2A - Friday, February 24, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
2A - Friday, February 24, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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CRIME NOTES
Collision on Thievery on
Catherine two wheels
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
WHERE: Catherine Street.
WHEN: Tuesday at about
9:20 a.m.
WHAT: A two-vehicle
accident occured University
Police reported. The inci-
dent resulted in no injuries
and unknown amounts of
damage.
WHERE: 400 S. State St.
WHEN: Tuesday at about
4:15 p.m.
WHAT: A bicycle was
stolen from a bike rack
near Tisch Hall sometime
between 8 a.m. and 4:15
p.m., University Police
reported. There are cur-
rently no suspects.
Drawing
workshop
WHAT: A drop-in class
offering instruction in
drawing with colored
pencils. Register online at
annarborcenter.org. The
cost of the workshop is $10.
WHO: University of Michi-
gan Museum of Art
WHEN: Today at 11 a.m
WHERE: University of
Michigan Museum of Art
Bluegrass
benefit concert
WHAT: A concert benefit-
ing St. Andrews, a local soup
kitchen, will feature many
bluegrass and folk artists..
Tickets cost $30.
WHO: Michigan Union
Ticket Office
WHEN: Tonight at 7:30 p.m
WHERE: The Ark
CORRECTIONS
. An article in the Feb.
21 edition of The Michi-
gan Daily ("Bill banning
GSRA unionization heads
to full Senate") misstated
SAGU and the Attorney
General's position on
GSRA unionization. They
believe GSRAs are stu-
dents, not employees.
* Please report any
error in the Daily to
corrections@michi-
gandaily.com.
Sleep researchers have
discovered that waking
up during the middle of
the night is natural, the BBC
reported. Studies showed
that segmented sleeping pat-
terns may be more instinc-
tive to humans than sleeping
for eight hours consecutively.
After a senior-less team
last season, Michigan
will celebrate senior
night by honoring senior
guards Zack Novak and Stu
Douglass at the Crisler Cen-
ter on Saturday.
>>FOR MORE, SEE SPORTS, PAGE 8
Google is developing
glasses that function
as a "see though com-
puter display," and will pro-
vide information now found
on a current smart phone,
The New York Times report-
ed. The device will utilize
Google software.
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondayathrough Friday during the fall and
winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free ofcharge
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0
EDITOR'S NOTE: There are not more The art of
Crime Notes because the University relaxation
Department of Public Safety's crime
incident log, the Daily's source for Crime 'WHAT: Students can learn
tips for stress reduction,
Notes, was not updated last night. such as self-talk, mindful-
ness and deep breathing
exercises at this informa-
tional clinic.
WHO: Counseling and Pys-
chological Services
ORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes? Share them with your WHEN: Today at noon
owers on Twitter @CrimeNotes or find them on their new biog WHERE: Michigan Union,
room 3100
W
fficial says ASTUDENTS
Offcia sas rgentine train Fo
accident was preventable
Organization
failed safety tests,
corruption was
ignored for years
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
(AP) - Argentina's deadliest train
accident in decades was foresee-
able and preventable, the nation's
auditor general complained yes-
terday, saying years of failed safe-
ty tests and other problems had
given the government more than
enough reason to cancel the train
operator's concession.
Others pointed to high-level
corruption: years-old allegations
still awaiting trial that a former
transportation secretarytook free
vacations and other gifts from
executives of the Trains of Bue-
nos Aires company in exchange
for favorable treatment.
The TBA blamed government
price controls, saying that keep-
ing fares to less than 25 cents a
ride made it impossible to finance
improvements.
Rail safety experts, mean-
while, said modern trains are
built to withstand the kind of
hard stop that killed 50 passen-
gers and injured more than 700
Wednesday.
Newer cars resist the accor-
dion-like crumpling that shoved
hundreds into a jumbled mass
of limbs, metal and blood in the
first two cars when the commuter
train hit ashock-absorbing barrier
at less than 12 mph (20 kph). But
these cars were more than four
decades old, "Toshiba Classics"
that were refurbished after being
cast off by other urban systems.
President Cristina Fernandez
declared two days of mourning
and sent at least four Cabinet
ministers out to give news con-
ferences describing the govern-
ment's response to the tragedy.
None took questions.
One man who might explain
why passengers said he repeat-
edly struggled with the train's
brakes before the accident -
motorman Marcos Antonio Cor-
doba, 28 - remained in intensive
care and had yet to make a state-
ment.
The current transportation
secretary, Juan Pablo Schiavi,
said the train's speed while
approaching its final stop at the
busy downtown once station
was normal, that the motorman
was already slowing and that he
should have been able to stop dur-
ing the final 130 feet (40 meters)
from the point where the speed
was last recorded.
"Those last 40 meters today
remain a mystery," Schiavi said.
The crash happened after Cor-
doba had traveled the length of
the Sarmiento line - 14 stations.
Before him, another motorman
had driven the same route 10
times, since 2:45 a.m. Wednesday
morning. Union leaders said the
train was in good condition when
checked the day before.
Auditor General Leandro
Despouy, however, said TBA had
been failing safety requirements
since 2002. Many of these compli-
ance problems were raised in an
extremely critical report in 2008,
which recommended ending the
concession granted to TBA in
1995 during Argentina's privati-
zation era.
"Back in 2008 we had verifi-
cation of dramatic and alarming
brake problems," Despouy said.
Roque Cirigliano, TBA's trains
director and a cousin of the com-
pany's owners, discounted the
possibility of brake failure and
said human error might have
caused the crash. He called the
trains safe for travel, and said
TBA has spent more on mainte-
nance than other Argentine rail-
road companies, despite company
complaints that government lim-
its on ticket prices have depressed
revenues.
