© 2010 Sterling, Hoffman & Co. ISSN 1947-5888 www.SaginawValleyJournal.com

‘Mystery Masturbator’ Caught With State D.N.A. TestsU N I V E R S T I Y P O L I C E

In a case that plagued the University Police De-partment for years, details have finally emerged from multiple incidents, dating from as far back as 2004, regarding an intruder that frequently broke into SVSU dorm rooms and masturbated over students as they slept.

Although the case has been closed now for over a year, The Saginaw Val-ley Journal has uncov-

ered information never be-fore released to the public.

During the fall semester of 2004, university police began receiving reports of a dark, shadowy figure lurking in dorm rooms and outside windows in the middle of the night. In cases detailed by university police incident reports, sometimes female students would awaken with towels covering their faces, with semen on their beds, or to a figure standing over them or walking around in their rooms. This activity regular-ly occurred until it abruptly

ceased in November of 2004.Three years later, similar

occurrences recommenced with descriptions matching the previous figure. On Oct. 19, 2007, a blanket was recov-ered from one of the crime scenes and was sent to the state crime lab to be tested for semen. Four days later, the police department was noti-fied that the blanket tested positive for semen and that a D.N.A. profile had been made.

Finally, on Feb. 8, 2008, two male students placed a 911 call when they returned home to find an “unknown Asian

male” in their room wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. A university police patrol car raced to the scene and spotted an individual who then went inside another apartment. He was found inside one of the bedroom closets and arrested for home invasion, according to Sergeant Strain of the Uni-versity Police Department.

Soon thereafter, the police department obtained a war-rant to obtain a saliva sample from the perpetrator to com-pare his D.N.A. profile to the profile on file matching the previous semen sample. Af-

ter a long nine-month wait, the state crime lab had com-pleted all tests. The result was a match. The police had captured their elusive se-rial masturbator: Brenden Doolittle, an SVSU student.

“According to the Dis-trict Court in Saginaw, Mr. Doolittle was sentenced last year to 30 days in jail, 24 months probation, and fines/cost,” wrote University Po-

lice Chief Ron Trepkowski in an e-mail message to The Saginaw Valley Journal.

Mr. Trepkowski says that Mr. Doolittle’s sentence was so low because of a loophole regarding his actions inside the dorm rooms he invaded. Simply put: his actions once inside the rooms were per-fectly legal. The department

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Mr. Gilbertson opened the address by touting the uni-versity’s growing enrollment as a sign of progress for the university.

“I’m proud that once again this semester’s enrollments are strong and evidence a continuing commitment on the part of our students and their families who sacri-fice to take advantage of the opportunities you provide,” he said.

Enrollment this winter is at 10,124 students, who are taking some 113,443 credit hours. This represents an increase of 6.58% in individual stu-dents and 7.99% in credit hours from last winter.

“All-in-all, this picture is a very positive one. It is, of course, far too early to offer any predictions about next fall; but early trends in admissions applications give us optimism about contin-ued strength in SVSU’s appeal to prospective students,” Mr. Gilbertson said, “These figures are important not only as evidence of SVSU’s success

in fulfilling its mission, but also because sound enroll-ments are absolutely critical for the fiscal health of the University.”

Because of declining state support, Mr. Gilbertson says the university has done its best to prepare for even tight-er times that lay ahead.

“The trend of diminish-ing support from the State of Michigan continues and may possibly take an even more precipitous downturn in the years ahead,” he said. “ For several years now a structural deficit in the State Budget has been camouflaged with one-time patches - tobacco settlement money, invasions of “rainy day” funds, and most recently the availability of federal “stimulus” dollars. These temporary measures have been used up, and this Legislative session - and next year could be even worse - will have to deal with the stark reality of revenue short-falls and the unappealing options of tax increases or se-vere cuts in State funding for programs and institutions.”

Mr. Gilbertson also touched upon the problems

SVSU president Eric R. Gilbertson ad-

dressed university officials, students,

and the campus community late last

month with an upbeat State of the

University address despite hard economic times

and an uncertain future regarding state appro-

priations.

By Luke C. RemillardTHE JOURNAL

See UNIVERSITY, page A4

February 15, 2010A Campus Newspaper at Saginaw Valley State UniversityVol. III No. 2

THE SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL.

Pick your poison: tax increases or severe cuts for programs and institutions.

