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Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
Vol..XCVIII, No. 71
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, January 13, 1988
Copyright 1988; The Michigan Daily
Dean Steiner
explains past
statements
UCAR calls Steiner's
statements
By LISA POLLAK
LSA Dean Peter Steiner held af
press conference yesterday to clarify
his allegedly racist remarks, but a
tense question-and-answer session leftz
many members of the Unitedi
Coalition Against Racism angry andt
dissatisfied with Steiner's
explanations.1
"During the conference he madec
many other racist comments that1
basically solidified those notions we
had of him already," said Pam
Nadasen, a UCAR steering
committee member.
Steiner told a crowded room of
more than 50 UCAR members that
he regrets the wording of - but
stands behind - a statement made in
a Sept. 17 speech to LSA department
heads and directors. While describing
his plan to promote affirmative
action in faculty hiring Steiner said:
"Our challenge is not to change
this University into another kind of
institution where minorities would
naturally flock in much greater
numbers. I need not remind you that
there are such institutions -
including Wayne State and Howard
University. Our challenge is not to
emulate them, but to make what is
the essential quality of the University
of Michigan available to more
minorities."'
UCAR members have called the
statement "racist and offensive" for
several reasons - including the
implication that Steiner does not'
want large numbers of Blacks to
attend the University, and that he
'racist'
sees institutions with higher Black
enrollments as inferior.
UCAR has demanded a formal
apology from Steiner, but he will
not consider their demand until
meeting with the group at 1 p.m.
today, he said.
"I wish I hadn't said that
paragraph," Steiner said. But he
defended the statement as part of his
plan to "keep the nature of the
See STEINER, Page 2
Black
faculty
challenge
Steiner
By LISA POLLAK
A group .of Black faculty
members, including Vice Provost for
Minority Affairs Charles Moody,
signed an open letter yesterday
criticizing LSA Dean Peter Steiner
for "a regrettable lack of sensitivity
to racial inequality," and rec-
ommending sensitivity training for
all University administrators.
The letter, signed by nine Black
faculty members last night, also
congratulates Steiner for pledging to
do more to increase the number of
See BLACK, Page 2 '
LSA Dean Peter Steiner answers questions yesterday during a heated press conference held to discuss his allegedly racist remarks.
MSA opposes Fleming's proposal
By RYAN TUTAK
The Michigan Student
Assembly, in its first meeting this
term, easily passed a resolution that
"strongly opposes" Interim
University President Robben Flem-
ing's draft for a "code" of conduct last
night.
Fleming's proposal, released
Monday, calls for academic sanctions
against students- who verbally or
physically harass minorities at the
University. Under the policy,
students could be expelled, suspended
or placed on academic probation for
discriminatory acts.
The resolution, which passed 29-
1 with one abstention, said that the
benefits of the proposed policy "do
not exceed the detriments and dangers
which it presents for the (University)
students."
"The positive step of trying to
deal with racism is overwhelmed by
the abuses of first amendment
rights," said Student Rights
Committee Chair Mike Phillips,
LSA junior. The policy states that
"Enforcement of our rules... is com-
plicated by our constitutional rights."'
In strong statements against the
policy, many assembly members
agreed that Fleming's code was not
intended to fight racism.
"Fleming isn't really concerned
with racism," said Bruce Belcher, a
non-elected member of the assembly.
"We've seen acts of racism by the
administration this year, and nothing,
was done aboutthem."
Others feared the open-ended
nature of the policy could allow
University administrators to abuse it.
"It's incredibly vague," said Rackhami
representative Steve Angelotti. "Iti
could be a major tool of
harassment... and could have a+
chilling effect on free speech."
Citing the 5.3 percentage of+
Black enrollment at the University,
Phillip's said his main complaint
about the proposed code is that it
does not address the real problem of
racism.
"This does not deal with institu-
See ASSEMBLY, Page 3
KING SYMPOSIUM CONTINUES
Law prof. speaks on
civil rights movement
U Council members
By KRISTINE LALONDE
and JIM PONIEWOZIK
The University's two-day Martin
Luther King, Jr. Symposium closed
yesterday with workshops, guest
speakers, and a closing address by
Georgetown University Law Prof.
Elanor Holmes Norton, who urged
educated Black youth to become
leaders in a movement for racial
equality.
In her speech at Hill Auditorium,
Norton said that Black students
"whose education gives them the
opportunity to go in unprecedented
ways" have an obligation to other
members of the Black community
who have not yet benefited from ad-
vances in civil rights.
