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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 147 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, April 4, 1979 Ten Cents Ten Pages
ANTI-APARTHEID GROUP CLAIMS CONFLICT OF INTEREST
WCCAA urges resignation o SACFA
By HOWARD WITT
The chairwoman of the committee analyzing
University investments in firms doing business
in South Africa is involved in a conflict of in-
terest .because she sits on the boards of two
such companies, the Washtenaw County
Coalition Against Apartheid (WCCAA) alleged
earlier this week. WCCAA members have
called for her immediate resignation from
either the committee or the corporate boards.
Patricia Longe, professor of Business Ad-
ministration and chairwoman of the Senate
Advisory Committee on Financial Affairs
(SACFA), is a member of the boards of direc-
tors of the Manufacturers National Bank of
Detroit and the Warner-Lambert corporation,
spokesmen fqr the two businesses confirmed
Monday. .
v v v1
THE UNIVERSITY owns $804,000 of common
stock in the Warner-Lambert corporation and
has no investments in the bank, University In-
vestment Officer Norman Herbert said.
In response to student demonstrations at last
month's Regents meetings, the Regents direc-
ted SACFA to update a March, 1978 report on
the South Africa divestiture issue.
Longe declined to comment, saying only, "I
don't see that there is any conflict of interest."
SACFA MEMBER Arthur Rich, professor of
physics., said that SACFA members knew of
Longe's positions on corporate boards last
year. "When the issue (of divestiture) came up
last year, she made her situation clear to us."
At that time, Longe was a member of SACFA;
she became SACFA chairwoman in September,
1978.
However, another SACFA member, Univer-
sity Librarian Harriet Jameson, was not fully
aware of Longe's positions. "I have a vague
recollection of (Longe) saying something about
being on some corporations, but I do not
remember her saying anything specific, and I
think I was at every meeting last year," she
said.
WCCAA member Debbie Duke, a Literary
College (LSA) sophomore, said, "If it's true
that SACFA members knew (of Longe's cor-
porate positions) last year, then the committee
was lax in not publicizing that she was on these
boards.
THE WCCAA asserted in a letter to. the Daily
(see e ditorial page) written last Sunday that
Longe's "presence (on the boards of the bank
and the corporation) and on SACFA constitutes
a conflict of interest." Members of the WCCAA
called on Longe "to resign immediately either
from SACFA or from the boards of Warner-
Lambert and Manufacturers National Bank of
Detroit."
Manufacturers National Bank Senior Vice-
President Robert Herdoiza would not comment
on whether the bank is involved in any financial
activity in South Africa. However, Warner-
Lambert Director of Communications and
Public Affairs Ewart Thomas said his cor-
poration did have a subsidiary in South Africa.
LSA Senior Heidi Gottfried, a WCCAA mem-
ber, commented, "If the University decides to
divest, then it's a conflict because she (Longe)
chie
is going to want to have a position that it not
divest. She has a stake in the outcome.
Several SACFA members and others said
they did not believe Longe's interests will con-
flict. Rich said, "I think it's unlikely (that her
corporate positions) will affect her SACFA
decisions, but I don't really know her well
enough to make an absolute decision."
Prof essor of Higher Education James Miller,
also a SACFA member, said, "I think she has
been an outstanding chair woman."
HISTORY PROF. Shaw Livermore, chair-
man of the Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs (SACUA), which is the
executive committee of the faculty Senate
Assembly, said neither SACFA nor SACUA had
any idea SACFA would be taking up divestiture
See WCCAA, Page 10
Federal loan
may improve
off-campus
housing
By AMY SALTZMAN
Rent reductions and improved
property maintenance of off-campus
student housing and co-ops could be a
few, of the effects of a federally funded
housing loan program currently being
implemented by the city's Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) of-
fice.
If Ann Arbor landlords are receptive
to the Department of Housing and Ur-
ban Development's (HUD) Multi-
Family Rehabilitation loan program,
one of the results would be a maximum
price tag of $302 on "moderately
rehabilitated" two bedroom apartmen-
ts.
ANY LANDLORD participating in
the program, which would provide
loans for the improvement of low and
moderate income households, would
also be subject to a five-year rent
regulatory agreement.
