Page 10-Thursday, September 9, 1982-The Michigan Daily
Regents approve
By KRISTIN STAPLETON
Almost two years after the dangerous
hazing of a hockey team member
opened the issue of initiation rituals on
campus, the University now has an of-
ficial policy against hazing.
The policy, approved by the Regents
in June, condemns hazing practices as
requirements for membership in any
organization. The policy further states
that the University community "could
not support the continued operation of
any group which allows such practices"
and calls for appropriate legal san-
ctions against violators.
The policy defines hazing as "willful
acts, with or without the consent of the
individual involved," including
physical injury, kidnapping,
humiliation, mandatory servitude, for-
ced consumption of liquids or solids,
abandonment, and intentionally
placing a person at risk of severe men-
tal or emotional harm.
HAZING BECAME a campus issue in
the fall of 1980 when an incident in-
volving five first-year hockey players
received wide publicity in both Ann Ar-
bor and Detroit. One of those hockey
players became violently ill after his
teammates forced him to consume
alcohol, shaved parts of his body, and
left him naked and shivering at his
dormitory after an initiation party.
Spurred by the incident and an angry
community reaction to the way in
which administrators addressed the
problem, a committee examining
hazing on campus completed a draft of
policy suggestions in the spring of 1981,
said Chris Carlsen of the Student
Organizations, Activities, and
Programs office.
The Michigan Student Assembly ap-
proved the policy, although some of the
assembly's members felt specific san-
ctions should be included as a part of
the document.
hazing
THAT SUGGESTION eventually was
rejected by both the faculty Senate
Assembly and the Regents.
Carlsen said that the new policy is an
important first step in dealing with
hazir violations. She said it sets forth
in clear terms the University's disap-
proval of hazing, although "just doing
that won't solve many problems."
According to Carlsen, responsibility
for creating and enforcing sanctions
against hazing rests with the super-
visory organization of the group which
violates the hazing policy. In the case of
student groups recognized by MSA, the
responsibility for appropriate punish-
ment lies with the student government.
Fraternity and sorority violations will
be dealt with by their coordinating
councils, and violations by athletic
groups will be the responsibility of the
athletic department.
"THERE STILL needs to be some
work done in terms of specific san-
policy
ctions," Carlsen said. For that reason*
she. said, "each coordinating body is
coming up with their own sanctions td
deal with hazing."
Carlsen said she is working with
members of MSA to ensure that the
sanctions of the various groups are ap,
propriate and forceful. Kathy HarI
twick, the MSA member working on the
hazing policy, said the role of MSA is to
"make sure each individual group has
defined sanctions and knows about
them."
A central University council will
handle appeals from any group
dissatisfied with sanctions imposed on
them, according to Carlsen.
Regent Sarah Power (D-Ann Arbor)
said the new policy will be helpful in
' curbing incidents of hazink.
"The first thing to do is to articulate
your policy well," Power said, and ad=
ded that o clear policy may deter any
would-be violators from participating
in hazing.
University investments back nuclear weapons
(Continued from Page 1)
none of Brinkerhoff's staff feel the
obligation to bring these issues to the
attention of the Regents. Norman Her-
bert, the University's investment of-
ficer who casts the votes, said "It's not
our role to introduce those issues other
than to the extent that its financial."
CHANDLER Matthews, the Univer-
sity's controller, who also receives the
IRRC reports, said, "As a private
citizen, I suppose we're all responsible
for bringing these issues to discussion."
Asked why none of the administrators
have ever done so, Matthews said, "I
just don't have the answer for that."
"It's not up to me to bring that issue
to the Regents," said William Sturgis,
an assistant to the vice president.
And the vice president, Brinkerhoff,
said, "The Regents specifically have
asked us not to bring these issues up."
But Regent Sarah Power (D-Ann Ar-
bor) differed with Brinkerhoff on the
issue. "If (the administration) thought
there were issues we should see, they
'Total denial of supplies to the police and military forces
of a host country is hardly consistent with an image of re-
sponsible citizenship. The great bulk of the work of both the
police and military forces in South Africa is for the benefit of
all its inhabitants.'
-Statement by Mobil Corp. to its shareholders
Ulrich's now stocks medical texts.
would bring them to our attention," she
said.
The faculty committee that watches
over University investments addresses
strictly financial issues (except for an
annual discussion on South Africa).
Meanwhile, the University continues
to vote without regard to social
questions.
AT GE, A second shareholder
resolution asked the company to halt all
its weapons work, not just the operation
of a single plant. "How can General
Electric base its corporate advertising
campaign on the slogan 'We bring good
things to life,' when at the same time a
substantial part of its business is based
on the production and promotion of
nuclear weapons which could kill
everything?" argued the resolution's
proponent.
GE's response read like that of many
other manufacturers who were asked to
stop their weapons work: "The U.S.
government relies upon the
technological and management
capability of the private sector to
produce the equipment needed to
achieve a sound defense posture and to
support the nation's foreign policy ob-
jectives. Where the government has
determined it needs to get defense work
J4 J J44.4l
J J.J J 4 4 -
Recommended Treatment: courteous assistance in
obtaining required texts at reasonable prices;
Prognosis: one less frazzled nerve.
-.-'4'
Stop in and make your own examination.
r , t
MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE
549 E. University at the corner of East U: and South U. 662-3201
done, and we've been chosen to do it,
the company plans to continue its par-
ticipation in the nation's defense ac-
tivities, both to serve our shareowners
and our government."
A resolution to American Telephone
& Telegraph Co. asked the company to
establish a committee to evaluate the
implications of its nuclear weapons
research and development laboratory.
The University voted its $1 million of
shares against the resolution.
