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.