Page 4-Sunday, February 25, 1979-The Michigan Daily
THE WEEK
d IN REVIEW
Cellar employees addressed the the Democrat's official Fourth Ward didate supported by the Ann Arbor reviews procedural complaints from
117 7,Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) at nominee after "beating" his primary Coalition for Better Housing. University faculty members, has ac-aem ly
their meeting last Tuesday, discussing challenger Mel Grieshaber, who had cepted 12 cases since its inception 10
the new supervisory structure. At the withdrawn his name too late to be Of the eight instances it
nmeeting, which was also attended by eliminated from the ballot. U gwhichnthey have voted in favor of e mward
student members of the Cellar Board of The most excitig aspect of Monday
enforcing the new management struc- p unch card voting in Ann Arbor. City ruling
ture until after the board meets tonight. Clerk Al Vollbrecht commented that
thenwvtntehiu"wnsu
a ite r s o re But it is not entirely clear what will e new voting technique "went sur- orepo er"IF I COME to the conclusion that all
happen after tonight's meeting. If the prisngly well for the first time." He The Senate Assembly moved closer
Guidelines for revamping the Board of Directors decides to support said the process should be perfected for Members of the Senate Assembly I'm just flushing all these reports dwa to eventual disclosure of faculty
employee structure at the University the management's structure again, the April election. ,Review Committee (SARC) last week the toilet, then I might seriously think salaries Monday
gellar Bookstore sparked an outbreak some employees claim they will no But if neither Belcher nor Kenworthy blasted the group's lack of impact on of resigning myself," said committee
of "Cellar flu" Monday among many of longer work at the Cellar. And Cellar can offer the voters what they want University deans and department member Prof. Lewis Cooper of the The Assembly voted 29 to 11 to direct
its employees. management remains firm on its inten- there is another option. Louise J. Fair- chairmen. Several of the committee Music School. the Committee on the Economic Status
The latest indication of the tension tions of revamping the employee person, a cardboard figure who stands members said they are considering of the Faculty (CESF) to create, by
bIetween Cellar employees and the system. in the Michigan Union and speaks from resigning if the group's position isn't "None of the cases in which we have next fall, an outline for possible salary
Gellar management, the "sick-in," was a tape recorder may be a viable alter- strengthened. favored the grievant have been listened disclosure. The approved resolution
staged by 31 workers, leaving no one to .] native. Fairperson is a fictitious can- SARC, a last resort group which to by the University. In cases in which specifies that the disclosure proposal
work in the Cellar's warehouse, and no K en worthy will we favor the University, they listen should not permit the identification of
regular workers in the stock, trade, ,dsvery well," added SARC member individuals, thereby eliminating some
sHifER 11 an'es eantseRobert Gray, a professor in the School members' fears that salary disclosure
HOWEVER THE store was not shut f c Be h r nof Public Health, would result in loss of privacy.
dbwn, and one estimate indicated that
about 30 workers showed up. m ayor'sra eSARC members plan to present to the According to the resolution, the ex-
The plans for, the reorganization were Senate Advisory Committee on Univer- tent to which salaries may be disclosed
rawn up by the store's management. sity Affairs (SACUA) and the Senate will be left up to CESF. CESF could
They then had to be approved by the After poking little holes in their punch syfr(C adh etAssembly some recommendations recommend that only departmental
Cellar Board of Directors, a body made card ballots, city voters, in limited means and averages be Published or it
nubrnmntdcniae odywhich would give SARC more clout masadaeae epbihd ri
up of six members appointed by the numbers, nominated candidates Monday through pressure put on the deans and might outline a full disclosure of in-
Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), In the mayoral primary former department chairman by these groups. dividual salaries, excluding names.
three faculty members and one Univer- D . .derethiabteeop. vdaslexuign
Sity administrator. Democratic Councilman Jamie Ken- THE GROUP WAS considering a plan it is not specified whether ad-
The Board-backed structure has been, wory won easily over on- calling for binding arbitration between ministrative as well as faculty salaries
pposed by many Cellar workers, for tgomery, a newcomer to city politics SARC and the University but aban- are to be revealed, although the
veral reasons. The new set-up would Knworthyo 85 per ce of te doned it because it would require the resolution does state "the proposal
evrlDemocratic votesrewhileondaestotal ofe onlysa
fdke decision-making poweraway from,'. ..y acceptance of the University ad- should include staff categories beyond
the body of employees, and give it to a 2,766 voters were cast in the city-wide dministration members of the University Senate."
centralized supervising unit. Workers primary.
