Thursday, May 13, 1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY\,,
Page Three
Thursday, May 13, 1976 THE MICHiGAN DAiLY Page Three
TU claims partial
win in legal clash
By MICHAEL YELLIN
The Ann Arbor Tenants Union (TU)
and Reliable Realty Management Com-
pany both claimed partial victory yes-
terday in their second of three court
battles this week.
The Fifteenth District Court jury of
three women and three men ruled in
favor of a suit filed by Reliable Realty
owner Edith Epstein, seeking the re-
lease of $1620 rent withheld by the strik-
ing tenants. The jury also ruled in favor
of a counter-claim filed by TU in re-
sponse to the Epstein suit, and awarded
the tenants $400 in damages.
TU ORGANIZER Larry Cooperman
termed the verdict, "definitely not a
defeat," and added, "As long as we
continue to get a reduction in rent we're
doing fine."
Epstein has refused to go on the record
regarding any of the TU litigation.
The strike against Epstein, initiated
in February, protests alleged unreason-
able rent as well as violations of the
Michigan Tenants' Rights law. Accord-
ing to TU members, tenants in 19 of
Reliable's 36 houses have joined the
strike, and all are scheduled for court
appearances within the next three weeks
in response to Epstein suits. Unless the
strike is resolved out of court, it will
drag through each individual suit, house
by house.
See TU, Page 5
G EO adds to demands
By SUSAN ADES
In a session highlighted by fits of
temper from the Graduate Employes
Cr ganization (GEO) bargainers and si-
lence from University negotiators across
the table, a comprehensive presentation
of GEO new contract demands continued
yesterday. The meeting at the Michigan
Union was dominated by a clarification
of the GEO non-discrimination proposal.
Seeking to broaden the contract which
expires August 31, the union has de-
manded an expansion of the present non-
discrimination clause. The union has
proposed that the contract protect Grad-
uate Student Assistants (GSAs) from
discrimination in these key areas, among
sonme 16 others
* the use of alcohol or drugs when
such use does not interfere with job per-
formance.
* public displays of homosexual af-
fection "short of sleeping with one an-
other on the Diag," according to GEO
I ~
- 1 G
Who's on first
A Detroit news poll released yester-
day shows President Ford and Jimmy
Carter are the most popular presidential
candidates in Michigan this year. How-
ever, one-third of those polled had not
made up their minds who to vote for,
leaving those undecided holding the bal-
ance of the votes. Carter's support was
found to cut across all voting groups
from the conservative to the liberal.
Ford's support came from all groups
except liberals. But, Ronald Reagan's
support was bunched in the conserva-
tive wing of the electorate according to
the poll. Morris Udall ranked as the
seventh choice of the electorate after
Fad, Carter, Humphrey, Kennedy, Rea-
gan, Wallace and Jackson.
Happenings *
. . are hard to find today. From 8-4
the Reading and Learning Skill Center
is holding their signup for the spring
term courses in speed reading, writing
and study skills at 1610 Washtenaw.
Weather or not
It looks like more great weather to-
day as the skies will be mostly sunny
with temperatures in the mid 60's near-
sog 70. However there is a 20 per cent
chance of rain.
bargainer Dan Tsang. The present con-
tract contains a clause which forbids
discrimination on the basis of sexual
preference.
THE UNION has also demanded that
the non-discrimination clause protect
applicants for GSA positions.
Although the six-man University team
did not respond to the demand concern-
ing GSA applicants at the table, chief
administration negotiator John Forsyth
later told The Daily, "It's been a Uni-
versity policy that you don't commit
yourself to hiring practices according
to the contract."
In opposition to the University's po-
sition however, GEO negotiator Dan
Tsang said, "Where employers have a
history of discriminatory practices,
unions try to write into contracts pro-
visions for non-discriimnation in hiring."
GEO HOLDS that it only wants the
University to conform to federal law
and its own existing policy as stated in
its "Affirmative Action Program for
GSAs."
"We're giving the University the
chance to show that it is a progressive
force in this society." GEO member Bob
Thurston declared.
GEO also proposes the creation of a
Commission on the Status of Lesbians
and Gay GSAs to investigate alleged dis-
crimination on the part of the Univer-
sity community against these groups.
