Page 2-The Michigan Daily - Sunday, February 12, 1984 Sudarkasa set to challenge 'U' IN BRIEF By GEORGEA KOVANIS Fourteen years ago, Niara Sudarkasa fought against the University ad- ministration as part of the Black Action Movement strike. For 11 days, Sudarkasa and other black activists shut down classes, demanding more represen-; tation on campus. She wrote the com- muniques, and strike leaders met at her house. Sudarkasa is still fighting today, but she now battles to fulfill these promises, of long ago from the inside. ON FEB. 1, she moved into the newly created position of associate vice president for academic affairs with the PROFILE task of luring more black students to campus and keeping them here. "In the days of the WAM strike, on some occasions, I was confronting the administration," Sudarkasa says. "Now I see my role as challenging the administration from within. I think the administration has asked to be challenged. It doesn't mean confron- tation." Soon she will be working inside the Fleming Administration Building, dealing with reports and programs, but in 1970, when strikers rallied in front of the building, the order of the day was confrontation. "IT WAS A lot of excitement," Sudarkasa recalls. "I remember the morning that the women students" decided to help the boycott by picketing parking structures...We decided that only women could do this because if there were no males there, we would have less risk of getting run over." The theory was good, but she didn't find drivers quite so attentive to gen- der. "I remember being almost run over at the Thompson St. parking struc- ture and thinking afterwards, 'My goodness, my son might be motherless as a result of this strike,"' she said. The goal in 1970, which the University promised to achieve, was 10 percent black enrollment. This year, black enrollment dipped to 4.9 percent, down .3 percent from last year. DESPITE THE University's failure to reach the 10 percent figure, Sudarkasa views the BAM strike as im- portant in drawing blacks together on campus. "People may think that (the strike) was frivolous, but there was nothing frivolous about it," she said. "There was a camaraderie between faculty and students involved that was.:.very healthy," she added. "I was one of about 30 people who met almost daily from late March through the duration of the strike. There were very few people who were trying to grab headlines." AT THE TIME of the strike, Sudarkasa says, the University ad- ministration was not concerned with diversifying the student body. However, she is less critical of the current administration's inability to boost black enrollment. "I don't think that there is a lack of effort. Maybe some of the effort has been misplaced," she said. Sudarkasa, an anthropology professor and former director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies said she will begin her new job by looking into the University's recruitment and retention policies. "WE HAVE TO look at what has not been done, that "could have been done and that should have been done," she said.4 a N f 4Kliins' a~hcoate S Give the gift of good taste., KILWIN'S CHOCOLATES 107 E. LIBERTY (313) 769-7759 DalPy hoto by REBEA KNIH T Niara Sudarkasa, newly-named associate vice president for academic affairs, focuses on minority problems at the University. THE SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM COMMUNAL SERVICE LEADS THE WAY ...WILL YOU? A dynamic team of interns from across the country will! Partici- pate in briefings with Federation leadership and professionals. Placements available in planning, research, communications and social services. Apply NOW! Space is limited. Application Deadline - March 2, 1984 For more information and applications, call or write: Summer Intern Program, HILLEL-CAYS 1 S. Franklin St. CHICAGO, IL 60606, (312)-346-6700 ext. 2506 February is COMPUTER LITERACY MONTH, at JOIN US FOR A MONTH OF BASIC COMPUTER TRAINING PLUS -20% off all books and $1.00 off magazines. Don't forget to pick up a FREE step-by-step guide to computer literacy. Sessions are to be held every Friday in February from 4 to 7 p. m. February 17 - Introduction to local software publishers (with representatives from Ann Arbor Software and Arktronics) Look for additional sessions in upcoming ads "I think we really have to recognize that we are losing a lot of good students. They may be recruited, but they don't come to Michigan." Finding out whether it is academics, a lack of financial aid, or simply the atmosphere here that causes black students to pick other schools over the University will be one of her main con- cerns, Sudarkasa said. "I KNOW A LOT of black students who really complain about their feeling of isolation and alienation from the University of Michigan. It's not enough just to say, 'we're willing to have you,k' she said. Even if the University recruits a black student, though, keeping that student has proved to be very difficult. The attrition rate for black un- dergraduate students is about 48 per- cent, compared to 28 percent for white undergraduates. Sudarkasa thinks that in addition to the tough academics at the University, there is sometimes an atmosphere of hostility or indifference to blacks. She says black students are often reluctant to join student organizations such as the Michigan Student Assembly and the Daily, because of the lack of other black students. SHE ADDS that the predominance of whites on campus creates a difficult social atmosphere. "When black students get ready to have a party at The University of Michigan, they have to scrounge around and wonder where they can have it. "The whole University is open to white students, the black students and the Asian students have to fight over the one room in the Trotter House," she said. Sudarkasa knows something about the difficulty of coming to a university and feeling unsure of oneself. She en- tered. Fisk University- at the.age of 15, as the first person in her family to ever go to college. After Fisk, she went to Oberlin College, and then to Columbia where she received her masters and Ph.D in anthropology. She taught anthropology at New York University and Columbia for three years before coming to the University in 1967. Compiled from Associated Press and United Press International reports Violent weather creates havoc A "white-out" blizzard with winds gusting to 69 mph marooned hundreds of travelers yesterday as it swept out of the Rockies, leaving a trail of crum- pled cars and trucks in snow up to 2 feet deep. The nation was a crazy quilt of contrasting weather. Blinding fog settled on the Midwest and parts of the Southeast again while freezing rain iced highways in New England. Up to 4 inches of rain produced flash flooding in southeastern Kentucky. Thunderstorms born in un- seasonable spring-like weather rumbled from Oklahoma to Missouri. At least three deaths were blamed on the violent weather that