Ninety-seven years of editorialfreedom
VOLUME XCVII - NO. 135
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1987
COPYRIGHT 1987, THE MICHIGAN DAILY
l
f _ _ .
Bullard
may
call
for
student rights
bill
Daily Photo by JOHN MUNSON
Noted author Joyce Carol Oates speaks 'at the Hopwood Awards
ceremony yesterday in the Rackham Auditorium.
Writer Oates speaks
at 56th Hopwoods
By STEPHEN GREGORY
If the University administration
goes ahead with a hearing to re-
commend academic punishments for
two students accused of committing
racist acts, the state legislature may
enact a bill originally designed to
protect students' rights against a
code of non-academic conduct.
State Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann
Arbor), a long-time opponent of
any code, may reactivate a bill that
would protect students' rights
during legal proceedings taken by
the University, according to David
Cahill, a lawyer working for
Bullard.
Officials say the bill could pass
the state House, but will probably
die in the Republican-controlled
Senate.
State Senator Lana Pollack (D-
Ann Arbor) also opposes a code,
but said she has no plans to
introduce" similar legislation in the
senate. She said any student rights
bill would encounter stiff resistance
in the majority of the Senate,
which she said favors "more dis-
cipline."
Cahill said Bullard is currently
investigating the University hear-
ing, but Bullard could not be
reached for comment yesterday.
Bullard tried unsuccessfully to
contact hearing board members
Sallyanne Payton, a law professor,
and University Vice President for
Government Relations Richard
Kennedy yesterday, according to an
office employee.
Bullard's proposal would call for
the establishment of a Student Bill
of Rights that would impose guide-
lines the University would have to
follow if it implemented a code.
Under the bill a student who
violated the code would have the
right to:
-student-funded legal represen-
tation present during all stages of a
disciplinary proceeding;
-a formal hearing in accordance
with the Michigan Rules of
Evidence, which govern what can
be submitted as evidence during
trials;
-a hearing before a jury com-
prised of a student's peers;
-cross-examination of all wit-
nesses;
-the ability to appeal a hearing's
final decision to the University's
Board of Regents;
-the ability to confront accusers;
and,
-the ability to deny testimony on
the grounds of self-incrimination.
Cahill said, "If you're going to
have a disciplinary hearing, you're
going to have to follow the rules."
He said the bill would protect
students' rights and at the same
time allow the University to exact
punitive actions.
Although the bill would affect
all the state's colleges and uni-
versities, Cahill said, the bill would
be a specific response to a Uni-
versity's initiative toward a code.
Bullard introduced the bill to the
See BULLARD, Page 3
Speculation mounts in'
renewed code debate
Bullard
... investigates hearing
By ALAN PAUL
Thirty-eight prizes totalling a
record $43,950 were presented at
yesterday's annual Jules and Avery
Hopwood Awards ceremony.
Following the 56th awards
presentation, a crowd of more than
700 heard writer Joyce Carol Oates
speak on "the manner in which
writers arrive at their subjects and
how they develop it."
A i rds in two catagories were
awarced, as well as several other
contests administered by the Hop-
wood Program.
The Minor Contest, open to all
undergraduates, includes drama or
screenplay, essay, short story, and
poetry.
The Major Contest, open to
seniors and graduate students, in-
cludes the same categories as well
as novel.
Following screening by a panel
of University judges, the finalists
are sent to national judges who
choose the winners.
Oates, the author of more than
50 published works of poetry, short
stories, novels, plays, and criti-
cism, was introduced by Hopwood
See 'U', Page 7
By REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN
Controversy continues over the question "is it a
code?"
While many have taken sides, others wonder if the
University administration is actually implemeting a
code - a set of rules to govern student behavior
outside the classroom - or merely exercising its
existing power by proposing a trial for two students
accused of racist attacks.
In an April 8 letter addressed to the two students
being investigated for February's racial incident at
campus radio station WJJX, a University in-
vestigating commission scheduled a hearing to debate
what academic santions would be used to punish their
"harmful" behavior to the University community.
These sanctions could include anything from a letter
of reprimand to suspension or expulsion.
Although the April 18 hearing has been
indefinitely deffered at the request of the students'
lawyers, the incident has renewed debate about the
University's right to use academic leverage to control
student behavior outside the classroom.
