THE MICHIGAN DAILY t74T'Y'f [Y'!\ t 1fM Y "NYJrw. 4r ai: r . 'U'Regents: Unfamiliar Faces, Powerful Ro ESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1967 9les By THOMAS R. COPI ,onstitutionally, the eight-man ard of Regents owns and oper- s the University. University ids can only be spent with its; proval; diplomas can only be nted by its authority. And yet the members of this ard, whose actions are felt rywhere at the University, from construction of a new Dental dg. to the conduct of Saturday sses, are usually quite unfam- r to the students. Since the Regents are elected to ice on partisan ballots, some w themn as politicians, who per- ps know little and care less out the operation of the Uni- 'sity. s this a fair view? Why not n to the Regents themselves d see what they think. Regent Gertrude Heubner, elec- i to the board in 1966, says "I'm tainly no politican. The reason an for the board as a Republi- a is that my Republican friends ggested that. I do it, and I was nominated at the state Republican convention. If the Democrats had asked me to run, then I probably would have run as a Democrat." Why did Mrs. Heubner choose to run at all? "Well, I've never been the gung- ho back-to-campus type, but as a graduate of the University I've al- ways been interested in what goes 3n there. Frankly, I was somewhat naive at first. I didn't know how much work being a Regent entails. But believe me, it's quite a bit," she explains. "I've never really added it up, but I must spend pretty close to two months in time out of a year working as a Regent. But I'm not complaining, because it's work that I enjoy doing," says Regent William Cudlip, a board member since his election in 1964. % But what is it, exactly that the Regents do? "We* hold conferences between meetings," continues C u d Ii p, "sometimes by telephone and sometimes in person. We're also ::alled upon to meet with faculty groups, administrative groups and alumni groups. And we meet with the city of Ann Arbor to work out cooperation between the city and the University in the area of phy- sical plant expansion. And, we're always doing public relations work, too." "But there's a limitation on the amount'of work the Regents can do, because we have to earn a living, too," comments Regent Ro- bert Briggs, who was appointed to the board in 1964 to replace the deceased William McInally, Briggs emphasizes that the Re- gents are informed and up-to- date on what happens in Ann Ar- bor. Wielding the 300-page agen-' da for the next meeting, Briggs said that each Regent is familiar with its contents. Then why is there so little kdis- cussion at the monthly regent's' meetings? "Well, the Regents familiarize themselves with the. material in the agenda, and then discuss it in private meetings. Much more, can be accomplished there in the informal 'let your hair down' ses- gions held before the public meet- ings," notes Regent Otis Smith, who was just recently appointed to fill the post vacated by the resign- ation of Allan Sorenson. "So most of the issues that come up at the public meetings have been hashed out and decided be- forehand," Smith says. An issue which was raised higher than ever in the past year was one of student demonstrations on campus. The "lunch-hour sit- in" held during the abortive 'stu- dent power' movement last year attracted over 1500 students, and received nation-wide publicity. What do the Regents think about such protests? "Well," says Briggs, "there have always been people who registered protest. The protest of today seems to be more coordinated, more vig- orous. I happened to be one who believes that the right of protest is valid. I don't object to protest, but I think there are ways to pro- test that are reasonable and there are ways to protest that are un- reasonable. But for a student to protest within the realm of rea- son - I have no objection to it." Regent Paul Goebel of Grand Rapids, who joined the board in 1961, says that "students today are much more conscious of social problems, and that's good. But it seems to me that the methods the activist use to work toward social change are wrong - and some- times they're self-defeating." Goebel, who as head of the Uni- versity's $55 million fund drive is perhaps in closer contact with alumni than anyone else in the University, says that "the reaction on the part of University, alumni to activist demonstrations'in Ann Arbor is bad. The activists engen- der a great deal of resentment on the part of the older people. And I think a great deal of this resent- nent stems from the methods the activists use to achieve their ob- jectives." Mrs. Heubner agrees that "many people feel that 'appearances' are