Orientation Edition 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Affirmative action anned in Michigan Proposal 2 gets 58 percent of vote By WALTER NOWINSKI Daily News Editor Nov. 8, 2006 - Michigan voters dealt a firm blow to the University's affirmative action programs yes- terday, voting decisively in favor of Proposal 2, which bans the consid- eration of race, gender or national origin in college admissions, hiring and contracting. University President Mary Sue Coleman, a vocal opponent of the proposal, reaffirmed the Universi- ty's commitment to diversity late last night in a statement released before the election was called. "We defended affirmative action all the way to the Supreme Court because diversity is essential to our mission as educators," Coleman said. "Regardless of what happens with Proposal 2, the University of Michigan will remain fully and completely committed to diver- sity." LSA junior Ryan Fantuzzi, co. chair of the the group that cam- paigned for the amendment, said he was overjoyed at the proposal's passage. "It is like Christmas," Fantuzzi said. "The government can't dis- criminate against people anymore - and that is a beautiful thing." Not all students were quite so jubilant at the news. LSA senior Rachael Tanner, who campaigned against Proposal 2 with Students Supporting Affir- mative Action, resigned herself to defeat last night. "We did a great job on campus," Tanner said. "But ultimately the lies and deceptions prevailed." While Michigan voters approved Proposal 2 by a 16-percent margin, University students voted deci- sively against the amendment. In predominantly student precincts around campus, Proposal 2 failed 75 to 21percent. School of Business sophomore Arvind Sohoni somberly watches Proposal 2 results trickle inon election night ir 4 Minority enrollment down Burned: Students hit with RIAA infringement suits Undergraduate admissions numbers released for 2007, By ARIKIA MILLIKAN and JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN Daily News Editors June 4, 2007 - The University has closed shop on admissions for the 2007-2008 year, and the final numbers show that the January enactment of the legislation dras- tically affectedthe acceptance rate of under-represented minorities. Although there were 175 more minority applicants this year than in 2006, the University admitted 111 less than it did last year. While the changes in both the total number of applications, and the applications from under-rep- resented minorities increased by about 6.5 percent, the total number of admitted applicants increased 15 percent while the number of admitted minorities dropped by 7.4 percent. The University accepted 502 minority applicants in the months before Proposal 2 passed, an increase of about 85 percent from the 270 it accepted at the same time last year. Chris Lucier, the University's director of recruitment and oper- ations, said that this figure could likely be attributed to a more aggressive recruiting approach rather than priority given to applications from minority stu- dents in anticipation of the pas- sage of Proposal 2. "We did have a number of recruitment events this year where we encouraged minor- ity applicants to apply and apply early," Lucier said. The numbers indicate that the loss of the advantage granted by affirmative action brought the ratio of minority applicants accepted to a level almost on par with non-minority applicants. Twelve percent more minor- ity applicants were accepted than non-minority applicants in 2006, while in the final 2007 admis- sions numbers the gap closed to put minority acceptance at about 1 percentage point less than non- minority acceptance. Lucier said this year's data do not entirely reveal the impact of the affirmative action ban on admissions because two process- es were used during the cycle. "I believe that there was an impact," he said. "But I can't assess the magnitude of the impact. Part of the decrease of 7.4 (percent) was attributed to Prop 2." But although the University was forced to reject some minor- ity applicants who may have been admitted with affirmative action, more of those accepted admission offers from the University. Four percent. more admitted minority applicants put down a deposit this year to confirm plans to attend than did last year. Accepted minority. applicants paid deposits two percent more often than accepted applicants as a whole. The numbers ease adminis- trators' concern that minority students would be deterred from attending the University because of the perception that its campus wasn't welcoming to minorities after the passage of Proposal 2, Lucier said. Lucier said he thought the high- ernumberscanbe attributedtothe. University's outreach programs as well as the overall increased inter, est in the University from students applying to college. "It shows the efforts made in the aftermath of Prop 2 to talk to students about the opportunities the University of Michigan pro- vides were successful," he said. 4 By KATHERINE MITCHELL Daily StaffReporter May 21. 2007 - The Recording Industry Association of America announced Thursday that it is delivering on its threat to sue copy- right infringers at the University. The RIAA, which represents several record labels, said in a press release on May 17 that 12 lawsuits were filed against University net- work users whose IP addresses the trade group claims are connected to illegal peer-to-peer file sharing. The lawsuits are against network users who were issued pre-litiga- tion settlement letters on April 11. The University passed on 23 letters to alleged copyright infringers that offered the chance to accept a set- tlement deal to avoid a lawsuit filed by the RIAA. The RIAA could only issue the letters to IP addresses. If accused users wished to accept the pre-set- tlement terms, they had to contact the RIAA to reveal their identities. Based on the number of lawsuits filed, 11 alleged users chose to settle with the trade group. The RIAA said in the press release that the pre-litigation set- tlement offer included lower fines than accused individuals would face if found guilty in court. The RIAA began sending settle- ment letters to copyright infring- ers in February as part of an effort to crackdown on peer-to-peer file sharing on college campuses. An e-mail sent by the University in Marchto students, staff and fac- ulty said past settlements for Uni- versity students averaged between $4,000 and $4,500. These students, though, were not offered pre-litiga- tion terms. The RIAA settlement letters allow accused users 20 days to con- tact the trade group. The lawsuits are filed under the name "John Doe" until the trade group issues a subpoena to the Uni- versity requesting the identities of the network users in question. Bernard said the trade group could have issued the subpoenas at the same time it filed the lawsuit, but chose not to do so. On April 11, 20 other universities also received pre-litigation settle- ment letters, but it is unknown if any lawsuits have been brought against recipients at those univer- sities who chose not to settle.