Thursday, May 15, 1975
THE MICHIGAN DAFLY ,
Page Three
Thursday, Ma 15, 1975 TH MICHIGAN DALY1Pa/e Thre
Angry crowd
VIENTIANE, Laos OP) - An U.S. Charge d'Affaires
angry crowd of students ran- ian Chapman presented
sacked an American agency yes- ficial protest over the
terday in the town of Savanna- and the capture. of the
khet and took three staff mem- cans to Premier Prince
bers captive, a U.S. Embassy anna Phouma. The c
official reported. The anti- government, in which th
American disorders coincided menist-oriented Pathet L
with Laos' shift toward corn- through the resignations-
munism. cently g a i n e d dom
The Americans were believed through the resignations
unharmed and being held in the portant rightists, was to
provincial governor's house in investigators from both
the Mekong River town just right and left wings to Sa
across from Thailand. The mob, khet today.
apparently demonstrating aga- A similar student mobs
inst both high food prices and the AID compound in
the U.S. presence, broke into Prabang, the royal capil
the compound of the Agency for miles north of Vietiane, b
International D e v e l o p ment four Americans : there
(ATD), and ransacked it of rise thought to be safe, en
and other food supplies. sources said.
Registration for
Fair proves tiring
loots U.S. agency
Christ-
an of-
attack
Ameri-
Souv-
oalition
e Com-
.ao re-
of im-
inance
of im-
send
its
vanna-
sacKed
Luang
tal 200
ut the
were
mbassy
The disorders made the posi-
tion of Americans .more precar-
ious in this landlocked Indo-
chinese nation of 2.7 million per-
sons.
THE U.S. State Department
said in Washington it will begin
cutting the size of its embassy
staff in Laos by the end of the
week.
Spokesman Robert Funseth
said there are no plans to close
the embassy, but all American
officials have been called into
Vientiane from countryside
posts.
In Vientiane an embassy
spokesperson said reduction in
staff has been goingon for some
time and will now possibly be
speeded up.
FRAGMENTARY radio re-
ports from Luang Prahang said
a mob of about 3,000 students,
teachers and redicab drivers
ransacked the AID compound
there and raided its rice sup.
plies. They also reportedly seiz-
ed food from stores in the city
of 50,000.
The reports said the mob oc-
cupied the provincial governor's
offices and began to distribute
the rice taken from American
stocks, apparently in' protest
against the country's 70 per cent
inflation and skyrocketing pric-
es. Reports circulated that sim-
ilar demonstrations woul-I be
held in Vientiane today or Fri-
day.
Earlier in the day, the gov-
ernment named Gen. Bounchan
in Laos
Savanthphaysan to replace Gen.
Atsaphanthong Pathammavong,
the strong rightist commander
of the joint security force.
WHILE ALSO a rightist,
Bounchan is a less powerful fig-
ure and is expected to be more
agreeable to Pathet Lao de-
mands. The joint security force
is made up of a 1,000-man Path-
et Lao battalion and another 1,-
000 men from the rightist side.
Student demonstrators had
earlier demanded the remov-
al of Gen. Atsaphanthong, char-
ging that he worked for the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agen-
cy.
By SUSAN ADES
"They should just open up
Ann Arbor and let . the artists
come in," said Beverly Coffin,
one of more than 200 crafts-
workers'standing vigil in the al-
ley between the Union and
West Quad yesterday afternoon
for this morning's Free Fair
registration.
The Free Fair is one of the
three individually sponsored
fairs comprising the annual
Ann Arbor Arts Fair held dur-
ing the third week in July. To
the disappointment of many,
booth positions in the Free Fair
are assigned on a first-come,
first-served basis.
"I CAME about 48 hours
ahead of time," boasted Sonny
Dalton, a metal sculptor proud
of his status as first in line. He
had the honor of establishing
the rules for the other artists in
their pre-registration wait.
A tentative order for regis-
tration priority was established
as people took numbers upon
their arrival. Last night at 8:00,
the registration officials plan-
ned to certify the order. Then
the artists were to organize
themselves into groups of 20 to
facilitate this morning's actual
site selection scheduled to be-
gin at 8:00 a.m.
Two hundred booth spaces
are available on East Univer-
sity and an additional ,200 ex-
hibits can be set up downtown
on Main Street for the Free
Fair division.
AS OF 3:00 p.m. yesterday,
168 people had signed up for
registration. However, since the
East University sites are in
highest demand, people arriv-
ing as late as last night or this
morning may be disappointed in
finding all choice positions oc-
cupied.
