QrM'tr Lirl!an 4ai
Eighty-Four Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
INFORMATION BOARD
On access to administrative information
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1974
Once again the salary issue
By JOHN LANDE
INFORMATION is incredible
stuff. You can't see it, touch
it, smell it or any of that, but
spies live and die for it; govern-
ments set up massive bureaucra-
cies to collect and protect it; cor-
porations run their entire opera-
tions on it and LSA is in the pro-
cess of setting up several sophis-
ticated information systems of its
own.
COUNSELING
The Counseling Office has re-
ceived a grant of approximately
1$200,000 to create an informa-
Ition system which will automati-
,cally check students' records each
term for satisfaction of their grad-
uation requirements, 2) aide in
multi-term student planning of
their programs and 3) serve as a
list of faculty interests which could
help students find and contact fa-
culity who share their interests.
This system should begin full op-
erations by 1977.
The Checkpoint system of phone-
in academic information has been
an important improvement in pro-
viding us with relevant and up-to-
date information. You have already
payed for it. Use it.
Both of these systems provide
the possibility of much improved
academic advising. Two notes of
caution: These and other informa-
tion systems are worthless to you
unless you use them. When you do
use these facilities, remember that
they are fallible. If you have some
reason to doubt them, there is us-
ually some place where you can
check the information. The Stu-
dent Counseling Office (1018 An-
gell Hall, 763-1552) and 76-GUIDE
are good places to start. If you
do find inaccurate information,
help other students by calling in
to correct it.
TEACHING
While great progress is being
made in providing students with
good academic advising informa-
tion, nothing is being done to pro-
vide students with good informa-
tion about teaching.
The Student Counseling Office
provides some help here, but is
unable to provide complete in-
formation because of its size.
Some but not all departments
collect student course evaluation
information, but it is generally not
designed to serve students' inter-
ests nor is it generally available
to students.
A College Information System
now in the planning stage is being
designed to include information
about faculty for budgetary a n d
hiring purposes. Preliminary in-
dications are that student course
evaluation and other information
relevant to students is not being
planned into the system, although
feasible both in terms of economics
and design.
The System is currently being
planned on a relatively small scale,
with the intention of building it up
in steps, and it is therefore legi-
AST MONTH, Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity (EMU) became the fourth
iblic college in the state to announce
ill disclosure of its employes' salary. in-
rmation. The resolution by Eastern's
oard of Regents was in accordance with
n opinion issued last August by Michi-
an Atty. Gen. Frank Kelley.
The action by EMU brings the heat of
1e law a little closer to Ann Arbor,
here our own Regents will vote Friday
i a newly reintroduced proposal from
erald Dunn (D-Livonia) to publish all
,lary data, including names, numbers,
des, sexes, and terms of services for all.
niversity employes.
Regent Dunn first offered his proposal
the September 1973 meeting, following
elley's ruling that salary information at
ate schools is "subject to examination,
spection and copying by any member
the public for any lawful purpose."
At that time, neither President Robben
.eming nor the Regents appeared moved
r the attorney general's opinion. Uni-
rsity General Counsel Roderick Daane
Hinted out that such a ruling from
elley does not carry the full weight of
w, and can be superceded by the de-
sion of a state or federal court. Fleming
rgued that the two private audits of all
niversity funds, conducted annually,
re all the "public inspection" that a
ate university needs.
Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor)
ven suggested in September that stu-
mts demanding salary data publication
Zould be equally willing to publish their
wn grades. But foremost in the ad-
.inistration's defense of nondisclosure
as the faculty Senate Assembly's re-
peated objections to
lists.
published salary
SOME OF THE University's arguments
bear consideration and some do not.
It is true that open salary information
may not promote harmony among sup-
posedly "competing" faculty members
within departments. But the University
is supported by the state of Michigan;
salaries are not paid out of the profits
of private managers, but by the tax-
payers.
Moreover, Michigan State University,
Delta College, and Saginaw Valley College
have all published full salary information,
and to date there have been no visibe
signs of infighting or outcry from the
faculties of those schools.
Regent Baker's comment on concurrent
disclosure of students' grades, which
President Fleming more recently echoed
in a speech on ethics in University
decision-making, has no place in an in-
telligent debate on this issue. Baker and
Fleming suggest that students' compara-
tive academic records-achieved while
paying to attend the University-are no
different from the records and salaries
of state employes paid out of monies
contributed almost solely by the taxpay-
ers.
