COUNSELING See editorial page C I ht LIE igan :43 tiV PLEASANT See Today for details r Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom Vol. XC, No. 134 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, March 21, 1980 Ten Cents Twelve Pages Views on course evaluatio By BETH ROSENBERG and MITCH STUART Last in a two-pard series "The instructor made class interesting." "The grading was a fair assessment of my ability in this class." "The instructor delivered clear, organized explanations." On course evaluations of classes and instruc- tors students are often asked to rate the validity of questions like these on a scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." And while there is plenty of local controversy as to how such evaluations should be used once collected, there are those who laim such ratings are altogether invalid. THE MOST extensively-used evaluation form at the University was designed at the Cen- ter for Research on Learning and Teaching Iranian elections impede hostages' release From AP and UPI Iran's attempt to elect a new Parliament bogged down yesterday in slow vote-counting and complaints of improprieties, casting new doubt on when the revolutionary government will be ready to make a decision on freeing the U.S. Embassy hostages. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in a Persian new year's broadcast to the nation, chided those who have accused some groups of fraud in last Friday's voting. Such complaining before the rest of the world is anti-Islamic, he said. KHOMEINI'S statement was ap- parently aimed at silencing critics, in- cluding Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. who complained of instan- ces of fraud and coercion in last week's election for the. parliament that Khomeini has charged with deciding the fate of the American hostages. The United States, meanwhile, asked *he World Court yesterdy to demand the immediate release of the hostages in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, saying there is no way of knowing whether Iran will keep the 50 Americans "for a month, a year or a decade." In a summation reflecting Washington's frustration after more than four months of conflicting signals from Tehran, State Department legal adviser Robert B. Owen told the Inter- iational Court of Justice that Iran ,15hight have no intention of freeing the Americans held captive for 138 g days. OWEN ALSO called, for an urgent court judgment that Iran has violated international law and a final order for Th release of the hostages. The court itself Pa cannot enforce such an order, however. Ro In Washington, U.N. Secretary Ba Ca See IRANIAN; Page 2 (CRLT). The form is "instructor-designed," allowing the instructors to choose 30 questions from more than 900. The center then prints a computer form with the specified questions for distribution to classes. By allowing staff members to design their own questionnaires, items will be more relevant to the individual classes., according to James Kulik, the associate director of the cen- ter. Psych. Prof. William McKeachie, CRLT director, said evidence indicates faculty can benefit from student reaction on evaluation forms. "THERE'S NO doubt the evaluations are valid, but how valid?" McKeachie said. "They're highly valid for one important goal of education - finding out how successful teachers are in getting students interested in the class." McKeachie said another valid goal of evaluations is to determine the relationships between the students' performances in class and their satisfaction with the class and in- structor. He specified that results his office has examined in the past indicate that students who course evaluations: the ratings game n validity perform better than most others in the class tend to rate the class higher than their peers. The CRLT form, according to McKeachie, is "probably as good as any." Because the results of the survey are computerized, they are con- venient. But McKeachie said an ideal form for students would contain open-ended questions. PROF. THOMAS Dunn, Chemistry Depar- tment chairman, said he finds evaluations "dubious at the best of times." Most surveys designed by non-scientists aren't appropriate for physical science classes, he said. "(In the Chemistry Department) people have to give lectures in things they don't want to and use books they don't want to use," Dunn explained. He claims that required courses in a science department may not be the most desirable for diverse faculty, but they must be taught. Dunn said sometimes it is difficult to make an introduc- tory course interesting and that factor will be reflected on evaluations. "ALL THAT will happen will be that it (man- datory evaluation) causes problems," he said. Questions asked on a standard evaluation form designed for 2,000 students in an introductory class are different than those in evaluating a class of 25, Dunn said. Staffers in the University's Student Coun seling Office (SCO) would like to see a Univer- sity-wide course evaluation project, according to office coordinator Ellen