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CRIME -
LOCAL /STATE IThe Michigan Daily - F-riay, November 1999 -
Foner dean settles lawsuit for $105K
S
Former MSU
student's death
ruled accidental
The death of former Michigan
State University student Neftali
Valdez Greene Jr., was ruled acci-
dental by the Ingham County
Medical Examiner on Wednesday.
The young man was found dead in a
cooler in the basement of MSU'S
Wonders Residence Hall on Sept.
'22.
Greene, a native of Madison
Seights, Wis., had been an MSU stu-
dent of computer science between
January 1997 and May 1998 but did
not graduate. It is believed that he
was last seen Sept. 13.
Medical examiners said no sign of
foul play was discovered at the scene
of the incident. It was apparent, they
said; that Greene crawled into the
cooler on his own, and the door either
ut behind him or he shut it himself,
~Wsuming he could get out later.
Examiners also said Greene probably
suffocated within 90 minutes of
being locked in the cooler. Examiners
could not determine exactly when he
died.
"The most precise we are going to
get is he had been dead for a few
days," Ingham County Medical
Examiner Dean Sienko said.
Greene's body was found after hall
sidents complained of a strong odor
coming from the basement.
Bursley resident
assaulted in room
A female subject in Bursley
Residence Hall was fondled Tuesday
night in her room by an unidentified
male subject who entered her room,
Department of Public Safety reports
4ate.
The incident was listed as fourth-
degree sexual assault and the Sexual
Assault Prevention Awareness
Center was notified. DPS located
the suspect and is investigating the
incident.
Suspect looks for
'Rolling Stone'
A male subject was harassing and
1lling at people on the Diag outside
th'Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
on Tuesday morning, DPS reports
state. The man said his name was
"Scott" and that he was looking for
"Mick Jagger."
The man was issued a citation for
public intoxication.
Closet door falls
*n male subject
A male resident of South Quad
Residence Hall was transported to
University Hospitals on Wednesday
afternoon for treatment of dizziness
and severe neck pain, DPS reports
state. The victim's roommate report-
ed that a closet door had fallen on
the subject two days before contact-
ing DPS.
ubject takes 'U'
ar fork week
A University vehicle was reported
missing from the Madelon Pound
House on Wednesday morning, DPS
reports state. The woman in charge
dfahe department said the vehicle
had been filled up twice with gas at
University Transportation Systems
ince Oct. 28, when it was last seen.
PS located the vehicle on
richard Kennedey Drive on
}Wednesday afternoon and questioned
a suspect. An investigation is ongo-
ing, according to DPS reports.
Domestic assault
suspect escapes
The Ann Arbor Police Department
and DPS used vehicles to cordon off
a section of the an area near
ishtenaw and Hill streets and
Geddes Avenue and Oxford Road in
s6arch of a male suspect in a domes-
tic assault early Thursday morning,
DPS reports state.
The suspect was last seen near
fraternity houses in the area.
-Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Dave Enders.
By Jeremy W. Peters
Daily Staff Reporter
After filing a lawsuit in 1997 against the
University Medical School claiming it discriminat-
ed against him, former Assistant Medical School
Dean Thomas Landefeld said he harbors no ill feel-
ings toward the University.
Landefeld settled with the University on Oct. 18
for $105,000.
Although Landefeld said the terms of the settle-
ment limit what he can say regarding the case, he
did reveal some of his personal feelings about it,
which he said did not provide the basis for his case.
"It was never about that. In fact, U of M was an
excellent place for me as a researcher," Landefeld
said, who currently is the associate dean for faculty
affairs and scholarly activities at California State
University at Dominguez Hills.
But his claim stated that the Medical School fos-
tered a racist environment.
"We are pleased that the case is resolved,"
University Deputy General Counsel Liz Barry said,
adding that she cannot not comment on "personnel
matters."
The terms of the settlement stipulated that the
University's payment to Landefeld is not to be
taken as an admission of liability. In fact, the set-
tlement states that the University "specifically
(denies) any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever."
Landefeld claims that the University began
treating him unfairly after he publicly spoke out
against what he perceived to be a racist environ-
ment.
In 1993, he wrote a letter to the pharmacology
department chair claiming one of the professors
was racist. That year, he also testified in a dis-
crimination case brought against the University
by a former medical student.4
After he made these accusations, Landefeld
claimed the University began to discriminate
against him by not giving him standard salary
increases, removing him from his administrative
position, not allowing him effectively to recruit
minority students and refusing him a one-year
leave of absence.
