Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, September 7, 1972
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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'U,
and police:
new campus unit
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"This past year
a contro-
versy arose over whether
the University with its tight
budget could afford to keep
$> paying for city police
services. The result of the
controversy is a new campus
police unit."
By GENE ROBINSON
Supplement Co-Editor
In the past, security and other
police problems on the Univer-
sity campus have been handled
by the city police department,
in loose conjunction with the
University's contracted security
guards.
This past year a controversy
arose over whether the Univer-
sity with its tight budget could
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afford to keep paying for city
police services. The result of the
controversy is a new campus
police unit.
The campus police unit will
be assigned on a full-time basis
to the University as a separate
unit of the Ann Arbor police
force.
Police Chief Walter Krasny
will direct the operation of the
unit, which will be entirely fi-
nanced by the University.
The history of the formation
of the campus police unit has
been one of disagreement among
University, city and state offi-
cials.
On Jan. 15 it was reported
that President Robben Fleming
had reached an agreement with
Gov. William Milliken over the
formation of the University
unit.
In a letter to Mayor Robert
Harris, Fleming stated that Mil-
liken was supportive of the city-
University relationship w h i c h
the plan proposed.
Milliken had previously de-
manded that the University end
payments to the city for police
and fire services, saying that
ApnnArbor was the only city in
the state which received such
payments from a college it
housed.
Milliken's objection was that
the University paid a flat rate
of 18 per cent of the police de-
partment's budget. Under the
new plan, the University would
pay only for those services it
receives.
The new plan came as some-
thing of a shock at that time,
since only a month earlier Uni-
versity Director of Safety Fred-
eric Davids had suggested a
completely separate and inde-
pendent University police unit.
According to the plan, Davids
would determine the makeup
and total number of the campus
police unit, but the police group
would ultimately be under the
supervision of P o l i c e Chief
SKr asny.
These men would be assigned
full-time to the University unit
and the University would pro-
vide them with their own com-
mand structure. The University
would also cover the cost of
salaries, fringe benefits and di-
rect operating costs for the
unit.
Davids, however, openly dis-
agreed with the plan. He said
he had doubts as to whether the
arrangement was the least ex-
pensive for the University.
He said the new plan would
force the city to duplicate many
services that the University
could provide with existing per-
sonnel.
Davids favored a plan similar
to the type presently existing
at Wayne State University and
Eastern Michigan University.
The difference between those
plans and the one presented by
the University is that under
Wayne's ssytem the force is un-
der command of an officer re-
sponsible to that university.
Despite Davids' objections, the
new "University Unit" plan was
accepted. In March, University
officials agreed to the creation
of an advisory committee com-
posed of students and faculty
members to provide an outlet
for grievances when the opera-
tion of the unit began.
The committee was authorized
by at a meeting between Flem-
ing, Davids, Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer Wilbur
Pierpont, and University Coun-
cil, a student/faculty/adminis-
trator group empowered to ad-
vise on University police and
security affairs.
According to Pierpont, the
contract between the University
and the city concerning the new
unit will last for only one year.
At that time, he said, the Uni-
versity will have a chance to
evaluate the force and make
recommendations f o r changes
in its operation.
The proposed advisory com-
mittee would work in conjunc-
tion with Davids, who would in
turn work with Krasny on the
operation of the unit.
The concensus of University
Council at that time was that
the University community would
h a v e greater decision-making
powers in the police unit, and
that decisions should eventually
be made by a board of students
and faculty members.
city. council: a
morass of politics
By GENE ROBINSON
Supplement Co-Editor
With a population of well over
100,000, including pver 30,000
students, the city of Ann Arbor
has unique problem in govern-
ment and management.
Keeping tight reins on the city's
problems is City Council, an
11-member governing board com-
posed of two council members
from each of the city's five
wards and headed by the mayor.
Each ward sends two persons
to the council to serve a two-
year term. The terms are stag-
gered so that each ward at all
times is represented by both
a newly-elected and a senior
council member.
Until three years ago, City
Council was a Republican strong-
hold. At that time, Democratic
Mayor Robert Harris scored a
major upset by winning a gen-
eral city election and bringing
with him a Democrat-controlled
council.
Because of the city's residen-
tial patterns, certain wards tra-
ditionally vote in certain pat-
terns. The First Ward, lived in
by a good portion of the city's
blacks, traditionally has voted
Democratic. The Second, domi-
nated by students, is also tra-
ditionally Democratic, while the
Fourth and Fifth Wards are
white, middle-class, and Repub-
lican. The Third Ward has long
been considered a "swing ward"
because of its heterogenous
composition.
Harris and the Democrats ran
on a platform which appealed to
the student community. During
recent city elections, however,
the Republicans gained ground
and controlled the council at the
time of last spring's elections.
Last spring, aided by the 18-
year-old vote and a State Su-
preme Court ruling allowing Uni-
versity students to vote in the
city, two members of the radi-
cal Human Rights Party were
elected to City Council. T h e
students rejected the D e m o-
crats entirely, and the o t h e r
three vacant council seats went"
to Republicans.
City Council is now composed
of five Republicans, four Demo-
crats (including the mayor) and
two Human Rights Party mem-
bers. Since six votes are re-
quired for Council to take. any
action, both major parties must
deal with HRP to get anything
passed.
As City Council is partisan,
its members often spend more
time in political dogfights than
taking care of the welfare of the
city.
An example of such. political
partisanship was last spring's
dispute over the city's w a r d
boundaries, which are still bog-
ged down in council committees.
State law requires that th e
boundaries of. the city's five
wards be re-drawn, after every
federal census. The re-drawing is
to be done by the city's Ward
and Boundary commission.
