r RELIEF FOR CAMBODIANS Miliken forms refugee aid group The Michigan Daily-Saturday, December 1, 1979-Page 3 Computing Center celebrates its 20th By BILLY THOMPSON While the state combats the financial chaos created by Wayne County budgetary problems and Chrysler's mismanagement, Gov. William Milliken established a private relief organiztion this week to aid the Cam- bodian refugees in camps in Thailand. "Whatever problems we may be coping with here at home, our moral obligation to do what we can to alleviate this suffering of fellow human beings is very clear," said Milliken. "I cannot overestimate the urgency of the situation." ALTHOUGH THE effort will be coor- dinated by the governor's staff, funds will be solicited from private donors, specifically business, labor and com- munity leaders. One of Milliken's chief lieutenants, James Jordan, who heads the private aid effort, said he expects to acquire significant contributions from students at the various campuses across the state. "We've been talking to universities to try to get students involved," he said. FUNDS COLLECTED by the CRF will be used to purchase food, medicine, and other essential materials, to be sent immediately to the camps in Thailand, Jordan said. "If there is an emergency situation such as a need for doctors, we can use the money to send doctors right from Michigan," said Jordan. Jordan accompanied Milliken on the governor's recent tour of refugee cam- ps. Upon returning from that trip, Milliken said he was shocked at the deplorable conditions, and said that the state must assist the refugees in some matter. ONE OF THE relief fund's principal responsibilities will be to organize an orderly influx of refugees to Michigan, which currently ranks tenth among the states in the number of Cambodian refugees. "We are in the process of expanding our refugee programs. We will be bringing them in and developing spon- sors," said Jordan. "There are four to five thousand refugees already in Michigan arid they have been brought here through volun- tary agencies who are the primary sponsors of refugees," he said. The activities of the other voluntary agencies in the state are coordinated by the Michigan Committee on In- dochinese Refugee Resettlement (CIRR). That group comprises representatives from various relief agencies, the governor's office, the Michian Department of Social Services and the Federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare. But Holly Witkowski, the governor's representative on CIRR, said the newly-established CRF would not be associated with the current network of relief groups. By MARK PARRENT When Robert Rossin was one of the first graduate student assistants in the University's new Computing Center in 1959, one of the computer operators beckoned to him. "Don't you people have anything to run?" Rossin said the operator demanded. "The machine is em- pty." "THAT'S THE last time that ever happened," Rossin-now a doc- torate-olding consultant for Bell Laboratories-recalled last night. To anyone involved today with the University's vast computer net- work, it indeed is difficult to imagine the huge system with nothing to do. But in 1959, computers at the University were a relatively new phenomenon. Their potential for assisting research in almost all academic areas was not yet recognized by many members of the University community., The progress of the Computing Center from its modest beginnings. in 1959 to its standing today as one of the most prominent university- related facilities in the nation was charted last night in the Business School's Hale Auditorium by various persons associated with the center in its 20-year history. WHETHER IT be Physics, Economics, or Political Sciences, almost all academic areas of the University now use in some form the facilities of the constantly-updated Computing Center on North Cam- pus. Researchers have come to rely on the computer for incredibly fast and efficient processing of com- plicated data. In 1959, the closest then-University President Harlan Hatcher probably ever came to a computer was an oc- casional ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new complex. But Harold Shapiro, who will become the University's tenth president Jan. 1, has already installed a special shelf to hold his own computer terminal in the office of the president's house on S. University. .. . urges Cambodian aid Angry Mo rBy United Press International Bombs rocked the U.S. Embassy in Thailand yesterday and mobs of angry Moslems were beaten back from the embassies in Kuwait and the Philip- pines in another wave of anti-American violence sparked by the worsening crisis in Iran. In Moscow, a group of Iranian students also planned to march on the U.S. Embassy but Soviet authorities doubled security around the yellow- stucc4 compound and "neutralized" the protest, a diplomatic source said. Three Moslem demonstrators were reportedly injured in the Philippines slems- storm several U.S. embassies but.there were no American casualties in any of the protests, staged on the 10th day of Moharram, one of the holiest days of the Moslem Shiite calendar. AS THE SIEGE at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran dragged into its 27th day, the anti-American sentiment stirred by Iran's Islamic leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini spread to three countries largely untouched by the crisis until now - Thailand, Kuwait and the Philippines. In Bangkok, between two and four bombs exploded inside the compound of the American Embassy at dusk, breaking the retaining wall of a fish pond but causing no injuries, officials said. Thai police rushed to the scene and sharpshooters in camouflage uniforms were posted around the compound in a speedy attempt to protect the embassy from further violence. AN AMERICAN Marine on duty at the time said he heard "about four ex- plosions." But William Lenderking, the embassy press attache, said he heard only two. "Everythings kind of foggy, but they have investigators here. I heard two loud noises," Lenderking said. Thai Prime Minister Kriangsak Insurance overpricing charged LANSING (UPI) - Consumer advocates told the state Insurance Bureau yesterday borrowers too often are coerced into buying credit insuran- ce and overcharged for the coverage-allegations disputed by, in- dustry spokesmen. "Credit insurance is an area long overdue for reforms," Peter, Eckstein of the United Auto Workers union said a a hearing called by Insurance Com- missioner Richard Hemmings to review regulations on the industry. Qnly "misguided, uninformed, truly not knowledgeable members of the press," are complaining about the