Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 911971 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 9, 1971 Black By MARK DILLEN tion Mo For 13 days last year, t h e ahite s University was challenged as minorit it had never been before. On ged dow those days. many if not most ministra students shunned their sched- Thisl uled classes to march instead a steppe in often freezing weather, de- for mino manding that the University portives make a commitment for in- justmen creased enrollment of black and sure a1 minority students. minority Now, some 18 months a f t e r 1973-74. the University bowed to this de- little o mand, the fervor among those some 3 who comprised the Black Ac- enrolled adrnissions: One year after the strike vement (BAM) and its upporters has receded, logistics of planning y admissions have bog- wn in a morass of ad- ative details. process - establishing d-up recruiting program ority students and "sup- services" to aid their ad- t - is supposed to in- 10 per cent black a n d y enrollment here by The current level is a ver five per cent. Of 4,000 students currently this fall, about 2,500 are expected to be from racial minority groups. Thus, the University h a s gone about half way toward achieving the only demand for which the striking students gained acceptance - a goal the University has called at var- ious times its "highest prior- ity" or one of its "top priori- ties." While some have cast doubt on the University's actual de- sire to fulfill . their commit- ment promptly, the essentials of the plan to achieve 10 per cent minority admissions have re- mained the same: About 900 ad- ditional minority group stu- dents will be admitted to the University each succeeding year until 1973-74, when the g o a 1 will have been met. The road to the University's commitment to the 10 per cent goal has been a long one. Tradi- tionally it had been recognized that the University had b e e n , in the words of mid-sixties fed- eral report on higher educa- tions, a school for "white, mid- dle-class" students. No one seemed to think there was anything seriously the mat- I Arbor A spcial Welcome to Ant ter with this, or if they did, they thought it a problem too complex for the University to attempt to remedy. The first step came in 1962, when an Opportunity Awards Progran was established which became largely a vehicle for helping black applicants into the University, since they were generally poorer than their white counterparts. Not much else was tried un- til the late sixties, when black students and faculty became interested in the possibilities for programs at the University which would not only serve to assist blacks financially, but would provide an impetus for expanding educational programs directed towards black students. The Afro-American Studies program joined its counter- parts at most of the nation's other major schools and a Coal- ition in the Use of Learning Skills (CULS) experimented with ideas for helping disad- vantaged students whose edu- cational background hadn't pre- pared them for the University's system of education. Then, in January, 1970, cam- pus leaders began meeting in earnest to decide what action they would ask of the Univer- sity administration. A list of ten demands w a s formulated, asking for the com- mitment to the 10 per cent m i n o r i t y enrollment figure, various supportive services and financial aids, and a community center for blacks. President Robben Fleming, other administrators, and t h e Regents refused to accept the demands and cited budgetary problems as an obstacle tow- ards guaranteeing that any of the requests could be met. "The best they could do," said Fleming, was promise a $2 million increase in Opportunities Awards Program (then worth $1 million) - a program as- sisted by both federal and state funds. Basically, it meant that while BAM's ten per cent enrollment demand could be a "goal" for the University. it would n o t constitute a "commitment" to which the Regents could be March 1970: Students strike for increased black enrollment held. Specific demands for mi- nority recruiters could be "worked out," the administra- tion said, but the Regents said no commitment on the recruiter issue could be given either. After weeks of negotiation, the black leaders called a gen- eral classroom strike. The strike caused class attendance to drop over 50 per cent at its high point (85 per cent in the literary college) and brought with it class disruptions by demonstra- tors and a violent confrontation with police which led to several arrests. But most of all, the strike gained the commitment the Re- gents had said was not fiscally possible. Administrators hurried to publicize what would be their oft-stated view that academic standards would not be lowered as the result of the program - a move calculated to offset crit- icism of wealthy alumni and public figures. Much of the administrative problems that have haunted the issue since then deal with this type of fear. Although admin- istrators constantly assert that admissions standards will not be lowered, and that academic quality will not suffer, it has been obvious that students en- listed under the plan will need extra help to adjust academ- ically and socially to their new environment. T h e expanded Opportunity Awards Program has provided money for tutoring, counseling and CULS help, but