The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVI, No. 30-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, June 16, 1976 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
SMALL GAINS FOR WOMEN
A ffirmative action: Limited attempt
By LAURIE YOUNG
Second in a Five Part Series
"Although administrators may be more
tolerant and accepting of new women's
roles," said Nellie Varner, Associate
Dean of Rackham Graduate School and
former Affirmative Action Officer, "it is
doubtful w h e t h e r actual attitudinal
changes have occurred."
Though it may seem that people are
more aware of sex discrimination prob-
lems at the University today, the Af-
firmative Action program has yielded
only minor statistical changes.
BUT NEWLY appointed Affirmative
Action Officer Prof. Gwendolyn Baker
has faith in the affirmative action pro-
gram at the University despite the grim
statistical picture.
Working through the Affirmative Ac-
tion Office, set up in the aftermath of
an HEW sex discrimination investiga-
tion in 1970, Baker is responsible for the
Commission for Women and the Com-
mission for Minorities and acts as a
liaison with federal agencies. The Office
on the whole counsels over a hundred
individuals, initiates policy changes and
issues annual progress reports.
"Attitudes about sex discrimination
have to change," says Baker optimistic-
ally. "How rapidly the changes occur
depends on many factors." She cites
positions available, attitudes of search
committees and administrators, and the
economic climate at the University as
some of those critical factors.
"IF WE CAN get the whole purpose
and processes of affirmative action in-
volved and integarted into the hiring
and promotion processes, if we get more
than written or verbal commitments,
this is when discrimination practices will
stop," she said.
Still, the statistics do not reflect any
major changes. In 1973, the University
employed 4.6 per cent female full pro-
fessors, and today the figure has risen
to 5.1 per cent. The slight increases have
occurred however, primarily in tradi-
tional areas such as Education and Social
Work.
"The affirmative action program does
not represent any pressure on discrim-
ination practices at the University. There
are no changes in the administrative
stance," complained one administrative
staff member.
"The affirmative action program is
what the University is doing instead of
doing anything. It is good if a depart-
ment wants to hire a woman or minor-
ity, but there is no penalty for those
who don't," she added.
FOR EXAMPLE, Natural Resources
Prof. Peter Sandman relates a story
about his wife, Susan, who at one time
applied to a number of different depart-
ments at the University. She was told
she didn't have the proper experience
for the respective jobs, yet she was con-
sistently asked to fill out cards indicating
she had applied and has been considered
See AFFIRMATIVE, Page 10
Arabs set new
Lebanon truce
BEIRUT, Lebanon (A')-Secretary-General Mah-
moud Riad of the Arab League claimed yesterday
he has persuaded Lebanon's Christian leaders to
accept a peace force from several Arab nations
to end the 14-month civil war.
Premier Abdel Salem Jalloud of Libya, also
here to negotiate the pan-Arab intervention, said
over the Moslem-held television that Syria had
pledged to pull its estimated 12,500 troops back
into eastern Lebanon but would remain in the
country until a peace settlement was reached'
between warring Christians and Moslems.
THE ANNOUNCEMENTS came as Syrian tanks
and troops tightened their stranglehold on Leb-
anon's cities and ports in a drive to bring Leban-
on's Moslem leftists and their Palestinian allies
to their knees.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin told his parilament Israel could be threat-
ened "if Lebanon loses its independence and falls
victim to the terrorist organizations and their
allies, or is trampled under Syrian rule."
"President Suleiman Franjieh agreed after I
provided him with explanations and assurances
on Lebanon's sovereignty and independence and
the necessity of consulting with the Lebanese
government on arrangements to carry out the
plan," Riad told reports after meeting with Fran-
jieh and other top Christian leaders outside
Beirut.
RIAD TRAVELED to Lebanon after three days
of coosultations in Damascus with Syrian Presi-
dent IHafezeAsad.
Jalloud, accompanied by Fatah guerrilla field
commander Abu Ayad, had pushed the disputed
proposal with President-elect Elias Sarkis, a
Christian, in a meeting near the no-man's land
between Moslem and Christian camps in Beirut.
The proposal ao dispatch a pan-Arab force to
Lebanon was made at an emergency meeting of
Arab foreign ministers in Cairo last week. Chris-
tian leaders had said they would resist any out-
side troops other than Syria's intervening in
Lebanon's 14-month civil war.
FORMER PRESIDENT Camille Chamoun,
speaking also for Phalange party leader Pierre
Gemayel, said the Christian camp will accept the
peacekeeping force only under "certain conli-
tions and reservations."
Chamoun, who joined Franjieh and Gemayel
for the talks with Riad, did not specify. the con-
ditions, but they were believed to include a pledge
that non-Syrian forces would not patrol Christian-
held territory. "
Franjieh, as usual, said nothing. Riad said he
was heading back to Damascus immediately,
leaving further negotiations with the leftist Mos- fir
lem camp to Jalloud.
RABIN SAID in Jerusalem that "we are fol-
lowing developments alertly, the army is on
guard." Like other Israeli spokesmen before him,
he would not spell out the conditions and factors
that would trigger Israeli intervention in the - 1
Lebanese conflicts.
"The factions at work in Lebanon are well
aware what moves and circumstances on Leban- y
on's soil will be seen by us as a new and intoler- ' A
able situation for Israel's security," he said.
Gasoline and other essentials grew scarcer in
Beirut as the Syrian forces sealed off all supply ',
routes to the capital.,f.--~
DIPLOMATIC sources said Syrian tanks on
hills overlooking Sidon, 25 miles south of Beirut, -r
were shelling ships approaching the port, pre-
venting arrival of supplies. Daily Photo by SCOTT ECCKER
Similar blockades were reported at the ports
of Tyre, 26 miles south of Sidon, and Tripoli, 60
miles north of Beirut. With Syrian troops con-
trolling Beirut airport and highways leading As if yesterday's heat weren't enough, these two competitors
north, east and south, the capital was in a state insisted on contributing to their own osmosis with a furious
of siege. game of one-on-one basketball outside East Quad.
Dem. committee approves platform
WASHINGTON I) - The Demo-
cratic party's platform committee
yesterday night overwhelmingly ap-
proved a campaign platform that
gives Jimmy Carter essentially what
he asked for -- a noncontroversial
document likely to rally the party
behind him.
The platform, still subject to final
approval at the party's national con-
vention in New York in July, calls
for establishment of national health
insurance, minimum-income guaran-
tees for poor Americans, a plan for
a return to full employment and a
strong U. S. defense posture.
THE PLATFORM committee fin-
ished work on the 90-page document
one day earlier than scheduled, and
Carter's chief representative here
said it shows the Democratic party
is more united now than it has been
since 1960, when it nominated John
Kennedy for president.
"This is a Democratic party docu-
ment, not a Jimmy Carter docu-
ment," said Stuart Eizenstat, who
directed the Carter forces at the com-
mittee.
It was clear that delegates on both
the left and right spectrum of the
party had compromised in order to
draw up a platform they hoped would
appeal to all Democrats, whose party
has a majority in the country.
EIZENSTAT told reporters after
the meeting ended: "We are proud
and pleased with the party; it has
come a long way in four years."
"These are not only progressive
goals, but meaningful goals and rea-
listic goals," he said.
However, the platform says little
about how the programs it recom-
mends will be paid for, or even
how much they will cost. Mas-
sachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis,
who was instrumental in its prepara-
ration, put an overall price tag on
the programs of $30 billion except for
national health insurance, where he
declined to make an estimate.
See DEM., Page 10