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Vol. LXXXIX, No. 148 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, April 5, 1979 Ten Cents Ten Pages
South Africa divestiture still hot issue at fU'
I0
By WILLIAM THOMPSON
First came the leafletting, then the Diag rallies. And now
corporate divestiture from South Africa is such a hot issue on
campus that last month more than 200 protesters stormed the
Regents' meeting demanding that the University divest.
, But student activism on the South Africa divestment issue
isn't limited just to this University.
THROUGHOUT THE nation, students are protesting
college holdings in corporations that do business in South
Africa. Cries for divestment are being answered with mixed
reactions and, in some cases, not being answered at all. ,
In late March, the trustees at Columbia University an-
and on campuses elsewhere
nounced that they would release holdings in banks which deal
with the South African government. Although their decision
was made public only recently, the Columbia trustees ap-
proved the school's divestment last June, following a series
of student protests.
The Columbia administration delayed announcing the
school's transaction to avoid a "run on the banks," according
to David Rosenberg, managing editor of the campus
newspaper.
"THE TRUSTEES said there was no relation (between the
vote and the protests) even though it happened at the same
time," he stated.
At other schools, protests over divestment are gaining
momentum and - according to student leaders - activism
should increase with the spring weather.
When Harvard University's investment corporation meets
in coming weeks, the Students' Southern Africa Solidarity
Committee on campus will hold a teach-in and demon-
strations.
"WE VIEW DIVESTITURE as a means to cause cor-
porations to withdraw from Southern Africa," explained
Matt Rothschild, a member of the committee. "This will ex-
pedite an end td apartheid."
Rothschild said he doesn't expect Harvard to divest in the
coming year. "But pressure is building," he said, "and at
some point, they (trustees) may be forced to divest."
However, Lawrence Stevens of Harvard's General Counsel
office, insisted that the school's investments do not con-
tribute to apartheid. "We do the best we can on information
we have collected to evaluate the net effect of a company
See S. AFRICA, Page 5
'U,
asks court
for OK to bar
protesters
April showers Doily Photo by ANDY
Spring enthusiasts were forced to pull their winter coats out of the moth balls when The white stuff is predicted to continue sporadically through tomorrow.
a blinding snow fell yesterday afternoon blanketing the city with a layer of slush.
PROBLEMS WITH MSA POLL SITESBALLOTS:
Elcinends i on trove rsy
By MITCH CANTOR
and MARK PARRENT
The University Tuesday filed a
motion in Washtenaw County Circuit
Court asking that the Regents be
allowed to move behind closed doors in
April should their scheduled meetings
be disrupted by the Washtenaw County
Coalition Against Apartheid (WCCAA).
Hearing on the motion will begin Mon-
day morning before Judge Ross Cam-
pbell.
The 9:00 a.m. hearing will center on
an 11-page brief written by Peter Davis,
the attorney for the University. In his
statement, Davis alleges that a planned
appearance of more than 200 members
and supporters of WCCAA may result in
"violence and injury. . . unless judicial
relief is sought in advance."
REFERRING TO this month's
Regents' meeting, WCCAA leader
Jemadari Kamara had declaredlast
month, "We will come back in numbers
they have never seen before."
More than 200 protesters, many of
them WCCAA members, disrupted last
month's Regents meetings, forcing the
board to obtain a restraining order
from visiting Judge Harold Van
Domelen. The order allowed the Regen-
ts to meet privately, allowing only
members of the press and selected in-
dividuals to attend.
A week later the order was dissolved
by visiting Judge George Kent. Kent,
however, didn't assess the legality of
the original issuance.
UNIVERSITY ATTORNEY Davis,
BY JULIE ENGEBRECHT
Voting in the Michigan Student
Assembly (MSA) election came to a-
close last night amid charges by can-
didates, election workers, MSA mem-
bers, and voters claiming that the elec-
tion was ridden by inept vote
processing and fraud.
Despite the complaints, no one has
filed suit against the Assembly for its
handling of the election, and validation
MSA elections '79
of the ballots is continuing as planned.
MSA election officials were expected to
continue sorting the ballots at 8 a.m.
this morning. Ballots will be tabulated
after they are all validated.
MSA ELECTIONS Director Emily
Koo estimated that 4,800 students voted
during the election, which ran from
Monday morning until early last night.
Koo said, however, that 5,000 ballots
had been printed and she fears that up
to 300 empty ballots have been stolen
because several polling sites reported
they were short of fresh ballots. The
polling site at CRISP was left unatten-
ded with open ballots for an hour,
several MSA candidates said.
Several candidates and students
complained that MSA didn't set up polls
last flight at East Quad and Bursley -
traditionally among the heaviest dor-
mitory polling sites - as had been ex-
pected.
Since Monday, the elections had been
plagued with a lack of poll workers,
which caused several scheduled polling
sites to shut down, and others to close
early.
KOO SAID she would hold Wed-
nesday's ballots until she has time to
see if anyone has substantial complain-
ts. She said the MSA election code rule
requiring candidates to be 50 feet away
from a polling site was violated
repeatedly by candidates during the
election.
"It happened last year," Koo said.
This year's elections ran just as
smooth, if not smoother than last
year."
Central Student Judiciary Chief
Justice Dennis Persinger said, "They
(elections) were a little sloppier than
usual."
PERSINGER ALSO said efforts to
validate and tabulate ballots will con-
tinue, and election certification will
take place Sunday at 7 p.m.
