94C £iitygan Da Bu
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
UAW
Friday, October 3, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
OK, HERE'S YOUR TECHNICIAN'S
UNIFORM FOR MONITORING THE
MIDEAST CEASEFIRE.
WITH IT, YOU'LL BECOME A
PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERRENT.
OR A HANDY TARGET.
A 4/l
LI
J>2°.
/
47-Ii
-_ _
THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
Field Ne sp r Syndatl e 1975
Hoffa probe insufficient
To The Daily:
I WAS ONE of the people
elected to the UAW 2001 Bar-
gaining Committee last Novem-
ber, and remained an active
member of the Committee un-
til just after the ratification
meeting last June. At the gen-
eraltmembership meetingaof
September 28, comments and
allegations were exchanged be-
tween Jane Gould, former Bar-
gaining Committee member,
present Bargaining Committee
members, and UAW Interna-
tional Representatives regard-
ing, among other things, bylaws
and contract negotiation discus-
sions.
Since I was present at every
meeting of the Bargaining
Committee through June, per-
haps my observations will help
clarify some of the conflicting
statements that have been made
recently.
1) The bylaws (first a set of
temporary bylaws, and then
permanent bylaws) were in-
deed written by UAW Interna-
tional Representative Clarence
Contratto for the Bargaining
Committee's consideration.
2) The Bargaining Commit-
tee was told by the Internation-
al Representatives that these
were to be kept strictly confi-
dential, until presented in final
form to the membership.
3) IT IS TRUE that the Inter-
national Constitution provides
for a posting of notice of an
election at least 7 days prior to
the election; thus the delay in
electing a bylaws committee at
the September 28 membership
meeting. However, at the post-
ing of the original election for
the Bargaining Committee,
there was no mention that this
would be a dual Bylaws / Bar-
gaining Committee, but would
be an election for a Bargaining
Committee. In fact, I was as-
tonished as the months went by
at the scope of activities we be-
gan to assume as the "only
elected representatives" of the
local. Thus, as I see it, the
nresent Bargaining Committee
is no more entitled to compose
a bylaws committee than any
other group whose election had
not been given the proper 7-
dav notice.
4) With the hindsight I now
have, it is clear to me that the
electedBargaining Committee,
however valiant we may have
deemed our goals and respon-
sibilities, was merely meant to
be a rubber stamp for the true
negotiators of our contract, the
International Representatives of
the UAW. This was made espe-
cially evident in the "down to
the wire" negotiations, where
the initial monetary demands
were discussed in informal ses-
sions, behind closed doors, be-
tween the International Repre-
sentatives and the University's
chief negotiators. Our main use-
fulness was in clarifying to
them specifics about various as-
pects of being a clerical at the
University of Michigan. Per-
haps this is true with all union
bargaining committees; I can
only speak from experience
with this one.
THIS ENTIRE EXPERI-
ENCE has been disillusioning,
to say the least. I am not align-
ed politically, nor do I desire
to become involved with any
group engaging in the power
struggle presently being waged
in our union. (Neither faction
appears to be a bastion of de-
mocracy, as each would have
one believe.) In fact, I don't
really feel that this sort of dis-
cussion belongs in the news-
paper, but since it seems to be
the main forum being used at
present, I am forced to use it
also. I merely felt compelled by
recent happenings to add one
more perspective to the discus-
sion.
Nancy Scarbro
Sept. 30, 1975
Letters
HRP
To The Daily:
I HAVE A few comments
about the Daily's editorial on
the CDRS controversy (Mich.
Daily, Sept. 24, 1975).
My first observation is that
the author of the editorial is ob-
viously aligned with the Demo-
cratic party. This works to the
detriment of a factual analysis
and leads to what, in my opin-
ion, amounts to a tremendous-
ly confused editorial relying on
inflammatory rhetoric at the
expense of reason.
THE EDITORIAL displayed
a number of inaccuracies in its
presentation of the developing
situation:
1.) The amendments to the
original CDRS committee re-
commendation were ont auth-
ored by the GOP as the Daily
stated, but by HRP's city com-
mittee. HRP went to the Re-
publicans for support only after
a Democratic council member
and the Mayor had indicated
their intransigency about con-
sidering HRP proposals.
