Mich State/ Univ

=Meanwhile, the global climate crisis only intensified in 2020 - and so did our work in exposing and mapping out the power of the fossil fuel industry. One of our big areas of engagement this past year was around divestment campaigns. Our work helped spark a new national campaign to get TIAA - one of the nation’s biggest financial services organizations - to divest from fossil fuels, while our exposé on the University of Michigan’s investment in a far-right Texas oil billionaire aided successful organizing efforts that froze new UMich investments in fossil fuels.We also formed new collaborations with a range of groups - such as Divest Harvard, College Climate Coalition, Climate Action Movement, DivestEd, and DSA Ecosocialists - through several webinars attended by hundreds of activists on how to research fossil fuel investments. We combined much of the material in these webinars into this handy research primer.ref<a href="https://news.littlesis.org/2020/02/03/why-is-the-university-of-michigan-financing-the-billionaire-oilman-whos-bankrolling-the-texas-far-right">https://news.littlesis.org/2020/02/03/why-is-the-university-of-michigan-financing-the-billionaire-oilman-whos-bankrolling-the-texas-far-right</a>university of Michigan students and faculty are part of the growing national effort to pressure university endowments to divest from the fossil fuel industry. UMich organizers are <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2019/12/climate-protesters-block-university-of-michigan-execs-from-exiting-meeting.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">demanding</a> that the Board of Regents divest its <a href="https://news.umich.edu/u-m-endowment-up-500m-after-another-year-of-strong-performance/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">$12.4 billion</a> from fossil fuels and move towards carbon neutrality by 2030. Against this backdrop of rising climate activism, the Regents recently <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/section/administration/students-call-out-university-inaction-carbon-neutrality-and-one-university" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">voted down</a> a $50 million investment in Vendera Resources, an oil and gas holding company. All this comes on the heels of a growing movement across the U.S. calling on institutions of higher education, in the face of our mounting climate emergency, to pull their billions in endowment investments out of oil, gas, and coal. Given this, the University of Michigan community might be surprised to know that their endowment is helping to finance not merely a major U.S. oil driller, but one who uses his fossil fuel fortune to pour millions into funding the Texas far right and its efforts to restrict abortion rights and the civil rights of LGBTQ people, among other things.Tim Dunn is a billionaire Texas oilman who is the driving force behind Empower Texans, a dark money operation that has pumped millions of dollars into advancing an ultra-conservative takeover of Texas politics. He’s used his massive fossil fuel wealth to advance his libertarian, evangelical agenda through Empower Texans and a host of other organizations, PACs, and political candidates. One journalist has <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/power-issue-tim-dunn-pushing-republican-party-arms-god/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">labeled Dunn</a> “probably the most influential donor operating in Texas today.”As of October 2018, the University of Michigan has <a href="https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/10-18/2018-10-IX-1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">$26 million</a> invested in the private equity fund that finances Tim Dunn’s business operations. The fund, Lime Rock Partners IV AF, is overseen by the private equity firm Lime Rock Partners, and it bankrolls the business operations of CrownQuest, which is Tim Dunn’s oil drilling company. CrownQuest is a major extractor of fossil fuels – it was the 30th top oil producer in Texas in <a href="https://www.rrc.state.tx.us/media/43948/top32producers2017.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">2017</a>. The joint venture between Lime Rock Partners and Dunn’s CrownQuest is called CrownRock, which combines Lime Rock’s financing with CrownQuest’s field operations. Dunn serves as CEO of <a href="http://www.timdunn.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">both</a> CrownQuest and CrownRock.It is important that the flow of money that goes towards Tim Dunn and his funding of Empower Texans be made more transparent. Tim Dunn’s right-wing movement is not just a Texas story – it is a national one, with far-flung pension funds and endowment money directed toward Dunn’s business from institutions whose professed values stand in stark contrast with Dunn’s political agenda. This raises the question of whether an institution like the University of Michigan should reconsider pumping tens of millions into financing Tim Dunn’s oil profits and his use of those profits to bankroll far-right politics.Tim Dunn and Empower TexansTim Dunn is a billionaire oilman who lives in Midland, Texas. He is the founder and CEO of CrownQuest, one of the top oil producers in Texas. Dunn is an ultra-right evangelical conservative who has poured millions into Texas politics, and specifically towards PACs and candidates to push the Texas GOP further to the right.The main vehicle through which Dunn has exerted this influence is Empower Texans, a hard-right political project that uses millions in PAC and dark money, advocacy, and media efforts to advance ultra-conservative state candidates and causes. It is known for its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/us/texas-house-speaker-sullivan-bonnen.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">questionable tactics</a> in seeking to <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-teachers-blow-the-whistle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">discredit opponents</a> and push its agenda. Empower Texans is financed primarily by a small handful of fossil fuel billionaires and multi-millionaires. Dunn is the founder and chairman of Empower Texans. Dunn is a <a href="https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/#i-timothy-dunn" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">hardline opponent</a> of gay rights, the rights of transgender people, women’s reproductive freedom, and environmental regulation. He is a promoter of private Christian education and a convention of the states – a right-wing demand, backed by the <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14841457/convention-of-states-campaign-secession/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Koch brothers</a>, aimed at rewriting the U.S. constitution to devolve more power to the states.As we documented in our <a href="https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/#ii-empower-texans" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">recent report</a>, Tim Dunn is the top funder of Empower Texans – he and his family gave at least $7,662,500 to Empower Texans from 2008 to 2018, as well as hundreds of thousands to a range of state and local candidates pushing the Empower Texans agenda. Dunn and his wife Terri spent at least $9.771,693 on Texas politics from 2002 to 2018 (this does not include any dark money donations that do not need to be disclosed). (To learn more about Dunn, read this profile in the <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/power-issue-tim-dunn-pushing-republican-party-arms-god/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Texas Monthly</a>, and our <a href="https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/#ii-empower-texans" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">recent report</a>, “The Money Behind Empower Texans”)Here are just a few of the highlights of the ultra-conservative activity of Dunn and Empower Texans:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2em 15px; padding-left: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Empower Texans was a <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/08/10/big-business-has-almost-killed-the-texas-bathroom-bill/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">top backer</a> of the anti-transgender “bathroom bill” that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/16/transgender-bathroom-bill-fails-again-in-texas-as-special-session-ends/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">failed</a> in recent years. It bankrolled politicians, such as Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who <a href="https://www.keranews.org/post/bathroom-bill-stalled-texas-house-and-s-just-what-joe-straus-wants" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">supported</a> the legislation.</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2em 15px; padding-left: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dunn is a big opponent of marriage equality – going so far, once, to write to the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, to “make the resources of the attorney general’s office available to any Texas businesses, schools or individuals who incur governmental penalties for resisting gay marriage,” in the words of the <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2015/07/29/emails-show-christians-on-right-urged-paxton-to-resist-gay-marriage-ruling/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Dallas News</a>. (Dunn personally gave $670,000 to Paxton from 2014 to 2018).</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2em 15px; padding-left: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Empower Texans <a href="http://directactiontx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Final_Coalition_Letter_Abbott_SOS_Voter_Rolls_8.15.18.