ALIVE AT 65 See Editorial Page V' L Sir iqan ai'I FROSTY High-55 Low-30 See Today for details Vol. IXXXVIII, No. 25 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, October 6, 1977 TenCen Ten Pages Financial officials shaken up in city investment fiasco Daily Photo by CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER The hand is faster than the eye at the keyboard of this automatic teller or "money machine." New safeguards are needed to protect consumers from this and other electronic banking systems, according to Michigan's Senator Don Riegle. Sen. Riegle s bill .to protect users of 'checkless' ban kng By BRIAN BLANCHARD Yesterday the subcommittee finished three days of hearings in Washington on EFT and co'nsumer rights. Long after the last shops lock up and there's noth- EFT systems include teller machines, automatic ing to buy, you can walk up to the small console on local payment of bills and retail sales that require nothing more banks, punch in a series of numbers, and pull cash out than a number for payment. New York City, Denver and of your account through the wall. California are the centers of activity, but banks around But this simple idea of computer-quick finances is the country - including several in Ann Arbor.L are only part of a new philosophy of a "checkless society," beginning to experiment with the systems. built upon Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT). "SAY YOU BUY shoddy merchandise," said Riegle SUCH SYSTEMS may someday replace cash, checks aide Ethan Siegal. "It's moving at such a fast pace that and credit cards. But fears that they may also outpace you would have trouble getting your money back." Since consumer rights have led Sen. Donald Riegle (D-Mich.), there is no time lag between the purchase and the with- chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Con- drawal for the consumer to cancel the expenditure, and no sumer Affairs, to introduce a bill which would protect receipt to show for it, people are easy targets for fraud. consumers from the hazards of instantaneous buying. See SEN., Page 7 By GREGG KRUPA City Accountant Marc Levin has been fired and Assistant City Control- jer Steven Hendel has been tempor- arily demoted as a result of each official's involvement in the city's recent investment fiasco, City Ad- ministrator Sylvester Murray an- nounced yesterday. Murray also accepted the resigna- tion of Levin's boss, City Controller Lauren Jedele, who said he was quitting voluntarily because of the physical stress from the whole affair. IT WAS THE Controller's office that entered into the arbitrage transaction with Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith which nearly cost the city $1.4 million. The unauthorized investment in January of this year was of highly question- able legality under state laws regard- ing community investments. An arbitrage transaction involves borrowing a treasury note, then selling the note and using that revenue to buy another note that will hopefully be more profitable. Levin, who vowed to fight for re-instatement and said he was a "scapegoat" for the city administra- tion, was handed a two-week terrhin- ationnotice effective Oct. 19. Murray said he was fired because of "mis- conduct in participating in the June 30-July 1 financial transaction which misrepresented to city officials the city financial position at the end of the fiscal year." More specifically, Murray said, Levin was suspended because of "misconduct in seeking to cover the city investment loss by seeking an agreement by which a scheme of investment transactions would have had the effect of spreading the city's loss over a multi-year period and thpereby possibly disguising the loss to city officials." LEVIN ENGAGED in the arbitrage deals with Merrill Lynch in January, but by June 30 realized the invest- ment was declining rapidly. It took six months to realize the inviestment was failing because Merrill Lynch investment counselor Michael Car- '' --r-=-- - Seniors to roll, who has since been fired, allegedly fabricated the market fig- ures. On June 30 and July 1, Levin and Carroll agreed to another transac- tion. Carroll returned the money to the city, so the $1.4 million loss would not be reflected in the final city budget figures of fiscal year 1976-77. On July 1 Levin returned the money to Carroll, and it was reinvested. Pglice Major Walter Hawkins, who was assigned to make an "in-house" See CITY, Page 7 regain. priority for CRISP U' slow to act on CIA guidelines By RICHARD'BERKE Beginning with early registration in November, seniors will once again have priority for CRISP appoint- ments. Under a new, more perman- ent system, seniors will be randomly assigned to the earliest appointment times, according to Ernest Zimmer- man, assistant to the vice president for academic affairs. Underclass students will then be combined into a single group and also randomly assigned times. Students will still be assigned within tthe confines of alphabetic groups, rotat- ing each term. THE RANDOM, University-wide scheme of assigning CRISP appoint- ments began with last spring's early registration, as an interim solution to the long lines and inequities faced by students who relied on their individ- ual schools and colleges for CRISP appointments. At the time, University officials claimed senior priority couldn't 'be programmed into the computer early enough for last spring's registration. In April, the administration and Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) conducted identical surveys, seeking student input on five possible options for a permanent appointment proce- dure. TWO OPTIONS included senior priority. The first was the procedure' now being implemented, with the second a system giving seniors the earliest times, the next earliest to juniors, then sophomores, then fresh- persons. OF THE 6,500 respondents in the University survey, two-thirds favored one of the two