Out-going University of Iowa president Mary Sue Coleman says she just couldn’t pass up the chance to lead the University of Michigan. Coleman told reporters in Iowa City today that the state’s budget woes had nothing to do with her exit. She says the budget problems are hard, and will continue to be hard, but she says the state will get through them. Coleman says it’s not as if she’s escaping from the trauma of budget cutting.Coleman says Michigan has a budget gap, too, and she’s not sure how it’ll be solved. Coleman’s final actions in Iowa City will be to pare down the University of Iowa’s budget plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1st. She won’t leave Iowa until August and will continuing working on the 2003 budget.Coleman’s new employer is embroiled in a lawsuit over admissions. Critics charge the university unfairly uses “affirmative action” to admit more blacks and minorities. Coleman says that lawsuit is one of the attractive things about the new job as the University of Michigan’s lawsuit will decide affirmation action policies at colleges and universities in the future.
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