June 24, 2003 - Although 

celebrations by pro-affirmative 
action student groups could be 
heard across campus yesterday, 
it was not necessarily a total 
defeat for their counterparts. 

Anti-affirmative 
action 

students groups cite the U.S. 
Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling 
against 
the 
University’s 

controversial 
point 
system 

as evidence that a part of the 
University’s 
undergraduate 

admissions policy is indeed 
unconstitutional. 

Andrew 
Robbins, 
LSA 

student and co-president of the 
Jewish University Republican 
Alliance, said of his recently 
formed student group that, “we 
were a little disappointed, but 
they did strike down the point 
system, so in that regard we are 
happy.”

This 
sentiment 
was 

reiterated by Mike Phillips, 
LSA senior and publisher of 
the conservative journal The 
Michigan Review. 

“I was most against the 

undergraduate policy because 
of the quota system. He said. 

Although 
Phillips 

acknowledged the other side’s 
victory, he is apprehensive 
about the future implications 

of this ruling for the University 
and its students. 

“I am now concerned with 

what the University will be 
doing 
to 
more 
accurately 

reflect the contribution and the 
mandate,” he said. 

The 
Review’s 
editor-in-

chief, Ruben Duran, expressed 
a concern similar to that of 
Phillips. 

“(The University is going to 

find another way to get around 
it, to continue their social 
experiment to make minorities 
feel good,” he said “(They) will 
now say 19 and a half points is 
what we give,” he added. 

The split decision left room 

for optimism on both sides, but 
also created some frustrations. 

“Essentially it did nothing 

– nothing is different,” said 
Duran. “The University will 
continue to purport the idea 
of diversity which has been 
upheld as a compelling state 
interest.” 

Duran’s disappointment was 

echoed by Chip Englander, an 
LSA alum, former chairman of 
the College Republicans and 
founder of Young Americans for 
Freedom. 

“The decision is ridiculous. 

It would have been nice to get a 
clear-cut decision,” he said. 

Robbins said of the split that 

it “showed that the Supreme 
Court, like the rest of the 
country, is split on these issues.” 

Despite the split decision, the 

ruling yesterday allowed race to 
be used as a factor in University 
admissions policies. 

Phillips agreed that race was 

a factor but warned against 
giving it too much weight, “Race 
can play some role, but it can’t 
play a decision role – it needs to 
be used very narrowly,” he said. 

Although 
Phillips 
said 

he believes it’s possible to 
implement a new plan that 
takes race into consideration, 
many anti-affirmative action 
activities disagree. Duran said 
that “an even more secretive, 
subjective, 
non-transparent 

system: is too be expected. 
Robbins said that JURA is just 
looking 
for 
(an 
admissions 

policy) that is merit based. 

But 
despite 
these 
mixed 

reactions, both anti-affirmative 
action 
groups 
and 
anti-

affirmative action activists are 
pleased that the undergraduate 
point system is being modified. 

LSA 
sophomore, 
MSA 

member 
and 
College 

Republican Jesse Levine said, 
“Although I’m a Republican 
and a moderate, I feel confident 
with the decision. I’m proud to 
be a student at the University of 
Michigan.” 

8 — Friday, September 15, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Bicentennial

Regents announce Coleman as first female president

May 
30, 
2002 
- 
Mary 

Sue 
Coleman, 
president 
of 

the University of Iowa, was 
welcomed to the University by 
the University Board of Regents 
and 
community 
members 

yesterday morning as she was 
elected to be the University’s 
13th president in a motion 
carried unanimously by the 
Regents.

Coleman, 
who 
has 
been 

president of Iowa since 1995, 
will begin her term at the 
University of Michigan Aug. 1 
under a five-year contract set to 
be finalized at the June regents 
meeting.

“She will be a strong, creative, 

experienced, thoughtful and 
successful 
president 
of 
the 

University 
of 
Michigan,” 

Regent 
Rebecca 
McGowan 

(D-Ann Arbor) said. “And let it 
be said again and again, girls 
can do math and science.”

Regents also praised interim 

University President B. Joseph 
White, expressing gratitude and 
appreciation for his dedication 
and involvement in keeping the 
University running smoothly.

“The 
only 
thing 
more 

challenging 
than 
being 

president of this University 
would 
be 
being 
interim 

president,” 
Regent 
David 

Brandon (R-Ann Arbor) said.