the program is still experimental and no one can yet tell whether the long range services provided will be sufficient, or even properly di- rected. Another major cause for con- cern is money. The University has always seen the commit- ment as a fiscal matter, and the actual ten per cent guarantee was made, not by administrators, but by schools and colleges di- rected by the administration to make the promise. Coordinators of the program fear that the allotted frnds will be withheld because of the Uni- versity's present financial crisis. Federal and state aid is decreas- ing, and with tuition rising, fin- ancial aid to minorities will have to rise accordingly. It is this fiscal complaint that seems the largest concern of those involved in the minority admissions question. The same mistrust that prevented agree- ment between BAM and the Re- gents originally and that caused a strike is fuel for similar mis- trust of the Regents' intent to fully fund the guaranteed pro- gram. In addition, black organizers have continued pressing for'. a black community center, and seem to feel that if not properly funded, the program might also be jeopardized because of lack of black input. Meanwhile, the wait-and-see attitude on the part of most sup- porters of the BAM strike will contihue as will the uncertainty about the ultimate success of the program. 4 MILITARY ON CAMPUS The troubled existence at ROTC By ALAN LENHOFF While Army recruiting post- ers promise a life of travel, ad- venture, and fun, members of the University's Reserve Offi- cers Training Corps (ROTC) have been subject to more abuse in recent years than perhaps any other group on campus. Whether holding drills in Waterman Gym or marching down a street in full military dress, ROTC cadets nearly al- ways attract strange looks and catcalls. For a time when anti-war sentiment has never been more widespread, more and m o r e students and faculty members find the existence of a military "training camp" on campus in- creasingly distasteful. Yet ROTC supporters say that placing military training on a campus tends to be a "lib- eralizing" influence on the mili- 100 P\MAYNARD ANN ARBOR MKNIGAN ?69851 ! tary, and also allows the aca- demic community to keep a closer watch on the military. Others argue that as long as ROTC is not a mandatory pro- gram, (as it once was) s t u - dents should be free to elect it if they so choose. But spearheaded by the de- mand that ROTC headquarters be removed from campus, Uni- versity students staged numer- ous protests at North Hall in *recent years. In June 1969, a bomb rocked the building, setting fire to the structure and breaking doz- ens of windows. In addition, the ROTC building has been the scene of many acts of vandal- ism, theft, bomb threats, sit- ins and disruptions. The University administra- tion has remained relatively re- mote from the ROTC dispute and has declined on a number of occasions to bow to rising sentiment and moral arguments that claimed ROTC has no place on a University campus. Subsequently, the cries to "end ROTC" have been muffled over the past year. as the pro- gram's opponents directed their efforts towawrds ending t h e war and ending military and classified research on campus. The University has also, since the first ROTC disruptions, made some changes in the pro- gram. On December 1969, after jwidespread opposition to t h e ROTC program was indicated by students and faculty mem- bers, the Regents directed De- 4 f ROTC men confer THE CROWN HOUSE OF GIFTS CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO AN EXCITING ADVENTURE IN GIFTS, HOME ACCESSORIES, CANDY, AND GREETING CARD KNIT Shirts, tops, pants, & suits SHOPPING IN OUR NEW We're actually 16 shops in one! 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We blend just - squeezed orange juice with our own exclusive ingredients and serve you a deliciously refreshing, tangy, cool, 0 lab U fense Department on four pro- posed changes in the existing Army. Navy, and Air Force ROTC contracts. ROTC instructors were, at that tin stripped of their aca- demic titles and becom~ recog- nized by their milita~y rank only, unless they held academic appointments. A University committee which previously ruled on only ap- pointments of military depart- ment chairmen was reconstitu- ted to supervise the e n t i r e ROTC curriculum and to med- iate disputes between students and ROTC. The ROTC units also had their departmental status re- moved. and currently a r e called "programs". But the most important change called for by the Re- gents has not yet been enact- ed - that the Defense Depart- ment be asked to pay the full cost of the ROTC program on campus. Currently. the University ap- propriates about $70,000 a year to the program for secretarial and maintenance services and provides North Hall to ROTC rent-free - which has been es- timated amounts to $100,000- $200,000 a year. Negotiations are continuing between the University and the Defense Department, but no immediate solution seems like- ly as the Defense Department has threatened to close down ROTC units across the country at universities where funds are withdrawn. 1 W e Also Have Devilish Good Food " Julius Burger " Cheeseburger " Chili Burger (chili, cheese, onions) * Chicago Dog (mustard, relish, onions) 0 Cnlifnrin Dn .r"r _ r. I ,, I ta COME IN AND SEE US SOON! WON'T YOU? I U I