Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAM Tuesday; August 27, 1968 PageFourTHE iCHIAN DI:' _ . Dorm By LUCY KENNEDY The student-led move to end dormitory regulations, although Marked by confusiop on all sides, ended the University'i 6co par- entis stand without obvious show of force by students or adminis- trators. Catching the administration and ,in some cases the students by surprise, Joint Judiciary Council (JJC) paved the way for elimina- tion of dormitory regulations in the spring of 1967 by announcing it would not discipline students for breaking rules students did not make. The tenuous position in which JJC's decision put the University administration eliminated many of the grounds for the open stu- dent display of- force seen in thej fall of 1966. Tensions, however, were there. Students remembered the 'Uni- versity administration's h i g h handed implementation in the fall of 1966 of a sit-in ban and an admiinstrative refusal to con- sider a student referendum asking discontinuation of class ranking for the draft. During the battle to end dormitory regulations there were several occasions when the. memory of fall, 1966 could have become a violent reality. Revolutionary but quiet, JJC's new stand on discipline students came when Student Govei'nment Council (SGC) appointed nine new members to JJC pledged to uphold only student made regula- tions. The new members gave JJC, previously more oriented to ex- plaining rules and acting as an appeal body, a new policy-making function. JJC's jurisdiction, which would later confuse student and admin- istrative group§, did not become a problem in the first SGC- administration encounter. Immediately after the election of Bruce Kahn, '68, to SGC pres- idency, SGC recommended elim- ination of sophomore women's iLoco, hours, and also resolved that reg- ulations for both curfew and hours when members of the oppo-. site sex could visit would be de- termined by the individual hous- ing units.' JJC STAND According to JJC's stand soph- omore women staying out after the midnight curfew could be breaking a rule but would not be punished. They could stay out beyond the curfew for sophomore women set up in the 'University Regulations code. JJC, however, would not punish sophomore wo- men for staying out after cur- few because the student made rule (passed by SGC) did not set a curfew. Although . immediately after SOC's elimination of sophomore women's hours, chances for ad- ministrative approval seemed dim, no plans were made to use JJC's new stand on discipline. This was to come later. Vice President for Student Af- fairs Richard Cutler reversed early disapproval of SGC's move and recommended sophomore wo- men's hours for a trial period of one year to the Regents. The s- sue of visitation hours was dropped. SGC INDOCTRINATION Later, the administration was to become more rigid, recognizing the subtle yet sweeping changes SGC, and JJC were making in the power structure. Over the summer, in orientation talks to freshmen, the neatness of a student take-over of University regulations through JJC was talked up. SGC was developing a surer. and surer strategy for elim- ination of non-student made rules. In the fall of 1961 the new Residential College gave the cam- pus a lesson in the simplicity of student power in setting up its government. Residential College faculty, students, and adminis- trators banded to form a com- munity government with auton- omy from the rest of the Univer- sity and no formal structure. Iuestion Despite possible administra- tion and landlord apoplexy over premarital cohabitation and ac- companying activities, the fran- tic brouhaha raised over the issue seems unnecessary. While many students do suc- cessfully cohabitate, frequently tudents are beset by every day complications which make the supposedly convenient rooning arrangement more trouble than it is worth. One junior says he and his companion are con st an tl y frought with financial prob- lems. "It's a real bind deciding how the rent's going to be split and who buys groceries each week," he says. A harried senior elaborated on another more common situ- ation - "When your room- mate's woman no longer knocks at the bathroom door, there's bound to be difficulty." Probably the biggest dilemma is how to handle the folks back home.. One coed relates her weekly panic to beat her par- ents' telephone call at her "supposed residence." Mailing addresses pose yet another complication. "I can't tell my dad to write care of my boyfriend's apartment, can I?" asks a junior woman. "Instead, every day I've got to run over to my old place and pick up the bills." Unquestionably though, co- habitation exists in Ann Arbor. Apparently it can survive com- plaints from fellow tenants, landlords, the pressures of stu- dent life-and dormitory rules. Given biology and contem- porary American society, the old University regulations seem a weak weapon in the fight for chastity. parentis, dies with if icult RC was the first campus unit to vote for abolition of freshman women's hours. Director of Uni- versity Housing John Feldkamp and Cutler were more open to the experimental college's proposal than they would later prove to be to other housing units. However, they never gave the RC move ap- proval and did not send the mat- ter to the Regents. RC's move can only be appre- ciated in the light of the trend it set for other units. Once RC's community government approved elimination of freshmen women's hours in the College, RC freshmen considered the issue closed. As far as they were concerned, no punishment (handled in final -ap- peal by JJC) would be levied for staying out after University cur- few, so freshmen women's hours no longer existed for RC women. 