Table of Contents for 1 April 1998
Campus Affairs
The U-M's New
Admissions Policy
by Benjamin
Rousch
Every year the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (OUA) receives about 19,000 applications from students hoping to attend the University of Michigan, and only admits about 5000 of those students. The lawsuit filed by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR) on behalf of Patrick Hammacher and Jennifer Gratz questions the methods which were used by the UM in 1995 and 1997 to choose which students were admitted. This year, the UM abolished the old "grid system," and the students applying to the U-M for fall 1998 are being evaluated based on a new "point system." The U-M claims that the new admissions policy "is a streamlined version of the 1997 system" implemented because the "use of different grids had become cumbersome." And indeed, the new point-based admissions policy is easier to understand and interpret than the grids used in the past.
Campus Affairs
MSA Pres-Elect
Thompson Denounces Allegations
by Benjamin
Kepple
Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) President-elect Trent Thompson has gone on the offensive, vigorously defending himself against charges that he improperly solicited votes at a fraternity party held at the beginning of the recent MSA election.
We'd like to congratulate MSA President-suspect, er, elect Trent "Hop on Chopp" Thompson for his recordbreaking time of 3.8 days in achieving negative press for the Assembly! This handily beat the previous 5.1 day record set in 1996 by then President-elect Flint Wainess! Congratulations! Your plaque will be in the mail!
Letters to the Editor
Readers Praise
Golding, Criticize Carnacchio, Revile Kepple
I wish I had time to pick out every illconceived notion that ol' Ben has written down here, but he must have his head up his ass most of the time. Especially since a good deal of Ralph Williams' lectures are on the various forms of oppression in societies past and present.
Letters to the Editor
Eds.
Should Tone Down Rhetoric
I am a recent convert to The Michigan Review's cause. After reading the Daily for six months, I happened to come across a copy of your newspaper, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was not aware that such a movement could or does thrive in a campus environment. You seem to hit every issue headon, as shown by the recent editorial by C.J. Carnacchio entitled, "President Lacks Character." It was nice to finally see my image of the President, i.e., an embarrassment that reflects on all of us, written down on paper.
Letters to the Editor
Carnacchio
Needlessly Demonizes Opposition
C. J. Carnacchio's "The Politics of Fear and Ignorance" is an interesting case of someone making some good points (against an admittedly easy target, to be sure), and then, in a needless attempt to demonize the opposition, so overstating things as to nearly succeed in making the 'bad folks' look pretty good.
Letters to the Editor
Golding's
Reporting Great
I want to congratulate Andrew Golding on his fine coverage of UM basketball this season. Golding constantly interests me in the nuances of the game, and amuses me with his on the side "Basketball Notes." His reports of the often overlooked aspects of the game offer a unique look inside the world of basketball.
Letters to the Editor
U-M Gives
In to Thugs at Connerly Speech
The events surrounding Ward Connerly's speech Wednesday night at the Michigan League have caused me to take a very pessimistic view of the social and political environment at the University of Michigan. I'm not sure which is more disgusting: the behavior of some of the affirmative action supporters, or the blatant abrogation of responsibility by those in charge of public safety at the Michigan League's ballroom.
From Suite One
National Day of
"Inaction": Part Two
Not satisfied with confusing (or amusing) the campus community the first time around, irate students are planning a second National Day of Action on April Fool's Day. And just like the first National Day Action, students are requested to skip class and join in on undoubtedly enjoyable activities such as rallying and marching to defend affirmative action. But it seems rather pointless, and to be an empty gesture on the part of the pro-affirmative action forces, for even well-meaning students to protect what they see as their right to go to class by ... not going to class. Indeed, one would think that if these students truly appreciated the privilege granted to them, they would go to class as normal and participate in rallies and what not after class ended for the day.
Send Lawyers, Guns, & Money
Down with MSA
by C.J.
Carnacchio
Well, yet another Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) election has come and gone. It does not matter who won and who lost for these elections are always contests between Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber. The only consistent loser in these electoral fiascoes is the student body.
