Page 4-Saturday, October 7, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Why not Vorster
for University
president-?
Vbrster
By Andy Feeney
oAnotherstack and totally avoidabl
campus, and what's worse, it's just at
the time when most of us would like the
place to settle down and be mellow so
the folks will have a nice time when
they zip in from the "Motor City'" for
Homecoming. When I say "most of
us," I mean me, of course. I don't care
what your folks think of Homecoming.
In fact they can stay in Royal Oak for
:he rest of their lives, for all Icare-and
sunless you stop messing with the
thermostat when you come in at night,
you can join them. My folks are going to
enjoy the Game.
THE PROBLEM IS, they aren't going
to enjoy it half as much (well, let's say
'h ree-quarters as much ) if some
f y
damned student loonies are marching
around handing out leaflets or maybe
even chanting (God forbid!) about who
in the hell is going to be Fleming's
successor-when the Silver Fox retires to
do a number on the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting.
I mean, my Mom doesn't care about
Fleming. My Dad doesn't care about
Fleming. I sure as hell don't care about
him, and I'm sure most of us feel the
same. Including you, Bunkie. I'm sure
most of us are going to be damned glad
when they get whoever in the hell
they're going to get to re-
place him, no matter how big a
jerk he (or she, of , course) is,
just so long as they don't mess with the
TG's and the football and just so long as
they don't get people's Mom's upset
with a lot of talk about democracy and
academic freedom and so forth.
BUT SINCE THIS THING may be an
issue (are you following me so far? I
hope so.) and since I am a member of
the responsible (i.e. apathetic)
community around this place, I figure I
have a duty to come up with a solution
that most of us can live with. So here
goes:
The question (as most of us see it) is
whether thenext University president
should be partly chosen by the
MichiganbStudent Assembly (MSA), a
tiny grou )p of campus politicos
responsible only to the relatively few
students who voted in the last election
(this would be undemocratic, right?) or
whether on the other hand he (or she, of
course) should be entirely chosen by
the Regents, a tiny group of campus
politicos responsible to the people of
Michigan and enjoying widespread
popular support among the broad
masses of voters.
LOOKING AT IT this way, it's pretty
easy to figure out who's on the side of
the angels. Regent Baker even knows a
few angles. But that's another story.
Still, when you dig a little deeper, you
find out that everything . you first
thought about the problem was wrong.
(This always happens when you dig
deeper, and I for one am sick of it. Do
you hear me, Econ 201? Fed up!)
In fact, the University is not merely
responsible to the students, not merely
responsible to the masses of the people
of Michigan, but is on the contrary (and
so forth) an arena for Different
Constituencies.
THERE ARE LOTS and lits of these
constituencies. The broad masses of
voters, of course, Graduate Employees
Organization and the clericals and the
janitors-a very important
constituency which Fleming has been
top-level bureaucrats
ambassadors-right? And it's
Enterprise which makes this
University possible.
and
Free
great
(To demonstrate for yourself, just
how possible, take a sheet of paper, a
pencil, a straight edge and a compass
over to the Administration Building and
look at the plaques on the wall outside
the Regents' meeting room. Throw the
compass away. Eat the paper. Observe
carefully. All those gold signs marked
"General Motors," "Ford" and
"American Electric Power" mean
contributions, Bunkie. Those are the
people who paid for the place.)
He's available; he's about the right age; he has a
keen interest in Sports, and he's definitely' popu-
lar with the free enterprise system.
Johannes Vorster is the man (or
woman, of course). As retiring Prime
Minister of South Africa, he's done a
tremendous job of guiding his
institution through politically
troublesome times. A stronger
administrator is hard to imagine. He's
available; he's about the right age; he
has a keen interest in Sports, and he's
definitely popular with the Free
Enterprise system.
IN FACT, most of the companies
whose gold plaques hang in the
Administration Building already are
working with him, and this should ease
the period of transition as the new
president takes over. sound good?
As University president, Vorster
would be in a fine position to evaluate
the University's multi-million-dollar
investment in businesses in South
Africa, since he has that inside
knowledge about the situation which
Fleming tried so hard to acquire
through the U.S.-South Africa
Leadership Exchange Program this
year.
