THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 24, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 24, 1974 UNIVERSITY TOWERS APTS. Offers More! We provide more than Our residents moved here other University because they enjoy the Approved Housing best of Campus Living WHERE WILL YOU BE NEXT SEMESTER? 536 S. FOREST AT S. UNIVERSITY THINK ABOUT IT! LOOKING BACK THE WEEK IN REVIEW GEO: Question -on Campus (walk to everything) -Music Room -8 Month Lease -4-Hour Maintenance and Security -Air-Conditioned -Heated Pool -Study Lounge -Recreation Room -Weekly Housekeeping . 4. Y I 1 c , ,. Li . r 4 2i"b"y. . .,Yv',':""3: .'w ' ::ti,{r"'YA:i ~ ?'. ' 1 , Fi : ip'. .b:".yY. . !Ct!. .i.: of cred ibility One of the unwritten command- ments of union politics goes something like this: "Thou shalt not call a strike vote unless thou art certain of victory." The lead- ers of the fledgling Gradu'te Employes Organization (GEO) violated that commandment last week with results which may be disastrous to their cause. Weeks of rising expectations ended Tuesday night whet GEE) leaders announced that they had failed by some 270 votes to secure majority approval for a strike of University teaching fellows. GEO had staked its credibil- ity on the outcome of the strike vote without much knowledge of how-much supoprt they could ex- pect among rank and file TFs. The vote for a strike was, tak- en by itself, impressive. Bu in the context of public expecta- tions GEO raised, it has to be counted as a failure. And the failure left TF support- ers and sympathizers in a state of confusion. Editors of T h e Daily were, forced to make hasty changes in a strike endorsement editorial when the vote came in late Tuesday night. S o m e 150 students who showed uo for a strike support meeting sere at a loss; about a third simply left, while others hung around and is- tened to confused suggestions that perhaps undergrads should strike in sympathy anyway. And an American history prof. had to Furnished .." ix""?}?x,.}-:.. .. /::: y p4', :L .{ :ir { : '' i " .A'. ' ,l: ~ Sj Prices F.y4 4.. -NOW RENTING FOR FALL OF '74 Efficiences, one, two, and three bedroom apartments For Information . . 761-2680 make a somewhat sheepish ap- pearance at his Thursday morn- ing lecture after having dra- matically announced two days earlier that he would hold classes in a near-by church for the dur- ation of the strike. The scene at GEO's post-vote meetings was reminiscent of those stories which crop up from time to time about old people who, refusing to accept the death of a loved one, prop up the ratting corpse in a chair and talk to it. With an obvious setback star- ing her in the face, GEO Chair- woman Sandra Silberstein brave- ly proclaimed, "We are on the way to victory." The irony of this public optim- ism was heightened by the fact that only 60 supporters bother- ed to show up Wednesday night - down from over 400 Monday night. Clearly, the failure of the strike vote had brought about a dramatic collapse of the wave of public attention and sym- pathy upon which GEO was rid- ing. Just how seriously GEO's posi- tion had lipped was evident in the group's decision to accept a ruling by the Michigan Emply- ment Relations Commi;i4)i (MERC) on their legitimaGcv. GEO had earlier- dismissed a University suggestion of MERC intervention as "unacceptable." By Wednesday, what was once 'unacceptable" had swiftly be- come the .only option. When the setting for t h e i r struggle with the Univeristy moves out of the public eye and into the court rooms and hear- ing chambers, GEO will have lost more than momentum. Wihh wide-spread public sup- port, GEO was at least on an equal footIng with the administra- tion. In the new, more private setting, the University -- w i t h its battery of skilled corporadr al- torneys - has clearly gaiied the upper hand. Simply put, they are much more familiar with the terrain. If plans for a MERC adjudi- cation go through, state officials will visit campus and supervise a formal balloting to determine whether GEO in fact represents a majority of graduate employ- es, Even if .GEO wins the MERC election, the state of the union's contract demands remans up in the air. COMMUNITY TAX SERVICE 665-4664 No rip-off hidden charges! People-minded tax prep. with - day & pick up-delivery service