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">backed an effort</a> to go after so-called “voter fraud” in Texas, which <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/29/texas-voter-citizenship-list-problems-state-tells-counties/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">quickly collapsed</a> amidst revelations that 95,000 registered voters were mistakenly flagged for “citizenship reviews.” Journalist Michael Barajas <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/how-tea-partiers-fueled-texas-latest-voter-fraud-freakout/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">reported</a> that civil rights groups filed three lawsuits “alleging the botched purge discriminated against naturalized citizens and was designed to scare people out of registering or voting.”</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2em 15px; padding-left: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Empower Texans has given millions to Texas politicians advancing an anti-choice agenda to restrict abortion rights and women’s reproductive freedom. Dunn personally gave $175,000 to Empower Texans’s <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/power-issue-tim-dunn-pushing-republican-party-arms-god/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">ally</a> Texas Right to Life from April 2016 to January 2018. Dunn’s fellow Empower funders, Dan and Farris Wilks, have given millions to anti-choice PACs and to “<a href="https://prospect.org/power/meet-billionaire-brothers-never-heard-fund-religious-right/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">crisis pregnancy centers</a>.”</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2em 15px; padding-left: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dunn has opposed environmental regulation. “At CrownQuest,” journalist R.J. Ratcliffe <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/power-issue-tim-dunn-pushing-republican-party-arms-god/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">wrote</a>, Dunn “has fought against limits on methane emissions and the potential listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered, a designation that would have halted drilling in parts of West Texas and eastern New Mexico.”</li></ul>Two close allies of Dunn are Dan and Farris Wilks, the second top funders of Empower Texans. The Wilks brothers became billionaires through fracking and have spent tens of millions of dollars on ultra-right candidates and causes, such as supporting “crisis pregnancy centers,” which <a href="https://rewire.news/article/2018/06/06/uber-wealthy-texans-bankrolling-rise-fake-clinics-across-state/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">ReWire News</a> calls “fake clinics that use anti-choice propaganda to try to trick people from seeking abortion services.” The Wilks brothers have also been funders of rightwing media outlets such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/us/politics/dennis-prager-university.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">PragerU</a> and the <a href="https://readsludge.com/2018/11/21/charles-koch-is-funding-rightwing-pro-trump-media-new-disclosure-reveals/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Daily Wire</a>, Ben Shapiro’s extreme-right news outlet.In 2019 alone, Dunn and the Wilks brothers gave at least <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00580100&committee_id=C00618371&committee_id=C00618389&contributor_name=dunn&contributor_name=wilks&two_year_transaction_period=2020" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">$250,000</a> to Trump Victory.In sum, it’s hard to overstate the scope of Tim Dunn’s influence in pushing an ultra-right agenda in Texas. One writer in the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/Midland-oilman-defends-investment-in-indicted-AG-6478977.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Houston Chronicle</a> called Dunn “arguably the most influential donor to the Texas GOP’s far-right flank” while a <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/2666-saving-speaker-craddick-hometown-boys-from-midland-angle-to-unseat-unruly-reps/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Texas Observer</a> op-ed called him “the most influential political player that most Texans never heard of.” Over the past decade, Dunn, his billionaire allies, and Empower Texans have effectively bankrolled a far-right resurgence in the Texas GOP, gained huge influence among a range of power elected officials, and driven a host of reactionary fights that have threatened some of the state’s most marginalized people. How the University of Michigan is helping to prop up Dunn’s oil fortune that he uses to fund the Texas far rightThe University of Michigan is helping to fund Tim Dunn’s business operations. It may be doing so unwittingly, because the University isn’t directly invested in Dunn’s business. Rather, UMich’s money goes towards Dunn through a private equity fund that UMich invests in, which in turn finances Dunn’s business with UMich’s and other investors’ money.First, some quick context: private equity firms create “funds” that wealthy people and big institutional investors (pension funds, endowments, etc.) commit money to, usually with the promise of higher- and sooner-than-usual returns. The private equity firms invest those funds in a range of companies and sectors – housing, retail, fossil fuels – with the aim of raking in quick profits, often through means that are destructive to the companies they invest in but bring in hefty returns for their investors. Sometimes, single private equity funds or firms essentially own entire companies. In turn, private equity firms charge very large fees, which makes their executives some of the wealthiest people in the world.One of the private equity firms that UMich invests with is Lime Rock Partners, which has offices in Houston and Connecticut. Lime Rock focuses its private equity investments in the energy sector and has several funds, with different names, that each pool the money of the investors in those funds to finance <a href="https://www.lrpartners.com/portfolio/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">different oil and gas companies</a>.One of the specific funds that UMich invests in is a Lime Rock fund called Lime Rock Partners IV AF. This is the specific fund whose money – i.e., money from UMich and other investors in the fund – Lime Rock used to finance Tim Dunn’s business operations. Here’s how this all works. In 1996, Tim Dunn formed EnerQuest Resources, an oil company that later became CrownQuest Operating LLC, or just CrownQuest. In 2007, Lime Rock Partners, the private equity firm, entered into a joint venture with Dunn’s CrownQuest, and that joint venture was called CrownRock. From 2007 to 2018, Lime Rock funded CrownRock with a fund that was called Lime Rock Partners IV LP. But in 2018, the life of that fund expired, and Lime Rock bought out its own fund for $1.9 billion and named the new fund Lime Rock Partners IV AF. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-28/lime-rock-raises-1-9-billion-fund-to-retain-crownrock-interest" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Bloomberg</a> reported that the “vast majority of the asset value” in Lime Rock Partners IV AF comes from its stake in CrownRock.Dunn serves as the CEO of both CrownQuest and CrownRock. According to CrownQuest’s <a href="http://crownquest.com/operations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">website</a>, almost everything it does is for CrownRock. “Substantially all of the time of CrownQuest’s employees is allocated to the operation of CrownRock’s properties and the provision of general and administrative services to CrownRock,” CrownQuest says. “In addition, CrownQuest operates approximately 98% of CrownRock’s total net wells, and the wells CrownQuest operated for CrownRock provided approximately 98% of CrownRock’s average daily production in 2018.”Here’s how the University of Michigan is involved. In May 2018, it committed <a href="https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/10-18/2018-10-IX-1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">$26 million</a> to Lime Rock Partners IV AF, the new fund (UMich had also been invested in the older fund that financed CrownRock, and it rolled its investment in the old fund into the new fund). Another major institution of higher education in Michigan, Michigan State University, also has <a href="https://investments.msu.edu/list-of-investments.