2. The Daily ignored the fact
that HRP presented another al-
ternative to Council before turn-
ing to a coalition with the Re-
publicans. That proposal called
for $1 million immediate fund-
ing for social services; this was
clearly the goal of all HRP ac-
tions.
3. In the light of the preced-
ing facts, the Daily's attempt to
create the appearance of HRP
"selling out" to a Republican
initiative is, to be polite, very
poor journalism.
4. The Daily believes the
amended proposal would bene-
fit a "well-to-do-minority" cit-
ing an allocation for road pav-
ing in the Arrowwood Hills
area. Besides the fact that a
low income co-op is located
there, this ignores the fact that
the proposals are targeted for
low and middle income areas of
the city.
5. The Daily chooses to blame
the whole controversy on some
kind of "vendetta" by HRP.
Raising up the issue of recall
as an HRP initiative shows no
sense of reality. Recall is be-
ing used as a promotional stunt
by the Republicans for their
drive to repeal preferential
voting for mayor. (PV was put
on the ballot through the ef-
fortsrofrHRP and resulted in
the narrow victory of Wheeler
over Stephenson by HRP sec-
ond choice votes.) Again, the
Daily guesses or fabricates mo-
tives forbHRP's actions that
have no base in fact.
THE DAILY GOES on to say
how it really objects to every-
body's plan but it will put its
trust in the Democrats. The
Democrats, however, don't want
to spend that much on social
services now. Instead, they
want to impound most of the
money for about six months un-
til a new committee appointed
by the Mayor can decide to fund
a new city department of Hu-
man Services. The danger of
such a department usurping lo-
cal organization self control is
very real, not to mention the
possibilities fortpartisan fund-
ing policies.
To top it all off The Daily
maintains that the Democrats
and HRP have human service
priorities that are "substant-
ially the same." This, of course,
overlooks the fact that they
are really much different.
I SHOULD REMIND The
Daily that the Democrats will
need six votes for any further
action: they have only five. I
hope that for the sake of the
community they show a bit
more willingness to compro-
mise; we need strong fundinng
for social services now!
I also hope that The Daily
will get its head together .on
city issies someday.
William Wilcox
Sept. 26
to
smokers
1 nl
r-Fol'_ .
To The Daily:
ONE OF YOUR editorials on
Sept. 23 reported that when I
was asked to separate smokers
from non-smokers in History
332, "Livesay didn't say it was
a bad idea," but said, "He
didn't know how to manage it in
crowded Modern Language Au-
ditorium 4." In fact, I did say
that I thought it was a bad idea,
and that I wouldn't do it. If I
wanted to, I'd know how to
manage it all right. I'd just put
all the offensive people in the
back (as a Southerner that solu-
tion has a familiar ring), or I'd
just banish all smokers, thus
creating a raucher frei environ-
ment where all us pure folk (I
don't smoke myself) could bask
untroubled by the sight of the
wicked.
On the other hand, if I were
going to be dictatorial, I don't
think I'd waste my powers on
an issue that doesn't interest
me. Smokers don't bother me,
but on the other hand, it might
be worthwhile rearranging the
class according to my preju-
dices. For example, I could put
all the people who sleep in the
left front where I could throw
chalk at them. Those who read
books, magazines, other course
work, and wonder upon wonders
now and then the Michigan
Daily, I could move front right
so that while lecturing I could
do research for a scholarly ar-
ticle, something like "A Re-
gressed Subcernation Sample of
the Reading Tastes of Under-
graduates at a Typical Midwest-
ern University." Students who
make faces at me - register-
ing shock, horror, boredom, dis-
belief as I rave on - could be
put in the back and TA'd by
Speech Dept. types.
BUT I RAMBLE ON, and my
prejudices are too many and
too conflicting to be imple-
mented easily. Anyway, you'll
get your marching orders soon
enough from Law School Ad-
missions Officers and from
GM's Personnel Department. I
don't think I'll give anv. Be-
sides, as a non-smoker. I'm sat-
isfid with my moral super-
iority and ereater life ewet-
nnev. I don't feel any need to
tran'late that into a nolicy that
shuffles bodies arond at plea-
sure. I think I'll leave that to
the airnort security guards.
