The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 28, 2013 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, February 28, 2013 - 5A
ZARAGON
From Page 1A
ed parties in September 2012,
said when they awoke, they were
being sexually assaulted. In the
most recent case, the student
reported that the suspect inap-
propriately grabbed her.
University Police spokeswom-
an Diane Brown said the crime
alert was sent out after the stu-
dent in the Feb. 15 case agreed
to file a report with the Ann
Arbor Police Department, which
has jurisdiction over the case
because it occurred off campus.
The student had initially report-
ed the assault to a University
employee, but did not want to file
a police report.
The suspect has been identi-
fied as a 31-year-old Asian male
with short black hair and brown
eyes. He is between 5'6" and
S'7" tall and weighs 140 pounds.
According to the description, he
looks younger than his actual
age.
The two other students have
not filed a report with AAPD, but
they did report the assaults to
University employees.
Brown said Ann Arbor Police
have made initial contact with
the suspect, but he has not been
arrested at this point in the
investigation.
LSA senior Guanheng Wu, a
resident of the seventh floor, said
the reported apartment hosts
parties regularly.
Wu's roommate, LSA senior
Brian Cutler, doesn't know any
of the residents of the reported
apartment, adding that people on
the floor generally keep to them-
selves.
LSA junior Brian Kulick,
another resident of the seventh
floor said he was surprised an
incident like this could occur
in his apartment building, but
added people should be careful
at parties regardless of the par-
ty's location.
"Everyone should take away
that we need to keep an eye out
for each other at parties," Kulick
said.
LSA and Kinesiology junior
Mallory Campbell, an eighth-
floor resident of Zaragon Place
said she believes building man-
agement should evict the suspect
in order to ensure the safety of
the buildings residents.
"It's pretty scary to think that
someone living in my apartment
is sexually assaulting people,"
Campbell said. "It's a little bit
scary to think that I could be on
an elevator with him."
- The University's Sexual Assault
Prevention and Awareness Center
is open Monday through Friday
9 a.m. to Sp.m. in the Michigan
Union. It also offers a 24-hour
crisis line at (734) 936-3333.
- Daily News Editor Katie Burke
contributed reporting.
SELF-CARE
From Page 1A
with him that can keep him from
needing to ever have to use drugs
again?"' he continues. "(People
believe) once an addict, always
an addict."
Trish Meyer, program direc-
tor for outreach and education at
the Depression Center, said other
events during the conference
focused specifically on actions
students could take to cope with
depression.
"The closing panel was about
the new online tools that stu-
dents can use for their self-care
that incorporate strategies from
cognitive behavioral therapy,"
Meyer said. "These are sort of
coping skills that students can
use to help manage depression or
even to just manage your every-
day stress rather than just clini-
cal depression or anxiety."
Meyer said the conference
provided a unique opportu-
nity for the department and 21
University schools and depart-
ments to work together to raise
awareness about self-care. She
believes the support from the
community shows a Universi-
ty-wide understanding of the
prominence of depression on
college campuses.
"The reason (the schools and
departments donated money)
was so that we could offer free
registration to all students,"
Meyer said. "I think it's really a
testament to the University of
Michigan campus that differ-
ent departments recognize the
importance of recognizing this
issue."
Sharon Smith, director of
career and counseling services at
Aquinas College in Grand Rapids,
Mich., has previously attended
the annual conference. Once
again, she said the conference
proved useful for mental health
professionals.
"It's really good every time,"
Smith said. "We are already
doing everything that they have
talked about in the sessions (at
Aquinas College), just in a small-
er budget. It's good to be assured
that we're doing what we should
be doing."
LEO
From Page 1A
been meeting generally weekly
since starting talks in Novem-
ber," he said. "My understanding
is they're making good progress"
Fitzgerald stressed that the
negotiations are best left for the
negotiators.
"It's our approach that it's
important that negotiations take
place at the bargaining table,"
Fitzgerald said.-"It's really impor-
tant that we honor that process
and not talk about what may be
proposed or what may be dis-
cussed outside the bargaining
table."
According to Robinson, LEO
wants to have a contract ham-
INTERNET
From Page 1A
College also experienced techni-
cal issues.
Elwood Downing, a spokes-
man for Merit, said the compa-
ny's technicians determined the
source of the issue was at one of
Merit's core routers located in
Chicago, where Merit engineers
were able to determine the core
router was not forwarding the
packets to the greater Internet.
Once the company discovered
the issue, Downing said engineers
LOANS
From Page 1A
ing plans for policymakers to
consider that might help avoid a
repeat of the mortgage meltdown
for today's student loan borrow-
ers."
