Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
Vol. XCVIII, No. 51
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Thursday, November 19, 1987
Copyright 1987, The Michigan Daily
Shapiro says
he
By MARTHA SEVETSON
University President Harold Shapiro will not
propose a code of non-academic conduct to the Univer-
sity's Board of Regents before he assumes the
presidency at Princeton University in January.
The regents, however, have final authority to pass a
code. Shapiro said, "I can't say what the regents will
do... But I don't believe the issue will come up."
The issue of a code is not scheduled on this month's
agenda.
The code is not a new issue, and Shapiro was not
the first administrator to support behavioral guidelines
for the community. But responsibility for the current
code debate has rested squarely on his shoulders since
Shapiro first proposed replacing the "useless" 1972
guidelines in the fall of 1984.
Strong student opposition to the '84 code proposal,
which included academic sanctions for non-academic
conduct, prompted Shapiro to reconvene the University
Council - a panel of students, faculty members, and
administrators - with a charge to develop new non-
academic guidelines.
The nature of this charge became the first battle in
an ongoing war between student council members -
who adamantly opposed any code with academic
sanctions - and administrators.
on't pusi
In a letter to The Daily this week, Shapiro said the
University "should adopt its own procedures... to
ensure an environment hospitable to all. Efforts to this
end are currently in progress and will, I hope, be
brought to resolution in the coming semesters."
"I selected those words very carefully," he said,
indicating that he has relinquished the code battle to his
successor.+
Michigan Student Assembly President Ken Weine, a
former council member, said the panel's first priority+
was to establish the need for a code. "The University+
has failed to show us why they need something to
replace the 1972 rules," he said.
a code
But history Prof. Shaw Livermore, a council
member for two years, said the point is moot, since the
University Council was not asked to determine the need
for a code. "My understanding was that we were charged
with writing such a set of rules and procedures to
adjudicate disputes," he said.
The council never settled this dispute. Instead, the
dozens of members who have taken their turn on the
nine-person panel have fought internal and external
opposition and attempted to draft a mutually acceptable
code.
See CODE, Page 3
Minority
enrollment
up
slightly
Doily Photo by JOHN MUNSON
Twenty members of the LaGROC (Lesbian and Gay Rights on Campus) occupy the office of Director of the University's Affirmative
Action office Virginia Nordby yesterday to demand action against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
By STEPHEN GREGORY
For the first time Asian Americans have replaced Blacks as the largest
minority group on campus, and Black enrollment increased a tenth of one
percent, according this year's minority enrollment figures released by the
University administration yesterday.
The percentage of Asian American students on campus rose from 5
percent of all students last year to 5.6 percent, the largest increase of any
minority group.
Total Black enrollment this year came out to 5.4 percent compared to
last year's 5.3 percent.
In March University President Harold Shapiro committed the
University to the goal of achieving a Black student population of around
12 percent, a number in step with the percentage of Blacks living in the
state.
Shapiro could not be reached for comment.
Also according to the figures, the number of Hispanic students
increased from 2 percent to 2.1 percent, but the percentage of Native
Amercians remained at last year's level of 0.4 percent,
Robert Holmes, the assistant to the vice president for academic affairs,
said he didn't know whether the increases were due to changes in
enrollment, changes in retention, or both.
"We have got a couple more tables that we need to get out of the regi-
strar's office to properly answer that," he said.
Holmes said, however, his "sense" was that the number of first-year
minority students is down from last year.
Both Affirmative Action Director Virginia Nordby and Undergraduate
Admissions Director Clifford Sjogren refused to comment.
Minority Student Services' (MSS) Asian American representative Ron
Aramaki said he expected the numbers of Asian Americans to be high this
year. "I'm aware of the trend that there's always been an increase in the
number of Asian Americans applying to and attending the University," he
said, adding that this reflects a nationwide trend as well.
Aramaki said because Asian Americans are now the largest minority
group on campus, the University should make sure their needs are taken
into consideration.
See ENROLLMENT, Page 3
Iran - Contrareport
impl icates. presi dent
Group occ
By ELIZABETH ATKINS
Twenty students occupied the office of
Affirmative Action Office Director Virginia
Nordby yesterday to demand that she take action
against discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
The group then met with University President
Harold Shapiro to discuss the demands.
Shapiro told the group he could not comment
on their demands but that the issues are currently
under "active discussion."
Members of the Lesbian and Gay Rights on
Campus (LaGROC) demanded that Norby:
-Advocate and work towards the addition of
"sexual orientation" to the Affirmative Action
office's logo which now reads, "It is the policy
of the University that no person, on the basis of
r Upies Non/i
race, sex, color, religion, national origin: shall
be discriminated against...";
-Implement a highly visible, publicized "Tell
Someone" about lesbian and gay harassment
poster campaign;
-Use her position as chair of the AIDS Task1
Force to appoint a a gay-identified person to the
task force immediately;
-Hire openly gay people, including students
and workers, in the Affirmative Action Office.
LaGROC members requested Nordby's
response in writing and she wrote a memo to the
group - while they waited - in response to
their demands.
Nordby said she strongly supports the current
presidential policy which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
6y's offie
and will recommend that the next president
reissue or affirm it.
"I support the policy and I think it should be
publicized," she said.
Interim President Robben Fleming, when he
begins his term in January, will have the
authority to revoke the policy.
"I will carry this concern to President
Fleming," Nordby said.
Nordby said she believes the policy should be
publicized by inclusion in the University's
nondiscrimination logo, by posters, in
orientation materials, and in other media.
LaGROC member Wendy Sharp, an L S A
senior and vice president of the Michigan Student
Assembly, said, "At least we have something on
See NORDBY, Page 2
Teach- in
addresses
'diversity,
creativity
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
Although some art and architec-
ture students rejoiced because their
classes were cancelled, many said
they gained an understanding of di-
versity by attending yesterday's all-
day "teach-in."
The event, sponsored by the
School of Art and the College of
Architecture and Urban Planning,
was designed to encourage students,
faculty, and staff to reflect on issues
stemming from creativity and diver-
sity, including racism, sexism, and
respect of other people's rights. The
teach-in also sought to bring the two
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Reagan contributed to a
massive deception of Congress and
the public in the Iran-Contra affair
and bears responsibility for thwart-
ing the law by allowing zealots to
seize policy control, congressional
investigators concluded yesterday in
a 690-page final report.
"These committees found no
direct evidence suggesting that the
president was a knowing participant
in the effort to deceive Congress and
the American public," the Senate and
House investigating panels wrote.
"But the president's actions and
statements contributed to the decep-
tion.
"The ultimate responsibility for
the events in the Iran-Contra affair
must rest with the president," the
report concluded.
The report comes three months
after the conclusion of summer-long
hearings into the secret sales of U.S.
weapons to Iran and the diversion of
some profits to the Nicaraguan
rebels known as Contras.
At the White House, Reagan
spokesperson Marlin Fitzwater said,
"This new report reflects the
destruction of thousands of docu-
meifts.
"A small group of senior officials
believed that they alone knew what
was right," the investigating law-
makers said.
All six Republicans on the
House panel and two of the five
GOP Senate panel members
registered dissent, concluding that
the president and his men were
guilty of no more than errors of
judgment.
INSIDE
Students should go hear a speaker
from the Race and Class journal.
OPINION, Page 4
The Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
brings Tom Stoppard's "The Real
Thing" to the Mendelssohn Theatre
this weekend.
ARTS, Page 7
Michigan hockey plaver Todd
77,MF
II