0 Page 8-Saturday, February 23, 1980-The Michigan Daily CREDIT UNIONS REPOR T DEFA UL TS UP Americans From The Associated Press American families are losing the bat- tle of the budget, according to represen- tatives of the nation's more than 22,000 credit unions who say the problems cut across age and income lines. "I think they're in over their heads," said Jim Williams, president of the Credit Union National Association, discussing the finances of the nearly 40 million people who are members of credit unions. "THE TRENDS of delinquencies are upward," said Williams at a recent news conference in New York City. "The repayment ratios on loans are dropping." Williams painted a gloomy picture, even though he was speaking before the announcement yesterday that the Con- sumer Price Index in January rose 1.4 per cent, the biggest boost in more than 6/ years. He said he expected delinquency rates on loans would "at least double" in the next six months. He also said that the charge-off rate for credit unions on loans that are uncollectable traditionally ran at about one-fourth of one per cent of all outstanding loans. Yesterday, he said, the rate is a little over one-third of one per cent. By the end of the year, i fourths of a per cent. WILLIAMS SAID striking young and+ people as well as the section," he said. Williams also sa credit unions have loans because they c losing budge t could hit three- ticularly for automobile purchases, at ,he said. interest rates that are higher than they the problems are can afford. old, middle-income CREDIT UNIONS --non-profit e poor. "It's a cross organizations whose members have a common bond like employment - id that "a lot" of traditionally have been allowed to pay e stopped making higher interest rates on savings than do not have the fun- commercial banks or other financial I think they're (American families) in over their heads ... The trends of delinquencies are upward. The re- payment ratios on loans are dropping.' t battle ding installment debt in December 1978. A year.later, they held only 15.5 per cent. WILLIAMS EXPRESSED confidence that legislation would be approved by Congress to allow credit unions to charge higher interest rates - at least temporarily. Federally chartered credit unions - about half the total - currently are limited to a 12 per cent annual charge. Williams said he expec- ted a plan to be worked out whereby credit unions could charge 15 per cent annual interest in certain circumstan- ces. Raising the interest rate on loans would let credit unions increase the in- terest on savings to attract customers, credit union officials say. In an effort to help people manage their money, the Credit Union National Association is launching a "Financial Fitness" program, designed to provide information libraries, workshops and counseling for members. Jerry Lawrence, a spokesman for the association, said a preliminary evaluation of a soon-to-be-released study conducted by the Gallup organization for the credit unions, in- dicated that people today do not think of financial fitness in terms of savings or investment. m 14 -Credit Union National Association President Jim Williams ds available. Others, he said, have put a ceiling on the amount they will lend any individual member or have imposed stricter credit limits. He said, however, he did not know the exact number of credit unions that had been forced to take these steps. Alvin George of San Diego, chairman of the Credit Union National Association, said his local credit union had put a $3,000 limit on loans, down from $10,000. He said the limit was for- cing'; some credit union members to borrow from finance companies, par- institutions and usually charge less in- terest on loans. Because they rely largely on volunteers, their operating costs are lower. Today, however, the availability of high-interest alternatives to the traditional savings account, including things like certificates of deposit, has caused many credit union members to put money elsewhere. That means the credit unions have less money to lend. According to figures from the Federal Reserve Board, credit unions held almost 17 per cent of all outstan- 01 'U' male nursing students gain Daily Photo by JOHN HAGEN ZOLTON FERENCY attacks the proposed federal criminal code revision in a speech at the Union last night. The MSU professor accused Congress of misusing the code to attack certain forms of social behavior. MSU Prof. Ferency speaks out agaist revised crimitnal code r acceptance despite . N BY ABIGAIL MEISEL Women doctors have traditionally SIGN UP FOR OUR ' been thought of as pioneers breaking in- FOOSBALL TOURNAMENT to a male-dominated field. But the University also has some slightly dif- PONSORED BY THE PAPE R CH ASE ferent medical pioneers - nineteen men joining 780 women students in a ,the last one to. demanding curriculum of academic and clinical study in the School of Nur- sing. Like many df the other men, junior Mike Haas started his medical career as an aide in a military medical evacuation unit. But Haas decided to leave the Army to become a civilian nurse. "I like the relaxed atmosphere of a hospital setting," Haas said. "You feel like you can be of benefit." HAAS SAID being married and having a child has helped him feel more comfortable in even the most traditionally, female settings. "One mother's husband wouldn't go into the delivery room, so I was a surrogate dad and held her hand," he said. The distribution of men in then nursing field may not now be strong, but junior Roland Jemerson feels it may soon change. "The opportunities right now for men in nursing are greater," he, Turn Off the Lights HELP CONSERVE ENERGY! 