I I C tr Littga 4IatlQ 'Page 13 Thursday, September 9, 1982 Ax ready;which schools will all? Futures of 3 under study By LOU FINTOR One program has failed, a second has passed, and four more are still being tested. The programs-all either schools or institutes of the University-aren't being graded with simple A's, B's, and C's, however. They're being graded with X's-more specifically AX's-the administration's tool for dealing with a tight budget. For some of these programs, this test is the equivalent of a final examination-final in the sense that failure means elimination. FOUR SCHOOLS and three institutes were put under examination last spring when the administration announced its five-year plan to shift $20 million from certain parts of the University into other, "high priority" budgets.. The programs are being "tested" by review committees, which were set up to evaluate the quality of these programs and judge whether they should absorb large budget cuts or even be eliminated. Thus far, the Institute for the Study of Mental Retardation and Related Disabilities has failed. Its review committee recommended in July that the institute be dismantled. THE CENTER for the Continuing Education of Women, on the other hand, passed. A panel set up to study the quality of the center said in July that a budget review was not necessary. Four other University divisions-the Schools of Art, Education, and Natural Resources and the Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations-are still being assessed. (The results of the labor institute s review was expected af- Page 18 features a report on each of the Uni- versity departments currently undergoing five year plan reviews. ter this publication's press date). In addition, the administration plans to review the Rackham School of Graduate Studies for possible budget savings through a reorganization of some of the school's of- fices. Administrators made clear, however, that the school's programs are not in danger. ALTHOUGH there are many decisions still to be made, the review process has already taken a rocky path, in which the diverse concerns of students and faculty members associated with the schools and units under examination con- tinue to surface. Low morale continues to be one problem plaguing faculty and staff members in the targeted divisions. Strong fears of program closure at the mere mention of "review" are shared by many University-employees who remember the fate of the Geography Department, which was eliminated after a re- view in 1981. "Coming on the heels of the Geography decision, I feel the ax is going to fall," said a staff member from the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. ADMINISTRATORS have tried several methods designed to allay fears of students, faculty and staff members. These See AX, Iliae' 19 Doily Photo by DOUG McMAHON THE SCHOOL OF ART, located on North Campus, is one of three schools currently under review for large budget cuts or possible elimination. GEO, signs * tentative pact with Univ'ersity By CHARLES THOMSON The Graduate Employees Organiza- tion has come a long way in 12 months. Just more than a year ago, the graduate studentassistants' union was down to 75 voting members, had no con- tract, and was embroiled in a five-year- old legal battle with the University. NOW, WITH victory in a crucial lawsuit under its belt, the union has more than 700 members and a new con- tract set for ratification. "It will demonstrate what can be ac- complished," said GEO steering com- mittee member Paul Harris of the newly-negotiated tentative agreement with the University. "It's very impor- tant to the future growth and strength of the union." "We've made some genuine economic gains which I think is an ac- complishment," he continued. He said the union was able to exact significant concessions from the University, given Michigan's economy and the University budget. THE CRUCIAL break for the union came in November 1981, when the full Michigan Employment Relations Commission upheld an earlier decision that said most graduate student assistants are employees of the Univer- sity and have the right to bargain collectively. The ruling forced the University to abide by the terms of a contract it negotiated with the union in 1976. The ruling also meant that the union could start asking for union dues from paychecks and could start negotiating with the University for a new contract. The University and the GEO reached a tentative agreement on the new con- tract in mid-July, and the proposed pact will be submitted to the GEO membership for ratification in Septem- ber. THE NEW contract, if ratified, will tie pay raises for teaching assistants to the average salary increase -received by faculty members. David Fastenfest, a member of the GEO steering committee, said he hoped the salary increase would average six percent during the first year of the con- tract but that he did not know what in- creases in subsequent years might be. The contract also has provisions which establish a teaching assistant training program and a plan which will "potentially" lead to some level of con- trol over class size, according to Fastenfest. HARRIS SAID the union asked for a teaching assistant training program. out of concern for educational quality at the University. "Part of the union's function is to improve the