THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, February 15, 1976 DOES AN L~d £U1 t's Un 1Ug3 advrement interest yO . OFFERS YOU THE CHANCE TO-:- * Work with customers and assisting them in their advertisements. * Experience in ad layout and proof reading. * Work with full classified ad department: con- tracts and short term insertions.I LOOKING BACK CLAY "76" an INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION FEBRUARY 3-29 Union Gallery 1 st floor mich. union C tues-fri 10-6, sat & sun 12-6 764-3234 "RAAACK" "HACKKII " " "COUGH" Amican CuncerSoaiey THE WEEK IN REVIEW LSA deanship THE ADMINISTRATION last week announced that Billy Frye, the able, popular acting dean of the literary college (LSA) will become the perman- nent head of the University's largest school following a March vote of the Regents. The action surprised few ob- servers. Frye had been hand- ling the deanship, albeit with no formal promises for the fu- ture, for over a year. And the University can only hope that the issue which stained its pro- gressive reputation one year ago will now fade away - that the bitter feelings will abate. But underneath the calm fa- cade of the apparent fait ac- compli, there were rumblings that the decision makers who nominated Frye had seriously ignored the qualifications of oth- er candidates, one of the charg- es raised in the handling of the Cobb affair. The divisive deanship first came into the public eye last January when high-level sourc- es told The Daily that Jewel Cobb, the black dean of Con- necticut College would fill the void created when Frank Rhodes was named vice-presi- dent for academic affairs. THE ADMINISTRATION had lined up solidly behind Frye, who was credited with running the college efficiently in the midst of serious budget diffi- culties. So the University stayed silent after the initial report, while behind the scenes, infight- ing raged. When the University finally admitted that Cobb had been selected, UniversitynPresident Robben Fleming and Rhodes were authorized to negotiate with her. The administration first of- fered Cobb a two-year, no-ten- ure contract - tantamount to a slap in the face. The norm for such posts is five years, with tenure. Cobb rejected that offer, and the talks continued. The ad- ministration then offered her the same package again-and once more she refused. THEN, LIKE A chapter in a detective novel, came the next series of quickly-paced events. The Zoology Depart- ment, of which Frye had been a member, decided not to au- thorize tenure for Cobb. { Their decision took a matter of days -- usually such reviews go on for months - and after- wards, the senior scientist in Cobb's field said he hadn't even been consulted on the matter. To Cobb supporters, the stra- tegy looked obvious: the Zoo- logy Department had cynically withheld tenure to support their own candidate, Frye. And Flem- Cobb Frye ing and Rhodes, they were only too happy come about, because selves had backed dean from the very contended, to see this they them- the acting beginning. * Deal w i t h national advertisers, a advertising agencies and national representatives. Whatever interests you, THE DAILY can use your talents 420 MAYNARD CONTRIUUTED BY THE PUE'"R a'_. Join The Daily t x . . J .. ,'. .. . .. . s t ,. . .._ . .: CUIN..G 20-350 OFF Huge selection ! Over 300 skiing, camping and backpacking parkas to choose from. =:r 3150 Carpenter Ann Arbor 971-4310 FINALLY the University with- drew its offer to Cobb, claim- ing that the new dean must be tenured. Earlier, University of- ficials had contended that offer- ing the job without tenure was not unusual. Cobb hadesaid that she was still eager to accept the deanship and would have taken it without tenure if she could have obtained a five-year contract. In mid-Februarythe Regents' called for an investigation of the Cobb affair. In May, the issue flared once more when the report was issued. Generally, the committee which conducted the investiga- tion found that Cobb had been treated shabbily by the Univer- sity. Using strong language the final draft said "Cobb was nev- er accorded the courtesies that generally accompany profession- al negotiations of these sorts." It also branded the hasty ten- Eire review process a sham, and hinted that Fleming and Rhodes might have been less than sin- cere in their negotiation efforts. In May, the Regents voted to appoint a new deanship com- mittee, as recommended by the committee. The committee was instructed to consider without prejudice any past candidates - leaving the way open for the committee to reconsider either Cobb or Frye. FLEMING AND RHODES took to the defensive once again when the report was made pub- lic. They called the document "seriously defective" and took l issue with the conclusions put forth. Basically they maintain- ed that they had acted without prejudice or deception, despite a rising tide of evidence to the contrary. The whole handling of the af- fair caused the University to suffer a serious black eye na- tionally. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was interested in the dealings in Ann Arbor. Both the Chroni- cle of Higher Education and the Washington Post ran stories on the deanship. The new search committee screened 100 candidates from whom ten finalists were chos- en. The finalists included three blacks, three women, and one Spanish-surnaned person. In the end, the competition boiled down to Frye, University Prof. John D'Arms, and University of Penn- sylvania Prof. Phoebe LeBoy. But having three final candi- dates was less of a choice than it appeared. The deck was stacked in Frye's favor. The Regents didn't even interview the final candidates, because, as Regent Paul Brown (D-Petos- key) explained, "Frye was such a strong candidate ... we didn't really feel it was necessary to interview the other candidates." AND KAREN STAHL, the only student on the committee commented, "Although the ad- ministrative pressure was not directly applied, it was there." In the end it was.Rhodes who typified the University's posi- tion all along on the issue when, in response to a reporter's ques- tion he said, "I don't want to be secretive about this, but I won't tell you." -Stephen Selbst MARCEL MARCEAU! 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