8A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 8, 1999AR
------ NATION/WORLD
Multiple concussions can
cause damage to athletes
The last of summer fun
CHICAGO (AP)- Two or more significant
blows to the head while playing sports can
harm teen-agers' thinking abilities for years to
come, according to studies that suggest such
injuries are more serious than some coaches
and parents might think.
Nearly 63,000 high school athletes a year
suffer mild concussions, researchers
reported in the Journal of the American
Medical Association. Young athletes with
learning disorders appear to suffer even
worse long-term problems from multiple
concussions.
"This is a major public health issue that has
been given short shrift," said Michael Collins,
a neuropsychologist at Henry Ford Health
System in Detroit and a leader of one of the
studies. "And this is information parents
should know."
Most people still believe that a concussion
means getting knocked out, he said. But a con-
cussion is any alteration in mental function
after a blow to the head.
Signs or symptoms may be subtle - a
headache, dizziness, difficulty with balance
or memory, confusion or a personality
change.
One of the studies did not explore the effects
of concussions but only how often they
occurred in football, wrestling, soccer, basket-
ball, softball, baseball, field hockey and vol-
leyball at 235 high schools nationwide from
1995-96 through 1997-98.
There were 1,219 concussions - 63 per-
cent of them in football - and 99 students
suffered two or more, said researchers led by
John Powell, a professor of kinesiology and
an athletic trainer at Michigan State
University.
The researchers estimated that more than
62,800 concussions occur among high school
students nationwide annually in the sports they
studied.
It has long been known that multiple mild
concussions are more likely than a single
episode to lead to long-term problems, and
Collins tried to measure the difference in his
study.
His research involved 393 college football
players and found that about one in three
had suffered a concussion at some time in
the past and one in five had suffered two or
more.
Those who had suffered two or more were
significantly more likely to report continuing
problems with headaches, sleep and concen-
tration, and they scored significantly worse on
paper-and-pencil tests of the ability to learn
words, to think quickly and to handle complex
tasks.
A complex task in the real world would be
cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner, for exam-
ple.
Players who had learning disorders - 13.5
percent of the sample - fared even worse if
they had two or more concussions, suggesting
that the disorders make the brain especially
vulnerable to jarring injuries. About 12 percent
of all collegians have learning disorder
research has shown.
"If they have a learning disability, if they
have one concussion, you should be a lot more
cautious in returning them to game conditions
and practices after their first concussion," said
an expert not involved in the studies, Jeffrey
Barth, doctor and chief of medical psychology
and neuropsychology at the University of
Virginia.
He said the research on the prevalence of
concussions among high school students con-
firms previous work but is by far the largest
study, and it highlights a problem that "has
been kind of ignored over the years." Most
emphasis on managing concussion has been at
college and pro levels, he said.
Animal research suggests that the youthful
brain remains vulnerable after a first concus-
sion for a longer time than a mature brain
does, so a high school athlete may need a
much longer recovery time from a concussion
before returning to play than a college player
or a pro, Barth said.
A third article in the journal reported that
amateur soccer players scored lower on tests of
memory and planning than other amateur ath-
letes did, and that repeated blows to the head
may be the culprit.
While some research has implicated "head-
ing" the ball, Barth and other experts believe
the more likely explanation is the frequent col-
lisions between players and players' heads hit-
ting the ground or a goalpost.
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ea
AP PHOTO
Nine year-old Jose Rivera tries to catch 7 year-old Derek Henry in the Kern River in Bakersfield,
Calif. on Labor Day.
ma
Ford to pay $7.75M in se
CHICAGO (AP) - Ford Motor Co. agreed to pay
$7.75 million in damages yesterday to settle federal
charges of sexual and gender harassment against hun-
dreds of women at two Chicago-area plants.
It was the fourth-largest sexual-harassment settle-
ment in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission and follows final approval
in June of the record $34 million settlement involving
similar charges against Mitsubishi Motors
Manufacturing of America Inc.
The landmark Mitsubishi case involved similar
complaints of groping, crude comments and graffiti at
a plant in downstate Normal, Ill.
"This settlement demonstrates the EEOC's com-
mitment to eradicate harassment from the workplaces
of America," the commission's chair, Ida Castro, told
a news conference Tuesday.
The settlement calls for sensitivity training by out-
side consultants at Ford plants across the nation at a
cost estimated by the EEOC at $10 million. Ford said
it did not know what the cost would be.
