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omorrow: Cloudy, chance
f snow, high 17'.
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One hundredfive years of editorr alfreedom
.Wednesday
January 31, 1996
v x "IMS MEN
A union
lans to
icket
udldings
Contract expires
tomorrow; talks
extended
y Anupama Reddy
aily Staff Reporter
Even though the contract between
:1 3raduate Employees Organization
n the University expires tomorrow,
he two sides reached an agreement this
veek to extend talks for two more weeks.
However, GEO members say picket-
ng days are here.
"We have scheduled a mock strike
omorrow," said GEO spokesperson
eter Church. "We would still perform
,ork, but create picket lines outside all
>ur classroom buildings. It will look
ike it would if it were a real strike."
embers have said that although they
on't want a strike, they want to illus-
rate their value to the University
hrough picketing.
Since Monday, a slew of fliers has
olored the floors of campus facilities
ncluding the Fishbowl, the Chemis-
ry atrium and North Campus Com-
ions, where GEO members were
landing them out to passing students
n n attempt to solicit signatures of
ort.
LSA senior Joel Gerring, who ab-
tained from signing the petition, voiced
is concern about CEO's motives.
"I have never heard of this group
until they wanted something from (un-
ergraduates)," Gerring said. "Some of
heir requests are legitimate, but I don't
agree with (their tactics of) rallying the
roops."
But LSA sophomore Charles Naaman
s hispast experiences with bad gradu-
ate student instructors has led him to
want more changes adopted.
"Some aren't prepared or
knowledgable," Naaman said. "Or you
can't understand them."
Biweekly bargaining sessions, usu-
ally lasting two to three hours, started
Oct. 31, but no contract has been signed
by the University and the union.
he University's chief negotiator,
Gamble, said the lack of agree-
ment results from the numerous pro-
posals GEO has brought to the table and
extensive University inter-departmen-
tal communication.
"We have asked them on several dif-
ferent occasions in different ways to
prioritize them," Gamble said. "But
everything to them is important."
GEO President Scott Dexter ex-
plained that the union spent a year de-
v ping its 37 proposals, and each one
wimportant in its own right.
"In a membership of 1,800 people,
it's not surprising that 37 proposals
came up," Dexter said.
'U'paid
prof. to
setlesuit
By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has paid communication Prof. Jonathan
Friendly an additional one-half of his annual salary as part of
an out-of-court settlement.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Michi-
gan Daily revealed that Friendly received a check in Decem-
ber for $37,500. It is not clear whether that payment is part
of a larger settlement.
Friendly, director of the master's program in journalism,
STEPHANIE GRACE LIM/Daily
Just doing our job
Ann Arbor Police Department officers arrest a man with an outstanding warrant on the steps of Hill Auditorium yesterday. The police refused
to release any information concerning the arrest.
Okia bombing hearings begi
Defense requests change of venue due to media coverage
sued the University in
July 1994 on two counts
stemming from allega-
tions he made about the
communication depart-
ment.
Friendly contended
that the University did
not renew his three-year
contract after he chal-
lenged the depart-
ment's use of Harry and
Helen F. Weber and
Howard R. Marsh en-
dowment funds, which
are used to defray the
costs of internships for
communication gradu-
ates. Friendly claimed
they were misused to
pay part of his salary.
The second count al-
leged that the Univer-
sity refused to renew
Friendly's contract,
violating the Whistle-
blower Protection Act,
a national law that pro-
tects an employee who
.reports information
about their employer to
a public body. Friendly
had reported his griev-
ance to Regent Philip
Power (D-Ann Arbor).
Circuit Court Judge
Kurtis Wilder decided
in October to dismiss
How It Began
The lawsuit
between
Friendly and
the University
began more
than a year
ago. Since
then, the
communication
department
has been
restructured. Friendi,
The Washington Post
OKLAHOMA CITY - In the cold pre-
dawn darkness yesterday, dozens of relatives
of those killed in the April 19 bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building here packed
the courthouse fora venue hearing and, in most
cases, got their first look at the men accused of
murdering their loved ones.
U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch of Den-
ver commenced four days of hearings today on
defense motions to have the trial of Timothv
McVeigh and Terry Nichols moved out of
Oklahoma. The defendants, charged with con-
spiring to blow up the Murrah building, main-
tain they cannot get a fair trial anywhere in the
state. The blast left 169 people dead.
In a day of mostly tedious-testimony, pros-
ecution witness Donald Vinson. a California-
based jury expert, said his polling and focus
groups indicated that Oklahomans are no more
predisposed against the defendants than resi-
dents of Albuquerque, Denver or Kansas City.
At least 60 percent of those surveyed in five
cities, including two in Oklahoma, said that
they could judge the men fairly, according to
Vinson.
"What we found is an intense feelings on the
part of Oklahomans that they had to get this
right," said Vinson, whose firm, Decision
Quest, advised the prosecution in the O.J.
Simpson trial. "They knew the world would be
watching them closely. ... If the individuals
were guilty, they wanted them punished. But
they don't want to convict the wrong people."
Oklahoma City has almost certainly been
eliminated as a trial site, and there are many
who believe Matsch will decide to hear the
case in his home town of Denver. While
Vinson's survey indicated that Denver might
be a slightly more desirable location for the
defendants than Tulsa and Lawton, Okla., the
government's choices, Vinson dismissed those
variations as statistically
Defense attorneys
spent several hours at-
tempting to discredit
Vinson's methodol-
ogy. The defense main-
tained that saturation
media coverage has
"demonized" the de-
fendants and that all of
Oklahoma was trauma-
tized by the blast. As a
result, it is impossible
to find 12 impartial ju-
rors in the entire state,
insignificant.