Lost in the Eighties™
Oh, Enough With
the Protests, Already!
by Benajmin
Kepple
It was nice seeing the civilized discourse and fruitful exchange of ideas at Ward Connerly's speech this past March 18. Here we have Ward Connerly, a successful businessman and University of California Regent, facetoface with students, and the student contingent acts for the most part like a gaggle of whiny brats. Even worse for the students on hand that were trying to listen to Mr. Connerly, this same collective of morons proceeded to act like three yearolds with regards to posession of the sole microphone for the crowd.
Campus Affairs
MSA Election
Results
Campus Affairs
Ward Connerly
Speaks at Michigan
by James Christensen
Admittedly, the Michigan League Ballroom was probably not the best choice for having one of the most prominent voices in the initiative to end affirmative action speak. Even without the activism of the local pro-affirmative action groups, Ward Connerly was sure to draw a crowd. Those individuals who arrived a little late and waited outside the doors, however, quickly went from being a crowd to an unruly mob. Between chants of "Let us in!" and scattered yelling about violated rights, the persons gathered outside the Michigan League Ballroom presented one of the worst images a visitor to our University has ever seen. There are some questions about just whose rights were being violated when the crowd screamed at Mr. Connerly every time the doors opened. It seems difficult to believe the persons stuck outside were wronged, particularly when one erstwhile attendee loudly suggested "pull the fire alarm and end this now." Political involvement has long been a tradition for students here, but it appears that rational discourse is becoming less and less common when someone's views differ from your own. To that end, the unruly, ignorant mob continues to be a successful tool for proaffirmative action.
Campus Affairs
Students Rant
and Rave at Speech
by Benjamin
Rousch
Before his actual speech began, Ward Connerly asked the audience to listen to him before shouting him down. A man who had obviously been in the position of speaking before hundreds of angry persons before, Connerly started off the session with a short fifteen minute speech and then proceeded to a question-and-answer session that took up most of the evening.
Essay
Starting Anew?
by Julie Jeschke
The buzz around campus is that it's cool to recycle! Here are some Recycling tips that will help you to be COOL!" As I sat in my residence hall's dining room, eating some wonderful, overpriced institutional food, I had to laugh at the little sign on the table that was meant to promote recycling. Obviously, its message was worthwhile, but the strategically placed bees used to illustrate "buzz" seemed to go too far, and the language sounded painfully juvenile. I could not believe Waste Management Services would employ such a tacky slogan! And what's this? We can all win an ice cream party if our hall improves the most from last year's recycling trends?! As much as I desired to jump on the bandwagon, I had to sit back and consider what my eyes had just beheld. Ice cream? "Cool" to recycle? How gullible did they think we were? Why was I being bombarded with all this environmental gibberish? Then I realized that dining halls are nothing more than soupedup cafeterias, except we get to use real plates instead of trays with squarish compartments. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that for the entire year, I had been treated like I was still in high school. The "ecolympics," appear to relegate us to elementary school, and I am told that it only gets worse!
Sports
Taking On the
Next Mountain
Author
Paragraph
Hoops Du Jour
This Year
Over; On to the Next
by Andrew Golding
SAN ANTONIO - At various times during the men's basketball season, junior center Robert Traylor declared the Wolverines were on their way to the NCAA Final Four, taking place this weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Well, many people are here, but the largess Traylor is not among them.
Living Culture: Music
Big Band Swing
Revival
by Chris Hayes
By now you should have heard about the craze in Swing and Big Band music. If you haven't seen the independent hit film Swingers, you are out of the loop. If you have never seen Swing Kids, you haven't had a girlfriend long enough to force you to watch it.
Living Culture: Film
Colorful
Politics
by Matt Buckley
Political campaigning creates conflict for Henry Burton (Adrian Lester) in Mike Nichol's screen adaptation of Joe Klein's Primary Colors. Burton is a smart politico who is tired of viewing victory in terms of forcing the other side to veto he wants to make real changes in policy right now. In short, he decides, he wants to win.
Living Culture: Film
A 16th
Century Call Girl
by Kristina
Curkovic
Dangerous Beauty chronicles the life of one of Venice's most famous courtesans, Veronica Franco, a reallife woman brought to life on the screen by Catherine McCormack (Braveheart), who portrays the 16th century call girl as a pioneer feminist, an intellectual, and a stunning charmer.