By Christine Beamer

Daily Staff Reporter

March Madness may be a basketball term, but it also accurately describes the frenzy of elections that many of the most prominent cultural groups on campus conduct every March.

Now that the elections are over, the new officers will usher their groups into the next school year. Their goals vary, but they have some things in common.

The new leaders of La Voz Latina, a pan-Latino organization, and the United Asian American Organization are focused on political issues like the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and proposed changes to immigration laws. The Muslim Students' Association and the American Movement for Israel will focus on more educational outreach, informing the University community about worldwide issues relating to the cultures they represent. Nearly all of the new leaders plan to increasing networking with other campus groups, turning up the volume of their voices on campus.

Here is a look at the new leaders of some of these groups and their individual goals:

American Movement for Israel: Josh Berman, president

Josh Berman's passion for Israel is evident. He spent a year in the Jewish state between high school and college, and the experience opened his eyes to the culture Israel shares with the Western world.

He was elected chair of AMI earlier this month and his term began immediately.

the end of the semester, Berman wants to create a more friendly community in AMI and do more outreach to help educate the University community about the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the fall.

Because of the large Jewish and Arab population on campus, one of Berman's goals is to provide a model for coexistence.

"There's a huge potential here to try to make things right (between Arabs and Israelis)," he said.

Berman's goals also include setting up a study abroad program in Israel sponsored by the University, which many students have worked toward in the past without success.

La Voz: Co-chairs Xavier Segura and Jenn Ortiz

Xavier Segura is filled with enthusiasm when inviting newcomers to La Voz. Segura, now a sophomore, has been involved in the group since his freshman year.

The group elected co-chairs Segura and Jenn Ortiz as their new leaders in mid-March.

In Segura's opinion, the most pressing issues for the fall are political - MCRI and House Resolution 4437, a bill which would increase enforcement of immigration laws, raising the penalty for illegal immigrants and those who give them aid. Though many of the United States' undocumented workers are from Latin America, Segura wants to educate the rest of the University community about how the bills would adversely affect many different ethnic groups. He hopes to work with the Michigan Student Assembly's Minority Affairs Commission and the LSA-Student Government Multicultural Affairs Task Force.

Muslim Students' Association: President, Nura Sediqe

Nura Sediqe had such an interest in being part of the Muslim Students' Association that she e-mailed members about joining it even before she came to campus. At orientation, she socialized with current members.

Three years after her enthusiastic beginning, she has been elected president of the group. Her term officially starts at the beginning of spring semester, but she is already planning for the fall. Sediqe's main goal is to establish stronger ties with other religious and cultural groups on campus.

"If we work together, unified, it can only help strengthen causes we work on together," she said.

A long-term goal for the group is to establish a Muslim center on campus - run in the same fashion as Hillel - with a prayer room and meeting area.

Sediqe also wants to expand the group's outreach to Muslims in Detroit, because she said blacks make up a large portion of the American Muslim community.

The group provides two merit scholarships a year to underprivileged Muslim students, and Sediqe said she will find other ways to help students who lack the resources to attend college.

Finally, Sediqe said she will break down stereotypes by making the campus more aware of Muslim beliefs and how they fit into current events like the conflict in Darfur.

"There are a lot of misunderstandings that occur," she said. "The only way to dispel that is through interaction and education."

Native American Student Association: Co-chairs Brooke Simon and Ron Willis

Brooke Simon wants to make the Native American community on campus more welcoming.

Simon originally became involved in the group because she wanted to do a minor in Native American Studies and became interested in NASA.