2 - Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com *
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Campus Clubs Photos of the Week
For many students on campus,
scrambling to get to class while
rocking out to their iPods and furi-
ously texting their roommates
about the strange smell in the
refrigerator, being oblivious to the
outside world and oncoming traffic,
is a way of life.
But students won't get rewarded
for distractedly walking into traf-
fic. Contrary to campus lore, getting
hit by a University bus isn't going to
result in a free meal ticket or free
tuition at the University.
Asked about the campus legend
that if a University bus hits a stu-
dent, the University will pay the
student's tuition, University spokes-
woman Kelly Cunningham said it's
not at all true.
"It is absolutely, positively not
true!" Cunningham wrote in an
e-mail interview with The Michigan
Daily.
And while Cunningham said she's
positive the legend isn't true, she
said she's not sure where the myth
ever began.
"I don't know how this one got
started," Cunningham wrote.
Though it's hard to trace the ori-
gins of the long-standing legend, it's
certainly not unique to the Univer-
sity.
Similar legends exist at other
schools across the country, includ-
ing at Ohio State University, Indiana
University and University of Idaho.
At Texas A&M University, the
myth is so popular that a Facebook
group exists called "I wanna get hit
by a bus." The Facebook page says
the group is for students "that want
free tuition!" and it encourages its
members to get hit by university
vehicles saying: "Let's all go jump in
front of those bigrigs."
The group, which was founded in
2007, currently has 34 members.
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LSA freshman tuhee Lee walks through the Engineering Arch to get home from the library at 1:10 a.m.
last night. Lee said that she is usually nervous walking home late, but has to get home. The University
offers several services, like Night Ride and S.A.FE. Walk, so students don't have to walk home alone.
CRIME NOTES
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Pot possession in Male aggressively North Campus Grad. program
the Big House asks for money career fair info session
WHERE: Stadium Gate
WHEN: Saturday at 8 a.m.
WHAT: A male subject trying
to enter the stadium to attend
the game was discovered to
be in possession of marijuana,
University Police reported. He
was not reported to be high at
the time of the arrest.
Patient attacks
WHERE: University Hospital
WHEN: Saturday at 6:40 a.m.
WHAT: A nurse was assault-
ed by an elderly male hospital
patient, University Police
reported. The patient was
being treated for a closed
head wound and attacked the
nurse with a closed fist punch.
The case is still under inves-
tigation.
WHERE: 1114 State Street
WHEN: Saturday at 6 a.m.
WHAT: A male subject was
read trespass after aggressive-
ly asking passersby for money,
University Police reported. He
was reported to be panhan-
dling and DPS intervened. No
arrest was made.
7 dollars stolen
WHERE: Duderstadt Building
WHEN: Saturday at 12 p.m.
WHAT: $7 were stolen from
a female subject's purse while
she was next to it studying in
a third floor lab of the library,
University Police reported.
The female student noticed the
money missing when she got
ready to leave the library. No
suspects have been identified.
WHAT: A career fair will be
held on North Campus, fea-
turing over 230 companies
looking to hire.
WHO: Society of Women's
Engineering and Tau Beta Pi
WHEN: Today from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHERE: Pierpont
Commons, the Duder-
stadt, the CSE Building
and EECS Building.
WHAT: Information about
the Science, Technology
and Public Policy graduate
certificate's effect on public
policy will be discussed,
accompanied by pizza.
WHO: Science, Technol-
ogy, and Public Policy
WHEN: Today at 5 p.m.
WHERE: Taubman
Alfred Medical Library
The canned pumpkin short-
age - prompted last year by
heavy rains and an increase
in pumpkin popularity - is offi-
cially over, USA Today reported.
Favorable pumpkin harvesting
conditions and extra planting
efforts by Nestle helped to end
the shortage.
Several campus groups
came together to change
the name of the proposed
gender-neutral housing option
to "open housing" last week. If
approved, the housing choice
will go into effect Fall 2011.
>FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4
Women apologize more
frequently than men,
The Scientific American
reported. The gender difference
is not a result of a female predis-
position. Findings showed that
women, on a daily basis, found
more things offensive than men
did.
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 074s-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and
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Qantuma Museum
presentation
WHAT: A lecture by Dan
Lanthrope of the University
of Maryland will be held
about quantum physics and
other related phenomena,
including superconductiv-
ity and superfluidity.
WHO: Center for the Study
of Complex Systems
WHEN: Today at 12:15 a.m.
WHERE: West Hall,
Room 340
WHAT: A lecture pre-
sented by Nina Simon
about museum exhibits
that encourage visitor par-
ticipation will be held.
WHO: Museum Stud-
ies Program
WHEN: Today at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: University of
Michigan Museum of Art in
the Helmut Stern Auditorum
MORE ONLINE
Love Crime Notes? Get more online atmichigandaily.com/blogs/the wire
int numUMichCsStudents = 400;
int numBVEmployeesFromUMich = 0;
float chanceBVEmployeeFromUMich =
numUMichCsStudents/ (float) numBVEmployeesFromUMich;
Bazaarvoice
If you can figure out what's wrong with the code,
come talk to us at the Engineering Career Fair,
Tuesday, September 28th.
www.bazaarvoice.com/campus
Mahmood Karzai,
a U.S. citizen, says
he will fix the tax
issue in question
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -
The eldest brother of Afghan Pres-
ident Hamid Karzai said he is not
aware of a criminal investigation
into his activities, an inquiry he
claims is more about political dif-
ferences with the U.S. than wrong-
doing on his part.
