The Michigan Daily--Friday, July 20, 1979-Page 3
POSSIBLE OPEN MEETINGS ACT VIOLATIONS
Black English appeal questioned
By ELEONORA DI LISCIA
Members of the Ann Arbor School
Board may be forced to vote again on
whether to appeal the recent Black
English decision, if the school board's
attorney decides the meeting violated
state open meeting laws.
School board president Kathy Dan-
nemiller yesterday claimed the closed
portion of Wednesday night's meeting
was not in accordance with sunshine
laws. But the board's attorney, John
Weaver, said he thought the meeting
was held within the law.
"RATHER THAN make waves, we'll
just have the board take a public vote.
It seems to me very strange that some
people are afraid to have this case ap-
pealed," Weaver said.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles
Joiner ruled that the Ann Arbor school
district within 30 days must develop a
program to identify Black English
speakers among its students and use
that information in teaching Standard
English. The school board decided to
appeal the decisipn Wednesday night.
According to Dannemiller, the school
board violated two sections of the open
meeting law. "In order to call an
executive session, we must vote in
public meeting, and make the decision
open," she said. And, under the sun-
shine act, the deliberations of public
bodies over lawsuits may be held
privately, but final decisions on those
suits must be made in public. Dan-
nemiller also said the school board had
unknowingly violated those provisions
for two years.
ACCORDING TO assistant superin-
tendent Robert Moseley, a change in
the outcome of the vote "is conceivable,
but it's not likely."
Ann Arbor school board member
Donna Wegryn said, "It will be very
difficult to schedule a meeting, since
people will be out of town."
"The decision will probably be dif-
ferent, because two of the prevailing
members who voted for the appeal will
probably be out of town," added Dan-
nemiller.
&I
S W o r d e n W h i te
'U; A2 big factors in
man reaching the moon
Deans await outcome
of upcoming bar test
By SARA ANSPACH
Still confused about the record num-
ber of failures in February's state bar
exam, law school deans and state of-
ficials say toey are "curious" to see the
results of this month's exam which will
be administered to approximately 1,100
students next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Although a comparatively high num-
ber of students who originally flunked
the exam passed on appeal, the failure
rate of the latest bar exam is still the
highest ever in the state.
LAW SCHOOL officials are hesitant
to speculate why so many failed in
February, but they are convinced the
quality of students this year was no dif-
ferent from previous years.
Dennis Donohue, assistant secretary
to the State Board of Law Examiners,
however, says he feels law school deans
may be wrong.
According to Donohue, statistics
show neither the first part of the test
(200 multiple choice questions) nor the
second part (15 essay questions
reviewed by state law examiners) were
more difficult than previous exams.
"WHAT IS left is what happened," he
said. "That's that the students were not
as well prepared. I don't think deans
with the law schools are prepared to
accept that."
University Law School Dean Terran-
ce Sandalow could not be reached for
comment. His office said he was out of
town and did not say when he would
return.
Over the past several years, said
Donohue, mean scores on the bar exam
have been dropping. He also noted that
LSAT (Law School Admisstion Test)
scores, which he called "the most
reliable indicator" of how a student will
do on the bar exam, have declined.
EXCLUDING THE University
because "the U-M Law School gets the
pick of the crop all over the country,"
Donohue said some schools may be
lowering their admissions standards.
Deans of state law schools sharply
disagreed, and some said they felt the
low scores in February were due, at
least in part, to stricter grading by the
law examiners.
"I ran statistics of all our students,"
explained Cooley Law School Dean
Robert Krinock," and "(scores) were
amazingly, surprisingly consistent."
He said a formula which uses grade
point and LSAT scores to determine
how well a student will score on the bar
exam was "quite accurate" until the
exam in February when "the predic-
tors went haywire."
See LAW, Page 10
By TIM YAGLE
Few universities have had as profound
an impact on this country's space pro-
gram as has this one.
From the designing of equipment
used on countless manned and unman-
ned spacecraft to the education of more
than a dozen astronauts, the University
continues to occupy a special place in
the history of the U.S. space program.
TODAY IS THE 10th anniversary of
the first time men from Earth walked
on the moon during the Apollo 11
mission.
The University and Ann Arbor played
a major role in that mission, because
some of the equipment which was seen
on the lunar surface by millions of
people was designed and built in Ann
Arbor by Bendix Aerospace Systems
and University Research Labs.
Jack Lousma, an Ann Arbor Pioneer
High School and University gradaute,
was the commander of the Skylab II
mission and ground commander and
main astronaut communicator for the
Apollo 17 mission.
THE UNIVERSITY'S Aerospace
Engineering department also played an
today
Letthe Regents make one thing
perfectly clear
An attempt to pass a report at yesterday's Regen-
ts' meeting ran into a roadblock when Regent
Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor) said he would not ap-
prove the.report unless an amendment was tacked
on. Despite some Regents' and University Vice-
President Henry Johnson's assertions that the
report already included the intent of the amen-
dment, it passed after the Regents agreed to the
suggestion that if something is stated once, it
doesn't hurt to say it again. Baker even managed to
propose the amendment in "quasi-legalese." It
read: "Student; Legal Services may not defend any
defendent or bring any action for a student under
any circumstances at any time now or in the future,
against the University of Michigan." The action
followed several earlier comments about redun-
dancy as the language of the University.
The price of a guilty conscience
Maybe our past sins do catch up with us. An
elderly, well-dressed man calling himself "John
Doe" left $160 with the startled clerk at the General
See A2, Page 9
Telephone office in Lakewood, Calif., to pay for an
illegal phone extension that had been in his home for
20 years. The man walked up to customer represen-
tative Joan Petersen and asked her how much an
extension rotary phone would have cost 20 years
ago. Petersen estimated 70 cents a month, and "he
started multiplying," she said. Finally, the stranger
pulled out a wad of new $20 bills and said 'I feel this
will cover it,' " Petersen said. "He really came to
unburden his conscience," said spokeswoman
Maggie Hardy, explaining that the company is
"ahead of the game" because searching for the
phone, which wasn't returned, would cost more than
$160.
Crossed wires
If you didn't receive any phone calls yesterday,
don't feel too unloved. A Michigan Bell telephone
repair spokeswoman reported that all numbers
having "66" as the first two digits were out of order.
The spokeswoman said the foul-up, which occurred
shortly after noon, was caused by the failure of of-
fice equipment. She added that most telephones
were expected to be in working order by 6 p.m.
today.
Happenings ...
... are mostly cultural today. The New Musket
Company will show a preview of the original
musical comedy In the Dark at 9 p.m. in the Pen-
dleton Arts Center, Michigan Udion ... Michigan
Repertory '79 continues with Hay Fever, 8 p.m.,
Power Center ... FILMS: Ann Arbor Film Co-
op-Blazing Saddles, 7 p.m., 10:20 p.m., The
Producers, 8:40 p.m., both in MLB, Aud.
3 ... Cinema Guild-Warhol's Trash, 7:30 p.m.,
9:30 p.m., Old Arch Aud.... Ann Arbor Public
Library-The Longest Day, starring Henry Fonda,
Richard Burton, John "The Duke" Wayne, and a
host of others, 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m., free, Main
Library's Meeting Room at Fifth and William
Streets.
On the outside
Our weather forecasters have done it again. Just
decided to leave work and spend the day at the
beach. Their best advice was that everyone should
do the same, since once again We'll see sunny skies
and a high in the low 80s. The low will drop to a com-
fortable 50'. Now where is that suntan lotion. . .?