The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Stimulus package
created up to 2.1
million jobs
com
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 3A
U' has 90 days to respond to allegations
The economic stimulus law
added between 1 million to 2.1 mil-
lion workers to employment rolls
by the end of last year, a new report
released yesterday by congressional
economists said.
The nonpartisan Congressio-
nal Budget office study also said
the $862 billion, stimulus added
between 1.5 to 3.5 percentage
points to the growth of the econ-
omy in 2009. The controversial
stimulus law combined tax breaks
for individuals and businesses with
lots of government spending.
The report reflects agreement
among economists that the mea-
sure boosted the economy. But the
wide range of estimates means it
won't resolve the debate over how
effective the stimulus has been.
The White House says the stim-
ulus bill has created 2 million jobs
and will add another 1.5 million
thisyear as economic recoverycon-
tinues to take hold.
PHOENIX
Ariz. legislature
seeks to verify
Obama's citizenship
Nearly half of the Arizona Leg-
islature wants to force President
Barack Obama to show his birth
certificate to state officials if he
runs for re-election.
'A state House committee on
Tuesday approved the measure
sponsored by 40 of the state's 90
legislators. It would require presi-
dential candidates who want to
appear on the ballot in Arizona to
submit documents proving they
meet the requirements to be presi-
dent.
All 40 co-sponsors are Republi-
cans, comprising 75 percent of the
GOP caucus. Two of them have
since resigned to run for Congress.
The idea was proposed by Skull
Valley Republican Rep. Judy Burg-
es. She says if people have to prove
their citizenship to apply for a job
or get a passport, they should have
to prove it to run for president -
WASHINGTON
Clinton encourages
Russia to finish
* nuclear treaty
Secretary of State Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton yesterday urged
Russia to wrap up negotiations
quickly with the Obama admin-
istration over a key nuclear arms
reduction treaty that expired in
December.
Clinton spoke by phone with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov to press him on complet-
ing the talks, which began last year
and are still ongoing in Geneva as
soon as possible, State Department
spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
"She emphasized to the foreign
minister that our negotiators are
close to reaching a agreement and
encouraged Russia to continue
to move ahead, push hard so we
could reach an agreement in the
next couple weeks," he told report-
ers. "There are some details to be
worked out and we hope we can do
that in the coming days."
"We are at the point where
we think we can reach an agree-
ment relatively quickly and we are
encouraging the Russian side to do
its part," Crowley said.
ANKARA, Turkey
0 Miners killed in
northwest Turkey
mine collapse
A methane gas explosion caused
an underground chamber in a coal
mine in northwestern Turkey to
collapse yesterday, killing 17 work-
ers, the governor said - the second
deadly explosion at the mine in four
years.
The blast near the town of Dur-
sunbey in Balikesir province buried
the miners 820 feet (250 meters)
below the surface, said Erhan Orta-
koylu, the mine's owner.
Rescue work was called off after
29 workers were evacuated, said
Gov. Yilmaz Arslan of Bursa prov-
ince.
Eleven workers and a mining
engineer were killed inside the
mine and five others died at a hospi-
tal, where they were admitted with
severe burns, the state-run Anato-
ha news agency said.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
From Page1A
versity violated regulations that
prohibit staff members from
monitoring football players in
voluntary, off-season workouts
and conditioning - two activities
that the athletic department is
also accused of having exceeded
time restrictions on.
Both of those potential viola-
tions first surfaced in a Detroit
Free Press article that was pub-
lished in late August. In the wake
of that report, the NCAA and the
University both launched inde-
pendent investigations into the
matter.
The notice of allegations - the
culmination of the NCAA's inves-
tigation - also specifically called
out Michigan football coach Rich
Rodriguez for acting in a manner
that "failed to promote an atmo-
sphere of compliance within the
football program" and for failing
to sufficiently monitor the activi-
ties of his program with regard to
the other allegations.
The athletic department is
similarly charged with not prop-
erly overseeing the activities of
the football program with regard
to the allegations.