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">$15.6 million</a> invested in the new fund. (Michigan State students have also been <a href="https://statenews.com/article/2019/11/students-push-for-climate-justice-at-msu" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">pushing for fossil fuel divestment</a> by their university).This slideshow map shows the relationship between the University of Michigan, Lime Rock Partners, its funds, CrownQuest, CrownRock, Tim Dunn, and Empower Texans:[graf]a host of other colleges and universities may also be invested in Lime Rock Partners IV AF. A number of endowments were invested in the old fund, Lime Rock Partners IV LP. These <a href="https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/#who-is-financing-crownrock-and-tim-dunn-through-lime-rock" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">include</a> Harvard, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, Reed College, the Rochester Institute of Technology, Pomona College Carnegie Mellon University, Scripps College, and DePauw University. However, it is yet unknown if, like investors such as UMich and Michigan State, these institutions also rolled over their investment from the old fund into the new fund. As we wrote in our report, a variety of <a href="https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/#who-is-financing-crownrock-and-tim-dunn-through-lime-rock" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">pension funds and charitable foundations</a> also invested in the older fund. What will the University of Michigan do?As the dire implications of our climate crisis continue to surface everyday across the world, universities have a big decision to make. Will they continue to invest their hundreds of billions of endowment money in the fossil fuel companies – and their financiers – that are driving our climate emergency? Or will they divest from the fossil fuel industry in order to materially weaken this engine of climate crisis and to send an important message across the world that big investors can no longer keep trying to profit from planetary catastrophe? (The University of California recently announced that it was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/9/18/20872112/university-california-divestment-fossil-fuel-climate-change" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">ending its investments in fossil fuels</a>, including its private equity investments in fossil fuels).The University of Michigan faces an even clearer question: will it continue to spend tens of millions of dollars that go towards funding Texas oil money that props up that state’s extreme right? Or will it live up to its purported values – and support its diverse community of students, faculty, and other workers – by breaking with the fund that finances Tim Dunn’s business operations?=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-official-in-charge-of-shaping-policies-at-hhs-has-been-a-college-senior-report">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-official-in-charge-of-shaping-policies-at-hhs-has-been-a-college-senior-report</a>no lnxtrump official in charge of ‘shaping policies’ at HHS has been a college senior: reportWritten by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement September 22, 2020The Trump administration put a college senior in charge of personnel at the Dept. of Health and Human Services, Catherine Granito. She appears to have graduated this spring.A Politico report Monday afternoon, “Trump administration shakes up HHS personnel office after tumultuous hires,” revealed the stunning placement – including that she has been “playing a role in shaping policies in the middle of a pandemic.”HHS has an annual budget of $1.286 trillion. As of 2015 it had 79,540 employees.“White House Liaison Emily Newman and her deputy Catherine Granito will be shifting full-time to the Voice of America’s parent organization, the United States Agency for Global Media, HHS chief of staff Brian Harrison told senior staff on Monday,” the Politico article states.It adds that “Granito — an undergraduate at the University of Michigan as recently as this spring — had been in charge of the health department’s personnel while playing a role in shaping policies in the middle of a pandemic.”Granito’s LinkedIn page says she attended the University of Michigan until May as a student athlete playing lacrosse and notes she majored in English language and literature. A Google search shows that page listed her as an “advisor” at HHS.Her Facebook page says she “Works at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”The recent Michael Caputo scandal appears to have involved Granito.“Granito, who was in the class of 2020 at the University of Michigan, was involved in political appointees’ recent scrutiny of CDC Deputy Director Anne Schuchat, a career civil servant. Caputo and his team raised concerns about Schuchat this spring after she publicly acknowledged missed opportunities in the nation’s response to the coronavirus.”=
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rey">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rey</a>
timber wolfIn 1994, Rey became Chief of Staff to Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig" title="Larry Craig" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Larry Craig</a> (R-Idaho). From 1995 to 2001 he served as a staff member with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">United States Senate</a> Committee on Energy Resources. Mark was the committee’s lead staff person for work on the national forest policy and USFS Administration. In this position he was directly involved almost all legislation dealing with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forest_Service" title="United States Forest Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">United States Forest Service</a>(USFS) with an important responsibility for several public lands bills. He had a major role in the proposed 1997 revisions to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Forest_Management_Act" class="mw-redirect" title="National Forest Management Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">National Forest Management Act</a>, which would have made timber harvest levels mandatory while rendering environmental standards unenforceable.Rey was the key author of the 1995 "Salvage Rider" which was attached to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must_pass_bill" title="Must pass bill" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">"must pass"</a>Congressional budget bill containing financial aid for victims of the domestic terrorism <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing" title="Oklahoma City bombing" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Oklahoma City bombing</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P.Murrah" title="Alfred P. Murrah" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Alfred P. Murrah</a> Federal building. The "rider" suspended all environmental protections (such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_Species_Act" title="Endangered Species Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Endangered Species Act</a>) allowing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_harvesting" class="mw-redirect" title="Salvage harvesting" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">"salvage" harvests</a>, which in many cases included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logging" title="Logging" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">logging</a> of healthy green old-growth timber under the guise of protecting "forest health," in the Pacific Northwest.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rey#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rey#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[5]</a>From 1992 to 1994, as the Vice President of Forest Resources for the American Forest and Paper Association, he pushed to eliminate public appeals to the USFS decision-making process because he felt it was being abused by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_groups" class="mw-redirect" title="Environmental groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">environmental groups</a>.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] Throughout his career, he has opposed setting aside reserves for endangered species, while advocating logging quotas for old-growth forests, the imposition of fees for recreational use, and limiting public participation Forest Service planning. In February, 2008, Rey was threatened with jail by federal judge Donald Molloy of Missoula for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court" title="Contempt of court" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">contempt of court</a>.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] Rey had been ordered to have the Forest Service evaluate the environmental impacts of air-dropped <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_phosphate" title="Ammonium phosphate" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">ammonium phosphate</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_retardant" title="Fire retardant" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">fire retardants</a> that are known to harm fish. Rey initially refused to comply with the order, but agreed to cooperate only when faced with the prospect of prison time.<h2 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3;">Post-Undersecretarial Career</h2><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BS</div>While continuing to work as a consulting lobbyist, Rey has wholeheartedly embraced a career as an educator at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_University" title="Michigan State University" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Michigan State University</a> since 2009. The field of his teaching focuses on advocacy in the area of natural resources policy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rey#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[6]</a> Rey has made extensive use of connections obtained during his political career to enrich the lives of those around him, especially students involved in the Demmer Scholars Program. The Demmer Scholars program is a joint internship and class arrangement between Michigan State University and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_University" title="Mississippi State University" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Mississippi State University</a> facilitated by Rey. The program places students in coveted positions within federal natural resources agencies or non-governmental organizations (both nonprofit and for profit) operating in the natural resources policy arena in Washington, D.C. The Program brings participants into contact with notable figures (including Supreme Court Justices, White House officials, journalists, and eminent conservationists) through a series of excursions and topical discussions that would not be possible without his tireless work and willingness to draw upon connections established throughout his career.