plaim they would lose their incentive INCUMBENT Republican Mayor "' ,Political Science Assistant Prof. Joel
bwhich would therefore slow down Louis Belcher ran unopposed in the SI Samoff, who has twice been denied
t roducitivity. primary. tenure by the tenured faculty of his
SOME WORKERS feel that the new In the Third Ward Republican Coun- department has asked SARC to con-
itructure, which they claim will set cil race, the only other contest with op- sider his case, but it is yet unclear
side as much as $2oooo to $50,000 more posing candidates, incumbent Louis Daily Photo by LISA UDELSON whether they are allowed to since his The Week In Review was written
Wser year for running the store, would Senunas beat Gerald Curry. A happy Jamie Kenworthy smiles after he knocked off challenger John Mont- work was judged unfairly in his tenure by Editor-in-Chief Sue Warner, Co
rise Cellar prices and remove student Former three-term Democratic gomery to win the Democratic primary for mayor. Kenworthy will face incumbent denial. He was unavailable for com- Arts Editor R. J. Smith and Night
1discounts. Councilman LeRoy Cappaert became Louis Belcher in April. ment. Editor Mitch Cantor.
lE £tyrb ian Fr43IomQ
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mt 48109
Eighzty-Nine Years of Edit orialI Freedom
Vol. LXXXIX, No. 123
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Fin n case~
THE DECISION made by University'
officials that they're "satisfied"
with the results of an investigation on
Assistant Housing Director John Finn
was made irresponsibly because they
have kept the details of the report con-
fidential. It may well be that the of-
ficial is clear of any wrongdoings but
keeping the facts secret does not allow
the University community to make
that decision for itself.
Finn was under investigation for his
year-long access to a furni hed North
Campus apartment and University
Regents and other high-ranking
University officials are "satisfied"
that a recent auditor's report; cleared
Finn of any illegalities in connection
with the apartment arrangement.
Finn claimed he took the apartment
off the market in the Fall of 1977 to of-
fer housing to disadvantaged, mostly
minority, University students. After a
flurry or rumors in the Housing Office
accused Finn of using the apartment
for his personal purposes, Housing
Director Robert Hughes ordered an in-
vestigation. That investigation has
now been completed. But no one, other
than high-ranking University officials,
including interim University President
Allen Smith know of the content of the
report.
What did the investigation show?
St111 cloudy
University officials, including Smith
and Johnson, vice president for
Student Services, will only say Finn is
a personnel matter" and are
"satisfied" with the "judgments" they
made after reviewing the report.
However, Smith and Johnson have
refused to take a stand and say
whether the report showed Finn had
used the apartment for personal pur-
poses.
University officials have too often
covered up essential facts regarding
the investigation of a staff member
claiming these are "personnel mat-
ters." While this incident may be a
personnel matter, it is more connected
with the University. The apartment
arrangement, which Finn admits to,
involves the use of University funds
since the Northwood Apartment was
taken off the market. The "personnel
matter" label should only be applied to
minor office matters, not involving the
possible misuse of University funds.
If University officials, as well as the
Regents, are so confident of their
decision, then why not make the
auditor's report public and let Univer-
sity students be satisfied too? Students
should be able to decide whether Finn
is guilty of any wrongdoing and the
report should be released before the
University's integrity is further
questioned.
Letters to the Daily
Dail
To the Daily:
I have been reading the Daily
for many years, and I have
always believed the new editors
should be given a honeymoon
period of a month or so before
they are severely criticized. This
year, however, I can restrain
myself no longer.
Never have I seen such pom-
posity, such self-importance, and
such gratuitousness. I have
always believed the purpose of a
newspaper was to print news, and
to comment about the news; I
guess the new editors would
disagree, since they seem more
interested in making news about
themselves. The Daily has been
leaning in this direction ever sin-
ce the inception of the Ramblings
column in the Sunday Magazine..
Every Sunday we readers can
look forward to some editor
telling us about his or her apar-
tment, or favorite gray dress, or
fear of elevators-who cares?
What makes you think the day-to-
day events of your lives are im-
portant to us readers, especially
when no attempt is made in these
ramblings to bring the reader in-
to the story.
The new editors have taken this
one step further by running
Ramblingeque columns on the
editorial page several times a
week. A few weeks ago, for
example, we were treated to a
transcript of a conversation bet-
ween editors Mitch Cantor and
Brian Blanchard on animals used
in scientific experiments. Have
the Daily editors become soin-
fatuated with themselves that
they honestly believe the very
words they speak to each other
are worthy of publication?
Perhaps on clever editor willl
turn on a tape recorder when he
or she goes to sleep, and then-run
the resultant mumblings on the
editorial page as a piece of in-
sightful social comment.
Yesterday I began counting the
number of times the word "I"
appeared on the editorial page in
the last week, but when I-ran out
y staff-
of fingers and toes I was too
disgusted to continue. Today, for.
example, Dennis Sabo's editorial
used "I" no less than 35 times!
He thus carefully avoided
making his piece relevant to all
students (who will someday be
looking for a job, and might
easily have been pulled into
Sabo's piece if he had tried).
Perhaps such a piece would not
be so offensive if it were an ex-
ception, but lately it has become-
the daily fare.
This "me" disease has infected
the sports and arts staffs as well.
