Page4-Saturday, August 4, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Michigan Daily
Eighty-nine Years of Editoriol Freedom
420 Movnard S A0 noArbor, M 48109
Vol. LXXXIX, No. 59-S News Phone 764
Edied and monoged by students
ot the University of Mirhiqon
Education Dept.:
Dubious benefits
THE PROPOSED Department of Education
is an expensive, cumbersome federal experi-
ment: No one is sure exactly what it will do. But in
the right hands, greased with caution, the
provisional attempt could turn out to be a friend of
higher education.
Blessings for more federal control over
education must be withheld until the experiment
is in progress. More control clearly would strap
the freedom now enjoyed by higher education in-
stitutions, and should not be included in the
proposed department's duties.
Centralized educational programs could prove
to cut the red tape that now faces diverse,
localized, school districts which prepare students
for college. Elementary and secondary education
is of primary importance in urging youngsters to
attend universities, and quality in those areas is
mandatory if the University expects to keep ad-
mitting high caliber students.
If a Department of Education can help local
districts in aiding pupils to realize their
educational goals, it should be implemented
without delay. If it will retard those efforts with
lengthy, complicated regulations stuffed with
loopholes of dubious constitutionality, the
proposed department should be cut down with the
sharpest congressional knife.
Whether or not the department as a whole even-
tually is approved, the amendments tacked onto
the House version should be subjected to the same
knife. The amendments call for a ban on school
busing for racial desegration and the use of racial
and sexual quotas in college admissions, and
allow voluntary prayer in schools. Those amen-
dments are reactionary, involving issues which
have been debated and resolved in the past, and
should be eliminated from any plan for a Depar-
tment of Education.
The question of higher cost of a separate
Cabinet department to deal with eduation has not
been answered adequately. Should the depar-
tment prove worthwhile, obviously the cost would
be justified. But if the cost of additional paper-
work, payroll, and bureaucracy would be footed
by consumers, that is, local school districts,
colleges, and universities, the less expensive Of-
fice of Education in the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, should remain intact.
The jury is still out on the proposed Department
of Education, and is not likely to reach a verdict
until performance can be evaluated. But scrutiny
of the proposal and its potential threat to the
educational freedom so valued in this country is
necessary before the experiment can begin.
SUMMER EDITORIAL STAFF
ELIZABETH SLOWK
JUYRkOSY . .E... ca t ona i e n ,+ e
OSHUA EK .... ....... rsEdto
THE WEEK IN R
Sy Murray:
New horizons
ANN ARBOR City Administra-
tor Sylvester Murray has in-
terviewed for similar jobs in
other towns several times before,
always claiming he was simply
testing his marketability.
Yesterday Murray accepted the-
-city manager post of Cincinnati.
"Cincinnati's gain is Ann Ar-
bor's loss" was a phrase often
repeated around Ann Arbor
yesterday. Murray was lauded as
"able," especially under
pressure, by several of those with
whom he has worked. Murray
caught criticism, however, on the
human rights issue.
Mu rray, a 38-year-old Lincoln
(Pa.) University graduate, was
the only black candidate out of
six considered for the Cincinnati
job. Others in the running in-
cluded city administrators from
Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis,
Minnesota; Portland, Maine;
Winston-Salem, North Carolina;
and the acting city manager of
Cincinnati, Martin Walsh.
Murray faces a serious rift
between Cincinnati police and the
black community. Four blacks
have been shot by police officers
and six police officers have been
shot by blacks in the past few
months. Cincinnati police have
worked without a contract since
January, adding to the fire:
Murray has been credited with
helping to bring Ann Arbor's
budget into solvency,.but some
pointed out the administrator's
weakness on the human rights
issue.
"Some of it (chauvinism) came
in his inability to look at female
department head selection," said
City Council member Susan
Greenberg (D-Second Ward).
"Sometimes he would overlook
very qualified women to pick a
man. I think he believes in
tokenism."
"Certainly, we don't have all
these civil rights lawsuits,
because of the time of year,"
EVIEW I
noted City,Council member Ken-
neth Latta (D-First Ward).