SVSU Students Raise Over $5,700 For Haiti VictimsCAMPUS JOURNAL A4

“For several years now a structural

deficit in the State Budget has been

camouflaged with one-time

patches — tobacco settlement money, invasions of ‘rainy

day’ funds, and most recently

the availability of federal ‘stimulus’

dollars. These temporary

measures have been used up, and

this Legislative session - and next

year could be even worse...”

Eric R. Gilbertson,President, SVSU

ADMINISTRATION

DWYER, BRANDIMORE TO REPLACE MAUROVICHBy Michael WestendorfTHE JOURNAL

Transgendered ‘Cliks’ Lead Singer Coming to CampusCAMPUS JOURNAL A4

Recent Graduate Enters Race for 95th State House SeatCAMPUS JOURNAL A4

Retiring vice president of student services and enrollment management Bob Maurovich’s position will be split, SVSU p r e s i d e n t Eric R. Gil-bertson an-nounced late last month, and the two roles will be filled by Merry Jo Brandi-more and Jim Dwyer, respectively.

Mr. Dwyer will serve the university as vice president of e n r o l l m e n t management. Mr. Dwyer has nearly 30 years of work e x p e r i e n c e at SVSU. His current posi-tion is as-sistant vice p re s i d e n t for stu-dent services and enrollment management, a post he has held since 2003. Most recently, he has been the interim director of in-ternational programs, and prior to that, he worked as the direc-tor of admissions for 22 years.

Ms. Brandimore will be the new vice president of student services while retaining her title as dean of students. Her depart-ment will oversee athletics, coun-

By Luke C. RemillardTHE JOURNAL

See NEW VPS, A4

Dwyer

Brandimore

HEALTHY, BUT STILL FRAGILESTATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS

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YEARS

PE

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+6

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TUITION INCREASES

GRAPHIC/SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL

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YEARS

ST

UD

EN

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FALL ENROLLMENT1999-2009

GRAPHIC/SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL

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20

09

+3

.26

%

GRAPHIC/SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL

GENERAL FUND REVENUE BY SOURCE

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STATE APPROPRIATIONS TUITION & FEES OTHER

1990 62% 35% 3%2000 50% 46% 4%2010 28% 70% 2%

related to the university’s retention rates in a direct and matter-of-fact way.

“One big issue both the Enrollment Management and Student Services Divisions - as well as the rest of us - will have to work on in the months and years ahead is our University’s still disap-pointing rates of student degree completion. We need to be self-critical and candid about this matter,” he said.

He said that one of the best ways to prevent students from leaving the university would be to increase how prepared they are before they enroll.

“The loss of students through attrition places enormous pressure on our admissions efforts, and it will be increasingly difficult to maintain enrollments if we continue to lose students at the rates they now leave.”

A portion of the address was dedicated to the yearly staple of tuition increases, however Mr. Gilbertson pointed out that the univer-sity is successfully control-

Gilbertson

See D.N.A. TESTS, A4

February 15, 2010The Saginaw Valley Journal© 2010 Sterling, Hoffman & Co.

news briefs THE SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL.A STERLING, HOFFMAN & CO. NEWSPAPER

Luke C. RemillardGeneral Manager

Newsroom(206) 350-1785

Advertise(206) 666-4998

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The Saginaw Valley Journal is published by the Sterling, Hoffman & Co., L.L.C.P.O. Box 1074, Midland, Michigan 48641.

Letters to the EditorTo submit a letter in response to an arti-cle for publication in the newspaper, you may send an e-mail message to letters@saginawvalleyjournal.com. We regret that, owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply personally to every letter. To contact the General Manager directly, please send an e-mail message to luke@sterlinghoffmanco.com.

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Program Board Delays Concert As Senior University

By Kenneth M. VanfleetTHE JOURNAL

Officials Have Been Left In Dark Over Group’s Plans

After much press and hype, Program Board, an organiza-tion that coordinates student events, has chosen to delay its spring concert for the student body of SVSU until the fall be-cause of logistical concerns. However, senior university officials have been reluctant to accept that a concert will even happen at this point.

“It kind of has to be re-ally planned out for it to fly,” says Kimberly Brandimore-Horton, a staff advisor to Program Board, “We’re go-ing to start planning out for a fall concert right now.”

The organization for-mally voted to delay the

concert during one of its weekly meetings this month.