"Dealing with (problems of) race
is in part an intellectual enterprise,"
Norton said.
The civil rights movement is
changing, Norton said, because overt
legal discrimination has been re-
placed with more subtle problems
such as economic disparity between
Blacks and whites.
"The issues are compelling, but
no longer self-evident to the society
at large," said Norton, who added
that this change will make it more
difficult for new civil rights leaders
to marshal public support.
Norton also said that people con-
cerned with Black advancement may
become complacent, and therefore
less inclined to protest, because of
recent advances such as increases in
the overall Black standard of living.
"Protest and progress do not sit
easily together," Norton said.
In yesterday's opening address,
Dr. James Jackson, associate dean of
the Rackham Graduate School,
warned that Black civil rights gains
may be eroded during the rest of the
1980s.
"Blacks have in no way achieved
parity with whites," he told the
audience of about 100. Jackson said
Blacks are making slower economic
progress than whites, especially in
total family wealth.
Jackson said, as a result, social
and economic issues are more press-
ing to Blacks than political issues.
"While Blacks are free to own a
house in Grosse Pointe, it is not
See MLK, Page 5
differ on c
By STEVE KNOPPER
Interim University President
Robben Fleming's proposal to ad-
minister academic sanctions for stu-
dent harassment and discrimination
his met with mixed reviews from
the panel authorized to draft all such
documents.
Student members of the Univer-
sity Council - appointed by former
President Harold Shapiro to draft a
code in 1984 - called the draft a
"terrible misuse of power." But fac-
ulty and administration representa-
tives on the council said Fleming's
decision to bypass the process was
justified because of the council's
slow progress in writing a code.
For four years a panel of students,
faculty members and administrators.
have struggled unsuccessfully to
draft a code of non-academic behav-
ior. Fleming released his version of
the guidelines Monday, after one
week in office.
The proposal would impose aca-
demic probation or suspension as
punishment for "discriminatory" be-
havior and harassment. Fleming has
not specified a timeline for imple-
menting the policy, saying that he
released the draft for community re-
odedraft
view.
But community review is not es-
sential to implementing the policy,
according to University's Board of
Regents' Bylaw 2.01, which grants
presidential authority in all cases of
promoting "maintenance of health,
diligence, and order among the stu-
dents."
Fleming's proposal invokes this
bylaw but ignores the conflicting
bylaw 7.02, which states that any
change in the rules of non-academic
conduct must .be approved by the
nine-member University Council.
In a statement released yesterday,
Council Co-Chair David Newblatt
and student members Robert Bell and
Blake Ringsmuth said Fleming
"intends to ignore 7.02, the Univer-
sity Council process, and simply
pass this on his own..."
"Bylaw 2.01 was never intended
to be used as a loophole to pass a
policy that is perceived by the
President to be too controversial for
the process outlined in bylaw 7.02,"
the statement said.
Ringsmuth added, "This is clearly
a code and it should have gone
through 'U' Council.... (Fleming)
See PANEL, Page 5
Daily Pt'fo b y ENLEV~
Georgetown Law Prof. Eleanor Holmes calls on minority students to use
their educational advantages to help achieve equality for other minorities.
, City homeles
By JEFF ARCHER
Ann Arbor's homeless come from several
different backgrounds, but during frigid winter
months they have one thing in common: they
need a warm place to sleep.
Beth Yaroch, administrative associate of
the Shelter Association of Ann Arbor, said the
number of homeless increases each year. A
1986 state task force report estimated that
l there are between four and five hundred home-
s find shelter during cold weather spells
"Families and children are the fastest growing'
group of homeless," Yaroch said.
Paul Whitty, of the Arbor Haven staff,
said, "We get a lot of men who've broken up
with their families, some because of problems
with alcohol."
"One woman had to come in because the
pipes froze up in her house. Another man here
is fleeing domestic problems because of vio-
lence," Whitty said.
us they've been staying with a relative, but
their landlord found out and they had to leave,"
Wilson said.
The Shelter Association has approximately
50 beds available, while the Salvation Army's
Arbor Haven shelter can accommodate about
18. The Ashley Street day shelter, also oper-
ated by the Shelter Association, gives some of
the homeless a warm place to spend the day.
A rotating church shelter program, operat-
'A lot sleep in abandoned build-
ings or cars. I know of one that
sleeps in a cemetery.'
- Beth Yaroch, Shelter Asso-
iation administrative associate
Funding for each of the programs comes