Monday, February 12, 2007 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

NEWS BRIEFS
MUNICH
Gates to Putin: One
cold war is enough,
thank you
Pentagon chief Robert Gates
responded yesterday to Vladimir
Putin's assault on U.S. foreign
policy by saying "one Cold War is
enough" and that he would go to
Moscow to try to reduce tensions.
Gates also sought more allied help
in Afghanistan.
He delivered his first speech
as Pentagon chief at a security
conference in Germany and then
flew to Pakistan to discuss fears
of a renewed spring offensive by
Taliban fighters in neighboring
Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a close U.S. ally in the
fight against terrorism, has faced
charges that the Taliban mili-
tia stage attacks from Pakistan
against Afghan government troops
and NATO- and U.S.-led coalition
troops.
BAGHDAD
U.S. military:
Iranian leadership
is arming Shiite
militias
U.S. military officials yesterday
accused the highest levels of the
Iranian leadership of arming Shi-
ite militants in Iraq with sophis-
ticated armor-piercing roadside
bombs that have killed more than
170 American forces.
The military command in Bagh-
dad denied, however, that any
newly smuggled Iranian weapons
were behind the five U.S. military
helicopter crashes since Jan. 20 -
four that were shot out of the sky
by insurgent gunfire.
A fifth crash has tentatively
been blamed on mechanical fail-
ure. In the same period, two pri-
vate security company helicopters
also have crashed but the cause
was unclear.
LISBON, Portugal
Overturn of
Portugese abortion
ban fails at polls
Voters failed to overturn Por-
tugal's strict abortion law yes-
terday because of low turnout at
the polls, but the prime minister
nonetheless vowed to relax the
restriction through legislation in
the conservative Roman Catholic
country.
With nearly all the votes count-
ed, almost 60 percent of voters
approved the referendum allowing
women to opt for abortions up to
the 10th week of pregnancy, while
slightly more than 40 percent
opposed it.
However, under Portuguese law
more than 50 percent of the coun-
try's 8.9 million registered voters
must participate in a referendum to
make the ballot valid. The turnout
yesterday was 44 percent.
DETROIT
Tests examine
prospects for new
bridge over Detroit
River
Workers with the Michigan

Department of Transportation
are conducting tests to determine
whether the ground can bear the
weight of foundations for a new
bridge over the Detroit River.
The joint U.S.-Canadian
border crossing project is to
supplement the already busy
Ambassador Bridge and the
tunnel connecting Detroit and
Windsor, Ontario.
Last week, workers began drill-
ing 14 holes to go as deep as 1,700
feet near River Rouge's Zug Island
and between Fort Wayne and the
Mistersky power plant to exam-
ine the bedrock, spokesman Bill
Schreck said.
This part of the bridge project
is to cost $11.3 million, the Detroit
Free Press reported.
MDOT says the drilling is
expected to end by June.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
165,000
The number of eggs spilled on a
Virginia highway after the truck
transporting them crashed into
a guardrail Saturday, closing the
exit ramp for several hours, The
Associated Press reported.
A cleaning crew was finally able
to clean up the mess using 250
pounds of kitty litter to absorb the
yolk. The driver fled the scene and
0 officials have yet to find him.
"It looked like a large omelet,"
said Michael Karbonski of the Vir-
ginia Department of Transporta-
tion.

ACTING FOR AWARENESS

Obama: I take my
Christianity seriously

IOWA FALLS, Iowa (AP) -
Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama said yesterday he
does not think voters have a litmus
test on religion, whether evangelical
Christianity or his childhood years
in a largely Muslim country.
"If your name is Barack Hussein
Obama, you can expect it, some of
that. I think the majority of vot-
ers know that I'm a member of the
United Church of Christ, and that I
take my faith seriously," Obama said
in an interview with The Associated
Press.
"Ultimately what I think voters
will be looking for is not so much a
litmus test on faith as an assurance
that a candidate has a value sys-
tem and that is appreciative of the
role that religious faith can play in
helping shape people's lives," he
said.
In the interview, Obaina also said
his race might be a "novelty" this
early in the presidential contest,
sparred with the prime minister of
Australia over Iraq, and said he has
a higher burden of proof with voters
because of his relative inexperience.

