l_ , Wednesday, September 2, 1970
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
t
PageFive
'' Wednesday, September 2, 1970 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Autonomy court case still pending
By SHARON WEINER
Summer Supplement Editor
While conflicts arise within
the University over who has the<
power of decision-making and+
of discipline, the University
fights its own battles for auto-+
nomy with the State Legislature.i
During the past year, the Uni-
versity has been continuing a
lawsuit already several years old
involving legislation which it
feels limits the Regents in con-
trolling the affairs of the Uni-
versity.
And another case involving
legislation which the University
felt denied the Regents their
proper control of the University'
was settled "satisfactorally," ac-
cording to University officials.
The University claims the Re-
gents have autonomous power
according to article 8.5 of the
1963 state constitution, which
says in part:
"Each board (the Regents,
governors and trustees) shall
have general supervision of its
institution and control and di-
rection of all expenditures from
the institution's funds."
But the legislature apparently
interprets that sentence differ-.
ently than the Regents do.
PUBLIC ACT 240 (the higher
education appropriations act of
1966) bars the University from
increasing its percentage of out-
of-state students.
The act specifically prohibits
the state's colleges and univer-
sities from increasing the per-
centage of nonresident students
more than 5 per cent above the
level of enrollment in 1966-67,
except that no increase is al-
lowed where that year's per-
centage of nonresident enroll-
ment was in excess of 20 per,
cent of the total enrollment.
The University's out-of-state
enrollment as that time was
about 25 per cent.
In addition to Public Act 240,
a section of the 1968 higher ed-
ucation appropriations act pro-
hibits the University from in-
creasing not only the percentage,
but also the number of out-of-
state students. In effect, then,
these acts decrease the percent-
age of out-of-state students, as
the enrollment increases without
allowing for the percentage of
out-of-state students to be.
maintained.
The Regents, along with the
governors of Wayne State Uni-
versity and the trustees of Mich-
igan State University, took the
legislature to court over these
restrictions, but the case is still
pending in the Ingham County
Circuit Court.
Meanwhile the percentage of
out-of-state students has de-
creased from its 1880 level of
55 per cent to its current level
of about 24.9 per cent-and it
doesn't seem as if the end of the
decreasing trend is in sight.
Even if the University is suc-
cessful in its suit, it seems un-
likely the Legislature will cease
to use the subtle and effective
threat of slashed appropriations
to force the University to accept
more in-state students.
PUBLIC ACT 124, the capital
outlay act of 1965, includes re-
strictions under which the archi-
tect and all construction plans
for new building projects must
be approved by the Joint Sen-
ate House Committee on Capital
Outlay, before funds are re-
leased.
For three years, from 1965 to
1968, the University refused to
accept any state capitaloutlay
funds for new buildings because
of a controversy over the right
of the Legislature to impose
such restrictions on the Regents.
The Regents charge these re-
strictions violated their consti-
tutional guarantees of auto-
nomy, and they along with WSU
and MSU, took the Legislature
to court over the issue. As part
of the suit involving Public Act
240, is also remains unresolved.
In late 1967, the "University
changed attorneys, and under
the advice of the new counsel
began accepting funds again.
But in the meantime, three
years were lost in the Univer-
sity's efforts to keep facilities
even with increasing enrollment.
Until last year, there was no
state appropriation for aca-
demic facilities since the early
1960's, except in the health sci-
ence area.
For the fiscal year 1969-70,
funds were finally 4uthorized
for the Modern Language Bldg.
to be constructed north of Hill
Aud., remodeling of the general
library, completion of plans for
a new Architecture and Design
Bldg. to be built on North Cam-
pus, continuation of work on the
$17 million School of Dentistry
Bldg., and remodeling of the
Women's Hospital in University
hospital.
But those funds are only half
of what the University asked for
-partially because the state
Legislature is usually short of
funds, but also because the
guidelines provided for by PA
124 have proven to be in them-
selves a hinderance to obtaining
new capital outlay funds.
Before receiving any such
funds, the University must now
follow an incredibly complicated
series of steps, checked at all
points by the Joint Senate-
House Committee on Capital
Outlay.
PUBLIC ACT ,379 (the Public
Employment Realitions Act of
1965) gives all public employes
the right to organize and bargain
collectively with their employ-
ers. The University filed a com-
plaint against this act, seeking
a declaratory judgment to the
effect that it contradicts the
Regents constitutional auton-
omy.
