PARSONS SUSPENSION:
A CALL TO ACTION
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*VoI. LXXX, No. 131
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, March 12, 1970
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
h.
Parsons.
case
renews
dispute
over.
discipline
By ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
Daily News Analysis
The issue of rule enforcement
and discipline within the Univer-
sity community, a spasmodic focus
of student power advocates for the
past four years, has, this week,
once again been brought to the
fore:
In two successive days, a college
administrator and a group of stu-
dents assembled as a court, took
contradictory actions in a case in-
volving a student alleged to have
struck a faculty member. Each
considers its action to be valid.
The administrator, literary col-
lege Dean William Hays, summar-
ily suspended the student, Robert
Parsons, '70, pending action by
the administrative board on the
charge.
The group of students, Central
Judiciary (CSJ), "ordered" Hays
to lift the suspension, maintaining
that it had sole jurisdiction over
the case.
The conflict is merely a micro-
cosm of a larger issue involving
objections by student leaders to
the faculty's authority, delegated
by the Regents, to handle all
forms of student discipline. The
students demand that this au-
thority be removed-at least with
respect to so-called non-academic
cases, such as disruption or acts
of violence.
And with the dispute over the
proposed Regents bylaws concern-
ing the student role in decision
and rule-making swiftly approach-
ing a climax, the actions by Hays
and CSJ take on a particular sig-
nificance.
The bylaws, which were pro-
posed by Senate Assembly, the
faculty representative body, and
S t u d e n t Government Council,
would grant the power to adjudi-
cate non-academic cases involving
students to courts composed solely
of students.
Although the Regents have yet
to release their own draft of these
bylaws, the executive officers-the
vice presidents and President Rob-
ben Fleming-have expressed con-
siderable doubts about the pro-
posal.,
Until the bylaws are adopted,
the nature of the University's ju-;
dicial system will remain largely
unclear.
The Regents have never officially
recognized the existence of CSJ,
much less its right to jurisdiction
over non-academic cases involving
students. However, in the past
year, the administration has for-
warded several cases of student
disruption to the court.
Although this would imply tacit
recognition of CSJ's authority, the
authority officially exists only
when the administration or the
faculty choose to route the cases
to CSJ.
And, following each of the dis-
ruptions which have taken place
here since last fall. Fleming and
other executive officers have as-
serted that the cases could just as
easily be taken to civil courts and
to the governing faculties of the
schools and colleges.
As long as the administration
and the faculty share this view,
the regental delegation of sole
jurisdiction in non-academic cases
to student courts remains unlikely.
In such a situation, student
leaders express concern that the
actions taken by SGC over the
past four years in an effort to
assume control of non-academic
rule making and adjudication will
be negated.
These actions, all of which have
never been recognized by the Re-
gents, and are therefore techni-
cally of no effect, began in No-
vember, 1966.
At that time, the judicial sys-
tem at the University revolved
around Joint Judiciary Council
(JJC), a group composed entirely
of students. While JJC had appel-
late authority in all non-academic
cases, their action was subject to
reversal by the Subcommittee on
Standards and Conduct, a group
composed of three faculty- mem-
bers and two students. In addi-
tion, the president of the Univer-
sity has always retained the power
to reverse a verdict by a Univer-
sity judiciary body.
The extent of the faculty's jur-
isdiction was still unclear. While
the faculty was specifically em-
powered to hear appeals of sus-
pensions and expulsions ordered
by JJC, is was loathe to accept the
original responsibility of discip-
lining students for non-academic
offenses.
This was made clear in Decem-
ber, 1967, when the literary col-
lege administrative board declined
to involve itself- in the case of a
student who participated in a pro-
test against a visiting navy ad-
miral. The board said it was still
unsure of its proper role in "such
disciplinary matters."
Meanwhile, in April, 1967, JJC
announced it would, from then
on, only hear cases involving vio-
lations of rules made by students.
In December, SGC began adopt-
ing major changes in its "Council
Plan". None of the considerable
changes made since then have
been officially recognized by the
Regents, however.
Among the first amendments,
was the adoption of a student "Bill
of Rights." Among other things,
the Bill of Rights asserted that
students, have the right "in all
non-academic cases, to be orig-
inally judged only by a judiciary
drawn from and responsible to a
democratic constituency to which
they belong."-in "other words, a
judiciary comprised of students.
In early 1968, SGC amended the
constitution governing JJC to al-
low future amendments of the JJC
constitution to be passed without
the approval of the vice president
for student affairs.
In spring, 1968, an ad hoc com-
mittee composed of students,
faculty members, and an adminis-
trator began meeting to draft
See DISPUTE, Page 7
Over
By DAVE CHUDWIN
A call for commitment,
change and action to "Give
Earth a Chance", was the
theme last night as over 13,-
000 people attended the kick-
off rally for the University's
teach-in on the environment.
