The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, Aprill1, 2010 - 7A
Pope says sex scandal is a test
Bishops across
Europe call for
reform measures
To compensate
for budget cuts,
UMMA may cut
some programs
amidst controversy
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope
Benedict XVI sees the priestly
sex scandal as a "test for him and
the church," his spokesman said
Wednesday, as bishops around
Europe used Holy Week's solemn
call for penitence to announce new
pledges of transparency in dealing
with the abuse of children.
Swiss bishops urged victims
to consider filing criminal com-
plaints. German bishops opened a
hot line for victims. Danish bishops
launched an inquiry into decades-
old claims. And Austria's senior
cleric, Cardinal Christophe Schoen-
born, admitted church guilt as he
presided over a service for victims
billed as a sign of repentance.
"Thank you for breaking your
silence," Schoenborn told the vic-
tims. "A lot has been broken open.
There is less looking away. But
there is still a lot to do."
A week after Pope Benedict XVI
excoriated Irish bishops for gross
errors of judgment in handling
cases of priests who rape children,
European bishops one after anoth-
er admitted to mistakes, reached
out to victims and promised to act
when they learn about abuse.
Their mea culpas and pledges to
be more open and cooperative with
police echoed American bishops'
initial responses when the U.S.
priest-abuse scandal emerged in
2002. They come amid mounting
public outrage over a new wave of
abuse claims across Europe and
what victims say has been a pat-
tern of cover-up by bishops and the
Vatican itself.
And they were all announced
duringthe most solemnweek ofthe
church's liturgical calendar. As the
Swiss bishops noted Wednesday,
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the crowd yesterday during his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
The Pope has called the recent sex scandal a "test for him and the church," while some bishops have urged reform.
Holy Week is a period of penance,
when the faithful are supposed to
admit their guilt, examine wrong-
doing, find ways to improve and
ask God and people for forgiveness.
Benedicthimselfwas experienc-
ing a Holy Week of "humility and
penitence," Vatican spokesman the
Rev. Federico Lombardi told The
Associated Press.
Asked how Benedict was
responding to the scandal swirl-
ing around the Vatican, Lombardi
replied: "The pope is a person of
faith. He sees this as a test for him
and the church."
Lombardi stressed, though, that
the 82-year-old pontiff was holding
up fine physically during the gruel-
ingHoly Week schedule.
Benedict is to celebrate an eve-
ning Holy Thursday service in
which he will wash the feet of 12
priests in a symbol of humility.
The service commemorates Jesus'
washing the feet of his 12 apostles
before the Last Supper.
After presiding over the Good
Friday Way of the Cross com-
memoration at Rome's torch-lit
Coliseum, Benedict will celebrate a
late-night Easter Vigil on Saturday
and then Easter on Sunday, when
the faithful commemorate Jesus'
resurrection - a time of rebirth
and renewal.
On Wednesday, the church
offered its highest-level official
response yet to one of the most
explosive recent stories regarding
sex abuse, on the church's decision
in the 1990s not to defrock a Wis-
consin priest accused of molesting
deaf boys.
Cardinal William Levada, pre-
fect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, said in an
article posted on the Vatican's Web
site that a lengthy trial for the Rev.
Lawrence Murphy would have
been "useless" because the priest
was dying by the time his diocese
initiated a canonical trial.
Levada was critical of The New
York Times, which first published
details of the decision last week.
He said the paper wrongly used the
case to find find fault in Benedict's
handling of abuse cases. A Times
spokeswoman defended the arti-
cles and said no one has cast doubt
on the reported facts.
While clerical abuse has for
years roiled the church in the U.S.
and Ireland, mainland Europe
woke up to the issue in its back-
yard earlier this year with the first
wave of reports from Benedict's
native Germany thatbboys hadbeen
abused at a church-run school.
Since then, hundreds of people
have come forward with claims of
abuse - most dating back decades
- in Austria, Switzerland, the
Netherlands and elsewhere.
Swiss bishops were taking
Holy Week's intentions to heart
in admitting Wednesday they had
underestimated the problem. They
are now telling victims to consider
filing criminal complaints.
From Page 1A
place for the arts, which is what
this building was built for," Huss
said.
Huss said the museum has
surpassed its attendance goals,
as they have already had more
than 250,000 visitors.