"if Iwas
for my lifewolntI
wouldn't b
laughing."
Wife of
according to the de-
called before a grand jury investigating the
blast, was the only member of his family to
attend, having driven 23 hours from Buffalo to
get here.
As they did at a hearing last month, Nichols
and McVeigh displayed markedly different
demeanors today. Nichols, dressed in a navy
suit jacket and light blue dress shirt over a
white turtle neck, appeared somber. By con-
trast, McVeigh, in khaki pants and a maroon
sport shirt, appeared relaxed, almostjocular as
he talked to his attor-
neys. His upbeat de-
fi hing meanor was a discom-
forting sight to many
Ssure of those who had lost a
relative or friend in the
is April 19 bombing and
had come here today
for their first glimpse
Sharon Medaris of the accused.
"If I was fighting for
bombing victim my life I sure wouldn't
be laughing," said an
indignant Sharon Medaris, who lost her hus-
band, in the explosion.
Doris Jones, who sat in court holding an 8x 10
portrait of her daughter, Carrie Lenz, who also
died, shared the sentiment. "It's tough," she said.
"He's the same age as my daughter and he's
sitting up there and looking happy-and she's
not." Jones then burst into tears.
July 19, 1994
Friendly files a complaint and
demands a trial.
The case is filed as Jonathan
Friendly vs. The University of
Michigan, Edie N. Goldenberg,
Ph.D. and L. Rowell Huesmann,
Ph.D.
Oct. 20, 1995
Judge Kurtis T. Wilder presents
his opinion on the University's
motion for summary disposition.
Wilder dismisses Count II, but
allows Count I to go to trial.
Dec. 15, 1995
The University writes a
settlement check to Jonathan
Friendly for $37,500.
the second count. Wilder said he did not consider Power a
public body.
Citing a Michigan Court of Appeals decision, Wilder
wrote that Friendly "reported only to his employer, the
University of Michigan, and not to a higher authority."
Wilder ordered that the first count go to trial, based on
months of pre-trial testimony.
"The disputed testimony concerning statements made by
(LSA Dean Edie) Goldenberg and (former communication
department acting chair L. Rowell) Huesmann, as well as the
timing and meaning of any such statements made, raises
issues of material fact ...," he wrote.
A few days after Wilder's decision, the two sides settled
out of court and Wilder dismissed the case. As part of the
settlement, both parties agreed not to disclose information
about the agreement.
A FOIA request for the entire settlement agreement was
See FRIENDLY, Page 2
fense.
Terry Nichols' family showed for the hear-
ing, standing and waving as he was brought
into court, already packed with reporters and
spectators who had lined up hours before the
courthouse opened to get seats. McVeigh's
younger sister Jennifer, who last August was
Yeltsin advis
ciks about R
envir'onment
By Laura Nelson and Chelyab
Daily Staff Reporter Cold War f
adviser to Russian President Boris nium, have
tsin said last night that radioactive radioactivity
pollution in Russia may be flowing to 1 billion
across the Arctic Ocean and coming The cities
toward America. slope makes
Alexey Yablokov, chairman of the In- on a global sc
teragency Commission on Environmen- the nuclear
tal Security and chairman of the Center plutonium as
for Russian Environmental Policy for the tional radioa
Russian Federation, lectured on "The seep into gro
Russian Environmental Threat to Other ing to the Ar
(ntries" at Rackham Amphitheatre. "In 40 ye
"One of the worst situations we have reach Amer
in Russia," Yablokov said, "is radioac- Another
tive pollution." facing Russi
He described the well-known submarines.I
Chernobyl accident as "the biggest tech- have been su
nological catastrophe in human history." west ofSibei
Rnt VahlcIm said there are manv other activity to 1 i
'r
Student wants 'U to
use new EPA program
ussian
brinsk - built during the
or the production of pluto-
particularly high levels of
y, ranging from 110 million
Curies.
' location on Russia's north
this radioactivity dangerous
ale. River water used to cool
reactors has already carried
s far as the Arctic Sea. Addi-
active material continues to
undwater, ultimately travel-
ctic Sea.
ars, all this pollution will
ica," Yablokov asserted.
radioactive waste problem
ia is the disposal of nuclear
Enough nuclear submarines
unk in the Kara Sea, north-
ria to raise the level of radio-
million Curies.
By Kate Glickman
Daily Staff Reporter
Already adopted by 120 universities
around the country, the Green Lights
Program would save the University hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars in energy
bills and reduce pollution, according to
the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA's money-saving program,
Green Lights, shows institutions, like
universities, how to change to the most
energy-effective lighting option. This
often requires switching to a new type
of florescent light.
The Green Lights Program reduced
lighting bills for University Housing
and University Hospitals this year by
30 to 60 percent.
But RC first-year student Basilia Yao
wants the program to expand to the rest
of campus, including classrooms, li-
braries and administrative buildings.
"I have met with various departments
and they said they're interested," Yao
said, "but the whole intricate bureau-
cratic business makes it difficult."
Yao presented her cause to the Michi-
have
met A
with j;v
various
depart-
ments and they
said they're
interested"
- Basilia Yao
First-year RC student
tal Health spokesperson Elizabeth Hall.
"We're always looking for ways to con-
serve."
Hall said the University meets many
ofthe requirements for the Green Lights
Program right now, "but five years ago
KRISTEN SCHAEFFER/Daily
Alexey Yablokov speaks yesterday at the Rackham Amphitheatre.
open since 1961. He said it would take
more than 100 years to process the fuel.
Besides problems with radioactive pol-
lution.Russiahasmany otherproblems that
government must do more than bale the
water out - it must plug the hole and
stop the pollution at its source.
"I am here," he said, "partly because
,