UWM criminal justice professor charged

A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee criminal justice professor has been charged with a misdemeanor count of attempted theft by fraud for allegedly forging a grant application for a student, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on March 30.

Martin G. Urbina, 34, appeared in court on March 30 and was released on a $500 signature bond. He faces up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

According to a criminal complaint filed March 30, Urbina had been in touch with a female student several times by mobile phone during the spring of 2005, commenting on her looks. That summer, he sent her text messages telling her he was getting a deal for her.

He allegedly applied without her consent for the Chancellor’s Graduate Student award, for which he was on the judging panel.

The student won, which put her in line to receive $6,000, but she did not accept the award. Urbina is due back in court April 12. His attorney said Urbina has resigned his UWM job effective at the end of the current semester.

Students to don T-shirts in support of gay acceptance

UWM students will be sporting T-shirts that read, “gay? fine by me.” throughout the month of April to publicly condemn homophobia.

The Gay? Fine By Me T-shirt project “is a way to give voice to the many, many students who oppose homophobia and support equal rights for LGBT Americans,” organizers said.

The UWM Student Association and the UWM LGBT Resource Center are co-sponsoring the project, which begins today and will run through April 26, the Day of Silence.

The Gay? Fine By Me T-shirt project began at Duke University in spring 2003, and since then the project has spread to over 100 schools, churches and communities, and organizers have distributed over 35,000 T-shirts in almost all 50 states.

For more information about the Gay? Fine By Me. T-shirt project at UWM, contact Jon Tingley, LGBTQ issues director for the Student Association, at jtingley@uwm.edu. For information about the Gay? Fine By Me. movement, visit finebyme.org.

Pharmaceutical company licenses professor’s anti-anxiety compound

Global pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb has licensed a patented anti-anxiety compound developed by a UWM chemistry professor.

James Cook’s compound provides the same effect as the most widely used drugs for anxiety — Valium and Xanex — but without some of the side effects, including drowsiness and muscle weakness. The compound is also not habit-forming.

Cook and his research team are currently identifying an area in the brain that cause such unwanted side effects and developing drugs that will not affect those areas.

Cook is also working on developing drugs for more effective control of alcoholism. He is developing a compound that interacts with certain neurotransmitters in the brain to block the euphoric effects of alcohol, ease anxiety and inhibit sedation.

College of Health Sciences to hold Research Symposium

The College of Health Sciences will present its 2006 Research Symposium on Friday April 21.

The symposium highlights the current research of both graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty in the college. Students will present their research to a panel of judges comprised of faculty, administrators and health care professionals from the university and Milwaukee community. The judges will rank the projects based on a number of criteria.

Scott Strath, a professor an internationally recognized researcher in the Department of Human Movement Sciences, will present “A Mile a Day Keeps the Doctor Away” as the keynote address.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. in the fourth floor Conference Center in the Golda Meir Library.

Those interested in attending should RSVP by April 7 to Linda Miller at 229-3226 or ljm@uwm.edu.

Plaintiffs wanted for lawsuit challenging drug financial aid ban

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is seeking plaintiffs for a class action lawsuit filed in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union that challenges a federal law that disqualifies students with drug convictions from receiving financial aid.

The case, SSDP v. Spellings, asks the court to strike down the law and reinstate aid to all affected college students.

The lawsuit claims that the ban unconstitutionally punishes people twice for the same offense, which violates the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

It also claims that the ban designates those with drug convictions as unworthy of educational aid, which violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause.

For more information, visit ssdp.org/lawsuit. Anyone affected by the federal law should e-mail ssdp@ssdp.org or call (202) 293-4414 for more information about the lawsuit.

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