h
Jay, September 10, 1977-The Michigan Daily
W
t grEit a r
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
ilk
Black education:Door closing
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXV!II, No._2
News Phone: 764-0552
.Edited and managed by students at the University-of Michigan
Council deserves it's pay
ANN ARBOR City Council members
finally have their pay checks, but
they can't spend even one penny of
them.
John Laird, a local attorney and for-
mer Republican councilman, has filed
suit to outlaw pay for Council, and until
a decision is reached, the checks cannot
be spent..
While blocking monetary compen-
sation for Council has superficial merit,
it is actuallu an indirect infringement of
Constitutional rights to run for public of-
fice.
It has often been said that only the
wealthy can run for office. A candidate
must put in many hours campaigning,
and spend considerable sums on
promotion in order to win an election.
Once elected, one must devote a large
portion of time to prepare and study
bills, meet with constituents, as well as
attend meetings. This combination of
time and money required to serve well
in public office effectively excludes
lower income persons from political life.
The Constitution guerantees everyone
an equal right to run for office (there
are some age restrictions for high level
federal posts), yet, many people can't"
afford to work tens of hours per week
without somesort of compensation. To
deny a fair salary to council members is
blatantly discriminatory in that only
those who are financially secure can af-
ford to run for public office.
REPUBLICAN COUNCIL members
have fought pay for Council since
the ideasinception on the grounds that it
would attract an unsavory breed of
politician. While some might seek public
office for monetary means, it seeme
unlikely that the $5000 proposed salaries
for council members would entice many
unscrupulous characters. Republicans
have also argued that since pay for
Council has been rejected by voters in
two recent referendii, it is the will of the
people that Council members not be
paid. But the argument is fallacious.
Votes can be used to determine most
things in a democracy, but not all. If the
public were allowed to vote on whether
or not to pay taxes, the vote would be a
resounding no, and this is a similar
case. Certain rules must be maintained
in order to rotect the rights of the
minority, regardless of the will of the
majority. Simply put, you can't vote
away rights.
Perhaps Councilman Jamie Kenwor-
thy (D-Fourth Ward) put it best when he
said, in reference to the fact that he will
have to live on what he makes as a
councilman this year, "It's easier to eat'
than not to eat."
By BILL SIEVERT
(PNS - A year ago, 17-year-
old Andrew Gray, eldest of four
children of a black, middle-class
family in Richmond, Ga., was
certain he'd be enrolling in col-
lege this fall. By November he
dutifully had sent off applications
to the University of California at
Davis and less prestigious
Hayward State University ("just
in case my grades aren't hot
enough for U.C." .
Last spring, Andrew received
rejection notices from both cam-
puses, a result of his B-minus
grades and an unimpressive
score on his college entrance
exams.
HIS CONFIDENCE shaken, he
briefly flirted with a plan to apply
to predominantly black Central
State College in Ohio. But, he con-
cluded, "it would cost too much to
live away from home."
A last-ditch plan to attend a lo-
cal two-year community college
caved in by mid-August. "I'm
joining the Navy," he announced.
"A community college would be
like two more years of high
school. Besides, I want some
dollars in my pocket. The Navy
will teach me computer program-
ming or something, anl they'll
pay me. I can always go to
college later.,
Maybe. But, like many other
black Americans of college age,
Andrew Gray won't be heading
off to campus this fall. And that
has more than a few black educa-
tors worried.
After a decade of increased
educational opportunities won
through the civil rights struggles
of the 1960s, the doors to higher
education for blacks seem to be
slamming shut again. The result,
many educators fear, could be a
serious reversal in the drive by
racial minorities to achieve their
slice of the American pie.
Are Statistics
Misleading?
The Census Bureau recently
reported -that, as of last fall,
blacks comprised 10.7 per cent of
all American college students,
more than double the 4.6 per cent
level of 1966.
With blacks representing about
11 per cent of the U.S. population,
the figures seemed to indicate
that black people were finally
achieving equality with whites in
college opportunities.
But black educators are charg-
ing that the statistics are mis-
leading. They point to another
statistic in the same Censuc
Bureau report: The number of
black students showed no in-
crease between the 1975 and 1976
academic years:
In fact, the federal Office for
Civil Rights reported last year
that the percentage of undergrad-
uate minority students actually
dropped in seven states between
1972 and 1974, the last year for
which full statistics are avail-
able.
OF EVEN GREATER concern,
the educators point out that black
students are disproportionately
represented in two-year com-
munity colleges and trade
schools, which they remain
drastically under-represented in
the more selective four-year in-
stituitions.
And, as a result of the con-
Vroversial Bakke decision of the
California State Supreme Court
(now under appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court to end the Uni-
versity of California's special ad-
missions program for minorities,
the number of blacks applying to
the prestigious schools of law and
medicine has "declined
drastically," according to univer-
sity officials.
