YhU rsdayr SEp tember 4, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Paige Three Th~irsday, September 4, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three VVheeler new rnlOayo; PV undecided By ROB MEACHUM A Daily News Analysis There's an old saying: "The more things change, the more they stay the same," and from all indications thus far, City Hall politics haven't changed very much since Democratic Mayor Albert Wheeler squeezed past Republi- can incumbent James Stephenson in last Ap- ril's city-wide election. It was a hotly contested election, one in which a quasi-liberal black was pitted against a younger, relatively conservative Republican veteran. But it took Ann Arbor's unique, but confusing preferential voting (PV) system to put Wheeler over the top. UNDER THE SYSTEM, each voter was giv- en three choices for Mayor. Since no candidate received a majority of the first choice votes, Carol Ernst of the Human Rights Party (HRP) was eliminated and her second choice votes redistributed among Wheeler and Stephenson. Wheeler received approximately 85 per cent of Ernst's second choice votes and it was this redistribution that put him into the Mayor's office. But it also took the help of the courts, as Republican members on the city and county Board of Canvassers refused to issue Wheeler a certificate of election. Suits and counter- suits followed and as a result, the constitu- tionality of preferential voting is now being tested. As this story goes to press, Judge James Fleming has yet to rule on the issue. Republicans in the city are challenging the concept of "one person, one vote," something the United States Supreme Court has said is essential to a democracy. Fleming is a con- servative Republican judge appointed by Gov- ernor William Milliken in an alleged political pay-off - and this fact, in itself, will likely weigh heavily in his decsion. But equally as important is the fact that Stephenson and his Republican cohorts failed to challenge the issue until six months after it was approved by city voters. NEEDLESS TO SAY, it is anyone's guess as to what the outcome will be. It is certain, however, that Wheeler will not be ousted if PV is found unconstitutional. Instead, Ann Arbor will merety revert back to traditional voting methods. Now that Wheeler is squarely situated in office - previous Council members gone and the new ones replacing them - many political observers reluctantly admit that the situation looks surprisingly like an old movie or a re- run on television. Political bickering and power struggles have not ended and City Council is often stalemated because of its 5-S-1 partisan split. Democrats and Republicans can almost never agree on terms, and can almost never agree on compromises. This is not to mention the lone HRP member, Kathy Kozachenko, who, more often than not, lapses into political rhetoric and becomes somewhat ineffective. Wheeler, unfortunately, cannot control her silliness - often banging his gavel to no avail. Stephenson, the arrogant political operator that he was, at least managed to put some di- rection into the highly political body. COUNCIL DEMOCRATS have also been known not to live up to some of their cam- See WHEELER, Page 15 Stephenson Wheeler Open records law reveals academic files to studnts By JEFF SORENSON Last year, students were allowed for the first time by federal law to see previously confidential material from their counsel- ing files, but they were still prohibited from viewing letters of recommendation and parental financial statements. The Educational Rights and Privacy Act, passed last October by Congress, would originally have granted students access to all information contained in their files. But strong opposition from educational institutions forced Congress to amend the bill and allow certain material to remain secret. THE NEW LAW forced the Board of Regents to revise Uni- I versity bylaws on access to files at their December, 1974 meeting. These new bylaws allow student access to counseling records, test scores, and letters of recommendation written after January 1, 1975. Only letters of recommendation written prior to that date "with the knowledge that the contents would remain con- filential" and parental financial statements will remain secret. The previous Regents' policy on student access to files was vague at critical points and left interpretation and the enforce- ment up to the s'chools and colleges. BEFORE LAST December, counselors in all colleges had exclusive access to records, although faculty members could request interpretations of the files, which included a large amount of data inaccessible to the subjects. At best, a student could only request a carefully-edited "summary" of the material. As a result of this vague policy, every school and college had its own approach to the issue of access to records. While PRESIDENT ROBBENI the literary college (LSA) maintained policies which were gen- minority students took o erally in agreement with the new laws, other schools - such as three day they camped law and medicine - were much more restrictive, left with none of their d Although many University officials had expected a "flood" -_ ---- - - up in January, the student reaction, despite considerable at-S tention in the media, was surprising mild. THE FIRST week the files were available, only "several ' f. dozen" students bothered to come in and take a look at themTiinf After it became obvious that the University would not be caused any great administrative inconvenience in the wake of By ELAINE FLETCHE the bylaws, another controversy arose over that portion of the At the start of this t files which still remains secret. numbers of University stui In February, Associate