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- First order of checks FREE for new student accounts opened at our two campus locations. 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