'Elan Uni Weather Tonight: Mostly cloudy, low in the 20s. Tomorrow: Chance of flurries, high in the 40s. One hundred four years of editorial freedom Friday March 31, 1995 senate OKs closed university presidential searches By Ronnie Glassberg Daily Staff Reporter Public universities would be able to shut the doors on presidential searches under two bills passed yesterday by the state Senate. Senators rejected a proposal from the Senate Governance Operations Committee to keep marches closed until three finalists were picked. Instead, they approved, 18=13, a plan by Minority Floor Leader John Cherry. It would require only the final candidate's name to be made public. But the school's governing board could not vote to hire that person for 30 days after the name was made public. State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-South Lyon), who represents Ann Arbor, voted against both bills. "The public has the right to review the leader of an institution to which they provide funds," Smith said. "I think it's arguable that those candidates who have great confidence with their abilities will not fear the public scrutiny and the repercussions from their cur- rent institution." The two-bill package would exempt such searches from the state's open meetings and freedom of information laws under four con- ditions: The search committee is made up of at least one faculty member, one student, one alum, one university administrator, one mem- ber of the school's governing board and one person from the general public. 0 The number of governing board mem- bers on the search committee is not a quorum of the board. N Once a final candidate is chosen, the board's final vote cannot be made for 30 days. The deliberations and final decision must be made during an open meeting. In the past, university boards have avoided the open meetings law by appointing subcom- mittees to pick a president. But a Sept. 28. 1993 decision by the Michigan Supreme Court said that practice violates the law. The decision came in a lawsuit filed by The Ann Arbor News and the Detroit Free Press against the University's Board of Regents in the 1988 search that culminated in the selection of James J. Duderstadt as president. In its ruling, the high court said that if a university board gives even one member the power to pick a president, that person's work must be open to the public. State Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle Creek), chair of the Higher Education Appropria- tions Committee, sponsored the changes. "I don't think it's possible for any university in Michigan, as a result of Booth vs. University qf Michigan, to have a meaningful search," Schwarz said in an earlier interview. "I think the candidate pool would be significantly smaller and significantly less qualified." Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison expressed concerns over the changes made by Cherry's proposal. "I'm very hesitant to have as a part of the Open Meetings Act the state telling the Board of Regents how to organize its searches," See CLOSED, Page 2 Mitchell will stand tria n A2 rape case Members of the Michigan hockey team console each other 'M ier go ti iiow they mus By Tom Seeley advance past the sem Daily Hockey Writer their last three "final f PROVIDENCE, R.I. - It was a But while the battle between two of college hockey's yesterday's game wa heavyweights that didn't want to end. past, the contest its Itwas the nation'stop offense pitted other. iainst the nation's top defense. Michigan jumpe It was the last game of the year for 2-0 lead behind g the Michigan hockey team. Hilton and Matt H Yesterday, in the second-longest score again until Mi game in the history of college hockey, goal of the year kno Maine outlasted the Wolverines 4-3 at three with just o to advance to the finals of the NCAA remaining in the gar Tournament. The puck would Dan Shermerhorn's goal 28 sec- again until Shermr onds into the third overtime period sent handed shot slid u the Black Bears to their second final in goalie Marty Turco ree years and sent Michigan packing. 37 seconds later. The Wolverines have now failed to The game-winnin State rep. propC appropriations: y Zachary M. Raimi Profit said he m ally Staff Reporter amendment, when The battle over state higher edu- on the overall budge cation appropriations generated more cause it is more fair sparks this week when Rep. Kirk Profit the University's tuit (D-Ypsilanti Township) announced "We want to trea his plan to propose an amendment as the jewel that it is, that would increase the University's offer the University appropriation by 6 percent. zero to 3 percent mc Gov. John Engler had proposed a not recognize, in a . 3 percent increase in his budget for all that the University o *e state's 15 public universities, plus for the state and the extra increases for Grand Valley State try." University, Michigan State Univer- Profit also propo sity and Western Michigan Univer- increase for Eastern sity. versity. Marijuana advocates to p 13v Michella Lee Thnsonfnn Inli;- Ppt r after yesterday's 4-3 triple-overtime loss to Maine. e distance trohm By Frank C. Lee Daily Staff Reporter DNA testimony was the motivating factor that con- vinced a judge yesterday to order accused Ann Arbor serial rapist Ervin Dewain Mitchell Jr. to stand trial for one count of first-degree murder and four counts of first- degree criminal sexual conduct. At yesterday morning's preliminary examination, 15th District Court Judge Ann Mattson found there was probable cause for Mitchell,33,to be bound overfor trial, after hearing closing arguments from the prosecution and the defense regarding the admissibility and accuracy of DNA test results linking Mitchell to four of the assaults. Mitchell remained silent while his lawyer, Washtenaw County Assistant Public Defender David Lankford, en- tered a not guilty plea on all counts. The judge's decision concludes three full days of testimony from more than 20 witnesses, including statements from the three rape vic- tims and their families, law enforcement officials and medical personnel. