returning students incentives to 
live off campus.

From 2009 to 2014, the 

University’s 
freshman 

enrollment remained well over 
6,000 students. Part of the 
initial uptick in applications was 
attributed to the University’s 
2010 decision to join the Common 
App, an online undergraduate 
college application which allows 
students to apply to any of the 622 
member schools.

Within the University’s first 

year as a Common App member, 
undergraduate 
applications 

to the institution rose by 25 
percent. Ted Spencer, associate 
vice 
provost 
and 
executive 

director 
of 
undergraduate 

admissions at the time, said 
though the University received 
more applications than ever 
during that first year, its yield 
was the lowest since 2006. Yield 
refers to the number of admitted 
students who actually end up 
enrolling at the University.

Spencer said because students 

submitting the Common App can 
apply to an increased number of 
schools with greater ease, it can 
be difficult to calculate yield.

“We admitted a slightly larger 

class this year … because we 
weren’t certain whether a lot of 
the students who did apply and 
had a strong resume would yield 
at the same rate,” he said.

National trends

The 
University’s 
recent 

issues 
with 
over-enrollment, 

however, defied national trends. 
According to the United States 
Census Bureau, from 2011 to 
2013, 
undergraduate 
college 

enrollment decreased by 930,000 
students, the largest drop since 
the bureau began collecting 
college enrollment data in 1966.

Michigan State University, 

which aims to enroll a total of 
50,000 undergraduate, graduate 
and 
professional 
students, 

has not struggled in recent 
years to enroll a target class 
size. Since peaking at 10,132 
undergraduates in 2012, the 
university’s 
freshman 
class 

has fluctuated close to 9,500 
students over the past few years.

There are notable differences 

between the way the two schools 
approach admissions. For one, 
Michigan State is not a member 
of the Common App.

John 
Gaboury, 
Michigan 

State’s 
associate 
provost 

for 
academic 
services 
and 

enrollment management, said 
not accepting the Common App 
makes it easier to estimate yield 
rates.

“We’re not on the Common 

App, and last year we had over 
35,000 applications,” Gaboury 
said. 
“In 
our 
calculations, 

people are specifically selecting 
Michigan State. So we know in 
our probabilities it isn’t just ‘Oh I 
could send this out to 20 schools 
and see what happens,’ so it 
makes a difference when you’re 
running your probability models 
and affects your yield rate.”

In 
addition, 
Michigan 

State enrolls far more in-state 
students. 
Gaboury 
said 
the 

school aims for in-state students 
to make up 70 percent of its total 
enrolled class, while Fall 2015 
enrollment reports show that 
approximately 57 percent of 
the University’s student body is 
comprised of in-state students.

Gaboury 
anticipates 

Michigan State will uphold 
current enrollment practices in 
the years to come.

“We’re going to stick with 

a similar strategy,” he said, 
noting the school’s success in 
enrolling a diverse student body. 
“We have the largest number of 
African-American students in 
our freshman class of any of the 
Big Ten institutions. We’re about 
653 for this year.”

Enrollment management

To combat over-enrollment 

at the University, the regents 
appointed 
Kedra 
Ishop, 
a 

longtime admissions official at 
the University of Texas at Austin, 
as the University’s first associate 
vice president for enrollment 
management. Ishop assumed the 
position at the beginning of the 
2014-2015 academic year.

Ishop said her first task was 

to determine a target number for 
the fall 2015 freshman class.

“It 
wasn’t 
necessarily 
a 

question of going up or down, 
it was let’s establish a target as 

a ceiling, as opposed to a floor,” 
Ishop said. “And there’s different 
approaches when your target is 
a ceiling and you don’t go over 
it, and your target is a floor and 
you don’t go under it. The floor 
generally has more to do with 
budget, since your institution 
is funded on your number of 
students. So being tasked to 
bring the class in on target and 
determining what that target 
was, and at the time it was just 
under 6,000.”