However, earlier this year the
Republican majority on t h e
council decided to bypass the
Democrat-controlled ommission
and present council with Its own
redistricting plan.
The Republican plan would
have virtually assured the GOP
of a Council majority by placing
the traditionally liberal sections
of the, city entirely in the first
two wards, leaving the remain-
ing three as Republican strong-
holds.
Democrat Harris vetoed t h e
Republican proposal after it was
passed by the Republican coun-
cil. A new ward and boundary
commission is currently working
on a new plan, and because, of
the new, more left-oriented
makeup of the council, the plan
will almost certainly be less fav-
orable to Republicans.
Republicans and Democrats on
council rarely vote other than
along party lines. Since their
election, the two HRP represent-
atives have voted with whic'h-
ever party offered more conces-
sions.
HRP and the Democrats, for
example, passed a city ordin-
ance last spring making pos-
session and sale of marijuana
a misdemeanor, punishable only
by a five-dollar fine.
The two radical council mem-
bers, however, have joined with
the Republicans in defeating
Democrat proposals they thought
were inadequate.
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>I
BOOKS and SUPPLIES
By CHRIS PARKS
On the night of April 3 in a
small storefront on Thayer St.,
hundreds of young radicals and
"street people" whooped, shout-
ed, laughed, hugged each other
and brandished clenched fists for
> whirring TV cameras, celebrat-
ing a victory that had been well
over a year in the making.
That night the Human Rights
Party (HRP) - a strange amal-
gam of old students activists,
left-leaning members of the Uni-
versity community and d o p e
smoking street people - h a d
scored victories in two of the
city's five wards. Elected as
members of City Council w e r e
Jerry De Grieck, former Stu-
dent Government Council vice
president, and Nancy Wechsler,
a local activist.
Few city government "pros"
has given HRP a chance of real-
ly pulling it off. Perhaps most
astonished by the victory were
the Democrats who were for the
first time in recent memory com-
pletely shut out in a city elec-
tion. Edged out by Republicans
in moderate to conservative
wards, and isolated from tradi-
tional student support by the
HRP campaign, the Democrats
-the majority party until last
year - came up empty-hand-.
ed.
Just weeks before the election
Democratic Mayor Robert Har-
ris - himself a student-backed
reform candidate just three years
ago - sat in his downtown of-
fice and spoke confidently about
the election. Drawing slowly on
his cigar and leaning back in
his chair he offered this an-
alysis: "We will win in the
Second Ward (a heavily stu-
dent-populated ward which en-
compasses the central campus
area). It may be close, but
we'll win. Jack (Kirscat; a'
Democrat) will win in the First
Ward - the Dems always win
in the First Ward."
Harris was wrong. The day
after the election, dejected and
a bit whimsical, he gave grudg-
ing praise to the youthful vict-
ors. "They ran a tough cam-
paign," he said. "We underesti-
mated them."
Tough was the word, fUr Ihe
HRP coup was constructed of
sweat and more sweat. Five
months before the election, two
historical legal decisions paved
the way for the HRP campaign.
A constitutional amendment giv-
ing 18 year olds the vote was
approved and the state Supreme
Court ruled that college students
&aust be allowed to register and
vote where they go to school.
Immediately HRP went to
work. While the Democrats slept,
they were out hustling votes.
Throughout the spring they re-
gistered students as, they signed
up for classes and as they' wait-
ed for meals in their dormitories.
And after pressuring the City
Clerk for permission, HRP work-
ers registered students in their
rooms and apartments and at
huge "get out the vote" rock
and roll concerts.
Then, on election day They
reaped the harvest they h a d
sown. Using fleets of cars and
buses they shuttled students to
and from the polls from e a r l y
morning to closing time at night.
And the massive effort paid off.
The student-dominated third pre-
cinct of the First aWrd gave
HRP Candidate De Grieck a
whopping 1,000-vote margin - a
major boost on his way to un-
seAing incumbent Democrat
John Kirscht.
In the Second Ward as well,
HRP victory margins in stu-
dent-dominated wards were im-
pressive.
HRP was swept to victory on
a wave of "throw the rascals
out" sentiment. Many students
were voting for the first time
and were relieved to have an
alternative to choosing between
the Republicans and Democrats
as had their parents and grand-
parents before them.
For HRP to survive and grow,
then, it will have to prove that
it really offers a constructive
alternative to the general mod-
erate conservative to moderate
liberal range of American poli-
tics.
This may prove difficult, as
the party controls only two seats
on an 11-member council. Clev-
er and tinely use of temporary
alliances with both Republicans
and Democrats will be necessary
for the party to have an ef-
fect.
Thus far their record has been
encouraging if not spectacular.
Within weeks of the election an
ordinance making the penalty for
possession or sale of marijuana
in the city only a $5 fineiwas
passed. Furthermore, steps are
being taken: to extend the pro-
tection of the city's Human
Rights ordinance to homosexuals.
Clearly, HRP will have to rle-
liver in a. concrete and visible
way on their promises to change
city government. The first big
test of voter confidence will
come in April, 1973 when the
next city election rolls around.
The fledgling party, however,
faces a number of serious tasks.
The first of these was the lo-
cal school board election in
which HRP ran three candi-
dates.
Continuing its determination
to challenge what it considers
unfair restrictions in the elec-
toral system, the party nomi-
nated as one of its candidates
Sonia Yaco, a fifteen-year-old
junior high school student. Al-
though too young to qualify for
office, Yaco ran to dramatize
the fact that students have no
representation on the school
board.
In November, the party will
be tested in a number of diffi-
cult elections.
In the state representative
and congressional races, if they
choose to enter them, HRP
workers will be faced with run-
ning a campaign outside the
city on unfamiliar turf where
their student support will have
less impact.
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