4l1r It tran ait
Eight y-Seven Years of Editorid Freedom
420 Maynard, St.', Ann Arbor, Mul 48109
MSA NOTES:
'U
decisions need student Input
Saturday, February 19, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed bystudents at the University of Michigan
Program cuts: More study
ND WHAT IS GOOD, Phaedrus,/
And what is not good-/Need we
ask anyone to tell us these things?"
John Pirsig sought a definition of
Quality in Zen and the Art of Motor-
cycle, Maintenance. He found that
quality and worth are misused, elu-
sive terms.
The University, unlike Pirsig, has
rushed through considerations of
worth in its recommendations to drop
the Departmeiit of Population Plan-
ning (DPP) and the Speech and
Hearing Sciences program.'
These recommendations are based
on shoddy, secretive procedures and
the complex questions of academic
quality as well as monetary priority
deserve far more careful considera-
tion and public participation..
Members of DPP protest that the
Review Committee, appointed in the
fall of '75 as a "strengthening pro-
cess," neither envisioned nor recom-
mended termination of the 11-year-
old department in the School of Pub-
lic Health.
RECOGNIZING PROBLEMS within
the graduate department, facul-
ty and students welcomed this cleans-
ing process. The 'cleansing process
turned into a wipe-out procedure this
fall when Dean Richard Remington's
Executive Committee claimed fiscal
responsibility and closed its doors
to outside in-put. The process cul-
minated in January when the com-
mittee unanimously voted to discon-
tinue DPP in 1978.
The Committee's credibility was
further impugned by claims that the
measuring stick for quality was Rack-
ham departments rather than Public
Health departments. In this way the
unique nature of DPP may have been
unfairly compared.
Students further claim that Rem-
ington has deliberately stalled on the
appointment of a new chairman and
has completely stopped reviewing ap-
plications to the program; action they
consider to be premature.
flEMINGTONS counterpart in the
Medical School, John Gronvall,
made his December recommendation
to terminate the Speech Pathology
program without significant input
from the students and faculty. Lack
of participation was particularly glar-
ing in light of the charge that a
dated 1973 Review Committee Report
was used in the recommendation.
The program's "unstable admini-
strative structure" seems to be the
result of the failure of the Medical
School to name a permanent chair-
person or clinical director for the
threatened department.
In view of these problems and con-
troversies, we concur with the stu-
dents of the School of Public Health
as a whole who have voted to de-
mand that the Regents reopen the
issues. More specifically, a few pub-
lic meetings before the Regents will
not by sufficient to clear the record
and match solutions to these prob-
lems.
IlECISIONS TO ELIMINATE entire
programs have an incalculable
effect of students and faculty asso-
ciated with them. They should not be
made without thorough knowledge of
the most up-to-date and relevant
facts. And furthermore, those stu-
dents and faculty members, who will
have to bear the burden of restruc-
turinz their futures if the programs
are eliminated, should be accorded
a voice in any decisions regarding
them.
By JON LAUER,
"TUDENT PARTICIPATION in Uni-
versity decision-making is important
to the quality of student life at the Uni-
versity, and shall be encouraged." (Re-
gents' By-Laws No. 7.05).
Student participation in decision-mak-
ing processes is important, not just to
affirm a regental by-law, but to satisfy
real and specific needs and rights of
students.
A fundamental law of democracy is
that to the extent that people are affect-
ed by decision, they have the right to
influence those decisions; it follows that
students have the right to participate in
University decisions that substgntially af-
fect them. Students learn how to make
responsible decisions by, having respon-
sibility in decision making, a lesson that
is not usually taught in the classroom
environment. The reasons for student
participation were summed up best by
the Commission in the Role of Students
in Decision-Making (1968), which found
that "on grounds both of democratic
principle and of educational policy, stu-
dents should be accorded a substantial
role in the making of decisions within
the University community. (Student par-
ticipation in decision-making processes
can contribute both to the excellence of
the Unversity and to the development
of its students.) The quality and matur-
ity of present-day Michigan students
make it desirable to extend such par-
ticipation."
THE MODEL OF student government
that Michigan Student Assembly (MSA)
is based on calls for increased student
participation in the academic decision-
making processes of the University. This
higher ipflux of students necessitated the
establishment of the Permanent Inter-
viewing Committee (PIC), consisting of
the Personnel Director, the Personnel
Coordinator, the two Assistant Person-
nel Directors, plus two other students
appointed by the Assembly.
A central function of the PIC is to
interview applicants for Assembly ap-
pointments to University committees,
and for most other Assembly appoint-
ments. The PIC then nominates those
qualified for aipointment. "University
committee" is an abstract term to ma-
ny, if not most students. Therefore, a
sampling of the University Committees
is listed below.