in- dustry, countered Tom Warmus of the American Way Life Insurance Co. CREDIT INSURANCE has been a subject of increasing controversy in Michigan recently. Borrowers buy credit life insurance to cover their debt if they die before the loan is paid off. Credit accident and health insurance covers borrowers when they are disabled and unable to make payments. Eckstein said millions are spent on credit life insurance, adding he is "not at all sure that all of it was spent ... well." HE SAID premiums income should be not more than one-third more than anticipated losses rather than the current 50 per cent. He also said policyholders should receive refunds when losses go below anticipated projected levels, and len- ding institutions should be prohibited from receiving kickbacks or rebates for selling an insurer's policies. Eckstein added it "may be necessary to forbid the sale of credit insurance on the premises of a financial institution." LINDA JOY of the Michigan Con- sumers Council said her organization has received calls from consumrs who "indicated they were coerced into buying credit insurance" by suggestions they had to have it or that it would enhance their chances of getting a loan. "May be its purchase is technically voluntary, but don't tell that to the economically marginal person who is fearful of being turned down for credit," said Paul Parker of the Michigan Citizens Lobby. Warmus urged against overly restric- tive policies, however, warning the 'entire public will pay the price of unavailability of the product." Coercion was dismissed as a "sub- stantially moot issue" in a statement issued by the Consumer Credit In.- surance Association-a trade group. Striking teachers stage sit-in at Arm'ada&- school. Chomanan, in a statement released shortly after the incident, indicated the bombs may have been planted by a Thai Moslem separatist group that distributed leaflets around Bangkok last week threatening attacks on U.S. targets. Officials said leaflets were signed by the Pattani National Liberation Organization and warned of attacks against "Rockefeller, Yankee im- perialism and Western powers in- filtrating Iran." IN THE TINY Persian Gulf sheikdom of Kuwait, a mob of several thousand chanting Moslems marched on the U.S. Ebassy but was driven off by tear gas fired by national guardsmen who rushed to the scene in armored cars. Witnesses said the protesters were mostly Iranian students and workers demonstrating in support of Iran's demand for the extradition of the shah. Embassy spokesman Kevin Honan said the demonstration began in the morning and "by noon the crowd had grown to several thousand. "Kuwaiti security personnel used tear gas when one group came to within 300 yards of the embassy," Honan said, adding that the crowd eventually dispersed. RIOT POLICE in the Philippines used water cannons to break up a mob of about 200 Moslems who tried to turn an anti-American demonstration in Manila into a march on the embassy. In the pandemonium, three ex- plosions shook the crowd but they were apparently large firecrackers and caused no serious injury, witnesses said. Police turned on the water cannons and arrested 179 of the demonstrators when they tried to march on the em- bassy, chanting "Return Satan Shah," and "Down with Carter peanut politics," officials said. In Moscow, official sources said the Soviet Union alerted embassy person- *nel yesterday morning that Iranian 'students planned to march on the U.S. compound. Extra Soviet militiamen were sent to stand guard in front of the embassy and dependents or embassy personnel were told to stay away. THAEILAIND MOTION PICTURE (Double Trouble) Radford Theater Detroit l pm, Saturday, Dec. 1 for further information calf 538-4476 ARMADA (UPI)-Striking Armada teachers, threatened with mass firings if they continue their walkout, yester- day began a sit-in at a local elementary school and vowed to remain "as long as it takes" to get a new contract. All but five of the district's 78 teachers marched into the Armada Elementary School at about 11:30 a.m. District officials said they would start firing teachers who did not report to work by noon. Union officials said the teachers decided on the sit-in during the morning in an effort to head off a threatened sympathy strike by more than 4,200 other area teachers who belong to the same bargaining unit. Teachers in 11 of the 16 districts represented by Michigan Education Association Local 1 already have voted in favor of striking if Armada teachers are fired. Five more districts voted , yesterday. "The Armada teachers have oc- cupied the Armada Elementary School," said Patrick Laughlin, Local 1 executive director. "Their intent is to stay there until they have a contract." School Superintendent Daniel Eskin said district officials had no immediate plans to force the teachers to leave the building. But he admitted he was at a loss as to what to do next. "Hell, I don't know," he said. "This is a new one to me." The teachers had notified local police of their intention to stage the sit-in before they started filing into the school's library and teachers lounge, said their chief negotiator, Walter Ben- ton. The "occupation" would be peaceful, Benton said, but the teachers who have been off the job since Oct. 22 in a con- tract dispute "intend to stay here until we get an equitable contract. "We're going to stay here as long as it takes," he said. "We do not intend to leave voluntarily. If they are going to get the police, the police are going to have to arrest us to get us out of the building." The striking teachers are seeking a raise of 18 to 19 per cent over the next two years. The school board has offered 16 per cent and said a greater pay boost would force program cutbacks or a millage increase. , appEliiINGB Do a Tree a Favor: Recyle Your Daily i 2, . ,,,r FILMS Institute of Labor and Industrial Realtions-Why Work?, Changing Work, and Tescaming, 9 p.m.; Blue-Collar Capitalism, We've Always Done It This Way, 1p.m., Res. College, Aud., E. Quad. PERFORMANCES Univ. Music Society-Handel's "Messiah" featuring Elizabeth Parcells, Victoria Grof, Donald Bell, and David Fisler, 8:30 p.m., Hill Aud. University of Michigan Electronic Music Studio-Concert of new works, 8 p.m., Rackham Aud. SPEAKERS Museum of Art-Papers on impressionist artists presented by art history scholars, 9:30 a.m., and 2 p.m., Aud. A, Angell. MISCELLANEOUS Alumni Council Scholarships-Apply now in Alumni Assoc., Mich. Union. 7 Solutions To Your Problem Use these numbers to call the Michigan Daily BILLINGAI CIRCULATION CLASSIFIED . 0 . r0@ 764-0550 764-0558 764-0557 764-0554 DISPLAY ..... . NEWS . . . . . . . .. .... 764-0552 r