The Michigan Daily - Sunday, July 22, 1984 - Page 5 VIRGINIA BUSINESSMAN OBTAINS MEDICAL DEGREE State investigates degree-buying scam LANSING - State licensing officials say they first became alarmed after being informed that an Alexandria, Va. businessman had been arrested for, buying a medical degree for cash. The man allegedly got his degree from a Dominican Republic medical school known as CETEC. The state COLLEGES subsequently was informed that CETEC and another school, CEFAS, had been closed. Officials have been looking into the credentials of would-be doctors who graduated from Caribbean medical schools involved in a degree-selling scandal. "We are concerned and the Michigan Board of Medicine has been looking into the matter," said Dr. James Fenton of Bay City, chairman of the board. Fenton said licensing officials have found no evidence that any of the 180 degrees allegedly involved in the fraud scheme are held by doctors of applican- ts of licensure in Michigan. The state has about seven pending application for limited licensure from graduates of CETEC and one from a CEFAS graduate. A committee has been formed to evaluate the credentials of the applicants and determine whether there was any evidence of fraud. Herman Fishman of the licensing department said action may come as early as the board's Aug. 8 meeting. About 30 graduates of CETEC are working in Michigan now, but all are in training programs and none have full licenses to practice, Fishman said. Their backgrounds will be checked as well, according to Fenton and Fishman. "We are considering the necessity ... of studying the credentials of all (foreign educated) applicants and establishing some method of validation, documentation and authentication," he said. This does not include graduates of Canadian schools, which are subject to the same reviews as American ones. Fenton said it is "much too early to tell" whether the board will go this route, however. Fishman said about 7 percent to 8 percent of the medical school graduates who apply for Michigan licenses each year hold degrees from foreign schools. That figure has been "firmly constant," he said, despite the growing popularity of so-called off-shore medical schools in the Caribbean. - United Press International WSU president is preferred choice for Hawaii post HONOLULU - Wayne State University president David Adamany is the preferred candidate for the presidency; of the University of Hawaii, according! to an informal poll of the UH board of regents. Two members of the 11-member board confirmed for the Honolulu Ad- vertiser' that the straw vote was unanimous. If the university is unable to convince Adamany to take the post, two Hawaii candidates have the inside track, the paper said. They are .interim UH president Albert Simone, 48, and Mary Bitterman, 40, director of the Institute of Culture and Communication at the East -West Center. The outgoing president of Michigan State University, Cecil Mackey, 55, is also among eight candidates being con- sidered for the post, the paper said. Others on the finalist list are Paige Mulhollan, 49, executive vice president of Arizona State University; Robert Bersi, 52, chancellor of the University of Nevada; Richard Kosaki, 59, UH vice chancellor for academic affairs; and Terence Rogers, 59, dean of the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine. Mulhollan and Bersi seem to have made commitments which would make it difficult for them to accept the position. Mulhollan was expected to be named this week to head the new ASU- West campus. Bersi has just signed a new two-year contract with the Nevada regents. UH regent James Gary, who is leading the search for a new president, has refused comment on the reports. He would say only that the new president probably will be named by the end of August, although he or she might not assume the post until January. - United Press International Salvadoran U. holds classes after 4-year wait Some classes may be held starting next month on the main campus of El Salvador's National University for the first time in more thanfouryears. The campus, in San Salvador, has been closed since it was invaded in June, 19890 by govenment troops. Until this May, when control of the campus was given back to university officials, it was guarded by 75 ar- med national guardsmen. The various schools of the university have been offering their classes for the past four years in makeshift locations throughout city. Damage and theft by the military during its stay on campus is estimated at $20 milin. The government has provided no funds to helprehabilitatethecampus- - The Chronide of Higher Education Baptist minister criticizes Baylor University profs Phillip Johnson, an associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Baylor University in Texas, was criticized for being a Mormon by the fundamentalist Baptist minister Zig Ziglar. Bob Patterson, a professor of religion, was named by Ziglar as one - who praised Charles Darwin as one of his "scientific heroes." According to Baylor president Her- bert Reynolds, Ziglar belongs to "a group within the Southern Baptist Con- vention who apparently would like to assume the role of a priestly class to in- struct