See ELECTION, Page 5
who is out of town and was unavailable
for comment yesterday, argued in his
statement that disturbance of lawful
meetings justifies the move on the part
of the Board.
"Constitutionally, it makes no dif-
ference whether the protester is taken
from the meeting or the meeting is
taken from the protester," Davis wrote
in the document.
The WCCAA held its regular meeting
at Trotter House last night, but before
proceeding to the portion of the agenda
where they would discuss "strategy,"
the members voted to request that the
Daily reporter present leave the meeting
room.
"I DON'T THINK it's a good idea to
let the (University) administration
know what we're thinking," said Heidi
See WCCAA, Page 5
CESF to,
present,
retire-ment
forecast
BY HOWARD WITT
If current salary trends .continue,
University faculty members may benefit
from continued participation in the
Social Security retirementsystem.
Ironically, such a benefit may result
because in ten years time, University
professors could be considered low
wage workers, explained Economics
Prof. Edward Gramlich, chairman of
the faculty Senate Assembly's Commit-
tee on the Economic Status of the
Faculty (CESF).
CESF is preparing a report for the
Assembly which examines the
economic advantages and disadva.n-
tages of possible withdrawal from the
Social Security system. State and local
government employees currently are
not required to remain in the system,
although a federal study commission
See CESF, Page 7
Radiation levels almost normal in Pa.
From AP and Reuter
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Radiation
levels dwindled to near normal around
the Three Mile Island nuclear power
plant yesterday, and federal officials
said they were considering a proposal
to take the disabled reactor into cold
shutdown.
And while officials are concerned
about the durability of vital instrumen-
ts inside the reactor, conditions at the
plant remain "stable," Harold Denton,
of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC), said at a briefing.
HE CONFIRMED that human error
had contributed to the reactor accident.
In Washington, NRC officials described
three separate human errors that con-
tributed to the crisis.
The first error came when valves on
an emergency pumping system - part
of the reactor's coolant system - were
closed, although they should have been
open. Later, an operator turned off the
plant's main emergency core cooling
system at the wrong time. Finally, four
standby water pumps were disengaged
when there was no apparent reason for
them not to be working.
Denton said having the standby pum-
ps disengaged was a violation of NRC
regulations. He said engineers would
maintain the plant in its current status
for several days.
IN WASHINGTON, HEW Secretary
Joseph Califano said the population
near the plant still faces radiation ex-
posure, but he expected no increase in
fatal cancer from radioactivity
released so far.
Califano told a Senate hearing that
despite the leaks that occurred at the
plant after an accident involving the
cooling system, "We would still expect
to find no additional cancer deaths
above the 4,500 which would be expec-
ted in the (area's) population."
House accuses Diggs
of 18 new violations
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House
ethics committee yesterday accused
Rep. Charles Diggs, who already has
been convicted of federal crimes, with
18 counts of violating House rules.
The allegations filed by the commit-
tee parallel in scope the federal charges
upon which Diggs was convicted in a
November jury trial.
THE COMMITTEE charged that the
Michigan Democrat inflated the
salaries of selected employees on his
congressional payroll in order to get
kickbacks to help him pay his private
debts or congressional expenses. The
committee also alleged that Diggs
placed employees on his congressional
SThursday-
* WCBN could be knocked off
the air by stations with more wat-
tage in the future. MSA voted to
make open statement of support
for WCBN wattage increase. See
story, Page 2.
" Opening game cancelled, but
Tiger outlook inside. See story.
payroll without assigning them any
duties.
Another committee count alleges
Diggs placed a woman on his
congressional payroll "with knowledge
that the majority of her duties would be
and were for the benefit of the respon-
dent's business, the House of Diggs
Funeral Home in Detroit, Mich."
Nine of the counts claim Diggs' ac-
tions were a misuse of his congressional
payroll allowance. The remaining nine
alleged that his actions "did not reflect
creditably on the House of Represen-
tatives."
DIGGS IS currently appealing a
three-year prison sentence after being
convicted of payroll padding and of
takingskickbacks from his House em-
ployees.
Diggs said in a prepared statement
that he was disappointed in the commit-
tee's decision to bring charges against
him while his federal conviction is
1
being appealed.
And he said he was "concerned about
what effect the extensive publicity sure
to be generated by the committee
deliberations could have" on his appeal
nraneredings
Union hotel todayk
''dorm tomorrow :
By PATRICIA HAGEN
Gideon's Bible won't be in the drawer and there won't be
room service or color television, but graduate students residing in
the converted guest rooms in the Michigan Union next fall will be
living in comparative luxury-at least compared to other Univer-
sity dormitory residents.
91 guest rooms in the Union wjll be converted in August into
rooms for 127 students. The space will be available to graduate
students or students over 21. Each room, spacious by dorm stan-
dards, has wall-to-wall carpeting, air conditioning, and a private
bathroom.
THE UNION seemed like a logical alternative to help alleviate
the University's housing problem, according to Norm Snustad,
associate University Housing director. The University Regents
approved the conversion plans early this year due to concern over
housing shortages and recent efforts to make the Union more
stident-oriented.
"There is a need for housing for transfer and graduate studen-
ts that we haven't always been able to meet," said Snustad. He
explained that because of the new rooms for grads in the Union,
s more space will open un for undergraduates in South Quadrangle