Both sides agreed the question
was not one of whether collec-
tive bargaining was good or bad,
but was a legal question in
volving the Regents autonomy.
The state Court of Appeals de-
cided this past year the Univer-
sity was subject to the provisions
of PA 379, but added, in the
final opinion, that "we also rec-
ognize that this plaintiff . . . is
a unique employer. Its powers,
duties and responsibilities are
derived from the constitution as
distinguished from other public
employers whose authority is
deriviative from enactments of
the Legislature . . ."
University spokesmen were
satisfied with the decision. "The
language of the decision was
satisfactory to us--as it estab-
lished our autonomy, and that
was the issue, not collective bar-
gaining," said one official.
Meanwhile, the case involving
PA's 240 and 124 remains unre-
solved.
"We brought a motion for
summary judgment last Jan-
uary, but the University wanted
to amend its complaint, and so
the hearing was adjourned by
agreement of both sides," said
one official in the state Attorney
General's office.
"The TUniversity has not yet
filed its amendments in the
case," he added.
But Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer Wilbur Peir-
pont hopes the case will be re-
solved this coming year.
An unsettled University
confronts its president
CONSTRUCTION has finally begun on the six-story
Tower, but from 1965 to 1968, the University refused
because of a controversy over the right of the state
Regents.
Modern Languages Bldg. behind Burton
badly-needed state funds for construction
Legislature to impose restrictions on the
U' bugtpirte:An emerging issue
(Continued from Page 1)
with concern due to a variety of1
sources, both inside and outside1
of the University community.
Inside, Student Government
Council (SGC) was becoming
closely allied to the radical left
on campus for the first time in)
its history. Having unsuccessful-
ly pressed the Regents and ad-j
ministrators for six years to
grant the student body a mean-
ingful berth in the University
hierarchy, SGC was ready to
associate i t s e 1 f with militant
protest to achieve its goals.
Outside the University com-
munity, pressure was emerging
f r o m the University's major
sources of revenue - the state
and federal governments, alum-
ni, and corporations-aimed at
prompting Fleming to keep the
University from being "subvert-
ed by the militant left."
And the R e g e n t s, to whom
Fleming is directly responsible,
were very aware of the senti-
ment among their statewide
constituency that the Univer-
sity of Michigan had better be
able to cope with members of its
community who "threaten" it.
None of this appeared to be
lost on Fleming, who began the
fall, 1969 term with a warning
that he would not tolerate phy-
sical destruction or other acts of
violence.
And, within one month, the
president had called on police
to remove protesters sitting in
at the LSA Bldg., and had
threatened to prosecute disrup-
ters of ROTC classes both in
civil court and under University
disciplinary procedures.
In these and subsequent ac-
tions, Fleming has insisted he
is not attempting to promote
his point of view by suppressing
his opponents, but rather is try-
ing to keep the campus peace-
ful, and conducive to rational
debate of current issues.
Nevertheless, student leaders
c h a r g e that the president's
hard-line stand against disrup-
tion is based on his opposition
to key reforms favored by stu-
dents.
They cite as an example his
position on the student role in
U n i v e r s i t y decision-making
which was clarified last winter
during the on-going controversy
over control of the Office of
Student Affairs.
In a draft of proposed amend-
ments to the Regents bylaws,
SGC and Senate Assembly call-
ed for the creation of a student-
dominated policy board to con-
trol the office-which would be
renamed the Office of Student
Services (OSS).
However, Fleming, who is in
the process of selecting a new
vice president to head OSS,
maintains that the vice presi-
dent must not be bound by the
decisions of a policy board. Such
a relationship, the president
says, would h a m p e r the vice
president in his dealings with
the other executive officers and
the Regents.
Realizing they will probably
not be able to convince the Re-
~ £ I
gents to approve a binding policy
board for OSS, many students
hope that the new vice president
will agree to follow the board's
decisions. But Fleming has in-
dicated he will not appoint any-
one who would establish such a
relationship w i th the p o1icy
board.
Fleming's position on student
involvement in decision-making
was perhaps best stated in an
address to the University faculty
last November. N o t i n g that
pressure from students wanting
a greater voice in University af-
fairs was growing, Fleming said,
"I can't justify student partici-
pation any more than another
g r o u p, such as non-academic
employes, researchers, and so on.
"You can get in on the par-
ticipation," he added, "but in
the last analysis, some very
small group must make the de-
cision."
