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High-mid 20s
Low-upper teens
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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 71
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, December 2, 1978
Ten Cents
Ten Pages
Student gets
'D' in class -sues 'U'for $885,000
By JOHN SINKEVICS
Claiming he received "shabby treatment" from University
officials and faculty members, a former University student
is suing the University Regents for $885,000 because the
German department did not give him an "A in a fourth term
language course. 4
The case, which is the third suit initiated by the student
against the University, was filed in the Michigan State Court
of Claims by Bob Higgins, who received a "D" in German 232
in spring term 1976. Higgins said he accepted the grade so
that he could graduate, and later took actions against the
University to have it changed.
"THE PROFESSORS use grades as a club. Since they
(the faculty members in the German department) couldn't
believe that I, a black student, was doing superior work in the
course, they resented it and gave me a poor grade," said the
31-year-old Higgins. "I was planning on going on to
graduate school in German studies, but I don't have a chance
with that grade," he added.
Higgins' complaint focuses on a class he said he set up
with Assistant Professor Irma Sklenar on a one-to-one basis,
after he successfully completed third term German with a
"B-" grade. He explained that due to "personal emergency"
reasons he was not able to attend Sklenar's course until two
weeks before it was over, and then decided to take an "in-
complete."
HIGGINS SAID HE then handed in the necessary work
(the course required four papers), within the time period
required for making up the grade. He claimed that Sklenar
refused to grade his papers, because she did not agree with
the views expressed in them, and that a subsequent appeal to
department Chairman Claiborne Thompson failed to produce
results.
Eventually, he asked the department to give him at least a
"D" so that he could pass the course and receive his degree
from the University, he said. The department agreed and
although the Office of the Registrar has no record of his
graduating, Higgins claims he received his diploma in
August of 1976.
Higgins, who runs his own foreign investment counseling
firm, said it was after he graduated that he began appeal
procedures with the University to change the grade he
received in German. "Everybody I talked to was a phoney
and they refused to allow me a hearing," said Higgins.
"I IRKED THEM (the University officials) because I
wasn't going to kiss their ass," said Higgins. "The people in
the German department set themselves up as petty tyrants
who you're supposed to agree with. So, since all the others
(students) are on their knees, they figure blacks should be on
their bellies."
According to University counsel Roderick Daane, the
complaint which Higgins filed against the University in-
dicates that Higgins himself failed to call for a hearing on the
subject, because many officials told him it would be a waste
of time. It was after Higgins failed to get results through
University channels that he decided to file suit against the
University.
The five Germanic Languages department faculty mem-
bers who are involved in the controversy-Assistant
Professor Irma Sklener, Professor Mary Crichton, former
teaching assistant Ellen Fosheim, Professor Roy Cown, and
department chairman Claiborne Thompson-are reluctant to
discuss Higgins' suit.
See STUDENT, Page 10
Shah's troops open
fire on protestors
Daily Photo by WAYNE CABLE
with finals a mere two weeks away, freshmen Mark Canvasser, Jim Rezinkoff, Scott Florence, and snowman named
St. Francis hope prayers will help bring some good fortune in their math struggles. The sculpture, kneeling next to the
Grad Library and facing Mason Hall, was created by South Quad freshpersons Bonnie Brooks and Steve Cole.
300 CITY WORKERS MAY LOSE JOBS:
TEHRAN, Iran ( UPI) - Gover-
nment troops firing machine guns for
more than three hours crushed a
demonstration last night by thousands
of Moslem mourners, many of them
wrapped in white shrouds, who poured
into the streets in suicidal defiance of
the military curfew gripping Iran.
The Moslems streamed into the
streets shouting, "Death to the shah!"
and "Allah Akbar!" "God is great!"
i only hours after Ayatollah Rochollah
Khomeini, the shah's archenemy,
called on his Moslem followers to
"sacrifice your blood to overthrow the
tyrant."
FIRST REPORTS from the provinces
said military authorities in other towns
had similar trouble with masses of
people who came out in the streets in a
mass rejection of the military's ban on
all religious demonstrations even
during curfew-free daytime hours.
battle
leaders would protest the plan in a
meeting with Carter soon.