Alex Herron, a graduate assis-
tant football coach, is accused of
providing NCAA investigators
with misleading and, at times,
false information about his role
in the situation.
University President Mary
Sue Coleman, Rodriguez and
incoming Athletic Director David
Brandon announced the notice of
allegations at the press confer-
ence yesterday afternoon.
Coleman began the briefing by
saying that the University "has
been cooperating with the NCAA
in its investigation of our football
program."
"Intercollegiate athletics is a
fundamental feature of the Uni-
versity of Michigan, and we take
pride in the integrity of our ath-
letics program," Coleman said.
"We also take full responsibility
for knowing and following NCAA
rules and thus view the allega-
tions seriously."
Coleman added that she and
other University officials are
"addressing concerns, quickly
and head on."
-."All of us - Coach Rodriguez,
David Brandon and I - are deeply
committed to compliance with
NCAA rules and the future of our
football program," she said.
Brandon announced the notice
of allegations from the NCAA
during the press conference.
Brandon said the NCAA brought
allegations of wrongdoing in the
number of hours student-athletes
spent practicing and violated
rules governing what activities
could be attended by quality con-
trol staff.
"We clearly made mistakes
in those areas, and we have
already taken action to prevent
any of those mistakes from being
repeated," Brandon said.
Brandon then went on to pro-
vide what he described as a
"top-level perspective" of the
allegations.
"In some out-of-season prac-
tices where there are alleged
overages, the overage is approxi-
mately two hours in a week,"
Brandon said. "During the season
on some Sundays, the allegation
is that the University of Michi-
gan exceeded the daily permis-
sible practice time by less than
an hour. In a single instance,
the allegation is that an overage
caused the team to exceed its
20-hour weekly permissible limit
by 20 minutes."
He continued: "I have looked
into these permissible prac-
tice hours issues, and I want to
emphasize there were no situa-
tions where any student-athlete's
welfare was put at risk."
However, Brandon reaffirmed
that he would stand behind
Rodriguez and that he would
return next year as the team's
head coach.
"Rich Rodriguez is our football
coach," Brandon said during the
press conference.
Brandon added that he believes
the reason behind some of the
allegations is the result of "inter-
nal confusion."
"We had a lack of clarity
around whether time spent in
stretching and warm-up activi-
ties were 'countable minutes,'
and this represents a portion of
the discrepancies between the
NCAA's findings and our prac-
tice routines," he said. "Two of
the NCAA allegations relate to
how the institution and the coach
monitored those two areas of
concern."
Brandon stressed that the
NCAA's notice of allegations
found no loss of institutional con-
trol.
"This is very important, there
was no charge of loss of institu-
tional control - none whatsoev-
er," Brandon said.
However, Brandon did raise
some concerns over a reference
made within the NCAA's letter
to Coleman that points to NCAA
bylaw 19.5.2.1, which describes
the so-called repeat violator rule.
"We are aware that we may be
subject to this rule because of the
1996 basketball case, which as
we all know, was a very different
situation," Brandon said. "While
penalties are up to the NCAA to
decide, we understand the rules
do allow for discretion."
"In the basketball case, the
University of Michigan complet-
ed its investigation of the pro-
gram and self-imposed penalties
in November of 2002," Brandon
continued. "The NCAA did not
impose sanctions in that investi-
gation until May 2003,so the pro-
bationary period assessed by the
NCAA continued through May
2008, which overlaps with the
currently alleged violations by
five months."
Brandon also emphasized that
corrective measures were already
underway, but that more would
come in the near future.
"We have established a new
'fail-safe' procedure to help us do
our internal tracking in a timely,
effective way," Brandon said.
"Now if the CARA forms are late
by two weeks a notice goes to the
head coach and AD. If the forms
are still late one week later, it
goes to the president."
"Another example: Our quality
control staff is no longer present
in any activity that could be con-
strued as a coaching situation,"
Brandon continued. "And, we
are updating and redoubling our
efforts on staff education in all
areas."
However, Brandon admitted
there was still more work that
needed to be done.
