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One hundredfive years ofeditorialfreedom
Friday
January 1.2, 1996
jg-
pr
Vol. CVI, No. 62 ... Nook
oliceIll
eturn blood
samples to
160 men
y Lenny Feller
DStaff Reporter
e blood samples of 160 African
American men, taken more than a
ear ago by police in connection with
he Ann Arbor serial rapist investiga-
ion, were transported to the city
attorney's office yesterday in prepa-
ration for their return.
A debate concerning the samples
ensued following the conviction of
Ervin D. Mitchell Jr. in June 1995.
i#hell is presently serving a life
sentence in prison.
Police obtained the samples during
the investigation from men who fit a
rough description of the rapist and
who were found within a certain geo-
graphic radius of a crime scene. The
names of some individuals who were
asked to provide blood samples were
phoned in to police by anonymous
sources.
ost of the samples were gathered
v ntarily, but a few were subpoe-
naed.
Following Mitchell's conviction,
some of the 160 men whose blood had
been taken asked for the return of the
samples.
Meanwhile, city and county offi-
cials, including Washtenaw County
Prosecutor Brian Mackie, opposed
the return of the blood, stating it
t give Mitchell grounds to ap-
"It's probably not the most compel-
ling argument in the world," Assis-
tant City Attorney Robert West con-
ceded.
Police had been holding the blood
samples for nearly a year when the
matter came to a head as 37-year-old
Brian Shelton brought suit to have his
sample returned to him.
Last month,Washtenaw Circuit
JIe Kurtis T. Wilder ruled that
Shelton's blood was to be returned,
and while the ruling applied only to
Shelton, officials decided to return all
160 samples.
West said he believes there was no
malice involved in the police
department's retention of the samples
following the Mitchell conviction.
He simply points to the burdens of
l ;e institutions and bureacracies.
"Uings don't always move as effi-
ciently in a big organization," West
said.
Yet many have criticized the
police's handling of the entire inves-
tigation, arguing that the police arbi-
trarily targeted African Americans and
the individuals whose blood was
taken.
West, however, defends the police
department and the manner in which
*rnducted the investigation. "In ret-
r pect, I don't know how to do it any
differently," West said.
"The police were trying to do their
best in difficult circumstances - but
people can also look at it in different
ways," he added.
Clinton optimistic
for balanced budget
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - President Clinton expressed new op-
timism yesterday that a balanced budget deal can be com-
pleted, and proposed that negotiators finish their work by
agreeing on overall numbers while putting off some thorny
policy issues until after the fall elections.
"We should get it done now, and I believe we will get it
done in the near future," Clinton said at a news conference.
"And we ought to resolve the policy issue we can resolve, and
put the ones we can't to the side."
Clinton spoke two days after top-level budget talks were
suspended, and one day after Republican leaders' pessimistic
words helped drive down sharply the stock and bond markets.
His hopeful forecast was quickly contradicted by House
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.), who accused Clinton of
trying again to use the topic of Medicare budget reductions
- the Democrats most potent weapon - against the GOP.
Gingrich said at a news conference in Seattle that Clinton
was playing a "political game" by referring to the GOP's
proposals to reduce the projected growth of Medicare spend-
ing as "cuts," when in fact the amounts would actually
increase steadily.
"I don't think the President moved the negotiations a step
toward a balanced budget today," said a clearly angry
Gingrich.
Clinton said he received a "pretty good response" when he
talked to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R.-Kan.) about
the negotiations earlier in the day. Dole, campaigning in
South Carolina for the GOP presidential nomination, said a
deal was "possible" but probably "doubtful."
Gingrich also indicated that he planned to try to pass a
series of temporary spending measures to keep the govern-
ment open until the election, before temporary spending
authority next runs out Jan. 26. And for the first time he said
he believed Congress had made a mistake in shutting down
the government during the budget fight.
Amid these contradictory signs about the outlook for a
deal, the U.S. stock and bond markets stabilized yesterday
after two days of sharp declines, though analysts said nothing
on the political front appeared to move investors. The Dow
industrial average rose 32.16 points to 5,065.10.
