The ichi n D 11 YVol. LXXXIX, No. 12-S
TheMicigan DalyN
lU Thursday, May 17, 1979
Sixteen Pages
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ten Cents
Soviets may exploit U.S., Saudi relations
MOSCOW (AP)-The Soviet Union will make every
effort to exploit the rift in delicate relations between
Saudi Arabia and the United States, Western analysts
here say.
According to diplomatic sources, the Soviets-who
have no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia-have
been in contact with the Saudis recently through third
parties, said to be Morocco and the Palestine
Liberation Organization.
Direct contacts reportedly have been made by the
two nations in European capitals, but the exact nature
of these contacts is not known.
MIDDLE EAST rumors that Soviet-Saudi relations
might be resumed seemed more substantial recently
folowing strong Saudi opposition to the Egyptian-
Israeli peace pact and U.S. intelligence reports on a
supposed split inside the Arabian kingdom's ruling
family.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Fahd gave an upbeat
comment on the Soviet Union in an interview this week
with the Paris newspaper Le Monde.
"We are aware of the important role played by the
Soviet Union in international politics and we ap-
preciate that this role sustains the just demands of the
Arabs," Fahd said.
"I DON'T THINK that it is necessarily correct to in-
terpret the absence of the diplomatic relations between
two countries as a sign of hostility," Fahd said.
"Regarding the restablishment of diplomatic
relations, that is a question which will be settled in
view of subsequent events."
See SOVIETS, Page 2
Government urges
U.S. judge to reject
wage-price
WASHINGTON (AP)-The govern-
ment urged a federal judge yesterday
to reject the first direct challenge to
President Carter's wage-price
guidelines, saying the administration
needs powerful tools to fight inflation.
But an unusual coalition of labor
leaders and Republican congressper-
sons argued that Carter is wielding a
club in violation of the law to enforce
his anti-inflation effort.
THE TWO SIDES squared off at a
hearing before U.S. District Judge
challenge
Barrington Parker, who must decide
whether the president has overstepped
his authority in threatening to deny
large federal contracts to companies
found in violation of his guidelines.
A ruling in favor of the coalition-the
AFL-CIO, nine member unions and 24
GOP congressmen-would not overturn
the anti-inflation program. But it would
strip the administration of a principal
weapon of enforcement.
See WAGE-PRICE, Page 5
VICE-PRESIDENT of Student Services Henry Johnson helps blindfolded Torn
Easthope, assistant vice-president of Student Services, conduct an experiment
to determine the metabolic rate of a mouse. Jim Mitchell, a blind graduate
student, directed the special experiment as part of National Handicapped Aware-
ness Week (May 13-19).
'Blind' 'U' experimenters
rea lize capa bilities in lab
By PATRICIA HAGEN
Science courses at the University
are usually considered quite
demanding - even without the ad-
ded challenge of a physical han-
dicap. But a group of five blin-
dfolded faculty members and ad-
ministrators discovered yesterday
that blindness need not be an insur-
mountable disability in a laboratory.
The temporarily "blinded" volun-
teers conducted an experiment to
determine the metabolic rate of a
white mouse as part of an attitudinal
awareness activity planned by the
Disabled Student Services Office.
The activity was organized in con-
nection with National Handicapped
Awareness Week (May 13-19? by
Jim Mitchell, a graduate student in
experimental biology.
MITCHELL IS legally blind but he
directed the rather apprehensive
volunteers through the physiology
experiment at the C.C. Little
Building. Despite his genetic sight
loss, Mitchell currently is working
on complex bio-chemical ex-
periments, with the aid of a reader.
The goal of yesterday's activity
was to demonstrate that a blind
student can participate
academically on the same level as
his sighted peers - although he may
have to develop unconventional
study methods. These techniques
can result in attitudinal barriers
which may place restrictions on the
handicapped person's grades in a
course.
The subjects in, the experiment
were asked to put on blindfolds and
were led into a laboratory where
See U', Page 2
Carter poses plans to
ease Calif. gas crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) - President tage of four per cent to five per cent
Carter, saying no illegal oil industry ac- below projected demand.
tivity has been tied to the California Carter said in a White House press
energy crunch, offered proposals room announcement that "we have not
yesterday that an adviser said could cut found any evidence of collusion or
the state's gasoline shortage by 50,000 illegalities among the oil companies."
gallons a day. According to Brown and White House
Carter also said he had asked the officials, the president told the Califor-
Justice Department to launch an in-
vestigation to make sure oil companies See CARTER, Page 2
are not illegally withholding oil from
the market to await higher prices. O ffieials 1
IN A REPORT prepared by the U1L
Department of Energy, Carter recom-
mended increased monitoring of oil in- "*"
dustry activities, relaxed environmen- in crease in
tal standards, and stricter enforcement
of the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, "
among other proposals. failure rat
Gov. Edmund Brown Jr. of California
flew to Washington to plead his
gasoine-starved state's case at a White on b ar
House meeting with political overtones .O e R
for the two potential rivals for the 1980 BY VICKI HENDERSON
Democratic presidential nomination. Nearly half of the law students in
Following the meeting, Carter told Michigan who took the February state
reporters his proposals, along with a law bar exam failed it, a state official
change in gasoline allocation rules,
"will have a beneficial effect" in sd yestsrsty. But, rtoDe
dealing with California's gasoline shor- nis Donohue, Assistant Secretary to the
dag C'.Board of Law Examiners, the relative
"IT WOULD be safe to say we hope difficulty of the test was not a factor in
the worst is over" in terms of a national the unusual number of failures.
gasoline crunch, Energy Secretary Although a larger percentage of
James Schlesinger told the reporters . University Law School graduates failed
after Carter spoke. He predicted a shor- See OFFICIALS, Page 5