Harold Livesay
Assoc. Prof., History
Sept. 25
SGC
To The Daily:
IN SPITE OF ALL their rhe-
toric, President Debra Good-
man and her Student Govern-
ment Council (SGC) are severe-
Iv restricting the easiest form
of student participation, which
is speaking at the SGC meet-
ings. Goodman allows absolute-
lv no constituent to speak on
any issue while it is being de-
bated and voted on by the Coun-
cil. Incredible. I tried to ask a
onestion at this week's regular
SGC meeting, but Vice Presi-
dent David Mitchell whisered
to me, "Constituents can't
sneak!" Goodman continued
to ignore me until I said ont
loud, "Can't I speak?" and
she renlied with a quick but
sharp "no."
There was a motion before
council to recognize as student
organizations a list that includ-
ed Anthroposophical Student
Association, Committee to Up-
hold the Fort Meigs Treaty,
Jumbling Bugglers, and Mad
Hatter's Tea Party; all I want-
ed was to ask about the valid-
ity of these groups and how
_uaii
)Y
many members they claimed
to have. (Council approved the
groups as student organiza-
tions unanimously.) While I was
an SGC member and SGC's Co-
ordinating Vice President dur-
ing the past two years, Council
had many problems but at least
we always allowed students to
participate in debate and ex-
press their opinions.
CONSTITUENTS
ARE ALSO always allowed to
speak at 9:00 during the SGC
meeting, but constituent's time
was ironically left off the agen-
da this week. Even though some
SGC members wanted to delay
constituents time, the Council
finally did allow the few con-
stituents tospeak. I always had
believed that "constituent's
time" was just that. But anoth-
er of this Council's new "re-
forms" is to restrict every con-
stituent to just five minutes!
In the past, SGC had no time
limit, even though we some-
times rushed a speaker if he
was repeating himself. We on
SGC at the time felt that the
students paid a mandatory fee
of $1.50 to SGC every year,
and therefore deserved the op-
portunity to say whatever they
wanted to to their student rep-
resentatives, But Goodman and
the Council act like constitu-
ents are "outsiders."
Recently during constituent's
time, ex-SGC member Greg
Higby spent one minute asking
a question, followed by a three
minute answer by SGC's treas-
urer, and then a minute com-
ment by Higby. Goodman did
not listen to a word Higby said,
since she was so intently star-
ing at her watch to make sure
that Higby did not use ip one
second too much of SGC's pre-
cious time. Sure enough, after
five minutes had elapsed, Good-
man yelped, "Time's tm!" -
rieht in the middle of Hiebtv's
sentence! Nice manners, huh?
Goodman is obviously a strong
candidate for an Emily Post
Award. Goodman did not seem
to be interested at all in what
Hinbv was saving, in suite of .
the fact that HigbV has more
exnerience in student govern-
ment than all the cirrent me n-
hers combined, and he just
might have had something im-
portant to say. We will never
know. Unfortunately, SGC needs
all the help it can get, and can
ill-afford to discourage it. Good-
man should remember that she
is nresident of the student body
and not some self-annointed dic-
tator.
0
tapes
ceeded to mute any of or all of
the 35,000 students at this uni-
versity at their meetings. Not
bad, considering the short time
they. have been in office. It
kind of makes you think - and
scared. (In fact, after being
elected last May, Goodman was
away in California for the en-
tire spring / summer semes-
ter. Did anybody notice in any
of Goodman's pieces of cam-
paign literature that she plan-
ned to miss one-third of her
term, even though SGC is a
year-round operation?) In a
"Daily" article, Goodman wrote
"Whether you want to get in-
volved or just ask questions,
come and talk to us anytime."
What baloney! Try Thursday
night at 7:00. Just attempt to
speak on any issue or talk
longer than five minutes - and
I mean one second longer than
five minutes -- at constituent's
time. Another problem is that
some of the Council always get
suddenly thirsty or have to go
to the john when it is constitu-
ent's time.
FOR THE ONE-THIRD of
the student body that is in
LS&A, they have their own
relatively strong LS&A Student
Government. As a newly elect-
ed member, I know that LS&A-
SG is more than willing to have
its constituents contribute to its
debates ,and- to offer their
thoughts and ideas. For the
other two-thirds of the student
body, it is a shame they will
have difficulty getting their
views heard. A real shame.
David Faye
Oct. 2
JN WHAT COULD be deemed an
amazing about face from recent
behavior, the FBI is being raked over
the coals for their apparent reluct-
ance to become involved in the Hoffa
case. From the very beginning of the
case, there has been a gross lack of
federal involvement in the case.
