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. . .?