A small group making the de-
cision-an accurate description
of how the major issues at the
University over the past. six
months have been handled.
For example, the Regents,
with the concurrence of Fleming
and the vice p r e s i d e n t s, but
without consultation with fac-
ulty m e m b e r s and students,
adopted a set of University-wide
rules last April. This was done
despite Fleming's prior assur-
ance that the rules would be
drafted by University Council
(UC), a new student-faculty-
administration body.
And although the regental
rules are interim-they will re-
main in effect pending action by
UC, administrators say-several
Regents have promised that
these rules will be maintained
unless UC can draft "anything
better."'
Meanwhile, to enforce the "in-
terim rules," the Regents have
adopted a disciplinary procedure
which is known to be the presi-
dent's idea. Under the proced-
ure, students accused of break-
ing any of the regental rules
would be tried by an "impartial
hearing officer" appointed by
Fleming. The officer would have
the power to determine guilt,
and i m p o s e penalties, ranging
from a warning to expulsion.
Criticism - of the disciplinary
mechanism focuses on charges
that no hearing officer could
possibly be "impartial," par-
ticularly if he is appointed by
Fleming, who is not likely to be
a disinterested party.
Fleming's actions in the dis-
putes over control of OSS and
discipline h a v e hampered the
attainment of his initial goals
of establishing a smooth rela-
tionship with students and fac-
ulty members. Those close to the
president say his intentions are
good, but he may have erred in
assessing probable student-fac-
ulty reaction to his decisions.
They point, for example, to
- his handling' of the minority
enrollment dispute last spring.
The administration's initial
refusal to adopt most of the de-
mands of the Black A c t i o n
Movement (BAM) precipitated a
class strike which lasted about
two weeks.
The strike ended when the
administration and the Regents
acceded to a majority of the
BAM demands. But Fleming was
criticized by strike participants
for not being able to sense that
the prevailing feeling on campus
favored adoption of the de-
mands.
And at the start of his third
full year as president of the
University, Fleming's image of
31 months ago-as an adminis-
trator with sensitivity, flexibil-
ity, and tolerance-is being ser-
iously questioned.
Nevertheless, the president is
sure to maintain as his top pri-
ority the continuance of a rela-
tively peaceful, stable campus.
"This institution is bigger than
you and it's bigger than me," he
has said in warning students
against. disruption.
But with a potentially mifl-
tant confrontation over rule-
making and discipline approach-
ing rapidy, Robben Fleming may
be in for a fight.
(Continued from Page 1)
invasion of Cambodia, but he
has not attacked the military
per se, so his continued sup-
port of war-related researchis
not strictly inconsistent (de-
spite the radical chant "If Pres-
ident Fleming's against the war,
what the hell is ROTC for?" ).
But certainly, the University
has not been neutral in world
politics. Researchers here are
doing some $14 million in re-
search for the Department of
Defense, but not a penny's worth
for the Viet Cong.
Strictly speaking, the ques-
tion of military research is not
one of University priorities be-
cause the elimination of such
activity would not generate
funds for other purposes-the
federal contmacts would simply
be awarded to other institutions
if the University declined them.
Nonetheless, the elimination
of other similar items w o u 1 d
produce some revenue for the
University to spend elsewhere.
Several examples were included
in the list of expendable pro-
grams circulated during the
Black Action Movement strike:
ROTC $53,229
In addition to this University
budget contribution to the three
ROTC programs on campus, the
University gives the programs
about $300,000 w o r t h of free
office space - all an example,
say radicals, that the Univer-
sity is an important part of the
U.S. war machine that they say
is repressing a just nationalist
revolution in Vietnam.
Institute for Science
and Technology ....r $127,000
Released time,
appointments .. . 85,000
While the actual cost of the
military research done by the
University is covered by federal
contracts, the functioning of
IST, which administers many of
these programs, is paid out of
the general fund .budget - an-
other example of University
s u b s i d y of the military. Re-
leased time appointment money
is used to pay the salaries of
faculty members who wish to
drop teaching assignments so
they can spend all their time
doing research for IST over a
period of time. "The released
time appointment grants are
not restricted as to those who
can apply," says Vice President
for Academic Affairs Allan F.
Smith, "but I doubt that an
English teacher would get one."
