Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Sunday, February 27, 1977

- News Phone: 764-0552

I

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
A pastor' resigns in Plains

A PASTOR RESIGNED from a small,
Southern, Baptist church last
week, and what he said about it
makes for a strange and moving
metaphor for the presidency of Jim-
my Carter.
The pastor is the Reverend Bruce
Edwards; The town, of course, is
Plains, Georgia. And the incidents
that led him to resign, misty and
subtle as they may be, are at least
in part ugly remnants of a racist
era we thought the United States
might have left behind.
Edwards resigned last Sunday in
the face of stacked opposition from
a group of church members. He had
been in the national spotlight be-
fore, mostly for his role in opening
up the church to blacks and for his
whole-hearted support of Jimmy Car-
ter, who is considered a little too lib-
eral by many people in Plains.
These were the reasons, many resi-
dents say, for Edwards' forced resig-
nation. But there was something else.
Edwards and his wife recently adopt-
ed a baby boy whom Edwards de-
scribes as "non-Caucasian." And ac-
cording to one resident of Plains,
Billy Carter, "It was 99 per cent of
the preacher's problem, and you can
quote me on that. I don't go to church
much, but if you ask me, some of
those Christians ought to be thrown
to the lions."
George Harper, a church deacon,
said the child was not a factor in
the ouster: "The people down here
are too big to take something out on
a child. That's not our nature." Oth-
er residents echoed Harper. Frank
Williams, another deacon and a sup-
-II

porter of Edwards, said there had
been "very quiet" talk about the adop-
tion, but the main reasons for oppo-
sition had been the church admis-
sion issue and an "anti-Carter thing."
Who is to say? Plains has lost a
pastor, and that is that. No one will
ever document the matter or present
an indisputable conclusion.
BUT EDWARDS had one last com-
ment, printed in the last para-
graph in a story in the New York
Times on Thursday, and it goes far
beyond the village boundary of Plains
and beyond the small struggles of
a tiny town. The Times wrote in con-
clusion: "After two years of service
in the church', Mr. Edwards indicated
that he was still uncertain about the
true nature of the people of Plains."
One cannot help but be struck by
the irony of Edwards' comment. How
similar his reaction to Plains is to the
American people's reaction to Jimmy
Carter. This small town that is home
to the fiery, gutsy Lillian Carter, the
boisterous, likeable Billy, is it also
the home of racists who would hold
the adoptioft of a homeless black
baby against a minister and his
wife?
And does our president, a man
with many admirable qualities, like-
wise harbor subtle prejudices which
could feed upon all the good he might
do?
Yes, of course, .we plan to judge
Jimmy Carter on his record. But if
Bruce Edwards does not know the
people of Plains, will we ever know
the man Plains reared to sit in the
White House?
k~ ~ Js~ 4

