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OPINION
Page 4
Sunday, February 7, 1982
The Michigan Doily
Asbestos dust, budget cuts in the air
ASECOND WEEK of blue faces is in
store at both the Michigan Union and
the Frieze Buiding as the University
community holds its breath while awaiting
word from state health investigators on the
possible presence of exposed asbestos in the
two campus buildings.
Where two weeks ago clouds of fiber-laden
dust billowed from renovation sites in the two
buildings, possibly exposing passersby and
construction workers to cancer-causing
asbestos fibers,wall work has now been halted
pending results of tests by the State Depar-
tment of Occupational Health.
On Friday, University officials announced
results of their own laboratory analyses of
building materials taken from the sites. The
verdict: Pipe insulation in the Union contains
the Week
in Review
asbestos while the Frieze Building appears to
be free of the carcinogen.
However,,construction workers in the Union
were not exposed to the asbestos, according to
University Director of Environmental Health
and Safety William Joy, because work on the
affected pipes has not yet started.
Tomorrow, University officials are
scheduled to meet with representatives of the
construction workers' unions to discuss
asbestos health hazards and to try to pinpoint
areas in which the material is likely to be en-
countered as renovation work continues.
Before any new work begins, Joy said, con-
tractors will be required to submit material
samples to his office for testing and workers
will be instructed in safe asbestos-handling
techniques.
Why such precautions and testing were not
initiated prior to the start of construction
remains a question that state officials are ex-
pected to investigate.
Five-year cutting edge
HAT THE University will teach and whom
J it will educate for years to come will be
determined largely by a new financial
Frye wields the five-year axe.
blueprint, scheduled to be announced by Vice
President for Academic Affairs Billy Frye
later this week,
In a tone reminiscent of early Soviet
propaganda, the proposal has been dubbed the
"five-year plan." Observers believe the
University will be more successful in its at-
tempts than the Soviets.
Forced to establish new priorities because of
sharp revenue reductions, administrators will
direct the redistribution of some $20 million in
general fund money to as-yet unspecified "high
priority" areas.
The specific ideas contained in the five-year
plan have been in the works for nearly a year
now, and a theory of targeted (as opposed to
across-the-board) redu~tion, colloquially.
called the "smaller but better" plan, reaches'
back even further.
The five-year plan-which reportedly in-
cludes a reduction of teaching staff and
elimination of schools, departments, and other
academic programs-appears to be based on
that smaller-but-better mode of budget cutting.
Having learned some lessons from the
elimination of the geography department-the
infamous budget-cutting test case-ad-
ministrators have been working hard to build a
political base for further reductions.
In developing this new budget plan, ad-
ministrators consulted with faculty leaders,
looking for support and ideas on how best to
handle sensitive academic reviews.
In much the same way, Frye has been
,parleying with student leaders, pressing for
their endorsement of an administration plan to
boost student involvement in future planning.
Whether that involvement is real or imagined
remains to be seen.
Dieting at the Ed School
THEY'RE STARTING A crash diet over at
the old University High School, home of the
School of Education. The University's budget
doctors have handed down a diagnosis of
obesity, and the smaller but better surgeons
are poised for radical surgery with meat axes.
So it's slim down fast or get pleaved.
Dean Joan Stark and the school's executive
committee have formulated several leaner
plans, one of which calls for a consolidation of
the school's 12 existing programs into 6 new
programs and one administrative unit.
With retrenchment on the schedules of
almost every University smaller but better
administrator, the education school has reason
to be worried. ' If the school's consolidation
plans do not save an adequate amount of
money, administrators claim that the number
of faculty members will go the way of most ex-
cess fat-their positions will be eliminated
through a process of attrition. This attrition
(allowing retiring professors positions to go un-
filled) will reduce the school's 81 current
professors to an anorexic 56 by 1987.
The dieting seems to be infectious. The
school's enrollment has been dropping since
1970, except in physical education, where the
weight gain has landed half of the school's un-
dergraduates in that department.
So far the doctors seem satisfied with the
patient's progress. Stark claims top ad-
ministrators, such as Vice President for
Academic Affairs Billy Frye, have expressed
their satisfaction with the plan. The real test,
however, will come when Chief Surgeon and
University President Harold Shapiro announ-
ces his academic unit reviews in the near
future-but then all the University's schools
may start losing weight.
12 credit minimum.
