Ninety-Two Years of Editorial Freedom re itg Iai1Q NIVEOUS Continuing cold and cloudiness today with a chance of snow showers. High will be in the mid-30s. Vol. XCII, No. 75 Copyright 1981, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, December 10, 1981 Ten Cents Ten Pages Ex-p resident ends 'U' By JULIE ENGE BRECH T For someone as practiced in farewells as he, Law Professor Allan Smith seemed strikingly ill at ease yesterday - the final class day of his University teaching career: It wasn't just that he's grown tired of "retiring," this being his third adieu in seven years; Smith was simply em- barrassed by the attention. After 35 years at the University'- a large por- tion of those years spent in the limelight by virtue of his past roles as interim president, vice president for academic * affairs, and law school dean - he still shies from publicity. YESTERDAY'S farewell, attended, by such notables as football coach Bo Schembechler, athletic director Don Canham, and University President Harold Shapiro, was thrown for Smith and his wife Alene by more than 100 members of Smith's property law class. Smith's first attempt at retirement came in 1974 when he stepped down from his post as University vice president for academic affairs, a job he held for nearly 10 years. Approaching 65 - the required retirement age for University administrators - Smith returned to teach in the law school, where he had been dean from 1960 to 1965. Then, in late 1978, anticipating the need for someone to fill the University president's post while officials sear- ched for a successor to then-president Robben Fleming, the Regents ap- proached Smith in a hotel bar and draf- ted him from his "retirement" into teaching to become interim University president. PERHAPS MORE a sign of the tur- bulent times than of the man, Smith's most controversial years as an ad- ministrator were from 1965 to 1974, while he served as vice president for academic affairs. Some students and faculty criticized him for being too "closed" about the University's budget and other administration activities. In 1979, during his short tenure in the University's top office between the reigns of Fleming and Shapiro, Smith played a major role in securing state approval for the new University. Replacement Hospital and was forced to handle student protests over University investment ties with South Africa, in- cluding the takeover of a Regents meeting. Usually, however, he remained behind the scenes, using his time to quietly press both state officials and alumni for more funds for the University. Despite a brief term in what Smith of- career ten called "the best educational job in the United States," he was always anxious to return to teaching. SMITH, WHO will turn 70 next week, has been a perennially popular proper- ty law professor. In fact, it's not surprising to find a current student's parent who had Smith as a professor. Those former students, among them Regent Thomas Roach, usually remember him as a professor who was tough, but fair. They always remember him as a good teacher. "He's scary - because he's so smart and you've heard he's accomplished so much, so you want to do well - but you just love him," said Jane Phillipson, one of Smith's first-year students. Phillipson's father, a 1950 law school graduate, was among those in the first See FORMER, Page 7 Daily roto oy JACIEuBELL WITH THE HELP of his first-year law students, former University ad- ministrator Allan Smith, celebrated his final day of classes yesterday before he retires'at the end of the month. Reagan lifts ban on hiring- .controlers WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan, citing a "tradition that'in- dividuals deserve to be treated with compassion," opened the door yester- day for 11,500 fired air traffic con- trollers to again seek federal jobs - but not in the flight towers. "I do not believe that those who for- feited their jobs as controllers should be foreclosed from other federal em- ployment," Reagan said as he lifted a three-year federal hiring ban against the controllers who launched an illegal strike last August. TRANSPORTATION Secretary Drew Lewis said that none of the dismissed 11,500 individuals would be accepted at the Federal Aviation Administration, where they previously worked. He ackpowledged, ironically, that some of the fired workers eventually might work as military controllers. The FAA has picked up some of the slack in its depleted workforce by borrowing from the military. Pentagon officials said they are reviewing their policy against enlistments by fired con- trollers. Robert Poli, president of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, called Reagan's action "a cruel hoax on both the fired con- trollers and American taxpayers" and said it is "sheer folly" to think that many controllers will get federal jobs because of budget restraints. See REAGAN, Page 3 'Future courses