Board of Regents Bylaw 2.01 gives University
President Harold Shapiro power to suspend or expel
any student whose behavior is proven to be a great
detriment to the University.
Many dispute whether Shapiro was attempting to
establish a code by initiating a University hearing.
"In the absence of an existing code, there is a wide
latitude for the president to set up such a procedure,"
said Marvin Parnes, housing program director and a
See SHAPRIO, Page 3
Regents weigh options in new research policy
By STEVE KNOPPER
Second in a two-part series
For more than 20 years, the University
community has debated whether to free research pro-
jects from restrictions or to make a statement against
potentially harmful research.
The University's Board of Regents will decide on a
new policy tomorrow morning, but none of the
regents have indicated what that decision will be.
Current classified research guidelines include the
"end-use" clause, which prohibits research that
ultimately could kill or maim human beings. This
restriction does not apply to non-classified research.
-The regents have an unlimited number of options.
They may extend the clause to all forms of sponsored
research, drop the clause entirely, or keep the existing
guidelines. Although regents have refused to predict
the outcome of the vote, the guideline review has
created controversy among board members.
"End-use as a statement is appropriate, but as a
policy it is inappropriate," said Regent Thomas
Roach (D-Saline). "Academic freedom is one of the
very high values of the University."
Regent Paul Brown (D-Petoskey) said he favored
research restrictions. "We have restrictions now, and I
think that's a good policy. It may need to be cleaned
up." Brown said he has not decided on how he will
vote.
Community members say the University should
take a moral stand against conducting "kill-maim"
research by extending the clause, which they say
includes Department of Defense research. The DoD
funded more than $10.5 million of University
research projects - classified and non-classified -
last year. This amount will increase by $2 million
next year because of the Pentagon's University
Research Initiative.
The amount of Pentagon-funded research disturbs
many who feel the University should not conduct
"harmful" research.
"I am against research which is actively seeking to
harm the quality of life," said Michigan Student
Assembly Military Research Adviser Tamara Wagner,
a Rackham graduate student. "We have a respon-
sibility to the living people that are conscious on this
earth, and that has to be our priority."
More than 75 religious leaders throughout the state
have signed a letter proposing the extension of the
clause, apd denouncing proposals to delete the clause.
The letter, written by local Rev. Harvey Guthrie,
rector of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Ann
Arbor, was sent to Vice President for Research Linda
Wilson last December.
The Senate Advisory Committee on University
Affairs collected 200 faculty signatures last term
See REGENTS, Page 2
SA CUA
proposes
rcism
worksho
for staf
By WENDY SHARP
A workshop to teach University
faculty members sensitivity to mi-
:nority issues and awareness about
racism may be implemented next
year.
Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs Chair Harris
IMcClamroch said plans for a pro-
gram are just beginning. "We
(SACUA) just don't know what we
want to do yet, but we want to do
something," he said.
:The idea of an anti-racism
program for faculty stems from
action taken by the Office of
Affirmative Action to develop a
similar program for staff members.
!Virginia Nordby, director of affir-
mative action programs, said she
-I
Hispanics deliver
objectives to
By DAVID WEBSTER improving
The University administration yesterday Hispanic stu
began consideration of an agenda addressing Most not
the academic and social conditions of Hispanic toward incr
students on campus. students, fac
The executive officers, including Uni- at the Unive
versity President Harold Shapiro, met yester- percentage{
day with six representatives of the Univer- nationwide.
sity's Hispanic community. At the meeting, be active i
members of the Council of Hispanics for provost to h
Higher Education (CHHE) presented the
administration with a list objectives aimed at See
'U'
the quality of education for
dents at the University.
tably, the objectives are geared
easing the number of Hispanic
ulty members, and administrators
rsity to a level comparable to the
of Hispanics in the population
,Members of CHHE also hope to
n the selection of a new vice
ead an office of minority affairs.
SHAPIRO, Page 3
NSIDE
Dentistry
faculty unsure
about future
I]
The Daily explains the cap-
italization of "Black." Gelman
Science Inc. is a culpable pol-
luter.
OPINION, PAGE 4
- Graduating senior Dave
Crossland knows how to get
where he's going.
ARTS, PAGE 7
By EVE BECKER
The University's School of Dentistry, inter-
nationally recognized as the one of the world's best,
is undrergoine a serieof changes which is einon the
w. '