But for student housing, the success
of this program, which utilizes the
federal Section 312 loan in conjunction
with private lending, rests solely on
landlord response. "We haven't gotten
the word out to landlords yet that these
loans will be available, so it is, difficult
to judge, at this time, what the response
will be," said Barry Tilman, the city's
CDBG physical development manager.
The loans would result in a significant
reduction in the financing of property
improvement, which, Tillman said,
could provide incentive for landlords to
participate in the program. Under the
Multi-Family Loan Program, landlords
would get a 4.05 per cent reduction in
the level of financing for property im-
provements.
ALTHOUGH MOST landlords sur-
veyed said they were not yet aware of
all the details of the program, which is
expected to go into effect sometime this
summer, the general response was
positive. "I'm interested in checking it
out," said David Copi, owner of several
older homes and apartments in the
campus area. Copi added he is par-
ticularly interested in the loans
because, "the rates at banks are
astronomical."
Vernon Hutton, another Ann Arbor
See POSSIBLE, Page 10
Officials say
reactor safe
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A
troublesome gas bubble no longer poses
any significant danger of explosion at
the disabled Three Mile Island nuclear
power plant, a federal official said
yesterday.
Declaring "the bubble has been
eliminated for all practical purposes,'
Harold Denton of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission told reporters.
"I think the danger point is con-
siderably down from where it was a few
days ago."
"I would say there is no more bubble
at the top of the core. . . We no longer
consider a hydrogen explosion a
significant problem,",he said. "The site
remains stable.. . the bubble poses no
further significant safety problem."
IF NO 'FURTHER radiation is
released from the Three Mile Island
plant, neighbors of the plant will get
about the same radiation exposure this
-year as residents of Denver get year in
and year out-about 200 millirems.
(Nevertheless, some scientists who
study low-level radiation think the
releases may have serious long-term
health effects, including cancer and
genetic damage.)
Meanwhile, speculation arose that
the crippled reactor might have to be
junked, but one NRC official said he
doubted that.
AS DENTON, President Carter's
special representative at thescene,
madehisiremarks at a briefing, tension
was easing~ in the week-long crisis
caused by the worst nuclear mishap in
U.S. history. Civil Defense officials
estimated that between 80,000 and
250,000 of the region's 950,000 people
had temporarily pulled out, .,but
thousands were returning yesterday
and some schools were reopened.
Asked when the emergency would be
over at Three Mile Island, Denton said,
"I hope that from here on out we can
move rapidly in that direction.
"We are right now developing and
looking at plans of the most effective
way to bring this reactor to cold shut-
down." He declined to predict exactly
when that might be accomplished.
ASKED ABOUT concerns that some
safety instruments have failed because
of intense radiation in the reactor, Den-
ton said some sensors were lost but
most are redundant "and we have other
See GOV'T, Page 5
NUCLEAR REACTOR operator David Waalkes monitors an experiment in the control room of the University reactor
located on North Campus.
U nuclear reactor disaster not
possible according to director
I . in
By TIM YAGLE
Last week's near-disaster at a
nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa. has
caused many area residents to wonder
about the safety of the University's own
research reactor on North Campus, the
Phoenix Memorial Lab. According to
assistant reactor manager Gary Cook,
though, any fears are misplaced,
because no accident similar to the one
at Harrisburg could happen here.
Reactor Director Prof. William Kerr
said, "Almost everything is different
(from the Three Mile Island plant)."
Kerr said to draw a comparison was
like comparing a matchstick and a
raging fire. The only thing we have in
common is the combustion," he said.
SINCE THE reactor is not a power-
generating plant, it cannot explode and
there are no dangerous gases being
produced from the reactions.
Uranium, which is stored in the
building under tight security, is loaned
to the University free of charge by the
U.S. Dept. of Energy. The radioactive
element is the single substance needed
to fuel and maintain the nuclear reac-
tions.
Cook added that "We're here to serve
the University as a laboratory tool. We
aren't here to make electricity (like the
Harrisburg plant does.)"
THE PHOENIX Lab is not a massive
power-generator like the plant in Pen-
nsylvania. It is a research lab which
generates just two megawatts versus
the nearly 3,000 megawatts produced at
Harrisburg.
