2- Tuesday, February 23, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 2 -. Tuesday, February 23, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom * MONDAY: In Other Ivory Towers WEDNESDAY: THURSDAY: FRIDAY: Before You Were Here Campus Clubs Photos of the Week 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JACOB SMILOVITZ DAN NEWMAN Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-647-336 734-7s4-0558 smilovitz@michigandaily.com tmdlbusinress@gmail.eom Exploring education For English Lecturer Aric Knuth, the time and space stu- dents and teachers have together should be "something other than a humanized version of reading a book." Instead, Knuth said he believes classroom time shouldbe spent as almost a back and forth between students and instructors, allow- ing students to relate better to the text. "I think a lot of times people want a model of education that isn't necessarily top-down," Knuth said. Knuth brings this philoso- phy with him when he travels to Maine every spring as director of the New England Literature Pro- gram. The program takes 40 stu- dents to a camp in the wilderness to read texts on a dock or a rock in the woods. There, students work together and put themselves in the context of the texts they're reading, according to Knuth. Knuth said some of the most valuable things about the pro- gram are the opportunities afforded to students like getting to hike and live in the cold with limited heating and electricity. But, he said one of his favorite things about the program is liv- ing without cell phones, comput- ers, e-mails and Facebook for six and a half weeks. Knuth said that during his 13 years of involvement with the program he has seen a variety of responses to being away from technology for this period of time. "It's amazing to be without your computer for two months, your brain does funny things," said Knuth. "I believe in experi- mentation. And different things have happened over time because people have changed and because people have changed the way that, they use those technologies. Peo- ple freak out now, those things are such important parts of our lives now." He added that NELP aims tov take students out of their comfort zones because "that is where dis- covery occurs." Knuth's ties to the University go beyond his current teaching post and his long career with NELP. He attended the Univer- sity and majored in English. After graduation he partici- pated in Teach for America and worked at a financial firm in New York, before deciding to return to the University for a graduate degree in English and the oppor-° tunity to teach undergraduates. "I have a passion for teaching," he said. ANNA SCHULTE /Daily - SABIRA KHAN Prof. Aric Knuth is the director of the New England Literature Program. CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom News Tips Corrections Letterstothe Editor Photography Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Display Sales Classified Sales Online Sales OfficehoursSun.-Thurs. 11a.m. - 2a.m. nnw@michiandaily.aaos correctonmrichigandaily.rarr rzrhedaily@michieandaily.cor, photo@michigandaily.com arrmoege@michigandaily.szs, opinion@m~ichigandailyzcm sports@michigandaily.comr display@mihigandailyzcm classified@michigandaily.xcrr onineads@michigandaily.com CRIME NOTES CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES 'Something icy' $600 Compaq breaks window in Law Quad WHERE: Law Quad WHEN:Sundayat 1p.m. WHAT: Someone threw some- thing icy, possibly a snowball, into a law quad dorm room window, breaking the glass, University Police reported. laptop stolen WHERE: University Hospital WHEN:Sunday at about 2 p.m. WHAT: A black and silver Compaq laptop was stolen between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. from a patient's room, University Police reported. The computer is worth $600. There are no suspects. Children fight in Street sign struck hospital in traffic accident WHERE: University Hospital WHERE: 1404 Washington WHEN: Sunday at about noon Heights WHAT: Two children were WHEN:Monday at aboutl a.m. involved in a dispute in the WHAT: A vehicle hit a curb Children and Adolescent and a street sign on Washing- Psych Unit of the hospital, ton Heights, University Police University Police reported. No reported. The driver was not one was injured. injured. MORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes? Get more online at michigandaily.com/blogs/the wire Research town hall meeting WHAT: Vice President Ste- phen Forrest hosts a discus- sion open to all members of the University research com- munity. WHO: Office of the Vice President WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Gradu- ate School Amphitheatre Workshop on repatriation WHAT: A discussion of the repatriation of the approxi- mately 1,400 Native American remains that the University's Museum of Anthropolgy has in its possession. WHEN: Tonight at 6 p.m. WHO: Museums Theme Year WHERE: UMMA Social identities WHAT: Asession that invites participants to reflect on their identities and how those identities have affected their workplace relation- ships. WHO: Ginsberg Center WHEN: Tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.M. Where: East Hall Chamber concert WHAT: The Michigan Chamber Players will per- form. Tickets are free to students. WHO: Michigan Chamber Players WHEN: Tonight at 6 p.m. WHERE: E.V. Moore Building CORRECTIONS, 0 Please report any error in the Daily to correc- tions@michigandaily.com. In Pennslyvania, an Amish businessman set up a sur- veillance camera after a slew of burglaries at his store, according to WGAL.com. Amish tradition forbids hav- ing their picture taken, but it is okay to take pictures of oth- ers, Amish business owners told WGAL. The businessman caught the thief. According to the Bureau of Public Debt, the cur- rent national debt is just over $12.4 trillion. At the end of Bill Clinton's presidency the debt was between $4 and 6 tril- lion. soFOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4 The Netherlands is plan- ning to pull their troops out of Afghanistan, leav- ing a key part of the country potentially vulnerable to Tal- iban infiltration, azeentral.com reported. Finance inance@michigandaily.com EDITORIAL STAFF Matt Aaronson ManagingEditor aaronson@michigandaily.com Jillian Berman ManagingNews Editor berman@michigandaily.com osNIO 0EWS 0TR S:icole Aber, Mallory Jones, Stephanie Steinberg, Kyle Sno,Eshwarhiruavkkarsu ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS: Dylan Cinti, Darryn Fitzgerald, Joseph Lichterman, Veronica Menaldi, Annie Thomas, Devon Thorsby, Elyana Twiggs RachelVan Gilder EditorialPage Editor vangilder@michigandaily.com SENIOR EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Brian Flaherty, Erika Mayer, Emily Orley,Laura Veith ASSISTANTEDITORIALPAGEEDITORS:MichelleDeWitt,AlexSchiff,MatthewShutler Ryan Kartje Managing Sports Editor kartje@michigandaily.