options which included senior priority. Within that number, votes were split, with a slight edge favoring the second option: In the MSA survey, the 1,500 respon- dents favored the senior priority op- tions with a margin similar to that in the University poll. But the MSA results showed the first option as slightly more popular. Zimmerman said the survey results "came as no surprise." He said the "notion is still pretty prevalent with students that there must be something pretty special to being a senior." ,, Brian Laskey, who conducted the MSA survey, said the method announ- ced yesterday is the "most equitable" of the two senior priority alternatives. "If the other option had been chosen, freshmen would not only have last pick of courses in summer orientation, but would also have last pick of courses in the winter term," he said. ,ichian House ) By BOB ROSENBAUM A special appeal from a Washington- based organization to adopt guidelines preventing secret CIA activity on cam- pus appears to be getting very little at- tention from the University com- munity. Using as its basis recent findings by congressional committees that the CIA has been operating on American cam- puses for secret scientific and political research, the Campaign to stop Gov- ernment Spying has asked almost fifty schools to initiate strict rules con- trolling such research. BUT OFFICIALS here in the ad- ministration, the faculty senate and the student government-while basically supporting the call for guidelines-have not even discussed, let alone taken steps to compose such guidelines, as of yet. In April, 1976, the Senate Select Committee on Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Agencies revealed that there was CIA activity on over 100 college campuses, involving the recruitment of students and hidden sponsorship andN sub- sidization of research. The committee's activities were at least in part spurred by a June, 1975 disclosure that domestic spying activities by the CIA were widespread. Based on, that data, the Campaign, located in the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, sent an appeal to University President Robben Fleming on Sept. 12, pointing out that over 80 academic and research in- stitutions have been informed so far that "their faculty and facilities were used to carry out secret drug testing and mind control experiments." FLEMING SAID last week he had sent a copy of the letter to deans of the various schools for their reference, along with a copy of precedent-setting guidelines established by Harvard University in May to prevent future CIA spying there. He also said he would talk to the faculty's Senate Advisory Committee on University Activities (SACUA) "to see what they think can be done" with the guidelines. But as of yesterday, SACUA officials said they had not been contacted on the subject and five deans all said they had received no such letter. Just last wveek, Ohio State University and Stanford University were given a few details on past campus CIA ac- tivities. AT OHIO STATE, a Freedom of In- formation suit revealed that the CIA had conducted secret scientific resear- ch there in the late fifties and early six- ties, but would not name those faculty members recruited. When OSU officials learned of the ac- tivities, one source said they "were scurrying-to say the least" to set up strict guidelines preventing future secret experiments. The Harvard guidelines-which the Campaign endorses-are the product of a report made at that university on its relationship with the CIA and other in- telligence agencies. THE REPORT recommended ban- ning secret research contracts and con- sultations between members of the Harvard community and the CIA. It also urged that anyone contacted by the intelligence agency be required to notify Harvard officials. It further recommended that the University not willingly participate in misleading propaganda or undertake intelligence oprations for the CIA. See 'U', Page 7 defeats potbillr LANSING (UPI)-The state House yesterday stood by its decision this summer not to liberalize Michigan's marijuana laws. The 51-48 vote came after nearly an hour of debate which lacked some of the emotionalism which characterized discussion of the issue before. The House, at that time, received nation- wide attention when an opponent of liberalized pot laws struck the bill's chief advocate. The reform bill, introduced by Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Arbor), would reduce the penalty for possession of an See MICHIGAN, Page 2 'U' defaces graffiti, physics folks frown By SUE WARNER With a few quick strokes of a paint brush, the University took a giant'step towards eliminating what was perhaps the finest collection of Star Trek and assorted physics-oriented graffiti on campus. University paint crews rolled into the stairwells of the Physics and Astronomy (P and A) Building Tuesday and painted over the well-known collection of slogans, equations and often obscene epitaphs with a blotchy coat of grey paint. "IT WAS GREAT, I used to read it all the time," grinned physics sophomore Greg Heck, adding, "A lot of it I wouldn't want to repeat." According to Heck, the anonymous artwork in- cluded equations and physics problems with "non- Witherspoon said some of the material was ob- scene and the University "doesn't like the public to see that kind of thing." ONE GRAFFITI LOVER, a physics student who wished to remain anonymous, sullenly lamented, "It's a dark day for physics students, it's a great loss." Physics student Steve Holden said his favorite remark in the now-eradicated graffiti collection was "something about bombing Toledo and going to war with Ohio." However, Holden said he thinks the walls look better now and added, "People should have more respect for the buildings." "What they (the University) might do is paint something more interesting than grey walls," he * **AFFI T T IE * * S *" * ' A 1N S ' N~oT DrD .sym