After establishing a target, 

Ishop said she began to evaluate 
how the University was releasing 
its decisions. Those applying for 
undergraduate admission to the 
University can apply either early 
action or regular decision. Early 
action applications are due Nov. 
1 and decisions are released at 
some point before Dec. 24, while 
regular decision applications 
are due Feb. 1 and decisions are 
released in early April.

Ishop 
said 
students 
who 

are admitted from the early 
action pool tend to enroll at the 
University. Therefore, to manage 
enrollment more effectively, the 
admissions office deferred more 
students from early action to 
regular decision than in years 
past.

“Early action here typically 

results in an enrollment, so 
we knew that if we released 
more then we’d have more 
enrollments, 
which 
means 

we’d have fewer spaces to offer 
during the regular term,” she 
said. “That was a mechanism 
to control the size of the class, 
essentially not to over-promise 
on the front end.”

Another 
mechanism 
the 

University used to control the 
enrollment was to put more 
students on the waitlist. In 
recent 
years, 
due 
to 
over-

enrollment, students on the 
waitlist have not been offered 

admission to the University. 
Despite 
offering 
admission 

to 2,000 fewer students in 
2015 than the previous year, 
a 2-percent increase in yield 
meant the University once again 
did not pull students from the 
waitlist.

From 
2014 
to 
2015, 
the 

University’s 
admittance 
rate 

dropped from 32.2 percent to 
26.2 percent, a trend Ishop 
expects to continue.

“As the application numbers 

continue to grow, regardless 
what we do with class size, we’re 
not going to keep up class size 
with the pace of growth in the 
applicant pool,” she said. “It’s also 
important to note that class size is 
a yearly determination, so making 
the decision for the class that 
it was last year was contingent 
upon what we had seen in the 
year past and how we wanted to 
stage ourselves for thinking about 
admissions and our targets, not on 
an annual basis but collectively 
where are we as an institution in 
terms of capacity and what does 
that need to look like in terms of 
our capacity.”

Ishop also said it is unlikely 

that the number of applications 
the University receives will 
decline any time soon. She 
said this trend is not tied to 
the Common App, and instead 
pointed to decreasing admit 
rates across the country.

“I 
won’t 
attribute 
it 

necessarily to Common App,” 
she said. “I will attribute it to, 
because admit rates are going 
down, students are hedging 
their bets. It’s our responsibility, 
when we’re recruiting, we try to 
be very transparent about that 
process and about that likelihood. 
We also have additional aspects 
of our application, so the student 
has to go a few extra steps to 
apply here. And what they talk 
about in their essays matters.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

and air — including colored 
streamers and lights.

The theme played a large 

role in displaying the intricacies 
of Asian culture. In the past, 
Celebrasia themes have received 
criticism for not relating to Asian 
culture, so this year, Engineering 
sophomore Eric Chan, a CSA 
representative, says the group 
aimed to change that.

“This is a pretty bold event,” 

he said. “Last year I know we 
did Harry Potter, and the year 
before we did something with 
pirates, but this year no one 
really expected ‘Avatar: The Last 
Airbender.’ ”

All 
18 
participating 

organizations had their own 
tables, which were decorated to 
feature the Avatar theme as well 
as the culture represented by the 

organization. Groups present 
included the Filipino American 
Student 
Association, 
the 

Taiwanese American Student 
Association, 
the 
Vietnamese 

Student Association and the 
Japanese Student Association. 
At the tables, event attendees 
could sample food from the 
organizations’ cultures.

Engineering 
sophomore 

Vishal 
Subrahmanyam 

said he came in part to see 
performances from his friends.

“I thought it would be a 

really 
enriching 
experience 

to come out here and taste 
the food and see what all of 
these organizations are about,” 
Subrahmanyam said.

The 
song 
and 
dance 

performances 
included 

traditional 
and 
modern 

arrangements, 
and 
some 

that mixed elements of both. 
Some 
groups 
focused 
on 

entertainment 
while 
others 

had 
educational 
aspects 
in 

their 
performances. 
The 

Filipino 
American 
Student 

Association performed a tribal 
dance from the T’boli Tribe 
that traditionally celebrates a 
good harvest. The performance 
strayed from the stereotypical 
Filipino dance.

