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. 0 Onwireless - .it :...r- i OWN THE DEVICE THAT WILL HAVE PEOPLE STUDYING YOU. With customizable screen panels, embedded wi-fi capability and Google powered web-browsing, you can simultaneously run the applications you want - Facebook, foursquare, Twitter and more. 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. l~efs lt he L.g an the C n et ak ndroid fn Kevinve. SameTma- am GY Inadditio a ukadunk. MWadelie Refs kee C C y the cou saying get off cor-Whatev er,. 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