quality of education at the University of See TA, Page 14 U.S. officials find sex bias in 'U' athletics By BILL SPINDLE The University's athletic department has been violating several federal anti- sex discrimination guidelines, accor- ding to the preliminary findings, of a lengthy federal investigation. Federal officials pointed to four areas within the athletic department in which they felt the University had not com- plied with the federal government's Title IX regulations. Those areas were: * disproportionate allocations of money toward men's and women's scholarships; * smaller travel budgets for women's teams than their male counterparts; * less opportunity for women to receive coaching in their sports and less experience among women coaches; and * fewer dollars for recruiting female athletes than for male athletes. THE CHARGES, and the Univer- sity's responses to them, were outlined in a letter from University Affir-- mative Action Director Virginia Nor- dby to the Office for Civil Rights in Chicago. The Office for Civil Rights began inquiring into the athletic department when seven University women charged the University in 1973 with "gross discrimination in athletics against women," according to Nordby's letter, which was obtained by the Daily. Since then, a sporadic investigation of the athletic department, including two thorough on-site visits in November 1980 and May of this year, has resulted in the government's findings of non- compliance. THE GOVERNMENT conducted its survey under the assumption that the athletic department falls under its jurisdiction, according to Civil Rights officials. But the University denies that Title IX can be applied to the athletic department because the department ferently," said Mary Francis O'Shea, a representative of the Office for Civil Rights. "Our opinion is that the depar- tment has jurisdiction to investigate under Title IX." Although the University said it will comply with all areas cited by the government, it also denied any previous discrimination against women. In the area of financial assistance for athletes, the investigators said that there is a 10 percent difference between the proportion of scholarship money going to men compared to male representation in athletic programs. TITLE IX requires that the athletic department allocate scholarships in proportion to each sex's representation in the athletic department. The University, however, claims that the difference is only 7.3 percent when one considers differences in tuition among in-state and out-of-state and up- per and lower division students. The University said its calculated 7.3 percent discrepancy would be rectified at approximately 4 percent each year for two years. THE OFFICE for Civil Rights in- dicated that the athletic department was discriminating in its travel budgets for men's and women's sports. Investigators pointed out that men's teams fly to more in-season contests tham women's teams. They also said that male athletes were receiving more money for food and lodging than women. The University, however, said those differences were not the result of discrimination but rather were due to differences in the rules of the men-s conference, the NCAA, and - the women's former conference, the AIAW. The AIAW stressed regional com- petition, giving women few contests far enough away to necessitate flying. Because women's sports present- ly are shifting to NCAA jurisdiction, Daily Photo by BRIAN MASCK 'Hey, you're in my seat' Get ready to squeeze into another capacity crowd at Michigan Stadium when team better put some pointsc the Wolverines open the Big Ten season against Wisconsin on Sept. 9. The of the stadium's northwest c on the scoreboard, or these unenthused members orner will never stand up and shout. Debate on Pentagon research to continue By BARRY WITT A decade-old campus debate over the propriety of doing research sponsored by the military resurfaced last year, and proponents of each side of the question still are divided sharply. Critics of defense research believe that the work of some University professors violates the spirit, if not the letter, of a University policy which states no researcher may work on a research project complies with Univer- sity policy. But many students who last year protested the influence of the Pentagon at the University say that such a review system is inadequate. The students, along with some members of the faculty, believe an independent review committee should be set up to examine research projects with potential military applications to determine twice as much research at the Univer- sity as it had during the same period of the previous year, according to resear- ch administration statistics. In addition, the Air Force agreed in July to a three-year, $3.4 million con- tract to support the College of Engineering's new Center for Robotics and Integrated Manufacturing. UNIVERSITY administrators attri- bute the rapid increase to a general in- evident, and it was reported that the projects sponsored by the Pentagon were relatively innocuous. BUT PRESS coverage and a persis- tent investigation by the Michigan Student Assembly kept attentions focused on the issue as the year con- tinued. An MSA researcher reported that several University projects were "clearly linked to the development of advanced weapons systems."