'U' prof
involved in
Vent-s-boud i -mima
space probe
By MICHAEL ARKUSH
A University professor who heads the
science steering committee for a
spacecraft bound for Venus yesterday
said that although he doesn't believe
life exists on that planet, he still con-
tends the mission, launched Saturday,
will produce significant facts about the
Earth.
Professor Thomas Donahue, chair-
man of the University's Atmospheric
and Oceanic Sciences Department, said
the mission should explain to scientists
why the carbon dioxide in Venus' at-
mosphere remains in the air and
prevents the existence of any form of
life. The spacecraft will be the first U.S.
vehicle to orbit Venus and should reach.,
the planet on Dec. 4.
DONAHUE CLAIMS Venus and Ear-
th have the same mass and are the
same distance from the sun but have Diy Photo by PETER SER__
different atmospheres. "The Daily Photo by PETER SERLi
UNIVERSITY LABORATORY director George Carignan works on a mass spectrometer similar to the one on Pioneer Venus.
See PROF, Page o
Judge to hear 'black slang' case
By DAN OBERDORFER
The Ann Arbor school system may be forced to
provide black students with a revised curriculum
designed to lift their command of the English language
to an acceptable level.
In an order issued last Wednesday, U.S. District
Court Judge Charles Joiner agreed to hear a case
brought on behalf of 15 Ann Arbor elementary school
children who speak "black slang." Joiner will hear
arguments when his schedule permits, perhaps before
classes begin in the fall, according to lawyers for the
schoolchildren.
THE CASE IS expected to set a national precedent on
the question of whether students who speak "black
English" face language barriers similar to those ex-
perienced by foreign students. If so, federal law com-
mands that the problems be addressed by the schools.
Ordinarily, the issue of language barriers is restricted
~today-
Happenings.. .
get off to a roaring start at 9 ith a car basics
workshop sponsored by the Washtenaw County
Coonerative Extension Service Reservations must
to students who grow up speaking a language other
than English.
. The language barrier claim was one of five charges
filed last August accusing the city school system of
ignoring the special needs of low-income students.
Joiner dismissed the four other claims, but said the
Equal Education Opportunities Act applies to
"language barriers. . . encountered by students who
speak 'black English,' as well as to language barriers
encountered by students who speak German."
LAWYERS FOR THE 15 schoolchildren-all of
whom go to Martin Luther King Elementary school on
Ann Arbor's northeast side-claim the school is not
providing them with the tools necessary for adequately
continuing their education.
"These kids are functionally illiterate due in a large
part to social and economic differences between them
and their white counterparts," said attorney Kenneth
Lewis of Michigan Legal Services. "These kids will
never learn to read. You can almost say when they
graduate from elementary school they are headed for
Jackson State (prison) if they don't have the tools to
function in this society."
Lewis said the children are asking Ann Arbor to in-
stitute a new instruction program which "would
legitimize black culture." The program would involve
student, parent, and teacher workshops, special
training sessions for teachers, and the use of new
primers which help bridge the gap between black slang
and standard English.
OFFICIALS FROM the city school system, however,
feel they are now providing an adequate education for
the school system's 15 percent black population.
"What we're doing may not be perfect, but it is not
less than what they (the black want," said Assistant
Superintendent of Schools Robert Mosely. "We don't
deny that society in general discriminates against the
poor and blacks, but we are doing what we can."
See JUDGE, Page 14
be made in advance by calling 973-9510 ... take a
deep breath and head over to the informational
meeting for a spring smoking withdrawl clinic co-
sponsored by the University Health Service and the
Ann Arbor Y. The meeting will be from 7-7:30 at the
Y, 530 S. Fifth.., the city Planning Commission
holds a regular session at 7:30 in the City Council
chambers, second floor of City Hall ... or hear Sam
Lewis, editor of Young Spartacus, speak on "Cuba
and Africa" in the Kuenzel Room of the Union at
7:30 ... the Young People's Theater will hold its an-
nual membership meeting at 7:30 in the Washtenew
County Service Center Recreation Building on
Washtenaw and Hogback Rd.... the League of
Women Voters and the Ann Arbor PTO Council.
present a candidate's night at the Public Library at
7:30, featuring contenders in the June 12 school
board election . . the nuclear power protest at
Rocky Flats, Colo. and the movement toward
disarmament will be the subject of a talk by Cliff
Kuschler and Lynee Wright at 7:30 in the UGLI
Multipurpose Room ... the Independent Cinema
Video series offers a film screening featuring the
works of Allen Rose at 8:30 at Canterbury House.
Ups and downs of college life -
A group of Yale grads had a ball at their com-
mencement exercises. Well, actually several balls,
and some tins and some bagels, too. The 40 seniors
marched to the strains of "Pomp and Circumstan-
ce" clad in black caps and gowns, but the diplomas
they received were a bit unusual. They were given
"Bachelor of Arts and Leisure" degrees for lear-
ning what organizer Wilder Knight called a "prac-
tical skill"-juggling. The "commencement,"
coming a day before the university awarded its of-
ficial degrees to 1,050 Yale seniors, was planned by
Knight, a professional juggler. "After four years
and $28,900 you may ask what your kids have lear-
ned," he told parents who gathered for the
ceremony. "We really have no practical skills," he
said, "except we can juggle." Whereupon, five at
once, Kinight's proteges tossed balls, tins and even
bagels into the air. Ah, the value of a college
education.
Where's the rub?
Some of the gentlemen callers directed by a
massage parlor advertisement to a Littleton, Colo.
address have gotten rubbed the wrong way when
they've found themsevles in a newspaper office in-
stead. The Littleton Sentinel and the Arapahoe Sun
Sentinel moved into their new quarters last week. A
woman employed by the massage parlor, which
moved to a new location up the street, recently told
a Sentinel reporter: "I hope you make as much
money out of that joint as I did." Take it from
people who know the newspaper business: none of
that hanky-panky goes on in the city room.
Honestly.
On the outside...
Looks like more of that on again-off again weather,
but unfortunately, it's going to be off again today.
We'll have partly cloudy skies with scattered after-
noon thundershowers. The high should be in the mid
70s. More clouds tomorrow with morning showers
and a high of 75 expected.
..