'U' meetings policy chided, praised
Nixonism
To The Daily:
First, I wish to compliment
Mr. Rosenthal on his admirab-
ly clear and lucid analysis of
presidential discretion in your
issue of June seventh. Second,
to add a few marginal com-
ments on my own part.
Except where the court have
given their final decision, there
must always be a gray area
where executive power may ex-
ist without specific
law. In an amplifi
original somewhat
statement "If th
does it, it is legal,
later explained he
ing only of nation
cies. But, since tI
Letters to The Daily
I
L "
1~A~JI
"Did w heart ',stsn s110 , 'Ont~ u Ak
The Michi an Dai
Edited and managed by Students at th
University of Michigan
warrant of apparently is left to define
:cation of his those emergencies, it is a dis-
ambiguous tinction without much of a dif-
e President ference.
Mr. Nixon The weakness of the ex-presi-
was speak- dent's case lies in the fact that
al emergen- he was applying extreme mea-
he President sures to small or remote dan-
gers. Lincoln had to deal with
matters that were literally of
life or death for the nation.
That cannot' be said for Mr.
Nixon. It may be bad for Viet-
Nam to have fallen to the Com-
munists, but life in these fifty
states goes on much as usual.
No anti-war demonstrations or
protests came anywhere near
to shaking the foundations of
. the Republic. At .best emergen-
cy powers are dangerous drugs,
justified only by the most ex-
treme cases; to use them for
ordinary illnesses is bad medi-
cal practice.
Or you might compare it to
the law against theft. "I stole
the bread, for my wife and
children were starving" has a
ring of justification that we do
not find in "I stole the money
because my wife was crying
for a new automobile". No, Mr.
Nixon, ° it -is just not good
enough.
Preston Slosson.
(professor emeritus).
open doors
To The Daily:
In the past month there have
been a number of articles and
an editorial condemning the
l1y University of Michigan Admin-
istration and the Board of Re-
gents for trying to circumvent
the open meetings and public
e records laws. We join with The
Michigan Daily and Rep. Perry
Bullard in their concern over
this policy.
It i3 difficult for us to un-
derstand how a public institu-
tion that draws its funds chief-
ly from the citizens of the State
of Michigan and the Federal
Government can continue to
that the University of Michi-
gan would join with Eastern
Michigan University and Wash-
tenaw Community College in
making their salaries, auditors'
reports and meetings open to
the citizens of the state of
Michigan.
With a policy of closed .meet-
ings, books, and minds, it is
very difficult for our Union to
come up with reasonable con-
tract demands when bargaining.
CEO would like to continue to
provide the citizens of the State
of Michigan with quality, low-
cost education for its students.
The members of GEO are pro-
messional educational workers
interested in continuing to pro-
vide Michigan with an educa-
tional system second to none.
Therefore, GEO urges the
University Administration and
the Board of Regents to recon-
sider their present policy. Our
own membership meetings and
bargaining sessions as well as
our books will remain open for
public scrutiny, and we urge
the .-niversity to follow the ex-
amples and standards set by
its own students and workers.
Mike Clark
President, GEO
The GEO Executive
Committee
close doors
To The Daily:
The Regents of The Univer-
sity of Michigan are not "try-
ing to stand above the law" as
argued in your editorial of June
19, 1977.
There were specific matters
which the Regents voted to
consider in closed session:
. Faculty Promotions. The
Regents make promotions bas-
ed upon the recommendations
of the Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs, which is in turn
based upon the recommenda-
tions of the chancellors, deans
and department chairmen and
their respective executive com-
mittees.
* Internal Audit. Since 1975
the Regents have used the in-
ternal audit mechanism as an
effective management tool. The
internal auditor is in some to-
spects a watchdog, who reports
directly to the Regents. It is his
duty to report suspected defal-
cations management weak-
nesses, inadequacy of controls,
weaknesses in security of sys-
tems and similar matters. The
Regents may suggest areas for
particulary scrutiny, because of
suspicions, rumors, or instinct.
* Salaries of Executive Of-
ficers. Compensation of Deans,
certain Directors, Vice Presi-
dents and the President are set
by the Regents. In making this
determination performance and
comparative performance are
discussed frankly.
. Evaluation of Deans. Dean-
ship review occurs periodical-
ly. Faculty are requested and
encouraged to communicate
confidentially and frankly with
the review committee and/or
the Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs. The Regents
want to know the weaknesses
and the strengths of individual
performance.
* Selection of a Vice Presi-
dent for Academic Affairs. In
making appointments at this
level and of this importance
far more is considered than an
"employment application".
Many candidates don't "apply"
for the position. Frequently
candidates do not even want it
known that they are even be-
ing .considered, and this is par-
ticularly true of "outside" can-
didates.
Your view will work against
excellence. It will discourage
candidates for deanships and
adsrinistrative office.Ittill
discourage frank comments by
colleagues, subordinates, super-
iors and Regents alike. It will
drive decision-making down
from the elected body to the
administrative level. It could
discourage faculty to seek an
academic environment else-
where, where privacy is re-
spected, intellectual honesty it
not inhibited, and there can be
a free flow of ideas.
The position I urge is close
to complete openness. How-
ever, in those limited areas
where the possible harm done
by public disclosure outweighs
the possible benefit of public
knowledge - of complete detail,
I shall continue to argue that
they must be considered in
closed session.
Thomas A. Roach,
Regent
Tuesday, July 19, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552
1
- Crter's stiff upper i*p
doesn't help poor women
WHEN TELLING REPORTERS last week of his sup-
port for the Supreme Court ruling that state funds
cannot necessarily be used to pay for non-therapeutic
abortions, President Jimmy Carter said, "There are many
things in life that are not fair."
Life is tough for inexperienced teenagers, for rape
victims, for women accidentally impregnated by the
failure of modern contraceptives, for the ignorant or
ill-informed, for the poor who cannot afford contracep-
tives, children or abortions.
Life is tough for the more than 600,000 other women
having abortions annually, for bearing the knowledge
they don't bear children because they could afford not
to.
Carter's verbiage is simply not enough. From a presi-
dent who says he supports women's rights, he falls fa'r
short of the ideal by neglecting this key point in wom-
en's issues.
JUST TRY TELLING a 14-year-old victim of incest that
life is tough. Pass the same words to the 25-year-old
unemployed high school drop-out. Tell the 30-year-old
unmarried Chicano woman to put her child up for adop-
tion in a whites only market. Or maybe tell her the
farm could use another migrant worker.
Carter's ill thought out words set dangerous prece-
dent, and encouragement to "Right to Life" groups which
would seek to deny all possibility of any kind of public
money to those who may need it for non-therapeutic
abortions.
Life is rough, but the admission could never justify
the fact.
Life is tough: truly incredible words, thoughts and
attitudes from the man who comes across as the cham-
pion of human -rights.
hold itself "above the law." We
are hopefully finished with an
era in national government
where government officials held
themselves in secrecy and
above the law. We would hope
I'VE GOT A GREAT IDEA! IF THEY WRITE THE DELIVERY
WE'LL KEEP THE 13 CENT STAMP ADDRESS OR THE RETURN
FOR INDIVIDUALS - ADDRESS BY HAND!
f /
F o