The Milchigan Daily
Vol. LXXXV, No. 9-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, May 17, 1975 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
'U' blasts Cobb epot

By DAN BIDDLE and
SARA RIMER
The University's highest officials
yesterday presented a lengthy, de-
tailed defense of their actions in the
literary college (LSA) deanship
crisis and branded the Affirmative
Action Committee's probe of the
Cobb affair "seriously defective" in
its criticisms of the administration.
In a joint statement at yesterday's
Regents' meeting, President Robben
Fleming and Academic Affairs Vice
President Frank Rhodes argued that
the committee's 46-page report suf-
fered from "fragmentary evidence
and simple speculation" about the
University's controversial rejection
of Jewel Cobb, the black educator
chosen by the Regents in January

to be LSA dean.

THE ADMINISTRATION defense,
which drew strong support from
five of the eight Regents, answered
a few specific charges in the report
and inferred that Cobb misrepre-
sented some facts to the committee
headed by Education School Dean
Wilbur Cohen.
Fleming and Rhodes concluded
that the experience of their prefer-
red deanship candidate, Acting Dean
Billy Frye, still outweighed the im-
portance of hiring Cobb, a highly
qualified black woman.
"The real argument," Fleming
stated, slowly and emphatically, is
FLEMING: "It was desir-
o'er whether experience can he at~ able to have the most ex-
lowed to play an important role in perienced person in the
See UNIVERSITY, Page 7 (deanship) position."

RHODES: "The evidence on which the (Affirmative
Action) Committee bases its suspicion is frail in-
deed."
egents pass
SGr reVis6oN
by 6- arn
By SUSAN ADES
The University Board of Regents yesterday approved
the Graduation Requirement Commission's (GRC)
piroposed literary college (LSA) Faculty Code revisions
and incorporated recommendations in a 6-2 vote.
The Regents gave blanket approval to a wide-rang-
ing package of provisions which will change the na-
ture of distribution requirements, grading systems,
counseling procedures and residency regulations.
"CONSIDERING the general tenor of Thursday's
board meeting, I was not surprised to hear that they
hid come to a final decision," commented Associate
LSA Dean Charles Morris.
"I thought it might perhaps go on for an additional
session but only if there were going to be some really
substantial concerns," he added.
Morris was referring to the limited Regental dis-
cussion on GRC proposals during the two successive
days of meetings.
Although all the Regents favored most of the 70 GRC
recommendations, the Commission's provisions for in-
dependent study and academic counseling prompted
the two dissenting votes from Regents Paul Brown (D-
Petoskey) and Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor).
WHILE the old code had no stress upon independent
study, the GRC now merely recommends that depart-
See 'U,' Page 10 -


Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN
REACHING FOR the high notes, Diane Marcovitz sings at the Ark Coffee House last night. She is
a rising star in the folk world who writes her own material which is often interspersed with flashy
humor.

Thais blast U.S. action, recall. envoy

BANGKOK, Thailand lA") - Thailand
ordered home its Washington ambassa-
dor for a reassessment of ties with the
United States and welcomed a delega-
tion from its former enemies in Vietnam
yesterday.
America "violated Thai sovereignty,"
Premier Kukrit Pramoj declared, by dis-
regarding his formal request and using
Thai bases as a springboard for the
fight to free the freighter Mayaguez
from neighboring Cambodia on Thurs-
day.
"WE WILL not allow this kind of
thing to happen again," Kukrit told a
news conference.

"We must see whether under the pres-
ent military agreement Thailand does
or does not control Utapao," Kukrit said,
referring to the big U.S.-run base in
Thailand. "If the present agreement
does not allow Thai control then we
must amend it."
Meanwhile in Washington, Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger angrily de-
clared "we were forced into this." He
said the Mayaguez seizure proves "there
are limits beyond which the United
States cannot be push'ed."
AT THE same time, White House
spokespersons disclosed President Ford
felt all along he would have to use mili-
tary force to free the pirated freighter

from its Cambodian captors and avoid
a hostage situation similar to North
Korea's capture of the spy ship Pueblo
in 1968.
Kissinger agreed: "There was no
chance during this crisis to resolve it
diplomatically," he said at a State De-
partment news conference.
"We never received a response which
would allow us to explore it diplo-
matically."
AT THE PENTAGON, military offi-
cials released a "still unconfirmed" cas-
ualty report from Thursday's battle of
Koh -Tang Island. It listed one Marine
killed, 13 servicemen "missing" from a
helicopter shot down at sea and 22

wounded in action.
Cambodia, which captured the com-
mercial freighter 60 miles off its coast
Monday, returned the 39 Mayaguez crew-
men in the midst of a rescue raid on the
Gulf of Thailand island by the Marines,
the Navy and the Air Force.
Both the White House spokesmen and
Kissinger rejected reports the United
States relished the chance to make an
image-boosting show of force such as
the Mayaguez raid. They said the only
objective had been to save the ship and
its crew, and Kissinger said any bolster-
ing of America's prestige "can be con-
sidered a bonus."
See THAIS, Page 6