“We’ve been waiting a re-ally long time for the venue confirmation side of it, it’s getting to the point now, that if we did do it in the spring, we’d be cramming two months of work into two weeks,” Program Board presi-dent John Reno told the group before it voted for the delay.

Dean of Student Ser-vices Merry Jo Brandimore told The Saginaw Valley Journal that the concert is far from being a sure thing.

“We’ve been in the hole with our concert business,” she says, “They were told, don’t go down the road too far with this concert idea, because Dr. Maurovich would want to

be involved in the process.”Robert Maurovich is the

vice president of student ser-vices and enrollment man-agement. According to Dean Brandimore, Mr. Maurovich’s department would have to ‘float’ Program Board fund-ing if it went into the red with concert expenses, as it did in 2007 with a university concert.

“He (Mr. Reno) can’t go out on a limb without the organization supporting it,” says Dean Brandimore.

Mr. Reno recently told The Saginaw Valley Jour-nal that the organization was looking at a list of spe-cific artists for the concert, however after The Journal filed a Freedom of Informa-tion Act request for that in-

formation, Program Board officials have been back-tracking from claiming they have specific artists in mind.

“Then Kim’s out of the loop if that’s the case, but they can’t move on it,” Dean Bran-dimore says regarding Mr. Reno’s comments regarding specific performing artists.

“This is just me think-ing in ‘John-speak’: they have ideas they would like to see and they were just thinking about that,” adds Ms. Brandimore-Horton.”

The bottom line, Dean Brandimore says, is that Program Board will have to put together an ex-tremely compelling argu-ment to host a concert.

“The Dow [Event Center] is

interested in partnering. We’re not in a position to do busi-ness, because we don’t have that kind of money,” she says.

Mr. Reno also said that the organization was prepared to spend up to $60,000 of student money on the con-cert, however those com-ments were rebuked from Dean Brandimore as well.

“To budget of $60,000, that’s not the discussions we’ve had, and he’s not the treasurer,” she says, “The organization needs to know how to conduct communica-tion, I understand, hypotheti-cally, if they were putting a bid out there or working with an agent to put in place a de-

New Student Academic Journal To Publish

Have you written a good essay for one of your political science courses? Would you like others to see your brilliance? The Political Science Student Associa-tion (PSSA) invites you to submit your good essays for publication in a new journal of political sci-ence writing that we are creating. The first issue will appear at the end of this semester.

Any paper that you have written while at SVSU is eligible. The competition is open to all SVSU students. You may submit up to three essays.

If you have any ques-tions, please contact journal editors Kasey Bey (kcbey@svsu.edu) or Tracy Thiel (tethiel@svsu.edu).

The deadline for submission is today, Feb. 15, 2010.

Submit an RTF format file to Professor Erik Trump at ekt@svsu.edu.

Include a cover page with the following information: Your name; course and professor for which the essay was written.

Date that essay was written; Your major or minor; your class stand-ing (Fr, So, Jr, Sr); and your e-mail address.

Accepted essays will be proofread and edited for readability, and they may be edited for length.

Newspapers Stolen, Reward Offered

A small number of Saginaw Valley Journal newspapers was stolen the evening of Monday, Jan. 25, between 9:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. A representative from the newspaper reported the theft to the SVSU cam-pus police department at around Midnight, saying that approximately 600 newspapers, with a total value of $2,100, were taken. The newsstand was immediately replen-ished.

Police Officer Lu-cas Huss said that the department was review-ing the security cameras that are discreetly placed in university hallways and that leads would be forthcoming. The news-paper is offering a re-ward for any information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) involved and plans to pursue both criminal and civil charges against the perpetrators.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Office Lucas Huss at (989) 964-4141 or mail@saginawvalley-journal.com.

Have a news tip, event, or issue you would like to see in The Saginaw Valley Journal? Please send an e-mail message to news@saginawvalleyjournal.com. Anonymity, if requested, is guaranteed.

ISSN 1947-5888

Inside The JournalCAMPUS EVENTS

New Year’s FormalThe College Republicans of SVSU held their first annual New Year’s Reception, a formal gathering of conservative students, dis-tingueshed guests and elected officials.

PROGRAM BOARD

Transgendered Speaker ComingProgram Board voted earlier this month to use $450 of student money to bring a transgendered speaker to SVSU for Gender Awareness Week. The allocation resolution passed 16-0.

