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Friday, February 28, 2014
michigandaily.com
ADMINISTR ATION
Summary
meetings of
the regents
draw ire
John Negroponte, former US Deputy Secretary of State and former Director of National Intelligence, discusses his view on leadership and foreign policy at Weill
Hall Thursday. Negroponte focused on his career in the foreign service to answer audience questions on current events.
Speaker chastised at vi gi
Ford School hosts
controversial
diplomat John
Negroponte
By ANASTASSIOS
ADAMOPOULOS
Daily StaffReporter
Protesters were lined up
Thursday night to condemn the
Ford School of Public Policy's.
guest speaker John Negroponte,
a former director of national
intelligence, deputy secretary of
state and currently a professor
at Yale University.
Public Policy Prof. Melvyn
Levitsky, who previously served
terms as the U.S. ambassa-
dor to Brazil and Bulgaria, led
the event, which discussed
Negroponte's work. Following
the discussion, a vigil awaited
Negroponte outside the Annen-
berg Auditorium to chastise
Negroponte's alleged crimes.
Negroponte served as an
ambassador to Honduras, Iraq,
Mexico, the Philippines and the
United Nations. The discussion
was largely about Negroponte's
career and his leadership posi-
tions.
During the discussion,
Negroponte said the United
States often gets too involved
in international issues, and said
other nations are able to find
stability on their own.
"Based on my experience in
the foreign policy, I don't think
we're too good at nation-build-
ing," he said. "I don't think we
do that quite very well. I don't
think we are too good at regime
change."
Negroponte, ambassador to
Iraq from May 2004 to 2005,
questioned whether the inva-
sion in Iraq happened too soon.
He was also very critical of tor-
ture as a means of extracting
information. He denied that
there were covert torture cen-
ters while he was in Iraq and
referred to Abu Ghraib - the
prison in Iraq where members
of the U.S. military and the
CIA tortured inmates in 2003
and 2004 - as "a great humili-
ation and embarrassment to the
United States." He added that
was not sanctioned by the gov-
ernment.
"If you want your troops to
be treated properly under the
Geneva Convention you better
treat other people likewise," he
said.
Negroponte said his tenure
in Honduras -from November
See SPEAKER, Page 3
Detroit Free Press
lawyer questions
board's commitment
to Open Meetings Act
By CLAIRE BRYAN
Daily StaffReporter
While the monthly meet-
ings of the University's Board of
Regents could be considered effi-
cient, complaints have recently
been surfacing that the Univer-
sity's governing body is abusing
Michigan's Open Meetings Act.
At the open and public meet-
ings, held by the regents, mem-
bers and executive officers
address and pass new policies
for the University and offer an
opportunity for the public to
share thoughts or concerns, as
required by law. However, the
regents rarely publicly disagree
with one another at the meet-
ings or even make statements for
the record. Most discussions are
assumed to occur behind closed
doors and in informal sessions.
According to Section 3 of
Michigan's Open Meetings Act,
"all meetings of a public body
shall be open to the public and
shall be held in a place available
to the general public."
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, state Rep.
Tom McMillin (R-Rochester
Hills) held a legislative hearing
before the Michigan House of
Representatives Committee to
listen to the public's general con-
cerns about the act.
Herschel Fink, one of the
Detroit Free Press' legal coun-
sel and a speaker at the hearing,
stated publicly that the regents
are "serial abusers of the open
Meetings Act."
Fink called for a constitutional
amendment to make clear that
the regents, as well as the Board
of Trustees at Michigan State
University and the Board of Gov-
ernors at Wayne State University,
are bound by the Open Meetings
Act and Freedom of Information
Act.
"The quote-unquote 'formal
monthly meetings' are nearly
perfunctory," Fink said. "They
simply rubber-stamp the regents'
work committees to which the
public is not allowed to partici-
pate or be present."
Fink is not the first to com-
plain about the regents' secrecy.
In 2010, University alum Rob-
ert Davis sued the regents for not
See REGENTS, Page 3
FACULTY
Dean of School
of Ed. receives
national award
SPEAK OUT
Loewenberg Ball
helped create
program to train
new teachers
ByYARDAIN AMRON
Daily Staff Reporter
Deborah Loewenberg Ball,
dean of the School of Education,
received the 2014 Edward C.
Pomeroy Award for Outstand-
ing Contributions to Teacher
Education, the University
announced Thursday.
