The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
* 'U' defends training policy,
promises to 'cooperate fully'
Monday, September 13, 2010 - 5A
From Page 1A
gation.
Guillermo said that though
the organization filed the com-
plaint to protect the rights of ani-
mals, she also believes the course
doesn't provide nurses with the
best training available. Students
would receive better training by
using simulators instead of other
tactics like "thrusting" a tube
down a cat's trachea, she said.
"Unlike deadly animal labs,
simulators replicate human anat-
omy and simulators allow train-
ees to repeat procedures until
they get good at them," Guillermo
said. "This is about a choice to
provide sub-standard training for
the nurses in this course."
According to its statement, the
University aims to provide the
nurses with adequate training
through the use of both human
patient simulators and training
sessions involving animals. In
addition, officials have decreased
the number of training sessions
with animals and increased the
use of simulators, the statement
says.
"The procedures used on the
$TAPLETON
From Page 1A
that they'll start a diet tomorrow.
They keep on saying they'll start
it tomorrow but when tomor-
row comes that jelly doughnut
looks extra tasty and they suc-
cumb. Rodriguez may be saying
he doesn't want to run Robinson
more than 25 times every week
until the end of the season, but
f these results continue to be so
delicious, you can bet Robinson
will get the ball as many times as
it takes to win. And maybe, just
maybe, that will pay off.
Maybe Robinson will keep
playing the way he's playing.
Maybe when teams make Rob-
inson beat him with his arm, he
will. Maybe he'll stay healthy.
All of that could very well
happen (the jury's still out, in
my opinion, on whether or not
it's actually possible to game-
p1an around his speed). But that
last point remains a real con-
rern. We're two weeks into the
college football season, and Rob-
nson has taken two trips to the
gideline with apparent injury.
Each time, it hasn't been serious,
but the law of averages says that
if he continues to run the ball as
animals during training are
the same as ones that are per-
formed on human patients, such
as inserting a breathing tube or
accessing blood vessels and body
cavities for life support and other
therapeutic purposes," the state-
ment reads. "Some of these proce-
dures are the very same ones used
routinely by veterinarians when
treating animals at their clinics
- for example, intubation of cats
for spaying."
The statement also states
that most of the "small number
of cats" used in the course are
adopted afterward.
Despite the defense, Guillermo
said PETA is still moving for-
ward with the complaint and is
waiting to hear the results of the
USDA investigation. She added
that since filing the complaint,
the organization has heard from
anumber of concerned University
alumni.
"We will be talking to them
about how they can object to
this and we will probably move
forward with a campaign," she
said.
Guillermo added that the Uni-
versity's course is "an anomaly"
many times as he has the first
two games, it will be eventually.
And that's a possibility most
Michigan fans have blocked out
of their psyches in much the
same way they blocked out that
one time they walked in on their
parents.
But this goes beyond injury.
Even through passing, simply
relying on Robinson as much as
this team has is extremely dan-
gerous. One-man teams can only
go so far. It's true in any sport.
One of the arguments for
depending on Robinson so much
is that, should he get injured,
there are two very qualified
quarterbacks on the sideline
ready to step in. While that may
be true, there aren't two Robin-
sons. And this team simply relies
on him too much to proceed
without a hitch when he leaves
the game. If he accounted for
maybe half of his team's total
yards on Saturday, it would be
different. But not 94 percent.
It's essential to get the run-
ning backs involved. I realize
they weren't running very well
early on in the game Saturday,
but allowing them to take some
of the punishment and carry
some of the load will be invalu-
able toward alleviating some of
and that other institutions offer-
ing flight survival courses don't
use similar training methods
involving animals.
"The University of Michigan is
in the dark ages on this one," she
said.
However last December, a Uni-
versity team won a competition
assessing flight survival skills for
the third year in a row, according
to a UMHS press release.
In January 2009, a different
UMHS course came under fire for
using dogs to practice life-saving
procedures, when The Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medi-
cine - an organization funded by
PETA - filed acomplaintwiththe
USDA alleging that the profes-
sor of the Advanced Trauma Life
Support course lied to a Univer-
sity committee to get permission
to use the dogs for the course. The
complaint also alleged that the
use of dogs as training dummies
was in violation of the Animal
Welfare Act.
Shortly after the complaint
was filed, University officials
announced that the class would
stop using dogs and only use sim-
ulators for training instead.
the immense pressure they are
currently putting on Robinson.
Winning a football game by
yourself ain't easy, andhe's had
to do essentially that two weeks
in a row.
Once again, I don't mean to
take anything away from Robin-
son's performance - calling his
game-winning drive a "Heisman
moment" would be an under-
statement on par with calling
the Big House the "Pretty Good-
Sized" House. But Michigan has
relied on Robinson as much as
the Cleveland Cavaliers used to
rely on LeBron James, and that's
not a good thing.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly
had this to say regarding Robin-
son's workload:
"You run a quarterback 25
times, you have to have tough-
ness," Kelly said. "I'll let Coach
figure out if that's the case for ten
games. Coach Rodriguez knows
his team better than I do. We hit
him pretty hard today, but he's a
good, tough kid."
He is indeed a good, tough kid.
But even a kid as good and tough
as Robinson has his limits.
But then again ... does he?
- Stapleton can be reached
atjstap' -@umich.edu.
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