InfIt IganBil
Ninety-eight years of editorialfreedom
Volume XCVIII - No. 19 Ann Arbor, Michigan -Tuesday, October 6, 1987 Copyright 1987, The Michigan Daily

Senators

line

up against Bork

WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert Bork's
Supreme Court hopes suffered major
additional setbacks yesterday as Senate
Majority Leader Robert Byrd, a conservative
Democratic senator, and two liberal
Republicans declared opposition to his
confirmation.
Byrd, previously undecided, yesterday
called the nomination "doomed," saying
President Reagan should not have picked
Bork in the first place and suggesting that
Reagan withdraw the nomination to "spare
Mr. Bork."
At the White House, Reagan said he
would fight on, declaring that only "over
my dead body" would the nomination be
defeated before reaching the full Senate.
Still one justice short, the Supreme
Court began its 1987-88 term yesterday by
acting on some 1,000 cases.
Before Byrd's announcement, chief
White House spokesperson Marlin
Fitzwater called the nomination "very much
alive." However, after hearing about Byrd's
decision, he said, "It's getting tougher but
we're still working on it."

In addition to Byrd, Senators Dennis
DeConcini (D-Ariz.), Lowell Weicker (R-
Conn.), and John Chafee (R-Rhode Island)
left the undecided camp for the opposition,
with DeConcini telling reporters, "I think
it's over."
DeConcini said his personal count
shows at least 53 senators opposed to Bork,
while Sen. Alan Cranston - who counts
noses as the Democratic whip - added that
he now counts 53 opposed and 42 in favor
with five senators' positions unknown.
"The outcome is now pre-ordained,"
Cranston said. "I don't see how it can be
turned around."
Fitzwater said Reagan telephoned four
senators yesterday, lobbying for their votes,
but would not say who they were.
He said Reagan, who briefly answered
several questions on Bork at an unrelated
White House ceremony, intends to speak
out for him at the re-scheduled swearing-in
Thursday of FBI Director-designate William
Sessions. Asked if Reagan planned a
television address, Fitzwater said, "Every
See UNDECIDED, Page 5

But can he sing?
LSA Junior Tim Parker pays off his debt to his Economics 491 professor Warren Whatley by tap dancing the "George Bell Shuffle" in
front of the class. Whatley bet that the Tigers would sweep the Blue Jays this past weekend.


LSA expects rise in students taking languages

By MICHAEL LUSTIG
LSA officials are struggling to meet the expected
increase in the number of students taking foreign
languages under the school's new foreign languages
policy.
This policy, approved last semester and set to go in
effect next fall, requires all in-coming first-year students
to take a foreing language placement test during
orientation. It nullifies an 18-year rule that exempts
students who've studied a language for four years in high
school from the LSA foreign language requirement.
About 45 percent of all incoming students claim the
exemption, said Charles Judge, director of LSA
counseling.

French Prof. Peter Hagiwara estimates that two-thirds
of those students will now have to take some University
language classes.
"It's just adding a new group to the procedure. Some
percentage of those people will be found to be not at the
level of (fourth semester languages)," said Romance
Languages Chair Thomas Kavanagh.
Accomodating the expected increase of students in
beginning language classes has not yet been worked out.
"We're a little stymied as to how to estimate" the size of
the increase," Kavanagh said.
Hagiwara expects the French department to add 10 to
15 sections per level. There are currently 27 sections of
French 101 and many of those students have taken

between one to three years of language.
Finding instructors to teach all of the new sections is
another obstacle that faces LSA officials. Kavanagh said
hiring teaching assistants may be difficult because TA
contracts are signed a semester before the class begins
and the language departments will not know how many
more classes or instructors they will need until next
September - after the placement tests have been
administered.
One solution to this problem is to hire more lecturers
- people who are capable of teaching but who are not
graduate students. This will increase costs to all language
departments, but, said LSA Associate Dean for Budget
Carolyn Copeland, "We are prepared to meet whatever

the demand will be. We have the flexibility of moving
funds" from one department to another.
Copeland said she will be meeting with department
heads to discuss estimates and predictions about the
increased number of students. This will help prepare
LSA for the fall influx of foreign language students, she
said.
LSA will also administer different placements tests
than in the past. Students who did not take four years of
high school languages have been placed in classes
through tests given during orientation. These exams
have been rented from the College Entrance Examination
Board for the past 20 years, but the costs to rent
See TESTS, Page 2

