Gerald R. Oglan was recently named the assistant dean of teacher education for Wayne State University 's College of Education . Oglan has been a WSU faculty member since 1992.

Wayne State Law Professor Robert Sedler comments about tonight's hearing by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission on complaints about allegedly fraudulent, even racist, tactics used to collect signatures to put a Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the ballot. The initiative, a proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution, would, in part, prohibit all of Michigan 's public universities and colleges and school districts from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Sedler proposes one option for a civil rights case against the initiative. The commission could go to court and ask to present findings that there was a violation of Michigan civil rights law in the signature collection, he said. That's if they believe there were some, he said, and if they are substantial enough to overcome the presumption of validity, and if a court will entertain the idea.

The Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has enlisted the help of 20 architectural firms to design displays that make a positive statement about Detroit , its architecture and its future. The displays will be set up in the windows of vacant buildings along Woodward in time for Super Bowl XL week. Hugh Cannon, professor of advertising at Wayne State \'s School of Business Administration , cautioned that the project could \"backfire\" if the media blasts the displays as \"window-dressing\" rather than substantive improvements, he said. But, not doing anything to improve the appearances of the buildings would be worse, he added. \"When you have this kind of media event, and they come in and find some kind of burned out district that\'s just deadly publicity, and really builds on the negative press Detroit gets in a lot of places,\" he said.

Four flagship Michigan universities, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, University of Michigan , and Western Michigan University will kick off a program designed to substantially increase the number of minority students pursuing degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the schools announced yesterday. The National Science Foundation and the four institutions will underwrite the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, a five-year, $5 million dollar initiative.

The magazine notes that Frank Wu, a Johns Hopkins alumnus and dean of the Wayne State University Law School , delivered the prestigious Matthews Lecture at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Wu is the author of the book "Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White."

Approximately 3,000 Sterling Heights residents have been randomly selected to participate in the city's 2006 Residential Survey. The survey is being conducted by Wayne State 's Center for Urban Studies in Detroit . They will prepare the results with the latest computer equipment and statistical software. They will prepare an executive summary for city officials.

In 2004, more than 6.700 Americans died waiting for organ transplants - at least 187 were from Michigan . Dr. Robert Mentzer, a surgeon and organ-transplant advocate who recently was named dean of the Wayne State University Medical School, says the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which administers the national waiting list of organ-transplant candidates, is concerned about alternative allocation schemes that award preferential treatment. "There's always a risk that people will start thinking of donated organs as commodities rather than gifts of life," he said.

This Web site carries an article about a November 21 debate at Lawrence Technological University between Frank Wu, dean of the WSU Law School , and Ward Connerly, a former California regent who is proposing a ballot initiative in Michigan that the writer says "would end equal opportunity and affirmative action in higher education, employment and contracting in Michigan ." Wu said affirmative action is "necessary, but not sufficient. We must have at least the ability to take race into account because it is the most effective, sometimes the only, means that we can address these difficult issues of race."

The Hilberry Theatre's "Electra" is praised as a production that "effectively engages the stylized gestures and speech and look of classical Greek drama." Performers Carly Germany, Jeff Thomakos, Michael Bryan Odgen and director Joe Calarco are commended for their efforts.

The University will comply with a court ruling and won\'t arrest Sikh students who carry 10-inch kirpan. WSU Public Safety Director Anthony Holt said his officers will comply with the ruling and won\'t arrest Sikh students who carry the implement. However, the university still prohibits firearms, explosives, and knives with a blade longer than 3 inches on campus. The university\'s attorneys are reviewing possible changes to campus weapons policies to \"ensure that everyone can practice religion freely and feel safe on campus,\" said Alexandra Matish, assistant general counsel for the college.

A judge says Wayne State University police should not have arrested a student for carrying knives that were part of his Sikh religious beliefs. Sukhpreet Singh Garcha, 23, was arrested Aug. 14 for carrying a 10-inch knife on his hip and a 5-inch knife concealed in his waistband. He was charged with violating Detroit \'s knife ordinance, which prohibits carrying knives with blades longer than 3 inches. Carrying a ritual knife known as a kirpan at all times is a basic tenet of Sikhism, an Indian-based faith with an estimated 25 million followers worldwide.

The Atlanta Journal reprinted Pat Anstett's Detroit Free Press story. Anti-depressants like Prozac work in 50 percent to 60 percent of people, and light therapy is effective in as many as 70 percent of patients, says Dr. Alireza Amirsadri, a psychiatrist and SAD specialist at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Detroit Receiving Hospital .

SEC investigations are not known for their haste, so the agency's review of San Diego 's finances could take a while. The time involved is not unusual, said Peter Henning, a former attorney in the SEC\'s enforcement division. \"Two to three years is quite common,\" said Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit . \"And of course, this is sensitive, too, because you\'re talking about government officials, so there has to be concern about the effect on municipal government.\"

Our ancestors\' lifestyles could be linked to today\'s obesity and diabetes. The lives lived by grandparents can directly affect the lives of future generations, and the health patterns of grandparents are now known to be passed on through both the mother's and the father's genes. Sperm do more than deliver a father\'s DNA to an egg. They also carry messenger RNAs - the molecules that carry out the instructions of a paternal gene - to the egg at fertilization. Stephen Krawetz of Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit , and colleagues also found micro RNAs, which bind to sites in target messenger RNA to regulate how they are used. These RNAs may also alter the way genes are used over generations, perhaps in response to a crisis such as starvation.

