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