0
8A - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
'U' wins Whistleblower suit
Official:'U'had 9 percent boost
in international students this year
From Page 1A
Hartman and the Nuclear Engi-
neering Department acted prop-
erly," she said.
Green declined to comment
immediately following the trial.
Calls to her home went unre-
turned yesterday evening.
McGee testified last Tuesday
that he agreed to assist professor
Michael Hartman install a safe-
ty door in Nuclear Engineering
Prof. Kimberlee Kearfott's labo-
ratory on North Campus. Though
Kearfott's lab contains a source of
Cesium 137, a highly radioactive
isotope, McGee said he agreed to
enter the lab because Hartman
told him he had permission to do
so and McGee trusted him.
The two didn't use a survey
meter or a dosimeter - radiation
protection devices - while they
were in the lab. McGee said Hart-
man asked McGee if he knew if the
machine that contained the Cesi-
um 137 was on or off. McGee said
once he realized Hartman didn't
know he immediately left the lab.
McGee went home after the
incident and contacted Joseph
Miklos, an Occupational Safety
and Environmental Health coordi-
nator forthe University. According
to Miklos' testimony on Thursday,
he told McGee he couldn't have
been exposed to radiation.
But McGee said in his testi-
mony that Miklos told him he
didn't know for sure if he had been
exposed and suggested he contact
Kearfott. McGee said when he
contacted Kearfott she was upset
at finding out that Hartman had
entered the lab without permis-
sion.
Kearfott testified on Thursday
that the system protecting the
source of Cesium 137 wasn't work-
ing correctly before the two men
entered the lab, but the fact that it
wasn't working made it less likely
that the men had been exposed to
radiation.
McGee reported Hartman's vio-
lations to Radiation Safety Servic-
es and claims he was terminated
for doing so.
On Frida Hartman testified
that he planid to fire McGee long
before the incident because he
wasn't fulfilling his job require-
ments. Hartman said he asked
McGee to finish safety systems
and shielding for a neuron gen-
erator by the end of fall 2007, but
Hartman said he had to finish the
job himself in September 2007.
He added that on Dec. 4 he
e-mailed McGee with a list of
things he wanted completed by the
end of the year. He testified that
two months later McGee had only
completed two of the four tasks on
the list.
After McGee failed to com-
plete the tasks, Hartman said he
contacted William Martin, chair
of the Nuclear Engineering and
Radiological Sciences department,
about firing McGee.
Hartman said Martin suggested
he keep McGee on and proposed
the department pay his salary for
winter 2008. Hartman said he
kept McGee on, but asked him to
complete the safety system by Feb.
1.
After McGee consistently
missed deadlines, Hartman said
he sent McGee an e-mail on
Feb. 19 with deadlines to com-
plete assignments. When McGee
didn't respond, Hartman said
he e-mailed McGee on Feb. 20
informing him of his termination,
adding that he would be paid for
the rest of the semester.
In his testimony Thursday,
McGee said he "literally threw up"
after receiving the e-mail.
From Page IA
University but still reside in the
United States. According to data
from the International Center,
4,574 undergraduate, graduate
and graduate professional inter-
national studentswere enrolled at
the University for the 2008-2009
academic year.
A Nov. 16 article in The New
York Times stated that there were
a total of 671,616 international
students at U.S. universities for
the 2008-2009 academic year, an
increase of 8 percent from the
previous school year.
This trend holds true for the
University of Michigan, Greis-
berger said. '
Unofficial data from the Inter-
national Center shows that there
are about 300 more international
students enrolled at the Universi-
ty for the fall 2009 semester when
compared to the year before, an
increase of 9.4 percent.
Greisberger said international
enrollment numbers have been
fairly level for the past few years,
and that this year's dramatic
increase is "big news" for the Uni-
versity.
Nationally, the country that
sends the most students to the
United States is India. However,
at the University, China leads the
pack. Greisberger reported that
1,277 students are from China,
followed by India with 774 and
South Korea with 770, though
those numbers are unofficial.
When asked why he believed
so many international students
choose to come to Ann Arbor,
Greisberger pointed to the Uni-
versity's "worldwide reputation
for academic excellence," as well
as the services and programs the
University provides to its interna-
tional students.
Through the International
Center, foreign students . are
encouraged to interact with both
U.S. and other international stu-
dents, while also receiving assis-
tance opening a bank account,
applying for a social security
number and learning how to reg-
ister for classes.
"We take seriously the respon-
sibility to help international stu-
dents feel integrated in campus
life," Greisberger said. "To not
just be successful in the class-
room but to be successful outside
the classroom."