available. Drop by at 333 S. FOURTH AVE. (Next to the YMCA) here in AA 665-4664 Fleming Silberstein At a Wednesday night meet- ing, Silberstein contended that if GEO is recognized by MERC, the University will have to bar- gain in good faith. But this remains to be seen. In a statement Monday, Presi- dent Fleming made clear the ad- ministration's position that the funds do not exist to meer t h e TF's economic demands. "T n e further demands of the gr.up " Fleming wrote, "could on .y be met by increasing revenue or by taking from other parts of the University" - options he sees as impossible. If Fleming's negoliating stance remains firm, GEO may find that the cloak of legal recognition without a ;redible strike threat is not enough. 'the legacy of last week's premature vote may oe one that will haunt GEO fur some time to cme. McDonalds- in next door "1 ... and there's hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Conn." -Firesign Theatre It was not so much the ham- burgers themselves, but t h e ir containers that worried the 6,- 813 people who signed petitions urging City Council to reject plans to build a McDonalds bur- ger stand on Maynard, near cen- tral campus. And, in a larger sense, is was a more general concern over the deterioration of the downtown environment that motivated the outpouring of public concern sur- rounding 1' affaire McDonalds. "Look at Washtenaw Ave. and the mess that is," a local resident told council Tuesday night. "That's only a token of the mess you are making of Ann Arbor." I The anti-McDonalds coalition was a hodge-podge of commun- ity groups and special interests which included Democrats, H u - man Rights Partykmembers. the underground weekly Ann Ar- bor Sun and several dwnwvown restaurant owners. They raised a number of con- cerns, including potential traf- fic hassles in the already con- gested area, the nutritional qual- ity of McDonald's fool, work- ing conditions in McDlnald's res- taurants, and, of course, the lit- ter problem. Underlying it all was t h e growing feeling among the peo- ple who live downtown - most- ly students, young people, a n d blacks - that the Republicans, whose constituency is .argely in the city's outlying areas, are un- interested in the quality of the central city. They point to the destruction of an historical house on State and Huron last year to make way for Gino's, and to plans for a Burger King around the corner from theKMcDonald's site, as evi- dence of a trend toward decay. They cite the GOP co incilmem- bers' unanimous support f)r Mc- Donalds is charging that the par- ty is backing its wealthy busi- ness community allies at tie ex- pense of the central city popula- tion. The Republicans responded by saying that the issue had been distorted and emotion t..zed, and emphasized a laissez-f A :e phil- osophy for city planning. "The landowner," Councilman LI1 o y d Fairbanks (R-Fifth Wsrd) said, "has a right to develog proper- ty as he chooses so long as he complies with all local ordin- ances." Democrats anti HRP members have traditionally opzrated un- der a somewhat broader interpre- tation of the city's authority. "We oppose it (McDonalds) be- cause the people in the area don't want it," Councilman Nor- ris Thomas (D-First Ward) ex- plained. "We believe in llow- ing the wishes of the people who live there." STUDY IN GUADALAJARA, MEXICO F u 11 y accredited University of Arizona GUADALAJARA SUMMER SCHOOL offers July 1-August 10, 1974 courses in ESL, bilingual edu- cation, Spanish, anthropology, art, folk dance and folk music, geog- raphy, government and history. Tuition $170; room and board in Mexican home $215. For brochure write: International Programs, 413 New Psychology, University of Ari- zona, Tucson, Arizona 85721. campaign notes One of the most significant early battles of Election '74 will take place not in Ann Arbor, but in Federal District Court in Detroit. There, the city's Democratic and Human Rights parties will seek to have the Republican Party's voter registration plan overturned. The issue is one of crucial importance in Ann Arbor's political power struggle. In the fall of 1971 and spring of 1972, voter registration was carried out on both a door-to-door and fixed-site basis throughout the city, with heavy emphasis on student wards. and precincts. The drive