Institute for International "
Commerce $140,000
As Vice President Smith ex-
plains it, the institute was first
funded by the State Legislature
two years ago as a mechanism
which would be "helpful to
Michigan businesses interested
in d e v e 1 o p i n g international
markets." Radicals argue that
corporate policies of economic
imperialism in the underdevel-
oped nations have already been
too successful in exploiting the
poor people of the world.
Placement Services . $250,310
Overshadowed , by the black
enrollment drive that stole its
energy, a militant SDS-spon-
sored campaign against job re-
cruiters from militarist and ra-
cist corporations was underway
for some time last winter. Giv-
ing interviewing facilities to
these recruiters is an example
of University complicity in the
military-industrial complex, SDS
charges.
While radicals have empha-
sized the elimination of Univer-
sity ties to the military-indus-
trial establishment, some facul-
ty representatives have been
talking about m o r e moderate
proposals. Among these is a
suggested re-examination of the
financial status of the athletic
department, which runs on an
annual $2.7 million budget.
Although it is receiving $576,-
000 a year from the general fund
budget, the athletic department
is still running a $100,000 defi-
cit. Football is the only varsity
sport that has suffered through
the recent decline in collegiate
sports without going into the
red. If the University termi-
nated all varsity sports except
football, it could take back the
$576,000 subsidy and perhaps
another $1 million as well.
Also lurking in the back-
ground of the priorities question
is anadministration proposal to
construct a new intramural
building by initiating a $7 a
term assessment for the next 30
years. Already helping to pay
for seven buildings out of their
tuition, s t u d e n t s have been
fighting the intramural proposal
for over a year, indicating in a
campus - wide referendum last
fall that they wanted to have
the right to vote the construc-
tion plan up or down. The ad-
ministration stalled on the pro-
posal last spring, but it could
come up as a major issue again
this fall.
While students and some fac-
ulty members express growing
desire to make changes in the
way the University allocates the
resources, the administration
continues to emphasize the con-
straints, li k e legislative pres-
sure, under which it has op-
erated. And even if the adminis-
tration were to agree to major
reforms, they would probably be
rebuffed by the Regents, who
have tended to support programs
like ROTC, military research
and varsity sports.
As has been the case with
several University issues in the
recent past, those closest to the
locus of power seem the most
reluctant to i n i t i a t e change.
Thus, while concern over Uni-
versity priorities is skyrocketing,
the odds are that little headway
will be made on this front in
the foreseeable future.
VP search continues
FOLLETTS FOIBLES
(Continued from Page 3)
to a well-informed source, Gus-
kin was told later that Fleming
made Locke his primary choice
simply because Locke was black.
"Fleming explained (to Gus-
kin) that it was politically im-
portant at this time that a black
be appointed to a high posi-
tion in the administration. You
know, there are no other offi-
cers at the University who are
black, and the recent selection
of a black president by MSU
(Michigan State University) put
the pressure on Fleming," said
the source who was close to the
selection process.
After the issue of the power
to be granted to the student-
faculty policy board in OSS was
brought out f o r discussion,
Fleming announced that he
could not support a policy
board that had final decision-
making power.
Fleming's opinion was receiv-
ed coldly by students who ac-
cused him of trying to relegate
the policy board to an advisory
role.
A controversy once more
arose, and Fleming postponed
the selection of a vice presi-
dent until agreement had been
reached between students, fac-
ulty members, and administra-
tors on the policy board issue.
The entire issue fell into lim-
bo in early February as the BSU
began organizing a drive for in-
creased black admissions that
was to last for the remainder
of the semester.
The long delay proved the fi-
nal blow to hopes of selecting a
vice president. Locke submitted
a letter to Fleming officially
taking himself out of consider-
ation for the post. As one rea-
son for his withdrawal, he cited
the long delay, saying that
Fleming had made no attempt
to contact any of the candi-
dates.
Shervington and Guskin both
followed suit, citing philosophi-
cal differences with the admin-
intration, as well as the delay,
as their reasons for withdraw-
ing.
Meanwhile, Student Govern-
ment' Council and key faculty
members have proposed a com-
promise ,bylaw draft which
.'would delay, a policy decision in
OSS until,the vicepresident and
his policy board reach agree-
ment on the proposed policy.
If the compromise plan is ac-
cepted; the new vice president
for student services will have to
be able to work cooperatively
with the policy board. For this
reason, selection of a candidate
will be a crucial determinant as
to whether the administration
of OSS will be smooth or wrack-
ed with dispute.
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