'All campus living units were given the opportunity to follow RC's example after SOC com- pletely revised the University Reg- ulations code in mid-September to fulfill the promise of JJC's move of the previous spring. The SGC written regulations code provided for a decision on women's hours through an all campus referendum, an all women referendum, an all freshmen wo- men referendum, or a decision at the housing unit or Inter House Assembly (IHA) level. In the new regulation code men living in University housing were to be responsible for their own internal regulations - this would include visitation hours-through house councils "or any other m it deemed appropriate by he stu- dents." NEW REGULATIONS Rules for all women in Univer- sity living units were to be deter- mined through house councils "or other appropriate units" with the exception of women's hours. Following city and state regu- lations, less stringent than the University's the new SOC regula- tions allowed students over 21 in University housing to possess in- toxicants even with minors pres- ent. The University's blanket ban en "any disruptive sit-in" that ,iad touched off the student power movement of fall, 1966, wasre- placed by a new SOC regulation prohibiting "individual or :.ass acts that destroy University prop- erty or are against city, state or federal law." STUDENT DOUBTS After this September meeting SOC found itself dispelling doubt and confusion-some created by, the administration and some from students questioning what body should make the new student rules-for the next semester and a half. Among students the main prob- lem was that student rule-making depended on student initative. South Quad Council took advant- age of abolition of old University regulations less than a week after the SOC meeting by dropping all dress regulations. They had the approval of the South Quad di- rector but said they would have gone ahead even if they hadn't had it. Other house councils, however,- were slower to make their own rules. Which students would initiate the new rules caused problems be- tween IHA and house councils. Until Blagdon House, Markley, in the beginning of October, dis- carded all punishments for stay- ing out after curfew, many IHA members f e 1 t standard rules should be made for all housing_ units. JURISDICTION CLARIFIED After Blagdon's action SC re- versed its earlier call for some type of referendum and recog- nized the right of individual hous-= ing units to make their own hours as well as'other regulations. Many units, with the exception of some conservative groups - notably sorority houses--then fol- lowed Blagdon's example with little hesitation. Students were not being pun- ished for breaking curfew unless it was a curfew set by students. ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTIONS Administration attempts to halt the spread of SOC's move in- creased. All of the adminstration moves were surrounded by deeper and deeper examination of the Regents Bylaws to see if SOC could: 1) seize control of disciplining procedure. 2) seize control of rules--making itself 3) separate rule-making from discipline. On point one SOC and most of the students had no question. JJC was the final body of appeal and if they chose not to punish stu- dents for breaking the old, large ly administration written, rules those rules were defunct. HOW TO PUNISH? Feldkamp, however, considered the old University regulations in effect. Feldkamp and other adminis- trators argued that JJC had the right to discipline only from the Regents, so could have this power removed. No administrator, how- ever, was willing to court the stu- dent movement that would have been inevitable. if JJC's right to discipline were usurped. Without JJC it was impossible for residence hall staffs to punish rule-breakers except by going to their schools or colleges and asking that they be given academic Punishment. At least in the literary college, faculty members showed them- selves quite hesitant to give out academic punishments for break- ing non-academic conduct rules: The faculty-student Board, of Governors of Residence Halls claimed SOC did not have the right to give individual house councils power over rule-making. Only the Board had that right they argued. By the next month. the rule- making, disciplining situation was chaotic. In mid-October, Alice Lloyd Douse judiciary wastelling fresh- man women that only the Uni. versity' could regulate hours while Blagdon House in, Markley was drawing up parental permission slips for Blagdon freshmen who had already abolished curfew. But student determination was higbe and a hasty administrative re-structuring or blanket punish- ment would have touched off student action. Without recourse ; to drastic measures, the Office of Univer- sity Housing was inan unques- tionably delicate 'position. The only way, with existing University structures, Feldkamp could see that a student get non-academic punishment was to bring the case before JJC. JJC would have thrown the case out as a non- student made rule. Meanwhile, another branch of admnistration residence hall gov- ernment, the Board, dropped its earlier disapproval of SOC's move and asked Cutler to recommend to the Regents an end to freshman women's hours. BOARD REVERSAL The issue of visitation, recently brought up by Frost House, Mark- ley, in a house council move that extended visiting hours from noon to midnight, was not dis- cussed . In mid-November a report of Faculty Assembly's Student Rela- tions Committee (SRC) generally lent support to the.student argu- ments but pointed out the need: for Regental or administrative clarification to once again bring ir 4 Coed protests impersonality of U ateteach n the rule-making and disciplining bodies together. "The SRC," the report. said, 'believes that students, at. the Ulniversity have> the primary re- sponsibility to develop sets of rules affecting their personal con. duct." SWC RE-ENFORCEMENT However, the report further argued that, "The sitaution. at present is one in which the legal authority over non-academic mis- conduct resides in one place, while the mechanisms. with which to exercise authority over miscon- duct resides in another. .In such a state of affairs it is difficult and may be legally impossible to discipline students for misconduct unrelated to academic behavior. "It is advisable . . . to identify the legal problems involved to es- tablish a clear University policy