LSA Dean Charles Morris said that will be cramped into three the literary college planned to destroy the letters of recommen- dorm rooms or undesirab dation written before January 1. Morris said that Vice President campus housing because for Academic Affairs Frank Rhodes had told him that the let- series of majorbureauc ters could not be made available to students. blunders within the Unive Housing office, which last s] forced 1200 "losers" in a HOWEVER, since the LSA Administrative Board, which has dence hall lottery into a decision-making authority over literary college counseling of- minute scramble for fall1 fices, had declared earlier that all material in students' files ings outside the dorm syste should be made available to students, Morris said there was no While initially students r option open to the Board except removal of the files in question. over the personal bad luck Nevertheless, Rhodes sharply disagreed and the day after shut them out of the dorms ing what the University cla Morris had announced plans to purge files, Rhodes cancelled was a totally unexpected them and sharply condemned any move to dstroy records. mand for fall space, their a In effect, Rhodes was arguing that the letters of recom- soon turned toward the ad mendation should remain in the files, accessible, to counselors istration when it was rev but not to students. Although the University administration's that the Housing Office kne position as argued by Rhodes was clearly within the law, it is the coming squeeze long b equally clear hat this position represents exactly the sort of atti- before fall room reassin tude that the bill was originally intended to rebuff. March 4th. Still, it must be admitted that considerable progress to- After having insisted that wards opening up secret files at the University has been made never knew the magnitud in the past year. Incoming students may be pleased to know the demand for space," % that they will be allowed to see more of their files than did be so large, John Feldkamp students from any previous year - nevertheless, there is still rector of Housing, finally s d e rts f do m a ny e vi os e r - e ve th e l ess, th e ei s d k n o w led g ed th a t th e in c re a considerable distance left to go before all the counseling records students wanting to retur will be truly open. the dorms in fall was not a Minorities, angered by broken promises O"'occupy Ad.building Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN FLEMING attempts to talk with minorities last February when 250 ver the Administration Building in protest of "broken promises." For out in the plushly carpeted offices of the administration, and then emands resolved. crunched by Housing ireaucratic brouhaha By ROB MEACHUM Just about the time when nearly everyone had given up hopes of renewed campus activism last spring, a series of short, but tumultuous events jolted the University from its relative security- among them, a sit-in at the Administration Building by some 250 minority students. The group, incensed in part over the fact that the University repeatedly failed to live up to its 1970 commitments of increased enrollments of black students, occupied the building for nearly three days. THE TIMING couldn't have been better - the University was staggering as a result of the Graduate Employes Organization (GEO) strike and the administration was in disarray because of the "Cobb affair." University President Rob- ben Fleming was a top contender for the presi- dency of the University of California and budget cutbacks were in the headlines. The students entered the building and vowed not to vacate until an initial set of six demands were met by the Univrsity's Administration. They were: -the recognition of the Third World Coalition Council as the official bargaining team for all minorities; -the immediate reinstatement of Cleopatra Lyons, a black nursing student expelled for al- legedly administering insulin without the prior consent of a doctor; --the establishment of a Chicano cultural center; -the establishment of a full-time Native American advocate; -the establishment of an Asian American ad- vocate; and -total amnesty for all those who participated in the demonstration. The atmosphere during the sit-in was general- ly calm but nevertheless firm. Many of the stu- dents brought sleeping bags and read textbooks to keep up with the work they were missing be- cause of the occupation and the GEO strike. The three-day demonstration was violence-free, save for one brief incident. ALTHOUGH FLEMING agreed to a "fair and adequate" hearing for the nursing student, none of the other demands were met outright by the Administration. Partially because of disorganization and par- tially because of dissention within their ranks, the students received no concrete assurances in regard to these demands. They vacated the building to "better organize" their efforts, and in effect, played directly into the hands of Fleming and other University officials who cor- rectly figured the students would leave if given enough time to get bored. Upon leaving, however, the minorities sub- mitted an additional set of eleven demands. They were: -that there be a four per cent Asian Ameri- can, three per cent Native American, eight per cent Mexican American and 16 per cent Black American student population at the University; -that the Graduate Student Assistants (GSA's) have the same percentages; -that the Administration have the same per- centages; -that the faculty have the same percentages; -that there be a guaranteed financial aid package to all minorities; -that there be a cost-of-living increase in financial aid; -that there be supportive services for all minorities; -that there be an