U.C.-Berkeley sociologist
Harry Edwards, a black
professor who recently won a
contentious battle for tenure,
notes that educational obstacles
for minorities persist even in the
highest ranks of academe. His
research reveals that the number
of blacks on the university
faculty is declining generally,
and that three-quarters of black
faculty members are denied
tenure, compared to just 37 per
cent of whites.
Such statistics led the National
Association for Equal Oppor-
tunity in Higher Education
(NAEOHE , an organization of
some 500 black college leaders, to
warn that, for a variety of rea-
sons, "our educational process is
eroding."
Not 'Who' But 'Where'
A major reason cited by the
group is the mounting political
pressure to provide more finan-
cial aid to students from middle-
class families, while reducing the
funds available to lower-income
students,many of whom are
black.
Black students, the group
charges, are systematically
being "tracked" into cheap com-
munity colleges and trade-
oriented schools, while
prestigious four-year colleges
remain an "elite" institutions for
middle- and upper-class whites.
"The real issue of access is not
who goes to college, but who goes
to college where," says Alexan-
der Astin, professor of education'
at UCLA and author of The Myth
of Equal Access in Public Edu-
cation.
his research shows that up to 45
per cent of the blacks who enroll
in some kind of post-secondary
institution attend either a com-
munity college or vocational
school,, such as barber colleges or
computer schools.
A related problem involves the
''reverse discrimination'' attack
on programs designed to make up
for past inequities in graduate
and professional schools, such as
the California court's Bakke
ruling.
Special admissions programs
today account for an estimated 60
per cent of all black students at-
tending medical and law schools.
If such programs are ended in
other schools as a result of the
U.S. Supreme Court upholding
the Bakke ruling, educators ex-
pect a sharp decline in black
enrollment.
ALREADY, SAYS Emma
Coleman Jones, a law professor
and member of the Law School
Admissions Committee at U.C.-
Davis, "many members of mi-
nority groups have become dis-
couraged from applying by the
events that have followed the
(Bakke decision.".
The number of blacks applying
to the Davis law school has fallen
by 50 per cent, she says, and
Davis' medical school and
Berkeley's law school report sim-
ilar drops.
Atthe Harvard Business
School, which disbanded its
special committee on black ad-
missions last year, first-year
black enrollment declined to just
39 students in 1976, cotpared to
47 out of a total of 750 students in
1972.
Even before the Bakke case, in
1974, only 3.5 per cent of all doc-
torates awarded in the country
went to U.S.-born blacks, and
nearly 60 per cent of those were in
one field: education. Less than
one per cent of all the post-grad-
uate degrees awarded went to
anoint new black attorneys and
physicians.
A RECENT STUDY by the Na-
tional Board on Graduate
Education cites financial and mo-
tivational stresses as the main
obstacles.
"Upon graduation from
college," the report says, "im-
mediate employment oppor-
tunities may appear more
rewarding (to blacks than ad-
vanced study in view of the
prospect of further financial dif-
ficulties, the academic risk of
graduate studies anal labor mar-
ket uncertainties."
These root causes often are
cited to explain the serious high
school drop-out rate, which an-
nually disqualifies -re than
seven million blacks be..veen the
ages of 16 and 34 from attending
any kind of college.
MICHAEL BECKMAN
Who says New York is a dead city? After this past summer, there
can be no doubt in anyone's mind that the Big Apple is once again alive
and making its presence felt. Like the phoenix, New York rose from
the ashes to present America with the biggest entertainment event of
the season. The city that has brought us such front-line attractions as
Tammany Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Miracle Mets of '69,
the great garbage strike, draft riots and Kojak, recently unveiled a
new act that is destined to make all previous attempts seem
amateurish - Son of Sam.?
Not since the days of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulit-
zer has the power of the press been so blatantly abused. At the turn of
the century Hearst began stringing together a vast newspaper empire.
To make his papers sell, he used sensationalist techniques that soon
came to be labeled yellow journalism. Blood, gore, vice and crime
were glorified in giant front page headlines, geared to the lower edu-
cated classes with the sole aim of increasing circulation. Little regard
was held for accuracy, honesty or how the story was pieced together
- Hearst was sued for libel on more than one occassion, but he saw the
suits as good publicity for his papers.
HEARST SOLIDIFIED HIS EMPIRE in 1898 and demonstrated
the potential powers of yellow journalism by using his New York Jour-
nal as the organ of Cuban freedom fighters, and almost single-hand-
edly caused the Spanish-American War. His papers grew to have a
tremendous influence on public opinion in America, and more than on-
ce affected the outcome of an election, and the fortunes of a rising
political star. But his techniques were condemned by most of his
peers, and when he died in 1951, yellow journalism as a formidable
weapon pretty much was buried with him.
