The Michigan Daily, Thursday, September 10, 1987-Page 7
What happened
Events of last year's ir
By STEPHEN GREGORY
Editor's note: The following is a
chronology detailing the events
surrounding the racist incidents on
campus last winter and their
consequences.
January 27: An unidentified
student slips a flier under the door
of a fifth floor lounge in Couzens
Hall dormitory where 20 black
woman are meeting. The flier
declares "open season" on Blacks,
and lists a series of racial slurs such
as "jigaboo." It also describes the
"regulations" by which "the hunt"
should be performed.
February 1: Around 100 Black
and white students gather at
Couzens to discuss the flier incident
as well as racism within and outside
the University.
February 4: During his
weekly show Ted Severansky, a
disc jockey for WJJX - one of the
University's student-run radio
stations, airs racist jokes such as,
"Why do Black people smell? .
So blind people can hate them too,"
which were phoned in by LSA first-
year student Michael Gonzalez.
Severansky adds a laugh track to the
jokes.
j Also, an informal group of
students meet to discuss racism on
campus. The group will later
become the United Coalition
Against Racism.
February 6: An estimated 300
students gather on the Diag to
demand that the University issue an
official condemnation of the
Couzens flier incident.
February 13: The then-
unnamed UCAR announces a three-
front fight against campus racism.
The plane includes:
-documenting racist incidents
that occur on campus,
-filing a law suit against the
University for the Couzens flier
incident, and
-demanding the the University
provide an equal and safe
environment for all students.
February 16: Then-Interum
University President James
Duderstadt and Assistant Vice
President for Academic Affairs
Robert Holmes hold a special
meeting at which 21 students and
two Ann Arbor residents demand
the University take a.stronger stand
on racist incidents, especially the
Couzens flier incident.,
Also the Michigan Student
Assembly holds a forum on racism
at which 60 students discuss
methods of fighting racism on
campus.
February 18: More than 30
student descend upon the WJJX's
broadcasting studio to demand that
Severansky's radio show be taken
off the air. The students play a tape
of Severansky's February 4
broadcast for Vice President of
Student Services Henry Johnson,
Current
protests
P find roots
in past
(Continued from Page 5)
the University's elimination of the
"end-use clause" last April which
forbade University-conducted classi -
fled research the results of which
could endanger human life.
PROTESTS against CIA re -
cruiters and representatives from
weapons manufacturing companies
were also a common practice for
SDS and are not 'rare today.
Protesters have often blocked
students from entering the Career
Planning and Placement Center
where the CIA recruiters conduct
interviews.
University Students have a long
history of treating unfavorable
guests harshly. SDS once dumped
dead fish on a recruiter from Allied
Chemical Co. and sprayed his office
with one of his company's
products, the chemical DDT.
During one protest a Navy recruiter
was drenched with black paint.
Likewise, last February,
the University's highest ranking
Black official.
WJJX station manager Jim
Lamb, saying he learned about the
jokes only a day before, fires
Severansky. "He is no longer part
of WJJX and never will be," Lamb
says. Johnson says the University
will look into the matter.
February 19: The University's
Office of Student Affairs shuts
WJJX down for an unspecified
amount of time. Johnson says he
closed down the station until its
governing board can decide what
actions will be taken due of the
incident.
incident. Johnson said the panel
will determine where the
responsibility for the incident lies
and possible punishments.
February 24: State Rep.
Morris Hood (D-Detroit) announces
he will convene a special hearing at
the University of the state House
Subcommittee on Higher Education
to discuss racism on campus.
March 3: Severansky makes an
official apology for airing the jokes
and says he alone is responsible for
the incident. He adds he allowed the
jokes to run out of poor judgement
and poor taste.
March 4: UCAR members and
acism protests
represented minorities until min- Student Union,
ority enrollment goals are realized. -approving Blacks as departm
March 5: About 800 people heads of 30 percent of all acaden
cram into the Grand Ballroom at the departments,
Michigan Union to hear as 61 -the immediate addition of
members of the University com- racial harassment clause to t
munity and Ann Arbor residents University's rules and regulatio
testify on racist incidents on to punish institutionally those w
campus before the Higher Education perpetuate racist activity, and
Committee. -the immediate ratification
Most witnesses criticize Shapiro UCAR's 12 proposals.
for allowing racism to get out of March 18: 350 BAM
hand. Some say he is an ineffective members converge on the Michig
president and that he lacks the Union and call for a 24-h(
"moral leadership conviction" to economic boycott. Members blo
handle the racism problem. ade entrances to the Union for ab
Committee Chair Hood asks an hour.
Shapiro why minority enrollment Also, Shapiro meets w
has decreased from 7.5 percent in UCAR members and tells them t
the mid-'70s to 5.3 percent this while their proposals will
year. "We all failed a great deal in considered, he cannot promise ti
that area," Shapiro replies. will be implemented. UC)
March 9: An unindentified 19- members say they are unsatisf
year-old student admits to having and will protest at the March
slipped the flier under the Couzens regents' meeting.
lounge door. The student has been March 19: Pledging "no m
evicted from Couzens and has been business as usual," nearly 2
barred from using University students begin a 24-hour sit-in
housing again, according to the Fleming Administration Bu
University officials. The student
has 30 days to leave.
March 10: University Counsel
John Ketelhut says that Shapiro, by
the "Presidential Power" regental
bylaw, has the authority to expel
the student from the dorm and act
on whatever sanctions a committee
assembled to investigate the SA 0OS
Couzens flier and WJJX incidents1 op
recommends.
March 11: UCAR demands
that the University release the name
of the student who perpetrated the
Couzens flier incident and any other
relevant information.
March .17: A newly-formed
Black Action Movement (BAM III)
delivers an ultimatum to Shapiro,
saying that if its 11 demands are
not met by March 23, the group
will shut down the University.
BAM III's demands include:.( 4
-the establishment of a(Ann.A
permanent and completely auton- Phon
omous yearly budget for the Black
gent
nic
a
retold
ing to protest the failure of the
t administration to act on UCAR's
12 demands. 500 other students
outside march around the building
also protesting the administration.
he
ons
ho
of
III
gan
our
ck-
out
ith
hat
be
hey
AR
fed
19
ore
200
at
ild-
See TO, Page 8
- Shapiro
... takes the heat.
Daily Photo by SCOTT LITUCHY
University graduate student Roderick Linzie leads a group of students in
protesting the Couzens Hall racist flyer incident.
"I think there is no excuse for
this type of behavior. There is no
such thing as a big joke in this
situation," Johnson says.
Also, after hearing the tape at
the monthly Board of Regents'
meeting, University President
Harold Shapiro says, "This is a
very humiliating moment in the
University's history."
Shapiro announces a $1 million
initiative aimed at eliminating
racial tensions at the University. He
tells the regents, "I am appalled to
discover that in the midst of all the
exciting things going on at the
University, several incidents of
racism have occurred.
February 20: Henry Johnson
authorizes a special fact-finding
panel to investigate the WJJX
nearly 200 supporters enter the
Fleming Administration Building
to present Duderstadt with 12
demands to combat campus racism
and bring the University "kicking
and screaming into the 20th
century." The demands include:
-a full investigation and pub-
lication of the Couzens flier inci-
dent and the WJJX radio broadcast,
-an investigation of alleged but
previously unpublished individual
incidents of racism,
-expulsion of all individuals in-
volved in racist incidents from the
dorms,
-a University-wide financial aid
appeals board so that no one will be
forced to leave the University due to
financial reasons, and
-a tuition waiver for all under-
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