Board in Control of Intercollegiate
Athletics: Acts as the business and fi-
nancial agency of the athletic depart-
ment, and it has control of the program
in intercollegiate athletics concerning
physical properties, eligibility of players
and intercollegiate relations.
Program Evaluation: It's functions
are to design review prototypes which
it will recommend to operating units for
application in conducting reviews, and
to recommend to the respective vice-
presidents the need for review of spe-
cific programs within their jurisdiction.
Budget Priorities: Analyzes, evalu-
ates, and submits recommendations on
strategic budgeting priorities issues, tak;
ing into account information and plans
developed by such agencies as the Long-
Range Planning and Program Evalua-
tion Committees.
Office of Student Services Pplicy
Board: Provides programs relating to
housing, counseling, student organiza-
tions, health, occupational information,
religious affairs, student-community re-
lations, and the International Center.
University Council: Formulates and
proposes uniform regulations governing
the conduct (individually or in the ag-
gregate) of students, teaching staff, and
administrators where such regulations:
(1) promote the educational goals of the
University, and (2) are of common con-
cern and apply generally to all the
above-mentioned segments of the Univer-
sity Community.
The following committees are a samp-
ling of MSA Senate Advisory Committees
for University Affairs, which serve to
advise and communicate student views
to the respective vice-presidents.
Academic Affairs Committee: Advises
the Vice-president for Academic Affairs
on matters of importance to the academ-
ic quality and standards of the Univer-
sity.
Civil Liberties, Board: Consults with
and advises members of the University
administration regarding civil liberty
problems that arise on campus, and may
assist students or staff who suffer threats
to their civil liberties in connection with
their activities as members of the Uni-
versity community.
Student Relations Committee: Acts in
an advisory role towards Vice President
Johnson concerning student relations with
the University..
The committees mentioned above con-
stitute less than half of the University
committees upon which students can di-
rectly participate. In addition, there are
several committees within MSA that re-
quire student input. Two examples of
MSA committees are the Student Or-
ganizations Board, which recognized and
deals with student organizations, and
the PIC, whose functions are discussed
here. Thus, there is a broad spectrum
of committees for students with differ-
ent interests and concerns. These com-
mittees provide an extensive forum for
Once a student is appointed to a com-
mittee, she or he is held responsible
to report the committee's activities to
the PIC. In the past, this aspect has
been sorely neglected, resulting in a
disservice to the students. However, this
problem has been rectified with the ad-
vent of an aggressive Assistant Direc-
tor for Committee Coordination. Inf or-
mation gathered' by out office on the
conduct of the various University com-
mittees is used to keep MSA abreast of
current issues and problems througho4it
the University.
MSA welcomes any stude t who is
willing to share in the responsibility of
University decision-making. Interviews
will be held soon to fill the vacancies
on the Central Student Judiciary (CSJ).
These positions are unique in that they
offer, the student an excellent opportunity
to directly influence certain patterns of
behavior that come under question. Va-
cancies on the CSJ and in University
Committees are announced in The Daily
and other publications. However, inter-
ested students need not wait for an 'ad-
vertised vacancy. Volunteers are always
needed for various projects within MSA.
For additional information and answers
to questions concerning Personnel Proce-
dures or University Committees, call the
PIC office. The key to strengthening stu-
dent government is greater student par-
ticipation in the decision-making mechan-
ism. We offer the avenues to such par-
ticipation.
Jon Lauer is the MSA Director of
students to
mains only
vantage of
volvement.
air their grievances. It re-
for students to take ad-
these opportpnities for in-
Personnel.
..
Local Motion 'keeps oIn truckin
r
Carter should note all
dissidents, not just Sakharov
THURSDAY, President Carter sent
a personal letter of sympathy
and encouragement to Soviet dissi-
dent Andrei Sakharov that has
brought a flurry .#f protests from the
Soviet government.
There are, needless to say, a num-
ber of ways in which Carter's ges-
ture might be interpreted.
The President says he sent the
letter to Sakharov as an affirmation
of his own commitment to supporting
human rights around the world. But
such a gesture can also be seen as
the sort of Cold War ploy a new pres-
ident might bring off to convince
friends and foes that he, too, can be
tough with the Russians. It was such
a gesture which resulted in John Ken-
nedy's misadventure at the Bay of
Pigs, after all.
The Soviet government, it is true,
is a harsh and repressive regime. In-
tellectual life under its watchful eye
is rigid and stifling to all but the
bravest minds. The same can be said
of most nations in the socialist sphere.
Carter can only be applauded if his
motive is truly to \provide moral en-
couragement to those who choose to
resist the straitjacket of-ideological
purity.
But these are dissidents in South
Korea, too. And in Chile - if they
haven't all been murdered by now.
