01 8A - Monday, November 23, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com REMEMBRANCE From Page IA by reading from poems he wrote about the prejudice transgender people face and the strength it takes to overcome it. Following a poetryreading,vigil participants in the room each read the name of a transgender person who had been killed within the past year and placed a rose in a vase. After doing this, participants could take a stone to represent the strengths and challenges the trans- gender community faces. Accordingto the National Coali- tion of Anti-Violence Programs, 2,424 victims reported anti-LGBT violence to the organization in 2008. LGBT murders are at their highest reported levels since 1999, the report found. Public Policy junior Stephanie Parrish saidshe feels it's important to have events like the Transgen- der Day of Remembrance because the transgender community is "often invisible, even within the LGBT community." "So I think that it helps to put them in the spotlight so we can be a real community for at least one day," she said. Denise Brogan-Kator, a trans- gender woman and co-founder of the Rainbow Law Center - a law firm dedicated to serving the LGBT community - said in a speech after the vigil that she hopes "the world will see the trag- edy and the injustice and that they will someday embrace us." "There will be no memorial wall built by our country to honor them," she added. "But make no mistake, these are our she-roes and our heroes." She also played "Taps" in memory of those who died and explained that, to her, "Taps" is a song "to say goodbye." Attendees were then invited to share stories of loved ones or any- thing elsethey felt like contributing. Noah Meeks, an activist who came to the event, said he want- ed to use his life to contribute to transgender rights. "I woke up one day and I real- ized my life could have a greater impact on the world than my death," he said. RODRIGUEZ From Page 1A about the investigation. Both the NCAA and University investigations were provoked by an Aug.30Detroit Free Press reportthat alleged the program "consistently has violated NCAA rules govern- ing off-season workouts, in-season demands on players and mandatory summer activities under coach Rich Rodriguez," citing "six current or former players" who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Athletic Department launched an investigation into the matter the following day, and the NCAA sent Coleman a letter of inqui- ry on Oct. 23 announcing plans forits own investigation. The letter said the NCAA intends to complete the inves- tigation by the end of this year. A University audit released on Nov. 15 showed that the football team failed to appropriately turn in Countable Athletically Related Activities forms - or practice logs. The failure to turn in CARA forms, the auditors stated, did not itself constitute an NCAA violation. JOB GAINS From Page 1A economies since 1971. According to the RSQE report, employment and personal income levels for Michigan hit record lows. during 2009. Employment shrank by 6.8 percent, while personal income decreased by 3.4 percent. RSQE estimates that a total of 282,900 jobs will be lost in 2009; that figure is predicted to shrink to 54,000 jobs lost in 2010, with losses in 2011 shrinking further to 36,000. However, the RSQE fore- cast also predicts that there will be modest levels of net job creation for Michigan bythe fourth quarter of 2011, a trend that is expected to continue into 2012 as well. Fulton, who spoke on the second day of the conference, said Michi- gan's particularly weak economy this year "is related, of course, to the unprecedented industry crisis that the domestic automakers and their suppliers went through in 2009." At least since the early 1990s, Fulton said, automotive sales and overall employment levels across the state shared a "striking corre- lation." In closing, Fulton emphasized the importance of diversifying the state economy, as well as the need to reevaluate and retool the state budget process to bring revenues and expenditures into alignment. Following Fulton's speech, Arthur Schwartz, general direc- tor of labor relations for General Motors Corp., gave a presentation about the company's recent expe- rience with the challenges of cor- porate restructuring. According to Schwartz, a University alum, GM's position in 2009 is grim but improving. While admitting that the Chap- ter 11 bankruptcy experience was arduous, Schwartz said GM is already emerging from restructur- ing a leaner and more profitable company. Much like Michigan's economy suffered from dependence on the automotive sector, Schwartz said that GM ultimately placed too much of its hopes on continued demand for trucks. In addition to a diversified product lineup and better profit margins across vehicle classes, Schwartz said that GM's success- ful efforts to manage debt and cur- tail expenditures signal that better times are ahead for the company. The third and final speaker at the conference on Friday was Timothy Bartik, senior economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Bartik's presentation offered eight specific policy recommendations that he argued would promote Michigan's economic development in the long run. Notably absent in Bartik's pre- sentation was any mention of the automotive industry. Instead, he most prominently suggested increasing educational investment. Among other recommendations, Bartik claimed that expanding pre-kindergarten programs, career academies and summer school offerings would provide cascading benefits over several decades as students enter the workforce with better educations and stronger credentials. As for educating adults, Bartik said that job re-training closely linked to specific employers - like apprenticeships - was another cost-effective way to improve Michigan's long-term economic prospects. Bartikclosedbysayingthatstate lawmakers should invest "at least a billion (dollars) or two a year" in these educational programs. "If you're not willing to invest that, then you're not serious about affecting things," he said. "You're just playing games." 0 mom HA T H LR R REL IEF e .,, &ie Mlre .' :, {; i 3. {( . { 1 k.. *... I to the guys who improved their game by visiting the Axe Hair Crisis Relief Center. And - keep up your great efforts, and remind the guys in your life that hair matters. REID From Page 1A we'll be humbled again. When you'get in this profession, there's enough humility to go around for everybody. "I'm tired of being humbled." So are Michigan football fans, who have witnessed 13 conference losses in the last two seasons, almost doubling the amount of games the Wolverines dropped to conference foes (14) from 2000-07. And in the last two years, Michigan has especially tripped up in the game that matters most, geching outscored 63-17 against Ohio State. It's simple. Rich Rodriguez says he's "building a program." But at this point, it's taken way too long and the program has taken way too big of a dip. There are only four other BCS conference teams - Iowa State, Indiana, Washington State and Washington - that have lost 13-plus conference games in the last two years. Baylor will join the list if it loses to Texas Tech next weekend. Not even perennial bottom- dwellers like Duke, Vanderbilt and Syracuse are on that list. W "It's hard any time you lose," secondary coach Tony Gibson said. "I don't care where you are or what you're doing, it's always hard to lose. You know, you work 353 days a year for these 12 moments. And we came up short in seven of them." Except a down year for Michi- gan traditionally involves no more than four losses. This two-year stretch feels more like an apoca- lyptic meltdown. Rodriguez deserves at least one more season to right the ship. With hopefully another full recruiting class coming in - including freakishly good quarterback Devin Gardner - the coach will theoretically do what0 he preached after Saturdays loss: Recruitthe student-athletes that fit his system and develop their talent. After all, that's his job, right? But if the Wolverines find themselves in a similar position next year - heading into another lackluster matchp with the Buck- eyes in Columbus while hoping for bowl eligibility - it's hard to imagine that Rich Rod wouldn't have worn out his welcome. - Reid can be reached at andyreid@umich.edu. WANT TO WRITE FOR DAILY NEWS? 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