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Ninety-seven years of editorial freedom

Vol. XCVI-No. 44

Copyright 1986, The Michigan Daily

Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, November 4, 1986

Eight Pages

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Assembly

may
PIRC
By REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN
Members of the Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan
(PIRGIM) tonight will ask the
Michigan Student Assembly to bail
it out of a funding crunch that
threatens the existence of the
environmental-advocacy group.
"It's our responsibility as a
student assembly to look into the
possibility of helping PIRGIM if
the regents aren't going to," said Ed
Kraus, vice chairperson of MSA's
campus governance committee and
an originator of the idea.
PIRGIM has worked on the
new campus-wide escort service,
Safewalk; reported on toxic waste
and voter registration; produced a
survey comparing bank services;
and helped pass Michigan's bottle-
return law.
But the group has struggled
without formal student funding
since February 1985, when the
Board of Regents voted 6-1 to
remove a PIRGIM-funding checkoff
box from the Student Verification
Forms that are used at class
registration. The regents cited low

help
IM
student support and the questionable
constitutionality of the voluntary
fee.
The student-run environmental
group has attempted to regain its
position on the Student Verification
Forms through a regental policy
that allows any student group to
collect money through forms if
they demonstrate a majority of
student support.
P I R G I M conducted a
successful petition campaign last
year that collected 16,874 student
signatures, but many regents
apparently disapprove of such
financial support.
"For all practical purposes it's
clear that the majority of the
regents do not support a refusable
fee," said Regent James Waters (D-
Muskegon). "But without some
form of student funding it's
inevitable that PIRGIM here will
soon be ended." Waters is one of
two regents who have consistently
supported the group.
"To get all of those signatures
was a monumental task, but the
See PIRGIM, Page 2

Daily Photo by SCOTT LITUCHY
An anonymous Ann Arbor resident uncovers a monumental plaque beneath three-quarters of an inch of paint
on The Rock at Hill and Washtenaw. The plaque, a monument to George Washington, dates The Rock back to
1932.
Man chips a rock,
finds plaque in paint

By MICHAEL LUSTIG
A student in a biology class
charges that her class in effect
endorsed congressional cadidate
Dean Baker by allowing students to
fulfill a community service project
thrug work n with the Baker
capaign.a
Astudent in biology 0,"olds
Hunger,' arereqsuired parciate
fin a community service project
Election.
aimed at alleviating world hunger.
One of the options mentioned in
class was to study farm and
agricultural issues through Baker's
campaign. Baker is an economics
graduate student running against
Rep. Carl Pursell (R-Mich.) in the
Second District.
ASHLEY Oliverio, an LSA
senior in the class who also works
on the Pursell campaign, said she
had a "real problem" with the class
because, as she saw it, the option
to work with the Baker campaign
came across as an endorsement of
Baker. She complained that by
mentioning only Baker's name and
not Pursell's, Baker is getting free
publicity and name recognition
among a class made up of mostly
underclassmen.
Richard Zabel, Oliverio's
teaching assistant, said that
working for Baker, a University
graduate student in economics, was
just one of several options.
Students could also work in soup
kitchens or on the World Hunger
Education Action Committee, a
University group. Students
completed their projects at the end
See CLASS, Page 2

By JIM BRAY
An Ann Arbor native chipped
away at the three-quarter inch
thick layer of paint on The Rock
at the corner of Hill and
Washtenaw to reveal a monu-
ment to George Washington.
The existence of the plaque
commemorating Washington's
200th birthday is little known to
most students and Ann Arbor
residents.
The Rock was placed on the
corner by Parks Commissioner
Eli Gallup in 1932. Found in a
gravel pit on Pontiac Road, The
Rock is estimated to be 30,000
years old and is considered one of
the finest examples of a striated,
or grooved. Beneath the boulder
is a lead box containing its
history.
The copper plaque, placed on

The Rock by the University,
states: "To George Wash-
ington-this memorial is erected
in the celebration of the two
hundreth anniversary of his
birth 1932."
Since then the plaque has
been stolen once and painted
over countless times.
Now little attention is given
to the plaque to Washington or
the geological value of The
Rock. Instead, it is avehicle to
publicize parties, ' sororities,
fraternities, or political cand-
idates. Over the years The Rock
has also sported a Volkswagon
Bug, a toilet, and various other
items.
Royal Peake, an Ann Arbor
resident who was a University
student in 1932, recalls the
transformation of the monument
into an object of late-night

artists. "Shortly after its
founding people only painted
their names on it, and the city
tried to keep it clean."
But the city has long since
given up the periodic sand-
blastings, and painting The
Rock sometimes entails
covering its whole surface.
Rosie Jackson, secretary for the
parks and recreation department,
said "once or twice a year we're
called to paint over obscenities."
The efforts of the anonymous
city resident to uncover the
plaque were to no avail. The
Evans Scholars promptly painted
over it that night in the fashion
of a jack-o'-lantern to advertise a
party. "It's the job of the
freshmen to paint The Rock
before parties," said Evans
Scholar Joel Koviak, an LSA
freshman.