Cordray and Secretary of Edu-
cation Arne Duncan submitted a
report to Congress last July that
showed there are more than $8
billion in defaulted private stu-
dent loan balances. The report
mered out at least two weeks
before the new restrictions on
unions take effect in Michigan on
March 25 because members must
wait two weeks to vote on a con-
tract.
A resolution proposed Tuesday
night in support of "equal pay for
equal work" was stalled on the
floor of the CSG assembly and
won't be voted on until at least
March 12 - the next time the
assembly meets.
Resolutions require two reads
before they can be passed. The
second read of a resolution is held
at a later meeting, and a motion
that the resolution be put on its
second read that same meeting
- which requires two-thirds sup-
port of the assembly - did not
pass.
Robinson said he felt the
administration held the opinion
of CSG in high esteem and having
the support of the assembly could
only have helped LEO's cause.
"Central Student Government,
as the representative body of U
of M students, could have spo-
ken with some authority about
how students feel so, I think
that would have influenced the
administration," he said.
He added that had he known
the procedures of CSG, he would
have submitted the resolution
earlier.
Rackham representative Pat-
rick O'Mahen, a member of the
Graduate Employees' Organiza-
tion, was frustrated by the delay.
While he noted that just because
students voted against a second
read, that didn't mean that the
assembly did not support the
resolution. Still, he noted that the
time-sensitive nature of the reso-
lution would have made a vote
worthwhile.
The resolution drew a fair
amount of discussion from the
assembly and multiple represen-
tatives said they weren't comfort-
able voting on a resolution they
had just read.
Still, even CSG President Man-
ish Parikh - despite not having a
vote in the assembly - weighed
in on the issue, arguing that a
second read should be held. He
said he trusted the judgment of
O'Mahen and Rackham repre-
sentative Ben Alterman - two of
the most vocal proponents of the
resolution.
Whistle -blower
lawsuit claims
Navy kickbacks
Scheme claimed charges were first brought in
February 2011. Mariano, of
to go back as far as South Arlington, Va., remained
2004, first filed in his job until 2011, according
to court filings. He has pleaded
in 2006 not guilty in the criminal case.
His lawyer, Robert Corrente,
said his client had not yet been
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - served by the lawsuit. He would
A recently unsealed whistle- not comment on the allegations
blower lawsuit claims a former contained in the lawsuit.
civilian Navy employee from Dutta-Gupta and two others
Virginia and a now-defunct have pleaded guilty in federal
Navy contractor engaged in a court in Rhode Island in the
bribery and kickback scheme criminal case. Dutta-Gupta
going back to at least 2004. admitted paying $8 million in
The lawsuit, first filed in bribes over more than a decade.
a federal court in Georgia in His lawyer did not return a
2006, predates by more than message seeking comment on
four years criminal charges the lawsuit.
brought by federal prosecutors Patrick Nagle, a former exec-
in Rhode Island in 2011 that utive for ASFT, pleaded guilty
allege a similar scheme by some to charges of conspiracy to
of the same people cost the gov- commit bribery for signing off
ernment $10 million. on false and inflated invoices
A spokeswoman for the U.S. that were submitted by subcon-
Department of Defense would tractors even though he knew
not comment on why the con- the work had largely not been
tractor and Navy employee done. Another man, Russell
were allowed to continue their Spencer, has admitted acting
alleged criminal conduct for as a middleman for funneling
years after authorities were kickbacks to Mariano through
first alerted to it. a company he owned. He plead-
The lawsuit says the allega- ed guilty to conspiracy to com-
tions were reported in May mit bribery.
2006 to the Defense Depart- None of the three has been
ment and the U.S. attorney for sentenced.
northern Georgia. Other filings Mariano's father, Ralph
say the government was decid- Mariano Jr., of North Provi-
ing whether to intervene in dence, R.I., and his girlfriend,
2007 but had not yet completed Mary O'Rourke, a former exec-
an investigation. utive at ASFT, have pleaded not
A spokeswoman for the guilty to the federal criminal
Department of Defense said charges. The younger Mariano
she could not comment on and O'Rourke are charged with
investigations, while the U.S. counts including conspiracy,
attorney's office in Georgia theft of government property
referred questions to its coun- and wire fraud. Mariano Jr.,
terpart office in Rhode Island. who is in his 80s, is accused of
A spokesman in Rhode Island tax evasion.
would not comment. The whistle-blower suit
Both cases center on alleged was first brought in May
wrongdoing by former civilian 2006 by Rekha and Karan
Navy employee Ralph Mari- Vasudeva, who say they
ano and Anjan Dutta-Gupta, were involved in setting up
founder of the Navy contractor a Roswell, Ga., company
Advanced Solutions for Tomor- that was used to issue ficti-
row, or ASFT, which had offices tious invoices to ASFT and a
in Georgia and Rhode Island company owned by Spencer.
