From on high: Fleming's view of the 'U'
By DAVID STOLL
'The prevailing myth is that
the University refused to give
the students a bookstore," Presi-
dent Robben Fleming says of the
controversy which resulted in the
establishment of thesUniversity
Cellar .three years ago.
It was the bookstore issue that
convulsed the campus in Fall,
1969 when 107 people were ar-
rested after an ISA Bldg. sit-
in. in other semesters, it has
been other issues that have
pitted students against the Re-
gents and Fleming, head of the
University administration since
1968.
"The issue could have been
settled at any point had the
student leadership really been
interested in the bookstore rather
than in confrontation," Fleming
says now. .
The final "compromise" solu-
tion, which Fleming says was
suggested by the faculty, "could
have been settled' upon without
the sit-in."
Similarly, in the Black Action
Movement strike of Spring, 1970,
Fleming says, the strike itself
was not the determining factor
in the Regents' decision to im-
plement its minority admissions
program.
Rather, Fleming says, the
strike may have influenced the
"faculty's willingness" to allo-
cate funds out of the college
budgets to meet BAM's goals.
The college's self-professed abil-
ity to pay for the program had
serious impact on the Regents,
Fleming says.
Fleming remarks that "student
militancy" peaked in 1969-70.
The downward turning point in
the "rising tide of dissension"
coincided with the killings at
Kent State and Jackson State.
Many students were at that
point "turned off from the more
violent approach," Fleming com-
ments.
State legislators have often
criticized the campus' history of
activism when the University's
budget was being discussed in
Lansing. "I hardly ever go to
Lansing when some legislator
doesn't make some adverse com-
ment to me about student pro-
test," Fleming says.
"Higher education is unpopular
in the legislatures these days,"
he notes. "Some (of the legis-
lators) believe that students
ought to pay a much higher per-
centage of the cost of their edu-
cation."
"They think that far too many
people are going to college and
that the economy doesn't require
more college-educated people,"
he adds.
Fearing loss of "public sup-
port," Fleming shies away from
using University resources for
political purposes.
"We get our support from a
heterogeneous group of people,
and when we take a position on
a political issue, we alienate peo-
ple," the president asserts.
Asked if the University's in-
volvement with classified re-
search can also be termed "po-
litical," Fleming replies, ' You
can't talk about an issue with-
out looking at its history."
"When classified research be-
gan during World War II, there
was not the divisiveness that
there is now," Fleming com-
ments. "Doubts" about Vietnam
caused "doubts" about the Uni-
versity's relationship with the
defense department, says Flem-
ing, who in 1969 made a widely
publicized speech explaining why
he "thought the war was wrong."
But it's hard to be in the
forefront of some fields, without
being involved in defense pro-
jects," Fleming says,
The University is now help-
ing to set up an independent
corporation to handle the clas-
sified research which is now
done at Willow ,Run Laborator-
ies. "This would "remove the
University from operating clas-
sified research, but it is entire-
ly likely that the operation will
stay in Ann Arbor and that the
same people will be working on
it that are working on it now."
In the past two years, the ad-
ministration has also been the
target of severe criticism on
the issue of discrimination
against women. Fleming says
that the University, like every-
See FLEMING, Page 8
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
::Thursday, June 15, 1972
News Pho e: 764-0552
Page Three.
U.S. bomb strikes over
N. Vietnam hit new high
Autograph hunters
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. George McGovern (D-
S.D.) is besieged by autograph seekers yesterday during a visit
to Staten Island Ferry terminal in Manhattan. McGovern is
campaigning for next week's primary in New York.
THREATEN STRIKE:
Bus drivers reject
eity contract offer
SAIGON ()-U.S. fighter-
bombers pounded North Vietnam
with a record number of raids,
crumbling factories, toppling
bridges, and knocking out more
than 100 supply trucks, barges
and boats,' military officials re-
ported yesterday.
One of 10 bridges reported hit
in 340 raids Tuesday was a rail
and highway bridge at Hai
Duong, midway between Hanoi
and Haiphong.
The attack by Navy pilots
from the carrier Midway de-
stroyed the bridge, severing the
main rail line between North
Vietnam's capital and its main
port, the U.S. Command said.
American jets also swept with-
in 45 miles of the Chinese bor-
der to attack the northwest rail
line, hitting four small bridges
with a c c u r a t e laser-guided
bombs.
Then the jets roared south-
ward and smashed a pontoon
bridge assembly line on the
northwestern edges of Hanoi in
in the biggest strikes of the day.