"We will spend time carefully
reviewing all of the allegations
and determining how they.match
with our own internal investiga-
tion that was conducted in tan-
dem with the NCAA," Brandon
said. "If there are any instances
where details of some allega-
tions do not match, we will pro-
vide that information as part of
our responsive materials to the
NCAA."
Brandon said University offi-
cials may also choose to self-
impose sanctions as they continue
to review the allegations and pre-
pare their response to the NCAA.
"During this review period,
we also will consider, and imple-
ment, any sanctions we choose to
self-impose," Brandon said.
Despite today's announce-
ments, Brandon said he looks
forward to working with oth-
ers in the athletic department to
address the allegations raised by
the NCAA.
"As the incoming athletic
director, I want to make clear
that no accusation against our
program is trivial. We take this
report very seriously, and we
will learn from it and get better,"
Brandon said. "I look forward to
working with Coach Rodriguez
and his staff to address these con-
cerns and continue the forward
momentum of our football pro-
gram."
Current Athletic Director Bill
Martin was not present at the
press briefing, but expressed his
support for Brandon's leadership
-in a statement released after the
press conference had ended.
"We have cooperated fully
with the NCAA, and we have
been rigorous in our investigation
of these matters as well," Martin
wrote. "Now it is important that
we carefully review the allega-
tions, and move appropriately
through the remainder of the
process, to determine findings
and ensure full compliance going
forward."
Martin continued: "I know
Dave Brandon will guide the
athletic department through the
remainder of this process with
excellent judgment, and I have
every confidence that Coach
Rodriguez, the entire football
program and the compliance
office can work together to make
any necessary improvements."
In a statement released on
behalf of the University's Board
of Regents, Regent Andrew Rich-
ner (R-Grosse Pointe Park), who
serves as the chairman of the
board, said steps would be taken
to ensure the program's compli-
ance in the future.
"The Board of Regents receives
the NCAA notice of allegations
with disappointment," Richner
wrote. "The University of Michi-
gan is an institution that believes
in maintaining the highest stan-
dards of integrity and sports-
manship within it's athletic
program."
"We will undertake a consid-
ered and thorough review-of the
allegations with the president
and incoming athletic director,"
Richner continued. "We will
expect them to take all necessary
steps to ensure full compliance
with both the letter and spirit of
all NCAA rules."
Lloyd Carr, associate athletic
director and former Michigan
football coach, also released a
statement following yesterday's
press conference. In it, Carr said
he was convinced the program
would be able to overcome the
challenges it currently faces.
"I am confident we will resolve
the issues that confront us in
this NCAA report. From what I
understand, there isn't anything
we can't improve quickly and eas-
.ily," Carr wrote. "I think we'll be
able to correct any concerns, put
this behind us and move the pro-
gram forward."
The NCAA launched its probe
into the allegations in October
when NCAA Vice President of
Enforcement David Price sent
a letter of inquiry to Coleman.
At the time, Price said he antici-
pated the investigation would be
completed by the end of last year
- though he said the date was a
goal and not a deadline.
The investigation was focused
on allegations that Michigan's
football team had violated
NCAA restrictions on the num-
ber of hours student-athletes are
allowed to spend in practice and
off-season workouts. However,
from the beginning, NCAA offi-
'cials said they would look into any
"new information" that may sur-
face during the investigation.
In addition to the NCAA's
investigation into the allegations,
the University launched an inter-
nal investigation into the matter
days after the Free Press pub-
lished their article. No update or
comment on the internal investi-
gation has been given since it was
launched..
SUSTAINABILITY
From Page 1A
or their graduate studies," she
said.
Each year, Pappas said the
program will accept 25 "high-
achieving" undergraduate stu-
dents, who have a GPA of at least
3.3 and show a strong interest in
sustainability. Students will also
be required to provide a resume
ARTIFACTS
From Page lA
"Whether they're Caucasian
or not, we're still going to treat
them the same way when they
come back with the remains,"
Haakanson said. "We're going
to treat them the same way we
would treat any of our own ances-
tors. So, that's the way we're
always going to treat human
remains."