5tereotpes said. "It's a wide open field for you." "Nursing is more of a profession unto itself instead of a domestic service for physicians. Nurses are more assertive: in their attitudes," he continued. But he said many people are not yet used to the idea of a male nurse. "When I go on the floor to work, patients think I'm a doc- tor or orderly," Jemerson said. MANY OF THE other men said they were often confused with doctors, but some said the confusion could actually be advantageous. "Men are identified with doctors and - especially at night when there are only two nurses on duty - can have more control of a unit," said Douglas Hankins, a 44-year-old classmate of Jemerson. "Sometimes the. authority of a nurse is less questioned if it is a man." Hankins said most tensions about males in nursing arise not with patien- ts, but with instructors. "There are built-in biases that people can't deal with honestly," Hankins said, speaking both of his sex and his race. But not all men are initially confident about their choice of a nursing career. "I had reservations at first and took easily transferable classes," said one undergraduate. "I got razzed about nursing and the guy-girl ratio." The ratio. does cause some small com- plications. By W. J. THOMPSON Criticism of the government could become illegal if a revised criminal code were adopted by Congress, Michigan State University criminal justice professor Zolton Ferency said last night. "This is a conscious, deliberate ef- fort to take advantage of the criminal code revision to deal with phenomena that have disturbed them (the revision's sponsors)," Ferencey said. "It would give the government power over certain overt activities which the gover- nment has been unhappy about." FERENCY, Democratic nominee for governor in 1966, told the crowd of 42 people at the Union's Kuenzel Room that the revised code, Senate Bill 1722, was the wrong way to revise the criminal code. "You can approach this from two directions," he said, "a piecemeal review or take the entire criminal code and revise it as a body." Ferency said members of Congress had used the Federal Criminal Code to deal with things to which they objected, such as drugs, obscenity and other "social behavior." Ferency accused Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), of "shepher- ding the criminal code revision through Congress." People on the left who support President, er, Senator Kennedy are apologetic about his role in this." ferency emphasized that Kennedy was the co-sponsor of the bill along with conservative Senator Strom Thurmond (R-S. Carolina). He said' Kennedy could be pressured to with- draw his support of the bill by at- tacks on his presidential campaign. "The closer election day comes, the closer to the middle most people hit," he said. The revision of, the federal code would greatly reduce the number of federal statutes, Ferency said, but "it is a very long piece of legislation, which is one reason why it is difficult to pass." "Not as many would take the time to make the personal judgment on such a bill," Ferency warned. "There is a tendency to follow the leader." - r S. Student Newspaper at The University of Michigan LA I IE r---------- WRITE YOUR AD HERE! ----------- - 1 ----- ----C 1N ~lTDA!-----.I USE TH IS HANDY CHART TO QUICKLY A RRIVE A T AD COST Words 1 2 3 4 5 add. 0-14 1.70 3.40 4.60 5.80 7.00 1.00 Please indicate 15-21 2.55 5.10 6.90 8.70 10.50 1.50 where this ad 22-28 3.40- 6.80 9.20 11.60 14.00 2.00 fren 29-35 4.25 8.50 11.50 14.50 17.50 2.50 foelpwed 36-42 5.10 10.20 13.80 17.40 21.00 3.00 romae 43-49 6.80 11.90 16.10 2Q.30 24.50 3.50 ec 7 words per line (Each line of space used counts as 7 words). Hyphenated words over 5 characters count as two words-This includes telephone numbers. Chinese Communist Party in bad condition, Peking newspaper reports PEKING (AP) - A Peking, newspaper said yesterday the Chinese Communist Party is in bad shape - its leadership weakened, discipline lost - and there are reports the Central Committee will meet any day to do something about it. The meeting, that some reports said could come as early as today, also is expected to formally restore the honor of the late President Liu Shao-chi, disgraced as the "No. 1 capitalist roader" of the 1960s. THERE HAVE been signs of Liu's return to respectability, and formal restoration could be seen as an indirect 4 WESLEY FOUNDATION at the University of Michigan (313) 668-6881 602 E. Huron at State Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Monday, February 25 "Fight for Our Lives"- A history of the farmworker's struggle slap at the late Chairman Mao Tsef tung. Liu got into trouble for trying to restore China's economy through pragmatic measures that downplayed Mao's idea of constant struggle for ideological purity. The current leadership, which took over after the downfall of the party's radical wing in 1976, has decreed a halt to disruptive political campaigns to concentrate all energies on moder- nization. But yesterday's commentary in thel Peking Daily, organ of the party's Peking Municipal Committee, said some party members insist on the right to decide for themselves whether the Central Committee's policies are correct or not - and to disobey them if they are incorrect. MONDAY NOON MOVIE It blamed this viewc "poisons" left by the radicals. on deep 0 L6 TIN EIMERICEIN DEIIICE The radical "gang of four," included Mao's widow Jiang Jing and Politburo members Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Zhun- jiao and Wang Hongwen. They wielded power under Mao's aegis in the late 1960's and early 1970's but now are ac- cused of distorting Mao's teachings and of encouraging rebellion against veteran leaders so they could seize power themselves. Liu and current Senior Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping were among their victims.0 7P' RESUMES THESES - DISSERTATIONS salsa, cumbia, samba, disco, & wild music also Film and Slide Show SAITURDAIY