Vorster . would also bring a
perspective to University affirmative
action problems that some Regents.
would find refreshing. He has long'
experience in handling Homelands
governments very similar to MSA and
SACUA in terms of autonomy and
power; and he's hell on labor.
As far as tuition increases are
concerned, Vorster will do just as much
for students as Fleming did. I don't
think this needs any further
explanation.
THERE IS A LITTLE conflict of
interest problem. So what? Vorster has
been selected State President of South
Africa, but it doesn't have to interfere
with his other duties. Fleming sat on
the Chrysler and John Deere boards of
directors while he was president, and
he found it "educational." Harlan
Hatcher, president before Fleming,
was honorary head of the Ann Arbor
Bank, which he found very educational
!/
..
,.w-
Fleming
anxious to please. The students, of
course. The professors. The Ann Arbor
merchants. Bo Schembechler. Mrs.'
Schembechler, of course. And so forth.
And as Watergate should have shown
us, the most important constituency of
all is not some tiny miserable little
bunch of politicos-anywhere-but the
Free Enterprise system itself. I mean
it.
It's Free Enterprise which pays for'
state and federal elections-right? It's
Free Enterprise which brings us most
of our interesting issues like PBB, the
eil embargo and so forth-right? It's
Free Enterprise which provides
training and also retirement income for
GIVEN THAT THE constituencies
have to be placated, then, the Regents
and MSA might as well stop fighting
with each other over who gets to choose
the next Fleming and start working to
come up with candidates who will be
pleasing to (a) the broad masses of
Michigan voters, (b) the other
constituencies like labor and students
and professors and stuff, and (c) Free
Enterprise'.
To save time, they should skip (a)
and (b). Furthermore, all candidates
should be strong administrators,
middle-of-the-road or conservative,
politically astute, and able to balance a
lot of constituencies.
This narrows the field at once.
The bank learned a lot, too.
Anyway, my Mom won't care, and
I'm sure most of us will agree with her.
Vorster would simply be upholding a
long University tradition.
If MSA will only get off its dead you-
know-what and nominate Vorster for
University president, we can have this
whole thing settled peacefully by next
week.
So go to it, PAC, Go SABRE! If you
can take care of, that and maybe do
something to guarantee nice weather,
I'll buy a keg for each of you at the Rose
Bowl. But don't mess me up with my
folks just to talk about democracy. That
would be tacky beyond belief.
Andy Feeney is a University
alumnus, a 1966 Angell Scholar,
and former missions chairman of
Michigan Christian Fellowship. He
now works for a living.
.
Eighy-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. LIX, No. 27
News Phone:'164-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
m6C MORE
IfJ71H( -
!?A1II,}G
rris1.
Tb tn I
VIJT
t tA A7-IUs
THE MORE.1
w Cl(Tl5
-a)i cv
OW~ f4W~ A*k) A Ftft WOtc~vqM"
Open course evaluations
WNW
Each professor at this University
has a unique style of teaching. One
may stress student participation in the
classroom while demanding little out-
side work, another may give long
reading assignments and lecture
throughout; class, and yet another will
not require class attendance at all.
Each student at this University has a
unique style of learning. Some students
learn best through lectures but get
little out of readings. Other students
fall asleep during lectures, no matter
who the speaker, but can pick every
'nuance intended by an author. Yet
rother students can only learn by
:hashing things out during class
recitation.
The problem is how to get students
together with those professors with
whom they can learn best. A partial
solution to the problem is an open,
student course evaluation program.
Though the University' already
distributes class evaluation forms, the
completed forms are rarely seen by
students. The forms - which judge
professors on preparation, grading,
understanding teaching ability and
other qualities - are kept in depart-
M-Go C
ATT LOOKS AS though University Ath-
i:Lletic Director Don Canham has
been had. On Tuesday, Mr. Canham
and Governor William Milliken posed
ifor publicity pictures to introduce the
,incumbent gubernatorial candidate's
o'new "M-Go Blue" bumper stickers.
It was a jovial occasion for the two
=back-slapping pals. Sporting off-white,
'patent leather shoes, the grinning
_ .J. a . ... _ .. .
mental offices where they are of little
aid to anyone, especially students.
