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www.michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan N Vol. CXVII, No. 20
@2006 The Michigan Daily
NCAA
grad rates
up slightly
Michigan
baseball, men's
basketball teams
see dramatic jumps
By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Editor
According to data released
last week by the NCAA, the
University mirrored the overall
modest upward trend in athletic
graduation rates this year.
In the first of two sets of
this year's graduation success
rates, the study revealed the
rates of individual sports. The
second part, due to come out
later in October, will show
schools' overall rates.
The NCAA's overall six-
year graduation rate was 77
percent, a 1-percent increase
from last year's numbers.
"We are continuing to make
steady success,"NCAA Presi-
dent Myles Brand said. "The
trend lines are up in all areas."
The University saw marked
improvement in baseball and
men's basketball from last year.
Baseball jumped from 81 to 94
percent and basketball leaped
15 points from 60 to 75.
While men's sports
improved from last . year's
data, women's sports at the
University stayed relatively
the same. All were well above
the 80-percent goal set by
Brand two years ago.
While this year's rate still
falls short of Brand's aspira-
tions, he said he is confident
M that the numbers will reach
the 80-percent level within
three to five years.
"It's a stretch goal for us,"
Brand said. "We are encour-
aged, but I think we still can
go further. Good enough is
never good enough. I believe
we can stretch even further."
University Athletic Direc-
tor Bill Martin said he admires
Brand's goal, but he doesn't
believe it's feasible for some
schools. Martin said he would
like to see Brand set the goal
of a school's athletic graduation
rates matching its overall under-
graduate graduation rates.
During his tenure at Michi-
gan, Martin has decided to
focus on raising the level of ath-
letic graduation success rates to
the same as the undergraduate
rate, which is 86.9 percent.
"Our goal is always to get
to the same numbers that the
regular student population
has;" Athletic Department
spokesman Bruce Madej said.
"We always try to improve
and to mirror what the stu-
dent population is."
Even though Martin said
he is happy with Michigan's
percentages, he deemed
unfair the penalty the NCAA
applies to a school that loses
student athletes to transfer or
early graduation.
Of the athletes who stay at
Michigan for six years, Mar-
tin said, 91 to 92 percent leave
with a degree.
Martin said the NCAA
shouldn't penalize schools for
allowing student athletes to
pursue their dreams. Other stu-
dents aren't held to that standard
and are often celebrated when
they leave school early to chase
another opportunity, he said.
The study is based on ath-
letes who entered college
between 1996 and 1999.
PHoTOS BY ZACHARY MEISNER AND BEN SIMON/Daily
LEFT: Jordan Fennema and Allison Schneider, members of the College Republicans, canvass voters in Royal Oak on Saturday. RIGHT: Andy Levin,
who is running for the 13th District state Senate seat, talks with Hannah Fishman of the College Democrats.
Onthe campaign trail with
tp i,*
the Co e ...e e u 1'CanS De-ms
Groups battle for
control of key state
Senate seat
By Walter Nowinski and
Andrew Grossman
Daily Staff Reporters
OAKLAND COUNTY -
Most volunteers for state Senate
campaigns don't get a personal
greeting from a twelve-term U.S.
congressman.
The race for the 13th District
seat, though, isn't a standard
state Senate contest.
So when 11 carloads of College
Democrats from the University
arrived at the United Associa-
tion of Plumbers and Pipefitters
in Madison Heights, U.S. Rep.
Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak)
was standing in the rain to greet
them.
They came to campaign for
Levin's son, labor organizer and
attorney Andy Levin, who is in a
close race with former state Rep.
John Pappageorge for the 13th
District state Senate seat.
Winning this seat, which is
being vacated by term-limited
Republican Shirley Johnson,
is a crucial part of the Demo-
cratic effort to retake control of
the state Senate for the first time
since the early 1980s.
The 13th District spans the
tony Detroit suburbs of Troy,
Birmingham and Bloomfield
Hills and working-class commu-
nities like Clawson and Madison
Heights.