The reactor sits in a 27-foot deep, 50-
gallon water tank. The water, which is
drained into the Ann Arbor sewer
system, prevents the minimal amounts
of radiation from seeping into the
building.
Kerr said the possible physiological
effects of radiation "poisoning" are
concentrated in human cells. It
specifically affects the chromosome
count and human genetics. "But there
are so many other variables," Kerr
said. "It's an inconclusive thing." The
worst thing that could happen to a
human is death, he said.
T HE REACTOR is used by students
from several different- University
departments. Many utility companies
and businesses also use the lab for
radiation tests. Cook says the lab has
received an estimated $100,000 in
revenue from commercial use of the
reactor, of which about onethird is
used for grant money for University
nuclear engineering students to per-
form tests there. Most of the ex-
periments are done on objects which
are believed to be radioactively con-
taminated.
See 'U', Page5
NEW SYSTEM FALTERS:
Punch card voting to be studied
By ELISA ISAACSON
Ann Arbor's punch card voting
system will be reviewed during the next
four weeks by the City Clerk's office,
the two political parties, and concerned
precinct workers, in order to iron out
some of the difficultis which arose
while counting Monday night's ballots.
Although the ballots were tabulated
by midnight Monday, the process had
been stalled when canvassers were for-
ced to use magnifying glasses to
determine whether the chads-squares
on the paper ballot marked by per-
forated lines-had been punched out
enough to qualify as votes.
according to City Clerk AlVollbrecht,
the local Republicans had requested the
ballots be counted at one central
location, the Armory, rather than at the
individual precincts. GOP members
wanted monitors watching the ballots
counted, and were afraid they would
not be able to find workers to cover
each precinct.
"They (the ballot-counters) were
very deliberate," said Vollbrecht.
"There is a fair amount of paranoia
about the election process in Ann Ar-
bor."
The concern to which the clerk was
referring stems partly from the 1977
city election, in which mayoral can-
didate Albert Wheeler was shown to
have won by a single vote. When his op-
ponent, now-Mayor Louis Belcher,.
challenged the results, it was
discovered that 20 Ann Arbor Township
residents had voted illegally in the elec-
tion.
Transpsorting all the ballots to the
Armory, however, takes up time.
Vollbrecht suggested that possible
solutions for speeding up the tabulating
process might be allowing the precinct
workers to count the ballots as they
come in, or at least to allow them to
select theballots about whichthere
might be discrepencies and send only
those to the Armory.
CANVASSERS COMPELTED their
routine election audit at about 5 p.m.
See PROPOSALS, Page 7
I
Curnculum comm. rescinds policy
BY ADRIENNE LYONS
The Literary College (LSA)
curriculum committee recommended
yesterday that the LSA Executive
Committee reconsider its decision
formation about certain courses to
make some proposed exemptions and
because most departments have
already finalized their fall staffs.
According to Associate Curriculum
Dean John Knott, the original decision
faculty, such as the programs in
Women's Studies or American Culture.
These programs utilize TAs in upper-
level courses far more than do most
other departments.
KNOTT SAID that the Women's
BULLETIN'
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
(Reuter)-Former Pakistan
Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi
district jail shortly before sunrise
today, official sources said.
The failure of the Roosevelt
Administration to take an active
hand in preventing the Nazis from
killing millions of Jews in concen-
tration camps was due primarily to
the lack of America wanting to
become involved, said Henry
Feingold, professor of history at City
University of New York to more
than 175 students and community
members last night in the Rackham
Amphitheater.
Feingold's talk ended a three-day
program dealing with the Holocaust.
Entitled "A Glimpse Into
Darkness," the Conference began
Sundav afternonn and featured three
Meeting
"News of the Final Solution
reached American Jewry in the final
months of 1942," Feingold said. "Un-
til that time there were certain blocs
that kept the news from us."
Feingold said the State Depar-
tment deliberately attempted to
block any news on the atrocities of the
concentration camps "because it
upsets us."
ONLY WHEN a file was brought to
the Secretary of the Treasury
Morgenthau spelling out efforts of
the State Department to block any
news on the atrocities being commit-
ted and the department's effort to
bar the entrance of immigrants, to
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