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Thursday, September 8, 1977
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
ThusdySetebe 8,197 HEMIHIAN AIY ,~ediv
Robben Fleming: Gui
By BARBARA ZAHS Thos far at the University, he activism has vanished altogeth- If you think that the only pur-
T1 OR ROBBEN FLEMING, be- has managed to survive the er. pose of going to college is to get
coming -a university presi- troublesome Sixties and econo- "I think you'd have to say now into the job market, you could
dent was something that "just micaliy-weary Seventies - but that students are more interest-almost certainly find better
kind of happened to me on the not without criticism. He sees ed n the international world ays ofdoing that.
Way to the forum. such remarks as inevitable than they were some years ago. "If you think that a college ed-
"I in fact, didn't expect to be-however. They're better iniormed about ucation is something more than
coea"I festh o(world events)-maybe that's a training for a job, and that it is
come a professor even, said the "1 don't mind criticism, be product of television. a broadening of your whole ex-
silver-haired Fleming, who as- cause I think if you're going to "I think they're more willing perience for the rest of your
sumed the University presidency be an administrator of any kind, lfe hn
in 1968. you have to recognize that y to press their points of view. I e, te you wouldifeel that col-
Instead of practicing law after will make mistakes because all think' there is a latenat for much richer in terms of you,
graduating from the University human beings make mistakes, there that could easily be acti- own stisfaction. I would argue
of Wisconsin, he entered the Ar- and, therefore, you're not pos- te thin s ththae i that's always been the key point
my just as World War II was sibly going to be right all of the thatatsaid.d during
starting. "That caused a chain time. So insofar as people are that period, he said.
of events which caused me at criticizing you fbr those kinds of Fleming recognizes that to- LEMING TAKES pride in
the end of the war to be invited mistakes, you ought to recognize day's students have a new com- i=oting the accomplishments
to come back and join the Wis- that, in part, criticism is justi- .plaint - unemployment. But he of University alumni. "But I
consin faculty, which was some- fied." . disagrees with those who say a think I probably feel as much
thing I had never anticipated." college education is no longer dakmuch
I pride in students who I talk to
Fleming and his 'wife, Sally,; WHILE MOST of the turbu- important. who are happy, stable individu-
found they liked .the university lence has now passed, Flem- "I say it depends on what you wxoerehapy, se attiu
world, and stayed in it. - 1ing doesn't believe that student think a college education is for. experience and whose attitude
als and who've just had a fine
Jng the'U
Because of the size of the Uni "I think aside from maybe
versity and the volume of his s curiosity, and wondering what
administrative duties, Fleming kind of person the president is, I
doesn't have enough time to get suppose most students don't al-
to know many students personal- low their lives to be greatly
ly. Often, he only encounters . p ,
those who wish to discuss speci robd smiling,
fic problems.sad, smiling.
"I don't see a lot of students WHfEN THE 60-year-old Flem-
just in their natural habitat or
when they just want to have a ing took over the reins of
bull session, nor do I get a lot of the University nine years ago,
opportunity to just listen to he said he believed no president
them argue about things, which should serve longer than 10
is in many ways more helpful to years. Now, as his decade draws
me than responding myself to to a close, he is evaluating his
questions. performance. Most observers,
"I know what I'm going to however, don't expect him to bid
say," he said with a laugh, the University adieu.
~"what I don't know is how they "I'm right up against 10 years,
may feel about various ques- therefore I've got to face that
tions." i decision now. Whatever I have
. Not that he's unwilling tIo let to say about-that I will have to
students find out more about the say in - the next six months,"
man who lives in the big, white Fleming said, refusing to elab-
house on South University. orate
"I often think that when I look He doesn't regret his original
back to my own student-days, I statement., "My belief is the
didn't regard it as a very high same today as it was then,
priority to get to know the presi- which is that a university presi-
dent or to see him. I would sus dent may have, id 10 years, ser-
pets that's still the attitude of ved as long as he should, and I
most students-that they know have no difficulties with that at
there's a president and they're all.
prepared to assume that he "Whether I should continue
must have something to do: beyond that really depends, I
around the place, but they don't guess, on whether that would be
view him as a person who's im- best for the University - and
mediately connected with their that's hot really a decision I
problems. should make."
:
For Hudson Ladd,
the bells always toll
towards life is a happy, optimis-
tic one," he added. "I'm not
sure we can claim very much
that may be a factor that's more
credit for that, because I think
related to your family and grow-
ing-up experience.
"I always feel sorry for the
student who really finds it a ra-
ther depressing or unhappy ex-
perience," he said, shaking his
head. "I always keep thinking
that it really ought to be a good
experience, and it's too bad
when it isn't."
