The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 4, 2010 - 5A AAPD: Assaults Michigan State weekend were not connected Students Against Surveillance meet in the Michigan Union last night to discuss a proposaI that woud prohibit the use of surveillance cameras in Ann Arbor. Campus group aims to block cameras for su-rveill*1ance fro-m coming! to city After cameras put up in Lansing, group wants City Council to pass measure By ELYANA TWIGGS Daily StaffReporter in a dimly lit and nearly empty room in the Union, William Leaf, founder of Students Against Surveillance, asked the photog- rapher in the room to obtain per- mission from the other members of the group before capturing the meeting. "This is a privacy club," he said. The meeting last night was called, Leaf said, because of the recent installment of police sur- veillance cameras in the Lansing area. "There is this idea that there is no privacy in public. But we need privacy in public in order to be free people," Leaf said after closing the wooden doors to the Sophia B. Jones Room. SAS isa new student organiza- tion that recently announced its plans to thwart the installation of surveillance cameras in Ann Arbor by encouraging the Ann Arbor City Council to pass The Ann Arbor Freedom from Sur- veillance ordinance - a measure to prevent monitoring of public areas in the city. The text of the ordinance states that cameras need to be banned in outdoor parks and residential neighborhoods but may be permitted on Ann Arbor NCAA From Page IA ing wrongdoing by the Michi- gan football program prompted University officials to launch an internal investigation into sev- eral issues within the program. The NCAA also began inves- tigating the football program in October 2009, leading to a notice of allegations that was publicly released in February. At the time, the NCAA alleged five violations: that the football program exceeded the number of coaches allowed to work with student-athletes and the number of hours student-athletes prac- ticed, that Athletic Department SHIRVELL From Page 1A shouldn't be there," she said. "And if Shirvell finds himself in a place where he sees Chris is present, he's instructed he needs to leave." However, Brown said there is an exception to the rule, say- ing that Shirvell and Armstrong could be at the same event in cer- tain situations. "It doesn't include intercolle- giate events, meaning they could both potentially be at a football game," Brown said. Brown said Shirvell's modi- fied trespass order carries a new clause that DPS routinely adds to modified trespass orders. The clause stipulates that Shirvell must "comply with all laws, rules and regulations while on cam- pus," Brown said. In an interview yesterday, blocks with unusually high crime rates. The ordinance also states that the footage should not be held by the state for more than two weeks if there is no inves- tigation involved and that live monitoring would be banned. According to Leaf, an ordi- nance of this kind has never been implemented previously in the city. Currently, camera technology has been installed in residential neighborhoods around Lansing, allowing the city's police depart- ment to view the 13 cameras put in place. There are no known plans for the installment of sur- veillance cameras in Ann Arbor. Leaf said he and other mem- bers of SAS believe that the cam- eras are useless and have not proven to be effective in limit- ing the incidence of crime, citing the minimal impact of increased surveillance measures in Great Britain. Leaf added that the ordinancee would not ban the use of surveil- lance cameras in Ann Arbor, but rather restrict it. "The academic evidence is on our side. We are actually giv- ing up our freedom for nothing." Leaf said. "It's putting the bur- den of proof on the police depart- ment." Leaf said if Ann Arbor is a model for medium-sized cities, the ordinance could have nation- al significance. According to Leaf, police offi- cials in Ann Arbor are not con- cerned with the problem. Leaf said that a preventative ordi- nance would be more effective if any surveillance proposals are staff monitored student-athletes in voluntary workouts against NCAA rules, that Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance," that the Athletic Department did not properly oversee the activities of the foot- ball program, and that a graduate assistant football coach attempt- ed to mislead the NCAA during their investigation by providing false information about his role in the matters. The University admitted to every allegation concerning the program as a whole in May when it sent its response to the NCAA. But Rodriguez disputed the alle- gation that he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance Philip Thomas, Shirvell's attor- ney, said he hasn't consulted his client yet, but that he has mixed feelings about the modification to the trespass order. "In general that portion of the decision that allows him 100-per cent full rights to go back on cam- pus and sporting events, that is gratifying. It was fair," Thomas said. "However, what I don't understand, and I'm not sure there is authority for, is a provi- sion in the letter that made refer- ence to the fact that if (Shirvell) came into some type of contact with Mr. Armstrong he would be obligated to leave." Thomas added, "I'm not cer- tain there is authority for that in the rules and regulations con- cerning the Department of Public Safety and I'm aso not certain that would even be Constitution- al." w But what steps Thomas will presented to City Council in the future. "Governments have abused their power very horribly in the past, and if they have the poseer to see where everyone is all the time, the abuse of power would be much worse with mass sur- veillance," he said. "It's a nasty feeling, and it's not one we should tolerate in Ann Arbor." The main challenge to SAS, Leaf said, is to get the issue of the breach of privacy into the minds of students on campus and resi- dents of Ann Arbor. Video surveillance in stores and other businesses would remain unaffected with the pas- sage of the ordinance. A main tenet to SAS's strat- egy, Leaf said, is to expand the network so that the organization can persuade an influential spon- sor to propose the ordinance to City Council. Leaf said he hopes the Michi- gan Student Assembly will