<div>=</div><div><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.4; letter-spacing: 0.1rem;">Department of Fisheries and Wildlife</h3><h4 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.4;">Adjunct Faculty</h4>Education:M.S. Natural Resources Policy and Administration, University of MichiganB.S.F. Forestry, University of MichiganB.S. Wildlife Management, University of Michigan  Background:Mark Rey teaches  Advocacy in the Natural Resources Arena (ANR 491), which reviews the types of advocacy groups operating in the natural resources arena, tools and techniques used in environmental advocacy, tactics commonly used in advocacy campaigns and ethical questions that often arise during advocacy work. He also oversees the Demmer Scholars internship program run in conjunction with a natural resource policy class. The internships are with  federal natural resources agency or non-governmental organization (both nonprofit and for profit) operating in the natural resources policy arena in Washington, D.C.  Rey is the former under-secretary for natural resources and environment.  In that position, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Rey served as a staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He was the lead staff person for the committee's work on national forest policy and Forest Service administration.Affiliated with <a href="http://csis.msu.edu/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;">Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability</a></div><div>---</div><div>omg</div><div>
</div><div>The William A. Demmer Scholars Program encompasses a senior-level class on advocacy in natural resources and a 13-week internship in Washington, D.C. The Demmer Scholars Program is led by <a href="https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/mark_rey" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;">Mark Rey,</a> Executive in Residence in the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.Designed to articulate the history, policies and significant impacts that the Boone and Crockett Club has had on conservation in North America, the program provides opportunities for MSU undergraduate and graduate students to become paid interns at federal and non-governmental organizations focused on natural resources.Advocacy in the Natural Resources Arena (ANR 491) reviews the types of advocacy groups operating in the natural resources arena, tools and techniques used in environmental advocacy, tactics commonly used in advocacy campaigns, and ethical questions that often arise during advocacy work.Past guest have included:David Anderson, former assistant director, Office of Management and Budget Felicity Barringer, senior environmental correspondent, The New York Times Sarah Bittleman, deputy assistant secretary of the Interior for Congressional Affairs Glen Caroline, director of grassroots programs for the National Rifle Association Larry Craig, former U.S. Senator from Idaho Frank Gladics, professional staff member, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Bill Meadows, president of the Wilderness Society Mark Pawlicki, director of government affairs for Sierra Pacific Steve Quarles, former deputy undersecretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, former deputy secretary of the Interior Ed Shafer, former secretary of Agriculture Dave Tenny, president of the National Association of Forest Owners Suzanne Thomson, director of mail programs, Warfield & Walsh Chris Wood, chief operating officer, Trout Unlimited Mark Rey, Executive in Residence in MSU Department of Fisheries and WildlifeAs an integral part of the Demmer Scholars Program, students in ANR 491 are placed in 13-week, full-time internships with natural resources agencies or nongovernmental organizations working in the natural resources policy arena in Washington, D.C. Through these internships, students get real world experience, see the principles taught in the classroom applied in practice, and make valuable career contacts for future educational and employment opportunities.</div><div></div><div>elec intifada</div><div>In recent weeks, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/09/a-second-michigan-instructor-withheld-a-recommendation-letter-from-student-headed-to-israel/" style="">two professors</a> at the University of Michigan <a href="https://palestinelegal.org/news/umich-punishes-professor-boycott" style="">have declined</a> to write recommendation letters for two separate students seeking to join study abroad programs in Israel.The professors cited Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies of occupation and apartheid against Palestinians in their decisions to not write the letters. They have expressed their support for the call to boycott Israeli institutions as long as Israel continues to violate Palestinian rights.In September, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/michigan-professor-stands-firm-despite-israel-lobby-attacks" style="">after he refused</a> to write a recommendation letter, professor John Cheney-Lippold received death threats. The threats were not publicly addressed by the university.But the administration did choose to comment on the professor’s actions, charging him with interfering in the student’s request with his own “personal views and politics.”Israel lobby groups pressured the university to discipline Cheney-Lippold, claiming that his choice was an act of discrimination and anti-Semitism.In an apparent effort by the university to appease Israel advocates, an advisory committee declared in late September that “a student’s merit” must be “the primary guide for determining how and when to provide letters of recommendation.”On 3 October, the university again bowed to the demands of Israel supporters, <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/09/university-michigan-disciplines-professor-over-israel-letter-controversy/1580969002/" style="">sanctioning him</a> with the loss of his earned sabbatical for two years and no merit pay raise for the academic year.Cheney-Lippold is being <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/09/university-michigan-disciplines-professor-over-israel-letter-controversy/1580969002/" style="">threatened with further sanctions</a> if his <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/10/university_of_michigan_creates_6.html" style="">politics</a> guide future decisions about recommendation letters.Another University of Michigan instructor recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/09/a-second-michigan-instructor-withheld-a-recommendation-letter-from-student-headed-to-israel/" style="">refused</a> to write a letter of recommendation for a student wishing to study abroad in Israel.Doctoral student instructor Lucy Peterson said that she had “pledged myself to a boycott of Israeli institutions as a way of showing solidarity with Palestine.”Last week, she was questioned by the administration. Peterson also faces potential discipline, <a href="https://palestinelegal.org/news/umich-punishes-professor-boycott" style="">according</a> to civil rights group Palestine Legal.“This is an alarming violation of the professor’s First Amendment and 14th Amendment due process rights under the US constitution,” Palestine Legal’s Radhika Sainath told The Electronic Intifada Podcast.As an employee of a public university, Cheney-Lippold has full constitutional protections, she said, “and that means that the university may not punish him for his viewpoint supporting Palestinian rights, or because he is taking this principled stance to support the boycott for Palestinian rights.”Sainath said that the administration’s punishment is a “really extreme measure, and it will have a chilling effect” on political speech.Moreover, Sainath noted, by refusing to write the letters for a program that inherently discriminates against students of Palestinian ancestry, Cheney-Lippold and Peterson are merely “abiding by the university’s really strict anti-discrimination and diversity policies by refusing to write recommendations for institutions that all of their students cannot study at.”<h2 style="line-height: 1.5rem; margin-top: 1.5rem; margin-bottom: 0px;" din="din" next="next" w01="w01" medium="medium" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-weight="font-weight" padding-top="padding-top" rem="rem" padding-bottom="padding-bottom">Appeals</h2>Approximately 800 individuals have signed a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/elizabeth-cole-defend-lucy-peterson-john-cheney-lippold-support-academic-freedom-right-to-boycott" style="">petition</a> in support of the professors, urging the university to rescind Cheney-Lippold’s punishment and ensure that Peterson not be subjected to similar sanctions.<a href="http://usacbi.org/2018/10/defend-academic-freedom-and-the-right-to-boycott-support-lucy-peterson-and-john-cheney-lippold/" style="">Academics</a>, <a href="https://www.richard-hoffman-reinhardt.com/writing/letter-to-dean-interim-dean-cole-in-support-of-john-cheney-lippold-and-lucy-peterson" style="">scholars</a>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEzhihG0-TTkELNAA-QLVXIUymv6XKMhH8tEIzS7VmxHOGuQ/viewform?c=0&w=1" style="">graduate students</a>, <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/section/viewpoints/op-ed-university-will-not-silence-us" style="">alumni</a> and <a href="https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51044/p/dia/action4/common/public/" style="">human rights</a> <a href="https://secure.everyaction.com/VUraYfNM5U26-EU6ldTo_Q2" style="">advocates</a> are appealing to the university to drop the punishments as well....</div><div>=</div>==

