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.