pass a resolution for the restriction of camera surveillance during its meeting on Tuesday, adding that if the resolution were passed through MSA, more manpower would be generated. College Lib- ertarians is also in support of the ordinance, according to Leaf. "The lawyers we talked to said the ordinance text is good to go," Leaf said. But Diane Brown, spokes- woman for the Department of Public Safety, said she's "kind of confused" by the group's efforts, adding that she doesn't think SAS is aware of the number of cameras already in place in Ann Arbor. and did not monitor the activities of his program sufficiently. Asked by the Daily in an inter- view in September whether that change was more difficult to swallow because his name was attached to it, Rodriguez said it waS. "Sure," Rodriguez said. "I think anytime you have your name on anything like that it's just something that you ... have a hard time dealing with, so that's one reason why we made our case, but we'll see what hap- pens." As part of their response, University officials announced several corrective measures being taken internally and a set of self-imposed penalties, take next on Shirvell's behalf remain unclear. As Thomas said yesterday, he hadn't had an opportunity to discuss the modi- fication with his clent. "I have not had an opportunity to speak about it with my client yet, so where we're going to go from here I don't know," Thomas said. However, Thomas said he wouldn't rule out further action, which could include an appeal or litigation against DS. "At this juncture I would not be in a posture where I could rule out sonme type of further action regarding that provision," Thomas said. "We have the right of course to go to court and then in addition to that in the Univer- sity rules and regulations there is actually a provision for seek- ing some sort of limited review regarding the Department of Public Safety's decision." "It makes it seem like folks don't necessarily recognize that there are a lot of cameras that capture what's going on with people on a regular basis," Brown said. Brown added that the Uni- versity does not plan to install cameras in places other than buildings or residence halls. Michael Kaufman, a senior in the School of Music and mem- bers of SAS, said the campus and the city are downplaying the pri- vacy concerns. "This (privacy issue) leads to consolidation of power instead of decentralization. This is some- thing that is fundamental to all of our identities," Kaufman said. "We have become more numb to these privacy issues with social networking." Public Policy junior Bennett Stein, a member of the group, said despite the openness of the Internet, the issue of privacy transcends generations. "We keep being told that we are a generation that doesn't want to have privacy and that we are a society that doesn't care about privacy," Smitt said. "Facebook and other technology have blurred those lines a bit, but when it comes down to it, people do value their privacy." LSA senior Joe Klaver said he's pushing for the measure because he believes that "just because there isn't a problem doesn't mean there won't be a problem." "Once you spend the money to get them up it's going to be hard to get the money getting them down," he said. which included cuts to the num- ber of hours student-athletes in the football program would be required to practice over the next two years - the minimum probation period allowed by the NCAA - and a 40-percent reduction in the number of qual- ity control staff. University officials pled their case during two days of closed- door hearings in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions in Seattle, Wash. in August. Many University officials have said they are ready to move beyond the alleged rules viola- tions, including Athletic Direc- tor David Brandon who said he was "eager" to move forward in May. Shirvell's initial ban from cam- pus came amid a controversy sur- rounding Shirvell's blog, "Chris Armstrong Watch," and several appearances Shirvell made at campus events that Armstrong attended, including an MSA meeting where Shirvell called on Armstrong to resign as MSA president. Armstrong had sought a per- sonal protection order against Shirvell last month but dropped his petition on Oct. 28, after attor- neys for Armstrong and Shirvell reportedly reached a resolution outside of court. Armstrong has since retained Attorney Deborah Gordon and the two have filed complaints with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, seeking an investigation into Shirvell's actions and necessary disciplin- ary actions, up to and including disbarment. By LILLIAN XIAO Daily StaffReporter An Ann Arbor police official said in an interview yesterday that authorities believe that two assaults that took place during the weekend of Oct. 15 are not related. The first case occurred shortly after midnight on Oct. 15 when an 18-year-old University student was struck on the head with aglassobottle at Fifth Quarter, causing significant injury to his right eye and severe lac- erations to his mouth, AAPD Detec- tive David Monroe said. He added that the suspect was described as a college-aged white male with light brown hair that is slightly longer or curly in the back. Police officials at first suspected that a particular fra- ternity was involved in the assault, but after a period of investigation, police have not gained any addition- al information fromtheearlierleads, Monroe said. "We had some initial information thatmaybefraternitymemberswere involved, but at this point, we're not certain about it at all," Monroe said. "It came to a point where wait a see- TURNOUT From Page 1A who are often attendinguniversities or beginning careers in new loca- tions. "A lot of midterm elections focus on local issues and young people are often in a transitional stage in their life," Traugott said. "So their involvement and engagement with local issues is less and therefore they don't see or attach as much signifi- cance to participation in these local elections as they do in a presidential campaign." Traugott also called voting "an acquired habit" and said many young people are still developing political activism skills and learn- ingthe importance of voting in local and national elections. He said that decline in youth voting paired with large numbers of older