MSU busted jared taylor, SPLC called only hate group

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Legendary rocker Ted Nugent will speak at Western Michigan University on Monday, March 31 at WMU's Miller auditorium."We are excited and honored to host Ted Nugent," says Megan Buwalda, Chairman of the WMU College Republicans. "Mr. Nugent is cultural icon. Gun rights have been a very hot topic on campus recently and we feel that Ted Nugent will contribute positively to the discourse in our community," she added.Ted Nugent is an American hard rock guitarist and vocalist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as the front man of the AMBOY DUKES. He is noted for his conservative political views and his vocal pro-hunting and Second Amendment activism.Nugent's speech is titled "God, Guns & Rock n Roll." The event is free and open to both students and the general public. Following the speech, there will be a question and answer session."We expect to welcome a large turnout to Mr. Nugent's speech," says Buwalda. "We hope the speech exposes students and the community to a new viewpoint and encourages civil discussion and debate. We look forward to a great event."The College Republicans have hosted many successful speaking events in the past years. Speakers include Pat Buchanan, Dinesh D'Souza, Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, Michelle Malkin, Justice Ray Moore, Ann Coulter, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and most recently "20/20" host John Stossel. These events have been attended by many thousands of Western students and are always open and both students and the community free of charge. The College Republicans meet weekly, Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. in the Brown and Gold room of the Bernhard Center. Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ted-nugent-to-speak-at-western-michigan-university/#oVsTIyAy8zM3gKTw.99==MARQUETTE -Outdoorsman and rocker Ted Nugent will be visiting Northern Michigan University Tuesday to espouse his views on the Second Amendment, political correctness and environmentalism, instead of playing the rock music for which is he most famous.The NMU College Republicans and the Sportsmen's Gun Club are jointly presenting the event, called "Kill It and Grill It."According to Matthew Fusilier, president of the NMU College Republicans, the two organizations wanted to bring Nugent to campus because of his views on hunting and the environment and because they knew he would draw a large crowd.

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East Lansing houses toxicology for hire?

===[http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/11/pipeline-rupture-beneath-great-lakes-devastate-people-planet Rupture of Aging Tar Sands Pipeline Beneath Great Lakes Would Devastate People, Planet and Economy] 7/14

.== Gelman Education Foundation gift to U-M Risk Science Center raises questions about research independenceWhile seeking information about a $10 million gift from Dow Chemical to the University of Michiganfor sustainability education, the Ecology Center also raised questions about a gift from the Gelman Education Foundation to the University of Michigan Risk Science Center. Some of that Center's work, in particular a $15 million contract to study dioxin contamination in mid-Michigan, has been controversial with environmental and public-interest groups in the state. The Ecology Center sent a Freedom of Information Act request to U-M in March and received a copy of the gift agreement between the university and the Gelman Educational Foundation on April 6. The agreement details the terms of the gift to support the Risk Science Center at the university’s School of Public Health. Prior to the FOIA request, this gift agreement was not made available to the public."We believe that all similar agreements between companies and the university should be public and transparent to guard against any undue influence or the perception of undue influence," according to Michael Garfield, director of the Ecology Center. Click here for the text of the agreement regarding a gift from the Gelman Education Foundation to the University of Michigan to support the Risk Science Center in the School of Public Health.(pdf)