On its website, TBA says low
ticket prices mean passengers
don't cover even half the salaries
and benefits of its 4,500 workers.
Because the government keeps
prices low as a benefit to working-
class Argentines, the company
struggles to cover operating costs,
provide higher quality service,
and attract private financing to
fund improvements, it says.
The train company has been
tied to allegations of government
corruption.
Former Transport Secretary
Ricardo Jaime awaits trial for
allegedly approving millions
of dollars in government train
subsidies after accepting free
Brazilian vacation flights from
businessman Claudio Cirigliano.
Cirigliano's Grupo Plaza hold-
ing company owns both TBA and
competing bus lines.
The judge in the corruption
case, Claudio Bonadio, is now in
charge of the accident investiga-
tion.
Schiavi said yesterday's news
conferences and the government's
support of a thorough crash probe
by Bonadio proves Fernandez's
administration is acting respon-
sibly.
The train's "black box" record-
ings of conversations between the
motorman and control room were
already in the judge's hands, and
other evidence abounds, from GPS
data to cameras and other record-
ings as well as physical evidence
from the wrecked train, he said.
With 703 injuries among the
estimated 1,500 passengers, thou-
sandsofpeople desperatelyrushed
around Buenos Aires checking
lists of survivors and hoping their
loved ones weren't in the morgue.
Many of the dozen or more hos-
pitals that treated the injured said
they had no unidentified patients,
and by Thursday afternoon the
morgue had identified allSO fatali-
ties.
The Bolivian Embassy
announced that a pregnant con-
sular official, Nayda Tatiana Lez-
ano Alandia, was amongthe dead.
She left behind three daughters,
Argentina's state-run Telam news
agency reported.
Sabrina Espindola, 29, who
worked downtown by day and
studied to be a surgical assistant
until midnight each night, was
pulled from the first car, her hus-
band, X-ray technician Ezequiel
Mercado, told The Associated
Press.
such as creating the Bahi'i Insti-
tute for Higher Education in
Iran - but these methods have
not always been successful.
"Some days the government
would come and raid the facili-
ties where they had some equip-
ment or books or things like that
... more recently they've really
cracked down on it and shut it
down," Van de Fliert said.
He added that the University
could support the Baha'i stu-
dents by accepting their transfer
credits from the BIHE toward a
University degree.
"I know the Harvard Gradu-
ate School of Education actually
said that they would ... accept
(BIHE credit) .... to complete
degrees for Harvard Graduate
School of Education," he said.
"So I don't know if that's going
to happen here, but clearly that
could be an outcome of such a
thing."
Rackham student Sanam
Arab, president of the club, said
aside from raising awareness,
the club would like to serve as
a catalyst for further action.
He noted that at the Univer-
sity, James Wooliscroft, Medi-
cal School dean, has helped the
effort by teaming with other
deans around the country to
draft a letter to the United
Nations and Iranian government
against the unfair treatment to
Baha'I students.
"We are hoping that maybe
we can approach different deans
of the University as well and ask
them to doa similar thing," Arab
said.
Van de Fliert emphasized that
the club does not intend to put
down or criticize the Iranian
government.
"The Baha'i faith teaches that
we are well wishers of all people
and all governments," he said.
"Basically what we are trying to
do is just to bring to attention the
situation of the Bahi'i students
in Iran and then hope that this
will come to the attention of the
officials in the Iranian govern-
ment to have them open a way
for students ... to enter universi-
ty in Iran without fear ofoppres-
sion."
LSA junior Katayoon Sabet
Sarvestani said she came to the
United States in 2009 to escape
persecution in Iran. She was
studying pharmaceutical sci-
ence at the BIHE, but had to
leave after her professors were
arrested and the school build-
ings were shut down.
Sarvestani said professors
transformed their homes into
labs to help the students learn
chemistry and other physical
sciences after the government
shut down its facilities BIHE's
2008.
"They didn't want you to
know where the lab was actu-
ally located and nobody had the
address," she said. "(My pro-
fessor) said 'I will pick you up
from this street, the others from
another street, and I will take
you all to the lab.' We were just
going to a general chemistry lab
- nothing illegal - but it felt so
illegal."
Though the Baha'i students
and faculty have been dealing
with government opposition
since opening the BIHE, they
continue to try to find ways to
study and learn.
Sarvestani said the BIHE still
operates by allowing students
to take classes online and meet
oice per semester in Tehran.
She added that many of the stu-
dents travel to other countries
such as the United States, Eng-
land and Canada to earn their
degrees, and then return to Iran
to teach other students of their
faith.
"It's been around five months
(since) they arrested the main
professors of the university .
including the president and the
deans also," she said. "Some
of them are even graduates of
MIT and Stanford ... that were
back there teaching their fellow
citizens, but they were arrested
just because they are teaching in
that school."
Sarvestani said the Ira-
nian government does allow a
few students from the faith to
matriculate into the country's
universities in order to create
the impression that the Baha'i
students are welcomed.
"There are definitely less
than 50 Baha'i students who are
actually enrolled in university,"
she said. "After a few years, the
government will ask them to
leave."
LSA freshman Arya Ahmady
said Americans are lucky for
their vast freedoms and liber-
ties.
"You know sometimes we
dread or complain about classes *
and stuff here when in reality
people halfway across the world
only wish to have the opportu-
nities that we have," he said.
The club plans to hold an
event on March 27 to raise
awareness about the issue,
which will feature a documen-
tary screening and a panel and
interactive discussion about the
Bahu'i faith and the discrimi-
natory treatment its followers
receive in Iran.
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