AGAIN, FORSYTH only commented
after the meeting on this issue, saying
"The University would first have to con-
sider the whole contract proposal to de-
termine if the establishment of the com-
See GEO, Page 5
AP Photo
Patricia Hearst leaves the Los Angeles Hall of Justice following a hear-
ing yesterday where her attorney told a judge she was mentally incom-
petent to enter a plea. Hearst is being held at the federal Metropolitan
Correctional Center in San Diego where she is undergoing tests.
inCopetent' Hearst
to standt rial alone
LOS ANGELES (A,,)-Patricia Hearst
will not stand trial with William and
Emily Harris, a judge said yesterday
as the heiress stood mute at a hearing
with the couple and refused to enter
a plea to state charges on grounds of.
mental incompetency.
Superior Court Judge Mark Brandler
declared that Hearst will not be tried
with the Harrises, now her sworn
enemies, and granted a request by
her lawyer for a special hearing May
28 on her mental state.
BUT ATTORNEY Al Johnson said
federal authorities might not let pri-
vate psychiatrists enter the San Diego
federal prison where Hearst is now
undergoing court-ordered evaluation.
The issue of Hearst's mental com-
petency-which has been raised by
her attorneys virtually since the day
of her arrest-came as a surprise in
yesterday's proceeding. Hearst was
previously ruled competent to stand
trial in federal court at San Francisco,
where she was convicted March 20 of
bank robbery. Exhaustive psychiatric
evaluation began then and continues
now.
"If the present position remains,"
Brandler said, and a hearing is im-
possible, "a plea of not guilty would
be entered for her." That procedure
was followed in San Francisco, where
she also refused to plead.
ALTHOUGH he did not rule specific-
ally on a motion to sever the two
trials, Brandler said, "It would ap-
pear obvious to this court that a joint
trial is regrettably impossible."
See 'INCOMPETENT,' Page 5
'76politics bore students
By The Associated Press
Joe Freeman hawks Bicentennial but-
tons on the University of Pennsylvania
campus for $1 each, and business is good.
Nearby, however, few pause at a pam-
phlet-filled table for a Democratic presi-
dential contender's free campaign button.
Across the country, on the Los Angeles
campus of the University of Southern
California, Dr. James Appleton looks out
the window of his student affairs office
and also observes that pditical interest is
just about zilch.
"I SEE two students promoting Ronald
Reagan but there are no students talking
with them," he notes. At the other end of
the square several hundred are listening
to a guy selling property on the moon.
"We have given students ample op-
portunity to get interested in the political
race but they sure haven't warmed up
to it as yet," Appleton says.
A sampling of American colleges, big
and little, indicate the campus attitude
everywhere is similar-very few are
excited about the presidential election
campaign as it has developed so far, or
about any major political issue.
TODAY'S STUDENT apathy contrasts
with the activism of the '60s and early
'70s, an activism based largely on stu-
dent opposition to the draft and to
American involvement in Vietnam.
-The unrest resulted in violence at Kent
State, where Ohio National Guardsmen
killed four, at the University of Wiscon-
sin, where a bomb blast in an Army
building killed a student, and at Jackson
State College, where fighting with police
resulted in two student fatalities.
There's peace and quiet at those
schools now. The campus kiosks are
covered with posters advertising movies,
poetry readings and lectures. And more
students line up at trucks selling pizza,
hoagies and soft ice cream than rally
for discussions on abortion, environment,
marijuana or government ;orruption.
"IF THERE was an -over-all burning
issue, like reinstituting the draft or
getting involved in Angola, people would
get steamed up," claims Austin Ranney,
a visiting political science professor at
the University of California's Berkeley
campus.
Paul Magarill, 20, of Fort Lee, N.J.,
who took off two semesters from Union
College in Schenectady, N.Y., to work
for Indiana's Sen. Birch Bayh, say: it's
difficult to motivate students pliCcally.
"They are very reluctant to do volun-
teer work," Magarill says. "They'd
rather do nothing. They see politics as
unimportant, uninteresting, not exciting."
JAMES LYONS, Stanford University's
dean of student affairs, says he gets the
See '76, Page 5