Page 4-Wednesday, March 1, 1978-The Michigan Daily Wbe 3ithgan BailQ Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Vol. LXXXV111, No. 125 ' News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Council bickering must end IT'S TIME City Council members Allen refused and began shouting at 1 stopped their verbal sparring and the mayor. Wheeler then broke the' got down to the issues. meeting up, stomping into the Council To be sure, the annual election workroom to request that City Attor- season is upon us and half of Council's ney Bruce Laidlaw eject Allen from members as well as the mayor are the session. concerned about retaining their Monday night was not the first time positions. This is no excuse, however, this year that members of Council for allowing Council sessions to have thrown more energy into aegenerate into shouting matches bickering than into making decisions. which consume -valuable time needed Only last week, during the for discussing local issues. deliberations over a new pornography At Monday night's working ordinance for the city, Council mem- session, Council members were slated bers wasted their time making lewd to discuss the proposed human rights remarks about each others reading ordinances - an issue which has been habits. postponed several times in the last two The citizens of Ann Arbor deserve months. With support for the ordinance much better from their elected split along party lines, and numerous representatives. The members of changes proposed for the law, the time Council - supposedly our com- scheduled for discussion is essential to munity's leaders - owe this city more the establishment of a compromise, if than spending valuable meeting time one is indeed necessary. exchanging insults and resorting to shouting matches. If they want to vent Instead, Monday evening turned into their personal feelings toward each a shouting match between Mayor other, let them do it on their own time. Albert Wheeler and First Ward Council The city election is a little more than member Wendell Allen (who himself is a month away, and if Council members not up for re-election), with other mem- were truly concerned about its out- bers adding their comments from time come, they would be considering how to time. Wheeler ordered Allen to "get such low behavior appears to their to the point in his discussion," shouting constituents. "I'm running this meeting and I'm Or perhaps we are just seeing the asking you to be quiet." real Council at work. I ,.i The President replies On Thursday, February 16, The Michigan Daily published a column by Thomas Det- wyler on the question of University ties to South Africa. Because I left the country the following day to fulfill a longstanding com- mitment abroad on University business, I have until now been unable to reply. Mr. Detwyler's basic question, to which I am glad to respond since I think it is a legitimate inquiry, is what my relationship is with the two corporations on whose boards I sit and how this relationship might affect my views on University investments in firms doing business in South Africa. Unfor- tunately, he was unable to simply pose this question and then await an answer. The balance of his article consists of a series of statements which seek in advance to prejudice the whole exchange. TO CITE a few examples, he seeks early in the article to insinuate the thouglit that there is something secret about my membership on the Deere Board. Yet the University's Infor- mation Services office has long listed this membership in my vita, which has always been made public. Later he so clearly reveals some of his own prejudices about cor- porations and their directors as to destroy any pretense of impartial analysis. Consider, for instance, this quotation about corporate directors: "Most of them gained their chairs through privilege or private manipulation, not through earned public trust". Since the footnote identifying Mr. Detwyler states he sits on no corporate boards, one cannot help but wonder about his qualifications for such a sweeping statement. Having expressed my doubts about the tone and purpose of his article, let me turn to the question of my corporate board memberships and the influence which these exert on my views. I was asked to join the Chrysler Cor- poration Board of Directors in 1972. At the time I was, and had been since coming to Michigan, a member of the UAW'S Internal Disputes Board. This is a board of public members created by the late Walter Reuther for the purpose of hearing complaints by union members against their own union. I was appointed to this board by Mr. Reuther and his executive board, many of whom I had known and had been friends with for years. If I could serve on the Board of the dominant labor organization in Michigan, it was a little hard to explain why I could not also serve on the board of a corporation. I discussed the matter with the Regents. They reacted favorably, but urged that the University Counsel be asked for an opinion as to whether any possible conflict of interest would arise if I did. In due course, the Counsel rendered an opinion finding no conflict, but suggested that if I did join I should own no stock. Since it is very unusual for a director to own no stock, and because stockholders would obviously question why one of their directors owned no stock, I discussed with the Chrysler Board Chairman and the President whether my ap- pointment would be acceptable on that basis. They thought it would and at annual stockholders' meetings thereafter, they have disclosed to stockholders why I do not own stock. Before joining the Chrysler Board I made one further suggestion to the Regents. It was that any fees that I received from Chrysler would be given to The University of Michigan. This has been done. Our Development Office tells me that during the past ten years my wife and I have given to The University of Michigan $99,551.68. This is considerably more than my Chrysler fees, but perhaps we will be forgiven for adding a substantial amount of our own funds. Of the above total, I am told that we designated $21,400 for the University's Martin Luther King Jr. fund to be used in support of Black students. IN 1975, I was invited to join the Board of Directors