Decision
nears
on
ro-A merican
housing
unit
By LINDA DREEBEN
Although the Housing Policy
Board of the Office of Student
Services last month approved the
concept of two proposed Afro-
American and African cultural liv-
ing units, actual implementation
of the proposals is contingent on
an upcoming regental decision.
That decision, expected tomor-
row will formalize or defeat a
proposal that has gained national
attention, sparked much local de-
bate and drawn praise and criti-
cism from both the black and
white communities.
The proposed-units would allow
students with an interest in black
culture to live together in sep-
arate housing units.
Critics of the plan, including
the Detroit chapter of the Na-
tional Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People,
charge that the proposed living
units are a step back from inte-
gration, and will encourage sep-
aration of the races.
However, 112 black students and
110 white students have applied
to live in the units which will
house approximately 400 people.
Assistant Director of Special
Programs Georgia Williams, who
has worked with students in devel-
oping the proposals, said, "Those
who say that blacks are isolating
themselves are not looking at the
proposal. We're working on pro-
grams to bring people together."
However, the findings of an in-
vestigation of the legal implica-
tions of the proposal may effect
regental action. The Michigan
Civil Rights Commission (MCRC)
last month began exploring the
"legal ramifications" of the pro-
posals in regard to the states
equal housing laws.
Although MCRC chairman Mil-
ton Robinson would not comment
on the commission's findings, he
said the report would be made
public during today's open Re-
gents meeting.
Regent James Waters (D-Mus-
kegon) said yesterday that he un-
derstood "that the civil rights
commission opposes the proposal
on legal grounds, and that a com-
promise to the proposal may be
worked out to include a mechan-
ism to insure that a certain num-
ber of white students live there."
The proposals as approved by
the Housing Policy Board desig-
nate two houses in South Quad
and one corridor in Stockwell as
Afro-American and African Cul-
tural living units. The purpose of
the houses, according to the pro-
posals, "will be to promote edu-
cational, cultural and social iden-
tity with Afro-American and Af-
rican life styles."
The proposals also stipulate
that the units will be "occupied
by students who have an interest
in Afro-American and African
culture without regard to race,
color and religion."
None of the Regents contacted
indicated their position on the
issue, but said they wanted to
hear the presentations planned
for today's open meeting.
Regent William Cudlip (R-De-
troit) said he had received no in-
formation about the proposals and
he is "anxious to know the reac-
tion of the various groups and the
findings of the civil rights com-
mission."
"I'm so mixed up," Regent
Gertrude Huebner (D-Detroit)
said. "The mail is a constant bar-
rage of pro and con. I'm still
weighing all the material we
have."
President Robben Fleming has
yet to issue a strong stand on
the proposals.
"For many who thought we were
civil rights advocates the solution
was ever increasing integration,"
he said. "Is this a step backward?"
"But," he added, "the other side
is that blacks are always expect-
ed to adjust to whites. And it may
be unrealistic to expect that
blacks from an all black high
school feel at ease in an inte-
grated system. They need some
transition."
According to Lee Gill, chairman
of the Minority Council of South
Quad, "The proposals are an out-
growth of various discriminatory
practices in the dorm and the
failure of the race awareness sem-
inars." The minority council and
the Black Women of Stockwell ini-
tially wrote the proposals for the
living units.
Gill said the minority council
identified "problems with staff,
lack of relevant materials in the
library and a double standard in
enforcing dorm rules" as problems
within South Quad.
"It is not our aim to voluntar-
ily segregate ourselves," Gill said.
"Instead we are unifying our-
selves developing our own talents
so that we will be able to deal
with the larger system."
Gayle Nelsor, president of the
Black Women of Stockwell, also
emphasized that the unit would
serve educational as well as so-
cial purposes. She stressed that
the blacks would not be segregat-
ed but needed to "get together"
See BLACK, Page 12
STUDENTS walk by South Quadrangle, the site
of one of two proposed black housing units.
ASSESSING THE
FLORIDA PRIMARY
See Editorial Page
Yl r e
, i ttgaYi
AOF t
:4)at
UNIMPRESSIVE
High-50
Low-30
Showers, windy and warmer;
clearing tonight
Vol. LXXXII, No. 124
FLEMING HITS HEW:
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, March 16, 1972
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
aU'
a'bl
won't hit
ewomen,
I
Associated Press
Forward march!
National Action Group attorney Brooks Patterson watches Pon-
tiac resident Irene McCabe as she begins her six week 600-mile
trek to Washington, D.C. to push for the anti-busing amendment.
Regent's to decide on
PIRGIM allocations
1 less
blacks
By MARY KRAMER
President Robben Fleming
announced yesterday the Uni-
versity will "vigorously resist"
any federal pressure to hire
women and minorities less
qualified than other appli-
cants.