netted some 14,000 new voters - mostly supporters of the liberal Democrats or the radical HRP. Under this year's plan, drawn up personally by GOP Mayor James Stephenson, all registration will be done at fixed sites rather than door-to-door. Only one of these sites - the Union - will be in the center city/campus area where under-registration of voters is most, acute. The other five site are located in solidly Republican residential neighborhoods where previous registration drives have yielded the fewest new voters. Democrats and Human Rights Party members, who need student and black votes to offset the GOP's solid majority in the city's white middle-class residential dis- tricts, have reacted violently to the plan. "The Republicans are restricting registration as far as it's politically feasible in order to cut off new voters who are unlikely to vote Republican," charged Councilwoman Carol Jones, whose Second Ward constituency is dominated by students. The case has been assigned to Federal District Judge Damon Keith - generally considered a judicial liberal. The outcome of races in at least three of the city's five wards may depend on his decision. Last week, the Ann Arbor Sun - the Rainbow People's weekly, loosed another in a series of broadside attacks on the tactics of HRP, in an article by Contributing Editor Linda Ross. Ross accused the party of following "a narrow, elitist road" in running a candidate in the hotly contested Fourth Ward. "In an election as close as the Fourth Ward, with a Democratic candidate who is not strong running against the ever popular Clyde (William) Colburn," she wrote, "(HRP candidate Margo Nichols), candidacy may just tip the scales and insure Colburn's unnecessary election." The Sun and the Rainbow People have traditionally taken the position that HRP should concentrate only in the First and Second Wards where its strength is greatest. They attribute the party's recent string of electoral fail- ures to their refusal to follow that advice and the dispute has been growing increasingly bitter. Exacerbating the problem this year is the Rainbow People's vendetta against Colburn who they believe to be responsible for a cut-off of federal revenue sharing funds to RPP-sponsored community programs. Right now, RPP and the Sun are officially on the fence, refusing to commit themselves to any HRP candi- date as yet. * * * Meanwhile, however, HRP itself has been far from quiescent. They kicked-off the formal campaign for their rent control ballot proposal last week with the publication of a slick, four page tabloid entitled: "Rent control? HRP answers your questions." The attractively layed-out campaign sheet puts for- ward, in chatty, informal language, the party's case for rent control. It cites figures showing that Ann Arbor has the second highest median rent in the country and that rents here have risen at a rate over three times the national average. The pamphlet also attempts to answer charges, leveled by Republicans and some Democrats, that the proposal is inflexible by stressing the authority of the plan's elected Rent Control Commission to make "variances" in individual cases. Underlying it all is the strong theme of the conflicting economic interests of tenants and landlords. "Don't feed the hand that bites you," it urges, "Vote yes!" -CHRIS PARKS 1 1 Free Get-Acquainted Offer 1 ARCADE 5 PINBALL PARLOR 618 CHURCH STREET with this coupon we will match quarters with you until 7 p.m. each day thru March 1st. Only one ' per person 1I " ASK ABOUT r $1000 SCHOLARSHIP must be7 ,Lw w~w w w w w wi~ mmw~w ww.w~~ mmv~m mmmmmm .m~mmmmmm m m mim mmmmmc m m I i I Department of Political Science presents Professor Yehoshafat Harkabi Dept. of International Relations, Hebrew University "Israel and the Palestinian" 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25 Room 229, Angell Hall 1 _f I,. ol ILI. Il 1 06 ll- Iq I .. In 0 'm I II 4 j ilJ "= w !if Iv i 11 I I ~fteic t!an ~at OFFICE HOURS CIRCULATION - 764-0558 COMPLAINTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS 10 a.m.-4 p.m. CLASSIFIED ADS - 764-0557 10 a.m.-4 p.m. DEADLINE FOR NEXT DAY-12:00 p.m. DISPLAY ADS - 764-0554 MONDAY thru FRIDAY-12 p.m.-4 p.m. Deadline for Sunday issue- THURSDAY at 5 p.m. I I ' I I I i. . :. , ^ ;' ;ti I I ILAnhY I MC i .. III] aim min