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ALLAN SMITH
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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 83
Ann Arbor, Michigaon-Wednesdav. January 10 1979
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1'''i en 'tens en rages
Film foes
to protest
'Birth of
a Nation'
By DENNIS SABO
Labeling the movie "Birth of a
Nation" as "racist and "detrimental
to society," members of a group again-
st racism intend to protest the campus
showing of the film tomorrow night.
The Ann Arbor chapter of the
National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression contends the film
glamorizes the repression of blacks by
the Ku Klux Klan during the United
States Reconstruction period following
the Civil War.
"WE FEEL this film is a very racist
film," said John Sokolow, an Alliance
member. "It glorifies racism, and not
only distorts history but is very
detrimental to society."
Alliance members plan to picket the
movie at its Old Architecture
Auditorium showing, and hand out anti-
racist leaflets.
The film, made in 1915 by D.W. Grif-
fith, depicts white nightriders as heroes
and blacks and other minorities as
villains.
THE SHOWING of the movie, in
which white actors in makeup portray
blacks, has sparked several instances
of racial violence. As recently as 1972,
Sokolow claimed, four blacks were
severely beaten by white students after
the film's showing on the University of
North Carolina campus.
The Cinema Guild, which is presen-
ting the campus showing, described the
film on its movie schedule as a "flawed
but passionate history of the Civil
War." But Sokolow and other Alliance
members disagree.
"It's more than historically flawed,"
Sokolow said. "It's racist. It's a lie and
an insult to human dignity."
VIKI HONEYMAN, Cinema Guild
chairperson, said the movie will run as
scheduled'.
"We don't censor ourselves,"
Honeyman said. "We don't show a film
just because a group doesn't want it
shown."
Honeyman did add, however, that
Guild members regret the movie
description on its film schedule.
"WE DON'T always catch ourselves
and this blurb made us realize more the
effect the film will have on the viewing
audience," she explained.
Guild members intend to ask a
University History professor to explain
the inaccuracies in the film to the
audience before tomorrow's showing.
"We show all sorts of films,''
See RACIST, Page 10
Wednesday
" Chinese Vice Premier Teng
Hsiao-ping calls for increased
U.S. Naval operations in the
Pacific, while meeting with four
U.S. senators. See story, Page 2.
" Survey results of student at-
titudes toward the Michigan
Union are expected to be released
this month. See story, Page 3.
" Two plans to change -the
academic calendar are under
consideration in the next two
months. See story, Page 7.
USSR recognizes
Cambodian rebel
ov 't; war goes on
By Reuter and AP
BANGKOK - Vietnam and Laos
recognized the People's Revolutionary
Council set up in Phnom Penh yester-
day as the legal government of Cam-
bodia.
Other countries following suit in-
cluded the Soviet Union and East Ger-
many. It was the first time Moscow has
backed a rebel movement against a
Communist government.
UNTIL LAST year, official Soviet
commentators dismissed reports of
mass killings in Cambodia as
fabricated by the West as part of a
campaign to discredit communism.
Meanwhile, the United States said
yesterday it would take no further steps
towards normal relations between
Washington and Hanoi following Viet-
nam's invasion of Cambodia. "There is
UNICEF benefit tonight A
John Denver and Olivia Newton John along with other performers, gather
before a giant mural during a rehearsal for a UNICEF benefit. UNICEF
will receive all rights to the music specially composed for the benefit
which will be aired 8 p.m. tonight on NBC.
no question of movement towards nor-
malization of relations under the
present circumstances," said John
Cannon, a State Department
spokesman.
The eight-member Cambodian coun-
cil headed by Heng Samrin announced
its formation after a two-week siege by
pro-Vietnamese rebels. They forced the
Khmer Rouge government of Prime
Minister Pol Pot out of Phnom Penh on
Sunday.
THE COUNCIL claims control of all
Cambodia, but Western diplomatic
sources in Bangkok said there were still
large areas of the country - in the nor-
th, northwest, west and southwest -
that were not in the hands of the in-
surgents or their Vietnamese allies.
There was evidence of continued
fighting close to the Thai border. Viet-
nam intensified its air strikes against
the remnants of the Pol Pot regime
yesterday and thousands of Cam-
bodians, forced from their villages
three years ago, were returning to their
homes, according to various reports.