began Thur- sday. Two people were killed when a small plane crashed in a heavy fog Thur- sday night almost 30 minutes after taking off from Lincoln, Kansas. The high- way patrol said the pilot may have become disoriented and flew the plan almost straight into the ground. A traffic accident on a slick road in upstate New York killed one person yesterday. Salvadoran election officials try to prevent boycott of March vote SAN SALVADOR - The Salvadoran Election Commission called on leftist politicians to reactivate two dormant, but legal, political parties as a way to put their candidates on the March election ballot. The Salvadoran Election Commission called for the reactivation of the two parties in an apparent response to a Revolutionary Democratic Front, (FDR), news conference held Thursday in Mexico City when leftist leaders called for a boycott of the vote. The top rebel leadership said it will not impede the voting but neither will it accept the outcome of March 25 presidential elections. . The commission called on the left to reactive the communist Nacionalist Revolutionary Movement and the socialist Nacionalist Democratic Union as a way to put their candidate on the ballot. The two parties have been inactive since the Oct. 15, 1979 coup, but under Salvadoran law could be reactivated by submitting a list of candidates to the commission. Football players death rate down CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Thirteen high school and college football players died in the United States in 1983 and 12 were permanently paralyzed, accor- ding to a study conducted at the University of North Carolina. The number of direct deaths matches the lowest total reported since records on football deaths were first kept in 1931. As recently as 1974, 11 high school and college students died from on-the-field injuries before rules were adopted banning spearing - the use of the head as the initial point of con- tact. Four of the deaths - all among high school players - were directly blamed on injuries suffered during play, the study shows. Dr. Frederick Mueller, professor of physical education, said the nine other deaths last year were considered indirect. Seven were caused by heart failure, one by heat stroke and the ninth by a congenital brian disorder. "With 75,000 players in college and 1.3 million in high school, it's going to be difficult to reduce these death further," Mueller said. Biases hinder female candidates WASHINGTON - Women candidates still are severely handicapped by the "hidden minefield" of voter prejudices and sexual stereotypes as they seek a greater share of election victories, according to a study of women in politics released yesterday. Kathy Wilson, president of the National Women's Political Caucus, which sponsored the study, said the research will help women candidates because it shows the obstacles which must be dealt with and the advantages to em- phasize. "At the bottom line, this study tells us what we already know: It's tough for women candidates," Wilson said. "We know there's a bias at the ballot box. Now we know how to do something about it. These studies will help women win." The findings of the complex research project suggest that naming a woman as vice president would not necessarily help a party win the White House, because of the sexual stereotvpes held by many voters. The research - based on interviews with 200 people - is not comparable to a national poll or normal public opinion survey. Mideast leaders to meet Reagan WASHINGTON - President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt arrived yesterday, as the White House announced he will meet with President Reagan and King Hussein of Jordan to "discuss among themselves ways to improve the situation" in Lebanon and the Middle East. Department officials said they hoped that the meeting, to be held Tuesday, will underscore Egypt's renewed acceptance by its Arab neighbors after a long dispute over Middle East policy stemming from Egypt's decision to sign the Camp David agreement in 1979. "We will of course be expressing our strong conviction that greater efforts need to be made by all concerned parties to move the peace process for- ward," said Anita Stockman, a State Department press officer. The State Department called the scheduling of the three-way conference at the White House "pure coincidence," saying the two leaders happened to be in Washington at the same time. "However, since they are both here, it seems useful for the leaders to meet," Stockman said. ,The White House said President Reagan had invited the Egyptian president and the Jordanian king to join him for a working lunch and that "they have accepted his invitation." I4 I 14 I r 14 I Democratic debate focuses on Reagan Im From AP and UPI DES MOINES, Iowa - Democratic presidential contenders chorused their criticism of President Reagan's foreign policy yesterday with front-runner Walter Mondale accusing the president of leadership that "has made the world much more dangerous." "We cannot tolerate it," Mondale said as he and seven rivals met in debate nine campaign days before the curtain-raising Iowa Caucuses. Sen. John Glenn, whose remarks opened the debate, accused Reagan of "playing politics to save face and protect a bankrupt foreign policy." He said Reagan was pursuing an "ill-1 conceived and morally outrageous op- position in Lebanon." Sen: Gary Hart, whose late arrival due to fog delayed the debate, charged that Reagan wants to give "not only a blank check but a blank checkbook to the Pentagon to prosecute a cold war." Hart, making his case to Iowa party activists, said the 1984 campaign was not only a question of Democrats versus Republicans, but also "between our future and our past." He said the nation needs new leadership that will choose "principles over politics." The Rev. Jesse Jackson, making his first campaign visit to Iowa, com- plained about Reagan's economic and military policies. "We need more than a new president, we need a new direc- tion," he said. See DEMOCRATIC, Page 5 ,Sunday, February 12, 1984 Vol. XCIV-No. 111 (ISSN 0745-967X) The Michigan Daily is edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan. Published daily Tuesday through Sunday mornings during the University year at 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109. Sub- scription rates: $15.50 September through April (2 semesters); $19.50 by mail outside Ann Arbor. Summer session published Tuesday through Satur- day mornings. Subscription rates: $8 in Ann Arbor; $10 by mail outside Ann Arbor. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE MICHIGAN DAILY, 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. The Michigan Daily is a member of the Associated Press and subscribes to United Press International, Pacific News Service, Los Angeles Times Syn- dicate and Field Enterprises Newspaper Syndicate. 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