Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
.m._: ALAN LENHOFF=:.--.
10
The secret.
of the
top-secret salaries
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: CARLA RAPOPORT
Police violence
ONCE AGAIN, police have gone a good
bit beyond the bounds of "keeping the
peace," as they dispersed yesterday's anti-
war protest at U.S. 23 with clubs and dogs.
The 1,000-plus some young people had
marched into the streets for a good rea-
son. Nationally and locally, the years of
passive protest against U.S. aggression in
Indochina had failed to stymie Nixon's
war plans - plans which have brought
nothing but destruction and suffering to
the Indochinese and American families
while aiding big business and the corrupt
Thieu regime.
By stopping traffic at key intersections,
these people were registering in a visible
way their opposition to these policies.
BUT IT WAS the police who committed
the violence. City police called in
county and state reinforcements - nei-
ther of whom have treated young people
fairly in the past - to reclaim the stretch
of highway.
Washtenaw County Sheriff Doug Har-
vey has not had a chance to "bust heads"
in Ann Arbor for well over a year. Yes-
terday, he tried to make up for it, direct-
ing his men to unite with city and state
police and swing clubs at everything with
long hair that moved.
For the most part, those in cars were
treated as the "establishment" and treat-
ed kindly, while those on foot were sub-
ject to the clubs.
THE BRUTALITY was most blatant on
the bridge, where U.S. 23 crosses over
Washtenaw Ave. There the demonstrators
made their stand, and there, police.
"freed" the bridge with a violence that
was swift and vengeful.
None of the warnings required by law
were given. No bullhorns told demon-
strators to disperse, and no five-minute
interval allowed those that wished a
chance to leave.
Instead, the police, some with the Ger-
man shepherds that are Harvey's special
pride, crashed into the crowd, pushing
people over the protective railing and
down the steep embankment.
THOSE WHO took the highway as a pro-
test for peace are to be commended.
They should also remember *one lesson
learned at the protest: That once the U.S.
is out of Indochina, a high priority must
be to deal with the arms of the law who
have once again proved they don't know
WITH THE steep . tuition in-
creases of the past few years,
students ought to be demanding
more information about what their
money is being'used to fund. But a
warning is appropriate: University
officials are determined to keep
their budgetary information un-
der wraps.
A good case in point is salary
listings. The University pay list
is one of this institution's most
closely guarded secrets. In fact,
even after salary lists at Michigan
State University were made public
several months ago by it's Board
of Trustees, The Daily has come
across confidential memos from
top University administrators who
are adamantly refusing to pro-
vide similar salary information to
interested parties.
Among those interested groups
are women and blacks who want
to know if they are getting equal
pay for equal work. Anti-war
groups want to know how much
the University is paying professors
who do little beyond their war re-
search. And the State Legislature
wants to know which professors
are pulling in big salaries but not
spending any time in the class-
room.
But it's not easy to hide the
salaries of thousands of University
employes. Some are bound to come
to light.
FOR EXAMPLE, President Rob-
ben Fleming last year took home
$56,800 before taxes. Home, by the
way, is the University-owned Pres-
ident's Mansion on South Univer-
sity, which he lives in free of
charge.
Others, of course, make less
generous salaries.
Vice President for Financial Af-
fairs Wilbur Pierpont is the sec-
ond highes paid Executive Offi-
cer, making $49,600 last year. He
is followed by Vice Presidents
Smith ($47,000), Fauri ($39,000),
Norman ($38,950), Radock ($36,-
600), and Knauss ($33,000).
Things have changed slightly in
the last year. With modest: salary
increases, it seems reasonable to
assume that these men will each
be making $2,000-$4,000 more
next fall.
Also, Student Services Vice
President Knauss has left the
University and will be replaced by
City School Board member Hen-
ry Johnson. Johnson, being inex-
perienced, will make only $27,000.
And Research Vice President
Norman is retiring. His successor,
Charles Overburger will probably
earn about $40,000 a year.
What is most surprising about
these secret salaries, is that in
many circles, they would be
termed modest.
Fleming, for example, makes
significantly less money than
many " presidents at universities
which match ours in prestige.