This is ludicrous; it is as if to say that
the records of a hospital administrator
should only become public when the
medical records of the hospital's patients
become public as well.
The contention that Kelley's ruling
does not yet hold force of law is a correct
one, but the only court actions in this
matter-those taken to force disclosure
at Saginaw Valley College-were clearly
opposed to the University's position.
IN THE PAST few years, The Daily and
other concerned campus groups have
argued that full disclosure would bring
public attention upon salary inequities
based solely on race, sex, and professors'
occasional "big name" status-fat pay-
checks given to staffers whose main
function is publicity for the school.
Repeatedly we have been offered the
Watergate defense: the inequities do not
exist, but it is not within the University's
obligation to present the evidence, we are
told. Faced with this rationale, we can
not help but be suspicious
Hopefully the University will not
choose, like President Nixon, to await
prosecution before opening its records.
We urge the Regents to vote in favor of
the open salaries proposal.
THE DAILY STAFF
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Barb Cornell, Ted Evanoff, Cindy
Hill, Judy Ruskin, Stephen Selbst, Sue
Stephenson, Diane Tremblay, David
Whiting
Editorial Page: Paul Haskins
Arts Page: David Blomquist, Sara Rimer
timate to exclude important in-
formation initially. It should be
designed now with the capability
of including various kinds of in-
formation when the system be-
comes fully operational. It is there-
fore important to make suggestions
as to what kinds of information
should be created and maintained
while the system is still being de-
signed and press to include it when
the system beings operating. Sen-
ior Administrative Assistant Caro-
lyn Copeland (2512 LSA, 763-3275)
is directly responsible for this pro-
ject and if there is any informa-
tion about this College that y o u
think ought to be regularly collect-
ed, call her.
AVAILABILITY OF ALREADY
CREATED INFORMATION
In the process of researching this
series we attempted to get a num-
ber of different documents. Some
that are publicly available include:
the University Financial Report
which includes an accounting of
revenue and expenditures (avail-
able in the Controller's office,
3032 Administration Building); the
Registrar's Report, which contains
information describing registered
students (available in the Office
of the Registrar, 1528 LSA); the
Report of the Committee on the
Underslass Experience (CUE),
available in the dean's office, 2522
LSA; and regular reports of the
College Executive Committee
(available at monthly faculty meet-
ings, the first Monday of every
month of the academic year).
Some of the information n o t
available to the public includes:
,* information compiled by the
.Office of Institutional Research in
the College Resource Analysis
System (CRAS) that could be used
to compare instructional cost inputs
between different levels of stu-
dents (e.g., graduate and under-
graduate, and freshperson and sen-
ior), between departments and
much more, presumably because it
it not in the "College's interests".
* the College budget, because
it contains individual faculty sal-
aries (to give you an idea how
much the University does not want
to disclose faculty salaries.)
* the College's Annual Report,
presumably because it was written
for the President and was not in-
tended for students (a public re-
lations pamphlet of excerpts from
the 1973 report is available from
the Dean's Office, 2522 LSA, 764-
0321), and
* the outline of information to
be included in the new College
Information System, because it is
still in the planning stage.
There is no formal policy on the
disclosure of academic informa-
tion on either the College or Uni-
versity level. These decisions are
made entirely by the Dean and the
Vice President for academic af-
fairs, respectively on the basis of
their understanding of the Col-
lege's and University's interests. If
there is information about the op-
eration of the College or Univer-
sity that you think is important,
remind them that we are neither a
government at war nor a business
in a competitive market. This is a
public University.
CREATION OF NEW
INFORMATION
The new College Information
System should begin operating by
the beginning of 1975. No plans
have been made for the adminis-
tration of this system, which can
be of great importance to students.
As another example of its poten-
tial to further students' interests, a
measure of general satisfaction
with the College might be included
in the system.
A police board of equal student
and faculty membership should be
established to constantly monitor
and improve the quality of the sys-
tem.
If you want to help ensure the
creation of the Information Board
with student-faculty parity, or if
your would like to serve on the
board, call John Lande, LS&A Stu-
dent Government, 763-3242.