LOOKING
they struck anyway
EVERYONE THOUGHT IT was all over. And then
AFSCME Local 1583 walked off the job, catch-
ing the campus off guard, sending administrators
racing to find make-shift ways to keep the University
open, and provoking picket line confrontations with
Ann Arbor police.
Union bargainers agreed on a tentative contract
package over a week ago, but the rank-and-file over-
whelmingly voted it down on Tuesday. The surpris-
ingly strong declaration was apparently the respon-
sibility of local president Joel Block, who had lob-
bied long and hard against the University's final pro-
posal on wages. Wherever one went on the picket
line, that was what one heard about from the strik-
ers - money.
While the University scrambled to meet the crunch
- recruiting students to take the place of striking
service workers, dispatching supervisors to drive
trucks, and trying to cope with dwindling food sup-
plies and growing piles of garbage - bargainers from
both sides were just sitting tight. Only yesterday did
word come that negotiations were to resume, finally,
on Tuesday.
-Amidst the hubbub were some ugly clashes be-
tween police and picketers, particularly at East Quad,
where many students were joining the strikers' ranks.
There were guidelines, yes - police were supposed
to act with restraint and picketers were directed to
"maintain the discipline of the line" and to refrain
from any sort of fighting. But police had also been
directed to ensure that University people could get
into University buildings - a legitimate right - and
a few apparently got carried away with their mission.
Police Chief Walter Krasny said the cops weren't the
only people pushing and jabbing, and Mayor Al Wheel-
er came over to try to settle things down.
Wheeler and City Council members heard complaints
from strikers at a City Hall session Thursday night,
and on Friday, Wheeler had some of the officers in
question taken off picket line duty.
Where was it all to end, and when? No one was
saying; indeed, even negotiators seemed baffled about
how the dispute may be settled. The parties are far
apart on the wage issue, and it may not be settled
before we all go home for spring break this week-
end. Meanwhile, the pickets trudge on, and the Uni-
versity staggers.
* * *
the regulars win
THERE WERE no surprises in Monday's city election
primary. Party regulars went home with all the
winnings, and city voters kept the turnout at the polls
to a minimum. How much more predictable could an
Ann Arbor city election be?
Primaries for the April 4 general election were held
in the First, Second and Fifth Wards. In the First
Ward Democratic primary, Ken Latta gave maverick
Zane Olukalns a handy 351-226 lashing.
Olukalns took the loss lightly, but the winner
made a rather scared statement following the election.
"I hope Zane's organization is true to what they said
her will support me," he cautioned. "Otherwise, they
aren't really Democrats."
Second Ward Republican Allen Reiner trounced
Richard "Dr. Diag" Robinson, 112-49. "I'm not sur-
prised," said Reiner, "but I'm happy. Anything could
have happened." Indeed, anything could have happen-
ed. Robinson had acquired a devoted Diag constituency
during the campaign weeks, and had he encouraged
but 60 more of them to grant him support with their
votes, he could have taken the race from Reiner. But
as history has shown, the student vote in Ann Arbor is
less than dependable.
In the Fifth Ward, Judith Hanks beat Kenneth Lud-
wig 367-70 in that Democratic tee-off. Hanks was fac-
ing the stiffest battle of all the primary contenders,
and registered glee when informed of her win.
"I had been very anxious about this election,"
Hanks said. "I was really grateful for this victory."
With the primaries now completed, the election
season limelight turns to the mayor's race. Incum-
bent Albert Wheeler has pledged to fight Republican
opponent Councilman Robert Henry (Fourth Ward)
tooth and nail for the retention of his City Hall seat,
but recent events have pulled Wheeler off the cam-
paign trail.

BACK

THE WEEK IN REVIEW


Wheeler, because of the AFSCME strike, has been
pulled into a tug of war with city police. Called in to
control picket lines, police officers have engaged in
some questionable physical aggression and drawn heat-
ed response from the union, student pickets, and the
mayor. Wheeler, expressing sympathy for the 'strikers,
has threatened to pull police offenders under the rug.
Meanwhile, his GOP opponent is holding a $10-a-
head-danish-and-coffee campaign breakfasts and lavish
kick-off cocktail parties.
While Wheeler's intervention in the AFSCME strike
will undoubtedly win the hearts of the students, there
is no guarantee that he'll win their votes. They rarely
crowd the polling places to give their thanks.
If Wheeler hopes to stay on, he had better stage
a little kick-off of his own. He doesn't have preferential
voting to fall back on this time.
* ~* *

The ULP hearing was originally scheduled for Feb.
2, but just at it was to begin, GEO made a new offer,
and both sides ag'eed to an adjournment to' "study
the matter".
The proposal was essentially the same as the one
proposed by the University on Nov. 18, but GEO con-
tended that its wording was less incriminating.
The administration pulled a surprise, and rejected the
offer, saying, "We've spent all this time and money
in preparation to challenge their status as employes,
and now we're going to go through with it."
The MERC judge who presided over Wednesday's
hearing won't hand down a decision for three to five
months. After that, the matter can be appealed as far
as the Michigan Supreme Court, and that could drag
the case out for several years. Both sides have in-
dicated a strong interest in appeals.
*' * *

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V5O M6u

bust it or bust

Amin antics

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W~V/LtAAh w4f dU
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THE GRADUATE EMPLOYE'S Organization (GEO)
and the University were at it again this week,
this time at a hearing before the Michigan Employ-
ment Relations Commission (MERC) on Wednesday.
While the union charged the University with com-
mitting an unfair labor practice"(ULP), the admin-
istration challenged the union's right to make that
charge by asserting that graduate student assistants
aren't employes.I
The whole legal mess began on Nov. 18, when it
appeared that the contract was settled. In fact, the
parties were in agreement on every item but one -
the clause determing who is covered by the contract.
GEO had (and still has) two grievances pending
on this clause from 1975. The University refused to
sign a contract containing wording that was already
being challenged, and gave union bargainers an ulti-
matum - drop the two grievances and sign a memo
agreeing not to refile them at some future date.
GEO said the memo also implied that the union had
filed the- grievances "knowingly in bad faith," and re-
fused to sign. Union leaders claimed that the clause was
a non-mandatory bargaining issue, and that the con-
tract should be signed while the two sides haggled over
the disputed clause. The University refused, and GEO
filed the ULP.

