Oehundo seiriee One hundred two years of editorial freedom Volume Cill, No. 4S Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, May 19, 1993 %(-1993 The Michigan Daily' Researcher wins case against 'U' director By BRYN MICKLE DALY STAFF REPORTER Students who plagiarize can get expelled.Researcherswhodothesame can cost the University a lot of money. Last week, a Washtenaw County CircuitCourtjury awardedinexcessof $1 million to a University re- searcher who charged the school with failing toshield her under the Ad man state of Michigan's Whistleblower's Protection Act. The Whistleblower's Act protects employees from threats, firing or other forms of retaliation if they report sus- pected violations. Carolyn Phinney, a researcher in the Institute of Gerontology, accused the University of mishandling allega- tions that her mentor, Marion Perlmutter, had taken credit for her research. In 1989, Phinney charged Perlmutter with stealing a box of data, attempting to deny her a $1 million research grant, breaking an employ- ment agreement and denying first au- thorship on a research paper. The jury agreed with the allega- tions. It found Richard Adelman, di- rector of the University's Institute of Gerontology, in violation of the Whistleblower's Act when he circu- lated false reports abouther and threat- ened to fire her if she did not drop the charges. The jury also ruled Perlmutter had stolen Phinney's scientific theories. Phinney's attomey said Adelman was afraid that the case's publicity would cost the Institute a $6.1 million research grant. As a result of the guilty verdict, Adelman was ordered to pay $989,200 to Phinney. The jury also ordered Perlmutter to pay Phinney an addi- tional $130,300 in damages. The jury dismissed Perlmutter's counterclaim that she had been de- See Sum Page 2 Head of national service speaks at Law School W By ANDREA MACADAM DAILY STAFF REPORTER OnSaturday,University faculty and students got a chance to hear about President Clinton's national service program from the man who is heading Director of the Office of National Service Eli Segal spent the day in Ann Arbor talking to faculty members,Law School graduates, and students about MKoHBal the program and the importance of Eli Segal addresses the crowd at last Saturday's Law School community service in general. graduation The firstpanof thenational service Universities may begin distribution By J.B. AKINS explained, "Directgovernmentlending "Most often the terms on which DAILY STAFF REPORTER eliminates the need for students to deal students sign for a loan don't change. The current way students now re- with private lenders. They can justdeal But sometimes the government may ceive loans will soon change now that with their school and fill out just one extend these beneficiary repayment Rep. Bill Ford (D -Ypsilanti) has had application making the process much terms to some students," said Margaret his way. simpler." Rodriguez, an assistant director of fi- The House Education and Labor According to the proposal, students nancial aid at the University. CommitteeapprovedFord'sproposal, willhave arange of flexible repayment Ifaschoolchooses toparticipate by the Student Loan Reform Act earlier options. Students will be allowed to acting as the loan distributor, it will be this month. repay their loans based on a small per- given a small processing fee for each If approvedby Congress, the pro- centage of their income. Students can application. posalwillreplacethe GuaranteedStu- also choose to take low-paying com- The government benefits by not dent Loan program with loans funded munity servicejobs.Orthey maychoose paying subsidies to private lenders. directly by the federal government. to pay it all off at once, with no penalty. "Currently the government subsi- Tom Butts, vice president for gov- These repayment terms willnothelp dizes private lenders who distribute ernment relations for the University current students. student loans," Rodriguez said. program would allow young people to earn up to $5,000 towards college per year for two years of service in education,healthandhumanservices, public safety or the environment. The second part of the agenda, which would establish a student loan program funded directly by the fed- eral government instead of by banks, was approved by the House Educa- tion and Labor Committee Wednes- day. Segal first met with U.S. Rep. See SEGAL, Page 2 of loans "The government will be able to provide loans at wholesale prices be- cause they won't have to deal with private lenders," she added. "Direct lending would eliminate the insurance premium that students must pay when dealing with a private lender. The government loan interest rates will be .6 percent cheaper than private loans and the loan origination fee will be lowed to 3.65 percent of the total amount of the loan," said Butts. The proposal is now in the House of Representatives. The Senate will debate it in June. Azari Student Association was created to increase student awareness about plight of Bosnian Muslims By EMILY NEWMAN DALY STAFF REPORTER Althoughnews of therapes,eth- nic cleansing and outright war tak- ing place in Bosnia-Herzegovina hasn't moved most students to ac- tivism, the University's Azari Stu- dent Association has been denounc- ing the actionsof the Bosnian Serbs since its formation early this year. While the Azari Associationis a worldwide organization fighting the ethnic conflicts in all parts of the world, the University's chapter has devoted the majority of its time and effort to raising student awareness about the situation in Bosnia and the way it is being treated by the intemational community. "We don't think the ethnic con- flicts in the world are being ad- dressed in a correct manner," said Rackhamstudent and Azarifounder Bahram Taheri. The 30 or so student members of Azari believe the 14 month war be- tween the Bosnian Muslims and the Bosnian Serbs has been handled poorly by the international commu- nity from the beginning. The group believes the largest problem facing the persecuted Muslims in Bosniais the United Nation's imposed arms embargo. The arms embargo prevents any arms sales to Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, while the embargo effec- tively blocks the Bosnian Muslims from obtaining arms, the Bosnian Serbs are still able to obtain anms from Serbia. The Azari group favors arming the Bosnian Muslims rather than military intervention by U.S. or United Nations troops. "The United States needs to push with its fullest strength to lift the arms embargo on Bosnians so they can fight their own fight," Taheri said. Fellow Azari member Rahim Armat agreed and blamed the news media for distorting the need for an embargo. "Bosnians are brave enough and strong enough to fight for them- selves," he said. Late last semester, the Azari As- sociation hosted a presentation in Rackham auditorium to raise stu- dent awareness. Taheri estimated that 250 attended the presentation which focused on the rapes of BosnianwomenbySerbiansoldiers. Taheri said the group will hold no formal meetings this summer, but added members still living in Ann Arbor gather for discussion.