NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 3
* ON CAMPUS
Visiting prof to
" talk on mysterious
'dark energy'
Saul Perlmutter, a physics professor
from the University of California at
Berkley, will serve as this year's lec-
turer in the sixth annual Ford Motor
Company Lecture in Physics. He will
discuss the mysterious "dark energy"
that he says is expanding our universe
and touch on other recent findings in
physics and astrophysics. The lecture
will take place today at 4:15 p.m. in
1324 East Hall. There will be a recep-
tion at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Expert to speak on
corporate behavior
Jennifer Howard-Grenville, a profes-
sor of organizational behavior at Bos-
ton University, will lecture today on
her research on the development of the
United Kingdom's National Industrial
Symbiosis Programme, an initiative to
improve industrial resource efficiency.
Howard-Grenville focuses her research
on organizational and institutional
change. She has a doctorate in technol-
ogy, management and policy from Mas-
sacusets Institute of Technology. The
lecture will be held today at 4 p.m. in
room 1040 of the Dana Building.
Hillel to host
screening of
'Colombian Love'
The film "Colombian Love" will be
shown today at 7 p.m. in Hillel's Green
Auditorium. The 2004 movie is the story
of three best friends trying to bridge the
gap between lust and love.
and marriage. Admission is free.
CRIME
NOTES
Two women fight
over parking spot
A woman accused another woman
of harassment after a verbal alterca-
tion regarding a parking spot at of 1170
W. Medical Dr. on Monday at about 11
a.m., the Department of Public Safety
reported.
Hubcap thief
strikes twice in
* Thompson lot
All the hubcaps were stolen from
two cars parked in the carport at 500
Thompson St. Monday sometime
between 3 and 5 p.m., DPS reported.
Police currently have no suspects.
Sleeping man
removed from
elevator
A homeless man was found asleep
in the elevator of a building on Church
Street Monday at about 10 a.m., DPS
reported. Officers issued the subject a
verbal warning and escorted him out of
the building.
THIs DAY
In Daily History
'U' researchers
construct part of
rocket launched
S into space
March 29, 1961 - A combined
effort by the University and the gov-
ernment's space programs success-
fully launched a rocket into space
Sunday. The rocket was intended to
measure the composition of the iono-
sphere. The three-stage Aerobee 300
rocket was fired from Wallops Island,
Va., one of the NASA's bases.
Researchers at the University
built the nose cone and 60 pounds
of atmospheric measurement equip-
ment that went up with the rocket.
The rocket soared to an altitude of
253 miles above sea level and sailed
nearly 200 miles across the Atlan-
tic Ocean. Larry Brace, an assistant
research physicist in the electrical
annnanrin Pnf artnmant cnirl the, rn(ni'
GM eliminates
hundreds of
white-collar jobs
Layoffs are the first
in a series of cutbacks
for salaried workers
DETROIT (AP) - General Motors
Corp. laid off several hundred white-c
collar workers yesterday as part of ai
plan to bring its ailing North Ameri-
can operations back to profitability. f
It was the first round of salariedI
cuts this year for the world's largest
automaker, which is struggling withI
sluggish sales, shrinking U.S. mar-r
ket share and high health and pensionc
costs that put it at a competitive disad-
vantage against Asian rivals.S
GM didn't give an exact figure bute
said fewer than 500 jobs were cuts
yesterday at 30 locations across thec
United States, including factories and
engineering centers. A cut of just lessI
than 500 jobs would represent aboutc
1.3 percent of GM's U.S. salaried work2
force of 36,000.
GM has said it - . 1
out, the greater the chance there is that
the most valued employees will walk
out the door on their own and GM
will have difficulties attracting new
employees."
Herta said GM's timeline for lay-
offs is based on the requirements to
run the business.
The size of GM's salaried work
force is similar to one of its key com-
petitors, Ford Motor Co., which has
around 35,000 salaried employees.
But Ford is in the midst of its own
restructuring, and Moore said GM
can't get complacent.
"They have to cut in every area pos-
sible," Moore said. "The number of
employees they have right now is still
substantially higher than what their
current market share will support."
GM said Monday that it expects its
U.S. market share will fall one per-
centage point in the first quarter to
24 percent, down from 32 percent a
decade ago. The auto-
maker also warned of
for GMI continuing losses as
it sells fewer vehicles
g 1 to rental car fleets and
relies less heavily on
ions a s discounts to sell vehi-
plans to cut 7 per- ltiS critc
cent of its salaried
work force this to get thr
year, or 2,500 jobs, the reduc
so more cuts are on
the way. quickly as
GM spokesman
Robert Herta said This has 1
the company hasn't
released a figure distraCtio
indicating how
much it will save employee
from the salaried Novembe
layoffs.
GM shares fell-
18 cents, to close Direc
at $22.75 on the restructuring m
New York Stock
Exchange after ris-
ing as high as $23.25 earlier in the day.