Gershanov. Located on the first floor of Angell Hall, the office ser- ves as a reference point for students interested in utilizing peer evaluations. See VIEWS, Page 9 Stegeman land deal discussion reopened By SARA ANSPACH The University Regents will reopen discussion this morning on the land op- tion the board granted to local. developer John Stegeman last month, Regent David Laro (R-Flint) said yesterday. The University has not yet signed the option agreement that the Regents ap- proved by a 3-2 vote at last month's meeting. According to Laro, "it's not legally clear" whether the vote itself is legally binding. THE AGREEMENT grants Stegeman the option to buy a piece of University property behind the Church Street parking structure. Stegeman hopes to use the property in his proposed development of 'a 32-story "multi-use" facility at the forner of S. Forest and Washtenaw. Last month's vote, for which Laro and Regent Paul Brown (DPetoskey) were not present, caught much of the University community by surprise and in the past month has generate protests from faculty, students and other. Ann Arbor residents. "I suspect that there'll be a motion to, suspend the rules," Laro said last night, "so the matter will come up again before the full board." According to Robert's rules of order, once a mat- ter is approved only a person who voted on the winning side may bring the mat- ter up again and then no later than 24 hours after the original vote. REGENT DEANE Baker (R-Ann Ar- bor) who is strongly opposed to the agreement, had indicated previously that he would move that the board in- clude several restrictions to the design of Stegeman's building in the option agreement. At a crowded public comments session yesterday, five people representing different sectors of the community addressed the board about last month's decision to grant Stegeman the option. They critc'zed the board for making the decision without adequate community input, and expressed concern about the effec- ts a 32-story building would have on the community. Addressing the Regents, University Economics Prof. William Shepherd called the board's action last month "irregular" because the normal conditions of a land sale, including open solicitations of bids and lack of staff evaluations of the proposed effect of the sale, were absent. "It will affect everyone," Shepherd said, adding that the high-rise would be seen as a "symbol" of the University by people entering the campus from the east and that the structure would be "seen prominently from the diag." ROBERT SNYDER, president of the South University Neighborhood Association, also spoke strongly again- st the proposed high-rise and the Regents' actions. He urged that the issue be brought back on the agenda this month and suggested that if any Regent had any possible financial or political connections to Stegeman he or See DISCUSSION, Page 3 uition to increase at least 9.5% next year By JULIE ENGEBRECHT Next year's tuition for in-state University students will jump at least 9.5 per cent, and probably more. One University administrator suggested yesterday that holding tuition to a 9.5 per cent hike is "unrealistic" in light of the state's financial picture. Upon recommendation of University administrators, the Regents voted yesterday to place no ceiling on 1980-81 tuition hikes. In correspondence last week the administration had suggested the Regents enact a 13 per cent ceiling on hikes in undergraduate resident tuition. BUT UNIVERSITY administrators decided a gainst a ceilingafter reviewing with state officials the likelihood of severe cutbacks in the state's higher education budget, they said. Acting University Vice-President for Academic Affairs Alfred Sussman said because of heavy constraints on the state budget students are forced to pay for a larger portion of their education Carter cutbacks may severely hurt University research and student finan- cial aid. See story, Page 3. "than they would like." He also said in light of the current financial problems the 9.5 per cent' minimum tuition in- crease is "unrealistic." The trend among "peer institutions" indicates a range of tuition increases between 11 and 18 per cent, Sussman said. The University depends on the state See REGENTS, Page 3 AP Photo Heavy rolling e Republican strategists have been busy discussing how the Grand Old rty could roll over the Democrats this November, and since it looks like nald Reagan will be the likely nominee, this could be the only way. by Tarra, however, pictured above, hasn't endorsed the conservative lifornia ex-governor. 