LSA 
junior 
Tiffany 
Lao, 

performance chair for FASA, 
said people often think Filipino 
dances are always light and 
happy, but that is not necessarily 
true.

“Usually there’s a lot of 

cutesy 
really 
smiley 
happy 

dances but there’s also more 
serious dances,” Lao said. “It’s a 
really multifaceted culture and 
we try to embrace all of it.”

In conjunction with the new 

emphasis on a more culturally 
relevant 
theme, 
the 
CSA 

organizers wanted to stress the 
full richness of Asian culture. In 
past years, Celebrasia has only 

hosted East Asian countries. 
LSA 
sophomore 
Christy 

Leung, the event’s co-chair, 
said they tried to invite groups 
representing 
more 
diverse 

countries this year.

“We invited SAAN — South 

Asian 
Awareness 
Network 

— and the Pakistani Student 
Association,” Leung said. “We 
really tried to branch out and 
add more diversity to our lineup 
this year.”

LSA junior Pareesa Memon, 

president 
of 
the 
Pakistani 

Student 
Association, 
was 

surprised by the invitation to 
participate in the event because 
the Asian community and South 
Asian community are usually 
separated.

“We just want to show that 

Pakistan is part of Asia and give 
it more of a presence in that 
realm because it usually isn’t 
recognized as such,” Memon 
said.

foundation.

Levine’s 
mother, 
Julie 

Buckner, 
the 
president 
and 

founder of the Josh E. Levine 
Foundation and a University 
alum, began the 5K with an 
emotional speech about her 
son, noting that the day marked 
exactly 69 weeks since his 
passing.

“We’re all here today because 

we 
want 
to 
prevent 
more 

tragedies,” Buckner said. “We 
all know, here on a college 
campus, that there are so many 
episodes every single night, and 
particularly on weekends, that 
are so preventable, and that’s 
what we’re here to do.”

Ultimately, she said, she’d like 

to see the binge-drinking culture 
shift on college campuses.

“I just want us to look out 

for each other more, to be 
more educated, to be more 
knowledgeable, to be more of a 
united community in preventing 
tragedies, and this is what we’re 
going for,” she said.

Sunday’s 
event 
was 
a 

culmination of the joint effort 
of LSA junior Hailey Olds, vice 
president of campus relations for 
AGD, and LSA junior Caroline 
Alford, vice president of the 
Panhellenic Association for DG. 
The two Greek organizations 
partnered this semester as part 
of the Panhellenic Association’s 
new “sister sorority” initiative, 
which pairs two sororities on 
campus in an effort to get to 
know each other better.

“We picked a theme of alcohol 

and drug awareness,” Alford 
said. “Obviously, the Josh E. 

Levine Foundation has quite 
a presence on campus, so we 
thought it would be meaningful.”

The two contacted Levine’s 

fraternity, 
Theta 
Chi, 
and 

member 
Brett 
Karpinos, 
an 

Engineering junior, stepped up 
to help them plan it.

“My older brother was one of 

Josh’s good friends, so I was like 
all right, I’ll do it,” Karpinos said. 
“Josh was a senior when I was a 
freshman, so I got to know him 
pretty well.”

This year, University officials 

have rolled out several new 
initiatives to curb dangerous 
alcohol consumption on campus, 
including an policy to notify the 
parents of first-year students 
who rack up multiple alcohol 
or drug violations, and a push 
for increased Division of Public 
Safety and Security engagement 
off campus.

Kinesiology junior Kenneth 

Taras, former president of Theta 
Chi, ran to support Buckner in 
her efforts.

“A lot of us in Theta Chi, all 

of us are really passionate about 
this,” Taras said.

Buckner expressed said she 

was humbled by the outpouring 
of support at the event.