PROGRAM BOARD

No Fall ConcertAfter much press and hype, Pro-gram Board, an organization that coordinates student events, has chosen to delay its spring concert for the student body of SVSU until the fall because of logistical concerns.

ADMINISTRATION

New VPs at SVSURetiring vice president of student services and enrollment manage-ment Bob Maurovich’s position will be split, and the two roles will be filled by Merry Jo Brandimore and Jim Dwyer, respectively.

UNIVERSITY POLICE

DNA Evidence Leads to CaptureIn a case that plagued the Univer-sity Police Department for years, the Saginaw Valley Journal names the student who was caught break-ing into student dorm rooms and masturbating over his victims.

CAMPUS NEWS

Dollars for HaitiA collective fund raising effort at SVSU, dubbed “Dollars Make a Difference to Haiti”, has generated over $5,700 for the victims of the Jan. 12 Haitian earthquake, a mag-nitude 7.0 quake that destroyed much of the countryside.

ALUMNI HAPPENINGS

Dietrich to Run for Coulouris’ SeatGreg L. Dietrich, chairman of the Saginaw County Democratic Party and recent SVSU graduate, is looking to replace Andy Coulouris, who recently announced he will not be seeking reelection.

CAMPUS FACILITIES

Parking Problems?SVSU has admitted current park-ing woes because of the large increase in enrollment this past fall. Plans are in place to build new parking lots on the campus and maps have already been drawn.

ADMINISTRATION

State of the University AddressSVSU president Eric R. Gilbert-son addressed university officials, students, and the campus commu-nity late last month with an upbeat State of the University address despite hard economic times.

CorrectionsAn article in the Jan. 25 issue

incorrectly stated that an Internet outage hit the campus of SVSU on the morning of Jan. 3 caus-ing campus computer systems to

Because its voice is loud and far-reaching, The Saginaw Valley Journal has an ethical responsibil-ity to correct all its factual errors, large and small, promptly and in a prominent reserved space in the newspaper.

operate at just 62 percent, or 120 megabytes-per-second, of their normal bandwidth capacity. The outage occured on Jan. 13.

See CONCERT, A4

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Transgendered Lucas SilveiraComing To Campus On Mar. 23

By Kenneth M. VanfleetTHE JOURNAL

Program Board voted ear-lier this month to use $450 of student money to bring a transgendered speaker to SVSU for Gender Awareness Week. The allocation resolu-tion, which passed 16-0, will see Lucas Silveira, the lead singer of the queer, Toron-to-based band, The Cliks, come to campus on Mar. 23.

Hillery Glasby, an In-structor of English at SVSU and member of the Gen-der Studies Committee, requested the funds from Program Board during their General Assembly meeting.

“SVSU’s name is going to get out there for doing this,” Ms. Glasby said while ap-pealing to the board to pass the resolution, “This is going to bring in a whole bunch of student who might be gay.”

Mr. Silveira, who still has the general appearance and voice of a woman, has “hesitated to undergo tes-tosterone therapy (normally included in the transition process) as it may alter his singing voice,” reads a flyer that was possed out by Ms.

Glasby to Program Board members Wednesday night.

‘Transgender’ is a gen-eral term applied to a vari-ety of individuals, behav-iors, and groups involving tendencies to deviate from the normative gender roles.

“I think it’s a very good idea and it’s in the budget.” said Ashlie Tillman, trea-surer of Program Board, dur-ing the discussion portion of the debate for the allocation.

Program Board presi-dent John Reno echoed Ms. Tillman’s comments. “I think this is a great program,” he said, “I love the idea.”

Ms. Glasby asked the board for $450, which is only a portion of the total cost ($1,550) to bring Mr. Silveira to campus. Other funding is coming from the office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Behavioral Science, the Gender Studies Com-mittee, and Living Proud.

Mr. Silveira will be on campus the night of Tues-day, Mar. 23, after a show-ing of the film Boys Don’t Cry, to answer questions.

“We want students to have a chance to ask those awk-ward questions that we all want to ask,” Ms. Glasby said.

The next day, Mr. Silveira will be making some class-room visits and on Thurs-day, he will give a public lecture and do some singing.

Ms. Glasby pushed to have Mr. Silveira stay at The H Hotel, an upscale business hotel in Midland.

“We don’t feel comfortable having him stay in Saginaw because he is transgendered,” she said without giving more details or clarification before leaving the meeting early for a long drive to Mt. Pleasant.