By RON DeKETT
WHEN THE MELODIC ring-
ing of bells drifts across
campus, many people visualize a
gray-haired, hunchbacked old
man lurking in the dusty heights
of Burton Tower, pounding the
bells with a wooden hammer in
an effort to keep the ancient art
alive.
But one look at University Ca-
rilloneur Hudson Ladd dispels
that notion.
The red-haired Ladd, 32, re-
flects the dynamic growth of the
art of the carillon throughout
the United States and Scandi-
navian countries.
"The first carillon came into
North America only 55 years
ago. We now have 160 of them,'
Ladd said. "It is an art that is
attrrcling a large amount of
youth today. It is exciting to see
ytoung kids really becoming in-
vclved with developing marve-
lous techniqucs arid making fan-
tactic music."
Ladd himself became involved
with the carillon "purely by ac-
cident'
"I was in Amsterdam in the
summer of 1968, hitchhiking
around Europe, and I heard the
carillon for the first time in the
Oude Kerk (old church). I heard
a Bach Prelude and Fugue being
played and I said 'This is impos-
sible.' Not because it was being-
played, but being played music-
ally. So I went to the bottom of
the tower, and this now good
friend of mine refused to let mel
up the tower because I had nev-
er met him before. I insisted1
that indeed I would go up the
tower to see what is going on up
there. Finally he acquiesced. I
climbed up this old tower, and
discevered how the carillon is
indeed performed."
ADD THEN STUDIED for two
years in Europe and receiv-
ed a degree with honors from,
the Netherlands' Carillonneur
School. Later, -he became the!
first American to win the pres-
tigious Dutch pris d' excellence.
Ladd's office is located on the
ninth floor of, the Burton Tower
-directly beneath the massive
bells which weigh a total of 68
tons. The walls are decorated
with photographs, awards and a
map of the U.S. with stick pins
marking the locations of caril-
ions.
"It's strange, but most of the
carillons are located throughout
the Midwest and East Coast cor-
ridor. But it is slowly developing
west of the Mississippi," Ladd
said.
Ladd credits the art's growth
to the increasing recognition of
the carillon as a socio-musical
instrument.
"It is a musical instrument
that a city or prominent
church or a large university will
buy to speak to the whole cor-
munity. There-fore, it can he a
part of its way of life. It adds
charm and uniqueness to a com-
munity," Ladd said.
TO PLAY THE carillon, Ladd
sits in a small room among the
bells. He faces a console that is
like an exaggerated piano key-
See THE BELLS, Page 7
Dalv Photo by -tRIS TINA SNIN
Robben Fleming
Housemother enjoys
By EILEEN DALEY
JULIE SULLIVAN SMILES a lot when she talks
about her job as housemother at Zeta Tau
Alpha sorority.,
It's a position she's held for nine years, since
the firm which employed her as an executive se-
cretary depided to move out of town. Rather than
leave the Detroit area, Mrs. Sullivan sought a job
with the University.
When she was offered the position at Zeta Tau
Alpha, she happily accepted it.
"It's like managing a small hotel," she explain-
ed. Mrs. Sullivan plans the meals, orders the
food and hires and manages the house staff.
A widow whose own children are now grown,
Mrs. Sullivan enjoys sharing her time with the
women at the sorority.
"I think they're really just brilliant," she said..
"They just amaze me. They're so creative! They
really just get me."
But as fond as she is of "her girls," she doesn't
see herself as their "mfother," in spite of her
title.
"I'M NOT THEIR MOTHER," she said with a
smile. "I think I'm more of their friend. They
have their own mothers."
After spending nearly a decade in the sorority,
she has noticed many changes in the women who
come to live there.
"Oh! We get a variety of girls now," she said
enthusiastically. "It has changed a lot and I'm
glad. It's good for the house. You need all kinds of
girls from all backgrounds.
"It used to be that backgrounds were quite im-
portant. They (women wishing to pledge) used to
have to have references. That is where I think
sororities got their stigma. Now we have very
wealthy girls and girls who are putting them-
selves through college.
"The girls are from all fields - nurses,
teachers, girls interested in medicine, pharmacy,
biochemistry. Some girls go into working with
retarded children.
"They're not all frorm one class. I think that's
gone down the drain," she said, pausing for a
moment, then adding, "I think that's growth ac-
tually."
Mrs. Sullivan has also seen changes in the
house rules which the women draw up each year.
"You talk about being liberal!" she exclaimed.
When she became housemother in 1968, anyone
leaving the house for the evening was required to
sign out and to return home no later than 11 p.m.
her girls'
Those returning after that time found the house
locked-and themselves in a lot of trouble.
"TT USED TO BE, when they signed out-and
even the dorms had this-that you started
looking for them right away," she recalled.,
The sign-out policy, however, was discarded
within the next few years, and each house mem-
ber was given her own key to slip onto her key
chain.
