XM THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, i4. r THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 29.1 907 Regents: Unamiliar Faces, Powerful R4 oles f By THOMAS R. COPI stitutionally, the eight-man of Regents owns and oper- the University. University can only be spent with its val; diplomas can only be ed by its authority. 3 yet the members of this whose actions are felt where at the University, from onstruction of a new Dental . to the conduct of Saturday s, are usually quite unf am- o the students. ce the Regents are elected to on partisan ballots, some them as politicians, who per- know little and care less the operation of the Uni- this a fair view? Why not to the Regents themselves ee what they think. gent Gertrude Heubner, elec- the board in 1966, says "I'm inly no politican. The reason . for the board as a Republi- s that my Republican frierads sted 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 )n 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 1i 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 dis- 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- >ions 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 Ehe part of the older people. And I think a great deal of this resent- mnent 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 gvow, 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 arotest the most actively wouldn't think so. The Regents are around quite a bit, both individually and in meetings, and they're quite acutelyawareofwhat the prob- lems are. Insofar as knowing what the gripes are - what the 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- ficers 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 zorner traffic cop or the fellow that scrubs the hallway. If it's 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 I across and getting action on it. we can make some real headway." As I said, the Regents are quite Cudlip, says that "in appro- conscious and concerned with stu- priate areas, the advice of stu- dent problems. Of course the Re- dents, through whatever chan- gents get the other side too: from' a very good thing. I think that faculty people, parents, and alum- nels are deemed appropriate, is ni-who figure they're just "as students, through their elected much a part of the University." representatives, can comment and "I suppose everybody would like have a place in determing certain the idea of marching up to a things about community life at Regent and having a direct con- the University." frontation . . but the Regents Smith adds that "of course just don't have enough time .. . there's all the difference in the there aren't enough hours in the world between getting a message day." 4 Goebel Briggs TEXT BOOKS UP TO /3 OFF ULIIICH'S ANN ARBOR S FRIENDLY BOOKSTORE li Smith Heubner Cudlip Brown Matthaei, Jr. Bentley ~ . -,..-..-.--.-. ... .A.V j, :": J.tiV:". "::. . T. 1ti x.11:"::'}:4 ':": t}:::'lti ;': }: J::'::'.: :::'::S': ftiV'::L4": i :{"« ':":{"l:"t:::::":':: t!:': " ti"t:'1}::"i: 1:':.+:Q: }A: ' i J ":1 ii1i i ii Y:1V:: :::i::titi1':":.:":e:^:Y:: }:::::::'f :"::"f: }::f :::.:................................. ........,.,... j . B Warn byWa r 41,x.. t ' Ou k u ROBES by Flobert-Sabury & Artemis Roge A ( ~~i LINGERIE by rs-Schrank-Kayser rtemis & Warner &t Nemo S and GIRDLES Nemo-Jantzen & Sarvng T_ _ . ...-A 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: 9 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. 0 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. BRASSIERES by ali--Gossard-Saro er-Maidenform & 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. Household Cleaning 5. Year Around Storage Service 7. "Coin" Operated Laundry 8. Skilled Alterations and Repairs 9. Drive-in Windows and Night Drop-off Box 10. Member: National Institute of Drycleaning and Drycleaning and Laundry Institute of Detroit CORSELETTES rner-Gossard-Tre o- I T T" c,71n C7