And Chief Financial Officer
Wilbur Pierpont would almost cer-
tainly make a minimum of $20,000
more annually if he were in the
employ of private industry in a
similar capacity.
SO WHY ALL the secrecy?
Actually, most of the effort to
keep salaries secret is done to stop
bickering at the departmental
level. Department heads, who set
salary levels in their units, are
glad to avoid the gripes of facul-
ty members who would compare
their salaries to those of their
colleagues.
In addition, many departments
have their prize half-time ap-
pointees - prestigious professors
-often politicians or authors with
little teaching experience - who
teach one or two classes and rake
in a fat paycheck..
Equally embarassing to the Uni-
versity could be the revelation of
some of the outrageous salaries
that some highly esteemed full-
time faculty receive.
An unofficial administration re-
port made available to TheDaily
lists three professors making over
$50,000 annually, and a total of
37 professors making over $40,000
annually.4
The median salary for profes-
sors is about $25,000-$30,000 per
year.
But despite the University's
stubborn refusal to make the sal.
aries of these public employes
known, more salary information
may be forthcoming.
State representatives have tra-
ditionally had little respect for
the bureaucratic tangle that Uni-
versity officials have created on
this campus and several have
threatened to release the list.
So more of the University's sal-
aries may be revealed. And it's all
for the best because you have a
right to know where your tuition
and tax dollars are going.
'St
Mayor misinterprets' air war ordinance
the meaning of the word "pe
-TAMMY JAC
Editorial Dir
-MARK DILL]
Editorial Pag
Demands for the Regents
DISRUPTING the Regents' meeting may
be only an, attention-getting device,
rather than producing real gains for black
students interested in the Afro-American
Cultural Living Unit. But after unsuc-
cessfully trying the traditional methods
of negotiating, blacks are forced to move
to other levels of action. They plan to
charge the University with illegal dis-
crimination in court.
As Lee Gill said, as students forced
.. and Poll. Sei.
ON ANOTHER FRONT, minority stu-
dents are encountering other diffi-
culties at the University. Recently the
Political Science Department faculty
elected new but reactionary members to
its executive committee, according to
black students. Political Science tenured
professors effectively organized and cam-
paigned extensively to elect a group spe-
cifically against the Black Matters Com-
mittee, the Women's Caucus, the Political
Economy Group, other minorities. These
groups have proposed the establishment
of a political economy subfield within the
department, admission policies more fa-
vorable for lower class whites, women
and blacks, curriculum reform, and more
graduate representation in departmental
decision making affairs, all rejected.
DESPITE THE department's so-called
concern, the faculty elected executive
committee members who seem to be cer-
tainly against liberal political reform
movements within the department. From
the composition of the department's
leadership, it is apparent that channels
for constructive change have been sub-
stantially closed for those sincerely in-
terested in legitimate and innovative de-
mands for change.
-G.P.
the adjournment of yesterday's
"We will not sit idly by." And th
sity has proven that if we si
they will continually disrespe
After attempting to ameliorat
ative conditions which affect 1
dents here, black students say
will no longer tolerate the U
racist practices, double stand
unjust treatment of black peo
dents complain that although
gents rejected the Afro-Amer
tural Unit Living, all-white
French and German houses e
under official University sancl
DEMANDING RELIEF from
difficulties here, the studen
an Afro-American and African
Living Unit, immediate imple:
of the 1970 BAM demands, a Mi
fairs division which will co-or
,supportive services and prog
black students, expansion of tl
House facilities, allocation of
funds for expansion of supportii
and programs designed for blac
or bettering race relations, and
missions for black veterans.
students ask for nothing unr
only for a few conditions to r
life bearable here while strivi
an education.
Ironically, Lee Gill, the lead
pursuit of the black living uni
rested shortly after the Regent
adjourned, on a charge ofc
parking tickets. Most blacks ref
lieve that this action was an un
coincidence.
And while the students shou
this meeting," yesterday, one
wonder how long it will be bef
will again have to yell "Shut it
even close it down to gain son
at this University.