The city now begins a quest for
a new administrator, which Ann
Arbor Mayor Louis Belcher said
will emulate the University's
nation-wide presidential search.
But he added that the city's sear-
ch will not be as secretive as its
academic counterpart, and
suggested citizens form an ad hoc
committee to provide input.
Godfrey Collins, the city's
assistant administrator for
engineering, 'will fill Murray's
post until a successor is named.
But the Cincinnati City Council
has yet to decide when Murray
will assume the job in Cincinnati.
Trades council: Ann Arbor City Adminis
On strike who yesterday accepted th
XCEPT FOR a halt in some jCincinnati.
construction projects and
slight slow-down in deliveries at and 6.45 per cent, depending on
the Uversity Hospital, the pay grade. He said some Univer-
300~ca-oplustriked doe sity employees such as the
300 amps sille trdes clericals and security personnel
workers has had little effect on had received pay raises between
the University. . 10 and 13 per cent in recent set-
The trades council, which in- tlements and the trades council
cludes University electricians, wants a comparable agreement.
plumbers, construction workers, Strikers said they considered a
and other skilled trades workers, University threat to eliminate
has been on strike since the con- sick leave the biggest issue.
tract withs the University expired Construction on the law library
at midnight Tuesday. and the Taubmai medical
Negotiations with a state liryansmeohrc pu
mediator have stalled and nso fur library and some other campus
ther talks have been scheduled to repair jobs contracted by non-
setl tlk hveben chde onoic University 'trades union mem-
settle the remaining economic hbers has been halted by the
issues. strike, because the workers
Neither University nor union would not cross picket lines, ac-
negotiators will predict how long cording to University officials.
the strike could last, but both say At University Hospital, strikers
they are prepared to handle the are slowing down some deliveries
effects of a long walk-out. Super- at the loading docks but the inter-
visory personnel are maintaining ference has not affected the day-
essential services and emergen- to-day functioning of the hospital,
cy repairs. sspokespersons at the hospital
After negotiations ended Thur- said.
sday afternoon, representatives said
said no progress had been made, C
and added that neither side was U Cellar.
prepared to compromise. Strike vote?
Union secretary Dick Mericle
claimed that the University A MID THE new emphasis for
bargaining team had refused to the Michigan Union as a
budge. "The only movement student center are the stalled
was backwards," he said. The negotiations between the Univer-
union members are prepared to sity Cellar's employees' union
remain on strike "until hell and the Cellar Board of Direc-
freezes over," if necessary, he tors. Tired of bargaining that has
added. been dragging on since March,
University negotiator Arlie members of the Industrial
Braman also admitted the talks Workers of .the World QWW)
are stale-mated. "There is a good Local 660 now are talking about a
possibility of a settlement if we strike, and have scheduled a
could just find a base," he said. Monday meeting to voteen it.
mEea'iales idtiUniv ' Intensive bargaining will con-
proposed pay raises between 44 tiethis weekend ove issue;
Daily Photo by LISA KLAUSNER
trator Sylvester Murray,
e job of city manager of
such as the definition of the
bargaining unit, organization of
the decision-making structure,
job security, and grievance
procedures.
"It appears we are heading
towards one (a strike)," said Bill
vargo, union negotiator.
Should the IWW vote to strike,
during the September book rush,
thousands of University students
who buy books at the Cellar
would be affected.
New plans for the Union have
proposed an expansion of the
Cellar from the corner it now oc-
cupies in the basement to the
space down the hall once filled by
the Union Station.
IWW negotiator Felicia
Cassanos said recent
negotiations were "very produc-
tive." But, she added, "We don't
want to strike. We want a con-
tract."
A strike depends on the
progress of negotiations this
weekend, Vargo indicated.
The IWW has represented
about 70 Cellar workers since
January. One issue that has split
the Cellar is the management
structure. Cellar employees say
they traditionally have had input
into the decision-making process,
while the board of directors has
called for a more hierarchial
structure. IWW negotiators wan-
ted to discuss management struc-
ture during the contract talks,
but the board adamantly refused,
and later handed down a decision
to maintain the status quo.
The week-in-Review was written by
Daily labor reporter Patricia Hagen
and Editor-in-Chief Elizabet Slosvik.