NEWS
Friday, September 15, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 7
FACEBOOK
Continued from page 1
"You know that you're not anon-
ymous on Facebook," Malavenda
said. "Ask yourself: Would you be
able to explain your profile to your
grandmother?"
While introducing Malavenda,
Assistant Athletic Director Mike
Stevenson said the presentation
was meant to be educational for
both student athletes and coaches
- not a reaction to a specific inci-
dent.
Stevenson stressed that the wel-
fare of student athletes was the
highest priority and the driving
force behind bringing Malavenda
to speak.
"I think it is urgent, Stevenson
said. "Students were putting up
personal information about them-
selves, female student athletes par-
ticularly, which was making them
very vulnerable."
Last February, two members of
the women's swimming and div-
ing team received harassing e-mail
messages. The e-mails' author told
them he wanted a wife to take back
to his home country with him, to
convert her to Islam and have many
children.
In the months following those
events, each team had a meet-
ing with its coancs to talk about
guidelines regarding Facebook
activity.
Unlike other athletic depart-
ments around the country - Chi-
cago's Loyola University, for one
- that have banned athletes from
being on sites like Facebook, the
University of Michigan has not.
. Last week's presentation was
mandatory for all student athletes,
coaches and administrators who
oversee athletic programs. Despite
its mandatory attendance, many
members of the football team were
absent.
Malavenda's presentation was
not the first time the athletic depart-
ment has gathered all the athletes
and coaches to educate them on
important issues.
Past presentations have included
lectures on gambling, hazing and
substance abuse.
While the presentation was lim-
ited to only student athletes and
campus leaders, Associate Athletic
Director Shari Acho thinks the
lessons from Malavenda's speech
could benefit the entire University.
"We wanted Pablo to speak to
the whole University," Acho said.
"But he was only able to come for
one evening."
Basketball player Brent Petway
- whose Facebook profile got him
in trouble last year when Michigan
State fans got ahold of his AIM
screen name - said he learned a
lot of important information from
the presentation.
"It was good to hear the dos and
don'ts of Facebook," Petway said.
"You really just have to be smart
about it. I know a lot more than I
used to. I really did learn the hard
way."
Now on his Facebook profile,
where his screen name used to be,
Petway has a message directed at
the Michigan State fans that pes-
tered him last year: "I got too many
hate ims from crazy state fans ...
get a hobby ... do something with
your lives."
Under a pseudonym, Petway also
has a MySpace page featuring origi-
nal music, but he takes care that the
music on the site is appropriate.
Even though their Facebook pro-
files may be safe, many athletes still
have their e-mail addresses avail-
able to the public through a simple
search on the University's online
directory at directory.umich.edu.
STAYING FOCUSED
Outbreak of E. coli
1
1
traced to spina
m Eight States affected case that could be linked to the
outbreak and warned consumers
by outbreak, including not to eat the produce.
Michigan FDA officials do not know the
source of the outbreak other than
WASHINGTON (AP) - An it appears to be linked to bagged
outbreak of E. coli in eight states fresh spinach. "We're advising
has left at least one person dead people not to eat it," said Dr. David
and 50 others sick, federal health Acheson of the Food and Drug
officials said Thursday in warn- Administration's Center for Food
ing consumers nationwide not to Safety and Applied Nutrition.
eat bagged fresh spinach. The outbreak has affected a
The death occurred in Wis- mix of ages, but most of the cases
consin, where 20 people were have involved women, Acheson
made ill, state officials said. The told reporters in a conference
outbreak has sickened others call. He had no further informa-
- eight of them seriously - in tion on the person who died.
Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, The five confirmed patients in
Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon Oregon were females who ranged
and Utah, according to federal in age from 8 to 62, said Dr. Bill
health officials. Keene, an epidemiologist with the
In California, state health offi- Oregon Department of Human
cials were investigating a possible Services. The cases originated
the michigan daily
734.996.2861
TESTGURU.COM
Rich Klarman's street cred:
- Perfect 180 on LSAT
- Michigan Law grad (3.85 gpa)
-Licensed attorney
- 14 years of teaching experience
Hundreds of delighted students
ch
between Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, he
said, and were linked to the spin-
ach but not to a specific brand.