Beneath threatening skies,
the motley crowd milled about,
setting up sleeping bags, seek-
ing out old acquaintances from
past Fair experiences and just
passing the time.
One Kalamazoo artist, 93rd in
line, -sat amidst an array of
beer cans, bedding and friends
under the shelter of. the West
Quad garbage alcove. "It makes
it real fun when people start
to get together," he said, strum-
See ART, Page 5
ARTISTS sack out between West Quad and the Union, patiently waiting in line for the chance
to register at 8 a.m. today for the Free Fair division of the Ann Arbor Art Fair. The exhibition,
scheduled for the third week of July, will be se t up along East University and Main Street.
Counseling office gears up for
likely passage of GRC changes
GEO seeks dismissal
of trespassing charges
By TIM SCHICK
Attorneys argued for a dismissal of trespassing charges
against 44 members of the Graduate Employes Organization
(GEO) yesterday, as a pre-trial hearing entered its second
day. The GEO members were arrested last February 27 and
28 while pickeing outside the University's plant department
buildings on Hoover and Green during the organization's
strike.
Elizabeth Kirchen, one of the arrested picketers, testified
that the University did not have anyone arrested until it be-
came clear the.presence of the picket line had an effect on
truck deliveries into the Plant Dept. She added that she
was arrested for trespassing in an area which is open to the
public.
DAVID BRASSFIELD, the picket captain at the time of
the arrests, said "They are charging us with trespass in-
stead of charging their own employes with slacking off."He
referred to testimony that many truck drivers had asked the
pickets to slow them down,
On Tuesday, the defense attempted to show that the
police had issued confusing orders as to where the strikers
could legally picket.
Defense attorney Donald Koster appeared pleased at the
conclusion of the hearing and said yesterday's session "went
very well."
Brassfield too, was optimistic saying "eventually we'll
win it" Judge S. J. Elden set May 28 as the date for further
argument4,
By SUSAN ADES
The expected Regental pas-
sage of several Graduation Re-
quirement Commission (GRC)
proposals tomorrow has prompt-
ed the literary college (LSA)
Academic Counseling Office to
plan for the implementation of
the recommended reforms.
Although it is not absolutely
certain that the Board of Re-
gents will vote on the GAtC
recommendations at its meet-
ings today and tomorrow, ad-
ministrators and students in the
counseling offices of the Univer-
sity say they do not want to
be caught unprepared in the
event of changes.
ACCORDING to Marion
Jackson, associate dean of aca-
demic counseling, the involve-
ment of students, faculty and
administrators in the prepara-
tion of the final proposal means
that "the suggestions have not
.been made lightly and they
have evidently received wide-
spread support."
- In anticipation of such new
GRC provisions as the addi-
tion of distribution courses un-
der the pass-fail option and the
abolition of the lab science re-
quirement, academic counselors
are beginning to alert students
to the'possible revisions.
Jackson is particularly con-
cerned about informing incom-
ing freshpeople of the new dis-
tribution requirements, should
they be passed by the Regents.
Orientation begins on the 15th
of June and Jackson hopes the
advisors "will be prepared to
counsel them under the new
changes."
AS FOR student reaction to
the proposed GRC changes,
Jackson said, "I haven't picked
up that much feeling, one way
or another. The kinds of ques-
tions that have come in here
are the information-seeking
type.
"Some students are fairly
well informed and some are to-
tally unaware of the recom-
mendations which are going to
the Regents," she added.
Concurring with Jackson's ob-
servation is Seth Comstock, a
student representative to the
GRC and counselor at the Stu-
dent Counseling Office (SCO).
He attributed the lack of stu-
dent awareness - to "general
apathy." . I
"THEY haven't gotten the
word out to the students," he
said, criticizing the adminis-
tration for its apparent slow-
ness in disseminating the in-
formation.
Meanwhile, Comstock says he
has taken it upon himself to ex-
plain the situation to as many
students as possible. And as for
a new approach to counseling,
he said, that if a student is
concerned about fulfilling a lab
requirement he will advise, but
"if they're not a graduating sen-
ior they should wait on it for
a while."
Commenting on the possible
changes in the distribution
structure, Comstock s a i d,
"They're leaving more things
up to the °student's discretion,
but they are also leaving more
up to the counselor."
ACCORDING to Comstock,
this could occur as the result of
greater scheduling flexibility
where counselors could promote
more courses in their own de-
partments for instance.
At LSA Checkpoint, most in-
coming calls have concerned
the possible GRC changes. Ac-
cording to Dave Rogers, head
of the Checkpoint system, "Con-
fusion is as good a word as
any," to describe the nature of
the calls.