ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, October 24, 2013
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Gratz may run in 2014 regent race Plantiff in 2003 SCOTUS case is waiting on ruling in Schuette suit By SAM GRINGLAS Daily Staff Reporter
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Firefighters look on as employees of DTE Energy clean up a car crash on State Street near Al Glick Field House Wednesday.
Car crash knocks out power Driver lost control of vehicle after ‘medical emergency’
in the area. Captain Jim Budd of the Ann Arbor Fire Department said the crash occurred around 3:30 p.m. Suffering from a “medical emergency,” the driver struck a fire hydrant near on the side of the street nearest to the Al Glick Field House, Budd said. The car then crossed the street, hitting a guard wire that was stabilizing a power pole in the area. It finally came to rest after hitting the house’s porch, knocking out a gas meter in the process. A util-
By ADAM RUBENFIRE Managing News Editor
A car crashed into a house at Granger Avenue and South State Street near the Al Glick Field House Wednesday afternoon, destroying part of the home’s porch and knocking out utilities
ity box full of wires near the also appeared to be damaged. Most of the vehicle’s airbags appeared to be deployed in the crash. The car was towed from the scene shortly before 5:30 p.m. Huron Valley Ambulance spokeswoman Joyce Williams said the victim was taken to University Hospital in unstable condition. No further details were available about why the driver lost control, due to privacy laws. DTE Energy crews were on
scene repairing the electrical lines and inspecting the gas main for damage. DTE spokeswoman Randi Berris said crews checked the broken meter, but found no gas leak. She said the house’s gas line had not activated. About 470 customers were affected as a result of the electric outage. Crews were still working at the scene as of 6:40 p.m., but power should be restored sometime Wednesday See CRASH, Page 3A
On the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month, anti-affirmative action activist Jennifer Gratz, who was the plaintiff in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case Gratz v. Bollinger, did not placate the buzz around her potential candidacy for the University’s Board of Regents. At an on-campus talk Tuesday, Gratz said she has not ruled out a run. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Gratz said after her remarks her decision will likely hinge on the Court’s decision in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the case for which Gratz traveled to the court earlier this month. Schuette v. Coalition challenges the state of Michigan’s
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
ANN ARBOR
School gov’t leaders get to work on goals Leaders working on branding, housing and syllabi database By WILL GREENBERG Daily Staff Reporter
The University’s student governments are looking to regroup and move forward this year as each school heads its own projects and increases cooperative efforts. LSA-SG WANTS TO MAKE DEGREE MORE ATTRACTIVE Initiatives for some of the larger organizations, such as LSA Student Government and Rackham Student Government, want to increase the student enjoyment at the University and improve prospects for the future. Sagar Lathia, president of LSA Student Government, said he’s hoping to use this year as
an opportunity to rebrand the University’s largest school. Lathia said many LSA students have been wary of their future job prospects compared to students from the more technical or specific programs. He wants to better inform underclassmen of the resources and opportunities within LSA, to help them see the long-term benefits of an LSA degree. “Hitting it on both fronts, I think, will comfort people in the sense that they’re already in the major that they love but knowing that they can do what they want and they have the support of LSA to get to their career goals is something that I think LSA students will really, really appreciate,” Lathia said. He added that LSA-SG plans to have alumni involved in the rebranding campaign as well, to give students real-life examples of their future options. Additional LSA-SG projects include reorganizing the budget to a rolling budget —which Lathia says should allow them to fund more student organizaSee GOALS, Page 3A
2006 ballot initiative, which banned the consideration of race and gender in college admissions. Though Gratz is neither plaintiff nor defendant in the case that’s currently before the court, she is no stranger to the affirmative action debate. In Gratz v. Bollinger, the high court ruled on the University’s use of affirmative action in undergraduate admissions. In the following years, Gratz played a key role in passing Proposal 2, Michigan’s 2006 affirmative action ban. With the state’s policy banning affirmative action again in the national spotlight, Gratz has reemerged as one of its main proponents. If the court determines that a state can’t make laws against race- or sex-based admissions and that a university’s governing body has the autonomous authority to determine affirmative action policy, Gratz said the only way to influence the issue would be from a seat on the Board of Regents. Conversely, if the court upholds the state constitutional See REGENT, Page 3A
Squatter complicates move-in for students Unapproved tenant kept six students from moving into house in Sept. By MAX RADWIN
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Marjorie Heins, founding director of the Free Expression Policy Project, delivers the Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom at Hutchins Hall Wednesday.
Civil rights lawyer lectures about academic freedom Heins reflects on ousting of three faculty accused of being communists By AMABEL KAROUB For the Daily
Civil liberties attorney Marjorie Heins spoke at the Senate Assembly’s 23rd Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Free-
dom at the Law School’s Honigman Auditorium Wednesday afternoon. Heins talked about her book, “Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge,” which describes U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have redefined academic freedom in recent years. Much of her lecture describing the history of academic freedom through discussing Supreme Court cases that
involve the topic. When defining academic freedom, Heins referred to the Supreme Court’s standard, which defines it as a university’s right to “determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it may be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” She said this definition is problematic because it does not protect freedom of speech for teachers, only the institution as See FREEDOM, Page 3A
Daily Staff Reporter
Moving into a house on campus can be a stressful process. But it’s even worse when you discover someone is already living there and refuses to leave. The tenants of an Elm Street house operated by Investor’s Property Management delayed moving in due to a “squatter” that refused to vacate the unit. The man living in the house had sublet the residence through the prior tenants without the approval of IPM. Details of the debacle weren’t available earlier this semester due to ongoing litigation. But now, the inconvenienced students and IPM officials are talking about the mishap. On Aug. 27, IPM notified the six University students who were See SQUATTER, Page 3A
the breakfast b-side A look at a local church that gives breakfast to poor.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIII, No. 17 ©2013 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A SPORTS......................5A
SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A B-SIDE ....................1B