Janet Weiss, vice provost
and dean of Rackham Graduate
School, added in an e-mail inter-
view that there are many "loyal"
Rackham alumni around the
world who "encourage students
from their countries to come to
Michigan."
As much as the University has
to offer its international students,
Weiss emphasized the tremen-
dous impact those students have
on the University.
"(International graduate stu-
dents) are very talented and high-
ly motivated students, who enrich
the intellectual and research
environment for everyone who
works with them," Weiss said.
She also noted that these stu-
dents can often assist University
faculty in strengthening ties with
faculty in their home countries,
making the University more glob-
al in its reach.
Greisberger commended the
ability of international students
to bring a global perspective to
the University and its students,
especially those unable to study
abroad.
"I think the international
students here at U of M provide
our domestic students who did
not have the opportunity to go
abroad to have a really meaning-
ful cross-cultural and intercul-
tural experience right here on
campus," he said.
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SIXTH CIRCUIT
From Page 1A
"Simply put, the universities do
not belong in the case," the brief
reads. "The universities did not
draft Proposal 2. They did not pass
Proposal 2. They cannot change
Proposal 2. They are not execu-
tive branch agencies charged with
enforcing Proposal 2."
Michigan Attorney General
Mike Cox is prosecuting the case
for the state.
Various civil rights groups, includ-
ingthe ACLU, NAACP and Immigra-
tion Rights and Fight for Equality By
Any Means Necessary (BAMN) are
opposing the amendment.
Attorney George Washington is
representing BAMN. He said the
fact that minority enrollment has
dropped at universities through-
out the state since the passage of
Proposal 2 shows that the law is
discriminatory.
At the University of Michigan,
data released in October showed
that the enrollment of underrepre-
sentated minorities at the Univer-
sity has declined every year since
the passage of the initiative in
2006. Underrepresented minority
enrollment was down 11.4 percent
from last year.
"This law got on the ballot by
racially targeted fraud." Washing-
ton said. "It results in creating sec-
ond-class citizenship for Black and
Latino citizens. It passed because
white people outvoted Black peo-
ple. Black people voted against it
by 90 percent."
"It results in the exclusion of
Black and Latino students," Wash-
ington continued. "If you put all
those things together, this is the
mostracist law passed in Michigan
in many decades."
Washington said that while
arguments were heard in court
yesterday, a decision is not expect-
ed for several months.
He said that no matter the out-
come, he believes the case will be
appealed to the full, 16-judge 6th
Circuit Court en banc and eventu-
ally to the Supreme Court.
Washington said that after the
court proceedings had concluded,
approximately 100 people - most-
ly African-American college and
high school students - protested
outside the courthouse.
He said the protesters chant-
ed, "They say Jim Crow, we say
hell no!"
Kevin Gaines, director of the
University's Center for Afro-Amer-
ican and African Studies who is
also involved in the case, said in
an interview yesterday that the
Supreme Court previously upheld
the University's use of race as a fac-
tor - not the sole factor - in deter-
mining admissions.
Gaines said that the amendment
is causing the reversal of many
years of work toward racial equal-
ity.
"(The ban) has resulted in the re-
segregation of higher education in
Michigan, especially at the Univer-
sity (of Michigan)," he said.
Law School lecturer Mark
Rosenbaum, a lawyer for the ACLU
who is arguing the case, told Mich-
igan Radio that the ban creates an
uneven playing field between Black
and white students in terms of
admissions.
"You can point out your reli-
gion, you can point out you're a
veteran, you can point out that you
come from the Upper Peninsula,
that you're an oboist, that you're
an alumni, that you're an athlete,"
he said. "You can talk about any-
thing that is salient to your identity
except race."
The plaintiffs are appealing a
March 2008 judgment by U.S. Dis-
trict Court Judge David M. Lawson
that dismissed their lawsuit and
maintained the constitutionality of
the amendment.
"Proposal 2 allows universities
to use neutral criteria - grades,
test scores, schools of origin, com-
munity geographics, economic
factors, and a host of others - in
the admissions process," Lawson
wrote in his decision. "If these fac-
tors are not suitable proxies that
generate racially diverse student
populations, the universities will
be all the poorer, but not because of
conscious discrimination."
Two-thirds of the three-judge
panel that is hearing the case
was appointed by President Bill
Clinton. Those two were part of
the panel that upheld the lower
court's ruling in Grutter v. Bol-
linger on its way to the Supreme
Court. In Grutter, the Supreme
Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that
the University of Michigan's Law
School was within its legal rights
to use race as a factor for admis-
sion. The third judge on the panel,
according to the Chronicle of
Higher Education, is a moderate
Republican appointed by Presi-
dent George W. Bush.
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