LIKEWISE, the University voted its
$1.5 million of Du Pont stock and $1.5
million of General Telephone & Elec-
tronics Co. stock against anti-nuclear
weapons resolutions.
On other issues:
* The University voted its $750,000 of
J.P. Morgan and Co. stock against a
resolution calling on the bank to
disclose its lending activities to the
reportedly repressive regime in Chile.
Morgan executives said that to do so
would violate customer confidentiality
and argued that its loans contribute to
economic progress in the country and
long-term enhancement of the quality
of life;
" The University also voted against a
resolution that asked Morgan to
disclose its affirmative action prac-
tices, including statistics on the status
of women and minorities in the firm.
* The small number of shares that
the University holds in Carolina Power
& Light Co. supported the utility's
desire to continue the use and construc-
tion of nuclear power plants.
e The University voted its $1.7
million of Bristol-Myers Co. stock
against a resolution calling for the
company to endorse and implement the
World Health Organization's code
restricting the marketing of infant
foods as breastmilk substitutes in
developing nations. The code which
Bristol-Myers is resisting has received
widespread international and corporate
support.
THE UNIVERSITY remains
politically indiscriminate in its social
apathy; it opposes not only left-wing
proposals, but also resolutions from the
right.
One resolution asked Hewlett-
Packard Co. to stop selling technology
to the Soviet Union. Hewlett-Packard's
management argued that the company
is in full compliance with the gover-
nment's export control laws, and the
University, by virtue of its vote for
management, agreed.
It is only for resolutions relating to a
company's South African operations
that the investment office can consider
voting against management. The
Regents' policy states that the Univer-
sity will vote its proxies in favor of
resolutions supporting the enhan-
cement of political, social, and
economic rights for a company's em-
ployees in South Africa.
The policy, however, does not make
reference to selling products to the
South African government or expan-
ding operations in the country. Thus,
the University voted $1.9 million of
Xerox stock against a shareholder
resolution-which asked the company
to stop its expansion in South Africa-
because the University's "policy does
not address the issue of expansion," ac
cording to investment office files.
IN 1981, the University voted its $2.
million worth of Mobil shares against a
resolution calling on the company to
stop selling oil from its European sub
sidiaries to the South African military
and police, which have long been ac-
cused of repressive practices.
Although U.S. export rules restrit
such sales,~'there are no controls on
sales from foreign subsidiaries. Mobil
argued that the corporation should not
restrict itself beyond specific U.S. ex-
port rules. The company's statemelt
also said: "Total denial of supplies to
the police and military forces of a host
country is hardly consistent with an
image of responsible citizenship in that
country. The great bulk of the work of
both the police and military forces in
every country, including South Africa,
is for the benefit of all its inhabitants."
The University, in effect, accepted
this statement through its vote. Many
observers of the South African situation
sharply disagree with Mobil's analysis.
MOST universities. with substantial
investments have some sort of standing
committee to advise their governing
boards on questions of socially respon-
sible practices.
Such a committee was suggested
here in the late ,1970s, but the idea died
before coming up for formal discussion,
Brinkerhoff said. "The inference was
we have a process that we're happy
with," he said.
The University now stands as the only
school with a large investment fund in
the country that does not use any form
of committee structure, said University
President Harold Shapiro.
HARVARD University, with the
largest investment portfolio of any
school in the country, set up an Ad-
visory Committee on Social Respon-
sibility (ACSR) 10 years ago to make
recommendations to Harvard's gover-
ning board on proxy issues.
The Harvard Corporation accepts
ACSR's recommendations almost 80
percent of the time, said ACSR
Secretary Candace Corvey.
In 1981, although ACSR advised the
Harvard Corporation to vote its shares
in favor of several anti-nuclear
weapons resolutions, the corporation
voted with management.
THIS YEAR, however, in light of the
attention recently given to the nuclear
arms race, the corporation switched to
a neutral position until it could study
the issue further. Harvard abstained on
resolutions to Du Pont, GE, and AT&T,
among others, this year.
Harvard abstained on the infant for-
mula question to Bristol-Myers last
spring only because it did not receive
the proxy materials in time to consider
the question. Harvard later sent a letter
to the company saying it would have
voted in favor of the resolution (against
management) and would do so in future
years, Corvey said.
Shareholder resolutions such as those
named above rarely receive much sup-
port from corporate voters. This year
the only anti-nuclear weapons
resolution to receive more than 5 pet-
cent of the voting shares was the AT&T
proposal. The Bristol-Myers resoluti
on infant formula did fairly well,
receiving 6.2 percent support. The
Xerox resolution received slightly mor
than 10 percent of the vote.
Nevertheless, church groups ani
others continue to put the resolutiois
before the shareholders each year-4i
part to gain concessions from the con-
panies and in part to relieve their con-
sciences of investing in "immoral '
causes.
Now That You're Here,
It's Time to) Plan to Leave!I
With Fall Term just starting, Thanksgiving and Christmas seem a long way
off. But now is the perfect time to make your airline reservations home for
the holidays. It's simple. If you book now, you'll get the best schedule and
the best price. If you wait, well .. . no one wants to have Thanksgiving
dinner at the. Metro Airport.
So stop by or call Conlin Travel's convenient location on South University.
We'll book your flights and issue your ticket using our computerized
reservation system. We can help you with any kind of vacation plans.
Whether you're traveling abroad, going out west for a ski trip, or just
heading home, call Conlin Travel for your holiday reservations today. It's a
smart way to start off the school-year.
.
CENTRAL TELEPHONE
769-9680
South University
(Central Campus)
" Plymouth Road Mall
(North Campus)
* Wolverine Tower
(Briarwood)
Conlin Travel