Ninety- Two Years
of
Editorial Freedom
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Vol. XCII, No. 66 Copyright 1981, The Michigan Doily Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, November 25, 1981 Ten Cents Eight Pages
Art history
profs ask
for facts
on union
By JULIE HINDS
Thirteen members of the history of art
department last week became the
seeond faculty group to request infor-
mation about a possible faculty union.
All but two members of the history of
art faculty currently on campus sent a
petition last Wednesday to the Commit-
tee on the Economic Status of the
Faculty asking that group to begin
gathering information on unionization.
THE PETITION - which supported
an earlier request by members of the
physics department - urged CESF to
begin immediately to look into the
possibility of faculty unionization. It
emphasized, however, "any joint
statement in favor of or opposed to
unionization would at this time be
premature."
"Some of us think unionization is
good; some of us think it's a bad idea.
We just want more facts," said History
of Art Professor Ward Bissell, one of
the petition's originators.
Also yesterday, CESF Chairman
Ronald Teigen, an economics
professor, said his group plans to send
in 10 days a questionnaire to faculty
members, to determine if they want
more information on unionization.
"THERE CERTAINLY are voices in
the faculty culling for more information
on unions, but we have no idea how
widespread the support is," Teigen
said.
Teigen said the questionnaire does
not ask directly if professors support
unionization. "We don't feel the faculty has
enough information on the subject to
make a decision yet," Teigen said.
The questionnaire will also ask
faculty members how they feel about
the way this year's salary increase was
distributed to professors, Teigen said.
MANY FACULTY members have
expressed concern over the Univer-
See ART, Page 2
Kelly 'trial
set for.
Feb. 16
By ANN MARIE FAZIO
Leo Kelly, a former University
student accused of shooting to death
two fellow students in Bursley Hall
last April, is scheduled to stand trial
beginning next Feb. 16.
Washtenaw County Circuit Court
Judge Ross Campbell will preside
over trial proceedings.
A CHANGE OF venue motion, filed
by defense attorney William Water-
man, has been taken under ad-
yisement, said prosecuting attorney
Lynwood Noah. Waterman had asked
that the trail be moved out of
Washtenaw County on the grounds
that his client would not receive a fair
trail because of unfair pgblicity.
The decision on the change of venue
motion will depend on jury selection
the morning of the trial, Noah said.
Unless both the prosecutor and defen-
se attorney have difficulties choosing
jury members, he explained, the
location of the trial will not be
changed.
inflation
tumbles
to
.in
L
percent
October
AP Photo
Snow showers
Dorothy Smith, from Roanoke, Va., carries her umbrella to work because of Virginia's wetter-than-usual flurries. To
see if it will be snowing where you're headed for break, check the weather map on Page 2.
- 0
'U considers possible
affilia*tion wth GMI
WASHINGTON (AP) - After a
disastrous September, inflation tum-
bled to an annual rate of 4.4 percent last
month as housing costs flattened out
and food prices rose only moderately,
the government said yesterday.
The October figures, the lowest since
the summer recession of a year ago,
virtually guarantee that inflation for all
of 1981 will be under 10 percent. And
with another recession now under way,
depressed consumer demands should
keep the rate down in the months
ahead.
FOR THE first 10 months of this year,
inflation - as measured by the Labor
Department's Consumer Price Index -
was 9.6 percent, said department of-
ficials.#
The new figures indicate that inflation
for the year will dip beneath double
figures, compared to 12.4 percent for
1980.
"It looks like we're seeing the begin-
ning of a major downturn in the rate of
increase in theConsumer Price Index,"
said Allen Sinai, vice president and
senior economist at Data Resources
Inc., an economic forecasting firm in
Lexington, Mass.
EDWARD YARDENI, chief
economist and vice president of the
E.F. Hutton &Co., Inc., brokerage
house, said the lower rate was "not a
temporary aberration."
The analysts attributed the hold down
in prices to the dampening effect of the
current recession.
Most of the slowdown in the October
index was attributed to a sharp easing
of housing costs, which had gone up
every month since declining 0.7 percent
in July 1980, department officials said.
THE OVERALL housing component
- including house prices, mortgage
rates and rent - was unchanged last
month.
"Home ownership costs, which had
been primarily responsible for the sub-
stantial increases in recent months,
declined 0.3 percent," said the depar-
tment report. "This decrease reflects
declines of 0.7 percent in house prices
and .1 percent in home financing
costs."
Food prices went up 0.2 percent last
month, well off the levels recorded in the
previous three months, the report said.
Food bought at grocery stores was up
only 0.1 percent, down from the 1.2 per-
cent of September.
PRESIDENT Reagan got a written
ten briefing on the consumer price
report at his mountaintop ranch at San-
ta Barbara, Calif., where he is
vacationing for a week.
Murray Weidenbaum, chairman of
the Council of Economic Advisers, told
Reagan that further progress would be
made in the months ahead, and pointed
out that "lower inflation will help
reduce the inflation premium in in-
terest rates and should lead to further
reductions in long and short-term in-
terest rates," according to deputy
White House press secretary Larry
Speakes.
Meanwhile yesterday, the Commerce
Department reported that orders for
durable goods plunged 8 percent in Oc-
tober, the biggest one-month drop in 21/
years and another graphic indication
that a national recession is taking
hold.
By ANDREW CHAPMAN
Officials from General Motors have
spoken to various University ad-
ministrators, including President
Harold Shapiro and Vice President for
Academic Affairs Billy Frye, about the
possibility of creating an affiliation
between General Motors Institute in
Flint and the University.
"The University has held some very
preliminary discussions with GM of-
ficials on the possibility of a relation-
ship (with the University)," Shapiro
said.