The award will be presented
Monday by the American Asso-
ciation of Colleges for Teacher
Education - a national alliance
of public and private colleges
and universities dedicated to
educator training - at its 66th
annual meetingin Indianapolis.
Loewenberg Ball said she was
notified about the award via
e-mail a few weeks ago.
"I was very surprised,
extremelyhonored - it's a major
organization of all the institu-
tions in the country that prepare
teachers - so it's just a very big
honor because there are about
1,400 different universities that
prepare teachers," Loewenberg
Ball said. "It's a very nice rec-
ognition of the amount of work
we've been doing here at Michi-
gan."
Gail Bozeman, vice presi-
dent of meetings and events at
AACTE, said the award is very
prestigious and that Loewen-
berg Ball is a more than deserv-
ingrecipient.
"Part of the award deals with
recognizing outstanding con-
tributions to teacher education,
especially around an individual
or an institution that may have
produced or developed materials
that will promote more effective
methods of teacher education at
the collegiate level," Bozeman
said.
Bozeman said out of 14 can-
didates, Loewenberg Ball stood
out for her notable involvement
in numerous national teaching
initiatives including Teaching-
Works, an organization dedi-
cated to improving the quality of
new teachers.
Loewenberg Ball said his-
torically, first- and second-year
teachers often report learning
the bulk of their skills only upon
entering the classroom.
"What TeachingWorks is set-
ting out to do is to say that kids
really deserve to have skillful
teaching every year that they're
in school, and people who agree
to become teachers deserve to
be trained well enough to be
responsible for children," she
said.
TeachingWorks is dedicated
to. three main pillars: defining
the key knowledge and prac-
tices a new teacher needs before
See DEAN, Page 3
Students protest John Negroponte following his discussion about foreign policy at Weill Hall Thursday. The oppo-
nents of Negroponte claimed that he is a war criminal for his activities across several countries.
THURNAU SERIES
Professor draws inspira tion
from multiple mediums
ANN ARBOR
AATA may
expand its
operations if
vote succeeds
$700,000 plan is on
to the voters for final
approval of more
transit services
ByEMMA KERR
Daily Staff Reporter
The debate continues over the
expansion of the Ann Arbor Area
Transportation Authority.
The future of the AATA's ser-
vices is hinged on a proposed
$700,000 millage that will appear
on the May 6 ballot in three Washt-
enaw County communities. While
the "More Buses" campaign cham-
pions connecting people and better
serving Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and
Ypsilanti Township, the opposing
campaign, "Better Transit Now,"
questions whether expanding the
current system of transit is best
when there may be other - and
potentially better -alternatives.
State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
Arbor) and councilmember Chuck
Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) support
the referendum while other coun-
cilmembers remain undecided in
the matter. The referendum boasts
a 44-percent increase in transit
services at the cost of $33 per year
for residents whose homes at val-
ued at $100,000. This transit plan
would include extending both eve-
ning hours and weekend hours, as
well as services for the elderly or
See AATA, Page 3
Melissa Gross uses
experience to take
interdisciplinary
approach
By PAULA FRIEDRICH
Daily StaffReporter
In Rembrandt's painting
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.
Nicolaes Tulp, inquisitive doc-
tors in ruffled, white collars
and goatees lean over a cadaver
lit in the soft focus of the paint-
er's signature light.
A print of this piece of inter-
woven science and art is per-
haps nowhere better placed
than where it hangs above the
desk of Melissa Gross, associ-
ate professor of movement sci-
ence, in the Central Campus
Recreation Building.
"I'm really drawn to the
edges," she said. "To the in-
betweens. That's where I feel
comfortable."
Recently honored with an
Arthur F. Thurnau professor-
ship, Gross has appointments
in both the School of Kinesi-
ology and the School of Art
& Design. In her Behavioral
Biomechanics Laboratory, she
uses motion capture animation
to quantify the way movement
changes when emotion does.
This line of questioning means
her research reaches across
and pulls from psychology,
technology, art, physics and
movement science.
Thurnau professors are
honored for their exceptional
undergraduate teaching and
innovation. The award comes
with $20,000 as well.
After finishing her Ph.D. at
the University of California,
Los Angeles, Gross worked as
a research scientist at the Vet-
erans Affairs hospital in Palo
Alto before comingto the Uni-
See PROFESSOR, Page 3
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