When Hoffa was first discovered
missing, the local authorities handled
the entire investigation by them-
selves.
This is not to imply that they were
in any way negligent in their hand-
ling of the case, but the total re-
sources of the Bloomfield Township
police department can not compare
to those of Clarence's commandoes.
Why hasn't the FBI launched a full
scale investigation of Hoffa's dis-
appearance?
When the case first broke, they
claimed that they couldn't enter the
case until they had a strong sushi-
cion that federal law had been brok-
en. According to what we have heard
from the Senate investigating com-
mittee, that hasn't stopped them
before. So why now?
AMWAY, BY THE time that they
did enter the case, the guilty par-
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Gordon Atcheson, Steve Hersh,
Lois Josimovich, George Lobsenz,
Cheryl Pilate, Stephen Selbst, Curt
Smith
Editorial Page: Michael Beckman, Paul
Hoskins, Robert Miller, Tom Stevens
Arts Page: David Weinberg
Photo Technician: Ken Fink
ties had had time to cover their
tracks and the momentum for solv-
ing it had dissolved. Not only had
they had a chance to cover their
tracks, but it appears that they
planted a set of new ones to throw
the authorities off the trail com-
pletely.
Or at least that's the impression
we get from the recent Jackson dis-
closures, which weren't disclosed un-
til .almost two weeks after he had
received the tips. This has the FBI
hoppinng mad at Jackson, but it is
really after the fact anyway. The tip
Jackson received from the mob
would have lead him to a corpse. If
the FBI had stayed true to form and
gotten in on the action immediately,
they might have found a live body.
Business Staff
DEBORAH NOVESS
Business Manager
Peter Caplan .................Finance Manager
Robert F. Cerra ............Operations Manager
Beth Friedman................Sales Manager
David Piontkowsky......Advertising Manager
DEPA. MORS. Dan Brinza, Steve LeMire, Rhondi
MAe, Kathy Mulhern, Cassie St. Clair
ASSOC. MORS. David Harlan, Susan Shultz
ASST. MORS. Dave Schwartz
STAFF John Benhow, Colby Bennet, Margie De-
Ford, Elaine Douas, James Dykdema, Nine
Edwards, Debbie Gerrish, Amy Hartman,
Joan Helfman, Karl Jenning, Carolyn Koth-
stein, Jacke Krammer, Anna Kwok, Vicki
May, Susan Smereek, wayne Tsang, Ruth
wolman
SALES Cher Bledsoe, Slyvia Calhoun, Marilyn
Edwards, Steve Wright.
T O M A K E MATTERS
WORSE, another of SGC's "re-
forms" is to allow no motion
to be Made during constituent's
time. I do not say that SGC
should spend hours debating a
motion presented at this time,
but they certainly can simply
accept the motion and just give
it a first reading. But, regret-
tably, this takes common sense
to realize. Council seems so
paranoid of student input at
their meetings that they have
even put in the SGC Compiled
Code that all constituents are,
limitedto five minutes at con-
stituent's time and no motion
may be made by constituepts at
this time.
I devoted my five minutes of
constituent's time to trying to
explain to Council what was
wrong with their fascist-like at-
titude toward input by their
fellow students. I told Council
that they were elected by stu-
dents to represent students, and
that this was difficult enough
without so strictly limiting stu-
dent feedback, of which there
is so little to begin with. I re-
minded SGC that this was a
Student Government Council.
The members suffered from
more than deaf ears. Their re-
sponse: laughter. For some rea-
son, I get a sickening feeling
in my stomach when a govern-
ment begins laughing at a talk
in favor of freedom of speech.
It is so difficult to believe that
SGC meetings are supposed to
be public. SGC member Michael
Harwood said that if a consti-
tuent wants to talk on a mo-
tion, he has the right to tap
a Council member on the shoul-
der and ask the member to
make a motion to allow him to
speak. I guess Harwood believes
this is a lot better and easier
than having a constituent raise
his hand. In fact, Harwood felt
so strongly about his suggestion
that he conveniently did not
mention it when I earlier asked
Goodman in front of Council if I
could speak on a motion. SGC
member Jeff Lark bluntly stat-
ed that a business meeting is
not the place to hear constitu-
ents speak!