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http://cit.msu.edu/ http://cit.msu.edu/superfund2013/index.html The Center for Research on Ingredient Safety (CRIS), embedded within the Center for Integrative Toxicology and in partnership with the MSU Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, has been established.For more information on the new CRIS, please visiti the MSU Today article

To apply for the CRIS Endowed Chair position please visit the MSU Applicant Page and search posting number 9565. kaminski cherly rockwell

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not to be confused with legit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Michigan_Daily tom hayden

The Michigan Review is the Journal of Campus Affairs at the University of Michigan and a news publication in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a weekly circulation of 8,000. Since its inception in 1982, the paper has served as a voice of students and Ann Arbor residents. The Review, published biweekly, is funded primarily by grants from the Collegiate Network, donations, and by advertising revenue. National media routinely turn to the editors for their perspective on university issues. Review editors have been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous other newspapers, and have discussed affirmative action on CBS's60 Minutes, the BBC World Service, and on various local television and radio programs.Review alumni have achieved some measure of success in the national arena, working for such media outlets as the National Review,[1] The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, The Hill, and Investor's Business Daily, and writing speeches for President George W. Bush. A large percentage of Review alumni become lawyers.Review alumni have also gone on to very successful careers in business and other fields.

Contents  1 History2 The Review today3 Editors-in-Chief4 References5 External links History[edit]The Review was principally founded by Thomas Fous and Ronald J. Stefanski,[2] in response to an editorial inThe Michigan Daily attacking Fous, who was then the chairman of the University's College Republicans. Fous consulted with editors of The Dartmouth Review, as well as Detroit News writer Alan Miller to help direct the formation of the paper. The nascent group secured 501(c)(3) status for The Review, and empaneled an honorary advisory board, which included Paul W. McCracken, Russell Kirk, Irving Kristol, R. Emmett Tyrrell, and Stephen Tonsor. In late November 1982, the first issue of The Review debuted on the campus of the University of Michigan, as well as on campuses across the state of Michigan. The issue's founding editorial, entitled "In Response to Needs and Demands," laid out the history and mission of The Review. A copy of this editorial was reprinted in the April 16, 2007 issue.Since its founding issue, The Review has gone through numerous incarnations, from a long-form magazine format, to an opinion journal format, to more traditional newspaper format. The current publication resembles a more traditional newspaper format than anything else. Though its paper size is that of a tabloid, its content and presentation is more traditional than stereotypical tabloids, which tend to sensationalize stories. The Review has gained national notoriety during its history. It was an important voice on campus against theUniversity of Michigan's speech code, which was eventually struck down as unconstitutional by federal courts.