voters who supported Republican candidates due to troubles in the economy, led to the shift in power seen in this election. "It's not surprising to see the incumbent party lose seats in the midterm election, especially with the economy when the conditions are bad," Traugott said. "The Dem- ocrats have had unusually large majorities, so I think it was rea- sonable to expect they would take unusually large losses." Political Science Prof. Vincent Hutchings echoed Traugott's sen- timent, saying that because the economy has been such a prominent issue in the political conversation both locally and nationally since President Barack Obama took office in 2008, voters were hoping that a change in party power may lead to increased solutions. "Clearly, the mostsalentissue for most voters - and one doesn't need the exit polls to see this - would be the economy," Hutchings said. "I think the concern with the econo- my didn't work to the Democrats' advantage, because they're the party in power and there's a widespread perceptionthat the economy's doing very poorly. That's never going to work for the incumbent party. " Hutchings said that a growth in Republican seats in the Senate and the House doesn't necessarily mean that Obama will struggle with main- taining his presidency in the 2012 election. He added that Obama's presi- dency may mirror Ronald Reagan's in the fact that Reagan faced simi- lar economic difficulties during his time in office, but because of eventu- al economic growth throughout his term in office, he was able to salvage his presidency after the Republi- cans lost many seats in the midterm results of 1982. "(Reagan) went on to win in 1984 because the economy had turned around," Hutchings said. "If that were to happen, the incumbent president in this case - Barack Obama -would have a pretty good chance of winning actually." Brendan Campbell, chair of the University's chapter of College Democrats, said he was disappoint- ed that the student voting percent- age was so low and attributed the loss of Democratic seats, at least in part, to the decline in youth voting. "Ithink it'spretty clear that when students come out to vote, we elect people who put policies in place that exist for students and we elect Democrats," Campbell said. "When we don't come out and vote, when ond, this could be anyone who was at the bar that night." Detective Monroe described a second assault at about 10 p.m. on Oct.16, following the Michigan foot- ball team's loss to Michigan State. The 22-year-old victim, a Washt- enaw Community College student, suffered significant injuries to his teeth and face when struck and kicked by his attacker. The victim reported that the attacker said "Go State" and the victim responded with "Go Blue," Monroe said. Mon- roe said the stranger countered with "F***you" and the victim responded with the same expletive. Monroe said the suspect was described as 5'8" to 6' with a bald or shaved head, muscular build and was either a white male with darker complexion or a black male with lighter complexion. The attacker's girlfriend, a white female with curly black hair, threatened to call the police, Monroe said. He added that the police received five different calls about the incident from nearby witnesses. The AAPD has yet to release the names of any victims. we stay at home on Election Day, we end up electing people who really plan on cutting education funding." Campbell said that instead of focusing on the implications of Tuesday's election may have on Obama's presidency and the 2012 election, Democrats across the nation are looking to unite and con- tinue moving onward. "I know Democrats right now aren't focused about what's going to happen in 2012. Right now, we're just looking towards working together and making sure that we continue to work to move this coun- try forward," he said. Charles Bogren, chair of the Uni- versity's chapter of College Republi- cans, said he too was disappointed with the low voter turnout among young people. Bogren said he thinks political "apathy" is why students failed to turn out at the polls. However, Bogren disagreed with Campbell by saying the shift towards electing more Republicans was due to Democrats, who voted for Obama in 2008, crossing over and voting Republican in Tuesdays election. "I think a lot of the people who increased voter turnout in 2008 are people who went out and voted for Obama and then became disen- franchised with the whole admin- istration in the past two years and decided tojustsit on their hands and notgo out and vote," Bogren said. Yonah Lieberman, a member of Voice Your Vote - the nonpartisan Michigan Student Assembly organi- zation that strives to improve elec- tion participation - said he thinks students often don't turn out to the polls because they dont believe they play an important role in the politi- cal process. "i think students don't really understand the privilege of the vote because they think they have more important things to do," Lieberman said. "And goingtoclass is important and doing your work is important, but the voting takes 15 minutes." Lieberman said he thinks tests and exams given by professors on Election Day keep students from going to the polls, and is something that should be banned so that stu- dents have more time to focus on election related issues. "An election is more important than a test," Lieberman said. LSA sophomore Erin Breed said she thinks students don't vote in midterm elections because they don't realize how policies decided in local elections affect them. "People don't realize that the elec- tions actually affect them and the people around them," Breed said. "They think that our rights and laws were magically put in place, they don't have anything to do about it." LSA freshman Caitlin Morath said she tried to register to vote based on her permanent address, but her application wasn't approved in time to vote on Tuesday. Despite this, Morath said even if she could vote, she didn't feel knowledgeable enough about the candidates or know what Ann Arbor needs most since she's new to the area. "For me I feel like during the midterm, I don't know what's best for Michigan at this point," Moreth said. "I don't know how long I will stay here and what this will mean for my future." - Daily News Editor Eshwar Thirunavukkarasu contributed to this report.