Until this summer, that is.
Son of Sam would have been just another raving, psychotic killer
- the kind that Clint Eastwood always gets tangled up with in the
"Dirty Harry" movies - if the media hadn't snatched at the chance to
glorify him for the benefit of their sagging circulations.
The New York Daily News - a paper conceived in the Hearst-
Pulitzer era and never noted for its journalistic integrity - led the
charge of the muck. Day after day they blared gigantic headlines
promoting Sam, detailing his latest exploits and speculating (hoping?
about his next targets. Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin main-
tained constant contact with Sam - as everyone who reads Doones-
bury knows - for which I'm sure he received a substantial bonus from
the publisher.
THE OTHER MOTROPOLITAN PAPERS quickly followed the
News' lead. The Post's coverage of Sam before his capture was on
the same plane as the News'. Even The Daily Racing Form got into
the act. The New York Times was perhaps the only major paper in the
area to present some semblance of tasteful coverage of the case, but
even it was prone to overplay at times.
The net effect of the media's circulation drive coverage of the Son
of Sam hunt is that the man who is presently being held as Sam, David
Berkowitz, has absolutely no chance for a trial, if he is judged com-
petent to stand trial. How can an impartial jury possibly be picked
from among people who were mulling the possibility of a lynch mob af-
ter Berkowitz was arrested?
THIS MEDIA IRRESPONSIBILITY comes at a bad time. The im-
plications of the Son of Sam coverage extend far beyond the denial of
one person's constitutional rights to be judged by a jury of his peers.
The actions of the New York media have only served to further inten-
sify the battle between defenders of the freedom of the press, and
those who believe that a free and irresponsible press can deny
Americans protection under the due process clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
The outcome of this struggle will have an incalculable effect on
American liberty. It is an issue that should be settled on a purely in-
tellectual plane. The hatchet job on Son of Sam performed by the New
York media, threatens to take the argument off of that plane, and to
reduce it to an emotional and prejudicial one. Was the temporary rise
in circulation really worth all of that?
'Something in the range of
Sorry, we don't handle slum
housing.
Move the Kent State gym!
" E'VE GOT TO build ourselves a
movement and tear the system
down," sung a guitar strumming mem-
7ber of the May 4th Coalition on the Re-
gent's Plaza yesterday. The coalition,
formed last spring, is trying to rally
campus support to protest construction
of a gym at Kent State University on the
site of the 1970 slayings of four students
by National Guardsmen.
The singer also used his strong,
pleasant voice to recall, with less revo-
lutionary lyrics, the national outrage
and protest against American involve-
rent in southeast Asia.
The poorly attended hour of protest
was. emotionally tiring and confusing.
On the one hand listeners were asked to
build hatred for a pathetic former presi-
dent: "It was cold calculated murder by
the Nixon Administration." On the other
hand they heard a local student deliver
a calm narrative about his first pilgrim-
,age to the site of the tragic shootings.
Our immoral involvement in Viet-
nam should never be forgotten. Kent
State is an important reminder of how
with on different terms.
T HE SPIRIT AND significance of the
student protests that the
May 4th Coalition is seeking to save and
defend can only be weakened and ig-
nored by rhetoric and bitter railing
against "the rich."
One need only see the faces of stu-
dents on the Diag on the first day of
classes, as the small group marched
across campus, to appreciate the prob-
lem. -"Four students dead, guard goes
free, that's what the rich call
Democracy," just isn't bound to win
followers in Ann Arbor right now.
We wish the May 4th Coalition good
luck on their September 24th rally at
Kent State to halt the destruction of a
vital piece of American history. The
students should offer support in
memory of those who fell seven years
ago.
But like too many worthy causes in
recent years, the case of "blanket hill"
is in danger of dissolving to a stream of
over-worked slogans shouted by a few
The Gripes o f Wrt
VA case
To The Daily:,
Veterans Hospital em-
ployees are reluctant to
talk with reporters for fear
of being misquoted. The
headline article in The
Daily on 8-12-77 justified
their fear. Statements at-
tributed to me have
caused me embarassment
and may place my job in
jeopardy. I did not make
the statements regarding
Dr. Lindenauer and Ms.
Feather which appear as
quotes. The conjecture
hnut the numhr n f
truth, the Michigan Nurses
Association initiated that
action before we had and
contact with them.
-Mary James
Call us irresponsible
To The Daily:
Irrespective of any other
irritating irregularities,
irremissible irreverences,
or irrelevant irrationali-
ties that, from time to time,
irresistibly irradiate Daily-
land, cannot something be
done to eradicate "irregard-
less" from the front page
(Sept. 9) before the Daily
iteal hannaVe i.n..ni
m4otw9 FINE MESS vYdvs GComt4 US wno,s-wEj