In a 50-minute formal news conference, his first in five
months, Clinton said administration and congressional nego-
tiators were "not that far apart" on dollar figures. Indeed, he
said, after five hours of face-to-face talks."we are probably
warring over less than 2 percent now."
And he suggested that while policy issues were the major
hurdle, some could be deferred in the interest of quickly
producing the balanced budget that has been the heart of the
year's national policy debates.
GOP prepares
plan to prevent
next shutdown
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Facing the
distinct possibility budget talks with
President Clinton will collapse, Re-
publicans in Congress are develop-
ing a fallback strategy that would
salvage some of their plans to limit
the size and scope of go verment -
but without forcing another govern-
ment shutdown after stopgap fund-
ing expires Jan. 26.
The approach they are consider-
ing would finance the government
piece by piece, resurrecting the pro-
grams they like and presenting Presi-
dent Clinton with a series of nar-
rowly targeted funding measures that
he might find politically risky to
veto.
"We will start picking and choos-
ing those programs which are im-
portant to the American people,
and we will fund them," said House
Appropriations Chairman Bob
Livingston (R-La.). "If it is not
important, it might never be
funded."
Even if it passes muster in the
House, however, the strategy
could stall in the Senate. Leading
Senate Republicans are reluctant
to sidestep the traditional budget
process, which funds the govern-
ment through 13 multi-faceted ap-
propriations bills rather than
through program-by-program
funding. Their reluctance to go
along could reopen big divisions
with more militant House Repub-
licans who are bent on disman-
tling the federal bureaucracy, not
just trimnming it.
AP PHOTO
Siteseeing
Serb soldiers show U.S. Army Lt. Marc Kassing their frontline territory on Bosnia's Mount Vis, 13 miles
south of Tuzia yesterday. President Clinton plans to visit the area this weekend. See story, Page 2.
Media pros criticize c ommunication dept changes
By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
Futurejournalists, planning to gradu-
ate from the University with a commu-
nication degree, may want to consider
choosing a different concentration,
media professionals say.
Robert H. Giles, editor and publisher
of The Detroit News, said he disagrees
with recent changes in the communica-
tion department. The LSA executive
committee approved a new curriculum
shortly before winter break, dropping,
all writing classes.
"I find it very upsetting that (the
University) doesn't recognize its own
tradition ofteaching journalism," Giles
said. "If I had.a resume froma student
who took communication courses, but
had no writing background, I wouldn't
be interested."
Curriculum eliminates writing classes
But communication studies chair
Vincent Price said the absence ofwrit-
ing courses should not affect students
who hope to pursue this type of ca-
reer.
"I think students who want to pursue
a career in journalism will be able to do
that in the program we outlined," he
said.
Price said the department now fo-
cuses on the study ofjournalism - the
context and effects ofthe media, as well
as their structure and processes. Most
of the classes fall into one of these four
categories.
Some specific areas of concentration
within the new department include
media economics and the interaction
between media and the government.
Classes also focus on topics such as
information gathering and media vio-
lence.
Price said the department will now
provide students with a liberal arts back-
ground in the mass media.
"There's a history of people estab-
lishing strong political careers in jour-
nalism without having journalism de-
grees," Price said. "We will give them
as good a general education in media
studies as we can."
Price said only 60 percent of entry-
level newsroom writers have formal
journalism degrees. "We have no inter-
est in thwarting students' professional
drive ... but that is not why we have a
curriculum," he said. "We are not here
to train students."
Jonathan Friendly, director of the
Masters Program in Journalism, said
some training - such as writing - is
necessary.
"I do not think all of an undergradu-
ate curriculum should be applied or
hands-on, but some of it has to be,"
Friendly said.
Don Kubit, a University communi-
cation lecturer and professional jour-
nalist of 12 years, said the way to
become a journalist is to "actually do
it.
"If you want to be a journalist, you
would not take this concentration," he
said. "It is a perfect curriculum for
students who want to continue to be
students."
Kubit said the curriculum may train
concentrators to perform research for a
See COMM, Page 2.
