The Michigan Daily, Thursday, September 10, 1987- Page 7
. 7
'U' officials grow weary of
Administration appears
code
debate
eager to
By MARTHA SEVETSON
Staunch student opposition has
prevented the implementation of a
code of non-academic conduct - a
set of rules to govern student
behavior outside the classroom -
for the past fifteen years.
But University President Harold
Shapiro and other administrators are
impatient with student opposition
and appear eager to implement a
code before Shapiro leaves the
University in January.
Members of the University's
Board of Regents, 'Shapiro, and
administrators have indicated that
there is a growing need to impose a
code with or without student
approval. Although regental bylaw
7.02 gives students the right to
veto a code, the regents have the
power to rewrite the bylaw.
PASSAGE of a code would
establish a supplemental court
system within the University that
would use academic sanctions to
control behavior outside the
classroom. University adminis -
trators think a code is needed to
protect the University community
from potentially harmful students
since they feel the Ann Arbor and
U.S. court systems are not fully
adequate to protect the University.
But students opposed to the
proposed code feel that a threat of
suspension or expulsion would
indirectly repress students' rights -
especially the right to protest freely
against the University. If a
students' actions outside the
classroom could potentially cause
suspension or expulsion, many
may be hesitant to protest on
campus.
WITH the threat of a code
looming in the near future, student
pass'ac
leaders have tried to rally more
support to oppose its passage. "The
,most important thing that we can
do is impress the regents and
administration that we demand
student input," MSA President Ken
Weine said earlier this year.
Most other private and public
Universities throughout the country
have implemented some form of a
control over students outside the
classroom.
Previous drafts of the code have
prompted such stubborn student
opposition that the University has
become a battleground among
students, faculty, and administrators
over the issue.
But in 1984, Shapiro shifted the
fight over the code and its possible
academic sanctions to the Uni -
versity Council - a panel of nine
students, faculty members, and
administrators. In an effort to reach
a compromise between code-debate
factions, the council has attempted
to write a code of its own for the
past three years.
IMPATIENT with the coun -
cil's progress, faculty and adminis -
tration council members have
concluded that the panel is
incapable of agreeing upon a set of
behavior guidelines with
"appropriate sanctions" in June.
The in-fighting among council
members and a lack of results over
the past three years prompted
council Co-Chair and history Prof.
Shaw Livermore to call for the
council's dissolution last May.'
"The course of action I propose
now is that we conclude our
operations with the charge we have
now," Livermore said.
Enraged by a statement from the
,student members which called the
'ode
council a "facade of democracy,"
Livermore wrote a resolution
announcing the council's inability
to fulfill its charge.
Despite the opposition of
students on the council, the maj -
ority of council members approved
the resolution and forwarded it to
the regents. Livermore said he
would not attend another meeting in
the near future unless the regents
ask the council to resume.
"WE'LL see how the regents
wish us to proceed at this point. If
they want us to have another go at
it with a new charge, we'll see," he
said.
No regents would comment on
the status of the council, but both
regents and administrators seemed
to be losing patience with the slow
progress of the appointed group
even before this incident.
"If the council is really at the
standstill they appear to be, I think
it is perfectly all right for us to
write our own code," Regent Paul
Brown (D-Petoskey) said. Brown
said the administration was capable
of formulating and passing a code
"in a matter of months."
Council Co-Chair David.
Newblatt, an LSA senior, said he
felt the administration impatience
was an attempt to coerce student
members of the council to accept
academic sanctions as a form of
punishment for students.
"I'M NOT going to buy the
threat that if we want to write our
own code, we have to give in to
academic sanctions," Newblatt said
earlier this year. "I have to think
that the political cost of having to
bypass MSA and student
opposition is so incredible that the
regents wouldn't pass a code
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Doily Photo by KAREN HANDELMAN
Two University students hold up signs indicating their sentiments about a code of non-academic conduct at a
noontime Diag rally.
without our consent and input."
Many students and faculty
members feared that the adminis -.
tration had, in effect, imposed a
code last term, when Shapiro
established hearings to handle two
students involved in racist jokes
aired on WJJX, a student-run radio
station.
Strong student opposition to a
University judicial system capable
of suspending or expelling students
caused an indefinite postponement
of the hearings.
"For these students to go
through a hearing for their non-
academic behavior is definitely an
indication that the University is
going to implement all that a code
stands for," Weine said earlier this
year.
NEWBLATT said that despite
negative comments many have
made about the council, "the
process we have is as good as we're
going to work with."
He and other student members of
the council planned,.to continue
meeting throughout the summer
and said they would request new
appointments to the vacated faculty
and administrative positions.
"Part of the reason I'm here is
because I'm afraid if I'm not here
the administration will bulldoze a
code with repressive measures,"
Newblatt said. "If (Livermore) is
coming to the conclusion that it's
useless to proceed, I don't agree."
THE DAILY
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Topp urges student
involvement in DSS
I
(Continued from Page 3)
essential to a successful program
for the disabled. "Even for (the
office's) own internal functions its
important to have volunteers,"
Thompson said.
*.Thompson believes that
although students who volunteer are
aware of the needs of the disabled,
the students body as a whole is not.
But with increased efforts and
cooperation from the University,
Thompson believes that "people
will be more aware of what we are
looking for and how they can do
it."
Topp, who had her right leg
amputated due to a rare form of
cancer, worked at Hope College in
Holland, Michigan for eight years
as director of both the college's
Career Center and Handicapped
Student Services. During her time
as director there, The New York
Times deemed Hope College's
programs for the disabled as "the
hidden jewel for the handicapped."
With Topp's vigor and
determination it appears that the
University may become an equal
gem for disabled students, but Topp
is concerned that to some the office
remains a hidden treasure.
"We know that there are more]
out there," Topp said about the
number of disabled students who are
unaware of the services offered to
them at the office. "We know that
they're there but they don't know
that we're here."
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SOME THINGS
YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT
BURTON MEMORIAL TOWER
U".
Q The tower was erected in memory of
Marion LeRoy Burton, a past president
of the University of Michigan. It was
completed in 1936.
Q The 10-story tower houses the Charles
Baird Carillon.
Q In 1940, the tower became the head-
quarters of The University Musical Soci-
ety, presenters 'of the world's greatest
performers for over 108 years.;
Q The Musical Society box office is on the
tower's first floor. Classrooms and
offices for the School of Music occupy;
the upper floors.
Please stop by Burton Memorial Tower to
visit the Musical Society box office.
Discover the world of performing arts on
your campus.
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