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 4, and the trial is tentatively scheduled for July 10. Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Donald Shelton will preside over the trial for the rapes and murder. If convicted. Mitchell could receive several life sentences. Shelton will also hear another trial on Monday for a Dec. 24 assault and attemptedrobbery allegedly involving Mitchell. In his closing arguments, Lankford moved for a dis- missal, arguing that the DNA evidence is not as accurate as the prosecution would have the court believe, nor is it well established within the legal community. Mitchell's attorney attempted to discredit the DNA experts' testimony by criticizing the sample size of the general population used to determine the estimated prob- ability of a match. The lab compared certain genetic markers and the frequency with which they would appear in any given population of three different ethnic groups,- Caucasian, Black and Hispanic. Based on the frequencies, scientists can estimate the odds that DNA evidence came from a person other than the suspect. "DNA is, clearly, extremely complicated scientific information," Lankford said. "Regardless of how good faith they believe these estimates might be, these are, in fact, estimates. There is no real way of ascertaining whether or not those estimates are accurate." nifinals in each of our" appearances. end result of as similar to years elf was like none d out to an early oals from Kevin err but failed to ke Knuble's 38th tted the game up ver five minutes me. not find the net nerhorn's back- under Wolverine 45 minutes and ng play came sec- onds after a faceoff to Turco's right. Shermerhorn won the draw from Michigan's Mike Legg and sent the puck back to teammate Reg Cardinal. Shermerhorn then got behind Legg to the bottom of the faceoff circle where Cardinal was able to pass him the puck. From there, the Shermerhon skated in front of Turco and faked a forehand shot before sliding the backhander past the Wolverine netminder. Ironically, the game-winning play Maine used to finish Michigan's sea- son came out of the Wolverines' own repertoire. "It was getting to be a marathon out there," Maine coach Shawn Walsh said. "Heartbreak hill was there for See HOCKEY, Page 11 KRISTEN A. SCHAEFER/Dally Ervin Dewain Mitchell Jr. sits with his attorney In court yesterday as a judge orders him to stand trial. Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie coun- tered Lankford's argument by reminding the judge that the estimates were based on "extremely conservative" statis- tical methodology that would tend to exonerate rather than' incriminate a suspect. He also dismissed the fact that none of the victims could identify Mitchell. "What Mr. Mitchell is asking for is to be rewarded for the fact that he has so severely damaged his victims that they cannot identify him," Mackie said. "His best plans to beat witnesses to conceal his identityin case the witnesses should live, have failed him, because he left the best possible evidence at the scenes of crimes. He left the blueprint that matches Ervin Mitchell and nobody else on Earth." On Wednesday, scientists from the Michigan State Police Crime Lab testified that DNA evidence recovered from all four rape victims matched Mitchell's DNA pro- file. Blood and hair samples from Mitchell containing his DNA were fragmented into sections or probes by the lab See TRIAL, Page 7 uses 6% hike in for EMU, 'U' will propose the the House votes et next week, be- T and might keep tion down. it (the University) ," Profit said. "To y of Michigan a rease clearly does fair way, the role f Michigan plays rest of the coun- used a 6 percent n Michigan Uni- Walter Harrison, vice president for University relations, said he was pleased with Profit's proposal. "We think it's a great idea," he said. "The University has suffered from five years of sub-inflationary increases." Engler's press secretary, John Truscott, said the governor is "stick- ing with (his) proposal" for now but said "we'll wait and see what is pre- sented to us." He said Engler has not decided yet. Profit's amendment also was in- fluenced by the fallout from Rep. Morris Hood's (D-Detroit) amend- See STATE, Page 2 Judge bars on't ask, don't tell' dischargaes NEW YORK (AP)- For the first time, a federal judge declared uncon- stitutional the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military, barring the Pentagon yesterday from discharg- ing six homosexuals. U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson said the policy is "noth- ing short of Orwellian" because it equates sexual orientation with mis- conduct. "To presume from a person's sta- tus that he or she will commit undesir- able acts is an extreme measure," he wrote. "Hitler taught the world what could happen when the government began to target people not for what they had done but because of their status." Lawyers for the plaintiffs wel- -comed the ruling but cautioned that it annlie only to the six nennl in the romote cause tomorrow n"Thij Tivrz.,' csrc n hastalon a similar rolein I iLS1 .