all-important. An alumnus who is about to write a check to the Uni- versity reads that the kids are smoking bananas on campus and avow, that's the end of the world. But I think the kids would be pretty dumb if they didn't try bananas." However, Mrs. Heubner also says that she doesn't always admire the techniques or the methods the activists use, because sometimes I think they'll antagonize more people who are in a position to do something about it," says Smith. But he adds that "overt and hos- tile and destructive tactics in a protest are completely unnecessary when there is a procedure by which one is able effectively to register complaints." What about that -- register of complaints? A persistent problem, it seems, has been one of com- munications -- or lack of them - between the students and the Re- sents. Smith says that there are chan- nels, although "the students who protest the most actively wouldn't think so. The Regents are around quite a bit, both individually and in meetings, and they're quite acutely aware ofwhat the prob- lems are. Insofar as knowing what the gripes are - whatrthe issues are - I think we're pretty well informed." "The Regents are always happy to get any sound council or ad- vice on anything that will make this a better institution than it .is," adds Goebel. "I don't know of any sound suggestions that have come forward to the executive of- Cicers or the Regents that have not been accepted. I don't care where the suggestion comes from - I don't care if it comes from the corner traffic cop or the fellow that scrubs the hallway. If it's 4 I Students are Encouraged To Attend Monthly Regents' Meetings i good suggestion, that will better the University, we'll take it," Goe- bel explains. Briggs, who worked with a stu- dent committee in the selection of a new president for the Univer- sity, feels that the group was a "tremendous help" to him, and that the committee-type of vehicle would work well in other situa- tions: "If a small group of stu- dents would honestly sit down and weigh the problems they want to talk to the board about, and re- quest that we sit down and spend a couple of hours together, I think we can make some real headway." Cudlip, says that "in appro- priate areas, the advice of stu- dents, through whatever chan- a very good thing. I think that nels are deemed appropriate, is students, through their elected representatives, can comment and have a place in determing certain things about community life at the University." Smith adds that "of course there's all the difference in the world between getting a message across and getting action on it. As I said, the Regents are quite conscious and concerned with stu- dent problems. Of course the Re- gents get the other side too: from faculty people, parents, and alum- ni-who figure they're just "as much a part of the University." "I suppose everybody would like the idea of marching up to a Regent and having a direct con- frontation . . . but the Regents; just don't have enough time . there aren't enough hours in the day." 4 I I Goebel Briggs .--I TEXTBOOKS i UP TO 3 OFF 44 ULRIC 'S ANN ARBOR S FRIENDLY BOOKSTORE Smith Heubner 4 rV Cudlip Brown Matthaei, Jr. .... J.J . ..S.. .. "5.:.. .1Y....... .: J...... . .....,........."Y. :J1::..1. :K, .1..J..:1 K..":.. * 'Ki } ....... ":4:,iK'K:vK ..K" :."J.K.*:4:X.... .:.." :*:.g ::.........t. :":.K. '.". K w ROBES by Flobert-Sabury & Artemis R I ' A!~ t## :i4 s :'?:} i LINGERIE by ogers-Schrank-Kayser Artemis & Warner Bentley The information in this ar- ticle was obtained through a series of interviews between The Daily and the Regents. All the Regents but the following three were interviewed: * Regent Frederick Mattha- ei, Jr., who was appointed to the board this summer to re- place his father, who resigned. There was, unfortunately, not enough time to interview Mat- thaei before the publication of this article. # Regent Alvin Bentley, who was appointed to the board to fill the vacancy created when Eugene Power resigned last year, is recuperating from a serious operation at his home in Owosso, and was not available for an interview. # Regent Robert Brown of Kalamazoo refused to be Inter- viewed by The Daily. GET YOUR PERSONALIZED WITH YOUR INITIALS A lovely pinky ring so popu- lar now, engraved with your initials. Choice of satin or polished finish. #1 BRASSIERES by Bali-Gossard-Sarong Warner-Maidenform & Nemo 4 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD USE KWIK 'N KLEEN-ANN ARBOR'S COMPLETE CLOTHING CARE CENTER 1. Deluxe Drycleaning and Finishing 2. 24 Hour Shirt Service (Faster on Request) 3. Complete Laundry Service , 4. 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