Ruth Slavin, interim co-direc-
tor and education director at
UMMA, said the first year has
been "fantastic" due to the scope
of the programs the museum
has offered to both the public
and students. Over this year,
the museum has hosted classes,
exhibitions, film programs and
many concerts, Slavin said.
But Slavin said the success
of the museum would not have
been possible without the initial
enthusiasm of the students at the
student opening.
"I think that success really
started at the very beginning,"
Slavin said.
Mary DeYoe, education pro-
gram coordinator at UMMA,
said the museum's one year cel-
ebration entitled "1 year, Many
Voices," will reflect the influ-
ence students have had on the
museum.
In preparation for the event,
students were asked to "respond
creatively" to an art piece from
the museum, DeYoe said. The
winning contributor's work will
be displayed along with student
performances, and films made by
students.
"We felt like it got students
engaged with the works of art,"
DeYoe said.
Bob Bohlen, chair of UMMA's
National Advisory Board, said
the museum has also been
helped by the support of donors.
Bohlen was also chair of' the
museum's capital campaign - a
five-year effort to finance the
expansion and reopening of the
museum - that raised almost
$100 million.
Bohlen said he and his wife
- who have an African art gal-
lery in the museum named after
them - donated to the museum
to aid the educational experience
it gives to students.
"I donated because I thought
that was a great way to have stu-
dents on the campus experience
and get them into a museum,"
Bohlen said.
But Bohlen said future dona-
tions may be hard to come by
if the economy continues to
decline.
"In this economic climate in
Michigan, donations are going to
be harder to get," he said.
Stephanie Rieke Miller, exter-
nal relations manager and senior
writer for UMMA, wrote in an
e-mail interview that despite
Michigan's economy, they are
hopeful. that the donations will
continue.
"We anticipate that our cur-
rent donors and new prospects
will be engaged by the new
UMMA and support our ongo-
ing and future program needs,"
Miller wrote.
Private support will become
increasingly important for the
museum, with the expected bud-
get shortfall Miller said.
Huss said that though some
of the budget cuts are due to
the economy, much of the bud-
get decline is due the "unusual"
first year they have had, with
the launch of many new pro-
grams and costs of new exhibi-
tions.
To offset the financial impacts,
Huss said the museum will not
be filling any open or vacant jobs
and will also be reducing the
number of programs provided.
The reduction is also an effort to
make sure all the programs are
"high quality," Huss said.
Despite future budgetary con-
straints, Slavin said the museum
has adapted well to the economic
conditions.
"Budgets are tight everywhere
on campus and we have done
amazing things with very little
money," Slavin said.
Bush wiretapping program takes
a hit in recent California ruling
Federal judge rules
that wire taps of,
Islamic charity, U.S.
lawyer were illegal
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In a
repudiation of the Bush admin-
istration's now-defunct terrorist
' surveillance effort, a federal judge
ruled Wednesday that govern-
ment investigators illegally wire-
tapped the phone conversations of
an Islamic charity and two Amer-
ican lawyers without a search
warrant.
U.S. District Court Judge
Vaughn Walker said the plain-
tiffs provided enough evidence
to show "they were subjected to
warrantless electronic surveil-
lance" by the National Security
Agency.
The judge's 45-page ruling
focused narrowly on the case
involving the Al-Haramain Islam-
ic Foundation, touching vaguely
on the larger question of the pro-
gram's legality.
0 Nonetheless, Al-Haramain
lawyer Jon Eisenberg said the rul-
ing had larger implications.
"By virtue of finding what the
Bush administration did to our
clients was illegal, he found that
the Terrorist Surveillance Pro-
gram was unlawful," Eisenberg
said.
President Bush authorized the
surveillance program shortly
after 9/11, allowing NSA officiald
to bypass the courts and inter-
cept electronic communications
believed connected to al-Qaida.
Generally, government inves-
tigators are required to obtain
search warrants signed by judges
to eavesdrop on domestic phone
calls, e-mail traffic and other
electronic communications.
At issue Wednesday was a 2006
lawsuit filed by the Ashland, Ore.,
branch of the Saudi-based foun-
dation and two American lawyers
Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor.
Belew and Ghafoor claimed
their 2004 phone conversations
with foundation official Soliman
al-Buthi were wiretapped with-
out warrants soon after the Trea-
sury Department had declared
the Oregon branch a supporter of
terrorism. They argued that wire-
taps installed without a judge's
authorization are illegal.
It was the last active case pend-
ing before a trial judge challeng-
ing the wiretapping program that
ended in 2007.