Mr. Silveira’s band, The Cliks, have toured nationwide, and according to Ms. Glasby, the band is the first queer band signed to a major re-cord label (Tommy Boy). Mr. Silveira has also appeared on the television shows L.A. Ink and Showtime’s The L Word.

Ms. Glasby included a photo of her GLBTQ Litera-ture class meeting with Mr. Silveira in Detroit last winter.

“Lucas has a unique and inspiring story about fac-ing change in a world that rigidly defines its citizens as either male or female, and it makes sense to give students the chance to hear what he has to say,” she wrote.

By Luke C. RemillardTHE JOURNAL

Greg L. Dietrich, chair-man of the Saginaw County Democratic Party and recent (December) SVSU graduate, is looking to replace Andy Coulouris, who recently an-nounced he will not be seek-ing reelection in the 95th District for the Michigan House of Representatives.

Mr. Coulouris and his wife Natasha, who leads the Sag-inaw County Public Health Dept., shocked many citizens by walking away from their highly public posts with an-nouncements separated only by days. The couple has said they did so to spend more time with their family, as they have two young children at home.

Mr. Dietrich is currently serving a term as trustee on the Buena Vista board

of trustees, a post to which he was elected in 2008. For-merly, Mr. Dietrich served in the U.S. Air Force as a crew chief for F-16 fighter jets. He also served on the C i t i z e n s D i s t r i c t C o u n c i l (CDC) for downtown rehabilita-tion for B u e n a Vista in 2 0 0 6 .

“Serving as vice chair of the CDC we gave the town-ship the “go- ahead” to do what ever it takes to get the Fort Saginaw Mall property back in the hands of the com-munity,” Mr. Dietrich said on a campaign Web site, “The Fort Saginaw property is the hub of our community and I feel once we gain site control B.V.

will soon be able to actively compete for good paying jobs in the Saginaw Valley.”

That plan came to fruition in November of last year, af-ter the mall was demolished.

Mr. Dietrich enters a race in a district that both Par-ties admit would have eas-ily re-elected Mr. Coulouris.

“I don’t think we’re go-ing to put anyone against Coulouris,” Tim Kelly, chair-man of the Saginaw County Republican Party recently said at an SVSU College Re-publicans meeting before Mr. Coulouris’ announcement.

It’s now unclear whether the G.O.P. wants to risk put-ting up a candidate to face-off against Mr. Dietrich.

Mr. Dietrich did not re-spond to e-mail messages seeking comment about his campaign by press time.

Saginaw County Dem Chair Hopes To Replace CoulourisLocal lawmaker accepts lobbyist position in Washington with Dow Corning Corporation

Dietrich

could not charge him with indecent exposure, because the act was not committed in a public place. The only charge that they could throw at him was unlawful entry, a misdemeanor with slap-on-the-wrist consequences.

Mr. Trepkowski says that the department con-tacted State Representa-tive Andy Coulouris about closing the loophole.

The Saginaw Valley Journal reached out to Mr. Doolittle, however he did not respond to e-mail messages seeking comment. Ironically, a Twitter username linked to a Brenden Doolittle in Michi-gan is: nocturnal_chaos. Po-lice officers said that Mr. Doolittle worked overnight at a local hotel, and confirmed similar incidents there as well.

ling costs and that tuition increases only make up for a depletion in state funding. This year, SVSU raised its tuition 6.3 percent to make up for a 3.2 percent decrease in state appropriations.

“Our University’s costs do remain well under control. We have continued to serve more and more students with less and less state funding. And we have also implement-ed cost-saving measures that make SVSU the most efficient public university in Michigan - and perhaps anywhere.”

seling and health services, residential life, among other responsibilities.

The two senior vice presidents at the univer-sity, Don Bachand and Jim Muladore, will become provost and executive vice president, respectively. Other changes include registrar Chris Looney reporting directly to Mr. Banchand, the appoint-ment of a new Associ-ate Dean for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology: Dr. Nosa Egiebor. In the College of Business and Manage-ment, George Puia, the Dow Chemical Company Centennial Chair in Global Business, will assume the additional title of associate dean. Mark Clevey will be splitting his time equally between the Center for Business and Economic Development and the Col-lege of Business, where he will be supporting Mr. Puia with external relations for the college. Finally, assis-tant dean Mark Potts will take on expanded respon-sibilities for oversight of both undergraduate and graduate student services.