Two Palestinians in Israel:
No hope in the promised land
mir4t,"galt Batly
Editorial Staff
DANTI BIDDLE
Editor in Chief
JUDY RUSKIN and REBECCA WARNER
Managing Editors
TONY SCHWARTZ.................Sunday Editor
MARTIN PORTER.................Sunday Editor
SUE STEPHENSON.................Feature Editor
MARNIE HEYN.................. Editorial Director
CINDY HILL.................... Executive Editor
KENNETH PINK. ............ ...Arts Editor
STAFF WRITERS: Prakash Aswani, Gordon Atcheson,
Laura Berman, Dan Biugerman, Howard Brick,
Bonnie Carnes, Charles Coleman, Barb Cornell,
Jeff Day, Della DiPletro, Mike Duweck Ted Evan-
off, Matt Gerson, William Heenan, Steve Hersch,
Jack Krost, Andrea Lilly, Mary Long, Jean Love,
Jeff Luxenberg, Josephir* Marcotty, Beth Nissen,
Cheryl Pilate, Ann Rauma, Sara Rimer, Jim
Schuster, Bob Seidenstein, Stephen Selbst, Chip
Sinclair, Jeff Sorensen, David Stoll, Paul Ter-
williger.
DAILY WEATHER BUREAU: William Marino and Den-
nis Dismachek (forecasters)
Sports Staff
MARC FELDMAN
Sports Editor
GEORGE HASTINGS
Executive Sports Editor
Managing Sports Editor ..........ROGER ROSSITER
Associate Sports Editor ...............JOHN KAHLER
Contributing Sports Editor ......CLARKE COGUSJILL
Contributing Sports Editor .......THERESA SWEDO
Photography Staff
THOMAS GOTTLIEB
Chief Photographer
KEN FINK ...................... Staff Photographer
STUART HOLLANDER...........Staff Photographer
KAREN KASMAUSKI ....... .... Staff Photographer
DAVID MARGOLICK............ Staff Photographer
ALLISON RUTTAN.............. Staff Photographer
JOHN UPTON..................Staff Photographer
By PAUL O'DONNELL
"WE ARE Palestinians, but our
homeland is occupied by the
Israelis. We are Arabs, but we
aren't permitted to travel to other
Arab nations . . ." These were
among the comments that came
out in the course of my conversa-
tions with a Palestinian couple,
citizens of Israel, who live and
study in Barcelona. When told
that I intended to develop our
conversations into a newspaper
article, their only requests were
that I not use their real names,
and that no picture of them be
included in the article.
"What should I call you, then?"
was my first question when they
explained that the Palestinian or-
ganization in Barcelona had ad-
vised them against using their real
names, for security reasons.
"Call us Nuha and Huseen. They
are typical Palestinian names."
Nuha and Huseen are in their
early twenties, and like myself,
study at the University of Barce-
lona, she in the Literary School
and he in the Medical School. The
conversations upon which I bas-
ed this article took place at the
University, asd later in their ap-
4rtment in Western Barcelona.
My interest in them as Palestin-
ians stems from a desire to un-
derstand the Mideast conflict in
as many of its facets as possible.
Though a number of events, among
them the "Black September" kil-
lings and the last Arab-Israeli war,
it has become increasingly evident
that the Mideast conflict is not
only a confrontation between Is-
raeli and her allies and the Arab
nations and their allies. The prob-
lem is not, however, recent. The
Palestinians have been living in
what they call "occupied terri-
tory" since the late 1940's, when
the state of Israel was first creat-
ed by United Nations proclamation.
According to one Spanish source,
Israel occupied over 70 per cent
of Palestine territory in 1948. How
Palestine became Israel, the fu-
ture of the Palestinian people, the
^rsonal feelings of these two
Palestinians with Israeli passports;
these and many other subjects
were touched upon during the hours
we spent talking, having lunch,
and drinking Palestinian tea in
their apartment, often in the com-
pany of other Arab friends.
O'DONNELL: You are both Is-
raeli citizens, but what were your
parents?
Huseen: My parents were both
Palestinian citizens, when o u r
country was under British con-
trol. There is no problem for my
mother, who is Jewish, to have an
Israeli passport, but my father
kept his old Palestinian passport
. . . I believe it was valid until
1956 .. .
O'Donnell: Do you consider your
case to be unusual, being the son
of an Arab father and a Jewish
mother?