Additionally, Haakanson
said though the two groups
may seem at odds, both the
museums holding the remains
and the Native American
tribes that want them back are
trying to do the right thing.
"Indigenous groups want
to treat the human remains
with the most respect by
returning them into the
ground," Haakanson said in
an interview after the event.
"While, on the other side,
the anthropologists (and) the
researchers want to document
and learn from the human
remains. So you have a major
conflict of world views com-
ing together."
Haakanson said in order for
museums and Native Ameri-
can tribes to coexist, they
need to compromise and find
agreements that are respect-
ful to all the parties involved.
He cited an example from
his own museum. After speak-
ing with an elder from one of
the local tribes, the museum
staff learned that a bearskin
they had on display at the
museum was of great cultur-
al significance to that tribe,
Haakanson said. The museum
had been allowing visitors to
touch and play with the skin,
but upon learning of its signif-
icance, immediately stopped
that practice.
and professor recommendations
and write a brief essay.
Though the deadline of March
25 is approaching and no applica-
tions have been received thus far,
Pappas said there have been sev-
eral inquiries into the program
and a large demand for sustain-
ability courses in general.
"We can clearly see that students
want this sort of thing," she said.
Pappas also said the institute
will continue to offer many sus-
Haakanson also said the same
elder told the museum staff that
the tribe believed that all bear
skulls - some of which the muse-
um had in its possession - need-
ed to face north-northwest so
that the bears' spirits could find
their way home. The museum
complied with the elder's wishes
in order to respect the indigenous
group's rituals.
Those who attended last
tainability programs to students.
"On an ongoing basis we're
offering more and more oppor-
tunities for integrated sustain-
ability students, and this is just
another thing that we're adding
to the collection of things that
we're offering," she said.
Engineering senior Abbas
Bader said he believes one of the
strengths of the program is the
fact that it brings together stu-
dents from different disciplines.
night's event expressed frus-
tration that the University and
Native American tribes seem to
be at an impasse regarding what
to do with the remains.
Haakanson said patience was
required, as often times, dis-
putes like these take years to be
resolved. He added that in order
to make any progress the Uni-
versity's museum administrators
and the Native American tribes
"I think it'd be a good mix with
some of the engineering classes, to
make some all-rounded students,"
he said.
Engineering senior Zoha
Mohammed said he thinks the
courses offered through the pro-
gram will be better than more tra-
ditional classes because students
will be allowed to express their
opinions in a classroom setting.
"I think that with students
actually being the ones who are
need to have a meaningful dis-
cussion.
"There needs to be some kind
of discourse between the tribes
and the University so you can
come to some kind of resolution
so it doesn't end up in some kind
oftlegal battle," he said.
Haakanson said the lively dis-
cussion was a good way to raise
awareness in the community and
to keep the issue on the forefront
discussing and creating these
ideas, it would be a lot more
effective," he said.
Business sophomore Megan
Ullmann said she thinks the pro-
gram is important because it will
teach students how to live a more
sustainable lifestyle.
"I think it's a good thing that
they're encouraging sustainabilitk
and learningmore aboutit," shesaid.
"That'sreallytheonlywaytochange
things, if people areeducated."
of people's minds.
"I think it is very helpful to
have these discussions because it
starts to open the door to a dia;
logue that, to me, has been shut
and stopped," Haakanson said.
"People need to listen to each
other and be able to share their
sides and find some kind of mid-
dle ground so they can resolve
something that should be fairly
straightforward."
If you're a high performing undergraduate with a
passion for sustainability, then check out the Graham
Institute's new Sustainability Scholars Program.
Each year, this competitive program will accept only
25 students, who will then pursue a 10-credit series of
interdisciplinary courses focused on sustainability
(including a place-based course).
After successful completion of the program, you'll
receive an exclusive Sustainability Scholars Certificate
from the Graham Institute. Upon graduation, you'll
also receive a special notation on your transcript
acknowledging this scholastic accomplishment.
So, go ahead. Start making your mark for a better
world. Check out the details and online application at
www.graham.umich, and apply by March 25, 2010!
GRAI HAM
GRA INSTITUTE