UNIVERSITYContinued from Page One

DNA TESTSContinued from Page One

cision about an entertainer that might come, I under-stand the student body could build up its anticipa-tion of that expectation, and then let’s say they’re $15,000 over budget and there’s no way it’ll work, then we have a student body who says, ‘Program Board will never deliver; they can’t do it.’ Honestly, they are not in a position to even be talking se-riously about a big concert.”

Even though Program Board is given a budget and has an executive board and a general assembly to control those funds, those are not the only hoops the organiza-tion must jump through to approve such a large event.

“They may vote on it, but because they enlist other university resources in an in-kind way, they may say they want to do it, but what if it’s on a night with no parking, I think the [SVSU president Eric R. Gilbertson] would go ‘I don’t think so, let’s talk’,” Dean Brandimore says, “We’ve had several large concerts in my 26 years here and its’ so taxing on the uni-versity. It turns the institu-tion upside-down when you dedicate the size and the resources... and everyone working on it will ask ‘is this the business we’re in?’.”

She continues, “They can’t just.. you know, these are student dol-lars, there has to be some thoughtful contemplation.”

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SVSU students planning trip to State Capitol March 25 to lobby legislators

CAMPUS JOURNAL A4

“We’re going to Lansing to talk

to legislators about supporting higher education

showing them that education is

important and it’s something they

should invest in.”Julie Boon,

Legislation and external affairs, Student Association

PROGRAM BOARD

IN CONCERT, A CHANCE TO FIX PAST FAILURES

Wikimedia Commons: “Steve & Christine”

NEWS BRIEFS A2 OPINION JOURNAL A6

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State Representatives Ken Horn, Jim Stamas, and Tim Moore were in attendance to support the young Republicans and their organization on cam-pus. They each helped to make the event possible by supporting the students.

The reception began with the guests, a mix-ture of Republican political leaders and students, conversing. The students said they were excited to have the opportunity to meet such leaders as Messrs. Horn, Stamas, and Moore.

After everyone got acquainted, guests were seated. Speeches were given in order of hierarchy in the organization. Mr. Goodman began speaking by giving thanks to the people who helped make the reception possible, as well as the organiza-tion as a whole. He stressed the importance of the Republican candidates, and his sincere dedication

to the party. He believes that the members of the College Repub-licans are helping to ensure huge victories for the members of the Party at the local, state, and national levels.

Tara Robishaw, the organiza-tion’s vice President, was the next speaker. She noted the importance of standing side-by-side with the candidates. Ms. Robishaw also mentioned how youth involvement can make all the difference in an election. Her favorite activity to promote the candidates is walking in parades.

Brandon Sprague and Aaron Baylis both spoke on behalf of the organization. Mr. Baylis men-tioned that many representatives have an interest in working with young students, such as the stu-dents at SVSU. He also referenced that the College Republicans were called one of the hardest working organizations in the state. Tim Moore agreed that the interns coming from the orga-nization are very well prepared,

We will stand by their side, when-

ever and wherever they need us,”

says Ted Goodman, president

of the College Republicans. Mr.

Goodman spoke during the group’s first annual

New Years Reception last month in the Alumni

Lounge.

By Chelsea MarshTHE JOURNAL

Republican Reception

College Republicans of SVSU hold first annual New Year’s formal reception

Courtesy: M. Ellison

February 15, 2010The Saginaw Valley Journal© 2010 Sterling, Hoffman & Co.

STUDENT GROUPS

S.A. GOES INTO A RARE CLOSED-SESSIONBy Luke C. RemillardTHE JOURNAL

Student Association, an organization charged with al-locating student funds, went into a rare closed-session meeting last Monday night to scold one of its members.

The session occurred dur-ing a regularly scheduled association meeting, and after a motion was passed to enter into the closed session, the public was asked to vacate the room.

Student Association mem-bers were hesitant to com-ment on the closed-door dis-cussions, and the association declined to identify the mem-ber being evaluated, but asso-ciation speaker of the house Rebecca M. Griffin said that no changes had occurred.

Members are restricted from disclosing specific in-formation dicussed dur-ing closed-sessions per the association’s by-laws.

The association usually goes into closed session each fall when it appoints a group of new members, however a ses-sion specifically designed to evaluate an individual mem-ber is rare, Ms. Griffin said.

“It’s rare, it hasn’t hap-pened the entire time I’ve been in the association.”