Huseen: My parents married be-
fore the Israeli occupation, in the
early forties, it seems to me, and
back then there was less tension
between Arabs and Jews, although
the parents of my mother held lit-
tle affection for my father, and
often wished that he would die.
For the most part, however, Jews
and Arabs lived in peace in Pales-
ine.
O'Donnell: Do you feel like fore-
igners in your homeland?
Huseen: No, I feel at home in
Palestine, they (the Israelis) are
the foreigners, the occupiers of
my country. I do, however, feel a
certain lack of freedom in Pales-
tine.
O'Donnell: Despite your opinion
that Israel unjustly occupies Pal-
estine, do you recognize the plight
of the Jewish people throughout
history, and the tremendous perse-
cution the Jews have suffered in
such places as Nazi Germany?
HUSEEN: I'm afraid that I'm
I not very favorable to the Israeli
tide practiced in Nazi Germany
and the situation of the Palestin-
ians in Israel, but I assume that
in the Arab-Israeli conflict, like in
most wars, atrocities are commit-
ted on both sides.
Nuha: You may be right, but I've
heard so much government propa-
ganda involving the treatment of
the Jews, that I've lost my sym-
pathy for them. The atrocities
committed against the Palestinians
are never publicized.
O'Donnell: I'm afraid that if I
print some of your comments I'll
be unjustly accused of anti-Semi-
tism .
O'Donnell: What is your opin-
ion of the airplane hijackings, the
"Black September" killings, and
other "terrorist" type tactics of
certain Palestinian commandos?
NUHA: I am against them in
principle, because innocent people
are often the victims . . . I don't
condone the killings and terrorism,
but I understand why the "feya-
dins" use them: it's one of the
only ways to keep the world from
forgetting about the Palestinians
... since the last war, in Octo-
ber, people have begun to talk
about Palestine.
O'Donnell: In your opinion, to
what degree are the English re-
sponsible for the situation?
Huseen: It was the Briton Lord
Balfour who originally proposed
the creatior nofca Jewish National
Home in Palestine, back in the
Jews and Arabs lived in peace in
Palestine --...
Huseen: Yes, a Palestinian na-
tion in which Jews, Arabs, and
Christians lived in equality would
be the best solution, if it's pos-
sible . . .
O'Donnell: What about your
friends? Arabs, Jews, Spaniards?
Huseen: All kinds, Jews, Egyp-
tians, Spanish, and of course Amer-
ican.
Nuha: I would have many boy-
friends if Huseen would let me
. . (general laughter).
O'Donnell: I can see that the
interview is deteriorating.
Nuha: In Israel we say: Dayan:
one eye in the Sinai"
Huseen: If he had two eyes, he
would have taken El Cairo.
WHEN I stopped taking notes,
the conversation flowed more free-
ly. The reason was evident: as
Nuha said, "a journalist scares
people." After the interview was
over, I researched the Palestinian
question in preparation for, this ar-
tide. I realized that although the
factual information given by Nuha
and Huseen, except cerain dates,
is for the most accurate, t h e i r
opinions could bewhardly consid-
ered unbiased. Few persons, how-
ever, have unbiased opinions about
the Mideast conflict, and most of
the American press seems to be
extremely pro-Israel. The problem,
in my opinion, won't be solved by
choosing sides and sending arms
.. . I have sympathy for anyone who suffers,
but the Jews use their suffering in the past to
justify their persecution of the Palestinians in the
present . . . I've heard so much government
propaganda involving the treatment of the Jews,
that I've lost my sympathy for them . *,."
,vr{ .{,{ yy r:::}:ir j Atrr.. ..............rxYirst; ,r:R¢:"{"ir..-t ..........:"i
i
Letters -to,
Connors
To The Daily:
THE "ERROR" THAT Edward
J. Connors committed in embez-
zling $8,000 in University Hospital
Funds seems to me to be closer to
being a "sin" than a "mistake"
(both are found under "error" in
Webster's Dictionary).
A man who steals $200 because
his children need shoes has his
day in court and frequently goes to
jail. Is this man, earning probab-
ly $40,000 or $50,000 a year, who
steals $8,000 from a hospital which
is running in the red ever to face'
a court? The amount may seem
petty in the world of embezzling,
but many are feeding their fami-
lies on less than that $8,000.