of Deere & Company. It meets four times a year. I am able to fly to the meeting in the morning and return the same evening. By Robben W. Fleming Because I grew up in a farming area where I found summer employment on farms, I know of the respect in which Deere & Com- pany is held. Again, I raised the question of membership with the Regents. They quite properly asked that the University Counsel render an opinion on the conflict of interest question. After studying the matter, he found no conflict but once again suggested that I own no stock. Before any decision was made, I discussed the compensation question with the Regents. I raised the question of whether deferred compensation to be paid in ten an- nual installments plus interest after my retirement from the Board would be ap- propriate. I made this suggestion for two reasons. First, since my total service at The University of Michigan will be relatively short, my pension will be far smaller than my salary would suggest. Secondly, v hen I leave my life insurance will almost disappear. Un- der the circumstances, the Regents approved deferred compensation, which is in the $10,000 range, and this is duly recorded in the files. There are no other financial arrangements with either corporation. Of the two cor- porations, Chrysler has long been a generous donor to the University, mostly to the-College of Engineering. The corporation's most generous gift, given before I came to The body. I note, moreover, that Timothy Smith, who Mr. Detwyler seems fond of quoting, specifically stated that there were many dif- ferent ways of responding to the investment problem in South Africa, and many, perhaps most, of the churches have not divested. FINALLY, Mr. I)etwyler fears that my fellow corporate directors will bring pressure on me to conform to their views. If he is worried about conflicting pressures on a university president, he could have found far better examples much closer to home. It is my experience that most of a president's life is spent responding to the conflicting con- stituencies within the university. To start with, the president of almost any major university is also a professor of something. Thus, in the allocation of university resour- ces, he will always be suspected of favoring his own discipline against the day that he will return to it. The Regents, who are more ex- posed to external than internal views of the university, will not see problems in the same way as either the faculty or the students. The faculty will see research in a different way than will students. The students are almost certain to annoy the alumni. And so it goes. A president is always caught between conten- ding groups, any one of which can cause him to be deposed. Beside that kind of daily pressure at home, contacts with fellow cor- porate directors are nonexistent. Perhaps ,,. Is there nothing for a president of a university to learn from a corporation ? I suggest that this can be true only if one starts with a pre- conviction that all cor- porations are evil, a theory to which I do not subscribe. Fleming HEY, CONGRE66MAN! 9OW AREo LOUP FRIGNDS OVER IN SOUTH KO PEA ? * THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL LETTERS TO THE DAIL) I ALEO CANNOT 7 TOLERATE A SMART ALECK. University of Michigan, has been the Chrysler Center for Continuing Engineering Education on the North Campus. DEERE & COMPANY has made two gifts totaling $20,000 to The University of Michigan. Some of its executives, however, are Michign graduates'and have made gifts to The University of Michigan, which have been matched by the John Deere Foundation. So much for my financial involvement. In Mr. Detwyler's view.. . "the only possible justification for a university president also being a corporation director (is to make the corporation more socially aware and responsive"). He is entitled to his point of view. I would simply point out that it is not the standard we apply to other University em- ployees. We say to the faculty, for instance, that we believe it is a valuable addition to their training to have some outside experien- ce. Is there nothing for a president of a un- iversity to learn from a corporation? I suggest that this can be true only if one starts with a pre- conviction that all corporations are evil, a theory to which I do not subscribe. Mr. Detwyler concludes that my views on South Africa should be absolutely consistent whether I sit as a corporate board member or a university president. This may be so, but a respectable argument can be made that there is a difference between a public and private that is why a fellow director has never put pressure of any kind on me. Such pressure is a figment of the imagination of those who believe that there are no honorable people iti industry. I do not propose to debate my own integrity: Nothing I could say would convince those who deny it; nothing need-be said to those who believe in it. When the Regents meet in March, my position on the investment matter will be made clear. As a matter of judgement, I believe any differences we may have will not be over the evils of apartheid or the tragedy which it is bringing to South Africa, but over what to do about it. When Ambassador An- drew Young, most of the churches, and many of our respected university colleagues have, after thoughtful consideration, declined to recommend divestiture, it is a little hard to argue that there is one, and only one, honorable course of action for the University to take. Robben W. Fleming is president of the University of Michigan and a professor of Law. r-Health Service Handbook I . A challenge on the sun To The Daily: Mr. Marsh makes several "muddle-headed" mistakes in his article ("The sun is not a solution," February 26) by con- fusing economic growth with social profit. More money and scientific development are not ip- so facto equivalent to goodness, and do not justify anything. Of course the "utilities prefer nuclear plants on the grounds of economy"-because they would profit from exploiting our energy needs,, needs which should (and can) be harnessed by everyone. Solar energy won't cost our earth more in resources, and that's what's important. The author's concluding statement that "the path of the environmental movement (will lead) to depression, social, chaos, and ultimately war" certainly exposes an immature, extremist, mentality. Whoever agreed that "industry is representative of American progress," anyway? Yes, the Sun is the solution! -Janet Smarr hAnilth cvrpir-o salary disparity happy to have the publicity about our desire to have complaints processed through our regular input complaint service. The seven-member student planning group to organize a student health organization is well under way and will afford an exception- ally fine opportunity for students to become involved in activities associated with health care on the campus. There were a number of errors in the article. Careful review of the record of the first described patient revealed that no form was completed five times and that the waiting time was not one hour and a half filling out the form. The article fails to recognize that he did have his X-ray taken on the same day. The third reported student complaint was indeed partially described stating that the X-ray could not be taken at the time that she came in to the Health Service; however, the X- ray was taken later in the same day and there was no breach of good quality medical care in that instance. The article completely fails to state that the reason that v-ravc.c.rviPC woren. aaile~ - ray department was not avail- able. Students particularly in the health care fields would recog- nize that at a time when X-ray equipment was being installed, there would be no way to continue electricity into that area while new - elaborate and highly technical electrical equipment was being installed. I feel therefore that the article did a great injustice in emphasizing the lack of X-ray facility without emphasizing that this was a tem- porary necessity based on the in- stallation of much better and more efficient X-ray equipment. I hope that the article does in- deed inform students that we do have a complaint service as well as a mechanism for receiving student suggestions and that the mechanism for student participa- tion in health care, in health ser- vice operations, is well under- way. - Robert E. Anderson, M.D. Director, University Health Service To The Daily: In the article entitled, "Dispar- ities found in faculty salaries," Ms. Egri apparently confused total compensation over twelve months including fringe benefits with academic salary figures. Unfortunately, no faculty mem- ber in the Department of Physics received a twelve-month salary anywhere near the figure men- tioned, let alone an academic year salary of that amount. Of the imagined $30,270 difference between the Physics and Ger- manic Language professors, nearly $20,000 was due to the 15 per cent fringe benefits and 2 months summer salary, neither of which are included in the aca- demic-year salary quoted of the Germanic Languages and Litera- tures professor. The professors in the Depart- ment of Physics would be delighted to have a $20,000 per year raise, but unfortunately the Dean is not likely to oblige. - R.H. Sands, Chairman Dept. of Physics By Sylvia Hacker and Nancy Palchik QUESTION: I read your column on sleep. Would you please answer some questions I have on dreaming. When in sleep do dreams occur? Do all people dream and some just not remember their dreams, or do some people only dream some of the time? ANSWER: It should intereht you to know hat all people dream whether or not they recall their dreams. At one time it was thought that dreams' only occurred during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep intervals, as you may recall from our earlier column, occur 4 to 6 times during the night, and are characterized by high levels of arousal. Although we now know that dreams may also occur during nonrapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, NREM dreams are more similar to normal thought processes. REM dreams are the ones that most people characteristically think of as dreams. Also, REM dreams are more likely during the REM, sleep intervals that occur later in the night, as these intervals are often twice as long as earlier REM phases (i.e., approximately 20, minutes as opposed to 10 minutes long). Why are we able to recall some dreams and not others? One theory, held by many in the mental health field, is that our conscious mind tends to repress those dreams which have unacceptable or unpleasant content. A second theory, which is not incompatible with the first, is suggested by laboratory dream research. In the September 1977 issue of The Health Letter, Dr. Lawrence Lamb suggests the sooner one awakens after a dream the more details of the dream he or she will be able 'group do? ANSWER: While the distribution of condoms was a great methodl for attracting students' atten- tion at Michigras, that group of students you met is primarily concerned with increasing student in- put to Health Service: A planning committee has been meeting since the Fall to organize concerned students into a Student Health Organization. We've turned this question over to a represen- tative of that group who elaborates below on their progress to date: Students on this campus complain about two things-dorm food and Health Service. We decided to get involved with Health Service. We feel that students should have more knowledge about and more opportunity for input into the quality of health care they receive on campus. If we could harness all the energy that goes into complaining and redirect it into constructive ac- tivity, we can have much more impact on the health service we receive. Having examined similar organizations at other Universities, we intend to develop a Student Health Organization to act as a liaison between the students and the University Heilth Service. Possible activities for members would include assisting in the development of additional health- related programs, helping to assess student health needs and priorities, and serving as a nucleus for information dissemination. The Health Service staff is in full support of our involvement. It is intended that student input will provide relevant learning experiences for the students in- terested in health concerns, as well as benefit Health Service. It might be possible that academic credit may be arranged through appropriate