'U' Prof Yates: -1970 RAM .goals unachieved AATA examines curbs for high absenteeism By LEE KATTERMAN Based on statistics reported at Wednesday's Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) meeting, both union and management officials agree that workers absenteeism is a problem. But agreement on how to address this issue may not come as easily. AT THE MONTHLY AATA board meeting the Suthority's executive director, Richard Simonetta, presented a recently-completed study of employee attendance, which indicated that employees were ab- sent three times more often than the average non- manufacturing worker nationwide. He suggested that a stricter absence policy be introduced in an attempt to reduce absenteeism. Transportation Employees Union (TEU) President Harry Kevorkian said yesterday that if the figures collected by AATA were verifiable, then absenteeism was high, though not excessively. But he said that the solution was to address the reasons causing the ab- sences, rather than instituting a new personnel policy. "The absentee policy we have now is adequate," said Kevorkian. "The situation is directly at- tributable to failure of management to address problems they've been told about by union mechanics and union officers." HE SAID THE primary causes of absences are back injuries and emotional exhaustion drivers ex- perience in a job he described as "more stressful than working on the line at GM." Traffic!, equipment failures, dealing with the public, and having to adjust to a system that is con- stantly being redesigned were named by Kevorkian as sources of stress for drivers. He noted that there have been two major service changes in the last year requiring drivers to learn new routes and explain them to confused passengers. Simonetta said a majority of employees had good attendance. A small number of employees with more than 50 days of sick leave are the main problem, he said, and an absence policy that is too lenient is a par- tial cause. Simonetta said yesterday that under the present contract there is very little management can do to curb excessive absenteeism. An employee currently cannot be required to document an illness until he or she has used the full allotment of sick days (14), vacation days (10), and any days the union provides from its sick-leave "bank" (usualh, up to 15 days), he explained. Then, only after a of undocumented absences can any disciplinar3 - .... be taken. "THE RULE REALLY doesn't have any teeth to it," Simonetta said. He added that his concern over absenteeism is the cost of having enough employees on staff to fill unex- pected absences. Further, runs are sometimes missed if a substitute cannot be found. During February of this year, 22 runs did not See AATA, Page 9 By SHEILA STREET Ten years after the Black Acton Movement (BAM) strike, the Univer- sity has not made any significant changes toward the goals of the protest, according to a University professor. Psychology Prof. J. Frank Yates said yesterday that treatment of blacks at the University was a "crime" in 1970 and remains that way today. SPEAKING TO an audience of about 50 at the School of Education Auditorium, Yates said some bright black students enter the University with poor initial training and therefore have a slight chance of earning their degrees. He attributed the lack of graduate students to disillusionment and lack of incentive during a student's senior year. Yates was a panelist in a three-day conference entitled "The University of Michigan a Decade After BAM," spon- sored by the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS). Other speakers included members of the 1970 BAM strike negotiating team, former interim University president and Law Prof. Allan Smith, and psychology professors Robert Hefner and Richard Mann. David Lewis, of the 1970 BAM negotiating team, said BAM created a direct impact on the operation of the University by closing it down. $AM proved that through organization and numbers students can have power to ef- fect change, he said.Cs OBIKA GRARY, a CAAS staff mem- ber, said that the BAM strike of 1970 lacked organizational continuity and trained leaders, In discussing the future of BAM for the 80's. Cynthia Harris of the 1970 BAM negotiating team said the organizatiort was a loose See 'U' PROF., Page 5 Y I he said. The State Board of Education called the proposal very interesting," but added that "only an authoritarian dictatorship" could implement the changes. ' A pain in the... Some people seem to be in constant misery, but there aren't too many who are as unfortunate as Iowa's "Citizen Soldier." And even a U.S. Senator can't do anything about it. The soldier, a prominent figure on the state seal, has take more steps on the dance floor than either of them. That's because it has four legs. The New York City Health Department recently served a summons to the city's Magique disco for allowing a horse to perform on the premises. Authorities were informed of the horse's act through a newspaper photograph depicting Penthouse Pet of the Year Cheryl Rixon sitting atop the horse in the establishment. City Health Commissioner Reinaldo Ferrer said this is not the first instance of animals appearing in disco. noting that lions and tigers have made such behind him, May mushed casually over the finish line Saturday night into the old gold rush city on Norton Sound. May, who finished 11th in 1976 and fifth last year, said this would be his last Iditarod race. "This is my last one," he said, "why do it again?" ] On the inside essmamppp- .,%%$ !;gdwgmmkv*l" I I - lI