Additionally, The Review has long been engaged in a fight against U-M's use of affirmative action policies in its admissions processes. Its work on this issue has brought the journal national press exposure, including interviews on national and international news, as well as numerous articles by Review editors published in national outlets, like the National Review, the Christian Science Monitor, and The American Spectator. Most recently, The Reviewplayed an important role in its coverage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot initiative passed in 2006 that bans the use of racial and gender preferences in the state of Michigan.The Review today[edit]The Review today resembles a traditional newspaper, though it has not lost its flair for irreverent humor and tenacious opposition to some University policies. It includes several types of stories, usually subdivided into sections within the journal. News, news-analysis, or feature stories typically appear on the first page, and throughout the issue. It has a storied humor page, called Page Two, which contains reader-favorite features like The Serpent's Tooth. (The Serpent's Tooth was the impetus for the spinoff of U-M humor paper, The Michigan Every Three Weekly.) Each edition of the paper typically includes two editorials, featured on the third page. Editors are allotted columns on a rotating basis. During the tenure of Editor-in-Chief Nick Cheolas, the paper reintroduced a formal Arts & Culture section.Usually, twelve issues are produced throughout the school year, which come out—on average—every two weeks.The Review is currently edited by junior Derek Draplin.Editors-in-Chief[edit] NameYearDerek Draplin2014-presentChristopher Shu2013-2014Andrew Kalenkiewicz2013-2013Joss van Seventer2012-2012Stephanie Wang2011–2012Eden Stiffman2010–2011Adam Pascarella2009-10Jane Coaston2009Lindsey Dodge2008Michael O'Brien2007-08Nick Cheolas2006-07James David Dickson2005-06Michael J. Phillips2004-05Ruben Duran2003-04James Justin Wilson2002-03Dustin C. Lee2001-02James Yeh2000-01Matthew S. Schwartz1999–2000Lee Bockhorn1998-99Benjamin Kepple1997-98Geoff Brown1996-97Mohan Krishnan1996James A. Roberts II1995-96Nate Jamison1994-95Tracy Robinson1993-94Adam DeVore1992-93Brian Jendryka1991-92John J. Miller1990–1991Marc Selinger1988–1990 References[edit]Jump up^ "John J. Miller Bio on National Review Online". Retrieved 2009-05-29.[dead link]Jump up^ "Review Celebrates 15 Years". Retrieved 2009-05-29.[dead link]External links[edit]Official website [show]vteUniversity of Michigan Categories:  1982 establishments in Michigan Publications established in 1982Student newspapers published in MichiganUniversity of Michigan media=In October of 2000, Ingrid Newkirk, the director and co-founder of PETA, published a book about the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) entitled "Free the Animals: The Story of the Animal Liberation Front". [34] According to an interview with David Shankbone in an HBO documentary about her life, she understands but does not support arson."I do support getting animals out in the same way I would have supported getting human slaves out, child labor, sex slaves, the whole lot. But I don’t support burning. I don’t support arson." [35]During the 1995 trial of Rodney Coronado for the arson of Michigan State University (MSU), U.S. Attorney Michael Dettmer [BC appt replaced by Chaira who was in the purge? replaced by FedSoc Lam]) "alleged" that Ingrid Newkirk arranged to have Coronado send her stolen documents and a videotape. [36], [37] According to David Martosko's written testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works in May of 2005, pages from PETA's IRS documents from 1994 show "disbursements to the Rodney Coronado Support Committee" and a loan to his father. According to the same testimony, their IRS documents from 2000 show a disbursement to Earth Liberation Front (ELF). [38] ELF is an organization with no official membership and is similar to that of ALF. [39]=Jailed for Facebook Friending: Animal Rights Activist Rod Coronado Ordered Back to Prison After Accepting Friend Request from Fellow ActivistDN http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/8/jailed_for_facebook_friending_animal_rights The longtime radical animal liberation activist Rod Coronado has been sent back to prison for four months after a US district judge in Michigan ruled he had violated the terms of his parole. Coronado’s offense was associating with fellow radical activist Mike Roselle by accepting a friend request from Roselle on the social networking website Facebook. We speak with Dean Kuipers, author of Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado’s War to Save American Wilderness. [includes rush transcript]... ===wikiRodney Adam Coronado (born July 3, 1966) is a Native American(Pascua Yaqui) eco-anarchist and animal rights activist. He is an advocate and former activist for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and a spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front. He was a crew member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a member of the editorial collective of the Earth First! Journal.[1] A former proponent of the use of direct action to end what he sees as cruelty to animals and destruction of the environment, Coronado was jailed in 1995 in connection with an arson attack on research facilities at Michigan State University. The incident, which caused $125,000 worth of damage and destroyed 32 years of research data, was part of the ALF's "Operation Bite Back," a series of attacks on animal-testing and fur facilities in the U.S. during the 1990s.[citation needed]In 2006, while imprisoned for felony conspiracy and awaiting trial on further charges, Coronado expressed a change in his personal philosophy inspired by fatherhood. In an open letter, he wrote, "Don't ask me how to burn down a building. Ask me how to grow watermelons or how to explain nature to a child," explaining that he wants to be remembered, not as a "man of destruction but [as] a human believer in peace and love for all."[2] He was released on probation in December 2008, but was imprisoned again for four months in August 2010 for accepting a "friend request" on Facebook from an environmental activist, Mike Roselle, which was deemed a violation of his probation.[3][4] Contents  [hide] 1 Background2 Indictments and convictions 2.1 Earth First! Lion hunt2.2 Demonstrating an incendiary device2.3 Hillcrest trial2.4 Parole violation3 Strong Hearts4 See also5 References6 Further reading7 External links Background[edit]Coronado is of Yaqui heritage and lives in Tucson, Arizona. He has a long history of activism, particularly through incendiary tactics. In 1985, at the age of 19, he joined the crew of the conservation ship, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society,[5] and on November 9, 1986, he and another activist, David Howitt, sank two ships, theHvalur 6 and Hvalur 7, accounting for half of Iceland's whaling fleet. Before scuttling the ships, Coronado and Howitt caused $2 million worth of damage to the Icelandic whaling station. Coronado wrote about this action in the animal rights magazine No Compromise.[6]In 1995, Coronado was convicted and sentenced to 57 months in prison in connection with the February 28, 1992 arson attack on research facilities at Michigan State University (MSU), which caused $125,000 worth of damage. He was also involved in an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) action, releasing mink from a nearby MSU mink research farm, wrecking equipment and opening animals' cages.[7] As a condition of his sentence, Coronado was ordered to pay MSU $2 million in restitution.[8] In 1992 the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (revised in 2006 toAnimal Enterprise Terrorism Act), enacted largely in response to the MSU attacks, was the first legislation adding sabotage as a defined activity of eco-terrorism.[9] Indictments and convictions[edit]Earth First! Lion hunt[edit]On December 2, 2004, Coronado was indicted on three charges related to Earth First! hunt saboteur actions to disrupt a hunt of mountain lions in Sabino Canyon, near Tucson by dismantling a lion trap and spreading mountain lion urine. On December 13, 2005, he and co-defendant Matthew Crozier, 33, were found guilty of felony conspiracy to interfere with or injure a government official, misdemeanor interference with or injury to aforest officer, and misdemeanor depredation (theft, destruction, or the attempt to do so) of government property.[citation needed] Coronado was sentenced on August 6, 2006 to eight months in prison, three years supervised probation, and fined $100. Crozier was sentenced to 100 hours community service, three years probation, and a $1,000 fine.[citation needed]Demonstrating an incendiary device[edit] Further information: Green ScareIn February 2006, Coronado was arrested on a felony charge of demonstrating the use of an incendiary device at a public gathering in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.[10] The indictment indirectly relates to an August 1, 2003 fire in San Diego that destroyed an apartment complex causing an estimated $50 million worth of damage.[11] A banner was found at the scene inscribed with the initials of the ELF. Coronado, a self-described "unofficial ELF spokesman,"[12] gave a talk on militant environmental activism in San Diego 15 hours later, where he explained how to make incendiary devices. He denies any role in the incident, and investigators do not consider him a suspect in starting the fire.[13]His arrest was associated with the FBI's Operation Backfire,[14] a sweep of grand jury indictments against alleged ALF and ELF members,[15] termed the "Green Scare" by activists.[16] Some alternative media sources say Coronado was simply exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech when "in response to a question from an audience member" he "demonstrated how he had constructed a non-explosive, incendiary device out of a plastic jug filled with gasoline to commit the old arson for which he did his time."[12][17]In September 2006, Coronado sent an open letter to supporters from his prison cell in Florence, Arizona, before his release on March 23, 2007.[18] In the letter, he announced his commitment to social change through non-destructive means. Citing his desire to raise his young son without teaching him that "violence is a necessary evil", Coronado expressed hope that others in the earth and animal liberation movements would consider more peaceful methods: “In my years past I have argued that economic sabotage was an appropriate tactic for our time. Like all strategists I have also been forced to recognize that times have changed and it is now my belief that the movements to protect earth and animals have achieved enough with this strategy to now consider an approach that does not compromise objectives, but increases the likelihood of real social change. Let our opposition who believe in violence carry the burden for its justification, but let those who believe in peace and love practice a way of life that our society sorely needs now more than ever.[19]” Hillcrest trial[edit]In 2007, Coronado stood trial in San Diego on charges related to his speech in 2003 in Hillcrest. After two days of deliberations, the jury remained deadlocked, and on September 19, 2007, Judge Jeffrey Miller declared a mistrial.[20] Coronado subsequently entered a guilty plea, accepting a deal for a one year prison term, as a result of which he was sentenced on March 27, 2008 to one year and one day. He was released from El Reno FCI on December 25, 2008.[21] Regarding his guilty plea, he said in an open e-mail on his website: “It has long been my desire to put my past behind me and instead build a sustainable existence for myself, my wife, Chrysta, and two children, Anheles and Maya. This decision to take a plea bargain comes only after much careful consideration and a sincere desire to do what is best for my family. Such unconstitutional assaults on my free speech beg for a continued legal battle and defense, but I am instead choosing to reach a settlement that will allow me to move on with my life rather than face years of litigation that might lead to many years in prison.[22]” Parole violation[edit]In August 2010, Coronado was sentenced to four months in federal prison in Michigan for violating the terms of his probation. Coronado, who had been on parole since his release from prison, joined the social networking site Facebook. He was sentenced for the use of an unauthorized computer, and for "friending" former Earth First! co-founder Mike Roselle.[23] Coronado entered the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan on September 16.[24]Strong Hearts[edit]Strong Hearts was a zine written and published by Coronado during his prison sentence for crimes committed on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front.[25] The zine had a typewriter cut and paste collage format. It was printed on 8½" by 11" paper that was folded in half. There were a total of four issues published.Some of the topics covered included Coronado's experiences with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the

