8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, July 17, 1996

NEWS


MATLOCK
Continued from Page 2.
certainly won't force them."
Matlock contends he did nothing
wrong on the night of the incident.
Many members of r
the University
community have,
voiced their sup-
port of Matlock
and beliefs in
inherent race rela-
tions problems in
.DPS.
"You just don't
think something
like this is going to Matlock
happen to you
until it does," Matlock said in an inter-
view with The Michigan Daily.
Matlock said he knew "something
was in the works" Thursday night, but
did not know the charges would be
dropped.
"I think everybody kind of felt this
wasn't something that belonged in the
criminal court and shouldn't ever have
been there in the first place," Matlock
'"said. "Everybody's trying to move

beyond (the incident)."
Michael Vincent, the attorney repre-
senting Pressley and Kelley, could not
be reached for comment.
Matlock said he spoke with Pressley
and Kelley outside the hearing on
Friday. "We talked about people kinds
of things," he said. "We left with some
mutual appreciation of each other as
individuals."
Matlock had been scheduled to
officiate a charity basketball event
sponsored by the Black Volunteer
Network on the night of the incident.
DPS officers were originally called
to the scene by CCRB staff to aid in
crowd control, as the number of peo-
ple attending the event was higher
than expected.
Matlock said that because of the
crowding at the front door, he entered
the building through an exit door. DPS
reports indicate that Matlcok would not
stop when officers Pressley and Kelley
asked him to, and that he shoved one of
the officers.
Matlock was not originally charged,
pending an investigation of the incident
by the Michigan State Police, at the
request of the University. The state

police found that Pressley and Kelley
acted correctly and Matlock was for-
mally charged.
The DPS Oversight Committee also
began to investigate the incident and
DPS as a whole, at Matlock's request.
The committee suspended their investi-
gation in May, citing the upcoming
criminal trial as a reason to hold off the
their proceedings.
The oversight committee did pur-
sue its general investigation of DPS,
finding a a great number of people
perceived DPS officers as "hostile to
minorities" and "authoritarian and
rigid in their dealings with members
of the University community in gen-
eral."
Matlock said the incident was a
source of grief for him, his family
and the students who witnessed the
incident and were later questioned by
investigators.
"It shouldn't have gotten out of
control the way it did," Matlock said.
"I wish we (he and the officers)
could have had a greater exchange of
words so we could have avoided this
mess."
Matlock said he wants to put the inci-

dent behind him. "We have to look
beyond me, beyond the two officers, to
the bigger picture," he said. "We have to
press forward."
"There are major problems that are
DPS problems; it's a departmental
problem with relationships to minori-
ties and the campus community in gen-
eral," Matlock said. "My situation
brought it to a head."
"Despite the things we've done as an
institution, we have a long ways to go
before we are an institution that
respects and values all members of the
community," Matlock said.
Matlock said he sees a lot of room
for improvement in DPS. "I'm not an
expert on police relations, but it gets
down to.respect and dignity," he said.
Matlock said he is looking to com-
mittees investigating DPS to make con-
crete suggestions that will be imple-
mented.
The Campus Safety Commitee, abol-
ished by the University in 1994, is
being reactivated and will operate under
the direction of its former chairperson,
Paul Boylan, Dean of the School of
Music.
Boylan said he is just getting his reju-
venated committee started up. He said
the University is considering names for
the committee and consulting people.
He said he hopes to be ready to operate
by November, when the committee's
study of the issue of harassment on
campus can begin.
Law School Prof. Samuel Gross,
who chairs the oversight committee,
said it too will work to suggest
improvements in the coming
months. The committee was recently
granted new tools to carry out its
roles, which Gross said should make
a world of difference in the group's
effectiveness.
Gross said the committee will decide
in a few weeks whether or not to contin-
ue investigating the Feb. 17 incident.
Matlock said he will send a letter
to the oversight committee soon,
telling them he is no longer pursuing
a complaint against Pressley and
Kelley. He said he will ask the com-
mitte members to continue their
investigation of DPS in general.

U' researchers
work to develop.
optical lasers
By Anita Ciik
Daily Staff Reporter
As University researchers continue
to make advances in laser development
for eye surgery, people with eye dis-
eases have a better chance to undergo a
more successful treatment.
The University assistant professor of
ophthalmology Ron Kurtz said current
lasers often produce excess energy
which can damage important eye struc-
tures and tissue around the wound.
"So often the (eye) healing process
itself can cause more damage than the
original laser surgery," Kurtz said.
"The way we hope to do with (the ultra-
fast) laser is by limiting the amount of
energy that you have to use to perform
some surgical task."
One of the research scientists,
Xingbing Liu, said the ultrafast laser
will focus on a much smaller area of
the eye and will create a more central-
ized beam that can cause less inflam-
mation and scarring around the wound.
The ultrafast laser project, on which
researchers have worked for more than
a year, is a collaborative effort of both
the University Center for Ultrafa*
Optical Science and the WK.. Kellogg
Eye Center. It is mainly funded by the
University and organizations such as
the Natural Science Foundation.
Kurtz said researchers are planning
to apply the ultrafast laser to the treat-
ment of glaucoma, a disease that cre-
ates high pressure in the eye, causing
damage to the optic nerve.
tie said the most challenging aspect
of the research is to find out the bes
way to remove eye tissue by the las
and assure the least "response of the
body to the surgical trauma.'
Kurtz is optimistic about future
advances in his research.
"The next few years will really
determine where this laser is going to
be most effective," he said.

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