First we were subjected to an en-
dless string of open letters to
famous sports figures, with each
letter sounding more pompous
and condescending than its
predecessor, and then we were
presented the gratuitous reviews
of Owen Gleiberman (Moscow
Symphony) and Mike Taylor
(who could single out just one of
his reviews for such criticism).
If the daily lives of the Daily
editors were so important to me,
I would join the paper and listen
to the gossip; it is probably less
embellished than what we read in
the paper. If you want to make
media stars of yourselves, why
not go into television where the
news is all hype anyway? Or bet-
ter yet, apply for Bob Talbert's
job at the Detroit Free Press,
you've all got credentials:
-Dan Share
(a Daily staffer in 1968)
U' Cellar
To the Daily:
Because the Daily seems to be
the forum in which the
management and employees of
the University Cellar are airing
their grievances, I feel compelled
to write and make a few com-
ments myself. Despite all the
rhetoric to the contraryr I cannot
fine evidence of either side (or
any of the supporting cast of
characters including the Daily,
MSA, and the Cellar Board of
Directors) attempting to deter-
looks i
mine what the interest of the
students is in the function of the
Cellar. Mr. Kornbluh, in his letter
of February 20, is correct in his
statement that the Cellar "was
created after a strong student
protest demanded an alternative
to the cut-throat exploitation of
the student market prac-
ticed by traditional Ann
Arbor booKstores," but he goes
on to say that "for this reason the
Cellar has always offered alter-
native prices as well as an alter-
native style of doing business." I
disagree with his implication that
this "alternative style of doing
business" is a necessary
corollary to providing low prices
to students.
For this reason, I cannot sym-
pathize with the statement "there
is all this talk about profits, but no
one is taking into account the
human aspect of the Cellar"
which occurred at the very end of
the article on Cellar employees
also in the issue of February 20.
This statement by I.W.W. union
organizer Eric Glatz seems to
follow the pattern of thinking
which is recurring more and
more frequently in Daily editorials
and its letters-that all disputes
between management and em-
ployees (or students and ad-
ministration, or consumers and
business, etc.) are simply that of
profit vs. humanity and the boun-
daroes of such a conflict are
clearly demarcated. In the case
of the Cellar dispute, though, I do
not think that the students who
the Cellar is supposed to serve
are inclined to believe a grave
social injustice is being done to
the employees because their
"alternative style of doing
business" is being taken from
them.
If indeed the Cellar's function
is to provide low prices to studen
ts, I think that time should be
spent determining the method of
operating the store to achieve
this aim, whether wholly run, or,
if need be, otherwise. Just as any
nward
proposal for restructuring the
store is pernicious if it is 'in-
stituted solely with the intent to
punish, as the employees allege
the management is doing, so too
is keeping the present system at
the Cellar just to satisfy the em-
ployees' desire to hold on to the
power-they have accumulated. At
issue is the ability of the Cellar to
serve the students, and any at-
tempt by either management or
the employees to lessen ;this
ability should be rejected.
-Douglas B. Olds
*
Uncandidate
To the Daily:
Your article on the Uncan-
didate's bid for mayor was in-
teresting.bLouise J. Fairperson,
the uncandidate, is right when
she says that there is a housing
crisis in Ann Arbor and that the
actual candidates for mayor are
not adequately addressing the
issue.
I have not heard Mr. Kenwor-
thy, the Democratic candidate,
propse anything to deal with the
outrageous rents tenants are'
asked to pay in this town or about
the poor condition of so much of:
the housing. Mayor Belcher has
been in office a year, and he
hasn't done anything about these
problems.
Former Mayor Wheeler ap-
pointed a Fair Rental Practices
Committee a few weeks ago. That
committee found and reported
that Ann Arbor's rental housing
is among the worst in the coun-
try. Maybe Mayor Wheeler lost
the election last year because he
didn't respond to that verdict
with any action.
It is good that someone is
talking about the housing
problem, even if it has to be a
make-believe character.
I hope the Daily will provide
coverage to the only politician'in
this city who seems to recognize
there is a housing crisis - Louise
J. Fairperson.
-Michael Kludjian
Powignores legalization
T HE LATEST version of a marijuana improvement, passage of the proposal
reform bill, which was introduced will only delay appropriate action in
two weeks ago into the Michigan the legislature. Liberal legislators will
Senate, is only a feeble attempt by the perceive this bill as a significant vic-
Lansing lawmakers to satisfy con- tory and probably refrain from pur-
stituents' pleas for more lenient suing more lenient measures for a few
marijuana laws. It does not go far years.
enough toward legalizing the substan- The only redeeming clause in the
ce. proposal, sponsored by State Sen.
The bill, similar to the one which was Jerome Hart (D-Saginaw), is the one
narrowly defeated in December, would that allows marijuana to be used to
call for a $25 fine for possession of less treat glaucoma and asthma, and to
than 100 grams of marijuana as well as alleviate the nausea and vomiting that
lessening penalties for possession of are side effects of chemotherapy. The
larger quantities. The exception is that substance has already been proven to
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