r0,ir AN APOLOGY See Editorial Page t40 1 WEATHER BY FORTUNE High-low 30s Low-20 See Today for Details' I. Vol L)XAIA, No. Y4 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Tuesday, January 23, 1979 Ten Cents- Twelve Pages Maize and Blue fiasco symbolicof housing struggle By MARK PARRENT Students began massing at the Bell Tower Hotel early Sunday morning. By evening, members from about 25 groups had paid $25 for a hotel room and the privilege of waiting in the lobby till morning. Then the offices of Maize and Blue Management Company would open and the application process for apartments would begin. MAIZE AND BLUE, which has become a very popular rental agency since it opened in 1973, rents apartments in eight modern campus-area buildings. According to rental manager Suzanne Feliks, only about 20 apartments were availble for rent beginning next September. They were snatched up immediately, Feliks said. "There's just too many people in this Univer- sity and not enough housing," she added. MEMBERS FROM several groups who rented rooms so they could wait inside, did not receive,4 apartment commitments for next year. About 30 more people, who began waiting outside at 11 p.m. after the hotel had rented all its rooms, also did not receive assurances of housing for next fall. A2 students face a sellers 'market Harry Machesky, one of the students who, with his roommates, paid $25 for a hotel room so the hotel wouldn't kick them out for loitering, waited 13 hours but did not receive a lease from Maize and Blue. Machesky, a sophomore, said he was particularly angry because he thought the rental company should have announced beforehand how many apartments were available. "We were 17th in line and we figured we'd at least get something. It was just a pretty frustrating situation. It was pretty poorly organized," Machesky said. STUDENTS WHO received apartments were also angry at the way the Maize and Blue han- dled the situation. "It seems to me they (Maize and Blue) don't care. We're just college students," said Dan Matsch, one of the overnight waiters who suc- ceeded in securing an apartment. "They'll be able to rent the apartment no mat- ter what so they don't really care who gets the room or how they get it. IN ANN ARBOR, according to tenant advocate attorney Jonathan Rose, the current housing vacacny rate is 0.7 per cent, well below the 7 per cent rate considered by the U.S. Department'of Housing and Urban Development to be marginally healthy for competition. "'People will find housing," said Rose, "but that's not the point." He added that people will probably have trouble finding a room that suits their taste for location, condition, and price. For those who waited in line but came too late, it's back to prowling the slushy streets of Ann Arbor looking for a place to call home next year. Revisions in English guidelines draw fire By JOHN SINKEVICS Significant changes in the teaching format for English 125 courses this school year have disturbed a number of teaching assistants (TAs) - primarily because of the philosophical thrust of the classes. "Up until this year, TAs in English 125 had almost unlimited freedom in teaching the course they wanted to teach," said English TA Howard Brick. "It was a great shock to many people this year to find greater control being placed on the TAs, and having theoretical ideas being placed upon them in the teaching of their classes." BRICK, WHO is not alone in criticizing the new English composition courses, wrote a critique which he sent to Professor Bernard Van't Hul, direc- tor of the English composition program. In the paper, Brick expressed his feelings about the inadequacies of the program. Van't Hul said he has distributed a number of copies of Brick's paper to in- dividuals in the department because it is "well organized" and "relevant." One of Brick's major gripes about the current composition program concerns the syllabus or "handbook" which was given to all English 125 TAs as a set of guidelines for the course. Brick said this syllabus has standardized the teaching of English 125 into a form which he finds "philosophically troublesome." "The problem with the syllabus is that it reinforces the idea of teaching students bureaucratic writing; styles," said Brick. "The course turns people away from the idea of challenging and questioning the educational and social system." THE ENGLISH Composition Board, which directs the program, has also been criticized by some TAs. One TA who wished to remain unidentified, said some of the ECB lecturers who sit in on the composition courses are not qualified enough to reasonably evaluate the TAs. See TAs, Page 9 Carter 1980 fiscal plan up $28 billion From Reuter and UPI WASHINGTON - President Carter, calling for austerity and sacrifice to defeat inflation, gave Congress yester- day a record $531.6 billion budget that raises defense spending but slashes funds for social welfare programs. The budget for the 1980 financial year beginning on October 1, projected a $29 billion deficit, compared to the $37.4 billion deficit estimated for the current financial year. THE PRESIDENT increased defense spending by 10 per cent, from $111.9 billion to $123 billion. This offset an estimated seven per cent inflation rate in 1980 and met Car- ter's pledge to NATO allies that he - would hike defense spending by three 'per cent in real terms. "The budget. . .. is lean and austere," the President said in a budget message to Congress that re- emphasized his fear that inflation, which rose by about 9.2 per cent in the Return of the Dead Daily Photo by LISA Jerry Garcia, guitarist for The Grateful Dead, concentrates on a lead during the group's Sunday night concert at Masonic Temple. For the lowdown on the band's performance, see the review on Page 6. U Council averts budget deficits 1978 calendar year, could wreck the economy. TONIGHT, HE will go to Congress to express in person his concerns in the annual State of the Union address. Time and again in his budget message, Carter returned to the theme that inflation must be tamed and one of the ways to accomplish this is strict "discipline" over federal spending. "The decisions I have made are dif- ficult ones," Carter said. "They involve not figures on a balance sheet, but the lives and future of the American people. "I HAVE chosen restraint in gover- nment spending because inflation must be controlled. "Real sacrifices must be made if we are to overcome inflation," Carter said. Carter's top aides emphasized that this strategy would not be