Grad students irked over loss of funding

By ROSE MARY WUMMEL
Graduate students are angry over
an LSA rule that prohibits them
from receiving more than ten terms
of University funding, either in a
TAship or a fellowship, and their
union, the GEO, plans to file an
unfair labor practice suit against the
University..
"The GEO which sees the ten-
term rule as a change in conditions
in employment, is prepared to
bargain with the University and use
any other legal means to win their
case," said GEO President Don

There has been an over-reliance on teaching assistant-
ships for financial aid.
- Peter Steiner, LSA Dean

Peter Steiner.
"There has been an over-reliance
on teaching assistantships for
financial aid," Steiner said. "Graduate
students have been exploited by
spending too much time doing
teaching and not enough studying."
Graduate students, led by the
Rackham Student Government,
oppose the rule because they do not
believe a uniform funding limit
takes into account the different hours
required by different departments.
The limit also discriminates against
See OFFICIALS, Page 3

Demetriades, a Ph.D candidate in
philosophy. He said, however, he
doubts teaching assistants would
strike over the issue.
The "ten term rule' goes into
effect this fall following a three year
transition period during which the

college made adjustments and
informed departments of the plan.
The purpose of the ten term rule
is to compel departments to organize
programs so that a graduate student
could complete his or her Ph.D. in
about five years, said LSA Dean


MSA prepare
By ANDREW MILLS
After finally resolving the year-long debate
over PIRGIM funding two weeks ago, the.
Michigan Student Assembly can now turn its
attention to the other campus issues it considers
salient.
The most important of these, MSA officials
say, is to improve the assembly's image in the
eyes of both students and the University's
administration.
"There's no controversy over what the campus
concerns are," said MSA President Ken Weine.
The challenge, he said, is to get a better idea of
what action students want the assembly to take
on these issues, which include the code of non-
academic conduct, racism, rape prevention, and
classified research 'on campus. But just as
importantly, Weine said, the assembly must also
keep students aware of its actions.

s to tackle ca
"There is a communication gap between MSA
and the student body. We want to close that gap,"
he said.
Weine pointed to the unusually high turnout
for last spring's MSA elections as an
encouraging sign of increased student interest in
the assembly.
In an attempt to get a feel for student
opinions, LSA representative Michael Phillips
last spring surveyed University housing residents
on such campus issues as the proposed code of
non-academic conduct, racism, and classified
research.
Although only ten percent of the residents
responded, the survey was "very effective,"
Phillips said. On some issues, the survey
revealed that MSA's positions are different from
students' responses. This could mean either that
MSA is misrepresenting the students, or that

rmpus issues
students are uninformed, Phillips said.
Assembly representatives could then speak with
their constituents about an issue to- determine
which is the case.
With survey in hand MSA now knows what
issues need to be publicized among the student
body, Phillips said.
The assembly is also planning to broadcast its
weekly meetings over campus radio and to set up
tables in the Fishbowl where students can address
their concerns to assembly representatives.
Knowing what students want would be of
little use unless the assembly can persuade the
University's Board of Regents to respect
students' views.
"The regents respect the administration's
viewpoint too much. They don't consider the
students' viewpoint as much. We (the students)
See MSA, Page 2

. Daily Photo by DANA MENDELSSOHN
Grab a Coke...
Tom Plachetzki, a worker for the Coke-Van Buren Distribution Center
collects his weekly pickup of empty bottles from Marshalls. The bottles
are then sanitized and recycled for further use.


Restaurants prosper
on Sunday dinners

Man speaks on son's INSIDE

death in Nicaragua

By BILL MOTT
Someone is getting very, very
rich.
Because University Residence
Halls serve only one meal on
Sundays, the 9,000 students living
in dorms this year will spend a lot

dad come up.
Fast food and delivery places on
campus are especially competitive
for Sunday business. For ex-
ample, several restaurants such as
McDonald's and Domino's Pizza
offer Sunday-only coupons good

By NANCY DRISCOLL
On April 28, 1987, an American
engineer named Benjamin Linder was
killed by Contra forces in Nicaragua.
Last night, his father, Dr. David
Linder, spoke to a full house in

begun construction of a small dam
near San Jose de Bocay when Contra
soldiers fired. Linder and two others
were killed.
"He liked to walk down the street
of the town and listen to the music

The United States should
withdraw from the Persian Gulf.
OPINION, Page 6
Artist Howard Finster's unique
paintings are on display at the
Michigan Union.
ARTS, Page 7