Obama formally announced his
candidacy in Illinois on Saturday
and made a beeline for Iowa, site
of the first nominating contest next
Jan. 14.
Obama, who was born in Hawaii,
lived in mostly Muslim Indone-
sia with his mother and stepfather
from 1967 to 1971. He subsequently
returned to Hawaii to live with his
maternal grandparents.
He attends a Chicago church
with his wife and two young daugh-
ters. The 2008 presidential field also
includes Republican Mitt Romney, a
Mormon, and Sen. Sam Brownback
(R-Kan.), an evangelical Christian
who converted to Catholicism in
recent years.
Obama's leading rivals for the
Democratic nomination are far bet-
ter knownto voters, the U.S. senator
from Illinois said. He was elected in
2004.
"At least two of my fellow can-
didates have been campaigning
nationally for years," Obama said,
referring to New York Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton and former North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards. "They

have an infrastructure and name
recognition that are higher than
mine so there will probably be a
higher burden of proof for me."
New minorities reside in early
voting Iowa and New Hampshire
but Obama said his race - his moth-
er is white, his father is black - will
not play a determining role.
"I think that early on it may
spark some curiosity or a sense of
novelty, but I think very quickly
people will be judging me on the
merits. Do I have a message that
resonates with people's concerns
about health care and education,
jobs and terrorism?" he said. "And
if they do, then I think race won't
be a major factor."
At a press conference later in
Ames, Obama said he was proud
to have opposed the Iraq war from
the start while Clinton and others
authorized the U.S.-led invasion.
"I don't think there is a more sig-
nificant set of decisions than the
decision to go to war," Obama said.
"I think the war was a tragic mis-
take and it never should have been
authorized."

Imani Joy Sprague plays Rebecca, an anorexic teen, in the eating disorder awarene:
play "Just One More Pound" at the Rackham Amphetheater on Saturday.
For-profit university
faces new troubles

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By SAM DILLON cello, the university's new president,
The New York Times defended its academic quality and
said it met the needs of working stu-
ENIX - The University of dents who had been largely ignored
x became the nation's larg- by traditional colleges.
'ate university by delivering But complaintshave built through
ofits to investors and a solid, months of turmoil. The president
low-overhead, education to resigned, as did the chief executive
ver workers seeking college and other top officers at the Apollo
S. Group, the university's parent cor-
its reputation is fraying as poration. A federal court reinstated
ent educators, students and a lawsuit accusing the university of
f its own former administra- fraudulently obtaining hundreds of
y the relentless pressure for millions of dollars in financial aid.
profits, at a university that The university denies wrongdo-
ore federal student financial ing.
n any other, has eroded aca- Apollo stock fell so far that in
quality. November, CNBC featured Apollo
rdingto federal statistics and on one of its "Biggest Losers" seg-
ment audits, the university ments. The stock has since gained
sore on part-time instructors back some ground. In November,
1 but a few other postsecond- the Intel Corp. excluded the univer-
titutions, and its accelerated sity from its tuition reimbursement
ic schedule races students program, saying it lacked top-notch
h course work in about half accreditation.
e as traditional universities. It all adds up to a damaging turn-
iversity says that its gradua- around for an institution that rocket-
e, using the federal standard, ed frommakeshift origins here in1976
ercent, which is among the to become the nation's largest private
lowest, according to Depart- university, with 300,000 students on
f Education data. But the uni- campuses in 39 states and online. Its
has dozens of campuses, and fortunes are closely watched because
y, the rate is even lower. it is the giant of for-profit postsecond-
y students say they have had ary education; it received $1.8 billion
ting experiences at the uni- in federal student aid in2004-5.
before dropping out, contrib- "Wall Street has put them under
o thepoor graduation rate. In inordinate pressure to keep up the
interviews, current and for- profits, and my take on it is that they
idents in Arizona, California, succumbed to that," said David W.
do, Florida, Michigan, Penn- Breneman, dean of the Curry School
a, Texas and Washington of Education at the University of
udied at University of Phoe- Virginia. "They seem to have really
npuses there or in its online stumbled."
n complained of instructional In the interview, Pepicello
ts, unqualified professors shruggedoffthebadnews.Manytop
ruiting abuses. Many of their corporations still pay for employees
nts echoed similar experi- to attend the university, he said,
eported by thousands of other and the exodus of top officials has
ts on consumer Web sites. resulted from a healthy search for
n interview, William J. Pepi- new directions.
The
M 1('Review
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