Eight Air Force F4 Phant6ms
dropped 16 of their 2,000-pound
laser-guided bombs, leaving 28
buildings at the Hung Hoa fac-
tory in ruins, according to a
senior Air Force official.
He described the pontoon
plant, the only known factory of
its kind in North Vietnam, as
one of the most important tar-
gets.
Pontoon bridge making is now
a critical industry in the North
because scores of the heavier
steel and concrete bridges have
been knocked out by U.S. air
strikes.
The U.S. Command said that
nine of the bridges reported
knocked out during Tuesday's
strikes were railroad bridges, in-
cluding four on the northwest
train line linking Hanoi withs
China.
Navy jets destroyisg four
other bridges along the main
rail line connecting Haiphong
and Hanoi.
Navy pilot also laun'hed
night attacks. against supply accidentally fired on each other
trucks rolling south on Highway 30 miles northeast of Saigon, ac-
1A near Ha Tinh, 120 miles cording to the U.S. Command.
north of the demilitarized zone. Another American was wound-
Sixty-six supply trucks, 56 ed when an Army UHt heli-
supply boats and eight supply
barges were destroyed or dam- copter was hit by communist
aged in the raids Tuesday, the ground fire and crashed six
U.S. Command said. miles south of the provincial
B52 bombers pummeled com- capital of An Loc on Highway
munist troop concentrations and 13.
staging areas yesterday along Field reports said South Viet-
South Vietnam's western border namese commando troops raised
with Laos and Cambodia. their flag atop a small hill just
About a score of the giant north of An Loc after finding
bombers attacked North Viet- the bodies of hundreds of com-
namese forces in the A Shau munist troops killed by U.S. and
Valley near Hue. Six other South Vietnamese air and ar-
Stratofortresses hit troops of' tillery strikes.
two communist regiments that Reports reaching Saigon said
have been assaulting the towns An Loc had been virtually clear-
of Tuyen Binh and Moe Hoa on ed of remaining North Viet-
the Cambodian border, about 60 namese troops but was still un-
miles west-of Saigon. der fire from the east and west.
Light action was reported in South Vietnamese officers
the ground war in the South. have said the 69-day siege of the
One American soldier was killed city cannot be considered lifted
when two patrols of the 3rd until the overland route to An
Brigade, 1st Air Cavalry Division, Loc is completely opened.
Fake tickets blamed
in Stones' show riot.
By PAUL RUSKIN
City bus drivers rejected Tues-
day night a contract offer from
city officials and threatened to
go on strike if a settlement isn't
reached by July 1, when their
present contract expires.
The drivers, who belong to
local 369 of the American Fed-
eration of State, County, and
Municipal Employees (AFS-
CME), are more concerned with
non-economic issues than with
increased salaries, according to
AFSCME spokesperson William
Wise. He said that the city's
salary proposal "showed move-
ment ois their part."
Wise said tghat there are cer-
tain non-economic clauses of
the proposed contract which are
unclear, adding that the mem-
bers won't sign contracts until
the "unclear language is cor-
rected."
As one example of the im-
precise language, Wise cited part
of the contract which states
that drivers can't receive sick
pay for less than four hours of
missed work. Thus, a driver who
'becomes ill during the middle of
his route might not receive pay
for the few hours he did not
work.
Last night, another branch of
Local 369, consisting of city
street cleaners, park cleaners,
and utility workers, was sched-
uled to vote on a new contract
offered by the city. Earlier in
the day, Wise said that he
"didn't believe the contract
would be ratified,
SAN DIEGO, Calif. ()-A
police spokesperson yesterday
said counterfeit tickets to a
Rolling Stones concert were the
cause of a riot in which 15 per-
sons were injured and 60 persons
were arrested Tuesday night.
The rioting broke out when
holders of counterfeit tickets
were turned away from the
Sports Arena. The incident
evoked memories of the Stone's
1969 Altamont, Calif. concert,
which was marked by violence
and murder.
Police battled an estimated
crowd of 1,000 youths who threw
rocks and fire bombs during the
two-hour disturbance.
Although no damage was re-
ported insde the arena, six win-
dows on the outside wall were
broken by rocks. A door was
also smashed.
The arrests in the riot were
for throwing fire bombs, assault-
ing police, possession of drugs,
possession of forged tickets and
failure to disperse.
Inside the arena, the Rolling
Stones. led by Miek .agger, per-
formed before a sellout crowd of
16,000 persons which police de-
scribed as "quite orderly"
Jagger was informed of the
riot while he was on stage, but
the performance continued as
scheduled.
An estimated 2,000 counter-
feit tickets were sold--some re-
lort.dly for a' nuch as $50.