“I think it’s great that Greek 

organizations are leading this 
today, and I hope that there will 
be more events on this issue 
that are led by Greek life in the 
future,” Buckner said.

Alford said the sororities hope 

to host the 5K again next year.

“There’s hope to make this 

sort of a sustainable thing in 
the future going forward, sort 
of an annual thing between our 
chapters,” she said.

News
Monday, November 16, 2015 — 3A

ordered the country’s borders 
closed.

During the vigil, de La 

Ronciere 
challenged 
those 

gathered 
on 
the 
Diag 
to 

promote the acceptance and 
integration 
of 
immigrant 

communities, 
particularly 

the 
thousands 
of 
refugees 

who have been fleeing Syria 
in recent months for safety in 
Europe and elsewhere.

“This 
that 
happened 

yesterday, they didn’t bring it,” 
he said. “They did not want it. 
They did not approve it. On the 
contrary, this that happened 
yesterday is what they were 
fleeing from.”

Even so, de La Ronciere 

said Saturday’s Diag gathering 
made him optimistic.

“It’s a big message of hope to 

see that so many people are so 
full of solidarity,” he said.

Engineering 
junior 
Julia 

Habif, who has many relatives in 
France, said she felt comforted 
by 
the 
demonstration 
of 

support from students who 
may not be as closely connected 

to the country. Habif’s family is 
Muslim, and she echoed de La 
Ronciere’s belief that she hopes 
Friday’s attacks do not increase 
racism toward Muslims.

“I see the racism,” she said. 

“I see the split. I think that the 
more hatred there is, the more 
division and the more people 
feel isolated.”

LSA 
senior 
Roxane 

Chambaug, an exchange student 
from southern France, said the 
event provided her with a sense 
of unity at a time when she felt 
very distant from her home.

“To me it’s about France, 

but not only about France,” she 
said. “It’s about all the lives 
that are being killed without 
any purpose. Of course I’m 
very moved … it happened in 
my country and it could have 
happened in my city.”

Nursing junior Matt White 

joined in mourning the victims 
of the Paris attacks, though he 
has no direct connections to 
France.

“I felt like I had to come to 

show my respects and show that 
I care,” he said.

White said the University 

community’s 
demonstration 

of solidarity was important 
not only in showing support 

for those affected, but also in 
helping 
University 
students 

reflect on the tragic events. 

“It shows that we care and 

that even though this happened 
halfway across the world, we 
stand with them,” he said. “And 
it also helps us process what 
happened.”

On Saturday morning, the 

University confirmed that all 14 
University-affiliated 
students, 

faculty and staff registered as 
having traveled to France are 
accounted for.

LSA freshman Maya Bishop 

said she also saw the vigil as a 
protest against the divides acts 
of terrorism attempt to create.

“What happened was an 

affront not just to France, 
but 
to 
all 
civilized 
and 

modern countries that have 
these 
values,” 
Bishop 
said. 

“(Terrorism) is trying to break 
people apart and make them 
scared, and this is the only way 
to combat that.”

LSA junior Theresa Witt, a 

foreign exchange student from 
Germany, said the attacks in 
Paris hit close to home for her 
because of the the city’s close 
proximity to her hometown.

However, 
she 
said, 
the 

attacks also remind her of other 

global tragedies that do not 
seem to receive as much media 
attention. She referenced the 
bombings in Beirut two days ago 
and the continuing violence in 
Syria, which she said the media 
has largely ignored compared to 
its coverage of the Paris attacks. 

“I very strongly think about 

all the people in Beirut today, 
about Syria, where it happens 
daily,” she said. “I feel with all 
the people there.”

PARIS
From Page 1A

CELEBRASIA
From Page 1A

5K
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ENROLLMENT
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KRISTINA PERKINS/Daily

Theta Chi, Delta Gamma and Alpha Gamma Delta hosted a 5K run in the Arb to 
raise money for the Josh E. Levine Foundation on Sunday. 