altered, even in the face of deteriorating economic conditions. THE PLANNED overall spending of $531.6 billion in 1980 compared with $493.4 billion in the current financial year, an increase of about 7.7 per cent or $28 billion, including the large jump in defense spending. This barely met the estimated seven per cent inflation rate and, according to Carter's critics, failed to take into ac- count the needs of a growing population. Budget director James McIntyre said the inflation fear persuaded the President to cut $16 billion from a $548 billion spending total he had been plan- ning last July. WITH ITS main provisions generally known in advance, the budget already has met strong resistance from liberals in Carter's Democratic Party, from black civil rights groups, and from pen- sioners' organizations upset by proposed cuts in some Social Security benefits. But the President said programs for the poor weresabout $4.5 billion larger despite overall cuts. He insisted that the budget was fair in meeting needs,, for welfare, health, public jobs, ' education and other social programs. "THE POLICY of restraint. . . is imperative if we are to overcome the By ELISA ISAACSON A possible budget deficit was averted by City Council last night when it unanimously passed a resolution tran- sferring unexpected excess revenue to under-budgeted areas, as well as allot- ting a portion of the surplus for the creation of a contingency fund. ,The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) c'ollected on a year- old promise by City Administrator Sylvester Murray when it received $5000 of the surplus to facilitate -a new bus shelter. The new shelter will be housed in the Benz building on Fourth Avenue downtown. MURRAY HAD told AATA one year ago that if the financially-weakened organization would build a rest room. and shelter facility for persons waiting to reide the bus, the city would help out with $5000. According to Murrary, AATA "didn't do it at the time, but remembered the $5000 a year later." AATA's estimated cost for the first six months of construction on the shelter is between $35,000 and $40,500. The bulk of the city's excess revenue will go towards the Special Assessment Deficit accumulated over six years on the insurance budget. A FURTHER potential deficit of $520,000 will be covered by previous years' surpluses. Murray said that this is therefore not an actual deficit. Although Murray told Council the city is "receiving revenue and spending money as planned," he acknowledged that should police officers be granted full retirement benefits at the age of 43, the city budget could be harmed. A local officer's union is demandning a revision in the traditional police pen- sion plan which provided the officers with a retirement fund at age 55. Ac- cording to Murray, the city would be unable to finance such a plan if the age is lowered to 43. AN ARBITRATION hearing between the city and the union has been slated to begin in two weeks and Murray said that if the decision favors the police of- ficers' union, the city will appeal. Although the administrator said he is uncertain of the union's exact demands, he said the revised pension plan would certainly take a severe bite from the city's finances. Another possible threat to the balan- ced budget is a proposed landfill site and shredding operation purchases. The collective price tag on these two projects could total over $2,600,000. Murray pointed out that payments can be postponed for at least one year. COUNCIL ALSO passed - after much partisan debate - a resolution approving the by-laws of the AnnArbor Summer Festival, "Inc., a joint cor- poration between the city and the University. The fEstival - championed by Mayor Louis Belcher - is designed to bring theatrical and other cultural activities into the city. See COUNCIL, Page 2 MILITARY HEAD ASKS SUPPORT FOR GOVT: Appeal made to Iranian troops TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's 'military chief, in an unprecedented radio appeal, called on his troops yesterday to "overcome their sen- timents" for Moslem religious leaders and defend the government left behind by theshah. New political violence flared in the provinces. Armored troops in one western city broke up street battles between pro- and anti-shah gangs in which five persons were reported killed. IN kNOTHER serious blow to the embattled government of Prime Minister Shagpour Bakhtiar, the head of the Regency Council that supposedly is acting in the shah's absence, Jalal Tehrani, resigned under pressure from anti-shah religious leader Ayatullah Khomeini. Gen. Abbas Gharabaghi, military chief of staff, made his broadcast speech after telling reporters the 43,000- man armed forces stood firmly behind the "legal and constitutional" Bakhtiar government in the face of.the challenge by Khomeini, long-exiled head of Iran's dominant Shiite Moslem sect. Khomeini, who orchestrated the movement that drove Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from Iran, plans to return to Iran Friday and vows to replace Bakhtiar and the U.S.-backed con- stitutional monarchy with an Islamic republic. THE ARMY, many of whose top commanders remain loyal to the shah, may hold the key to whether Khomeini succeeds in toppling the Pahlavi dynasty. Tehran has been filled with rumors of a possible military coup to keep Khomeini from power. "In this sensitive period of history, I See APPEAL, Page 2 Tuesday " At leat one local car rental agency has changed its policy to allow 18-to-21-year-olds to rent cars. See story, Page 2. " The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Femngn I A C1U1A'r I ) iral See CARTER, Page 5 ,, Soitics, socie By BILL THOMPSON Womlen in Action forns coalition of area grou s By BETH ROSENBERG organization. for eleven interested women's groups and concerned In the past few years, eleven separate citizens. Women In Action held its first Despite widespread claims that today's college students are politically apathetic and ignorant of current affairs, political satirist Mark Russel found an enthusiastic audience last night at Rackham Auditorium, as he lampooned virtually every current issue. Russel spoke to a crowd of about 300 like a preacher addressing his congregation. His sharp wit spared no one - including his hosts. RUSSEL DESCRIBED the University as the place where "the footballs are inflated and the ex-Presidents are un-elected." He likened former President Gerald Ford's appearance to "the guy who answers the meat buzzer at the A&P." Even the stage was open to