0 OPINION Page 4 Thursday, February 17, 1983 The Michigan Daily A student's view of problems at the 'U Last September senior Tom Marx helped organize the Progressive Student Network, a broad-based organization concerned with ,defense research, the University's reallocation plans, and divestment issues. Marx also serves as one of four student members on the University's Research Policies Committee. The committee recently dealt with clarifying guidelines for "non-classified research, and with developing a mechanism for regulating research. Daily staff writers Lisa Crumrine and Jim Sparks spoke with Marx last week on his observations concerning the University. Dialogu Daily: You are probably the most vocal opponent of defense research and redirection on campus. Do you think you've changed anything or have you become disillusioned? Marx: As far as military research goes, we have had quite an effect. Researchers on the campus and the administration feel restricted in the types of research they can do here, because they know if they were to do a certain project that blatantly violates anybody's sense of ethics, they know we'll object to it; they know we'll find it. Daily: What is the connection bet- ween the Progressive Student Network and the Michigan Student Assembly? Marx: I'm disillusioned with MSA this year. It just hasn't taken as active of a role as I would like to have seen. As far as the actual assembly goes, I am disappointed in it, and I feel like PSN has taken over the role that MSA should be doing. Daily: At many rallies you see the same PSN people again and again, do you think that most students really care about issues like divestment and defen- se research? Marx: I think a large number of students do care about the issues if they just have the-information about them. If I were to sit down with just about any student on this campus... and talk to him about a particular issue and really explain to him what is going on, I think he would have a concern. I think students at the University are concer- ned about issues, but they don't always express those concerns by showing up at rallies. Daily: Since the beginning of last term, you've been working on the Research Policies Committee trying to set guidelines for non-classified resear- ch. Do you think you are any further along now than you were at the begin- ning? Marx: Well, first we came up with the idea of acentral oversight committee, similar to the Classified Research Review panel. That came along much quicker than I expected it to. Then it was brought to the attention of the committee that well, we should change the wording of the guidelines. Some of us objected to this, we felt you could apply them to non-classified research, and felt that the guidelines as they were, were the most effective wording. Others said this wasn't so, so we went back and examined the wording, and it was changed against the objections of four or five of us. And now I feel it's weaker, so in that sense I feel like we've actually gone backwards. Now it looks like we're either going to have no mechanism for enforcing the extended guidelines at all, or we're going to have each college or school come up with its own mechanism for controlling military research. (The committee voted to have each school form its own mechanism yesterday). Daily: The University has been making budget cuts through a series of reviews of schools and departments, do you think these reviews have been too secretive? Marx: Yes, I think secretive in the sense that if you're talking about the priorities of the University community, taxpayers should be involved in what's going on. Administartors have said this is an open process, that we aren't keeping anything secret, but why then aren't we seeing the reports? The School of Natural Resources report came out three weeks before it was made public, and it was made public on Christmas morning when most students were out of town. There's something wrong with this. I hate to use the word conspiratorial, but I think the ad- ministrators have in mind what they want to do, and they're going to do it. They're going to involve the public as much as they can as long as they can still do what they want to do. Daily: Do you believe the results are predetermined? Marx: I think there was a predeter- mined outcome. I think Billy Frye said we want to save this much money, and we're going to pursue whatever avenue we have to to get it. This is really shown up by the School of Natural Resources subcommittee report.The report praised the school, said it's a' leader in the nation. There's no way the subcommittee report could get around that, and yet their recommendation was for a 33 percent cut. It just seems to say that the quality of the school had nothing to do with the recommendation for a cut. When you look at that I don't know how you can come to any other conclusion but that there was a predetermined outcome. I think a num- ber of people are becoming disillusioned with the University ad- ministration. I know I am. Daily: You have frequently criticized the University's 5-year plan to cut and redistribute $20 million. Do you think the University's priorities are askew? Marx: The priorities of the Univer- sity are not what they should be. It has become an institution that now sees the perpetuation of the University as its goal and it shouldn't be. The prime example of this is the Institute for Labor Relations (ILIR) taking a 50 per- cent cut in its budget at the same time when Michigan has the largest unem- ployment in the nation. We need to study labor relations to know how labor is acting and reacting at this time, in- stead we cut it 50 percent. Then we fun- nel money into the Center for Robotics and Integrated Manufacturing. What is the purpose of this center? It is to do research on automation. Well, what does that automation do? It puts even Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIER Marx: I think students at the University are concerned about issues, but they don't always express those concerns by showing up at rallies. more people out of work. There's an area that hasn't even been ", What changes do you feel examined-how much waste is in- shouitu made in the review process? curred in the administrative end? Hw v Marx: Well, the idea of targeting cer- about cutting a few administrative tain schools is unjust. It's wrong to cut salaries, not a few, a lot. If you go some schools and increase others. through the salary book, the savings There needs to be another solution. you could find there are astronomical. Edie aae titgatT ai ty Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Wasserman Vol. XCIII, No. 114 420 Maynard St: Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Athletics: Regaining control C - GT IT .10 twge v O