In what amounts to a slap on the wrist, a captain on the U-M basketball team, Bernard Robinson Jr. was sentenced to one year probation for groping a student in West Quad:
“Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Donald E. Shelton lectured Robinson at his sentencing Tuesday afternoon, questioning the player’s attitude toward women and saying Robinson needed to learn he is not above the law because he is an athlete. …”

Here’s the news roundup for LEO’s successfull vote:
AANEWS: “Nontenure-track faculty unionize at U-M”
FREEP: “U-M lecturers vote to form new union”

Other articles of note:
> Detroit News Editorial: “Wayne State should disavow Anti-Israel Resolution”
> AP:“Detroit Man sues McDonald’s after finding chewing gum in salad”
> FREEP: “Play it safe, but don’t criminalize picture taking”

Work by a U-M graduate student caught the eye of New York Times education reporter Michael Winerip. PhD Candidate Laura Haniford has investigated the coverage of the “achievement gap” in test scores between white and black students by the Ann Arbor News, concluding that while the problem has stayed the same since the mid 1980s, the number of articles in the newspaper varied wildly year-to-year:
Ms. Haniford found that from 1984 to 1995, The Ann Arbor News published 11 articles on the achievement gap in local schools; then suddenly, in 1997, 92 achievement-gap articles appeared; and then, gap coverage virtually disappeared again, plummeting to two articles in 2001.

My favorite part? The white-led backlash when the school district decided to dedicate some resources to solving the problem:
By summer, a group of mainly whites was alleging reverse discrimination. On Oct. 24, 1997, the group filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education saying the civil rights of nonblack students had been violated. Singling out blacks for extra help was a case of antiwhite racism, they complained.
… Further proving my theory that the city of Ann Arbor just isn’t as progressive as it’s chalked up to be.

The Lecturers’ Employee Organization vote has been tabulated – 82.4% of lecturers across the three U-M campuses voted for the creation of the union. The totals: 631 “Yes” votes, 135 “No”, and 51 challenged or spoiled ballots. Read the LEO Press Release here.

The Michigan State Senate seems poised to pass a third late-term abortion ban. Two other similar laws, signed by Engler, were overturned by the courts because they were unconstitutional. The ACLU has said: “Medical testimony on both sides in the previous cases revealed that a ban like this would prohibit many second-trimester abortions. Some doctors even testified that the bans reach first-trimester procedures. …”Click here to read the text of the proposed law.

I’ve just helped my friend Dumi create a blog: While You Were Sleeping. He’s a graduate student in Sociology and Public Policy, and I think it’ll be very interesting.

Today is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s on State Street – at 1 p.m. the line extended all the way up the street to Amer’s. Stucchi’s, not to be outdone, has a handmade sign in their window: “Buy one get one free.”

U-M Department of Public Safety crime alert 4/28/03:

“Date: April 28, 2003 at about 7:38 PM
Location: 300 block S. State
Offense: Armed Robbery
Summary: Off-campus business was robbed at closing by two masked subjects. Money taken from safe at gunpoint. No one injured. Suspects fled on foot. Under investigation.
Suspect: #1) White male, 20-24 yrs., 6′, slender build, blonde hair, gray t- shirt with number “3″ on it, white pants.
#2) White male, 20-22 yrs., 6′, slender build, gray shirt dark with Mossimo written on it, velvet-type pants

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE ANN ARBOR POLICE DEPARTMENT AT 994-2880 OR THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AT 763-1131″

Read more about the crime in this Ann Arbor News story.