"People have either varying or
no recollection of the brand they
purchased," Keene said.
In Michigan, two adults and
a child were sickened, a state
health official said. Connecticut
reported one case.
"We're telling people if they
have bagged produce and they
feel like it's a risk, throw it out,"
Michigan Department of Com-
munity Health spokesman T.J.
Bucholz said. "If they feel like
they have to eat it, wash it first in
warm water."
The Michigan victims are all
women - two adults and a child
- who live in Ingham, Lapeer
and Macomb counties, Bucholz
said.
N ECTO
Continued from page 1
If the permit is granted, Necto
will stay open until 4a.m. for spe-
cial events like holidays, theme
parties and school breaks.
Robinson said extending hours
would help Necto keep up with
nightclubs in Detroit and Pontiac.
"Right now, people are forced
to leave at 2:30 a.m. and go to
NYPD or sit in their cars or have
a designated driver," Robinson
said. "We give them water and a
place to relax and dance to help
sober up. We're doing everything
we can to keep people from drunk
driving."
Several students said they would
take advantage of longer hours at
bars and clubs.
"It'd be fun to hang out with
friends and a good chance to sober
up before going home," said LSA
junior Shilpin Mehta.
Business School junior Lauren
Scherrer said it makes sense to stay
open longer.
"When you're (leaving) a bar,
what do you do?" Scherrer said.
"You don't go home and go to
bed."
Business School junior Amy
Maniewski said extended hours are
beneficial - in some cases.
"I would stay," she said. "Just not
at Necto."
TUBE
Continued from page 1
in the grass on the Diag.
Cho first came ip with the idea
for a Michigan video clip site after
returning from a World Service
Team trip to Cambodia in the sum-
mer of 2004.
"I got the motivation for mak-
ing this site after collecting tons of
video from my service trip and not
having any means of sharing it,"
Cho said. "Video content like this
is very valuable to the school."
Membership to the site is free.
Cho is interested in collecting all
types of videos, from student life to
performances, projects and protests.
"I think this site could help
Michigan be a better integrated
community, as well as help students
discover a relationship that they
might not have noticed before,"
said Larry Mo, an engineering
junior. "I can't wait to see it."
Cho said he hopes to take the
project nationwide in the future.
Cho first came up with the idea
for a Michigan video clip site
after returning from a World
Service Team trip to Cambodia
in the summer of 2004.
SOCIALIST
Continued from page 1
the party, Erard will appear on the
ballot without party affiliation.
Just getting on the ballot was
tough for Erard. In order to quali-
fy, he needed 600 signatures from
residents of the 53rd district. He
gathered almost 1,000 signatures
to be sure he reached the thresh-
old.
Wearing a black shirt with an
American flag made up of bombs,
dollar signs and the words "United
My Ass" emblazoned across the
front, Erard laid out his plans to
fix Michigan's economy. His plan
is quite different from the visions
espoused by candidates from the
two major parties.
"I'm not particularly interested
in getting outside investments
from major corporations into
Michigan," Erard said. "When
corporations do invest in Michi-
gan from outside, or we have any
kind of foreign or outside invest-
ments, the reason is usually either
corporate welfare, lower labor
standards or wages (and) less
regulation."
Instead, Erard would push for a
public takeover of Michigan indus-
try.
"I'm in favor of socializing our
existing productive capacity and
making it accountable to the pub-
lic at large," he said.
In 1997, the same year Erard
became a socialist, he formed
his own online activist group,
the International Revolutionary
Truth and Freedom Association,
a now-defunct website devoted to
combating censorship. Five years
later, in 2001, Erard ran unop-
posed for the chairmanship of
the state party. He has led the 50-
member group ever since.
Now Erard balances his time
between being a full-time student
and a candidate for elected office.
Time constraints forced him to quit
his job working at a local Sears.
Erard's house, the Eugene V.
Debs co-op on East University
Avenue, is appropriately painted
red. An Erard campaign sign sits
in the yard. He plans to distrib-
ute the signs to supporters, along
with 2,000 campaign brochures. A
Facebook.com group titled "Matt
Erard for State Representative" has
41 members.