Before the closed-session, during a public portion of the meeting, Ms. Griffin publicly chided some fellow Members for not following the associa-tion’s business casual dress code and for writing notes and doing homework during the meeting. Mario Volante, organizational development director, apologized to the as-sociation during his report.

Student Assn. Representative Resigns, Citing Time Conflict

Bion J. Thompson, a newly-appointed repre-sentative in Student Asso-ciation last fall, has resigned his post. Mr. Thompson’s resignation comes after he was admitted into an ath-letic training program that takes him off-campus dur-ing the evenings, when the association regularly meets.

“I am going to be running into a lot of problems with meetings and such this se-mester because of my admit-

tance into the athletic train-ing program,” Mr. Thomp-son wrote to Student Association Speaker of the House Rebec-ca M. Griffin in a letter following a meeting where Ms. Griffin says Mr. Thompson resigned in person.

“I have meetings for that and my clinicals are night

“I am going to be running into a lot of problems ... this semester because of my admittance into the athletic training program.”

-Bion Thompson, Student Assn. Rep.

time. I have to attend Bridge-port High School Athletics on nights and will not be on campus. I need to set up a time to meet with you and discuss what is best.”

A collective fund rais-ing effort at SVSU, dubbed “Dollars Make a Difference to Haiti”, has generated over $5,700 for the victims of the Jan. 12 Haitian earth-quake, Student Association president Ryan Kanine said Monday evening during an association meeting. The exact total was $5,745.61.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake left the Hai-tian countryside dev-asted and crumbling.

Haitian Government re-ports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimat-ed 300,000 injured, and an es-timated 1,000,000 homeless.

Donations came in the form of a dollar added to pur-chases at places such as the RFoC and the C-store, stu-dent volunteer tables around campus, declining balance dollars on campus dining ac-counts, and direct donations to SVSU’s cashier’s office.

Student organizations had a goal of $10,000, however Mr. Kanine told the association that he would like to see the group’s members participate in Haitian relief fund rais-ers that other organizations might be coordinating as well.

“I know a lot of other organizations are rais-ing money and we should continue to support them throughout the year,” Mr. Ka-nine said Monday evening.

SVSU Students Raise Over $5,700 For Haitian Earthquake Victims

IS SEEKING STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND PROFESSIONALS TO SERVE ON OUR

EDITORIAL BOARD 8

THE SAGINAW VALLEY JOURNAL.

mail@saginawvalleyjournal.com www.saginawvalleyjournal.com

and that they were “phenomenal workers from day one”.

This led to the final student speaker, Bob Anderson. Mr. Anderson spoke of the organiza-tion’s means of fund raising for the political candidates, and the hard work they put into it.

The most recent fund raiser for the group is through the Of-fice of International Programs (OIP) at SVSU. Sam Heiken, an employee of OIP, mentioned that Haiti needs our support, and they are supporting Haiti through donations. Donations will benefit the citizens of Haiti through the Red Cross.

Upon communicating with the student speakers one-on-one, they all agreed that the major improvement is in its increasing number of members. Phil Kraft, who is a former president of the organization, stated how amazing it was that there are now over 30 members that attend meetings. The College Republicans say they are actively recruiting members.

February 15, 2010The Saginaw Valley Journal© 2010 Sterling, Hoffman & Co.

OPINION JOURNALTeed for Landee ... Again

The pedagogical skills of Paul Teed are un-parelleled. Merging the two major disciplines of holding a faculty position at the university level: research and teaching, is difficult. At

most of the elite higher education institutions, little attention is paid to the latter. Government and Sociol-ogy Professor Theda Skocpol of Harvard University put it plainly when she said, “People at Harvard are concerned when they hear that some of our under-graduates can go through four years here and not know a faculty member well enough to get a letter of recommendation.” Those institutions are on their way to implementing plans to be more like Saginaw Valley, trying to place more emphasis on the quality of teaching. Those plans seek to foster and award quality teaching on the same level as academic research. Uni-versities are paying more attention to pedagogy than ever, and Saginaw Valley has always displayed strong

credentials in that category. While most professors choose which of the two disciplines to follow, Profes-sor Teed has mastered both disciplines with relative ease, and that is apparent in both his research and in his classrooms.