It would seem that because he
has offered to pay the money back
he is absolved. A man coming out
the back of a house with $200 in
his hand would not be praised by
the officer who stopped him if he
said he'd give it back. Is Mr. Con-
nors' major crime that he got
caught? It seems to me that peo-
ple given higher trusts in this so-
ciety should be held more highly
accountable.
CERTAINLY IT is true that
"few of us go through life without
making a mistake," but to credit
the man with strength, courage
and forthrightness is really too
much. Are we living in Washing-
ton, D.C.? One might think we
should pin a medal on him and
follow his example in hopes of
winning the praises of Mr. Flem-
ming and Dean Gronvall.
-Evelyn Bradley
Clemency
To The Daily:
TWELVE INDIAN writer, film-
makers, and journalists were se-
The Dail
cretly arrested last year and charg-
ed with plotting to assassmnate the
Shah and kidnap three members of
the royal family: The arrests were
not .announced by the Iranian gov-
ernment until October 3, 191. Five
of the twelve are senten ted to
death.
A group of American writers,
including Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and
Noam thomsky sent a letter to
the New York ;Times, urging the
release of the twelve Iranians obo
had been "arbitrarily arrested and
brought before a military tribunal
solely on the basis of confessions
obtained after torture."
A press counselor of the Iranian
Embassy in Washington resp'nded,
saying t"in Iran, as in any other
nation, a person who is found
guilty of a crime by the courts or
who is found to threaten the se-
curity of a nation is treated in a
manner which will insure that he
will no longer be a threat to, or
continue to disrupt, the society in
which he lives."
THE COMMITTEE for Artistic
and Intellectual Freedom in Iran,
who are \organizing the defense
campaign to save the lives of the
five condemned to death and free
all twelve artists, are urging people
to send letters, telegrams, a n d
cables to protest this injustice.
The Young Socialist Alliance
sent the following telegram:
"We strongly urge clemency in
the cases of the twelve Iranian
writers, filmmakers, and journal.
ists, sentenced to death and to
prison terms.
Similar messages can be direct-
ed to: Amir Abbas Iloveida, Prime
Minister, Teheran - Iran; or, Arde-
shir Zahedi, Ambassador, Embas-
sy of Iran, Washington, D.C.
--Deborah Mutnick
Young Socialist Alliance
Photo Technicion: Allison Ruttan
early 1920's, or perhaps it was
in 1917 . . . Many Jews talk about
the "good old days" when the Brit-
ish controlled the country. T h e
English just wanted to get out of
there at the end . . . Palestine was
never hostile to Jewish immigra-
tion, however; for example, there
was immigration of Jews from
Russia as far back as 1880, some
reports say..
Nuha: I don't blame only the
English. All the countries who ex-
pelled the Jews or persecuted them
are responsible, as well as Is-
rael's allies. When the Jews were
expelled from one country, where
could they go? Many of them came
to Palestine.
Author's note: It gives added
historical depth to the persecu-
tion of Jews to note .that the
Spanish Government - under
Ferdinand and Isabel, the Catho-
lic Kings, - ordered the expul-
sion of all Jewish persons from
Spain in 1492, the same year
that the last Arab kingdom in
Spain, Granada, was conquered
by Christian forces. According
to certain sources, Columbus was
on his way to America when the
Jewish expulsion was ordered.)
O'DONNELL: Why did you
choose Spain?
Huseen: When I left my home-
land, I wanted to go to a country
which doesn't have diplomatic re-
lations with Israel. In a country
like France or the U.S., Zionist
groups might try to force me to
support the Israeli cause. If I
lived in America, my tax money
would be used for Israel's war ef-
forts . . . Here, I can live cheap-
ly and independently. The quality
of the Medical School is not, how-
ever, very high in my opinion; it's
always closed by the police as well.
Nuha: I had planned to go to
the Soviet Union to study, then
Huseen and I would have gotten
married after we finished our stu-
dies . . . but then he wrote me
to the army of your choice. It is
difficult to be pro-Jew and pro-
Palestinian at the same time.
Nevertheless, the importance of
the Palestinian conflict in the so-
lution of the Mideast crises, which
have four times in the past twen-
ty-five years erupted into war-
fare, is unquestionable. As Hik-
met El Masri, former president
of the Jordanian Assembly, once
said: "Nothing will ever be set-
tled in this part of the world if
the rights of the Palestiniansare
ignored."
Paul O'Donnell is foreign cor-
respondent for the Michigan Daily.
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