"I'm hurt, because instead of
being praised for what I've done,
I'm being attacked all the time
for political reasons," Mahmood
Karzai, a U.S. citizen who now
lives in Dubai and has businesses
in Afghanistan, told The Associ-
ated Press in a recent interview
that touched on corruption claims
made against him.
A federal criminal investigation
under way in the Southern District
of New York is now focusing on
possible corruption involving Kar-
zai, a U.S. law enforcement official
said Monday. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because
the ongoing investigation is in its
early stages.
The Wall Street Journal first
reported the investigation Mon-
day, noting that prosecutors are
trying to determine if they have
enough evidence to bring charges
of tax evasion, racketeering or
extortion against Karzai.
Karzai said he is traveling to
New York this week to amend his
earnings on his U.S. tax returns to
show profits from business deals
not previously reported and says
he will freely discuss his financial
deals with American prosecutors.
"Why should they charge me?
I've already volunteered to cor-
rect the problem. If they want to
audit my taxes, they're welcome
to do that," Karzai told the AP
in the telephone interview last
week.
"I'm not involved in anything
with the U.S. contracts. I'm not
involved with any contract with
the government. I'm not working
for the government. So my activi-
ties are completely private with
private individuals," Karzai said.
"So my picture is very clear. You'll
never find anybody in the whole
country who will say that I gave
$10 to Mahmood Karzai for this
or that favor. I do my projects here
for developing. My whole life is
open."
Karzai said he has not met with
investigators or prosecutors in
the United States. He said inves-
tigators in Afghanistan provid-
ed a letter to his lawyer several
months ago, saying that he was
not the subject of any investiga-
tion.
Karzai said he's been unfairly
targeted by U.S. officials because
of disagreements the Afghan pres-
ident has with the U.S. govern-
ment over policy issues.
"What I don't like about inter-
national politics is that our family
is treated like some kind of mon-
archy," he said. "In other words,
if there's some dispute on policy
matters with my brother, they will
attack me or Ahmad Wali (another
of the president's brothers and a
power broker in southern Afghan-
istan) to make him weak. This is to
me so un-American.
"To crucify my rights for the
sake of getting to my brother -
this is an outrageous way of doing
things."
Karzai said he was prepar-
ing to amend his tax returns to
reflect rental income from his
home in Maryland and to show a
capital gains on the sale of prop-
erty in Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates, which he held for eight
months before making a profit.
"There's nothing else in my
life that will make me part of an
investigation," said Karzai, who
spends time in Afghanistan, Dubai
and the United States. "If some-
body else reported something on
me and they want to investigate,
I'm open to that. It is no problem.
There are so many enemies of our
family."
Earlier this month, Karzai said
he made at least $800,000 by
buying and then quickly resell-
ing a high-end Dubai villa using a
loan provided by the chairman of
troubled Kabul Bank. Karzai is a
7 percent shareholder of the bank,
which is now being overseen by
Afghanistan's central bank.
Karzai, who has not been
accused of any wrongdoing, said
the villa sale and the loan to cover
for it were organized by Sherkhan
Farnood - who has since resigned
as Kabul Bank chairman - though
it was listed in Karzai's name. He
said he was uncertain about the
terms of the loan - or even if bank
funds were involved.
Just months after he bought the
property for $1.9 million, Karzai
said he sold it for about $2.7 mil-
lion. Again, he said, Farnood han-
dled the deal.
Karzai said that he has focused
on development in Afghanistan,
including $4 million he and five
others invested in a residential
project in Kandahar where 11,000
lots have been sold. They also have
used proceeds from the sale of the
lots to pay for roads, sidewalks,
electricity service, a sewage sys-
tem and water.
He said the project, which could
take a decade to complete, is gen-
erating revenue for the Afghani-
stan government - $2 million in
fees and taxes already and the
expectation of a total of $30 mil-
lion in payments by the time the
project is completed.
Karzai said he was living on
income he earned in the United
States, including that from a res-
taurant in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts. He said he recently sold
some of his businesses, includ-
ing another restaurant in Balti-
more, Maryland, to employees.
He said he also has sold a car busi-
ness that he opened several years
ago in Afghanistan, but remains
part owner of a cement producer,
which employees 1,500 people.
Thirty-four investors, including
Karzai, took a risk by investing in
the cement business, which he said
has lost between $900,000 and $1
million in each of the past three
years.
"I'm really looking forward to
the day when my activities will
be supported because I'm doing
exactly what the United States
intends to do in this country," Kar-
zai said. "And I was encouraged in
the beginning when my brother
had a good relationship with the
government, in the good old days.
I was encouraged to do more and
more. All of this has turned around
now to the negative."
U.S. investigating brother of
Afghan pres. for corruption *