There are dissidents in Spain, in Iran,
in the Philippines, in dozens of other
countries in what we are pleased to
call the "free world." Soviet repres-
sion, in many cases, is mild compared
to the suffering inflicted upon these
people.
If Carter honestly wants to make
a commitment to human rights, he
should make it without reference to
political or economic alliances. He
should write hundreds of letters to
hundreds of prisoners and dissidents
throughout the world. The human
rights of a Brazilian leftist are no
less important than those of a Rus-
sian nonconformist.
LOCAL MOTION, Ann Arbor's infant alternative fund-
ing organization, has borne the brunt of many
initial mistakes, and now seems headed on the right
track towards becoming an important positive fac-
tor in the Ann Arbor community.
Started in February, 1975, Local Motion was
plagued almost from the outset by a series of griev-
ous financial blunders. These errors can be attributed
to an overzealousness on the part of the staff -
they just didn't set realistic goals for an organiza-
tion in its embryonic stage - and to poor judgment
on matters of budgetary priority.
Almost 25 per cent of Local Motion's initial work-
ing budget was spent on advertising, while only 10
per cent, ($980) was disbursed to the various service
organizations. Complaints concerning this disparity of
funding levels were widespread and vociferous among
contributing businesses as well as service organi-
zations. Not only did it devow a disproportionate
chunk of the budget, but all the money spent on
advertising failed to find its target. Many organiza-.
tions spoken to last year claimed ignorance of Local
Motion's workings.
"I'M- ECSTATIC about the improvement Local
Motion has made in the last year," says Sue Bloch,
co-coordinator of the program. And indeed, she has
reason to be so. In the time period spanning Novem-
ber, 1975 through October 1976, Local Motion made
it's second and third disbursements. Out of an op-
erating budget of $11,410 for that fiscal year, $4,670
was disbursed to human service organizations. Among
the recipients of this badly needed money were the
Women's Crisis Center, the Free People's Clinic, the
Hunger Coalition and the Child Care Action Center.
In the space of one year Lodal Motion has increased
the disbursements from 10 per cent of their budget
to 41 per cent. That is one very fine improvement.
And the percentage should continue to rise in
the next year. In September, Local Motion received
federal non-profit status, and in November, they were
(9)p
lcli(g
rowe
t .
MICHAEL BECKMAN
declared tax-exempt. Last year, they paid over $800
in Federal taxes that they will no longer, be liable
to pay. Advertising costs have plummeted from a
whopping $2,125 the fir'st year to $65 during the past
six months.
THE MAJOR EXPENSE is coordinators' salaries.
Ironically, and sadly, the problem is being managed
by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
(CETA). It has decided to lay off Randy Abrahms, the
program's other co-ordinator, at the end of this month,
thus eliminating the second co-ordinator position..
Which brings up the question of the need for any
coordinators at all. I spoke to several representatives
of member organizations and businesses who ques-
tioned the need for this expense, as the Board of Di-
rectors handles all of Local Motion's financial leci-
sions. This would be an accurate assessment except
that Local Motion was not formed solely as a fund-
raising group. It was also founded for the purpose of
acting as an umbrella organization for the previously
unaffiliated service organizations. Its function of co-
ordinating the diversified activities of all of these
groups, plus making the community aware of the
existence and importance of human services, is equally
as vital as raising money.
LOCAL MOTION'S SUPPORT continues strong.
Membership in Local Motion has increased in the past
year, while those who have been giving support all
-along are becoming more enthusiastic.
Marcy Bohm, board member from the Ann -Arbor
Community Health Center says, "Right now,, I'm feel-
ing very positive about Local Motion. It's tuning in
to the heartbeat of the ,community."
Still, there are problems. Some people continue to
believe that Local Motion has not fully made itself
known in Ann Arbor. Liz Ahmann of Hunger Coalition
says "there is not enough awareness about what Local
Motion is doing."
And Marcy Bohm added, "I hope that it will
become more visible in the community."
There is a great need in Ann Arbor for alter-
native funding of 'human services. Local Motion is
filling a void created by the municipal government's,
as well as the voters of Ann Arbor's indifference and
antipathy toward these services.
FOR ALL OF ITS GOOD intention, Local Motion
can succeed only to the degree that the community
pitches in and helps. It can coordinate all of the fund-
raising and bring the organizations together, but it
can't supply its own money. A $4,600 disbursement is
a tremendous improvement over their previous year's
total,- but it is a lar-cry from ,the amount of money
needed to maintain present services and to initiate
badly needed new ones.
This low total of available funds is due to the
apathy of Ann Arborites. Pizza Bob's reports that only
one third of their customers pay the 2 per cent Ac-
tion Pledge, and local merchants who collect for Local
Motion say that donationsrare miniscule.
The position of the municipal government is clear.
Human services rank very low on their priority lists.
It is up to organizations like Local Motion to pinch-hit
for the recalcitrant humanitarians that we elected.