Information Sessons
The communication studies
:department has scheduled
two information sessions for
next week about their new
curriculum:
Thursday, Jan. 18, 4-5
p.m. in Modern Languages
Building Lecture, Room 1.
Tuesday, Jan.s 23, noon-
p.m.. in Modern Languages
Building, Room 2114.
Members of the
communication studies
department will answer
questions and outline the
new curriculum.
Ohio State signs Nike
contract worth $9.2M
Buckeyes hurdle 'U7' to make largest deal
Everyone's making a deal
By Jeff Eldridge
Daily Staff Reporter
Corporate America and college ath-
letics have made their biggest part-
ship ever.
Ohio State University has become
the most recent in a series of high-
profile national universities to sign a
multi-year contract with athletic shoe
giant Nike.
Ohio State's contract, which was
announced in December, will bring
$9.25 million to the university's ath-
letic department over five years and
Provide uniforms and shoes for ath-
s and staff, said Paul Krebs, Ohio
State's senior associate director of
athletics.
In fall 1994, the University of
Michigan signed a contract with Nike
worth $7.1 million over a seven-year
period. At the time, it was considered
Ohio, the Buckeyes dominate the state
of Ohio," Deitch said. "They don't
have a Michigan versus Michigan
State rivalry to contend with."
Bob DeCarolis, the senior director
of financial operations for the
University's Athletic Department,
said the differences in the two con-
tracts could be caused by the size of
the department.
"They have one of the largest par-
ticipation programs in the country,"
DeCarolis said.
Ohio State has 34 intercollegiate
teams and approximately 900 athletes,
compared with the University's 23
teams and 600 athletes.
DeCarolis said that most of the
money in these contracts goes to pro-
viding apparel and gear to athletes,
which makes the number of athletes a
crucial factor when determining the
vnaluep of a(contract.
Ohio State
$9.25 million
5 years
$1.85 million
34
900
Ohio State University, the nation's
largest undergraduate institution,
signed a contract with Nike, the
same company the University gets
its athletic equipment and
uniforms. Here's a comparison of
the two contracts.
Value
Duration
Value Per Year
Varsity teams
Athletes
Michigan
$7.1 million
7 years
$1.01 million
23
600
Harvard researchers find
'switch' that may aid sleep
WASHINGTON (AP) - A "slum-
ber switch" buried in the brain slips an
alert mind into deep and restful sleep,
according to Harvard researchers, who
believe the discovery may lead to drugs
to end insomnia.
In experiments with rats, brain re-
searchers found that during sleep most
of the nerve cells of the brain are turned
off by some signal sent out by a group
of cells in the hypothalamus.
By tracing the signals, the research-
ers found that a neuron group called the
ventrolateral preoptic area, or VLPO,
acts as a "slumber switch," said Dr.
Clifford Saper, chiefneurologist at Beth
Israel Hospital in Boston and a profes-
sor at Harvard Medical School.
"This little subgroup of cells essentially
turns outthe lights in the brain and lets it go
to sleep," Saper said. "It's like turning a
master switch. A slumber switch."
A report on the sleep research was
being published today in Science, the
journal of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
The discovery puts scientists on track
to find the specific natural chemicals
that cause the VLPO to command the
brain to sleep.
"To produce a natural sleep, you need
to turn on these cells," Saper said. If
drugs could be found to activate the
VLPO, he said, then normal sleep, at
last, could be prompted with pills that
have no hangover effects.
"Most sleeping pills produce a
drugged sleep," he said. "Basically, they
hit the brain with a hammer and turn
everything off."
The Buckeyes now have the largest university
deal with Nike, pushing Michigan to No. 2.
"Ohio state dominates the state of
Ohio. they don't have a Michigan
versus Michigan state rivalry .E.
State deal and our deal are basically
-Regent Laurence Deitch
(D-Bloomfield Hills)
letics. "I think the whole thing with
Acting on the Dream
M --'1 Monrbiu marks the celebration of-Mr i
the same," he saidi. Nike and NVCUok anU heUotnerJ snoe~
t 1