LSA students may face new math requirement By PERRY CLARK Discussions initiated by the LSA Curriculum Committee may wind up putting a little math into each LSA student's life. Although nothing concrete has been proposed yet, the Curriculum Com- mittee has formed a subcommittee to examine the possibility of introducing an LSA mathematics requirement. ANY REQUIREMENT, regardless of its form, would be a long time coming, said Curriculum Committee chairman and Physics Prof. Jens Zorn. The earliest such a proposal could be reviewed by the faculty would be in April, Zorn said. Zorn estimated only 20 percent to 30 percent of future LSA students would be involved in any new requirement, since the majority of students would plan to take a math course anyway, or would fulfill the requirement with high school credit. Various options to the math requirement are being con- sidered, including computer and statistical classes. The requirement would not involve calculus, Zorn said. The level of math involved in the required courses might be so low the University would be embarassed to publicize it, he ad- ded. "I'M IN favor of moving toward in- creasing the math competence of people in LSA," Zorn said. "People can have a long and happy life and not know what an irrational number is, but they need to have a feel for quan- titative concepts." Many members of the subcommit- tee agree the need for math skills is increasing for LSA students. "In a broad sense, quantitative notions are constantly becoming more' important with our increasingly technological society," said subcom- mittee chairman and Mathematics Prof. Peter Hinman. More fields of knowledge, including social sciences and humanities, are incorporating mathematics into their domain, Hin- man added. HINMAN SAID a knowledge of quantitative concepts, gained through math courses, is vital to remaining well-intbrmed. "Lots of statistical arguments we see in newspapers and magazines are just nonsense, and people need to know that," Hinman said. Political Science Prof. John Cham- berlin, a member of the Curriculum Committee, said knowledge of math See COMMITTEE, Page 2 E nin. college rejects humanities credit cuts Doily Photo by KIM HILL Holiday trappings The shops in Nickels Arcade are ready and waiting for the holiday season with Christmas flowers, bows and flags to brighten up the winter scenery. Hi - BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Moslem zealots who com- mandeered a Libyan jetliner freed their 35 hostages and surrendered yesterday after a 7,500-mile hijack ordeal that had taken the plane to Beirut for the thsird time in as many Wdays, airport officials said. Officials said some of the passengers left the plane after the hijackers got off. Lebanon's state radio reported that the Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 would fly to Larnaca, Cyprus, with the rest of the former hostages, who included 27 passengers and eight crew members. THE SURRENDER came after more than five hours of negotiations punctuated by bursts of machinegun fire from the airplane as the lijack team fired warning shots to keep back security forces surrounding the airplane. Officials said there were five heavily armed hijackers on the plane, and they surrendered at 5:30 p.m. yesterday EST. The officials said the hijackers gave themselves up to troops of Syria's peacekeeping force, sent to enforce a truce after Lebanon's 1975-76 civil war, which had ringed the air- craft, along with units of the Lebanese army since it touched down and taxied to the end of the runway. TODAY- Balloon, balloon! DETROIT-AREA jeweler marked his 70th anni- versary in business yesterday by releasing $26,000 in gift certificates into the sky inside 1,000 multi- colored helium-filled balloons. The balloons-each containing a certificate ranging from425 to $700-were released in front of the Sidney Krandall & Sons jewelry store on the top of the 300-foot Troy Towers. The owners say value of the certificates can be applied to the The radio said two buses were sent to the plane for the passengers who decided to remain in Beirut. THE RADIO said Nabih Berri, head of the Shiite Moslem Amal militia, negotiated with the hijackers on final arrangements for the surrender, as they had demanded. The hijackers seized the aircraft to back their demand for an investigation of the disappearance of their Shiite Moslem leader at the end of a trip to Libya three years ago. Reporters at the airport said a Shiite Moslem clergyman wearing a white turban and a black robe boarded the plane shortly before the release of the hostages, and soon after- ward a number of men left the plane. It was not clear whether they were the hijackers. SHORTLY AFTER the plane landed in Beirut, a spokesman for the hijackers also asserted he and his comrades had decided to end the hijacking, which had in- volved stops in four countries, and free the hostages