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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Monday, November 16, 2009

michigandaily.com

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL
. What can be
done before
Ohio State

SPECIAL EP0RT: PATOLING CAMPUS POLICE
versight Cmte. may
be in violation of state law

MADISON -
A11 right - thank good-
ness that's over.
Now it's Michigan-
Ohio State week.
The Wolverines' second-
to-last game of the season has
always felt a little less important
than the others, knowing the
greatest week of the college
football
season --
is right
around the
corner. s,
It's not
hard to
sum up
Saturday's
debacle in COURTNEY
Madison, so RATKOWIAK
I'll do that
quickly.
After all, it sounds quite similar
to the other 14 losses I've cov-
ered over the past two years.
The back seven is so bad that
it doesn't give the offense a
chance. Tate Forcier maintained
after the game that he can't
blame the loss on the defense,
since it forced turnovers and
the offense couldn't capitalize.
Sorry, Tate, but you know two
defensive turnovers don't make
up for 45 points allowed.
But oh well - on to The
Game.
Last year, Buckeye Nation was
laughing at the 3-8 Wolverines
by the third quarter of the 42-7
blowout in Columbus. This year,
even with much more at stake -

bowl eligibility and credibility
- the thought of Michigan lin-
ing up against the Buckeyes on
Saturday is still just as cringe-
worthy as it was last November.
That's because at this point,
with (likely) just five days left in
the 2009 season, issues like the
talent level of the back seven are
unfixable.
But I still firmly believe Sat-
urday will prove to be Michigan
coach Rich Rodriguez's ultimate
test.
That's because in a game
where team chemistry means so
much, his ability to control the
controllable things this week
- off-the-field nonsense and
rivalry education - could very
well determine if the Wolverines
can keep it close on Saturday.
"You know, you want to ask
one thingl've learned?I've
learned that, probably being qui-
eter is being better. Coach Tressel
and I talked about that before the
game. Isaid, 'Tress, the quieterI
am, the less drama I have to deal
with."'
- Rodriguez, talking about
off-the-field issues after last
year's Ohio State game
But it seems like he hasn't
learned that - or, at least, he
can't make his players do the
same. For the second straight
year, the Wolverines are finding
themselves addressing off-the-
See RATKOWIAK, Page 8A

Concerns about
elections, meetings
and representation
abound for cmte.
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporter
The Department of Public
Safety Oversight Committee was
created to hold the campus police
accountable.
But widespread negligence of

internal policies and of the state
laws from which those policies are
derived raises important questions
about how well the body is fulfill-
ing its role.
The Michigan state legislature
gave four-year public universities
the right to form their own cam-
pus police forces in 1990. The act
granted campus police the same
authority as state police but just
within universities' jurisdiction.
As a condition, the law required
each institution to create an over-
sight committee to act as a check
on their respective police depart-

ments - a committee that can
make recommendations for disci-
plinary actions against officers.
Section 390.1511 of the law, Pub-
lic Act 120 of 1990, also specified
that these committees must be
composed of two students, two fac-
ulty members and two staff mem-
bers, all "nominated and elected by
the faculty, students, and staff of
the institution."
At the University of Michigan,
the Department of Public Safety
was created in 1992 and the corre-
sponding DPS Oversight Commit-
tee was created the same year to

meet the requirements of this state
law. A governing set of bylaws was
also created to guide the commit-
tee's work and election procedures.
Since then, the DPS Over-
sight Committee's track record
has shown that in several crucial
respects it is neither meeting the
requirements of the state law nor
following its own procedures.
Potential problems exist in the
election of representatives from
each of the groups, the fulfillment
of the necessary student represen-
tation, the frequency of the com-
. See DPS OVERSIGHT, Page 8A

234 MILES LATER

LITIGATION REPORT
Verdict expected
today in lawsuit
by grad. student

JAtt FtOMM/Daily
The University of Michigan Navy ROTC battalion runs past Ulrich's on South University Avenue during its final three laps of the 234 miles they ranin honor of She 234th
birthdays of both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy. The group ran its laps around the Diag and began the final lap around 6:00 a.m. on Friday.
REFORM PASSED DOWN 0RO FATHER TO SON
For Dingell, health reform bill is
a legislative, familii lndmark