and has since gone out of busi- It makes a number of other
ness. allegations against other peo-
The criminal case and the ple and companies, includ-
whistle-blower suit say Maria- ing about bid-rigging in U.S.
no, who worked for the Naval Army contracts. An Army
Undersea Warfare Center, had spokesman said he could not
power to add or refuse millions comment on matters under
of dollars in payments to con- investigation or on open law-
tractors and used that power to suits.
orchestrate a scheme in which While the criminal case
he would approve payments to accuses Mariano and Dutta-
ASFT, which would then fun- Gupta of wrongdoing back
nel some of the money back to to 1996 and makes similar
him and others through shell allegations to the 2006 whis-
corporations. tle-blower suit, many of the
ASFT held $120 million specific claims in the cases
in Navy contracts when the are different.
-\ov3D A
moved everything over manually
to another path.
Rob Belinski, a representative
for Information and Technol-
ogy Services operations, con-
firmed Tuesday that students
on University computers could
access CTools, umich.edu and
Wolverine Access because they
are housed on the University's
intranet, which is powered by
local servers. However, any non-
University websites were inac-
cessible.
Although University e-mail
could be accessed, it appeared
that no mail could be sent or
received.
Downing said the problem
only affected a small percent-
age of people served by Merit
Network, as the malfunction
occurred after normal busi-
ness hours. Merit engineers are
reviewing the incident further to
determine if itwas a hardware or
software malfunction at the core
router.
LSA sophomore Jeffrey Butler
said he had three midterms com-
ing up this week and was "livid"
when he lost access to his cours-
es' resources on the CTools web-
site Tuesday night. He said he
usually studies late at night and
the Internet malfunction was
"extremely inconvenient."
"I got through it, but it
unnerved me a lot," Butler said.
LSA freshman Ryne Menhen-
nick said being unable to access
CTools was an issue for him the
night before he had an exam. He
said he solved the complication
by going to the Union and using
site computers to print materials.
"It made studying for mid-
terms difficult ... I was pretty
stressed out," Menhennick said.
-Daily News Editors Alicia
Adamczyk and Taylor Wizner
and Daily Staff Reporter Danielle
Stoppelmann contributed reporting.
also noted that because private
loan repayment options are less
flexible than federal ones, bor-
rowers are having a more difficult
time paying these loans off.
The CFPB says it's beginning
to gather information on the stu-
dent loan burdens, the options
available for students to lower
monthly loan payments, exam-
ples of alternative payment pro-
grams in other markets and "the
most effective mechanisms for
communicating with distressed
borrowers."
Pam Fowler, the executive
director of the University's
Office of Financial Aid, said in an
e-mail interview that the CFPB's
intentions are identical to that of
the Pay As You Earn program,
but stressed that both programs
are extremely important for the
many students that have taken
out loans.
"There is so much informa-
tion out there about college, the
cost of college and student debt,
that it would make most students
think twice or three times about
going to college at all-and that
would be the true tragedy here,"
Fowler wrote.
Fowler said effective commu-
nication with borrowers is essen-
tial for successfulloan repayment,
and the source of such a message
is especially critical.
"If (the message) comes from
the government, I fear students
ho are in trouble will think it
is not a helpful message but
a punitive one and ignore it,"
Fowler said. "The message has
to come from someone viewed
as non-threatening by the stu-
dent and I doubt that is the gov-
ernment."
Frat raises funds
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for pledge surgery
Emerson College's
Phi Alpha Tau
to pay for gender
change procedure
BOSTON (AP) - A college
fraternity in Boston has raised
more than twice the money
needed to pay for a new pledge's
gender transition surgery.
The Phi Alpha Tau frater-
nity at Emerson College began
raising money for sophomore
Donnie Collins early this
month after his insurance com-
pany wouldn't cover his breast
removal surgery. Their initial
goal was $4,800, but dona-
tions had exceeded $17,000 by
Wednesday afternoon, more
than double the procedure's
$8,000 price.
In a note posted this week
with a thank-you video on You-
Tube, Collins said the surgery
with a Springfield plastic sur-
geon would be scheduled this
week.
"I don't even know what to
say because the words 'thank
you' don't do it anymore," Col-
lins, 20, said on the video.
"I know that for me, person-
ally, feeling guilty and feeling
like, 'Am I worth all this?' has
been huge theme of my exis-
tence in general," he said. "You
just have to let it go because if
people want to help, you have to
let them help you."
Extra money donated in the
ongoing campaign will go to a
group that gives grants for sim-
ilar surgeries for transgender
people.
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