Labor Department officials and their
allies among Carter's domestic ad-
visers have accepted some cuts but are
appealing most to the OMB and will ask
Carter to opt for smaller cuts.
CARTER HAS ordered sharp federal
spending cuts in his fiscal 1980 budget to
combat inflation, his top domestic
priority for the coming year. The 1980
fiscal budget year begins next Oct. 1.
The President is committed to ex-
See CETA, Page 2
Casualties in the encounter - the
bloodiest yet in a year of violent op-
position to the regime of Shah Moham-
mad Reza Pahlavi - were not known.
Yesterday's shooting, the most
widespread and protracted single in-
cident in Iran's wave of violence, struck
terror in the capital's 4.5 million
residents who had feared the beginning
of the Moharram mourning period but
"not quite expected it will break out on
such a frightening scale," residents
said.
SEVERAL reliable sources said
government troops recently uncovered
a cache of Russian-made assault rifles
in Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran
that has been the scene, of anti-shah
riotsfor 11 months.
This followed government reports
that handguns, grenades and am-
munition were found in the city of
Mashhad and other weapons found in
the capital.
Conservative religious leaders have
spearheaded the movement against the
59-year-old shah because they oppose
his Western-style reforms. They have
been joined by the shah's political op-
position, who find fault with his
authoritarian one-man rule. )
YESTERDAY'S outbreak began at
9:04 p.m., 12:04 p.m. EST, when the fir-
st rifle shots were heard in the upper
fringe of downtown Tehran, near the
Eshratabad military base. Gunfire was
still audible at 12:30 a.m. Saturday,
3:30 p.m. EST, yesterday.
Later, with the rebellion crushed for
the time being, the army sent tanks
rumbling through the streets filled with
an eerie silence.
Dissident sources conceded yester-
day that if the army can maintain a
semblance' of order-during the first,
three weeks of Moharram "the shah
will probably be home free and through
the crisis."
CETA
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Labor
Department, backed by allies in the
White House, is battling to stop
President Carter's budget planners
from slashing the huge Comprehensive
Employment and Training Act (CETA)
public jobs program by nearly 60 per
cent in the 1980 budget.
According to a document obtained by
The Associated Press, Carter's budget
managers are seeking to eliminate
358,000 adult jobs from the CETA
programs at the same time that they
have raised their forecast for unem-
playment in 1979.
THE LABOR Department document
also indicates that the budget agency,
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), wants to cut 500,000 summer
youth jobs and 11,0000 youth training
slots.
Ann Arbor CETA official Tim.Mc-
Daniel said it is too early to predict
specifically the effect of the program
cuts on the national leve. McDaniel said
if the cuts are made they will be taken
from some nine individual titles.
He also said he was unsure whether
Title VI, which is the local program's
main funding source, would be cut.
Currently, 300 persons are employed
by the CETA program - a payroll
which stretches to 1,000 persons during
the summer. McDaniel said the city's
relatively low unemployment rate, four
jobcu
r cent, would definitely be a c
eration in funding reduction, caus
rmination or cutting of salaries
me Ann Arbor city employees. I
niel added he would be able to m
curate predictions on specific Ic
fects in January.
LABOR, BLACK and urban gro
ound the country expressed disn
id anger yesterday upon learnin
e proposal.
'ETA funds are used to pay
caries of up to one third of some c
rk forces.
it
sparksJ
Ann Arbor received a $425,000 reim-
bursement from the federal gover-
nment this year, of the total $23 million
budget.
"CITIES ARE shocked and dis-
mayed; a lot would have to lay off signi-
ficant numbers of workers serving
people," said Michael McPherson of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Carl Holman, president of the Urban
Coalition, said, "That would be very
dangerous with the looming possibility
of a recession. They're not talking
about the real world." He said 16 black
Stevens
named
safety'
director
By STEVE HOOK
Walter Stevens has been
chosen to succeed the late
Fredrick Davids as director of
safety, the University announced
Thursday.