4* McGee is suing 'U,'
alleging wrongful
dismissal from
research post
By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN
and STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporters
A verdict is expected today in
the wrongful termination suit
being brought against the Uni-
versity's Board of Regents by a
former University graduate stu-
dent.
Robert McGee, 54, claims
he was fired from his job as a
research assistant for reporting
his supervisor's safety violations
in February 2008.
The jury will finish hear-
ing deliberations at 10 a.m. this
morning. A verdict is expected
later this afternoon.
McGee testified in the Washt-
enaw County Circuit Court last
Tuesday that on Feb. 16, 2008,
Michael Hartman, professor of
nuclear engineering and radio-
logical sciences, put him at risk of
exposure to a highly radioactive

isotope after Hartman ignored
access restrictions on a lab adja-
cent to his and entered without
proper safety equipment.
Shortly after the incident,
McGee sent an e-mail reporting
his possible radiation exposure
to the University's Radiation
Safety Service. He was fired the
next week.
McGee took the jury through
his day on Feb. 16, 2008, when
Hartman asked him to help
install a safety door in Nuclear
Engineering Prof. Kimberlee
Kearfott's laboratory on North
Campus. Kearfott's lab contains
a source of Cesium 137, a highly
radioactive isotope, which is
held in a machine. Only four
people have permission to be in
the vicinity of the material and
McGee and Hartman are not
among the four.
McGee testified thathe agreed
to go with Hartman because he
trusted him. McGee said when
he asked Hartman if he had
Kearfott's permission to enter
her lab, Hartman replied that he
did.
Once inside, the two discov-
ered they couldn't install the
See LAWSUIT, Page 9A

76-year family push storied House Rep. John Dingell
Sr. - who first began working on
for reform nears its health care reform under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
end after House bill "I feel very good," Dingell said.
"I've worked on this for 53 years
passe dlast week and, before me, my dad for 23 more
... and finally we got something
By NICOLE ABER through the House." ,
Daily StaffReporter In an extended interview with
- ~ ~ The Michigan Daily last Thursday,
Manylegislators, aidesand other Dingell discussed the legislative
politicos played a role in pushing and familial landmark.
the health care bill through the The Affordable Health Care
U.S. House of Representatives on for America Act, H.R. 3962, has a
Nov. 7. For one man, though, the number of key elements that would
bill's passage is more than just a work to overhaul the nation's
historical moment for the country health care system. These include
- it's a significant breakthrough in providing coverage to all individu-
one family's 76-year-long fight for als, preventing exclusion based on
health care reform. preexisting conditions, preventing
Congressman John Dingell the cancellation of health care if
(D), who represents Michigan's a person becomes ill and the cre-
15th district, which includes Ann ation of a public option - the last of
Arbor, has introduced a health which Dingell said was one of the
care reform bill to the House every aspects of the legislation that made
Congressional cycle since 1957. He him the most proud.
has dedicated much of his career "There will be an honest choice
to the fight for health care reform, for every American," he said, not-
carrying the legacy of his father - ing that people would be able to

keep t
if they!
icans m
govern
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bill's p
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tem it
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heir current health care plan options Americans would have to
so choose, but that allsAmer- pick from.
would have the choice of the Dingell said that while this drive
ment-run public option. to make health care affordable for
pite his support of the House every American originally sprang
ublic option it was a major from the need to address a human
ence from the government- rights issue, today the health care
system's problems raise both
humanitarian and economic con-
cerns.
there w ill be "The country can no longer
afford to compete in the world
honest choice market because of the harsh, awful
fact that other countries have gov-
for every ernment-sponsored health insur-
ance that enables them to frankly
American." out-compete our people," Dingell
said.
According to Dingell, U.S.
health care costs have doubled
t-up that Dingell's bill called every eight years. Eight years ago
aich was a single-payer sys- health insurance cost an average
n which the government of $6,000 to $7,000, today it costs
run the health care system about $12,000. Dingell said that
h a value-added tax, similar without reform, these costs would
Canadian and British health continue to rise.
nce systems. The Affordable Health Care for
versely, the public option in America Act would significantly
islation that passed is just alter the way IMichiganders receive
nice out of many health care See DINGELL, Page 9A


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