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www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 118 ®2005 The Michigan Daily
'Uprof
files suit
for lifers
- Complaint says
seven prisoners were
unfairly denied parole
By Julia F. Homing
Daily Staff Reporter
A Law School professor and his stu-
dents issued a complaint last week to
defend the rights of prisoners serving
sentences in Wayne County prisons,
who they claim have been unfairly
denied parole because of changes to the
parole system after their sentencing.
Prof. Paul Reingold and two Law
School students filed a class-action law-
suit on behalf of seven plaintiffs who
are currently serving life sentences in
the Michigan Department of Correc-
tions. The complaint was filed against
members of the Michigan Parole Board
and Artina Hartman, the director of the
Michigan Department of Corrections.
According to the complaint, the
plaintiffs were given "parolable" life
sentences prior to 1992 - sentences
that judges gave while maintaining that
prisoners could reasonably hope for
parole. The complaint states that the
changes in the parole system in 1992
caused the Parole Board to end its con-
sideration of any prisoner serving a life
sentence for parole.
Declaring that this new policy was
instated after the sentencing of these
prisoners, the complaint classifies the
parole policy as a violation of the due
process clause of the 14th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Brian
Sullivan said judges in the 1970s and
1980s believed a parolable life-sentence
would offer more incentive for prisoner
rehabilitation than a sentence for a set
number of years. Since then, the Parole
Board has changed its interpretation of
a life sentence, Sullivan said.
"The Department of Corrections said
if you say 'life' you mean 'life,' and
that's more serious," he said. "The judg-
es sentenced (prisoners before 1992)
with an understanding that's no longer
correct," he added.
The complaint contains quotes from
several sentencing judges, including
one from Wayne County Circuit Judge
Robert Columbo that explicitly states
the conflict between his intent for
plaintiff Kenneth Foster-Bey and the
Parole Board's interpretation of Foster-
Bey's sentence.
"Mr. Kenneth Foster is serving a
sentence of life which the Parole Board
now treats as life, something this sen-
tencing judge never expected or intend-
ed to happen when he sentenced him in
1975," Columbo was quoted as saying in
the complaint.
All three plaintiffs named in the
complaint were convicted of second-
degree murder, and one was also con-
victed of felony firearm possession.
One of the plaintiffs, William Sleeper,
pleaded guilty to second-degree mur-
der when he was 17 years old. He has
been serving his parolable life sentence
since 1966.
See LAWSUIT, Page 3
Lecturers
press 'Uto
take action
LEO members may
protest at commencement
if negotiations stall
By Ekjyot Saini
Daily Staff Reporter
The Lecturers' Employee Organiza-
tion held a press conference in front of
the Fleming Administration Building
yesterday, outlining its plans for a pub-
lic relations campaign to put pressure on
the University to implement certain pro-
visions of their contract from last June.
These provisions include providing per-
formance evaluation criteria for lecturers
and the reclassification of lecturer titles.
Lecturers carried placards proclaim-
ing "Hobbesian State of Nature: For lec-
turers in philosophy life is brutish," "Van
Gogh was eccentric, laying off lecturers
is insane," and "See you at commence-
ment," targeting certain academic units
and indicating that they would be dem-
onstrating outside of graduation ceremo-
nies at the end of the month.
LEO President Bonnie Halloran
said the University should be targeting
departments and schools that have not
provided evaluation criteria for lecturers
- naming the philosophy department,
the School of Social Work and the School
of Art and Design.
Halloran also announced LEO's
scheduled public demonstrations to put
pressure on the University, hoping that
they will provide substantive responses.
LEO members will be demonstrating
today at the School of Art and Design
and by the philosophy department in
Angell Hall. Tomorrow they will present
LSA Dean Terry McDonald with a letter,
and a sit-in is scheduled for Monday at
the Office of the Provost as a final push
for progress.
"If we do not see any kind of improve-
ment, we will be at graduation getting our
message to the public," Halloran said.
Ian Robinson, a sociology lecturer
and member of LEO's implementation
committee, said graduation would be
the best venue for public demonstra-
tion because parents and alumni will
be present so they will be aware of the
problems at the University.
The philosophy department has been a
sore point in LEO's contract implemen-
tation phase. Philosophy lecturer Claudia
Moscovici said she has been teaching
in the department for two years and
was scheduled for a major performance
review next year. But she said she was
terminated this year so that she would
not be rehired next year after successful
completion of the review, which would
entitle her to job security.
Moscovici said she was told she was
a good lecturer and that the department
wanted to rehire her but the department
did not want to provide her the job secu-
rity that she would be entitled to next
year. She said she was offered three
options to continue teaching - all of
which she said violated the LEO contract
- and instead was fired due to changes
in the department's structure.
See LEO, Page 7
SHUBRA OHRI/Daily
Rain, a lecturer's dog, watches as lecturers Ian Robinson, Bonnie Halloran and Kirsten Herold speak to the
press on behalf of LEO in front of the Fleming Administration Building yesterday afternoon.
