The tcht'an 144 Vol LXXXIX, No. 60-S
I Tuesday, August 7, 1979
e M gan Da y Twelve Pages
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ten Cents
I IWCCAA
Daily Photo by JIM KRUZ
Acrobatic antics
Actors cavorted for their audience at the Medieval Festival last weekend. The annual event was held at the lawn of
the School of Music this year.
MSA president predicts group may
regain financial control 'within weeks'
By SARA ANSPACH
After a summer of working with the
University administration, the
Michigan Student Assembly (MSA)
may regain control of its finances from
the Office of Student Services "within a
couple weeks," according to MSA
President Jim Alland.
Vice-President for Student Services
Henry Johnson has had the power to
monitor MSA funds since last May
when the University Board of Regents
directed him to hold the Assembly's
money - obtained through a man-
datory student assessment of $2.92 per
'U' Cellar emp
trk1e vote un
By PATRICIA HAGEN
University Cellar employees voted
last night to delay a strike authorization
vote until next Tuesday because of
several "'generous" proposals made by
two members of the bookstore's Board
of Directors, according to a union
negotiator.
The board members, Business Prof.
Tim Nantell and Assistant to the Vice-
President f or Student Services
Kathleen Dannemiller, pledged at a
negotiating session Sunday to ask the
board at its mext meeting Monday
night to adopt two proposals.
ONE WILL ASK the directors to form
a committee of Board and union mem-
bers to discuss the decision-making
term - until a report on MSA's accoun-
ting structure and fund allocation
process was completed. The review
was prompted by a controversial elec-
tion that was eventujally certified by
the administration after the conven-
tional MSA process had rejected it.
ONE OF THE main procedures under
question is that under which a student
organization may obtain a monetary
allocation from the MSA general fund.
Johnson and representatives of the
Office of Student Development (OSD)
have been meeting with MSA members
over the last few months suggesting
that they make more stringent
loyees delay
til Tuesday
structure of the store, an issue that has
slowed negotiations between the newly-
formed union and management since
- talks first began last March.
The store directors also will be asked
to change the structure of the board to
include some union members, accor-
ding to union negotiator Bill Vargo and
Nantell.
The proposals were made, Nantell
said, because "I think the employees
... are more than capable of running a
retail store. They ought to have some
voice in it."
"THEY ASKED us in a show of good
faith to delay the strike authorization
vote to a week from Tuesday (today),
Vargosaid.
requirements for an organization to
become a recognized student
organization. The also have been
working on a set of guidelines to govern
activities that could be funded by the
student government.
In addition, MSA members were told
that they should set up an appeals
process for student groups that feel
they have not received a fair allocation.
"I'VE LEFT IT with them (MSA),"
said Johnson, referring to the revision
of funding guidelines for student
groups. "I'm very impressed with the
efforts of both parties (MSA and
OSD)."
This summer, as a result of the
Regents' action, said Johnson, OSD and
MSA have been "mutually screening"
where the Assembly's allocations go.
OSD will continue to have the authority
to monitor MSA's funds closely until
MSA revises its procedures for gran-
ting funds to student organizations "to
guarantee as much objectivity as
possible," said Johnson.
Currently, MSA -and the ad-
ministration are "trying to nail down
an agreement," said Alland. "It looks
like we are not too far away," he said,
adding he expects to "get the go-
ahead" from Johnson by fall.
EARLIER IN the summer, some
Assembly members said, com-
munications with the representatives
from OSD were often marked by con-
fusion on both sides. MSA members
reported that OSD representatives
were trying to establish guidelines to
revise MSA policies when they did not
See MSA, Page 2
statement
filed with
state Court
of Appeals
By JULIE ENGEBRECHT
A written argument was filed with the
state Court of Appeals yesterday after-
noon supporting the contention by a
group of students and others that the
University Board of Regents should not
be able to move its meetings when they
are disrupted by protesters.
The Washtenaw County Coalition
Against Apartheid (WCCAA) filed an
appeal with the state court last April,
asking that the judge overrule a local
decision that allowed the Regents to
move their meeting to an undisclosed
location after a breach of the peace.
THE WCCAA led a disruption of the
Regents' meeting last March, deman-
ding that the University sell its stock in
firms that conduct business in South
Africa.
To avoid the disruption, the Board ob-
tained a court order allowing them to
move the meeting behind locked doors,
with only members of the press and
selected individuals allowed to attend.
The 27-page brief, prepared by WC-
CAA attorneys Thomas O'Brien and
Michael Moran, argues that the.Open
Meetings Act does not allow the Board
to move its meetings in the face of
protest.
A DECLARATORY judgment issued
last April 11 by Washtenaw County Cir-
cuit Court Judge Ross Campbell said
the Regents could move their meeting
without violating the 1977 Act.
The judgment was requested by
Peter Davis, an attorney hired by the
University.
Campbell's ruling was the first
judicial interpretation of the Open
Meetings Act.
O'BRIEN AND Moran request that
the Court of Appeals overturn Cam-
pbell's ruling, award the WCCAA attor-
neys fes incurred in the proceedings,
and dismiss the University's complaint
against the WCCAA.
The brief also asks for the rein-
statement of a counter claim made by
the coalition shortly after the Regents
obtained the first order allowing them
to move their meeting.
According to O'Brien, WCCAA filed a
claim protesting the Regents' move,
which the lower court dismissed
without any argument. O'Brien said the
counter claim, which "alleged serious
violations of the Open Meetings Act and
several federal and state protections,"
was ignored by the court.
IN THEIR BRIEF, O'Brien and
Moran contend that "if a public body
changes its meeting place from the
posted location - either before a
meeting begins or after a meeting is
convened but recessed - the meeting
See WCCAA, Page 2