"We canndt defer for long a
confrontation with the real debt
that we owe to nature-the total
reorganization of our system of
productivity to make it compatible
with the ecosystem," ecologist
Barry Commoner told the mam-
moth crowd that filled Crisler
Arena.
q4 Commoner, along with Sen.
Gaylord Nelson, geneticist James
Shapiro, Gov. William Milliken,
actor Arthur Godfrey and Univer-
sity President Robben Fleming,
emphasized the urgency of en-
vironmental problems and the
need for a sustained effort to solve
them.
"The important fact is that
we're sitting on a delayed-action
bomb and we had better defuse it
as quick as we can," Milliken said.
"Our responsibility is not just to
save our own skins but to have
humanity."
M Despite wide agreement that en-
vironmental problems exist, the
peaceful rally was not without dis-
sension. Many of the speakers
were heckled by audience members
and criticized in a fake program
produced by Students for a Dem-
ocratic Society, which also organ-
A.ized a card section.
"If any good is to come of meet-
ings like this, it's going to take
sustained interest and changes in
our national life," said Fleming,
who opened the event and acted
as master of ceremonies.
Milliken, agreeing with Fleming,
said that the fight to preserve the
environment cannot be won by
government alone. Milliken pled-
ged, however, that the state would
live up to its responsibilities in
dealing with the issue.
"People must be our first con-
cern," Milliken said, no matter
what the effects on business or the
economy.
Noting student concern with en-
vironmental problems, Milliken
proposed a "clean earth corps" to
help students work on action pro-
jects in their own communities
for a semester or term with mini-
mal pay.
Milliken said he would ask the
Legislature to appropriate enough
money to fund such a project on
a pilot basis this summer.
In an unexpected addition to
the program, Ed Fabre, L'71, a
member of the Black Action Move-
See 13,000, Page 7
13,000
attend
i k-off
on
environment
~*w
LSA
*
7C
*
*
discipline
maintained;
set
protest,
today
-Daily-Jim Diehi
SEN. GAYLORD NELSON (D-Wis) speaks at the ENACT "kick-
off" rally yesterday Nelson said population must be controlled to
solve the environment crisis.
-Daily-Randy Edmonds
STUDENTS dump non-returnable cans on the front lawn of
Coca-Cola's local bottling plant as part of ENACT's demonstra-
tions yesterday.
A ver
By STEVE KOPPMAN
"The streets don't belong to the
cars-the streets belong to the
people!"
A blue and white '59 Ford sedan
was hacked to death on the Diag
yesterday afternoon-fifty miles
from the city that Henry Ford
made into the birthplace and cen-
ter of the American auto industry.
Before the execution, however,
the car had been tried and found
guilty.
And later in the afternoon, some
200 people created a sea of non-
returnable cans in the front lawn
of Coca-Cola's local bottling plant.
Both demonstrations were part of
the ENACT teach-in which began
yesterday.
On the diag, people stomped for
an hour on the car's engine,
[li*et:
Cars are guilty'
SDS plans protest of
Atlantic Richfield Co.
smashed its heavy steel body, and
turned it over several times.
"Dr. Sigmund Ford" testified on
behalf of the car at the mock
trial which proceeded the execu-
tion.
"The automobile is essential to
the maintenance of the Ameri-
can's psyche!" he declared. "You
can't take it away from him! How
else could he know his power and
virility? How can we show our
neighbors we're stronger and more
powerful than they are without a
Lincoln Continental?"
Judge Andy Feeney didn't think
much of the case against the auto
either. But then, he didn't get to
see much of the trial - most of
the time, his eyes were fixed on
a new copy of Auto Racing.
But the 'people' paid the court
no heed. When the judge ruled
that a dozen defendants were
guilty of conspiring against the
car, they attacked him and turned
the trial over to the thousand or
so students gathered in front of
the Graduate Library.
They found the "four-wheeled
monstrosity" guilty of murder of
the. American public, crossing
state lines to pollute, inciting traf-
fic jams, creating physical and
psychological dependence, and dis-
criminating against the poor.'
The crowd seemed unconvinced,
when "Rob Rockyfeller," con-
nected with a "major founda-
tion" declared that detailed test-
ing had revealed auto exhaust was
only half as poisonous as aspirin.
Besides, he said, if nitrates do
damage the lakes, so much the
better-they can be turned hfto
farmland to feed the starving
multitudes.
When first informed of the dem-
onstration, a Coca-cola employe
said, "We don't want the cans."
it soon became apparent the
demonstrators did not want them
either.
" An ENACT spokesman told
Coca-Cola employes who left the
building to view the deluge that
the company, as the largest bev-
erage manufacturer in America,
should take the lead in ending the
production of non-returnable cans
and containers.