"The ruling ends the case, but
without the fireworks everyone
expected," George Washington
University law professor Orin
Kerr said. "It ended with a whim-
per."
The plaintiffs were seeking $1
million each, plus attorney fees
in the case. Walker ordered more
legal arguments before deciding
on possible damages.
The ruling came after U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder said
the lawsuit threatened to expose
ongoing intelligence work and
must be thrown out.
In making the argument, the
Obama administration agreed
with the Bush administration's
position on the case but insisted
it came to the decision differently.
Holder's effort to stop the law-
suit marked the first time the
administration has tried to invoke
the state secrets privilege. Under
the strategy, the government can
have a lawsuit dismissed if hear-
ing the case would jeopardize
national security.
Holder said Judge Walker had
been given a classified description
of why the case must be dismissed
so the court could "conduct its
own independent assessment of
our claim."
That was a departure from
the Bush administration, which
resisted providing specifics to
judges handling such cases about
what the national security con-
cerns were.
Holder previously said the
administration would respect the
outcome of Walker's review.
Eisenberg called on the Obama
administration to accept Wednes-
day's ruling and forgo any appeals.
"We are reviewing it," Depart-
ment of Justice spokeswoman
Tracy Schmaler said.
In June, Judge Walker tossed
out more than three dozen law-
suits against the nation's tele-
communications companies for
allegedly taking part in the pro-
gram.
Congress in 2008 agreed
on new surveillance rules that
included protection from legal
liability for telecommunications
companies that allegedly helped
the U.S. spy on Americans with-
out warrants.
Walker previously upheld the
constitutionality of the new sur-
veillance rules. His ruling is being
appealed.
Anthony Coppolino, the U.S.
Department of Justice lawyer
who has been in charge of the
Islamic Foundation case under
both administrations, has never
addressed the legality of the wire-
tap program.
Coppolino has always argued
the case should be tossed out in
the name of national security
and said the government risked
exposing ongoing intelligence
work if the lawsuit were allowed
to proceed.
The government argued that its
"state secret privilege" trumped
the Foreign Intelligence Surveil-
lance Act, known as FISA, which
requires investigators to seek
wiretap approval from a special
court that convenes behind closed
doors.
Coppolino refused to even
discuss whether such a secret
warrant existed, arguing that to
confirm or deny would threaten
national security.
On Wednesday, the judge said
the government was wrong and
ruled that it should be assumed
investigators lacked a warrant.
"FISA takes precedence over
the state secrets privilege in this
case," Walker wrote.
SAPAC
From Page 1A
video created by SAPAC called "A
Common Voice," which told sto-
ries of survivors of sexual assaults
and proposed various tools to help
avoid situations and environments
conducive to such crimes.
University Vice President for
Student Affairs Royster Harper
opened the event by discussing the
importance of bringing awareness
to the issue of sexual assault.
"Breaking the silence around
sexual violence is a critical strat-
egy and prevention," Harper said.
"Part of our gathering today is one
more way in which we can end or
continue to break the silence. Our
ability to create a safe community,
to hold perpetrators responsible
for his or her crime, requires that
we shift our conversations from
how he or she let that happen, to
how we, as a community, let that
happen."
Harper also highlighted the
importance of SAPAC's role on
campus as an organization that
promotes acommunitythatdoesn't
allow sexualviolence.
"(SAPAC has) worked hard to
create programs and services, to
implement institutional policies,
and to create legislative initiatives
that truly can make a difference."
Moreno lauded SAPAC's con-
tinuous efforts to help reach out to
those victims of sexual assault -
currently the most underreported
crime in the country.
"It is one of the premiere pro-
grams, which is why the attorney
general asked that I visit this cam-
pus in recognition ofthe great work
that is being done here," Moreno
'said. "It is a comprehensive pro-
gram, it has early intervention, it
brings together not only SAPAC
but also folks who deal with health
and housing issues."
Magee added that efforts are
being made by the Department
of Public= Safety to enable the col-
lection of data on sexual assault
crimes for analysis while main-
taining the anonymity of sexual
assault victims.
"We work collaboratively with
SAPAC and other entities on cam-
pus to develop an anonymous
report form," Magee said. "A lot of
input went into creating that form
where we can capture the spirit of
reporting statistical data and be
able to talk frankly about sexual
assaults and statistics that sur-
round sexual assault."
I
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