.Assistant LSA Dean Eugene Nissen,
however, called for more discussion of the fee,
leaving open the possibility that the drop/add
penalty itself may be dropped.
Reagan plans GSL cuts
6
CRISPing for dollars
What price drop/adds?
THE UNIVERSITY placed a new tithe upon
its student fiefdom this week-in the form of
a $10 dollar penalty for late drop/adds..
The fee, which will take effect in September,
is designed to discourage students from
clogging up CRISP lines after the three week
registration period has elapsed. Feudal lords in
the Administration Building claim that most
late drops are difficult to process. LSA
Academic Actions Director Helen Crafton ex-
pressed dismay that the late drops were made
"for no other reason than they (students) are
failing the course." The bulk of the drops cen-
ter around such academically demanding sub-
jects as chemistry, mathematics, and com-
puter science.
But the fee taxed the patience of several
members of the LSA Curriculum Committee,
who questioned the need for additional
drop/add penalties. Currently, students who
withdraw from class receive a "W" on their
transcripts, which some people regard as a
scarlet letter upon their permanent record.
And students are also billed for a portion of
their tuition if their late drop puts them below a
T IE REAGAN administration made it,
official this week when it announced plans
to cut graduate and professional students out of-
the Guaranteed Student Loan program. I 6
Washington's proposal, part of a long-tern
plan to cut waste out of the federal budget, will
put about 130,000 college students nationwide,,,
and 4,960 at the University, on a new federal..
payroll-the unfunded. Currently, University
graduate and professional students make up
$21 million worth of federal GSL payments.
There had been hints in Washington a few ,
months ago that there would be drastic cuts in -
GSL eligibility. Pell Grants and federal
benefits to students on social security have,
already traveled the route of Reagan's cut:, q
backs.
University Director of Financial aid Harvey
Grotrian attempted to help students who will
lose their GSLs by setting up an alternate loap
program. Grotrian contacted 17 major banks
to set up the program, called the Auxiliary..
Loans to Assist Students program, but only two.
banks showed interest.
Various University administrators claimed
that cutting the GSLs to graduate and
professional students will force them out of
school. These same administrators claim
however, that despite Grotrian's efforts, the
University likely will not be able to come up
with alternate aid sources for the students af-
fected.
The GSL reduction proposal, part of the
Reagan administration's federal cost-cutting
plan, must pass through both houses of
Congress before it becomes policy. If passed,
the proposal would take effect April 1.
The Week in Review was compiled by
Daily editors Andrew Chapman, Julie,
Hinds, Dave Meyer, and. former Daily
editorsJulie Engebrecht and Howard Witt.
.. i _
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Going broke with
By Chuck Jaffex
'Go Blue!'
Vol. XCII, No. 106 -
420 Mbynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
An allied,
SOVIET MILITARY aggression was
slowed a step this weekend, when
the British 'decided to impose
diplomatic and economic sanctions
against the Soviets.
The British claimed Saturday that
their relations with the military
regime in Poland will "reflect the ab-
normal nature of the present
situation."
Although Britain has already im--
posed limited restrictions on the Soviet
Union and Poland, these official
restrictions will hopefully show
greater unity among the Western
world, especially in opposing obvious
Soviet aggression.
It seems in the best interests of free
Europe to oppose the Soviet moves in
Poland. Although rational planning is
crucial to the relationship between the
two superpowers, a certain stubbor-
nness has proven itself effective.
,Kz
sanction,
American economic and political
leadership in resisting Soviet
* belligerence, while at times appearing
dangerous; is a useful tool in the realm
of world politics. Militarism, no matter
how indirect, should not be met with
more militarism, but with political
might. Reagan's Soviet sanctions stay
within the diplomatic and economic
sphere of international relations, and
are thus limited enough not to provoke
a military backlash.
Blatant Soviet aggression must be
kept in some form of check. The
Reagan sanctions are an attempt,
though by no means a perfect one, at
imposing this type of check. A
deterrent, Qf any shape, is needed to
prevent a recurrence of events like
those in Afghanistan or Poland.
Britain's agreement on sanctions is a
small, but important, step in the
proper direction.
"Let's go blue!"
That familiar cry isn't being
heard so loudly around Ann Ar-
bor anymore. The reason doesn't
lie in dismal performances by
Michigan's athletic teams, but
rather in the miserable perfor-
mance by a group of wealthy
alumni and sports fans who
allowed Go Blue magazine to go
bankrupt.
