As the boycott against The Michigan Daily enters its second week today, various student groups on campus have joined the boycott that began last Tuesday because of alleged misrepresentation of minorities at the publication and to show solidarity with other student groups on campus, members of the student groups involved in the boycott said.

"The Michigan Daily has become a publication that manifests the institutional racism and ignorance that plague communities of color, and threatens the progress of the campus community at large," the petition wrote.

The petition's grievances against the Daily include culturally insensitive comments, a lack of coverage of minority events, the frequent misspelling of minority student names and an uncomfortable working environment for minority students, among other things.

"If they truly believe they are being misrepresented, whether or not I believe it is true, doesn't matter," Daily Editor in Chief Jon Schwartz said. "We are taking these issues very seriously."

Representatives for groups that initially signed the petition, including members of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Black Student Union did not return phone calls made by the Daily.

According to the petition, the student groups will end the boycott once the Daily assigns at least one reporter to each community within the larger minority student population, creates an advisory board to aid the Daily on multiethnic matters and implements cultural sensitivity training for all Daily staff members, along with several other requests.

Until these demands are met, members of the boycott have pledged not to "read, submit letters or viewpoints to, and respond to reporters' requests for comments."

But some minority students on campus say the petition is inaccurate and groups have joined the boycott without having the opportunity to hear both sides of the story.

"The Daily has helped get our name out. The Daily has been beneficial to our group by helping bring in members. I would personally like to say that these boycotts are blown out of proportion with one person's problem with his status at the Daily," said LSA junior Michael Sanders, an executive board member of Mixed Initiative.

Members of several groups who wrote the petition met with the leadership of the Daily last month addressing these issues, but said in the petition that their requests for a written statement on the Daily's commitment to diversity were ignored and in response, they organized the boycott.

"Student leaders from communities of color have brought forth these issues to the leadership of the Daily, requesting a written commitment to address these issues. However, the Daily has been unresponsive to these concerns and have ignored the requests," the petition wrote.

But Schwartz said the Daily has not ignored the petition's demands and that the meeting prompted the Daily to take action, including the composition of an internal mission statement.

"We have been attempting constant contact with these groups, but have been met with resistance," Schwartz said, adding he sent several e-mail to the leaders of the coalition Sunday night and received negative response.

LSA junior Lena Masri, a member of a minority student group which she did not wish to name, said she supports the boycott because of a lack of coverage of minority events and a predominantly non-minority staff.

"I think the Daily should encourage people in minority groups to join. One way that they can do that is by showing the minority groups that they are welcome by covering their events," Masri said.

While the University's chapter of discussed the issue Sunday night and tentatively agreed to support the boycott, a member of the group said.

Members of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality said at a meeting last night that one member of the group made a verbal agreement to support the boycott, and although other members disagree, they feel pressured not to back down on their decision.

"It is an unfortunate reality that now we're in it. We can't conditionally say we're in, we can't back out because it would be skeptical and further along the stereotypes of color," said one SOLE member at the meeting last night, adding SOLE is predominantly composed of non-minority students.

Other members of student groups who have joined the boycott said they were reluctant about it and they felt it was a waste of time.

"This boycott is making a non-issue a very divisive one.