Under the agreement, $7.5 million in damages
would be split among an estimated 700 to 900 women
who can show sexual harassment or gender discrimi-
nation at Ford plants in Chicago and suburban
Chicago Heights. The EEOC says the women were
groped and subjected to crude comments as well as
sexual graffiti.
How much each claimant receives will be decided
by a three-member independent board to be set up
under the settlement.
The board also will supervise efforts within the
plants to root out sexual harassment and gender dis-
crimination. It will consist of one member named by
the EEOC, one named by Ford and a chair appointed
by those members.
Under the settlement, more women are to get man-
agement positions and supervisors who see sexual
harassment but do nothing will be ineligible for pro-
motions and bonuses.
Seventeen women who have filed their own lawsuit
against Ford will not share in the damages. But
~ttement
$250,000 has been set aside for two women named i
the EEOC case but not part of the lawsuit. The EEO
did not sue Ford but instead negotiated a settleme
without going to court.
James Padilla, Ford group vice president for mianu
facturing, praised what he described as "a partnership
with the EEOC."
"This agreement further strengthens Ford's long-
standing policy of zero tolerance and will help rmve
us toward our goal of zero occurrence of harassi
of any kind at our facilities," he said.
The S7.75 million cost of the damages won't strain
the world's second-largest 4utomaker, which reported
operating earnings for the three months that ended i
June of $2.48 billion.
Alex Trotman, who retired in January as chair, pres-
ident and chief executive officer, received in 199
compensation of $14.9 million in salaries, bonuse
and dividends, options worth $4 million and $24.4
million in stock under a long-term executive incentivr
program.
Halo redesign could
commence this winter
HALO}
Continued from Page A
said the redesign of the halo will be
done in combination with plans for ren-
ovating the stadium press box and will
likely take place during the winter
semester.
The amount of negative publicity
regarding the halo was unexpected,
Bollinger said, but "I'm not surprised
by the depth that people care about this
space on campus."
One option that seems to be popular,
he said, is to remove the large blue let-
ters that ring the top of the stadium and
repaint the halo blue, as it was before
the expansion. But, Bollinger said, he
feels the halo should stay.
"I found the design imaginative and
celebratory;" Bollinger said. "I thought
it was very distinctive and a modest
design."
Kinesiology senior Corey Slutsky
said the halo distinguishes the Big
House from stadiums on other campus-
es.
"I think it adds to just a plain color;
he said. "It's definitely unique."
But LSA sophomore Dreg
Wesley said the bright yellow and blu
cheapen the stadium's image and he
would rather see a return to the struc-
ture's original color.
"It looks, too much like Legos," h
said. "The colors are not Michigan
colors. The letters are just cheesy.'
Exactly how the halo discussions wil
proceed has not been decided and
Bollinger said he may hold a pubtic
forum or publish design plans in news
papers. In asking for input, he sai@4
does not want to imply that any future
changes to campus buildings will be
contingent on public approval.
"I'm not interested in creating a publi
veto in university architecture, he said.-
The 1998 exnansion oroiect allevint.
ed the demand for student tickets an
allowed Michigan Stadium to reclain
the title of largest stadium in the tou-
try when 5,500 new seats
installed, bringing the totalstosI01
seats.
4 1
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I rLCTUREI
N T&I. rf
t rrW. QI
UAC
Continued from Page 1A
the personalities of our executive
board," he said.
Adair said the change in location is a
step in reaching another one of the
executive board's goals for UAC this
year. "We want to run it less like a busi-
-ness and more like a group of friends,"
Adair said.
The move toward spending less on its
own members is also evident in the
executive board's decision to hold a pic-
nic or a barbecue for its annual transi-
tion meeting in April. Last year, UAC
paid for the executive board and the
general board to eat at the Ann Arbor
restaurant Palio, located on Main
Street, for the meeting.
Adair also said the new exeote
board will meet this weekend to discuss
whether UAC will continue to pay its
board members for their leadership
work for UAC.
Speaking for herself and Shah, Adair
said, "We don't feel comfortable with
the fact that we get a stipend."
Currently, University students inter=
ested in how UAC spends its moh y
must make an inquiry; the informa1
is not readily available to the pubi i
the form of documents. But Adair said
the executive board will work on mak-
ing UAC's budget more accessible tc
students.
UA C executive board to
reconsider paid posts K
I