Added Regent Kathy White 

(D-Ann Arbor) to White and his 
wife, Mary: “I’m very impressed 
at (your) deep commitment ... I 
am basically speechless,” she 
said.

Though she was officially 

appointed, 
Coleman 
will 

remain at Iowa for the next two 
months.

“I have two responsibilities 

that I have to do going forward,” 
she said, referring to both her 
position at Iowa and her need to 
prepare for her new role in Ann 
Arbor.

White will remain in charge 

of the University until the 
beginning of August but said 

he would confer with Coleman 
on any major decisions made 
between now and then.

Laurence Deitch (D-Bingham 

Farms), chair of the Board of 
Regents and the Presidential 
Search Committee, said he is 
confident Coleman is ready for 
the job.

“She 
was 
quite 
simply 

the 
best 
of 
the 
best. 
We 

think the University and the 
community will benefit from 
her leadership,” he said. “As an 
administrator, she’s smart and 
she’s tough and she knows how 
big places like this run.”

He added that Coleman is 

well-known in higher education 
circles and that her name is 
on “everybody’s short list of 
leaders of higher education.”

Deitch 
cited 
Coleman’s 

achievements and credentials 
as part of what made her 
an 
appealing 
candidate, 

commenting on the breadth 
of 
her 
experiences 
and 

involvement in research and a 
variety of other areas.

“We believe she will prove 

to be one of the great leaders 
of the University’s history,” he 
said. “We will be fortunate to 
have her.”

Regarding 
the 
search 

process, 
Deitch 
called 
the 

search “focused, thorough and 
thoughtful.”

Deitch 
also 
addressed 

the 
contributions 
of 
the 

Presidential Search Advisory 
Committee, 
composed 
of 

faculty, 
students, 
staff 
and 

alumni, which met 15 times 
over five months to investigate 
the pool of candidates.

It was “a truly extraordinary 

commitment by 16 people with 
very busy lives,” Deitch said.

The University community 

at large had a chance to be part 
of the process as well, as 25 
meetings were held to give the 
community a chance to voice 
opinions and hopes for the next 
University leader.

“The 
election 
of 
the 

next 
president 
mattered 
to 

everyone — everyone cared. It 
reaffirmed our commitment,” 
said Rackham Dean Earl Lewis, 

chair of the Presidential Search 
Advisory Committee.

Lewis said over 200 people 

were nominated and reviewed 
“in 
one 
form 
or 
another” 

in 
a 
process 
that 
“turned 

nominations into candidates.” 
He said the advisory committee 
presented a pool of candidates, 
not finalists, to the regents.

“It was a process that we 

understood required a high 
level of confidentiality,” he said. 
He added that the job of the 
search committee was to create 
a rich and deep pool full of 
candidates who were qualified 
to lead the University in many 
different ways.

Coleman said that if it had 

been an open search she would 
not have considered candidacy. 
She is not the only one who 
would have refused candidacy, 
Lewis said.

While 
Lewis 
said 
the 

openness in Harvard’s recent 
presidential 
search 
did 
not 

seem to harm former University 
President Lee Bollinger – who 
Coleman is replacing – Bollinger 
was announced last year to be a 
finalist and then lost to former 
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury 
Lawrence Summers, he believes 
Bollinger is the exception to the 
rule.

“Everyone 
involved 
are 

people who are themselves in 
a position of responsibility,” 
Lewis said. “In many other 
instances, individuals will find 
themselves 
compromised 
if 

they are publicly identified as 
a candidate in a public search.”

When asked about a list of 

finalists, 
Deitch 
would 
not 

offer a list but said “there is 
one finalist and she is with us 
(now).”

Making a list of candidates 

public, 
even 
after 
the 

announcement, would violate 
a promise to those who chose 
to accept their nominations, 
Lewis said.

Though she said she never 

intended to leave Iowa and 
was not looking for another job 
when 
University 
committee 

members asked her to consider 
the 
position, 
Coleman 
said 

she is happy to be part of 
the 
University 
community 

and looks forward to “the 
experience of a lifetime.”

“I just wanted you to know 

what a thrill this is,” she said, 
adding that part of the thrill 
of being elected University 
president 
comes 
from 
her 

passion for public university 
education.