However, John Hodgdon, head
of the Dept. of Health, Education
and Welfare regional civil rights
compliance office in Chicago, la-
beled reports of such pressure "ut-
ter nonsense."
HEW is the federal agency
charged with overseeing the ef-
forts of federal contractors in
ending sex and racial discrimina-
tion.I
Hodgdon revealed yesterday that
the Detroit News had erroneously
quoted him as saying that the De-
partment of Labor's Revised Or-
der No. 4 requires that universities
must accept women and minority
applicants over others, provided
they are better qualified than the
least qualified faculty member in
a department.
Unaware the report was false,
Fleming described the supposed
requirement "absurd", adding "I
can't believe that HEW seriously
intends to enforce such a re-
quirement."
"Every department at Michigan
has several members who may
have been qualified when they
were hired but would not meet to-
day's higher employment stand-
ards," he said.
"To hire persons only slightly.
better qualified, when even bet-
ter applicants are available, would
undoubtedly dilute the quality of
instruction," he added.
According to Hodgdon, the Uni-
versity, as a public rather than a
private institution, is subject to
the "spirit" and not the "letter"
of the revised order which is
geared for private federal con-
tractors.
Although there is no require-
ment to accept the least qualified
applicant, Hodgdon expects uni-
versities "to make a strong efforti
to locate women and minoritiesr
for positions."
The misunderstanding of fed-z
eral requirements underlined the
need for more communication be-t
tween the University and HEW,
Hodgdon said. Referring to Uni-
versity officials he added, "We'll
have to start talking to each otherE
and not talk through newspapers."'
Beard
to
queried in
ITlT scandal
WASHINGTON (R - Members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee will question lobbyist Dita Beard Monday in her
hospital room in Denver, Sen. James Eastland (D-Miss), said
yesterday.
Beard, Washington lobbyist for International Telephone
& Telegraph Copp., has been hospitalized with a heart ail-
ment since shortly after publication of a memo attributed
to her.
Columnist Jack Anderson, in quoting the memo, had
said it showed a connection between settlement of an anti-
trust suit aaginst ITT and the conglomerate's financial
commitment of up to $400,000 for the Republican national
nvention.{
The decision for six committee
members to go to Beard's bedside
resulted from a 'conference call
between her two heart surgeons
and Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-
Mass.), and Marlow Cook (R-Ky.),
yesterday. says
be
Brahms and Co. at Hill
With arms flailing, Conductor William Steinberg leads the world famous
before a packed house at Hill Auditorium last night. A review of last
Page 2 today.
- -O---ROOM---GUTTED:-
OWN ROOM GUTTED:
-Daily-David Margolick
Boston Symphony Orchestra
night's concert appears on
By CINDY HILL
A decision concerning the fu-
ture funding of the Public In-
terest Research Group in Mich-
igan (PIRGIM) is expected dur-
ing the monthly Regents' meet-
ings today and tomorrow.
PIRGIM, a non-profit, non-
partisan student organization,
was formed earlier this year to
deal with such problems as con-
sumer fraud, working condi-
tions, the environment, race and
sex discrimination, and unsafe
housing.
The decision involves the
'method of student fee assess-
ment which, as PIRGIM's only
source of funds, will determine
the group's budget.
The Regents will discuss the
PIRGIM issue, the prpposed
black housing units, and the
manual of procedure for a new
University judiciary system at
an open meeting today at 1:30
p.m. They will decide on these
issues, as well as a set of pro-
posed restrictions on University
classified research at their regu-
lar open meeting tomorrow.
Today, PIRGIM members
Mary Viviano and Mike Peisner
will present to the Regents a
new proposal they refer to as a
'negative check-off."
The method of fee assessment
previously recommended in the
petitions that have circulated
around campus since February,
specified that a mandatory
$1.50 would- be collected each
term during registration and re-
fundable during the third week
of that term. This proposal was
refected by the University's ex-
ecutive officers in favor of an
assessment on a more voluntary
basis.
The administrators suggested a
system where students willing to
contribute to the organization
would fill out forms for the
organization during registration.
See REGENTS, Page 12
Student apprehended'
in Mlarkley
Hall
fire
Kennedy quoted the doctors as
saying it would be at least several
weeks before Beard, 53, could be
brought to Washington and in-
terviewed by the full committee in
a neighboring hospital.
Committee chairman Eastland,
named Democrats Kennedy, Philip
Hart of Michigan, John Tunney of
California, and Republicans Cook,
Charles Mathias of Maryland and
Strom Thurmond of South Caro-
lina to talk to Beard for about an
hour Monday morning or after-
noon at the Rockey Mountain Os-
teopathic Hospital.
In the ninth day of testimony
yesterday, Cook and Kennedy dis-
agreed sharply over whose repu-
tation was being injured most by
the hearings into the nomination
of Richard Kleindienst to be at-
torney general.