But Landefeld was not the first to bring attention
to a possible discriminatory environment in the
Medical School.
In 1996, a study conducted by the independent,
Washington, D.C.-based firm Nichols and
Associates revealed that women and minority stu-
dents found the Medical School to be an uncom-
fortable and unwelcoming environment.
Current Medical School Dean Allen Lichter said
the Medical School is now taking steps to make
women and minorities feel more welcome.
"We take the results of the study very seriously.
We believe we have an obligation to make the
Medical School an environment where everyone
feels nurtured." he said.
In light of the study. Lichter said he and his staff
are "aggressively taking steps. to improx e condi-
tions and are "determined to change the culture
inside the Medical School."
Though Lichter admitted there is still much
room for progress, he emphasized that, "there is a
lot being done."
Lichter did not comment directly on Landefeld's
case.
As for Landefeld, he said he is still committed to
creating an educational atmosphere more receptive
to minority needs.
Citing his efforts to advance minority student
progress such as chairing the diversity committee
for Sigma Xi, an international honor society for
scientific and engineering research, Landefeld said,
"One can only be truly successful in this area ... if
one is totally committed to the cause of improving
conditions for under-represented minority stu-
dents."
Remembering EgyptAir flight 990
Film students interview
award-winning
TV writer
KIMITSU YOGACHI/Daily
Muslim students say a prayer for the victims of EgyptAir flight 990 at a vigil
held last night on the Diag.
Students getrady
fo r psar 1 e n ts'1eeen
By Caitlin Nish
Daily StaffReporter
Emmy award-winning writer David
Pollock was able to use all of his
material without anyone cutting his
lines during an interview directed
yesterday by two film and video stud-
ies 402 students.
Pollock, who has written for such
hit television sitcoms as All in the
Family, Cheers, Frasier, MASH and
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and fea-
ture films such as Bad Boys and Toy
Story, was in front of the camera yes-
terday when LSA seniors Judy
Woloshen and Kat Vincent directed
an interview with Pollock as part of a
class assignment.
"This project was for our televi-
sion studies class. We had to do an
interview, so our teacher brought in
different people from the industry.
Our jobs are to produce it,"
Woloshen said.
Film and video studies Prof. Jim
Burnstein, the coordinator of the
University's screenwriting program,
interviewed Pollock who is on cam-
pus to speak to a dramatic writing
class.
"We have started a TV writing
class. We try, and this is unique to our
program, to use real writers as teach-
ers. David's son was a student of
mine," Burnstein said. "When I met
Tim, I realized that (David and I) were
represented by the same agency,
Paradigm, in (Los Angeles). That's
how I got to know him. David has a
major history of TV and sitcom writ-
ing."
During his taped interview, Pollock
said that as a student at San Francisco
State University, he had no idea he
would end up writing.
"I was attracted to TV and come-
dy, but it wasn't really clear at that
By Jodie Kaufman
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor restaurants may get a lit-
tle crowded this weekend when more
than 4,000 parents of University stu-
dents descend on the campus the annu-
al parent's weekend.
Planned by the Student Alumni
Council, 2,226 families from across
the country and Canada, Puerto Rico
and England, are expected to partici-
pate in the weekend's festivities
which kick off today at 12 p.m. in the
Founder's Room of the Alumni
Center.
"This gives parents an opportunity
to see what students do on campus,
some of the things that go on at the
University," said event co-coordinator
Tracie Heyman, a Business senior.
Ken Blochowski, director of student
programming for the Alumni
Association said, "the weekend intro-
duces parents to the traditions, bene-
fits and the environment that their sons
and daughters have chosen to attend so
they get a chance to feel as much a part
of the Michigan family as their chil-
dren do, because they really are."
Tonight at 6, psychology Prof.
Lisa Damour plans to give a lecture
titled "Teaching College Students to
Think Like College Students," in
East Hall.
"We try to get a great speaker every
year, and Damour is thought to be a
great speaker. She isn't the typical pro-
fessor either - she is relatively young
and a woman. We wanted something
out of the norm and interesting,"
Heyman said.
Tomorrow many parents will head
to Michigan Stadium for the
Michigan vs. Northwestern football
game. Some students said they are
looking forward to sharing the game
with their parents.
"I want my parents to experience a
true Michigan football game," LSA
first-year student David Strauss said.