“I have to tell you, when I 

called my mother, my 88-year-
old mother — she lives in 
Colorado - she cried and she 
understood what it meant to 
be named president,” Coleman 
said.

“Iowa is a fabulous place to 

be,” she added. “I was very happy 
at Iowa. Many good things were 
happening at Iowa. ... I agreed 
to become a candidate because 
the University (of Michigan) 
is such a great university,” she 
said.

As president at Iowa, Coleman 

said she was involved with 
students on a number of levels, 
ranging from making Madonna 
videos of herself for the school’s 
Dance Marathon to working 
with student organizations and 
student government to making 
herself available for student 
comments.

The president always makes 

an appearance at the school’s 
Dance Marathon, she said. “I 
always make a fool of myself,” 
Coleman added.

Besides 
her 
Madonna 

impersonation, Coleman said 
there are other things she would 
like the student body to know 
about her. “I’d like students to 
know that I’m an open person, 
accessible, that I care about the 
ideas students have,” she said.

At Iowa, she visited sororities 

and 
fraternities, 
answered 

student 
email 
and 
started 

a 
Fireside 
Chats 
program 

co-sponsored by the University 
of Iowa student government, 
where 500 students a month 
are invited to informally meet 
and discuss topics of interest, 
she said, adding that the event 
is publicized and open to all 
student, regardless of if they 
receive an invitation, she said.

Coleman is the first woman 

president at the University, but 
said she did not feel that being a 
woman holding the title would 
change the job description.

“This is a hard job, a stressful 

job for men and women and 
I think the pressures are the 
same,” she said.

With 
regard 
to 
issues 

the 
University 
is 
currently 

facing, including the Martin 
conviction, Coleman said she 
looks forward to the challenges 
as opportunities.

“I am committed to having 

the truth come out and I am 
dedicated to making it right 
because that’s what we should 
do,” she said.

As far as the president’s role 

in the Ed Martin investigation 
and other issues, she said 
integrity is a central issue.

“The president is going to 

be involved with the regents to 
see that the information comes 
out. It is extremely important 
for the public to have absolute 
confidence in the integrity of 
the University,” she said.

“I believe in everything that 

the University does ... it should 
have a standard of excellence,” 
she added.

Priorities for her upcoming 

term, she said, will include 
getting 
search 
committees 

underway to fill leadership 
vacancies 
within 
the 

administration and immersing 
herself 
in 
the 
University 

community 
and 
University 

issues to “bring myself up to 
speed.”

Coleman will be receiving 

an annual salary of $475,000. 
White 
and 
Bollinger 
each 

received $326,000 a year.

Woman in Charge

DEBBIE MIZEL/Former Daily Staff

Mary Sue Coleman as pictured in the paper on May 30, 2002.

Conservatives claim victory 
in striking down quotas

KAREN SCHWARTZ 
AND MARIA SPROW

 Daily News Editors

JAMES KOIVUNEN 

And SAMANTHA WOLL

 Daily Staff Reporters

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

FILE PHOTO/Daily

“The University of Michigan’s 
Bicentennial is a significant 
milestone that represents 
200 years of academic growth 
and achievement that have 
had a tremendous impact 
on our great state. I’m proud 
to honor U-M’s legacy in 
furthering higher education. 
The opportunities afforded 
to students and the amazing 
outcomes of the research 
conducted will influence 
Michigan and the world for 
centuries to come.” 
Gov. Rick Snyder, University 
alum

FE ATURE D PEOPLE

“What do you see when you 
stand on our Diag? Obviously, 
what’s physically there. But 
look more closely – and soon 
we will see the 200 years of 
leaders and best who have 
walked the Diag before us, and 
the 200 years of leaders and 
best who will walk the Diag 
after us.”
Ross senior Kevin Yang, Central 
Student Government treasurer

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

1964 — Jeremiah Turcotte performs the 

first organ transplant at the University of 

Michigan Health System

1968 — U-M hospital completes 

first heart transplant in Michigan

1970 — First Black Action Movement protests held

1969 — Faculty petition to end Vietnam War

1971 — Human Sexuality Office, now knows 

as the Spectrum Center, is established by key 

LGBT activist Jim Toy.

1965 — First-ever faculty 

teach-in in the country begins 

March 24

1964 — Civil Rights Act of 1964