Detroit-based GM announced a
restructuring plan in November in the
face of mounting losses. Under the plan,
GM wants to cut 30,000 U.S. hourly
workers and close 12 facilities by 2008.
GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005, largely
because of increased competition and
rising costs in North America.
The layoffs are GM's second major
jobs-related announcement in a week.
GM said last Wednesday that it would
offer buyouts of between $35,000 and
$140,000 to its 113,000 U.S. hourly
workers. GM salaried workers aren't
eligible for those buyouts.
Chuck Moore, a director at the
Detroit restructuring management
firm Conway, MacKenzie and Dun-
leavy, said he was surprised GM didn't
lay off more workers yesterday.
"It's critical for GM to get through
the reductions as quickly as possible.
This has been a distraction to the
employees since November," Moore
said. "The longer this gets dragged
Young
blogger
forgoes
hearing
High schooler may get
20 years in prison on child
pornography charges
ALLEGAN (AP) - A southwestern
Michigan teenager has waived his prelim-
inary hearing on charges stemming from
the online posting of a sexually explicit
photo of two teens taken at a party.
The decision yesterday by Ryan Zyls-
tra, 17, who lives near Wayland, means his
case will be bound over for trial in Alle-
gan County Circuit Court.
The photo was posted on a blog. It
depicted a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-
old girl engaged in sexual activity at a
New Year's Eve party at Zylstra's home,
the prosecution has said.
Zylstra, who attends Wayland High
School, was arraigned March 6 in dis-
trict court on charges of producing child
sexually abusive material; using a com-
puter, computer program or computer
system to produce child sexually abu-
sive material; and distributing or pro-
moting the distribution of child sexually
abusive material.
If convicted on either of the first two
counts, Zylstra faces a prison sentence of
up to 20 years.
al
'o
ti
s possible.
been a
n to the
s since
,.
- Chuck Moore
tor at Conway, a
anagement firm
ces.
Dave Kepsel, an
engineering man-
ager who spent 26
1/2 years at GM, was
among those laid off
yesterday.
"I was told today
I no longer have a
job with GM," said
Kepsel, a 52-year-old
from Lake Orion.
Kepsel worked at the
GM Technical Cen-
Levin takes Abu Gliriab
scanda into daown hands
ter in the Detroit suburb of Warren, a
massive facility that employs 14,800
engineers, designers and others.
Kepsel said he wasn't surprised by
the layoffs and thought they might
have come sooner because of GM's
struggles.
"It's one of those things. It's part of
doing business. I don't have any hard
feelings," he said.
Kepsel drove away in a Chevrolet
Silverado, a company vehicle he'll be
allowed to keep for 30 days.
"At least they offered me that and
didn't make me walk home or take a
taxi," Kepsel said.
GM's severance packages for sala-
ried workers vary by position and
level of experience, but employees
generally receive one month of sever-
ance pay for each year of service at
the automaker up to a maximum of
15 months. They also will continue
to receive health benefits and will be
eligible for outplacement assistance
during that time, Herta said.
Frustrated by Congress's refusal to
investigate, Democratic senator sends
inquiries to soldiers
HAGERSTOWN (AP) - U.S. soldiers who worked at the
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq while detainees were being abused
there have received letters from U.S. Sen. Carl Levin asking
about the involvement of higher-ranking officials in authoriz-
ing harsh interrogation tactics, a lawyer for a convicted military
policeman said yesterday.
The letters from the Michigan senator follow Democrats' fail-
ure to persuade Congress to open an independent investigation
into allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.
military detention facilities. The letters were first reported yes-
terday by The Washington Post.
Levin is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
Former Army staff sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, a military
police reservist serving more than eight years in prison for abuse
at Abu Ghraib, got one of Levin's questionnaires several weeks
ago, said his civilian attorney, Gary Myers.
"I welcome it because I asked at the very outset of this for a
court of inquiry to bring disinterested fact-finders to bear upon
these questions," Myers said.
The Pentagon has already has done several of its own investi-
gations and has argued that another would be redundant.
Levin has said those reviews weren't thorough enough. At
a hearing in early February, he said the lack of accountability
above the level of 10 enlisted soldiers who have been convicted
in the Abu Ghraib scandal was "unacceptable."
Seven of the convicted soldiers were from the 372nd Military
Police Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Cresaptown,
Md.
In its report, The Washington Post said that Levin has direct-
ed Armed Services Committee staff members to send question-
naires to hundreds of soldiers, contractors and civilians who
worked at Abu Ghraib and at other U.S. military detention facili-
ties. The letters seek to assess where the tactics originated and
how they were applied - an approach the full committee has
not endorsed, the Post reported.
The first wave of letters was sent in recent weeks to
about 50 military intelligence soldiers and MPs who
were affiliated with Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and early
2004, the newspaper reported. Separate questionnaires
are being developed for people who worked at detention
facilities at Bagram, Afghanistan; Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba; and locations in Iraq, including at Qaim, where
an Iraqi general was killed during an interrogation in
November 2003.
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