At a press conference Nov. 7 the University of Michigan announced the “beginning of the last chapter” of the investigation of Ed Martin and the men’s basketball team. A meeting held July 26 with Ed Martin’s attorneys confirmed that four former U-M basketball players accepted loans in the amount of $616,000. As a result, the U-M self-imposed sanctions on the basketball program, including:

• Forfeiting all games won in the 1992-93 season, the 1992 and 1993 Final Fours and all the seasons from fall 1995 through spring 1999
• Removing four championship banners from Crisler Arena
• Repaying the NCAA about $450,000 received for postseason play
• Declaring the current team ineligible to participate in the 2003 NCAA and NIT tournaments.

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The Alumni Association is printing an alumni directory, the first since 1997. As part of our effort to include updated information, you’ll soon receive in the mail a questionnaire and survey. The directory, which will be available late next fall only to members of the Alumni Association, is only as good as the information that’s in it, so please take a moment to review and return the form.


The University of Michigan has made it onto one of TV's most popular shows, HBO's "The Sopranos." Episode #46, aired originally on Oct. 26, featured a corrupt New Jersey politician named Ron Zellman who went to the U-M. The show’s main character, Tony Soprano, openly mocks Zellman’s college education.

The U-M also occasionally appears on ABC’s “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” The show’s characters sometimes wear Michigan clothing, and one episode’s plot revolved around the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game.

A new study at the U-M found that patients with lower back pain that can't be linked to a physical cause may have abnormal pain-processing pathways in their brains. To determine if the pain is linked to the brain, researchers used a form of MRI brain imaging to determine what lower back pain patients feel and what's going on in their brains at the precise moment they feel it. Results of the study will give researchers a detailed diagram of the areas of the brain that are active when a patient is in pain.


Travel through unique and beautiful Patagonia, Chile, on the Alumni Association's "Explore Patagonia" trip. You'll see Santiago's historical sights, including La Moneda, the neoclassical Presidential Palace, and observe a Magellanic penguin nesting site at Otway Sound. Traverse Gray Lake's glacier to see "The Towers" in Torres del Paine National Park, designated as one of UNESCO's Biosphere Reserves. Trip dates are Feb. 21--March 2, 2003.

Four Michigan student-athletes received Big Ten Player of the Week honors on Monday, Nov. 4. Peter Dzubay of the men’s soccer team got the award for his defensive play, while teammate Kevin Robinson was honored for his offensive performance. Adrienne Hortillosa got the nod for the top offensive field hockey player, and Jennifer Gandolph was honored for her volleyball performance.