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Nicole Auerbach, Mark Burns. 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Subscriptionsfor fal term, singtinpt errvriaU..milae$110. Wnte r errthohAprilis5,yearlon (Sptmertrough Apiis$15. University afiiae ae sect ar~tededsubcripiorate. on-campussubscriptionsfor faltermare$3.Subscriptionsmust be prepaid.TheMichganDaily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. 0 0 Suspect pleads guilty of plotting terrorist attack on NYC subways Haitian orphans detained in route to United States The Afghan man told a judge he is willing to be a suicide bomber NEW YORK (AP) - A former airport shuttle driver accused of buying beauty supplies to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways pleaded guilty yes- terday, admitting he agreed to con- duct an al-Qaida-led "martyrdom operation" because of U.S. involve- ment in his native Afghanistan. Najibullah Zazi told a judge the terror network recruited him to be a suicide bomber in New York, where he went to high school and once worked a coffee cart just blocks from the World Trade Cen- ter site. "I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the U.S. military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," Zazi said in court. The Associated Press learned earlier this month that the jailed Zazi had recently volunteered information about the bomb plot in the first step toward a plea deal. His cooperation suggests prosecu- tors hope to expand the case and bring charges against other sus- pects in one of the most serious terrorism threats in the U.S. since Sept. 11,2001. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the terror investigation is ongoing. Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to con- spiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a life prison sentence without parole at a sentencing in June. The bombings "could have been devastating," Attorney Gen- eral Eric Holder said in Washing- ton. "This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion, and it would have been deadly." Zazi said in court he traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight against the U.S. military but was recruited by the terrorist network in Peshewar and went into a training camp in Warziristan, a region of Pakistan where al-Qaida is known to oper- ate. Zazi said he received weapons training at the camp and learned aboit explosives. He also said in court that he had been in contact with al-Qaida operatives while in Pakistan, but he did not identify them. "During the training, al-Qaida leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct mar- tyrdom operation," he said. "We agreed to this plan." The Pakistan Embassy in Wash- ington declined to comment on Zazi's case. Zazi admitted using notes taken at the training camp to build homemade explosives with beauty supplies purchased in the Denver suburbs and cooked up in a Colo- rado hotel room. He then drove the materials to New York just before the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Missionaires were trying to bring the children to U.S. families PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Six U.S.-bound orphans seized by Haitian police despite having their papers in order remained in a government-run nursery more than two days later, the orphanage director said last night. "The youngest has developed diarrhea and is very dehydrated," said Jan Bonnema of Prinsburg, Minnesota, founder and director with her husband, Bud, of the Chil- dren of The Promise orphanage, where the children originated. The seizure of the orphans and their escorts' brief detention Satur- day came amid fears foreigners are exploiting post-earthquake chaos to illegally take children form the country. The ongoing case of 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries who tried to remove children without proper papers has fueled such fears. Bonnema, whose orphanage is located in the northern city of Cap- Haitien, said the six children had been bound for the United States via Miami, where their adoptive parents were waiting for them. Police detained the children and the four women escorting them, including the orphanage's Irish field director and one adoptive mother from Minnesota, Sarah Thacker of Ferbus Falls, as they were about to depart this earthquake-shattered country from Port-au-Prince airport on Saturday, according to Bonnema. "They were just inside the ter- minal. They hadn't gone through immigration," she said in a phone interview from Minnesota, because they were waiting for U.S. Embassy staff to come with adoption papers signedby Haiti's prime minister. "A large group of Haitians attacked them," Bonnema added. "They were swearing at them and saying, 'These are Haitian babies. You cannot take them. You are child trafficking."' U.S. and Haitian officials had earlier confirmed the detention but without providing details. The children, ages 1 to 5, and women were all detained by police, and the women were released sev- eral hours later from a nearby police station after U.S. diplomats 'inter- vened. But the children remained in a government nursery in a tent camp on Monday night, Bonnema said. "Our staff were not allowed to stay with the children," she said. "They're very traumatized." She said U.S. and Haitian offi- cials were expected to meet Tues- day to resolve the situation. 'Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobu- char has intervened on behalf of the women. She told The Associ- ated Press that the orphanage is legitimate and said the adopting families in Minnesota have been working with her office. "The main thing now is to make sure the kids are reunited with the women and get to the families that have been waiting for them," she said. The incident occurred after 10 Baptists were arrested trying to take 33 Haitian children across the border to the Dominican Republic without the proper paperwork. The missionaries said the chil- dren were orphaned in the devas- tating Jan. 12 earthquake, but the AP established that they all had parents who willingly gave their children up in hopes they would get an education and a better life. A judge released eight of the missionaries last week, but leader Laura Silsby, 40, and her assistant, Charisa Coulter, 24, remain jailed as the investigating judge inter- views officials at the orphanages the two visited before the quake. Bonnema said all orphans in Children of The Promise "have been in our care since they were infants." She said most are "true orphans or they've been abandoned." UNICEF says Haiti had some 380,000 orphans prior tothe quake - nearly 4 percentofits population - and an estimated half were not true orphans. Child trafficking is a major problem. W R HIRING. APPLY ONLINE by MARCH 19th www.umich.edu/info Campus Information Centers Michiga n Union & Pierpont Commons .,(734) 764-INFO i { I