Ex-hostage homecoming The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, January 27, 1981-Page 7 Iran official defends settlement V-o rAnu .-ur1 full of prayer, play; love WEST POINT, N.Y. (UPI) - America's hostage-heroes spent their first full day at home in prayer and play at West Point yesterday, soaking up the love of their families before heading to the White House for the nation's official welcome. Most of the former hostages and their fAMilies attended a prayer service at the Cadet Chapel and spent the day jogging, talking to reporters and e axing with their kinfolk before din- ner in the academy mess hall with the cadet corps. -SEVEN FORMER hostage Marines visited the academy's grade school to thank the children with pictpres, autographs, and hugs for "Welcome Home" signs the youngsters hung for G" department stated for elimination (Continued from Page 1) members who retire will not be replaced, he added. FACULTY MEMBRS and students in the geography department were "shocked" by the decision to undergo discontinuation proceedings. "I had no official communication that they were considering it until (yester- day) morning," explained Department Chairman Nystuen. "My first concern is to persuade the college to keep the department. The problem is that small departments are the only candidates for discontinuance. So it is a question of which small departments. "We can't get rid of chemistry or history, those are central to the College," he continued. "We have to. convince them we are central, but we will have a hard time convincing our colleagues that we are central." "I CAN'T THINK of a single graduate who is not in a permanent position," Geography Prof. George Kish said yesterday. "Our placement record shows that we are central, that is the issue!" Nystuen added that one of the great strengths of the department is that there are both "science and social science type members. That's a rarity in these days of greater complexity," he said. "'The department has been one of the top ten in the country, unlike some ther (College) departments, which shall remain nameless," noted Geology Prof. John Kolars. "The University has to encompass the small departments as well as the large." "I don't think it should happen," commented Ph.D. Candidate Richard Nespar. "It strikes me as a pretty drastic thing to do because it is a well recognized department." Vice-President Frye said the ossibility of closing the department was brought up by LSA four years ago. "A review was done," he said, but it was decided that LSA would not act on the matter. -Frye also said to "assume" that the review process is just a formality is a mistake. LSA would not be conducting any review at all, he said, "if there was not the opportunity that the decision could be reversed." Daily staff reporters Sue Inglis, Kevin Tottis, and Janet Rae con- tributed to this story. t 440-%~ 'D' This space contitbuted by the publisher HAWPCUT -- SUCH Former staff of PLAIN JANE, SPECIALS!! UNTIL JAN. 29 them in West Point's Thayer Hotel. In Washington, a "watery-eyed" President Reagan was told at a briefing by Secretary of State Alexander Haig that about a dozen of the former hostages were suffering from "severe problems -mostly mental." Reagan signed a proclamation designating Thursday as a national day of thanksgiving for the return of the 52 Americans and Richard Queen, the 53rd hostage who was released for medical reasons after 250 days in cap- tivity. NEW YORK CITY went ahead with plans for a traditional Broadway ticker tape parade for the hostages on Friday. Mayor Ed Koch had promised to mount the parade if only one former hostage asked for it. The first to ask was Barry Rosen of Brooklyn. In Johnstown, Pa., former hostage Army Sgt. Regis Ragan visited his hospitalized 70-year-old mother, Anna, who suffered heart trouble shortly after talking to her son by telephone last Wednesday. Ragan then left to rejoin the other 51 former hostages at West Point. The hostages, who arrived here Sun- day to a hero's welcome, will attend a press conference this morning before leaving for their official welcome celebration with President Reagan at the White House. "IT IS LIKE taking a bath in love," said hostage Catherine Koob. Hostage Elizabeth Swift, who said she and Koob cooked together in cap- tivity in the Tehran embassy's basement kitchen, remarked, "Everyone said the welcome wouldrbe wonderful. It is wonderful." Army Warrant Officer Joseph Hall, walking arm-in-arm with his wife Cheri, said of his homecoming, "It's beyond words. Just beautiful." He beamed. "If they had asked me where I'd have wanted to go in America, I'd have said West Point." From AP and UPI Iran's prime minister yesterday defended the hostage settlement against criticism by President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. And another leader, denying reports of hostage mistreatment, said the militants who imprisoned the Americans were incapable of hurting anyone. Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Rajai told the Majlis, or Parliament, that Iran's problems result from the upheaval of revolution and were not caused by allowing the U.S. Embassy staff to be held hostage for more than a year, as Bani-Sadr has charged. THE PRESIDENT, a longtime critic of the clergy- dominated government, has been particularly harsh in the last few days, apparently in an attempt to create a climate in which to expand his own influence. Bani-Sadr has claimed Iran could have reached a much more favorable agreement earlier, according to a Yugoslav news agency report from Tehran, quoting ankin- terview in Mizam newspaper.- Reacting to hostages' reports they were mistreated, Speaker of Parliament Hashemi Rafsanjani told his weekly news conference he is certain no torture took place. "I KNOW MANY of these boys," he said, referring to the captors. "They would not like to hurt any human being." The Iranian people "countered all these U.S. measures and by their political fasting, they resisted the economic sanctions," Rajai also said. Rajai said the Americans became "perplexed and helpless" when the sanctions, including a halt of Iranian oil imports, failed, and Washington was forced to attempt the aborted rescue mission in April. RAJAI SAID THE United States "indulged in a neurotic and futile action which further disclosed its vile charac- ter. That was its direct military attack in Tabas, which was more disgraceful than the U.S. invasion of the Bay of Pigs and by God's grace, it ended in failure." But Islamic Revolution, the newspaper published by Bani-Sadr, said Sunday Iran gained nothing from the 14% month ordeal. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department sought yesterday to reassure American businesspersons who fear that the financial deal which freed the American hostages also committed those businesspersons to turning over disputed assets to Iran. Richard Davis, assistant treasury secretary for enfor- cement and operations, said numerous American businesses had been involved in financial deals to con- struct buildings or perform various services in Iran before the U.S. Embassy and the Americans were seized 141 months ago. Those deals were often supported by letters of credit, performance bonds, and other financial obligations, and the Iranians could call for payment on those obligations "virtually at will" before the embassy seizure, Davis said. What Treasury is telling the business community now, he said, is that "we're not forcing you to fork over the money." --_ Y Imagine yourse\ living and work -A -I- pine yourself creating the 0spacecraf toprbe Jupiter.. Imagine you designing ti radars that the skies of free world. :. 27 1<, Imagine yourself at Hughes. ... working on innovations that could change the world. ... taking advantage of Hughes' continuing education program-one of the finest in the country. .. .enjoying the Southern California or Tucson lifestyle. We'll be on campus February 3, 1981 A