unhar- med. The hijacker spokesman, identified only as Hamza, fired two pistol shots into the air from the front hatch of the plane as security forces moved closer, then said he would blow up the jet unless troops pulled back, radio stations reported. By SUSAN SHARON Due Ato heavy opposition from faculty and students, the engineering college has dropped a proposal to reduce the number of humanities credits required for engineering students. The proposal, from the College of Engineering's mechanical engineering department, advocated reducing the humanities credit hours requirement from 24 to 18 to allow students more scheduling flexibility. BUT AFTER being circulated among the engineering faculty, the proposal failed to receive enough sup- port to be presented before a faculty meeting last Tuesday. Students also expressed strong disapproval of the proposal. An engineering student council petition protesting cuts in the humanities requirement received signatures from more than 750 engineering students. The petition asked the engineering faculty "to resist the encroachment of technical courses and ensure the standard of quality for which the University of Michigan is known" by leaving the current humanities requirement intact. STUDENTS WHO signed the petition expressed fear that a reduc- tion of required humanities courses would limit the scope of their education. "Engineers are too narrow-minded as it is," said engineering junior Bob Irving. "They've got to teach these people to be creative; we can't limit social skills completely. Going to college should broaden your in- terests, not narrow them." Students also expressed concern that the current emphasis on technology and computerization within the college will decrease the amount of time given to other classes. "WE NEED TO interact more with other students," said mechanical engineering junior Clarke Anderson. "As it is, we're losing our liberal arts perspective." Prof. Richard Sonntag, head of the mechanical engineering department, said it was clear a majority of faculty and students didn't support his depar- tment's proposal. Sonntag said the proposed changes came well within guidelines proposed by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, an organization which periodically reviews the school's curriculum. The University has a greater number of required humanities courses than many of its peer institutions, Sonntag said. SOME STUDENTS backed the proposed reduction for the scheduling flexibility it would allow. "More electives means I can take LSA courses geared toward my per- sonal interests," engineering senior Ivan Kirschner said. "We wouldn't have to take the boring humanities specifically designed for engineers." Sonntag suggested that engineering students could use credit hours taken away from the humanities for courses in the sciences or other fields related to mechanical engineering. Rather than freeing credit hours by reducing humanities requirements, Anderson suggested cutting back some existing introductory courses within the mechanical engineering department. "There's room within the depar- tment for a more compact course load," Anderson said. Stockman as being highly critical of Reagan- administration economic policies. Stockman said that Heinz was "chortling" about having secured Stockman to appear at the fund-raiser on the 40th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Stockman told his audience that he said to Heinz, "John, I have to tell you, 40 years ago the U.S. Navy went down in the Pacific. Forty days ago I went down in the Atlantic." Stockman maintained that he had been quoted by name in the magazine due to a misunderstanding bet- ween himself and the article's author, editor William Greider of the Washington Post. Greider has said1 Stockman agreed to be quoted after Congress had taken action on the played among college students-is a make-believe rub-out of fellow students. But the shooting of a college sophomore by campus police has shown the game may sometimes become all too real. Mike Reagan, a student at Cal State University-Long Beach, said Tuesday he was not playing "Assassin" when he was shot, but he acknowledged that he was involved in a similar stalking game involving rubber- band guns. On Saturday night, a campus police officer saw Reagan and a woman getting out of a car and carrying what appeared to be a rifle. Police Sgt. Stephen King ordered Reagan to freeze, but the young man turned around and pointed the toy gun at the policeman, investigators said. cing replicas of submachine guns. They fire rubber bands with enough force to cause eye damage. "It is very realistic," said Deputy District Attorney Jay Lipman, whose unit is investigating the shooting. 0 On the inside .. On the Opinion Page, an editorial of military research at the University . . Arts reviews BowWowWow and nrevieuzq Michael Henderson . .. and in Sports, an alumni ;E 1 1 I