Sources in Bangkok said Vietnam
was flying almost 100 air strikes daily
in a mopping-up operation in the east
and west. Thai officials said two jets,
believed to be Soviet-made, bombed a
Thai border area.
ANALYSTS IN Thailand said some
reports indicated Premier Pol Pot may
have been killed and Deputy Premier
Ieng Sary may have fled the country
following the successful military offen-
sive Sunday by Vietnamese-backed
Cambodian rebels.
Prince Norodom Sihanouk, former
Cambodian head of state, arrived in
New York yesterday to ask the United
Nations to do something to stop what he
claims is a Vietnamese take-over of his
country.
"We -are the victims of naked
aggression and .of a brutal invasion
coming from Vietnam, our neighbor,"
he told reporters at Kennedy Inter-
national Airport upon arrival from
Peking by way of Tokyo.
HE SAID their troops still held two
towns in northwest Cambodia, and
analysts here also said the rebels, who
claim- to have "liberated" Phnom Penh
and established a provisional gover-
nment, werefighting in the northwest
near Siem Repa and Angkor.
A Thai official in the border town of
Ta Phraya, 220 miles east of Bangkok,
told reporters that two warplanes,
believed to be either MiG-19s or MiG-
21s, dropped three bombs in a field bet-
ween two Thai military installations.
There were no injuries.
Vietnam is known to have Soviet-
supplied MiGs, but there also have been
See SOVIETS, Page 2
a-
.I
NEW PRES. TO FA CE DE TERIORA TION:'
Faculty outlines 'U' needs
By MITCH CANTORt
The 15-member faculty advisory
committee involved in the search for a
new University president says the suc-
cessor to Acting President Allan Smith
will have to help the University to
"reassert itself as a world leader,"
following several years in which "con-
siderable deterioration is reported to
have taken place in a number of
academic programs."
The committee said those programs,
as well as some declining supportive
services, are crucial to the University'
"continued greatness."
IN AN 11-page "needs statement,"
submitted to the Regents late last year,
the group outlined what it sees as the
problems facing the University in the
next decade.
' The needs statement from the alumni
presidential selection committee has
also been submitted to the Regents but
has not been made public. The student
advisory committee, named in mid-
December, has not formulated its
statement yet.
Faculty committee chairman Harold
Johnson, a professor of Social Work,
said research is one of the areas in
which the University has suffered most.
"I THINK there are a number of
areas we're concerned about," Johnson
said. Two weak spots Johnson specified
were natural science and chemistry,
"where improvements or modifications
of research facilities are much related
to the train of resources."
Other difficulties the University will
have to deal with, according to the
'U' Club a key issue
in Union renovation
report, are "changes in the composition
of the American population."
Johnson cited an increase in women
on the job market, as well as an in-
crease in people who are making mid-
career changes, as being related to the
modifications.
The faculty statement also em-
phasizes financial limitations on ex-
pansion of the University's academic
programs.
"IN CONTRAST to the situation a few
years ago, We can no longer meet new
demands of society by adding on. New
programs must be supported, at least in
part, by reductions or modifications in
existing programs of the University,"
the committee asserted.
The report suggests "reassignment,
reorientation, and retraining of the
current faculty, along with the adap-
tation of existing facilities," as alter-
natives to expansion.
The statement also indicates the
financial bite will cause University
administrators to make concessions or
modifications in certain programs.
CONCERNING THE role of the
faculty in the governing of the Univer-
sity, the report questioned the effec-
tiveness of its present privileges. It ad-
ded "the next president needs to review
and revise governance policies and
procedures.
The statement said the University
will have to clarify in the next decade
"the role and relationship of the Dear-
born and Flint campuses vis a vis the
Ann Arbor campus."
"I think we have to decide if we're
going to be a single-campus university
or a multi-campus university," John-
son explained.
See FACULTY, Page 2
Central
camp us
,hit by
blackout
By R.J. SMITH
An electrical failure left much of the
East Central campus area in darkness
last night from approximately 10:15
p.m. to 10:56 p.m. The blackout affec-
ted buildings including the Graduate
and Undergraduate Libraries, and
Angell Hall.