-GAYLE PC
ace." By PAUL TEICH
A1T LAST Monday's City Council meet-
ing Mayor Harris made a long-winded
ector and vicious attack on an anti-war proposal
brought before council by representatives
EN of the Human Rights Party. Harris' attack
e Editor was a sham. It was an attempt to dis-
credit he HRP wih a mass of petty dis-
tortions concerning their proposal and a
phony moral and legalistic analysis of
f 0 0 those distortions.
HRP's proposal was for a city ordinance
withdrawing "all city services f r o m
meeting, groups, corporations or individual c o n-
ie Univer- tractors located in the city of Ann Ar-
t idly by, bar which are engaged in research, devel-
ct us. opment, or manufacturing of products ap-
e the neg- plicable to the airwar in Southeast Asia
black stu- or to the electronic battlefield." It was
that "We presented at the request of both 600-700
niversity's citizens of Ann Arbor who petitioned coun-
ards, and cilwith the proposal and a local anti-war
ipie." Stu- group, People Against the Air War. I,
ipte R- was presented for a first reading and was
the Re- put up along with a request from HRP
ican Cul- and PAAW that a public hearing be held
Russian, before council took any decisive action
exist here on the ordinance. Traditionally proposals
tion. are passed on first reading. Sponsors are
then given an opportunity to clarify word-
continued ing and anticipate legal ambiguities be-
ts ask for fore presenting the final form of the pro-
a Cultural posal. This proposal however, failed on
1 Cutual first reading, 9 to 2.
It failed because Mayor Harris prevent-
nority Af- ed the council and the public from giving
dinate all it a fair hearing. It failed because Harris
;rams for distorted the content and intent of the
he Trotter proposal in his attack on it in the fol-
sufficient lowing major ways:
ve services 0 He claimed that the ordinance pro-
k students poses withdrawal of all services to individ-
open ad- uals involved in war production. The pro-
So black posal, however, applies to "all groups, cor-
* Harris complained that the ordinance
does not clearly define who is covered
by unidentified agencies. It is clear though
who is covered - people engaged in the
production of murder weapons for the
Indochina war.
0 Harris contended that workers would
lose their jobs under the ordinance. But
supporters of the proposal at all times as-
sumed that the final form of the ordin-
ance would include protection fo. the jobs
of Ann Arbor workers. They 'felt how-
ever, that the place for discussion ,f such
protection was the public hearing where
workers' interests could be fully repre-
sented rather than at the management
dominated city council.
0 Harris claimed that the proposal was
illegal for a variety of reasons. These
reasons upon close examination however,
deal with the ways the ordinance defied
laws designed to protect property rights
and the economic system from assault by
the human interests of the people. It is
time now to challenge the precedence of
laws that protect the economic system be-
fore protecting human life.
" Mayor Harris concluded from his com-
pilation of distortions that the ordinance
was fascist and totalitarian and by impli-
cation so were is supporters. The proposed
ordinance, however, clearly in no way
seeks to fascistically curtain the basic free-
doms of members of any group. It seeks
rather to check the reign of the profit
motive over all peoples right to life. His
charges can be seen in this light not
as civil libertarian concern, but as a ruse
to obscure the class interests he protects.
IN HIS ATTACK the Mayor said he "sup-
ports public education about the war but
not at the expense of time and energy
we need to handle city legislation." He also
said he regretted having "consumed so
much of council's time (15 minutes)" but
that he deemed "it of the highest (import-
ance that the public be educated on civil
liberty as well as the electronic battle-
field." The meaning of he two statements
above is: I, the Mayor can use the time
and energy of the council for public edu-
cation I deem imoprtant, but I condemin
the use of the time and energy of council
for education the Human Rights Party and
at least 600 citizens of Ann Arbor (signers
of the petition) deem important. I feel the
air war is an inappropriate, .-soteric or
even obstructionist concern for City Coun-
cil members. Civil liberty is an issue of
paramount importance - especially when
the liberty being discussed belongs to fat
corporations within the city limits. The
human rights, the very right to life of the
entire Vietnagiese people is not a fitting
concern for our government and l a w-
makers.