The hulking Ugandan dictator. struck a finny
bone in all of us when he claimed that many Scots
considered him their king. And not many reacted with
more than a chuckle when Amin nominated himself
for the position of U.S. King. But there is no comic re-
lief to be found in his latest official pronouncement. He
has ordered all Americans residing in Uganda to meet
with him tomorrow and has forbidden any of them to
flea the country before then. Amin has charged that
5000 U.S. Marines are massed off Africa. Furthermore,
Amin protests, President Carter has issued "false"
comments on Uganda.
To round out a day of irrationality, Amin, then
sent Carter a telegram expressing greetings "to all
Americans both white and black", adding that he would
like to visit the president soon "in the White House".
The telegram wasn't a purely friendly gesture, how-
ever. Of the troops whom Amin claims the U.S. has
sent to Africa to rescue Americans in the landlocked
nation, he said: "Our forces are ready to crush the
Marines."
It's not clear what exactly it is that Amin plans to
do. It rarely is. What is clear, however, is that the
lives of approximately 200 Americans are in danger.

DI AMIN is not funny any nore.


I

a2td dt4&AL-&Z

1


Letters

to

the Daily

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Editorial Staff

ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
- Editors-in-Chief

JIM TOBIN

KEN PARSIGIAN..............Editorial Director
LOIS JOSIMOVICH ................. Arts Editor
JAY LEVIN.............. . ....Managing Editor
GEORGE LOBSENZ ... , ........ Managing Editor
MIKE NORTON .. Managing Editor
MARGARET YAO ........ ..... Managing Editor
SUSAN ADES ELAINE FLETCHER
Magazine Editors
SrAIT WIUTERS: Owen Barr, Susan Barry,
"Brian Bianchard, Michael Beckman, Phillip
Bokovoy, Linda Brenners, Loi Carruthersa, Ken
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er, David Goodman, Marnie Heyn, Robb Halm-
es, Michael Jones, I ni Jordan, Janet Klein,
(Jregg Kruppa, Steve Kursman, Dobilas Matu-
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ler, Patti Monte nurri, Tom O'Connell, Jon
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Potter, Martha Retalck, Keith Richburg, Bob
Rorenbaum. Dennis Sabo, Annmarie Schiavi,
Ekizabeth Slowik, Tom Stevens, Jim Stimpson,
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Warner, Shelley wison, Mike Yellin, Laurie
Ycung and Barb calks,

'~4tp7 ~THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
DIST flDDNEWSPAP'ERSYND.CAfl. ,7
Sports Staff
KATHY HENNEGHAN............. Sports Editor
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Contributing Editors
JOHN NIEMEYER and ENID GOLDMAN
NIGHT EDITORS: Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel-
hardt, Rick Maddock, Bob Miller, Patrick Rode,
Cub Schwartz.
ASST. NIGHT EDITORS: Jeff Frank, Cindy Gat-
ziolis, Mike Halpin, Brian Martin, Brian Miller,'
Dave Renbarger, Errol Shifman and Jimie Tur-
ner
BAusness Staff
!)IPORAH DREYFUSS.... Business Manager
KArHLEEN MULHERN Ass't. Adv. Coordinator
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C 4SIE ST. CLAIR .. Circulation Manager
BETH STRATFORD ... Circulation Director
Photcgrafihy Staff
PAiTLINE LUBENS .. .... Chief Photographer
ALAN BILINSKY............... Picture Editor
BRAT) BENJAMIN...... .... Staf Photographer
ANDY FREEBERG ., . .... Staff Photographer
CHRISTINA SCHNTIDVR ... Staff Photos-, her

Bakke case
To the Daily:
Here isa footnote of some in-
terest on your Associated Press
story (23 Feb. '77) on the Su-
preme Court's decision to give
full review to the Bakke case-
the problem of compensatory
racial preference.
In that report some comment
is made about a similar admis-
sions system giving preference
by race, at the University of
Washington Law School. That
earlier case (DeFunis) was ul-,
timately held moot by the U.S.
Supreme Court, although Jus-
tice Douglas, dissenting, submit-
ted a long opinion clearly indi-
cating that, in his judgment,
racial preference is indeed un-
constitutional, however laudable
its intentions.
Your report q u o t e s Justice
Douglas, responding to those
who hold such a preferential
system to be "benign," as say-
ing that it was "certainly not
benign with respect to the non-
minorities who are displaced by
it."
In fact Justice Douglas did
say nearly this. He was then
quoting, 'with warm approval,
the opinion of the majority of
the Washington Supreme Court
in that case which - although
finding the special admissions
system acceptable-did honestly
e. AA _ - --,- .r ,.,L