and direct the rest of us." "The issue is the teaching of the Bible as the inerrant word of God by men and women who believe that it 'is the inerrant word of God," Ziglar said. "Young men and women going to a Baptist college should be given the assurance that their faith will not be ridiculed." Although Baylor University is operated by the Southern Baptists' Texas Convention, Ziglar acknowledged that neither the national convention nor any of its officers has any authority over the university. - The Chronicle of Higher Education Senator criticizes MSU budget Michigan State University is facing serious financial problems due to poor administrative decisions, according to a Michigan state senator. "The administration is conveniently using the Legislature to blame for their fiscal problems," said Sen. William Sederburg (R-East Lansing). "The blame should be shared (by MSU and the state(. MSU is expected to receive $182.3 million in state appropriations in 1984- 85 - $200,000 more than the University will receive. But MSU will continue to have finan- cial troubles because the ad- ministration relies on forward funding to get through the school year, Seder- burg said. "Unfortunately, MSU's budget decisions last year cause (1984-85) to be a catch-up year," he said. Forward funding refers to the money a university receives for the first quar- ter of its fiscal year, which begins 'July 1. The state's fiscal year begins Oct. 1, so it lends money to the university and then deducts it from the following year's budget allocations. - The State News S.C. school sued over student's death A $5 million lawsuit has been filed against the University of South Carolina, a fraternity, and a private security service, by the mother of a student shot to death at a 1979 homecoming weekend party. Annie Louise Benjamin, mother of slain student Terrell Johnson, is suing USC, Kappa Alpha Psi Inc., and Southern Security Services Inc. Johnson, a 21-year-old senior, was shot in the head Oct. 6, 1979 at a Kappa Alpha Psi party in the social room of Bates dormitory. USC sophomore John Houston fired shots at the party, killing two students and wounding six others. John Aiken, wounded in the back, is suing for $500,000. Both lawsuits claim that security measures for such a large party open to the public were inadequate and that USC, Southern Security, and Kappa Alpha Psi were aware of complaints about campus security prior to the in- cident. USC Legal Counsel Paul Ward said USC has not been served with the suit. He said a suit was filed for Johnson in 1979, but it was dismissed without prejudice, which means it may be filed again within the statute of limitations. "We simply weren't ready to go to trial at that time. We are ready now. The obvious question is whether or not USC is protected by sovereign im- munity," said attorney Frederick Hill, who is representing both Johnson's estate and Aiken. South Carolina state law provides that state agencies have sovereign im- munity from lawsuits, which means they can only be sued in a limited num- ber of cases or if they give their per- mission. Houston pleaded guilty to the murder of Johnson and 19-year-old Patrick McGinty, who was killed on the pedestrian crosswalk outside of the dormitory. He is serving two con- secutive life sentences. - The Gamecock Republican Senate race unknown to most voters (Continued from Page 2) politician that a person can be," said the 48-year-old candidate, who spent 25 years in the Marines and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lousma rejects the carpetbagger label and has tried to recast that issue to his advantage as well. People who serve their country in the military, he says, should not be barred from public office, "nor should they become people without a state." IN EARLY July, Lousma began making more responses to Dunn's at- tacks. He criticized the negative tone of his rival's campaign, and made a few jabs of his own, suggesting that Dunn had a poor record of supporting President Reagan when he served in the U.S. House. Despite his late start, Lousma has been ahead in fund raising. He has raised $518,262 this year, compared with Dunn's $220,888. Dunn, however, also took in about $100,000 last year before Lousma even announced his campaign. Much of the Dunn cam- paign's money has come from the can- didate himself. DUNN AND Lousma both style them- selves as conservative supporters of President Reagan, although Dunn breaks with the president on abortion and both favor the Equal Rights Amen- dment. Lousma believes President Reagan wants too much for the Pentagon, calling for a "strong, lean, mean, tough defense." He does not support the over- throw of the Nicaraguan government, and believes the United States must "take every opportunity to bring the Soviets to the negotiating table." Domestic content legislation and im- port quotas should be used as "levers in order to bring fair and free trade back to the auto industry with Japan," Lousma believes. He says the state needs to grab a bigger share of the defense contracts and thinks the state can double its farm exports by 1990. He also calls for creation of a Great Lakes authority to both preserve and develop the waterway.