for, misconduct unrelated to aca- demic behavior ,and to establish. a proper judiciary procedure for handling cases that are relevant to the, University's educational function." SRC looked to the report of the ;Hatcher Commission for suchi a solution. CUTLER, REGENTS STA L As faculty and, administrative (Board of Governors) approval of rule-making at the house council level increased, student tension. over stalling by Cutler and the Regents mounted.' But Cutler agreed at the end of thefall semester to reconmend elimination of women's hours and the Board granted students. power to determine visitation hours through their house coun- cils. This was largely aresult of several mass co-ed visits in Fred- erick House, South Quad. Kahn, although pleased, with the Board's approval reminded students that this was an ex-post facto approval and that students made the rules. In the beginning of the winter semester, 1968, deliberate stalling on implementation of the'.Board's new policies made Kahn's re- marks a valid warning. REGENTAL REVIEW The Board's decision was by bylaw and tradition a final deci. sion. However, on the request of Uni- versity President Robben Fleming, the Regents decided to review the Board's decision. Students retalitated to what they c:a l le d "administrative games" with three mass violations of curfew at Markley, Bursley, and South Quad. The day after the third teach- in Prof. Frank B3raun, chairman of the Board of Governors, " ad- dressed the Regents as a member 'of their own generation explain- ing that although hard to accept, it was necessary -to initiate rea- sonable changes." The issue of loco parentis, mortally 'wounded two semesters earlier, formally died the next day. when the Regents approved elimination of curfew require- ments to all students with par- ental permission. They also al- lowed each University housing unit to determine by a democratic process its owns visiting hours, SGC President Bruce Kahn supports new rules ...and amiid By NADINE COHODAS After spending the eighth consecutive Saturday n i g h t strewn over the sofa in your apartment because your room- mate is otherwise occupied, you fondly remember the old days in University housing when the reliable R;A. would case the halls each weekend evening around 1 a.m. and deliver the familiar "Time's up." T h i s catchy little warning invariab- ly meant you could return to your regulation puce-colored dorm room and finally settle in for a good night's sleep. Unfortunately with the new, more liberal dormitory policies, this isn't always true. Despite the administration's unflinch- ing attitude, ("Cohabitation and overnight visitation will subject student's to University discipline."), couches, general- ly lacking in the dorms, are still needed for those of us with frisky roommates. With the new dormitory pol- icies, individual houses are able to set up their own visitation rules and women have no hours if granted parental permission. The administration, however, is quick to clarify its stand. Hous- ing director John Feldkamp re- affirms the administration po- sition: "The University finds unacceptable premarital sexual intercourse." The University has held firm to this no-sex-in-the-newly- liberated-dorm policy. In an April incident, for example, Thomas Fox, director of South Quad, took action against a Quad coed who had a boy in her room after hours. Fox sent a letter to the girl's parents informing them of her misdemeanor. Feldkamp says these letters are always "fac- tual and objective." However, the U n i v e r s i t y seems to be something less than 100 per cent successful in regulating morals in the dorm. Their record for successful loco parentis becomes even lower for students in' off-campus housing. Since a majority of Univer- sity students live in apart- ments, anyway, the University's adamant stand appears rather ridiculous. Even if Ann Arbor landlords take their tenants' morals to heart as the administration professes, their control over the renting students' personal be- havior is minimal. Some landlords, however, seek to insure moral upright- ness in their establishments. Consequently, they include in each lease a passage which pro- hibits cohabitation. The landlords admit it is dif- ficult to substantiate the charge of cohabitation, but in one case a student was actually evicted after he was found to be living with his girlfriend. In most cases, however, land- lords say the cohabitation issue is so delicate an affair that it is seldom the reaon for evic- tion. If tenants are suspected of cohabitation, landlords tend to seek other reasons for evic- tion - making too much noise or having a pet. While some landlords may worry a great deal about breeding sin and vice in their buildings, other realtors take a laissez-faire attitude toward the whole situation. One landlord bluntly said it was "none of his business" who his tenants slept with. All he asked was that they "exercise good taste." Richard-Cutler .. . 1 X .. i. f n. 1 r 4 0' soo1 0 to 5, t 0 A fol '0 I 0 The back-to-school rush always includes a John Feldhamp ._ ii GOT YOURSELF A PROBLEM? Mistake? Wet Books ? Type Faint ? Birthday? No Room? Tough Course ? Forget? Try ERASABLE paper rush for telephone service. Every year at this time we gear up by putting, on extra people and working extra hours. But there Siave always been many who had to wait for their tele- phones longer than we'd like. If you want telephone service, this ,fall, the sooner you, can, place your, order with us :the sooner we'llbe able'to install it. You can order telephone service any day, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. As soon as you know your new' address, call (Area 313) 761-9900 or visit our office in the City Center Building, 220 E. 'Huron. Or, if you're out of town, just call us collect. For those of you who can't order until the last minute, we'll be open an extra day, satur- day, August 24 from 8-5. f, Try our BOOKBAGS Try a NEW RIBBON . . 4 Colors . Try a MUG . . . Several Types Try a BOOKSTAND or RACK Try an OUTLINE for Help Try an ADDRESS BOOK I4 r1 t