Wayne State University, hitting, Jan. 15, $35; pitching and catching, Sundays from Jan. 22 to Feb. 12, $100. 313-577-7513 anytime.

The folks behind Michigan\'s robotics competition run by entrepreneur-inventor Dean Kamen\'s charity FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) announced last week that the level of participation in Michigan had hit 100 teams - the highest level of participation of any state. Each team then has six weeks to design and create a functioning robot that will later be used at their choice of 32 regional competitions across the country - including three here in Michigan: March 9-11 at Eastern Michigan University; March 16-18 at Wayne State University, and March 30 - April 1 at Grand Valley State University.

A feature story about Wayne State 's Go-Girl (Gaining Options - Girls Investigate Real Life) program, a 10-week series designed to engage teenage girls in science and technology, includes an interview with Sally Roberts, Go-Girl faculty adviser and assistant professor of mathematics education in the College of Education . "The girls are engaged in social science, research and they develop surveys and learn data analysis skills," Roberts says. The 2006 Winter Go-Girl program starts this month, with more than 40 seventh-grade girls from Detroit-area public and private schools signed up to participate. A photo of a Go-Girl classroom session is included.

When the public radio station in Detroit canceled some local music shows and replaced them with nationally syndicated talk and news programs, it probably expected some complaints from listeners. What it got was a lawsuit asking for their pledge money back. A group of listeners to WDET-FM in Detroit filed a class-action lawsuit against the station on Dec. 19, claiming fraud and breach of contract. The Detroit Free Press reported that seven plaintiffs filed for damages after contributing to the station\'s last on-air fund-raising pledge drive, which ended in October. Station managers announced the new schedule on Dec. 13. The listeners claim that they were tricked into contributing money for programs that the station already planned to cancel. \"They took our money six weeks before they made the changes,\" said Dan Sordyl, a member of the committee for SaveDetroitRadio.com, a Web site started by disgruntled listeners after WDET\'s announcement. Mr. Sordyl says that he is trying to negotiate a compromise with WDET or Wayne State University , which owns the station. Like other public radio stations, WDET depends on private funds for the bulk of its operating budget; in WDET\'s case, about 90 percent comes from the private sector. Listeners are regularly entreated to donate through on-air pledge drives, and this active solicitation has the side effect of increasing audience interest in, and response to, programming decisions. A similar lawsuit in New Mexico in 1987 resulted in a station there calling public hearings before making further programming changes. \"There was no relationship between the timing of the announcement and our fall fund drive,\" said Michael Coleman, the general manager of WDET. He would not comment on the lawsuit, but noted that the changes reversed previous programming decisions that had replaced some national staples like \"Fresh Air\" and \"Car Talk\" with locally produced music shows. The new schedule restores and increases the amount of programming that comes from National Public Radio.

When Jacob Trossman emerged from his mother\'s womb, his chest caved in as he drew his first breath. Doctors who resuscitated him were baffled. His anguished parents were told a diagnosis might never be made. As doctors searched for a diagnosis, the Toronto boy\'s parents began an exhaustive, parallel journey for a cure, reminiscent of the Oscar-nominated movie Lorenzo\'s Oil. In that 1992 film, a boy\'s disease is so rare that no one is working on a cure, so his parents vow to find one themselves. Then one day, a test that was thrown in with a slew of others gave them the answer: he had Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD). The rare central nervous system disorder is caused by the lack of myelin; a fatty covering that acts as an insulator on nerve fibres in the brain. While Lorenzo\'s parents were battling the medical establishment, Mr. Trossman, 38, and Ms. White, 37, are working with physicians. Of particular interest is a drug called HP184, a sodium and potassium channel blocker that has been tested on spinal cord patients. When Jacob\'s parents brought the drug, made by Sanofi-aventis, to the attention of doctors, none had heard of it. \"They\'re very proactive, they were actually the ones who first told me about HP184, I didn\'t know about it until then,\" Jim Garbern, associate professor of neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, said in a telephone interview from Detroit .

Editor: I write regarding the recent controversy surrounding Wayne State University and the use of one of its Web sites to discuss the minimum wage campaign and also to tell Jim Barrett of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce to, frankly, chill out. In the Dec. 12 article, "WSU drops Web project after chamber protest," Barrett implied that raising the minimum wage "fosters an anti-business, anti-investment in job creation philosophy" and suggests Michigan universities should not foster a pro-labor position. I'm not sure if Barrett hasn't seen the facts regarding minimum wage or is just plain ignoring them. First, when more workers have more disposable income in their pockets after meeting their basic needs, more income is spent in local economies, by those patronizing and doing business with those very entities Barrett claims to represent; second, despite ongoing debates over the economic impact of increasing the minimum wage, recent research by the Economic Policy Institute indicates that the actual job losses due to the increases are minimal and are far outweighed by the benefits. Barrett also complains about WSU discussing the prevention of privatization on its Web site. Recent studies strongly suggest that privatization can lead to increased taxes on other businesses as long-term costs increase once private companies replace public workers. Reasonable people believe state universities exist for the purpose of discussion, studying and yes, forming conclusions about issues of the day. I can guess what the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University , Steven M. Ross Business School at the University of Michigan and even the Wayne State University School of Business Administration teach and advocate about privatization and minimum wage. Universities are about academic freedom and ideas. I, for one, trust our universities to consider both sides. Barrett should too. Mark Gaffney President Michigan State AFL-CIO