in the argument between Bakke
and the University of California
now to ensue,-the fact that such
benignity was denied even by a
high court favoring such sys-
tems is a small point worth
noting.
-Carl Cohen
Feb. 25
Half-Way Inn
To the. Daily:
Once again, a bureaucrat has
squelched an educational pro-
gram solely on his political be-
liefs. Once again, the University
of Michigan has chosen to sub-
vert its own goals of freedom of
t h o u g h t and academic excel-
lence.
It is a well-know' fact that
John Feldkamp and the Housing
Office have'continually tried to
suppress the innovative learning
situation at the Residental Col-
lege. On Feb. 25, 1977 Housing
Director John Feldkamp and
(Central Campus Dorm Direc-
tor) Norm Snusted ordered the
Half-Way Inn of the Residential
College closed. The Half-Way
Inn was treated as a "snack
bar." The Half-Way is niot only
a "snack bar" and never has
been one. It is an integral part
of the educational program of
the Residential College; it func-
tions as a place that stimulates
close faculty-/ student relation-
cir . A oii hv-AIa ir--n T

Or did he do it as a personal
vendetta aaginst AFSCME work-
ers who purchased coffee in the
IHalf-Way before and during the
strike activities? Or was it a
personal crack-down against the
individual students who chose to
assist AFSCME w o r k e r s in
srtkie activities in the loading
dock just outside the entrance
to the Half-Way Inn?
This action is illogical and
anti-educational. Worse yet, it
is a form of political suppres-
sion which smacks - of authori-
tarian control. Officials of the
University s h o u 1 d not allow
their personal political opinions
to distort and interfere with
day-to-day decisions. They have
wronged thi seducational com-
munity and all the students who
benefit from the Half-Way Inn.
We demand that the Half-Way
Inn (which never has employed
AFSCME workers) be reopened
with full food services. With
anything else, we might as well
hand over the entire Univer-
sity's academic curriculum to
the power of the Housing Office.
-Mo Paskin
RC student
-Ed Egnatios
RC lecturer
poor taste poster
To the Daily:
As film enthusiasts and long-
.. , . _- n __ . -. .

ous, it is still in extremely poor which GEO became the union
taste. Whatever attention - get- representing Graduate Student
ting value a dead cat provides Assistants (GSAs). The relevant
is surely offset by the insensi- precedent is not :the Stanford
tivity and callousness of those case but a 1973 Michigan Su-
who would exploit their utffor- preme Court decision upholding
tunate fellow creatures. the University of Michigan in-
In good conscience we cannot terns' right to unionize as em-
support this year's Ann Arbor ployees., In that legal struggle,
Film Festival. We hope the the University spent thousands
sponsors, Joseph Wehrer and of hard-earned taxpayers' dol-
George Manupelli, will retract lars in a losing -fight to bust the
the objectionable poster and find interns' union. ' The Michigan
a more tasteful means to pub- Supreme Court then ruled that
licize this event. "No exception is made for peo-
-Gregory Smith ple who have a dual status of
-Carolyn Smith student and employees. If the
legislature had intended to ex-
clude students/employees from
GEO the operation of PERA, they
could have written such an ex-
o I applaud the Daily for be-ception into the law.
Iatladenizigth Datyhfrnb- More recently (January 1976)
latedly recogmnizg that the Un- MERC ruled that student em-
versity administration is out to ployees at Michigan State "are
bust the Graduation Employees employees within the meaning
Organization (GEO). However, of PERA, even though their
your editorial Tuesday incor- principal vocation is that of a
rectly repeated one piece of ad- student."
ministration propaganda - your Thus, the University really
statement that the University does not have precedent on its
has precedent on its side, in ref- side with MERC consistently
erence to the ruling that "teach- upholding the student employ-
ing assistants" at Stanford were ees' right to unionize. For MERC
students rather than employees, now to decide that GSAs are
In fact, the Stanforddecision not employees would violhte its
involved research assistants, not own record. Certain recent,
teaching assistants, in the phy- cases suggest that the Michi-
sics department there. The rul- gan. Supreme Court can take
ing was made by the National into account NLRI3 decisions,
Labor Relations Board (NLRB), but is is not bound to do so,

Contact your reps
Sen. Donald Rieil (Dne '..1205 Dirksen R dm. W.ashing-