And it is up to us to give Local Motion our utmost
support.
recruitment
To the Daily:
The Commission for Women
and the Commission for Minor-
ity Affairs welcome the' oppor-
tunity to express our opinions
on the recommended changes in
the Student Recruitment policy
currently being proposed by the
Civil Liberties Board of the Sen-
ate Assembly. We are not, con-
trary to Dr. Friedman's sugges-
tion in his letter to the UNIVER-
SITY RECORD (January 17,
1977), "special interest groups."
We are, rather, groups whose
specific concern is equal oppor-
tunity for all. We assume that is
an interest of everyone in a uni-
versity which traditionally has
viewed as one of its most im-
portant functions the explora-
tion, criticism, and perpetuation
of the best of the values and
standards of our society.
We view certain of the pro-
posed changes in the job recruit-
ment policy as a retreat from a
commitment to the ideal of
equal opportunity for all stu-
dents. Moreover, we must view
the opinion of the Civil Liberties
Board that the current policy is
"unworkable" as merely an ac-
Le ters
from a society in which one
form of discrimination or an-
other is legally mandated to do
more than go through the mo-
tions of good faith recruiting.
Merely requesting a "pledge"
of support for a non-discrimina-
tion policy is, in our opinion,
naive. As the recommended ppl-
icy fails to address itself to the
establishment of any means for
monitoring the recruitment pro-
cess, its implementation would
only serve to foster an environ-
ment of discrimingtion in that
process. The true measure of
the effectiveness - of any non-
discrimination.policy, of course,
lies in the results. Unless an ex-
amination of the recruitment
process involves an analysis of
the individuals actually hired,
that process is meaningless. The
absence of such an analysis
would reduce the University's
policy to another form of lip-
service.
We find equally disturbing the
opinion of the Board that an
open, firm moral stand against
discrimination represents an
"ideological condition" for deny-
ing the use of University facili-
ties and services. We are not
seekin t-n imnos an "idenIoai-
to
most certainly do not feel that
we have the right to deny such
individuals a free exercise of
choice in matters personally af-
fecting them-as long as they do
so without the support of the in-
stitution. Simply because re-
cruitment and placement depart-
ments are designed to be of
service to students does not in
any way imply that those serv-
ices can be administered without
regard for the expressed moral
and legal standards of the insti-
tution and the society which
males them available. We are in
no way attempting to deny
"equal protection" to students
seeking employment in organi=
zations which practice discrimi-
nation. We are denying, how-
ever, that the University has the
right to make its services and
facilities available .to those or-
ganizations which refuse to
pledge support of non-discrimi-
nation or which refuse to prac-
tice non-discrimination in a
manner that can be validated by
impartial criteria.
We view the recommendation
that certain companies or or-
ganizations be exempted from
maintaining an affirmative ac-
tion program "(unless) re-
the
Dazly
companies or organizations may
already have excellent non-dis-
crimination policies. Our imme-
diate concerns are that such or-
ganizations be specifically iden-
tifiable, and that they be requir-
ed to make available some clear
demonstration of precisely what
kind of non-discrimination policy'
they do have.
The argument that the present
requirement in the policy is "un-
workable" for such companies
and organizations is untenable.
The fact that the University, in
implementing the requirements
in the current policy, did not an-
ticipate its difficulties does not
warrant those companies' ex-
emption from any policy what-
soever. The University can-and
indeed has a responsibility to-
insist that any organization,
which uses its services and fa-
cilities _ demonstrate a strong
commitment to a policy of non-
discrimination to ensure equal
employment opportunity.
In conclusion, we are compell-
ed to add that the most dis-
heartening aspect of the discus-,
sions which have been generated
by the Board's recommenda-
tions has been the tendency of
those sharing the Board's views
The University of Michigan, as
a leading institution of our so-
ciety, not to backslide from its
previous moral stance simply
because it is easier toy do so.
-Bazel Allen, for the
Commission for Women
f raternities
To the Daily:
There was a time when-fra-
ternities and sororities t o o k
pride in their service to cam-
pus and community. Now that
they are on the comeback road
so far as image and student
acceptability are concerned, it
is incomprehensible how t h e y
c'an permit their sidewalks to
remain treacherous with rutted
ice and slushy snow. Neither
Hill nor Washtenaw can be walk-
ed with safety because of this
failure to obey the law which
requires snow and ice to be re-
moved by occupants of e a c h
property. Surely there are a doz-
en or more able-bodied persons
in each house capable of main-
taining the public walkway. The
winter is far from over and the
suiccessive thaw-and-freeze;cycle
which can be anticipated makes
this job well worth doing. How
.' . _1..''x'9'' _°t C'lign' '' fr E 'Eir ,:. /MOOf..h _ a 1 "r .\.i