Ann Arbor voters are largely
Democratic, and both Erard and
Sheagren face an uphill battle.
Warren had $19,584 on hand,
according to documents filed
with the Secretary of State's
office on Sept. 7, 2006. Mean-
while, Erard obtained a waiver
exempting him from filing
reports so long as he raises no
more than $1,000. He has raised
about $800 so far, he said. Shea-
gren has also filed a waiver.
Erard blames his underdog posi-
tion on the two-party system, which
he believes is dominated by corpo-
rate interests and stifles debate.
"The two-party system in the
United States blocks out all other
partisan political voices," he said.
But it's not just the Democrats
and Republicans that Erard sees
as being too far to the right. Erard
said the more liberal Green Par-
ty's platform does not stray far
enough left either.
"While socialists support pretty
much everything the Greens do, we
want to take it substantially further,
beyond simply social reforms and
towards an actual revolutionary
transformation of society based on
public ownership and worker con-
trol," he said.
But Erard isn't counting himself
out.
"I think there really is a chance,"
he said. "The word about my cam-
paign is really spreading."
Erard said Ann Arbor voters
are becoming increasingly disil-
lusioned with what he calls the
Democratic Party's warmonger-
ing, attacks on social programs and
day-to-day politics.
If Erard does manage to upset
Warren and become the sole social-
ist in the state Legislature, working
with other legislators won't be his
first priority.
"My main purpose in running
for office is not to do organic work
in the state government," he said.
"It's to use the position as a pul-
pit to encourage participation and
formation of mass movements of
working people on the streets and
in the workplace."
Erard argues that this sort of
grassroots effort is crucial for
bringing socialism to the United
States.
"You're not going to get. social-
ism simply through the ballot box
without anything happening on
the street or in the workplaces," he
said.
- Amanda Markowitz contrib-
uted to this report.
Ohio congressman to plead
guilty in corruption probe
Bob Ney had ties
to disgraced lobbyist
Jack Abramoff
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep.
Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is expected to
plead guilty as early as today to
at least one criminal charge in an
election-year congressional cor-
ruption investigation, Republican
officials said last night.
Ney, whose ties with disgraced
lobbyist Jack Abramoff have long
been under scrutiny by prosecu-
tors, has consistently denied all
wrongdoing. He announced this
summer he would not seek re-
election, a step he took reluctantly
and at the prodding of party lead-
ers fearful of the loss of his seat.
The Republican officials who
described the legal developments
said they did not know whether
Ney intended to resign his seat
in the House. They spoke on con-
dition of anonymity because of
pending legal proceedings.
Calls to Ney's home and con-
gressional office were not imme-
diately returned. The Justice
Department declined to comment.
The Republican officials said
they were not certain whether
Ney intended to admit guilt to
more than one charge, or precisely
what offense would be involved in
any plea agreement. They said a
prison sentence was not out of the
question.
Two officials said Ney would
admit to having filed a false dis-
closure report with the House of
Representatives in connection
with a 2002 golfing trip to Scot-
land that Abramoff paid for.
Any guilty plea would almost
certainly renew public attention
on a Republican-heavy corruption
investigation that has unfolded
slowly in the months leading to
the midterm elections. Democrats
have long vowed to make ethics an
issue in the campaign.
Ney would become the first
member of Congress to plead
guilty in the probe. A second
lawmaker, Rep. William Jeffer-
son (D-La.), is at the center of a
separate investigation involving
alleged bribery. He has not been
charged and denies all wrongdo-
ing.
Word of the legal pleadings
came as Republicans in Ney's
sprawling eastern Ohio district
selected State Sen. Joy Padgett as
a replacement candidate for the
Nov. 7 ballot. She will run against
Democratic rival Zack Space for a
seat that Ney has held for a dozen
years - and insisted as recently
as this summer that he would not
voluntarily give up.
The scandal involving
Abramoff, once one of Washing-
ton's most powerful lobbyists,
stretches end-to-end down Penn-
sylvania Avenue, involving the
White House as well as Capitol
Hill.