EZLN, animal rights, and indigenous issues.[26] Excerpts from the zine are included in Flaming Arrows: A Compilation Of Works By Rod Coronado, a collection of Coronado's writings currently published by Warcry Communications.See also[edit]

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MSU

Alex Scott, Editor for Spartan Edge

kyle brisow pal: <a href="http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Jason_Van_Dyke">http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Jason_Van_Dyke</a> TPP

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collegiate network:

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Few conservative activists went on to achieve the fame O’Keefe did for <a title="the sting he pulled with fellow activist Hannah Giles" href="http://spectator.org/blog/2009/09/11/okeefes-acorn-expose-moves-to">the 2009 sting he pulled with fellow activist Hannah Giles</a>, posing as a pimp and prostitute inside ACORN offices, and secretly taping the advice they received. In the week since O’Keefe and three colleagues were arrested for apparently tampering with phones in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), national reporters have <a title="trained their eyes" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/politics/31landrieu.html">trained their eyes</a> on organizations like the Collegiate Network and the Leadership Institute. The CN also gave a grant to the Patriot (George Washington University) and The Counterweight (University of Minnesota-Morris), where O’Keefe’s accomplices <a title="Stan Dai" href="http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2010/01/is-this-the-same-stan-dai-.html">Stan Dai</a> and <a title="Joseph Basel" href="http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/01/joseph_basel_ph.php">Joseph Basel</a>, respectively, had worked in college.

The Leadership Institute employed O’Keefe for a year to train conservative activists; while there, he formed a friendship with Ben Wetmore, another veteran campus conservative who put up the four activists at his home before the Landrieu escapade. But any attempt to make them the faces of conservative college journalism, argued Longwell, would be off-base.

“From what he’s said and what he’s doing, O’Keefe strikes me as an ideologue,” said Longwell. “To use him to define conservative campus journalism is silly.”

Longwell has gained some perspective on this. In 2005, she left the Intercollegiate Studies Institute–the umbrella organization that runs CN–for Berman and Company, a free-market public relations firm in Washington that aggravates liberals with dogged, smart-alecky campaigns against their causes.

Also joining Berman was Justin Wilson, once the editor of CN’s paper at the University of Michigan, then another program director at CN. Both later worked with <a title="Bret Jacobson" href="http://bretjacobson.com/" style=" font-weight: normal;">Bret Jacobson</a>, formerly the editor of the CN’s paper at the University of Oregon. (Before she came to CN, Longwell worked at a CN paper at Kenyon College.) In the years since, all three of them helped out with a punchy campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act–legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions–at Berman’s Center on Union Facts. That campaign included <a title="ads" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4oj_2E1jE" style=" font-weight: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ads</a> that portrayed union organizers as thugs and undercover <a title="videos" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7eIqS-o0QE" style=" font-weight: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">videos</a>–conducted with more subtlety than O’Keefe, who would pose in costume–that captured union strategists shifting their strategy. One measure of how successful Berman and Company was at frustrating Democrats came when the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) angrily <a title="ripped up one of the firm's anti-EFCA newspaper ads" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJ5lKq3GY0" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ripped up one of the firm’s anti-EFCA newspaper ads</a> in front of a cheering crowd of union workers.

According to activists who spoke with TWI, the experience of campus conservatives who went on to Berman is more representative of the movement’s investment in college journalism than the trials of James O’Keefe, Stan Dai, Joseph Basel and Ben Wetmore. It’s the sort of work that the three latter activists were doing until last week, using their training and connections to become players in the intelligence industry or in conservative activism. For the Leadership Institute, the Collegiate Network, and the National Journalism Center run by Young Americans for Freedom–just three of the conservative training organizations that have operated for more than a generation–the Landrieu debacle was a distraction from a project that had been going quite well. Conservative activists and journalists who’ve come out of those training programs have had a larger, but quieter, impact than O’Keefe. (Disclosure: I edited a CN paper, The Northwestern Chronicle, from 2002 to 2004, and I held a CN fellowship at USA Today from 2004 through 2005.) They’re well-funded–ISI, CN’s parent organization received, $8.3 million in contributions in 2009–and while they don’t release the names of donors, their trustees include American Spectator publisher Al Regnery (ISI), Heritage Foundation president Ed Fuelner (ISI), and GOP strategist Frank Donatelli (LI).

“Every two years or so, somebody writes a story about how conservatives on college campuses have suddenly discovered journalism,” said John J. Miller, an editor at National Review who came there from the same conservative UM paper as Berman’s Justin Wilson, and who hires summer interns from the CN roster. “Still, if you took people under the age of 40 or 45, right-of-center journalists–however you want to categorize them–a lot of them came from these conservative campus newspapers.”

While O’Keefe’s experience with the Leadership Institute has received more attention than his CN grant–and more than the internship Hannah Giles had at the National Journalism Center–the path from campus conservative journalism to D.C. influence is reliable. Before Marc Thiessen wrote speeches for George W. Bush, he was editor-in-chief of the Vassar Spectator. Before the Chamber of Commerce’s James Gelfand was tripped up for an email asking if it was possible to fund a study that would discredit health care reform, he was an editor at the Northwestern Chronicle. They place yearlong fellows at Roll Call, The Hill, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, and USA Today. Last year, the CN’s program expanded to the Raleigh News & Observer in North Carolina.

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