Non-returnable cans, the dem-
onstrators argued, are extremely
damaging to the environment-
each time a person has a soft
drink, they noted, he discards a
can, which is then added to the
refuse which has to be disposed
of, and which slowly eats away at
streams, land and air.,
Returnable deposit bottles, on
the other hand, can be reused,
lessening the amount of refuse
produced, they said. Coca-Cola,
the ENACT spokesman charged,
was in fact phasing out its own
returnable bottles.
"We sell what the people want!"
responded a Coke employe. One
plant official claimed the company
was already operating a plant
which bought back non-returnable
cans, and melted them down for
aluminum.
After dumping the cans and
discussing the issue, most of the
demonstrators stayed to clean up.
The frowns on the faces of bot-
tling company employes turned
to amused smiles as the protesters
placed the cans in large garbage
bins.
A policeman on the scene said
he had no plans for any arrests or
charges resulting from the inci-
dent.
An ENACT spokesman suggested
that students start weekly i e-
turns of non-returnable cans to
local stores and supermarkets
which don't give customers the
alternative between returnable and
non-returnable containers.
By MARTIN HIRSCHMAN
Editor
and LARRY LEMPERT
Plans for a noon Diag rally
today followed by a de-
monstration in LSA D e a n
William Hays' office were soli-
dified yesterday after a meet-
ing between students and the
literary college executive com-
mittee.
After a two-hour discussion with
an ad hoc delegation of students
headed by Student Government
Council President Marty Mc-
Laughlin, the board decided in
closed session that it would not
revoke the summary suspension of
SDS member Robert T.- Parsons.
Hays ordered Parsons summarily
suspended last week for allegedly
striking engineering Prof. John
Young during a demonstration
against General Electric Co. re-
cruiters at the engineering place-
ment office Feb. 18. Parsons denies
the charge.
The suspension drew strong
criticism from the ad hoc group
of students that planned today's
demonstrations. They argued that
Parsons had been denied due pro-
cess and that only students should
be allowed to try other students.
Hays and the executive commit-
tee have argued that the suspen-
sion was ordered under powers
delegated to the dean by the LSA
faculty, and that it was warranted
by the seriousness of the charges
against Parsons.
Although they declined to revoke
the suspension, the executive com-
mittee noted, ir a statement re-
leased after the meeting, that
Parsons voluntarily withdrew from
school on March 9, six days after
,his suspension was ordered. The
committee said that a notation on
his academic record would indi-
cate that the suspension was only
in effect for those six days. .
ADMiSSIONS
BAM, Fleming'
debate issues
By TAMMY JACOBS
Members of the Black Action Movement (BAM) met with
President Robben Fleming yesterday to discuss differences
between black demands and the suggestions Fleming intends
to present at the Regents meetings next week.
Yesterday's meeting, according to Walter Lewis, a mem-
ber of the group, was an attempt to "clarify the ambiguities"
contained in a letter in which Fleming presented his propos-
als to BAM members last week.
Dean William Hays
a vv.....a .. ... .. .. ._. 1 A.
See LSA, Page 7
12,
By RICK PERLOFF
Students fdr a Democratic So-
ciety is planning a protest against
recruiters from the Atlantic Rich-
field Co. today or tomorrow,
charging that the company is in-
volved in the construction of an
Alaskan oil pipeline which SDS
claims will cause significant eco-
logical damage.
The nature and time of the pro-
test has not been disclosed, but it
is understood that a small com-
mittee has been given responsi-
hilit for its organization.
recruiters since the Dow Co. pro-
test earlier this month.
The ecological damage involved
in the pipeline construction was
explained in an article by Fred
Miller in "Up Against The Wall
Street Journal," a newspaper
largely written by campus SDS
Mfembers.
Miller wrote that Atlantic Rich-
field's involvement in the con-
struction of an 800 mile pipeline
from the Alaskan North Slope to
Valdez "may have disastrous con-
sequences for the Alaskan ecosys-
CRITICIZE DEAN HAYS
Students oppose suspension
- BAM had originally demanded
that the proportion of blacks be
increased to ten per cent by 1973-
74, but the administration's pro-
posals only promise to double
"disadvantaged" student enroll-
ment by that time.
Students considered "disadvan-
taged" may enroll through the
University's Opportunity Awards
program, which has flexible ad-
mission standards. A majority of
the students' in the program are
black.
However, the black students
pointed out to Fleming that even
if the amount of blacks enrolled
By BOB SCHREINER
A majority of students at the University
appear to strongly disagree with the de-
cision made Monday by literary Dean Wil-
liam Hays to summarily suspend SDS-
member Robert Parsons for actions during
Parsons denies the charge. Hays. said
Parsons will be allowed a hearing if he
chooses.
The most common opinion among those
surveyed was that Hays should not even
have considered the question of suspension
Then it would be a more democratic type
judgment."
Strelow disagreed with disruption tac-
tics, however. "You can't deny certain stu-
dents the right to work for these com-
panies," he said. "Picketing or debating is
all right "