Faculty tables
LSA. plan for
underclkiss men


Group aids pr
By ANDY MILLS
While many University students will be
campaigning for their favorite local candidate today, a
group of about 50 students will be heading to
Cleveland and Pontiac-East Lansing to bring out the
vote for two pro-Israeli Democratic congressional
candidates.
The group, called the Involved in Michigan Political
Action Committee (IMPAC), hopes to sway the vote
in favor of their candidates: Bob Carr of East Lansing
and Pontiac and Ed Feighan of Cleveland, both of
whom are involved in tight races.
IMPAC, which was formed in 1984 as the first-

o-Israel tickets
ever student-run political action committee, supports
candidates who support Israel. Because it is not as
wealthy as most other PACs, it must support
candidates in other, non-monetary ways. Says Jill
Goldenberg, a University graduate and an IMPAC
founder: "Its effectiveness is not in money. It puts
volunteers to work for a candidate they believe in."
Jeff Parness, an LSA senior and a member of
IMPAC's executive committee, says, "Most PACs
just hand over a check to a candidate. Since we don't
have that much money, we use our funds to get vans or
cars to get the students to the areas to help bring out
See PRO-ISRAEL, Page3

By PHILIP I. LEVY
Members of the LSA faculty
yesterday failed to endorse a college
administration plan to improve the
quality of the freshman and
sophomore years.
A motion to support the LSA
Executive Committee's plan, which
would set up a committee to
oversee improvements in the
University's education for freshmen
and sophomores, was tabled.
THERE SEEMED to be a
consensus among the
approximately 60 faculty members
present that something must be
done to improve the quality of
underclass education, but after a
lengthy discussion they couldn't
decide what. "To me, at the end of
the discussion, it's less clear than at.

the beginning," commented one
faculty member.
Steiner said the executive
committee will probably draw up a
more specific plan. Such a plan
could be ready for presentation in
December or early in Winter Term,
he said.
Discussion of the executive
committee's seven-page proposal
addressing the problems with
freshmen and sophomore education
dominated the monthly LSA faculty
meeting. The proposal said that too
much teaching is done by teaching
assistants and that many classes are
closed before underclassmen can get
in. It also cited the lack of a
coherent educational program for
underclassmen and the infrequent
See LSA, Page 3

Incumbent regents

provide experience

By KERY MURAKAMI
A failure of two Democratic
University regents to be re-elected
today would more likely mean a
loss of 16 years of experience rather
than substantial changes in future
Board of Regents decisions.
Paul Brown (D-Petoskey) and.
James Waters (D-Muskegon) are
each seeking their third eight-year
term on the University's governing
board in today's statewide elections.
THEIR experience, said Regent
Thomas Roach (D-Saline),

improves the regents' ability to
make educated decisions. He cited
the ongoing review of the
University's guidelines on research
as an example of when experience
makes a difference.
"They're the only ones still on
the board that passed our current
guidelines in 1972," Roach said,
"They know first-hand why certain
decisions were made while we can
only read about them."
While the two Republican
challengers-Cynthia Hudgins of

Ann Arbor and Gary Frink of St.
Claire--admit they lack experience
on the board, neither is a newcomer
E lection
'86
to the University. Hudgins cites her
experience as a liaison between the
University and local Congressman

Carl Pursell (R-Mich.), and Frink
says he's made an effort to keep
track of University issues.
THE EXPERIENCE factor is
a greater difference between the
Democratic and Republican
candidates than their their stances
on most issues. While Brown and
Waters are generally considered two
of the more progressive regents on
the board, political ideology rarely
manifests itself in board decisions.
The vast majority of regental
decisions deal with non-ideological

issues, such as setting the
University's budget. In these cases,
says Roach, "Regents vote
according to the best interests of the
University," regardless of political
factors.
For example, when Democratic
Gov. James Blanchard pressured the
state's colleges and universities to
keep in-state tuition at a minimum
this summer, two of three
Republican regents voted to comply
with Blanchard.
See ELECTION, Page 2

TODAY-
A penny saved...
f 1. f"1 1.. .1"1

-Y I

Dearborn campus as having the highest levels of
"tuition savings." The savings amounted to $1,842
here, the officials said.
Political games
Have a hankering to be president, but find

regime was overthrown in 1983, he fled. In
International Intrigue, players can choose whether
to defend the government or try to take it over, and
whether they prefer to be the right wing or the left.
Players circle the board, Monopoly-style, landing
on squares such as the Capital City, the Ministry
of Internal Affairs, the Army, and, of course, the

INSID
FIRST AMENDMENT: Opinion questions funda-
mentalist religion in public education. See
Page 4.

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