GMI is a four-year undergraduate in-
stitute designed to teach industrial ad-
ministration, industrial engineering,
mechanical engineering, and electrical
engineering.
SHAPIRO SAID it was too early ,to
speculate on what relationship might
come out of the discussions, but he ad-
ded, "everything is open and anything
is open."
Discussions were initiated because
General Motors is looking for a way to
make GMI independent from the car
company, Bill Winters, GM news
relations official said yesterday. Most
of GMI's funds currently come from
General Motors.
General Motors is considering less
costly alternatives for supporting the
engineering institute, Winters said.
ONE POSSIBLE reason suggested
for GM's decision to no longer fund GMI
is the current recession plaguing the
car industry in Michigan.
Engineering Dean James Duderstadt
said several possibilities exist for GMI
in the near future. GMI could become a
private institution, Duderstadt ex-
plained, or it could affiliate itself with
another university.
"Several other universities have been
contacted. U of M is just one of them,"
Duderstadt said. He would not com-
ment on which other universities had
been contacted by GM.
The understanding is that any
university that affiliates itself with
GMI would not have to support the in-
stitute, Duderstadt said.
"IT WOULD be financially
autonomous," he said.
See 'U', Page 2
'U' lecturer brings outer
space odysseys alive
By PERRY CLARK
The-hundreds who flock each month
to hear Jim Loudon speak rarely are
disappointed - they are treated to a
three-hour blend of science facts and
humor called AstroFest.
Loudon, a self-proclaimed "wan-
dering astronomy popularizer," has
created a lecture format that features a
visual extravaganza interspersing the
lecture with NASA films and an array of
slides. Loudon's lecture style,
however, and reputation as Ann Ar-
bor's resident space guru are the main
sources of AstroFest's popularity.
HE'S GREAT in every way, and a
better comic than Johnny Carson," said
Ann Arbor resident Elaine Lynch.
"Extremely knowledgeable, dynamic,
and entertaining," was the opinion of
social work graduate student Joan
Kraemer. "If you ever need a vote for
Jim Loudon for anything, look me up,"
added Milan computer programmer
Frank Houser.
Loudon, currently staff astronomer
at the University's Exhibit Museum,
came to Ann Arbor in the mid-1960s.
His beard and longish hair hark back to
that era. ,
Loudon began AstroFest nearly a
decade ago. At first the program, held
each month in the Modern Language
Building Auditorium 3, featured more
films than talk. But with Loudon's
growing popularity, people now come
just to hear him talk-the movies are a
bonus.
"I GOT INTO IT (lecturing) so
gradually there's no way to say when I.
started," he said.
Loudon first began talking publicly
while working for the student radio
station in Philadelphia at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania where he did his
undergraduate work.
After coming to Michigan for
graduae work, Loudon began lecturing
on an informal basis for the astronomy
department. He later held a teaching
appointment in the Residential College.
His reputation as a lecturer grew
during his time at the University.
LOUDON TRAVELS extensively
gathering information for his lectures.
He frequently visits Cape Canaveral,
Fla,, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in California. Loudon has used his ex-
pertise outside his lectures to write ar-
ticles for space magazines and cover
NASA activities for National Public
Radio.
The enthusiasm Loudon has for space
is unbridled. His voice rises with ex-
citement as he speaks of the 100,000
rings of Saturn and the planet's
numerous moons. In fact, he often gets
annoyed that people focus on that en-
thusiasm rather than his ability to ex-
plain science.
"I feel the way a woman does who is
beautiful, who enjoys being beautiful
and likes being told that she's beautiful,
and wouldn't have it any other way, but
wishes to God somebody would mention
something else about her on occasion,"
he said.
"ANYBODY CAN be enthusiastic,"
he added. "I don't want to come off
sounding like a Moonie."'
It's hard to quarrel with the notion
that Loudon knows his stuff. Not many
people could recite the names of the
See LOUDON'S, Page 2
Daily Photo by MIKE LUCAS
JIM LOUDON, a self-proclaimed "wandering astronomy popularizer,"
proudly wears his Saturn button. Loudon works as a staff astronomer for the
University's Exhibit Museum.
Study sabbatical
T)DAY'S DAILY is the last until we return
from Thanksgiving break. Happenings through
the rest of November are on Page 3. The
Daily will be back Tuesday, Dec. 1. See
you then. e
Prune bombs, banana splits
Oklahoma's Northeastern State University students have
mascot was launched after a caricature Indian came into
disfavor. Last year, public relations director Ed
Brocksmith unveiled a 6-foot banana "to help motivate the
students." The students didn't find the banana appealing,
however, so it split. i
Macho pigs make more piglets
Macho pigs that mix regularly with their eating and
drinking buddies are better barnyard Casanovas than their
milquetoast brethren who live in pampered isolation,
researchers report. That finding by a Kansas State
University research team is of nartieular imnortane tn the
couple of encounters with the opposite sex.
* And a failure in love can produce impotency in even the
most macho of swine.
The findings encouraged the rearing of young hogs
together in one pen where they can compete for food and
water rather than protecting them from possible injury by
use of individual enclosures and feeding arrangements. 0J
Symph ny wants hacks
eliminated
The Denver Symphony, tired of competing with the hacks
3 rob college nurses
Three men, one armed with a shotgun and another with a
pistol, took cash and valuables worth nearly $3,000 from 16
female nurses at LaSalle College in Philadelphia, police
said. The three men entered a second-floor classroom in the
college's science building Monday night where 16 nurses
were taking a graduate course, police said. The robbers left
quickly without harming anyone, police said. No shots were
fired. Robert Lyons, a college spokesman, said the three
men entered the room in Holroyd Hall and announced:
"This is a stickup." After the rohherv the men fleda fter
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