Former Atty. General John
Mitchell was called back before
the committee yesterday, and de-
nied repeatedly that he played any
role in getting the convention to
San Diego or in the outcome of
the ITT-Justice Department nego-
tiations.
Tunney repeatedly questioned
Mitchell about meetings he held
with Republican Lt. Gov. Ed
Reinecke of California last spring
and fall.
Tunney said either Mitchell or
Reinecke is lying about whether
ITT's financial pledge to the con-
vention city came up during their
discussion.
destroyed
WASHINGTON OP) - The
president of International T'ele-
phone & Telegraph Corp. yester-
day confirmed reports that secur-
ity agents from his New York
office shredded the files of ITTrJ
lobbyist Dita Beard two weeks
ago.
Harold Geneen said that after
publication of a controversial
memo signe 1 by Beard, someone
in his firm had ordered the files
placed in a shredder and destroy-
ed.
The memo published by col-
umnist Jack Anderson drew a con-
nection between a financial com-
mitment to the Republican Na-
tional Convention in San Diego
and an out-of-court settlements of
three antitrust suits then pending
against ITT.
The first report .of the shred-
ding came1 from Anderson aide
Brit Hume who interviewed Beard
and quoted her as also saying that
ITT officials had told her to get
out of town.
Geneen said a report on the
shredding incident is under prep-
arations and he promised to pro-
vide the committee with a copy.
Geneen said the sole purpose of
ITT's financial commitment to
the tourist bureau was to boost
the business and image of the'
conglomerate's Sheraton H o t e 1
chain.
By JUDY RUSKIN
vn Jan. 27. Over 60 suspected1
a iQnne h ua hnnn ric nrr i I
A University student was ara- rsons navee i
rested yesterday in connection Police alleged Friesen appar-
with a fire which gutted his room ently chainedgthe door from the
in Markley Hall early yesterday inside, dropped a match in a
morning. wastebasket, set the burning
Mark Friesen, '75, was charged waste-basket under his bed and
by police with setting fire to the left the room via a window which
room. The blaze also caused ex- opened onto the street.
tensive damage to four other The flames set the mattress on
rooms, and damaged 100 feet of fire and then spread to the rest
hallway. of the room, the police continued.
The arrest was the second arson As the blaze grew, the flames
arrest since a wave of deliberately flared out the window and set the
set fires began at the University drapes in other rooms on fire.
r
t
1
J
HUMPHREY IMPROVES POSITION
Florida: uskie
loses,
nobody wins
The damage from smoke, water
ana Tire was heavy but Univer-
sity ofiiciais were uncertain of
tne amount of damage aone. Rus-
sea Lownmg, a university Fire
Marsiai, cued the uamage as
coming to about 50,00. How-
ever tnat amount has peen called
"way too nigh" by oxficiais. One
victim ciaimed that the corridor
"looxed lixe Dresaen alter the fire
Lomoings". 6
'.ihe fire was discovered at
arouna :;30 a.m. by the night
watenman. According to Richard
Freese, the resident advisor on the
hall, they had been aided in
kicking in the door to the room
by Friesen in an attempt to put
out the fire,
Friesen is being held without
bond. in the Washtenaw County
Jail pending arraignment set for
this morning.
"We were extremely lucky
there were no injuries considering
the type of fire, thewamount of
damages, and the time of morn-
ing", said Markley building direc-
tor, Leroy Williams.
The building was evacuated
once the fire had been spotted.
"It's like the boy who cried wolf,"
Freese said. "There have been too
many false alarms. But once peo-
ple realized what it was they got
out right away".
Because of the large amount of
smoke, some residents were forced
to leave their rooms through the
By TONY SCHWARTZ
Daily News Analysis
t The results of the Florida Democl'atic
presidential primary were predictable
enough-chaotic. Sen. George McGovern
hit it on the head last week when he
said, "Muskie's strength is a mile wide
and an inch deep."
* eleections '72:
the primaries
That statement, in varying forms, ap-
admission, has always been a tenuous
proposition. His support has rested on
his image as a conciliator and as the
only candidate capable of beating Nixon.
After the New Hampshire results
showed Muskie barely edging out Mc-
Govern, his strategists initiated some
dramatic changes.
Last week the same Muskie who had
criticized George Wallace in only the
mildest way through most of the cam-
paign, lambasted him in a barrage of
get-tough statements.
The Muskie whd announced Pavrli
avail. Muskie finished an unimpressive
fourth, his position as the most accept-
able middle-of-the-road grabbed from
under him, at least temporarily, by
Hubert Humphrey.
Humphrey proved that affection still
runs deep for him in certain quarters,
particularly minority groups and the
elderly. Although he was swamped by
Wallace, Humphrey achieved his major
purpose by soundly defeating the rest
of the opposition.
Although it would seem suicidal for
the Democrats to renominate -umnhrev.
assimuniinom ll.l
ligill