THE TURNOUT FOR SGC
meetings has now dwindled
close to zero. Vice President
Mitchell has told me that if con-
stituents were not limited to
five minutes, the Council would
meet until 6 a.m. Mitchell now
To The Daily:
LAST WEEK-END
(Sept. 12th 15th) two video
tapes valued at $150 each were
taken from the Inter-Coopera-
tive Council office in the 4th
floor of the Michigan Union. The
tapes were on the subject of
safety and sanitation in group
housing and were to be shown
last Sunday.
When erased, the tapes have
a small value compared to the
cost we will have to pay the
rental agency to replace the
tapes.
We implore the individual
who took these tapes to return
them at once. Just write our
name on thepackage and leave
them at the main desk of the
Michigan Union.
Our organization is a student,
housing organization trying to
provide decent low cost hous-
ing to students - being ripped
off like this hurts!!!!
,Jim Thomson
ICC President
Sept. 19
clericals
To The Daily:
IT IS TIME for someone to
call, "Point of Information!"
from the floor regarding the
Clericals' Union, Local 2001. It
is my hope that The Daily will
rise to meet the occasion by
printing this letter, rather than
ignoring it as they have others
like it.
It is to the University's advan-
tage to encourage divisiveness
in 2001. The weaker our union
is, the less effectively we can
bargain for better wages and
working conditions. Strong un-
ions cost the U-M money. And
since the University would pass
any increased costs on to the
students through increased tui-
tion, it becomes a matter of con-
cern to students to keep 2001
weak and divided. The student
voice, THE MICHIGAN DAILY,
has become the University ad-
ministration's hatchetman. Its
reportage has further clouded
the confusion that arises in the
establishment of any organiza-
tion. The Daily has chosen to
magnify one small faction into
a full scale causus, complete
with leaders and leaflets -
Quoted extensively by The Daily.
I must accuse The Daily of
biased and inaccurate journal-
ism.
PERHAPS THE Daily will ar-
gue that as a student publica-
tion, staffed by fledgling report-
ers, they may be entitled to
some mistakes. Not so. They
have chosen to deal with a gut
issue for 3,000 eople, and they
have dealt with it extremely
poorly. I repeat, as students,
their motives are, suspect.
I challenge The Daily to give
the other side of the story in the
clerical union matter. I feel that
I am a representative of my
side as well as Carolyn Weeks is
of hers. I invite Elaine Fletch-
er, or any other Daily reporter,
to sit down with me and get the
rest of the story.
Doyle Sharbach
Housing:.L
By LARRY COOPERMAN
ANN ARBOR USED to be a fine town of beau-
tiful, well-cared-for homes as well as rather
grand looking fraternities and sororities in which
many of the University students lived. After
World War II student enrollment began to in-
crease rapidly and new housing had to be found.
Rental housing began to be in demand.
The 60's brought another great increase in
enrollment at the University, the rate of which
is just now beginning to level out. The short sup-
ply of housing made it eminently profitable to
convert the fine old homes into apartment
buildings. In addition, the fraternities and sorori-
ties fell out of favor with the student body and
private concerns bought up these buildings to
convert into more apartments.
NOW, IN 1975, large segments of Ann Arbor,
specifically those areas inhabited by students and
low-income working people, are rapidly deter-
iorating into slum conditions. The landlords who
bought up the housing were far more interested
Dng declin4
prompt maintenance ,etc. For the hundr
dollars that tenants pay for rent and se
deposit, they receive arrogant treatment,
or no maintenance, and annual increasesi
rent.
SO NOW THE once beautiful houses are
bling. Even the modern apartments, which
built out of papier-mache and afford easy
ing to the goings-on next door, are rather
lv deteriorating. Tower Plaza, for example,
large areas of crumbling stone on the ex
For the sake of private profit, the public
has been sacrificed.
The Ann Arbor Tenants Union wantst
verse the trend of deteriorating housing
spiraling rents. Traditionally, legislators o
local and state level have sold out on thei
mises to improve housing and to moderat
exorbitant rents. Therefore, the best hop
Ann Arbor tenants seems to be to or
themselves; by building, by block, by lan
'I'T.TC 't1? QnL'~ AV (1t nF~r f h *L-. ' t',.~
eds of
curity
little
in the
crum-
were
listen-
rapid-
shows
terior.
good
to re-
and
)n the
r pro-
te the
pe for
ganize
dlord.
toT1.
P - - -