OPINION
From the Daily:
Amending admissions
Rick Jones uses 10 percent of
his brain on plan to guarantee
admission to top 10 percent
of high school graduates
See Page 4
ARTS
Harold & Kumar
return for more
Despite its raunchy nature,
the new sequel to the 2004
film is a surprising success.
See Page 8
SPORTS
M pulls out win to
scavenge a split
The Michigan softball team tied
in a tightly contested series with
Northwestern. The Wolverines
and Wildcats are still knotted at
the top of the Big Ten standings
with one conference series left
in the regular season.
See Page 10
INDEX
Vol. cxvi So. 35
(2000 The Michitan Daily
michigandaily.com
N E W S ................. ..................... .....2
O PINIO N . .................. ...... ...4
CLASSIFIEDS.................................6
CRO SSW O RD ...............................6
ARTS..............................................8
SPO RT S....................... O..............10

Graduates of the class of 2008 line up in front of the Hatcher Graduate Library during Spring Commencement exercises. The
event, normally hel a Michigan Stadium, cost $1.8 million, about five times the cost of a Big House ceremony.
Farewell on the Diag

30,000 grads,
guests fill the heart
of Central Campus
By LINDY STEVENS
Daily StaffReporter
Fears of bluebook failure are
enough to make most freshmen
sidestep the iconic center of the
Diag.
After
plans
were View an audio
made slide show
to hold www michigondaily.com
Satur-
day's graduation ceremony in the
heart of campus, University offi-
cials took a similar precaution.
None of the 30,000 foldingchairs
that filled the Diag for this year's
graduationsat atop the legendary

brass'M.'
The operation to prepare the
Diag began long before Saturday's
commencement and cost the Uni-
versity $1.8 million, according to
University spokeswoman Kelly
Cunningham. The ceremony nor-
mally costs $300,000 to $400,000
when held in its usual venue, Mich-
igan Stadium, she said.
This year's Central Campus com-
mencement marked a firstin the
University's history. For two weeks
prior to the event, 50 full-time
workers laid plastic tiles, trimmed
back trees and set up video screens
and sound systems to transform the
center of campus into an outdoor
auditorium.
Despite workers' efforts to pro-
vide every guest with the bestview
possible, some guests still arrived
early in hopes of securing front row
seats for the 10 a.m. ceremony.
"We were here at 8 a.m., and it

was already mostly filled by the
timewegothere,"saidRuthDennis,
who came to watch her niece, LSA
graduate Carlie Dennis, receive her
diploma. "But we got lucky. We just
kind of stumbled upon these seats."
During her address to graduates
and guests on the Diag, Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Coleman
remarked on the historical signifi-
cance of this year's venue.
"Like the trees that surround
us, your academic roots are here,"
Coleman said.
Commencement speaker Bob
Woodruff, a University Law School
alum, used examples from his own
life to encourage members of the
graduating class not to limit them-
selves.
"Don't fear change - embrace it,"
Woodruff said. "Give yourself the
freedom to switch careers, go back to
school or choose your passion when
See GRADUATION, Page 3

program
Credit crisis forces
state to suspend
aid option
By SARA LYNNE THELEN
Daily News Editor
Students at Michiganuniver-
sities won't be receiving student
loans through the Federal Fam-
ily Education Loan Program in
the foreseeable future because
it has become "effectively
impossible" for the program to
support itself, officials soy.
The state officially suspend-
ed FFELP, a program that buys
loans from private lenders and
resells them to students.
While the University doesn't
use FFELP, it offers loans
through theFederalDirect Loan
Program, which gives its loans
and subsidies directly from the
federal government, and will
not be directly affected. Wayne
State, Michigan State and East-
ern Michigan Universities used
FFELP, but will offer their stu-
dents loans through FDLP in
the fall.
Twenty-eight public institu-
tions and 36 private institutions
gave loans through the FFELP
last year. Loans through the
FFELP at MSU alone totaled
$260 millionbetween 2006 and
2007. At Wayne State, FFELP
constituted $155 of the $244
million in student aid during
the same period, according to
See STUDENT LOANS, Page 2