Stevens was appointed by the
University Director of Business
Operations, J. P. Weidenbach,
who cited Stevens' "strong sense
of the mission of this University
and the role of the safety depar-
tment in a large and complex
university." Weidenbach con-
tinued, "He is highly respected
by the University community and
by those outside agencies which
deal with the University's safety
and security matters."
STEVENS, WHO took control
of the department yesterday,
stated he plans to continue along
the direction set by Davids, who
died suddenly on November 14.
"We worked very hard for Mr.
Davids," he explained yesterday,
Stalled Mideast talks to resume;
date for conference
From Wire Reports
The Egyptian and Israeli governmen-
ts have agreed to resume their stalled
peace talks in Washington, Secretary of
State Cyrus Vance said yesterday.
The announcement came at the end of
nearly three hours of White House talks
between President Carter and Egyp-
tian Prime Minister Mustafa Khalil.
ASKED IF the Israelis have agreed
to return to Washington for the talks,
Vance said, "They have said they will
return at such time as it would be useful
to do so."
But the secretary of state said the
Israeli and Egyptian governments have
yet to set a date for resuming the talks,
which have been suspended for nearly
three weeks.
The Israeli government had
previously refused to resume the U.S.-
sponsored negotiations, saying the
Jewish state had made all the
negotiating compromises it could.
THE PEACE talks had stalled over
the question of how strongly an Egyp-
nspecified
tian-Israeli treaty should be linked to
progress toward Palestinian autonomy
in the West Bank of the Jordan River
and the Gaza Strip, now, occupied by
Israel. The Israelis had refused Egypt's
demand for a firm timetable for
Palestinian self-rule, saying such a tie-
in might cause Egypt to repudiate the
entire treaty if the Palestinian issue
remains unsolved.
Israeli radio reported yesterday
Prime Minister Menachem Begin has
See EGYPT, Page 10
Saturday
" Although he's gone to Chic-
ago, deejay Steve Dahl's crazi-
ness can still be heard on De-
troit's airwaves. see story, Page
5.
" American Medical
Association critics have already
voiced opposition to the
organization's proposed ban on
advertising by its members.
However, local doctors say they
wouldn't advertise even if they
could. See story, Page 2.
stevel
"and appreciated his policies and
philosophy. We plan to stick with
those for right now."
As Director of Safety, Stevens
will be responsible for coor-
dinating campus safety
programs for University students
and employees. He will also work
with city, state, and federal law
enforcement agencies in various
crime prevention programs.
Stevens has been Davids'
assistant .since 1971. A native of
Battle Creek, he attended Albion
College before joining the State
Police in 1941 for 30 years. In
1968, he was promoted to com-
manding officer of Detroit's
second district headquarters.
Lack of fire code might force
day care out of Ed. Building
Nicaragua's Somoza
By ELISA ISAACSON
Should specific state regulations
detailing day care center fire codes fail
to be declared soon, the University Child
Care Action Center (CCAC) may be
forced out from its present location in
the School of Education building,
nDrhans necessitating a move off cam-
A MAJOR complaint of the local child
care centers is that the state's citations
are often arbitrary or unspecific. Ac-
cording toDavid Lowe of the Michigan
Child Care Task Force in Lansing,
specific guidelines have been in the
making since 1973, when a statute was
passed authorizing the state to license
Kathleen Smiley, co-director of the
third floor center, one of the only two
nurseries on campus. "We don't have
any right to go downstairs" and change
the doors.
SMILEY SAID the nursery may have
to vacate the premises if it cannot meet
the guidelines of the state inspectors.
defends a
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -
President Anastasio Somoza said
yesterday opposition leaders "can go to
hell" if they don't like his plans for a
plebiscite to determine whether he will
stay in office.
"I have given the most," Somoza said
in an interview. "If they don't like it
they can go to hell."
It C, A -%...41
plebiscite
Somoza said, however, that if he lost
he would not quit immediately and
another election would choose a con-
stituent assembly that would appoint a
provisional president to whom he would
turn over power.
"I WAS motivated by peace and love
for the Nicaraguan people," Somoza
said of his decision to accept the