Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, September,2, .1970-4
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, September,2, 1 97O~
HUBER COMMITTEE
Report
hits
campus
control
By RON LANDSMAN
Managing Editor, 1969-70
A report prepared for the
Special State Senate Committee
on Campus Disorders recoi-
mends that no punitive legis-
lation be passed to control cam-
puses and that communication
between college groups be in-
creased to help avert major
campus unrest.
The generally conciliatory tone
of the report runs counter to
much of the tongue-lashing
3tate Rep. Robert Huber (R-
Troy), chairman of the commit-
tee, has given campus protesters.
And two points of the report
that "off-campus agitators or'
on-campus activists" are not a
major cause of campus violence
and that scholarships should be
granted and withdrawn only on
academic grounds-go directly
against much of what Huber,
has said in the past.
The report was officially re-
leased last March at an all-day
conference at Nazareth College
in Kalamazoo.
It additionally states that:.
* New laws are not needed
either "to enumerate new crimes
or to make more serious offenses
of existing crimes in order to
deal with, campus disorder."
* Increased communication
should be initiated to avert
c A m p u s problems, including
physical availability for direct
communication with some rec-
ognized symbol of authority,
preferably the president.
* Dissatisfaction in general
with college life is the underly-
ing reason behind student dem-
dnstrations. The report also as-
serts that students don't always
know why they are protesting.
* Colleges should seek to "de-
velop ways to really rewarding
good teaching," 'saying there is
a "far greater need for teaching
doctorates today than there is
for the highly research-oriented
programs which are the back-
bone of graduate instruction at
the present time," and
* Colleges should pay more
attention to local problems.
"New programs must be devel-
oped which will make the uni-
versity the urban equivalent of
the land-grant colleges," the re-
port states.
The report has three major,
sections. One is an analysis of
data gathered from question-
naires sent to seven people on
each of the 72 state campuses-
president, dean of students, fac-
ulty chairman, trustee board
chairman, public relations di-
rector, student newspaper editor
and student body president.
There is also an analysis of
the interviews with students,
faculty members and adminis-
trators on 51 of the campuses
and, the third part is recom-
mendations on legislation.
Intervention by the Legisla-
ture, the report states, "is un-
likely to contribute" to chan-
neling "the energies which are
reflected In student unrest into
more productive mechanisms
and paths."
Huber's committee received
from the University little more
than a compendium of archaic
by-laws, student handbooks,
public information bulletins,
Student Government Council
regulations a n d a complete.
guide to the University world
of concerts, lectures and movies.
The University completely ig-
nored the question on radical
groups - which seeked infor-
mation on "all white political
action groups" especially names
of radical groups, their size, fI-
iancial ties with the- University,
and a University assessment of
which "seem to be affecting your
campus the most."
In the prologue to the report,
the agency says it does not rec-
ommend that "the way to fore-
stall student disorder is to bow
in advance to student dissent
(because) most disorders may be
defused if new means or tech-
niques of communication are
found for determining student
needs and student feelings . . ."w
A similar attitude is taken'
toward young faculty members,
who "may be defused harmlessly
by more skillful. institutional
communication. than has pre-
valled in the past."-
"Communication f a i1 u r e is
often cited as a root of our more
complex social problems; college
communities represent no ob-
vious exception,", the report
states.::_
"One of the, most important
considerations related to this is
that an image be projected of'a.
readiness for open -communica-
tion, (including) physical avail-
ability for direct communication
of some recognized symbol of
authority, preferably the presi-
dent."
On the question of campus
security, the writers of the re-
port strongly place the respon-
sibility for policing campus vio-
lence on the State Police rather
than city police or county sher-
iff's departments.
.Citing considerable student
dissatisfaction with what col-
leges now offer, the report sug-
gests modification of present
undergraduate curricula, and
faculty responsibility "to ac-
count for the increasing sophis-
tication of today's students."
. Further, the report postulates
that an overall discouragement
with classes and colleges, is the
major reason for student dem-
onstrations.
University presidents p 1 a y
the most crucial role in all this,
the report states. "No single fac-
tor may be more significant in
coping with student unrest than
is the style or stance of the
president of the institution."
It is not so much what the
president says or does, only that
he be seen, the report suggests.
"Visibility seems to be more im-
portant finally than accessibil-
ity," it explains.
College presidents come in for
special scrutiny by the agency,
which believes the current cam-
laws
pus crisis; is giving "a signifi-
cance and an importance (to)
the president's office that few
previous analysis of the institu-
tion may have ,conceded."
High administrative officials
come in for some comments as
well, although they are generally
of little c o n c e r n. The report
notes that trustees are "often
called 'absentee landlords' " and
n o t e s, parenthetically, "with
some justification, judging from
this study."
Thomas Emmet Jr., who heads
the higher Education group that
conducted the study, pointed
out that the report was aimed
not just at the Legislature but
at the academic community as
well.
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(Continued from Page 1)
enough say in the determining
of the curriculum.
Summer forced a temporary
halt in the tf union recognitions
drive, but when it is resumed in
the fall, things could happen
fast.
The confrontation spiral is
already in motion for the Gay
Liberation Front (GLF). Formed
last May, the group was denied
their request to hold a midwest
conference on homosexuality. In
rejecting the conference, Presi-
dent Robben Fleming said it
would adversely affect the Uni-
versity's image and he also said
such a conference should be lim-
ited to those with a "profession-
al interest" in. the subject.
But with Student Government
Council maintaining that it has
the right to organize conferences
for organizations which it recog-
nizes,and that Fleming, there-
fore, has no say in the matter,
the GLF conference is tentative-
ly scheduled for September. The
issue is a relatively minor one,
in that GLF actually has only
about a dozen active members.
But 107 people were arrested a
year ago over another seeming-
ly minor issue-the student
bookstore.
Women's Liberation is in
much the same "sleeper" posi-
tion that the blacks were a year
ago-not very unified. Their im-
mediate concern is for a perma-
nent day care center, supported
by the University.
From the struggle over an is-
sue such as a day care center
could come the organization and
awareness to create a major
conflict over the other issues of
discrimination against women
in employment and admissions.
And then there are the fa-
miliar issues which have caused
trouble in the past, and, re-
maining unchanged, hold po-
-tential for the future. The
ROTC controversy last fall nev-
er really got going, but it could,
in the future, still be a topic of
student concern. The sit-ins last
February over job recruiting by
corporations which hold defense
contracts only resulted in a
number of arrests, but could
also happen again. Classified re-
search, if anyone can,manage to
get enough facts on it, could be
a source for confrontation.
But no matter what happens,
there will undoubtedly be an
"aftershock" when new state
and University laws and rules
are applied to demonstrators C'
for the first time.
The Regents' interim conduct
rules have been severely criti-
cized by both faculty and stu-
dents.
And, under new state laws, a
student is subject to expulsion,
cutting of scholarship funds,
fines and stiffer jail sentences
for various demonstration-con-
nected offenses. Avoiding com-
pliance will be difficult for the
University, partly because of the
nature of the laws, and partli
because of the mood of the
public. If they do cause in-
creased unrest this year another
flock of repressive laws 'over
next summer could make things
very different for 1971-72.
But the concern now is for
1970. Several issues have the po-
tential for conflict-only time
will tell for certain which ones,
if any, will dombine to produce
an explosive mixture.
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