A spokesman for the Department of
Safety said no injuries were reported.
THE FAILURE could have been
caused by electrical malfunctions
anywhere in the East Central campus
area, one worker at the University
Power Plant said, and moments after
the blackout registered at the plant, the
power was cut to prevent possible in-
juries when the electricity came back.
At the Undergraduate Library,
students left the building soon after the
lights went out, some stole books in the
darkness, a desk worker reported. He
also said that about $100 was 'taken
from behind the desk at the library.
City may
vacate
campus.
streets
The Ann Arbor Planning Commission
voted last night in a public hearing to
recommend that City Council vacate a
portion of the north side of central
campus for a pedestrian mall.
The area involved is the west side of
Ingalls Street between North Univer-
sity and Washington, which separates
Hill Auditorium and the Michigan
League. The east side of Ingalls is
owned by the University.
However, James Brinkerhoff, the
University's vice president and chief
financial officer, said "in the short run
actually nothing will happen in terms of
changes in the street." Brinkerhoff ad-
ded that the pedestrian mall is the long-
term plan, and must wait for funds to
become available.
The Commission also agreed to
recomend vacating Madison St. bet
weep Thompson and Packard. Richard
Herrmann, chairman of the Planning
Commission, said that the University
''presentedno formal plan for the
area " but he believed it may be used for
student housing.
..........
MMMM"
By AMY SALTZMAN
The University Club, located on the
first floor of the Michigan Union, could
hardly be described as inconspicuous.
Yet since its move into the Union in
November 1971 this private, though
University-related restaurant has at-
tracted little student interest and,
despite its prime location, has gone un-
noticed by many other members of the
University community.
Recent efforts focusing on the struc-
tural and philosophical l'enovation of
the Union - particularly as outlined in
the Sturgis Report to the Regents -
have however, made the question of the
Club's survival a key issue in the
possible reorganization plans. 0
MOST OF THE arguments against
the 'U' Club and its association with the
Union have centered around the Club's
general lack of student appeal, its poor
financial history, and management
problems. Most notably, these
management problems have led to of-
ten unfavorable showings on health in-
spections.
The health inspection reports issued
from November 1977 to November 1978
by the Occupational Safety and En-
vironmental Health Department
(OSHA) show the Club received health
code demerits way above the state and
University average of 34 and 24 points
respectively. The worst violations oc-
curred in November 1977 when the Club
received 48 demerits, and in May 1978
when the Club's demerits totaled 50.
The situation was so bad in the sum-
mer of 1978, according to Alan Vick,
assistant manager of the 'U' Club, that
the exterminator refused to service the
restaurant. "He told us to clean up the
filth before he would exterminate."
THE LAST health report, in Novem-
ber 1978, does reveal an improvement
over the previous reports. But accor-
See CLUB, Page 7
Reed the Today
column, Page 3
I
Enrollment of Chinese may
increase at University soon
By MICHAEL ARKUSH
Although the recent establishment of
diplomatic relations between the
United States and China calls for
greater enrollment of Chinese faculty
members and graduate students in
American colleges, a University ad-
ministrator said yesterday it's too early
to determine what effect the agreement
will have here.
Edward Doughtery, assistant to Vice-
President for Academic Affairs Harold
Shapiro, said that previous plans - im-
plemented months before the
diolomatic breakthrough - would be
sent a memo to all department chair-
men and deans, asking them what their
particular interests and capabilities
might be for possible participation by
the University in these academic ex-
changes.
- . (Dough tery) added
that the influx of Chinese
students here may rise
soon due to the new dip-
lomatic ties between the
two countries.'
various departments would accept the
Chinese students," said Feuerwerker.
IN OCTOBER, a group of Chinese
scientists visited Ann Arbor and, ac-
cording to Doughtery, held a brief
meeting with Shapiro. Doughtery said
they discussed the possibility of taking
in more Chinese students, but Ono final
decisions were made at that time.
Feuerwerker, who proudly claimed
that "we've had more Chinese students
than any other university," said the
responses from the department chair-
men and the deans should be received
within the next few weeks. He did not
mention, however, when the committee
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