Petition drive underway to
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 1, 1984 - Page 5
MSA blasts present
version of code
end
je
union
fees
for
TAs
(Continued from Page 1'
GEO.
Most graduate students are apathetic
about GEO, said geradu te student
David Vanderveen, one of the drive's
organizers.
"We've found that people have been
paying because of fear of losing their
jobs, not because they support the
union," Vanderveen said.
BUT GEO leaders say that because
all teaching assistants receive benefits
from the union contract, such as health
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insurance and tuition discounts, they
should pay the dues that range from $12
to $24 a semester.
"Frankly, there is no reason for
anyone to object (to paying dues). Our
dues are low and GEO is an important
union," said Holzka.
Both GEO non-unionized TAs who
work more hours pay more dues, GEO
member Mike Foley said. If GEO could
collect dues from all staff and teaching
assistants, its budget could increase to
$70,000 a year. But if the petition drive
succeeds and the union changes to an
"open" shop, GEO's budget could be
only half as much.
PETITION organizer Julie Goldberg
denied the charge that non-unionized
TAs who refuse to pay GEO dues are
"free loading."
Many businesses use the "open" shop
system, added Goldberg.
The group which started petitioning
in several University departments
Monday must collect 560 signatures, or
30 percent of the employees represen-
ted by GEO.
If enough signatures are collectedthe
petitions must be submitted to the
National Labor Relations Board in
Detroit. The NCRB would then conduct
a vote of all University teaching and
staff assistants to approve a change in
the GEO contract.
(Continued from Page 1)
Rowland countered by saying,
"Protests should not have academic
punishments at all."
"I DON'T understand that logic,"
Colburn replied. "Pro baseball players
are suspended from a team for using
drugs. Is that fair? We're saying that a
student caught in the act of arson would
be suspended from school."
Relying on the court system to punish
students is often inadequate, according
to Colburn. He cited one example where
a student in a dormitory cut another
student's hand by taping a razor blade
to the doorknob, and the University
could not take action against him.
"THE JUDICIAL system just isn't
quick enough - we can't get them out
of the dormitories as fast as we need
to," he said.
The discussion stopped abruptly at
this point when a "code enforcer", in a
trench coat and dark glasses grabbed a
student from the audience in a mock
arrest and accused him of hanging up
"no-code" posters.
"I didn't do it, I'm telling you," the
student shouted, but the grim enforcer
carried the "offender" out of the room.
UNDER THE CODE, offenses such
as vandalism, setting off firecrackers
and pulling fire alarms could cause the
termination of a housing lease.
"Lighting a firecracker or setting off
a fire extinguisher in a dormitory are
not trivial matters," Colburn said, "but
we're willing to drop these parts if
they're causing a problem . . . Even if
it's watered-down, I feel we need to get
something on the books," he said.
According to a regents' bylaw, MSA
must approve the code before it
becomes effective, but MSA members
fear that the bylaws may be changed to
allow the passage of the code without
the assembly's approval.
"I don't think the University should
take that step," Colburn said. "Our han-
ds are tied now, but I don't want to see
any back-door politics."
Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Communication Prof. William Colburn stresses the need for student par-
ticipation in drafting a non-academic code of conduct at Campus Meet the
Press in the Michigan Union's Kuenzel Room yesterday.
LSA profs reject policy outlining responsibilities
WOMEN'S LIVES
Conversations on How Women Grow and Change
MARCH
2 Joyce Kornbluh
Director, Program on Women and Work, Insti-
tute of Labor and Industrial Relations, U of M
9 Kathleen Dannemiller
Consultant, Dannemil/er Tyson, Inc.
16 Kathy Modigliana
Coordinator, Home Childcare Project,
North Campus, U of M
23 Carol Hollenshead
(Continued from Page 1)
the complaints against teachers for
many years," Orlin said.
"It is very frustrating to hear a
student tell me that a teacher has just
announced a mid-term exam for the
next week, while the student has other
papers and tests which were announced
at the beginning of the term," he added.
MYERS SAID he feels 90 percent of
LSA faculty members already follow
the proposal, and thinks the other 10
percent would conform out of "peer
pressure" if the proposal is adopted.
"This 10 percent doesn't think of
doing these things. Now they will be
able to know what the norm is concer-
ning faculty responsibilities," he said.
Myers' support of the guidelines
stems from personal experience with
that 10 percent, he said.
"I HAVE had teachers who have
violated at least one of these
suggestions. Many of my teachers have
had office hours but not enforced
them," Myers said.
"I also have been enrolled in three
different sections of Math 115 over the
years, but have had to drop them all
because the foreign graduate student
teaching assistant could not speak
English," he said.
But some professors say the
guidelines are a repressive measure
that goes far beyond a list of
suggestions for improved teaching.
"I DON'T think a faculty code of con-
duct is an appropriate way to correct
the abuses that are the concerns of the'
committee," said Philosophy Prof. Carl
Cohen.
At the February meeting, Cohen also
said the proposal was an "invitation to
litigiousness."
Even if professors do not conform to
the propsal, the committee members
contend they are not likely to be sued by
students as a result. Under pressure
from LSA faculty, the tone of the prop-
osal was changed to say LSA "urges"
faculty to fulfill the guidelines rather
than issuing an order.
This change takes away the threat of
a lawsuit, according to some committee
members.
MYERS SAID students could sue
professors even without the
guidelines, but "the professors just
seem to think that with this list of
suggestions in print, someone, may"
have more of a suit," he said.
Modern Hebrew Prof. Edna Coffin
who said she generally supports the
'The faculty just doesn't want to be told
what it should do.'
-Eric Rabkin
English prof.
proposal, does not see the possibility of
lawsuits reasonable grounds for tur-
ning it down.
"IF PROFESSORS DO not follow
these proposed suggestions, then
students should have the chance to sue
them, she said. "They should be able to
expect responsibilities from
professors."
Along with the threat of lawsuits,
some professors say the proposal is too
unclear and probably unenfordable.
"The terms of the proposal are so
vague - how would someone say what
is an adequate number of office hours
or adequate attention to a student,"
said John Kingdon, chairman of the
political science department.
ERIC RABKIN, interim chairman of
the linguistics department, said the
proposed suggestions place an
unrealistic burden on departments to
oversee professors.
"Some of my professors don't meet
with students in their office hours, but
for coffee or lunch. How would I
monitor where they were all the time?"
Rabkin asked.
Rabkin also said the proposal does
not allow for enough individual dif-
ferences in 'teaching style. "Some
professors get the syllabus out on the
first day, others like to have a little
leeway in the schedule. This
requirement undercuts this," Rabkin
said.
AFTER the faculty turned down the
proposal in their February meeting,
the committee is now working on a
revised plan to take back to the faculty
in their April meeting. The new
recommendations are likely to be a
weaker version of the current proposal.
"I would like to work on a serious
toning down of the document, maybe
even taking out some of the mention of
departments having to monitor the
faculty," said French Prof. Roy
Nelson, co-chairman of the committee.
The intense debate surrounding the
proposal has put Nelson and the com-
mittee in something of a hot spot. "I
feel like I am Moses coming down from
the mountain with 10 suggestions," he
said.
Director, Administrative Services, Planning and
Development, School of Nursing, U of M
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