Appointed to SVSU in 1997, Professor Teed won the Landee Award after just three years, in 2000. Since then, his dedication and quality of teaching has not waned. His excellence in teaching and dedication to the students of Saginaw Valley in class, in lectures, and in his published books and articles is remarkable. Along with the Landee Award, Professor Teed has also won the Faculty Recognition Award for Scholar-ship from the SVSU Faculty Association – the two most prestigious awards at Saginaw Valley. He is one of the most decorated faculty members at SVSU – and deservedly so. Professor Teed is the perfect candidate for the first repeat-winner of the Landee award.

Bridge Card To NowhereThere are students who legitimately struggle to

provide for children and spouses while they pursue their dreams for a better life for their families. In such cases, the public should help these people improve their lives.

However, there are also students who turn down the opportunity to work as many as 30 hours or more at their places of employment, and sign up for EBT cards in order to pay for the food they could have bought with money earned on the job- money they might have had, in either case, were they not driving to Detroit every weekend.

While this practice isn’t illegal, the EBT program was never meant to subsidize a citizen’s good time.

Make no mistake: on paper, the public is helping college students buy food, but indirectly, the public is enabling lazy students. These EBT cardholders could be earning their own money for these things, but they choose not to do so.

Michigan’s EBT program was originally designed to prevent destitution. It should never have been uti-lized by students hoping to avoid employment. These

students are not “struggling” citizens, simply because there can be no struggle where there is no effort.

It is unfair and irresponsible to take taxpayers’ money long before I’d reached my own limits. As a responsible citizen, the last thing I’d do is obtain an EBT card and spend the public’s money on my food, so that I could have more free cash to sit and drink on Hamilton Street.

The State of Michigan should seriously consider revising its rules of eligibility so that able-bodied, single, child-less students would be virtually ineligible for EBT cards. Their unethical use of the Michigan EBT program unnecessarily stresses the state’s financ-es and disregards the program’s actual intent. There are those who struggle, for whom the public’s help is necessary, and then there are those who hold EBT cards because they’re unwilling to sacrifice anything at all, let alone their good time.

It’s time to draw the line between the needy and the greedy, to refocus Michigan’s efforts more accu-rately upon those who actually need a helping hand.

To the Editor:I am currently enrolled at SVSU

and was looking at your newspa-per, the issue on Monday, January 25, 2010, and was curious why you don’t have any coverage on your University’s sporting events. The only article I read was the one cov-ering a 27-year-old former student that will be participating in a bowl-ing tournament.

If you could please e-mail me back with the reasoning behind the fact a State University does not cover its own athletic sporting events, I would be very grateful.

Thank you.Jill Smith

Student,

[Editor’s Response]You raise a great point in regards

to our sports coverage. As a general policy, The Saginaw Valley Journal does not provide game recaps, that is, articles detailing the score or result of an athletic match. We do, however, report on athletics when something happens that is considered by our staff to be ‘newsworthy’. Examples would include a national champion-ship, a coach being hired, etc.

This policy goes back to a passage in our Founding Editorial that reads: “We will report on sports sparingly — no game recaps — we’re about news.”

We know that many readers, par-ticularly students, have an interests in more sports news, and we think there are other campus media outlets that can provide that kind of cover-age. Adding a sports page, however, is one of the things we are working on for the future.

Letters

1 out of 3 college students experienced the illness or loss of a family member or close friend in the last year. Talk about loss and help your friends in need by starting a National Students of AMF Support Network Chapter at your school.

To the Editor:I read my first copy of your

Journal yesterday, and found it excellent. It offers a different slant on the news, so is a welcome relief to the usual viewpoint (Valley Van-guard, New York Times, CNN).

The article about your difficulty in gaining recognition from our ad-ministration disturbed me though. Could you publish further details about this?

Tyler Haynes, Ph.D.Professor of Mathematics,

[Editor’s Response]Thank you so much for your letter

and for your kind words about The Saginaw Valley Journal.

We will publish updates regarding the ‘Friends of The Saginaw Valley Journal’ issue as they become avail-able.

SVSU allows student groups to organize on campus, and provides clear language when a group tries to do so that states that the group is separate from the university, however afterward, the university still tries to exert control over the group. In our opinion, the university cannot have it both ways: either it oversees the groups (and accepts the responsibili-ties thereof ), or the groups are inde-pendent and free.

To submit a letter in response to an article for publication in the news-paper, you may send an e-mail mes-sage to letters@saginawvalleyjour-nal.com. We regret that, owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply personally to every letter.