HARRIS, WHO claims to be nterested in
educating the public to the issues in his
speech, refused to speak to those issues
to 200 people who came to his office
the day of the meeting. He did not lack
the time to speak to hose people. He
spoke on other issues with them for an
hour although they requested ne speak
about the ordinance again and again. It
is clear he did not speak for one reason.
He did not want to give the Human
Rights Party and the People Against the
Air War time to prepare remarks to deal
with the flood of distortions he would put
forward that night.
Paul Teich is a member of the local
anti-war group People Against the Air
War.
Mayor Harris
porations, or individual contractors which
(Note: not who) are engaged in research
development or manufacturing products ap-
plicable to the airwar" in Indchina.
THE INTENT of the ordinance seems
clear to its supporters; no city services
for people while engaged in any produc-
tion stage of war material. Presumably
people are not engaged in production while
away from production or research facili-
ties, or while on the facilities and are be-
ing beaten or raped, or while walking in
a park or phoning the housing inspector,
etc., etc. At such times they* would be
eligible for services. We regret the word-
ing of the ordinance if its honest intent
was not clear to all the people of Ann
Arbor.
easonable,
elp make
ng to get
ler of the
t, was ar-
's meeting
delinquent
use to be-
connected
ted "Stop
can only
ore blacks
Down," or
ne respect
DLLARD
Letters: A nfl-war struggle mustn 't die
SGC fraud ease ruling
To The Daily:
I WRITE at a time which is for
me one of depression and gloom.
Gloomy because I think some of us
are losing heart and have stopped
demanding love instead of war.
war rages around us and the
bombing intensified in Vietnam
and we organize Sock Hops.
We must stand up again and be
counted and shout 'love' at the
top of our voices like we did in
the past few years so that even
the deaf hear us. It seems our
past shouts were neither loud nor
long enough, so we must contin-
ue to shout for we know that tor-
ture and killing continue in the dis-
tant lands.
I knowshat some of the young-
er ones today are not haunted by
the draft and so the bloodshed in
Vietnam quickly becomes a dis-
tant unreality. We must remember
that stench of burning bodies is
the same whether they be yellow
or white, a mangled body as much
of a tragedy be it in black, blue
or green, and tears as representa-
tive of sorrow whether they flow
from blue or brown eyes.
Even when we get tired of
shouting we must somehow carry
on and face unpopularity for t h e
sake of truth and love. Let us take
more. Remember, we live in a
land of plenty and this is one war
we CAN afford.
-Dinesh Mohan, Grad.
April 20
Dying freedom
To The Daily:
AFTER many years of viet nam
beneath the cowl he cowers,
howling sighs:
black-white beady eyes bomb
Mekong for hours,
while up in towers lies beget
more lies,
excusing My Lai's, saying yours is
ours.
if hoods were ripped by rain
and faces seen,
then breaking laws would mean
just tears are vain;
a war refrain reveals the
truth's obscene,
unthreads the skein which makes
our flag insane.
so monkblind will he raise our
victor bells,
his citadelsbarecracked with
useless praise;
he chose the phrase to hide the
truth he tells
and prison cells cpmpose our
victor's maze.
his gods inhuman towers tolling
4I
WHEN THE SGC election controversy
ended at 3 a.m. yesterday, there were
no winners.
The Central Student Judiciary (CSJ)
voted unanimously to throw out the fraud
charges aimed at last nnth's all-campus
elections. Hence SCC President Bill Ja-
cobs of GROUP and the rest of the new
SGC government can at last be consid-
ered the legal representatives of the stu-
dents.
But SGC has nonetheless paid a high
price for this final approval. A two week
4. ~~-- ---.--"+ -- I fhN A A ANe
did "show the great likelihood of fraud
in the election."
"What this means," he continued, "is
that there are a lot of naughty people
running around this campus today who
are smiling because they got away with
something big."
NOW BILL JACOBS and his Council
have a strange task: they must some-
how make a comeback from perhaps the
lowest SGC public image in recent years.
They are legal now in every official sense.
But beyond catching up on Council busi-
~I%~U~ ~ --