The Student Course Evaluation Pro-
ject was established to make those
critical analyses open and available.
But the coordinators of the project
have encountered some opposition
from the faculty and the administra-
tion. Complaints seem to vary in range
from: "They're not relevant" to "Why
should I do it if I don't have to?" Poor
excuses if ever we've heard one. It
appears that professors are just plain
afraid of what. effect the open
evaluations would have.
Open evaluation of professors could
only have a positive effect. It would
allow students to find the professor
with whom they could learn best. It
would also, of course, make clear
which professors consistently receive
bad student reviews. This, possibly, is
what has fostered so much faculty
resentment of the process. But
basically, professors' fears are
unfounded. A University study of winter
'78 term class evaluations determined
that 90 per cent of the students rated
their courses as excellent. With marks
like that, it appears that we only lose.
by keeping the system closed.
C "
U(lc MY FA
2 ~m
rr
The Young
Socialist
Alliance
Affirmative
action
under
attack
it was "reverse discrimination."
Weber uses this racist label on
a program that attempts to
overcome a hiring practice that
effectively barred blacks and
women from skilled crafts such
as machinist, electrician,
carpenter-painter, and
repairman, because of Kaiser's
requirement of a number of years
of previous experience.
In the opinion of black Kaiser
employees, the company was not
just a passive accomplice of this
societal discrimination.
Kaiser's own system of
favoritism and patronage
actively served to keep blacks
out.
"It was a question of who you
know in the parishhwho had
connections with the plant
manager," said employee Sam
Thomas. "If you know the right
person, you can get a job."
OTHER WORKERS
CHARGED that favored whites
were given help or even advance
copies for tests that supposedly
show "qualifications" for skilled
positions. Blacks who went to
college would fail the test, but
whites who can hardly read or
write would pass it.
A federal district court and the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
have Tuled in Weber's favor. The
courts held that Kaiser never
discriminated against blacks or
blacks in both, skilled and
unskilled jobs at Kaiser
"constituted a prima facie case
of discrimination."
IF UPHELD BY the U.S.
Supreme Court, the Weber ruling
would be a devastating blow to
equal rights for blacks and
i'omen in industry. It would
prohibit unions from negotiating
affirmative action plans. It would
also nullify the effect of
Executive Order 11246, the
strongest affirmative-action
order ever issued by the federal
government.
We of the Young Socialist
Alliance feel that unions, the
black, Chicano, Puertoriquenno,
women's and student movements
all have a stake in fighting what
Weber is trying to do.
The precedent of a pro-Weber
ruling by the Supreme Court
could have an effect much
greater than the Bakke ruling.
The effect would be one -that
could maintain the
institutionalized racism and
sexism that divides the workin
class, perpetuates higher levels
of unemployment ' among
opressed nationalities and
discriminatory hiring practices
towards women.
Students must get the word out
about Weber, because this ruling
anham'?
same time he is promoting "M-Go
Blue" here, in East Lansing the same
plan is being executed.
The bumper sticker circulating there
is dressed in Michigan State green and
white. It says: "Milliken is Magic, too"
referring to Spartan hoop star Earvin
(Magic) Johnson.
Perhaps it is Milliken's affinity for
the University's football team and
MSU's basketball program that
Affirmative action is under
attack once again. On the heels of
the Supreme Court's anti-quota
Bakke ruling is a "reverse
discrimination" case that may
have more far-reaching effects
on the gains won by oppressed
nationalities and women than the
-Bakke ruling.
Weber vs. Kaiser Aluminum
and United Steelworkers
challenges the rights of unions to
negotiate affirmative-action
programs to overcome employer
discrimination in hiring and
advancement.'
At issue is an on-the-job
training program for skilled jobs
was reached based on the
proportion of minority workers in
the area of each plant. Kaiser's
Gramercy, Louisiana plant had
one of the highest goals-39
percent. At all plants the goal,for
women was 5 percent of the
skilled jobs.
When the Kaiser plant opened
in 1958, it followed standard
practice in the area-segregating
blacks into the worst jobs. Blacks
were hired for two job
categories-laborer and porter.
Black workers started out at $1.07
an hour, while whites started at
$1.25 an hour. Inside the plant,
segregation remained the rule for