"I am so excited, my mom has never
seen a college football game, and she
has tickets. I just want to share the
experience of being there with her,"
said LSA first-year student Sunil
Venugopal, whose parents will visit
from Cleveland this weekend.
Following the game many parents
and students are opting for the Bill
Mayer performance at Hill
Auditorium. Mayer is scheduled to
perform both stand-up comedy and a
mock version of his hit television show
Politically Incorrect.
"People are really going to enjoy it,"
Blochowski said.
"It is unusual to find entertainment
to appeal to a wide range of genera-
tions. We are fortunate to have found
Mayer this year -he obviously fit the
bill - tickets sold out in seconds,"
Blochowski added.
"Usually we would promote the
event to the University community at
large, but this year we couldn't,"
Blochowski said.
About half of visiting parents are
from Michigan and the rest hail from
other states.
Many in-state students said they do
not think the weekend is an event to be
excited about.
"My parents aren't coming, they
came up last week, and I see them
pretty often since I live close. It's no
big deal," said LSA first-year student
Jill Godleyski, a resident of Rochester
Hills, Mich.
"My parents come on campus
whenever, we shop here, we go to
games, even before I came here since I
live so close, it's no big deal since I see
them all the time," Kinesiology junior
Sharlina Rankin, a Ypsilanti resident
said.
But, most students said they cannot
wait to share their campus - and their
time - with their parents.
"I can't wait to see my parents, and
show them around campus, and have
them see me play (alto sax) in the
game," LSA first-year student Jeff
Talarek said.
"I am looking forward to seeing my
parents, because I haven't seen them in
awhile, and they'll come bearing gifts,
take me out to dinner and shopping at
the mall," Kiniesiology first-year stu-
dent Josh Shina said.
"I want my parents to meet my soror-
ity and see the college," LSA first-year
student Lindsay Cooperman said.
Strauss also said "I want my par-
ents to come up and experience the
Michigan weather - they live 1,500
miles away in Birmingham, Ala. -
and I haven't seen them since they
dropped me off welcome week."
"For screenwriters, pick a show you
like where you identify with the
characters and mimic it."
- David Pollock
Emmy award-winning screenwriter
point what I was going to do," he
said.
Pollock started his career as a page
for CBS studios, where he met his
partner, Elias Davis.
"We were exposed to a lot of come-
dy shows," Pollock said. Davis "had a
vague interest in that although he
assumed up to a few months before
graduation that he would become a
lawyer."
Davis did not attend law school
but instead paired up with Pollock.
Their first job was for a morning
radio show in Los Angeles for which
they wrote jokes and radio bits. In
April 1967, they moved to the Joey
Bishop Show, writing monologue
jokes that aired opposite the Johnny
Carson Show.
Moving from show to show, Pollock
and Davis wrote for comedians such as
Jack Benny and Steve Allen and later
entered into a very different arena of
entertainment - sitcoms.
Writing for shows such as All in the
Family and The Mary Tyler Moore
Show, Pollock said, "If you can hear
the character in your ear, get the voic-
es and rhythms down, it makes it a lot
easier."
After writing the first half hour of
the final episode of MASH and
Cheers, Pollock and Davis won an
Emmy Award for an episode of Frasier.
Pollock said award winning writers
have days that are no different from
other professionals.
"We come in and gossip, talk about
what's in the news, where we're going
to have lunch, who we're going to
have lunch with, anything to not have
to turn and face that blank page,'"
Pollock said.
After switching from TV to feat
ture films, Pollock wrote for Toy
Story 2, scheduled to be released at
the end of the month.
Pollock was one of three intervie-
wees to participate in 400-level film
and video studies productions.
"In this class, (students) learn to
direct and produce. I thought it would
be a good opportunity to have visitors
talk to classes and have an archive
tape and then have those turn into
class projects," said the class' profes-
sor Terry Sarris.
Three hundred-level film and video
studies students helped with the pro-
duction and acted as a studio audience:
"This is part of one of our assignments,
but also it is to get an insight onto how
an interview goes and how a studio
works," LSA senior Michelle Johnson
said.
Pollock has some advice for these
aspiring students.
"For screenwriters, write a screen-
play. Think up an idea and write it.
First take a class in it though," he said.
"For TV, pick a show that you like
where you identify with the charac-
ters and try to mimic it," he said.
htiwe tALLiND ALL
What's happening in Ann Arbor this weekend