opinion, Kennedy said in a coin-
ciding opinion that there were
instances in which the use of race
as a factor is appropriate - some-
thing the opinion of Chief Justice
John Roberts denies.
Maya Kobersy, assistant gen-
eral counsel for the University, said
Kennedy's opinion leaves open the
possibility for race to be considered
See RULING, Page 8

I