Students complain about bus service
Buses have been overcrowded
due to the additional 400 students
placed on North Campus this year
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter
Some students are finding new ways to take advantage of
unlimited night and weekend minutes on their cell phones
- by making calls during their long waits at stops for the
Bursley-Baits buses. Many North Campus residents said
they feel inconvenienced by the North Campus bus system,
specifically at night and on the weekends.
"I usually just end up walking," said Engineering sopho-
more Nathan Lehnan. "It takes me less than 20 minutes to
get from C.C. Little to Bursley."
The distance between the two stops is about two and a
half miles.
LSA freshman Kate Beyer said she doesn't usually have
trouble getting on a bus during peak hours during the week,
but that she finds it inconvenient to catch a bus on weekends.
Beyer said she often has to wait about half an hour to get a
bus to Central Campus.
"The weekend is the worst," she said.
University Transportation representatives said they
have recognized the problem with the bus service at
night and on the weekends, and while they are currently
discussing hypothetical solutions, no changes have been
decided yet for the fall.
"We need a bit better bus service on the weekend,
and late at night," said Dave Miller, director of Univer-
sity Transportation.
University Housing spokesman Alan Levy said Housing
worked closely with transportation last year, and it plans to
work closely again this summer - to better accommodate
a North Campus community next year that is expected to be
about the same size as this year's.
"(University) Transportation has been very diligent in
tracking numbers and usage patterns this year in planning
for the fall," Levy said.
When the University accepted one of the largest fre'sh-
man classes in recent history last fall, University Housing
was forced to put an additional 400 students on North Cam-
pus, Levy said.
With the rapid increase of North Campus residents, work-
ing closely with University Housing, University Transporta-
tion implemented significant changes in the North Campus
bus schedules, Miller said.
The Bursley-Baits bus route went from being published as
running every 10 minutes to every five minutes.
"During peak hours it's often even faster than that," Mill-
er said, explaining that the University added two extra buses
to run during busy times in the morning and afternoon.
Transportation advertises that Bursley-Baits buses run
every five minutes from 7:40 a.m. to 5:35 p.m. on weekdays
and every 15 minutes outside these times on weekdays. An
additional bus route was also added for weekend service,
running from Baits to C.C. Little every 20 minutes. Despite
See BUSES, Page 3
AMY DRUMM/Daily
Students board the bus last Wednesday morning from Bursley Hall on
North Campus.
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Fair warns students about
dangers of unsafe oral sex
Groups at Safe Sex Fair freebies, including condoms, lubricants and infor-
.c lmational pamphlets.
distribute condoms, lubricants, The Stonewall Democrats - the Lesbian, Gay,
emergency contraception Bisexual and Transgender caucus of the Col-
lege Democrats - demonstrated the proper way
By Paul Blumer to safely put on condoms using penis models.
Daily Staff Reporter According to the table's hosts, the booth was a
popular stop for attendees because they wanted to
Many students were attracted to the sight of learn how to put on a condom with their mouths.
inflated condoms floating in the air and booths Students also lined up to take pictures with
proclaiming "safe oral sex" yesterday. The Uni- the seven-foot-tall vagina that was used at the V-
versity's first annual Safe Sex Fair - organized Day rally in February. LSA junior Mekale Jack-
by Students for Choice - was held on the Diag to son used his camera phone to take pictures of his
educate students about safe sexual practices. friend standing in the vagina.
"Our motto is 'Respect the Right, Reduce the "(The fair is) educational," Jackson said. "Peo-
Speaker says country's
unformed national identity
has stymied its development
By Michael Kan
Daily News Editor
While Ayesha Siddiqa is no doctor, she has
diagnosed the U.S-Pakistan relationship with
schizophrenia - which she says has tarnished
the international image of Pakistan.
Siddiqa, a security analyst for the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars and
an expert on Pakistan, was invited by the Paki-
stani Students' Association to lecture last night
on U.S. relations with Pakistan at the School of
Social Work.
PRA F~vntc Chair A7j'rt Kh-,ai d idn'
ship Pakistan has with the United States."
Contributing to this negative image are the
conflicting policies Pakistan and the United
States have toward each other, she said.
Siddiqa said Pakistan has often jockeyed
between progressive and militaristic policies,
creating inconsistency in government policy that
has left the nation in economic stagnation for
decades.
Although the geopolitical status quo plays a
role in fueling the negative image of Pakistan,
Siddiqa said the origins of Pakistan's tarnished
image lie in the underdeveloped identity of its
own people.
"Fifty-seven years has gone down the drain
due to this extremely problematic image," she
said.
When Pakistan became a nation after the 1947
"Fifty-seven years has
gone down the drain
due to this extremely
problematic image."
- Ayesha Siddiqa
Security analyst at the
Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars
"What's my sense of belonging and ownership?
I'm being constantly told that if you pursue this
line of argument you are acceptable, otherwise
vou aire nrot"
Event addresses Pakistani identity
i