Some house rules still remain, but Mrs. Sullivan
does not find them at all unreasonable.
"There are certain rules and regulations like
there are in your 'own home," she explained. "It's
not a thumb down on anybody's head, for heaven's
sake."
Male visitation hours is one rule which the Zeta
house has retained.
"I think you have to give them credit," she
said. "I think today's kids are pretty loose in
some departments."
Mrs. Sullivan has found living with the women
very rewarding.
"IT'S SO GREAT TO see them come in as fresh-
men. They are so naive and this is another
world to them. They go out as ladies. They're
mature. It's great."
Although none of her children or grandchildren
have pledged fraternities or sororities, Mrs. Sulli-
van is an advocate of Greek life.
"I think it's a nice, nice way of living," she
said. "If I were going through college again, I
would live in a sorority."
"You don't have to bother with an -apartment.
It's a relaxed way of living. You're here to get an
education, not to be cleaning."
Mrs. Sullivan noted that women who leave the
house to live in apartments often return to the
house the following year.
"You have all the rest of your life to live in
an apartment."
Has she found any drawbacks to being a-house-
mother?
"Oh, heavens no!" she said emphatically. "I'm
just sorry I didn't get into it sooner."
Daily Photo by CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER
Zeta Tau Alpha
Doily Photo by CHRJSTINA SCHNEIDER
Hudson Ladd
..
Bob
Ufer:
The
man.
By CUB SCHWARTZ
N FOOTBALL Saturdays he is a fanatic,
screaming, cheering, reciting poetry and
treating radio listeners to a trip through Mich-
igan sports history.
But during the rest of the week he is a nor-
mal human being, capable of discussing sub-
jects other than "Meecheegan" football. He
can sit behind his desk at a local insurance
agency and talk easijy about the other side of
Bob Ufer, the side few people ever see.
True, the University of Michigan is a large
part of Ufer's life After, listening to one of his
broadcasts, one would swear that his life
hinges on the outcome of the game. Kirk Lewis,
the Wolverines' All American guard, said that
listening to a Ufer broadcast was one of the
most traumatic experiences he'd ever under-
tOne.
Ufer himself needs two days to recover from
the ordeal. "On Sundays, my head aches, my
body aches, and I am totally exhausted, both
mentally and physically," Ufer said. "It takes
so much nut of me because It nut so much into
The work proved too strenuous for Ufer's
body, and he awoke one morning in a pool of
blood. Doctors found ten inches of his intestines
riddled with ulcers, and ordered him to give up
sportscasting. Ufer pleaded with the physicians
to allow him to continue to do only football-
just as a hobby-and they agreed.
The health situation today remains largely
the same, but even though Ufer has been .hos-
pitalized countless times, he has never missed
"On Sundays, my head aches,
my body aches, and l am total-
ly exhausted, b o t h mentally
and physically. It t a k e s so
much out of me because I put
so much into it."
-Bob Ufer
... .. . . . . . . . t". a. ' : : :f { : : } '
cersberg Academy, an eastern prep school,
where he found track to be his forte.
There, he helped set a world record in the
440-yard relay. With that feather in his cap,
he set off for the University of Michigan, his
parents' alma mater.
He participated in both freshman football
and track, but the latter brought him the most
success. Ufer held frosh records in every event,
from the 100-yard dash up to the half-mile run.
The aspiring Olympian gave up football to
concentrate his efforts upon track:
ALTHOUGH HITLER eliminated the Olym-
pics in 1940 and 1944, dashing Ufer's
dreams, he still managed to set the world in-
door record in the 440, a mark which stood for
five years.
Another of Ufer's triumphs has come, oddly
enough, in the field of politics. Although he
personally has no political aspirations, he was
the emcee last September for then-President
Gerald Ford's campaign kickoff in Ann Arbor.
"They called me the morning before Ford
behind
says with a smile. "With 20,000 people scream-
ing and the President of the United States
it was the highlight of my life."
DURING THE course of that evening, Ufer
gave Ford a jacket with "MICHIGAN NUM-
BER 1" emblazoned in maize letters on the
back. When he presented the jacket to Ford,
he told the President to put it on-backwards.
"It's what they Want," Ufer whispered, "it's
P.R.-go ahead."
Ford put the jacket on as instructed .and the
incident provided- one of the campaign's most
memorable photographs. The original photo
hangs in Ufer's office with a personal thank
you note from Ford on the bottom.
But the hype, thesenergy and the craziness
which Ufer exhibits often cause people to
question his sanity. Once, while coaching a
little league baseball team, Ufer pulled his
players off the field in the middle of an inning
to give them a pep talk. The tactic produced
one of his team's 40 consecutive little league
victories.
the
mike