Students say Michigan AD shoved them at stadium

<div id="subtitle">Michigan AD Bill Martin expresses regret to students who say he assaulted them at stadium</div><div><p>Michigan athletic director Bill Martin pushed a student and grabbed the wind breaker of another student during two football games, according to a department of public safety report.</p><p>Michigan student Jackie Turner says she told Martin he needed a pass to enter the regents guest area of the press box Sept. 12 during a game against Notre Dame. She said he pushed her shoulder and walked past her.</p><p>"Honey, I am the athletic director," Turner quoted him as saying, according to a university report on the incident.</p><p>On Oct. 17, Eastern Michigan student Arif Khan said he told Martin and a female companion they needed passes to enter the area after a game against Delaware State. Khan said Martin grabbed his jacket.</p><p>"I am the athletic director, I can go in," Khan quoted Martin as telling him.</p><p>Turner and Khan were interviewed on Oct. 18, three days before Martin announced he would retire in September.</p><p>The students said they were uninjured and did not want to press charges.</p><p>"I contacted those involved to discuss the situation and express my regret," Martin said in a statement released by the school Monday night. "I know they were just doing their jobs."</p><p>Martin, who became Michigan's athletic director in 2000 on an interim basis, announced his retirement in a letter to university president Mary Sue Coleman.</p><p>"Being the Michigan AD is not just a job, it's a way of life and one I have embraced full force," Martin wrote in the letter made public Oct. 21.</p><p>Coleman has said Martin will remain as AD until a successor is chosen and then he will remain a special adviser to her until retiring.</p><p>Domino's Pizza Inc. CEO David Brandon, a former Michigan football player and regent at the school, is among the candidates to succeed Martin.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=63025530&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>


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