IT IS SHAD when any
publication folds, . but when a
magazine with the potential and
promise of Go Blue! goes un-
der-without any effort on the
part of its reading community to
save it-the situation is even
more depressing.
Go Blue! was a magazine
dealing with Michigan athletics.
The coverage was complete and
thorough. Everything from club
and IM sports to football and
basketball received copy in Go
Blue!'s monthly magazines and
weekly newsletters. While most
of the coverage was favorable to
the. Wolverines, the writing
proved fai; and comprehensive.
But all of the good points of the
magazine did not save it from
going bankrupt. When the lack of
support forced him to close his
doors, Go Blue! editor Larry
Paladino found out just how loyal
some of Michigan's fans really
are.
THE ALUMNI Association
boasts 268,865 living degree-
holders. Of this group, only a
small percentage knew what Go
Blue! was. Few members were
willing to invest in more-than a
subscription.
"I'm not against helping it (Go
Blue!) out, but iro one has really
asked me to help out," said
Alumni Association president
Bob Forman. "I'm sorry to hear
that it's going out of business. I
think it was an excellent
publication, but as far as I'm
concerned, the magazine has to
stand on its own two feet after a
while. 0
"I think we've let our alumni
know about it, through an adver-
tisement exchange," he con-
tinued. "I'm sorry to see it go, but
if it's a worthwhile investment,
people should recognize it as a
sound commercial investment,
and then they would be in-
terested. Besides, we're not a
fund-raising organization, and if
we had the money, it would go to
other, non-commercial, in-
terests."
WHAT MAKES this lack of par-
ticipation worse is that Go Blue!
is tailor-made to serve alumni in-
terested in University athletics.
The magazine gave a more in-
depth view of University sports
than most local newspapers
provide. But even those alumni
who were aware of Go Blue!'s
virtues were not willing to invest.
" Editor Paladino arranged a
dinner in, Ann Arbor for possible
investors. Eight people attended
who were possible sources of
money. Only one person agreed
to invest, while one other gave a
commitment to invest should
Paladino find more interested
parties.
" Several other prospective in-
vestors were invited to a fun-
draising luncheon in Flint. Four
arrived. None invested.
" A few dozen prominent
Michigan alumni were contacted
by letter concerning Go Blue!
and its financial state. None of
these people responded to the let-
ters.
" Football recruiting coor-
dinator Fritz Seyferth spoke to
both dinner and luncheon
gatherings on the magazine's
behalf, and Assistant Athletic
Director Will Perry spoke to the
dinner group as well. But no fun-
ds resulted.
" Even Athletic Director' Don
Canham offered to help the ailing
magazine. But his help, in the
form of ads placed in publications
on the Athletic Department's
mailing lists, was just too
limited. Now, he is considering
sending a replacement newslet-
ter to Go Blue! subscribers for
the duration of their subscrip-
tions, but he isn't helping the
magazine get back on its feet
again.
There are other examples of
prospective investors backing
down on support for Go Blue! So
the magazine folded, Paladino
lost his job, and a-large number
of subscribers were deprived of a
good magazine.
Even more disappointing is
that Go Blue! would have been
completely self-supporting after
next year. Paladino needed
$100,000 to publish for his first
year. He got $93,000 and
published with that money for a
year and a half. Another $100,000
of investors' money would have
allowed him to publish Go Blue!
for at least another year, at'
which point the magazine-
probably would have become
self-sustaining.
BUT ALL OF the accountant's
figures and numbers can't save
Go Blue! now. It seems destined
to a silent death, with Paladino
and his 3,700 subscribers and un-:
told newsstand readers as its Qnly:
tiourners.
The biggest irony in the entire.
Go Blue! story lies with the,
people who consider themselves.
Michigan's most loyal-and cer4
tainly most vocal-fans. These:
wealthy, informed alumni who;
live for Michigan athletics and'
winning seasons, consider them-«
selves the - proudest of
Wolverines, but they stood idly by
and watched Go Blue! go under.
And undoubtedly, the next time,
they get together for a football;
bust, or even a small luncheon,:
the first words to come out of
their mouths will probably be!,
"Let's go blue!"
Jaffe is a Daily sports writer
and a former staff reporterfor
Go Blue!
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