office for recruiters; --that there be individual study units for the various groups; -that there be cultural and resource centers established; and -that there be more minorities on the Uni- versity's Policy Committee. THESE DEMANDS, like the others were not met, and in all probability, will not be met soon. Even Fleming conceded at the time that many of the demands would "come down to a question of money." And with state appropriations dwindling each year, the University will, no doubt, have their excuse for not meeting the enrollment and other demands. R spring phenomenon but part of I Regent James Waters, (D- term, a steady four year rise in dorm Muskegon), Gerald Dunn (D- dents reapplication rates. And The Lansing) and Deane Baker (R- d-man House had finally overflowedh. Ann Arbor) agreed with him. e off-IN THE SAME statement, DUNN LASHED out in re- of a i Feldkamp also claimed "there sponse to Feldkamp saying, were going to be some disap- "Feldkamp is trying to blame pring pointed students in the fall of the Regents or the administra- '75," and he warned the Re- tion while it is due to ineptness elast gents in June of '74 that, "there on his part that the whole thing lodg- was going to be no more Uni- came about." ;md- versity housing space," the fol- Following Dunn's statement, m. lowing fall. Feldkamp on April 14 wavered aged H on his previous claim of inform- S that a ing the Regents, stating that dur- shortage, was one of the key although "Irealtalki he imed things we talked about at that Regen s abou the gen raltorthe de- June meeting." lem" he never did tell them of anger' dmin- ealed ew of efore just 3ents ALTHOUGH REGENT Paul Brown (D-Petoskey) remem- bered that Feldkamp "talked about the housing situation at that June meeting," he, along with other Regents contacted denied any prior warning of the "we crisis. de of "I was not hit over the head would with any sort of prediction that p, Di- we were going to be short of ac- housing next fall, and I wasn't se in aware of the problem until the rn to lottery occurred," commented late Brown. the steady four year rise in stu- dents returning to the dormi- tories. With students repeatedly ask- ing why Feldkamp, along with other members of the housing staff, muffled any warnings of the crunch until long after most satisfactory off-campus housing was already snapped up, Feld- kamp initially claimed that the issue was not broached. "We never knew the magnitude of it - and if the Regents had au- thorized a large rate increase See DORM, Page 15 3200 'U' clericals form union under UAW banner By CATHERINE REUTTER Clericals keep this University from drowning in a sea of paper. From he time you mail in your application until you get 4 f:c 'Jaws' eats up big WU{ocalim cro wds By DAVID WHITING In Ann Arbor, and apparently in every other city through- out the country last summer, thousands of people waited 'w anxiously outside movie houses-not thinking about relief from the heat and the theater's cool insides--abut wondered about the gore they were about to see and the horror they expected to experience. If you don't know what movie these scare-hungry hordes were waiting to see, you were, no doubt, spending the past ? ..xfew months in upper Siberia. THE FILM, of course, is this year's smash-hit thriller, Jaws. Mark Worden, former manager of the State Theater where the film is locally showing, stated in July, "This is a block- buster picture-it is doing better than the Sting which ran for 13 weeks. . . . It has set a record. No movie has come even close to it." "Jaws," he said, "is doing 50 per cent better than any other moive we've ever run." your final bill, secretaries and clerks handle the paperwork. Records, transcripts, and even counseling appointments goes through their hands. Clericals even keep the administrative machinery going in the dorms and at University Hospital. LAST YEAR, the clericals formed union Local 2001 of the United Auto Workers U(AW). They needed the clout that a bargaining agent for 3,200 work- ers could exert. In late September, 1974 they voted on three options: either accept the UAW, go with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes (AFSCME), or refuse to union- ize at all. The ASCME option was rejected decisively. On No- vember 2, the result of a second vote was announced. The UAW unionization option was chosen 1,144 to 920. A bargaining team began to hammer out details of a new contract with the University last winter. By mid-summer,, the negotiating teams were still, hammering. ON JUNE 11, a rainy Wed- nesday, the local's members on the University's three cam-j puses voted overwhelmingly to! ship agreed at that meeting to convene again on a Sunday afternoon to discuss when a walk-out should begin. Jean Jones, chairwoman of the local's bargaining unit, ex- plained that only 1,300 out of the more than 2,000 members had voted because, "between rain and supervisors, many were kept away." THE DATE for the Sunday meeting was set for June 29. As of press time, the clericals were deciding how to vote at that meeting. Deborah Moore- head, a bargaining unit mem- ber, predicted that at the Sun- day meeting the membership would decide whether to opt for a September date or leave the decision in the hands of the lo- cal's leadership. In mid-June, Paul Morris, of the regional UAWsaiid, "Nego- tiations are ina stat! of limbo." Moorehead said, "We notified the University officially of the membership's rejection of their offer, now we're waiting to hear from them." When notified of the Wednes- day vote outcome, Neff said, "I basically expected that. Most unions don't accept the contract at that point." He added, "I'm assuming that the union will contact us in the near future