Like the rest of Michigan, it
has been hit hard by the auto
industry's recent struggles.
Troy-based auto parts suppli-
er Delphi Corp. recently laid
off thousands of white-collar
workers in an effort to emerge
from bankruptcy.
The 42 College Democrats
got a pep talk from both Levins
before they fanned out across
the district in leftover "Victory
2004" ponchos to campaign
door-to-door.
"While there is a possibility
that we won't take back the state
Senate even if I do win, Andy
Levin said, "there's no chance of
taking back the state Senate if I
don't win."
But the Republicans are deter-
See CAMPAIGN, page 7A
District 13
Northeast of Ann Arbor, District 13 comprises parts of
Oakland County.
'U' athletic graduation rates
WOMEN'S MN'S
100 - Softball 94 - Baseball
100 - Basketball 74 - Basketball
95 - CC/Track 82 - CC/Track
tochester Hills
100 - Tennis
88-Soccer
90 - Gymnastics
93 - Field hockey
71- Football
50 - Soccer
100 - Gymnastics
94 - Ice hockey
Bloomfield To
Hills,,
Bloomfiel
Bw irig a i laso
GRAPHIC BY BRIDGET O'DONNELL/Daily
West of A2, a haven for animals
Saved from
slaughterhouses,
animals live on
65-acre farm
By Alex Dziadosz
Daily Staff Reporter
MANCHESTER
TOWNSHIP - The Sanc-
tuary and Safe Haven for
Animals seems out of place
in this town known for its
massive community barbe-
cue, the annual "Famous
Chicken Broil."
The farm, which shel-
ters about 225 animals,
has become a mecca for
Midwestern vegans.
Pilgrims concerned
with animal rights - from
University volunteers to
activists from Indiana -
regularly visit this 65-acre
piece of land.
SASHA - named for
a rescued Border Collie
- houses mostly livestock
rescued from "unhappy
circumstances." Oftenthis
means slaughterhouses.
The husband-and-wife
team of Dorothy Davies
and Monte Jackson have
owned and run the farm
Justin Zatkoff, executive director of the Michigan Federation of College Republicans, said he
does not remember who gave him this black eye and other injuries on Sept. 23.
Alleged political hate
*crime not w hat it seemed
McKahla Breck, 10, pets a horse at the Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals on Saturday.
The farm houses about 225 animals saved from crueler fates.
By Drew Philp
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite a national whirl-
wind of speculation, politi-
cal finger-pointing and a
nasty black eye, police said
rumors surrounding the
assault of an Oakland Uni-
versity student who woke
up beaten and bruised in
Ann Arbor on the night of
Sept. 23 are false.
Ann Arbor police
said Justin Zatkoff, the
executive director of the
Michigan Federation of
College Republicans, was
not attacked by "liberal
thugs," as posted on the
conservative blog truth-
caucus.com.
Zatkoff's injuries includ-
ed a broken eye socket,
nose and nasal cavity. He
was admitted to the emer-
See CRIME, page 7A
since 1981, when they
moved from Westland
to escape the suburbs of
Detroit. In 2002, Davies
left her job as a librarian
and began to devote her-
self to rescuing animals
full-time.
Like many vegans, the
couple started as vegetar-
ians.
"We were thinking about
our health," Dorothy said.
As they learned more,
she said, they developed an
aversion to the way main-
stream food companies
treat animals.
"I thought, 'I can't be
part of that,"' she said.
"You don't realize when
you're a vegetarian that
you still support that.
When you drink milk,
you're supporting the veal
industry."
She said Boris - a wild
boar rescued from a hunt-
ing ground - illustrates
her point.
The lean, muscular ani-
mal stood out in a pen full
of gelatinous pigs whose
arthritic legs could barely
support their weight.
They are the products
of decades of corporate
genetic tweaking - fine-
See FARM, page 7A
A
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