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Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. I C, No. 92 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, February 8, 1989 Copyright 1989, The Michigan Daily
Disbanded
U-council
reconvenes
today
BY FRAN OBEID
The panel which proposes University conduct rules
will meet today for the first time since 1987, six
months after the University's Board of Regents threat-
ened to disband the council this May unless it can
prove itself to be effective.
The University Council, a nine-member body of
students, faculty, and administrators, will set up its
first regular meeting during an informal dinner at the
Michigan League tonight.
The council's first task will be to implement the
University's policy on speakers and protesters' rights
to free speech. The regents approved the overall policy,
written by the University's Civil Liberties Board ear-
*ier last year, in July.
In the past, council members have left meetings in
frustration because neither students nor administrators
were willing to compromise their views on the code of
non-academic conduct. Student council members have
traditionally opposed the code, while administrators
have advocated it.
"The guidelines will make the council workable.
We're aiming to get something produced before the end
of the year so we can get some feedback, though it is
probably unlikely," said council member Julie Murray,
See Council, Page 6
Gov.
one
BY PATRICK STAIGER
Gov. James Blanchard focused his
annual State of the State address last
night on education. Though strong
on rhetoric, the speech lacked con-
crete plans for Michigan colleges.
"I was disappointed that (the
governor) didn't include higher edu-
cation institutions in his 'Schools of
Tomorrow' plans," said Sen.
William Sederburg (R-East Lans-
ing), chair of the Senate Appropria-
tions Subcommittee on Higher Edu-
cation. "I think he missed an oppor-
tunity."
In his speech, the governor called
for doubling the pre-school education
program; a program to "reward qual-
ity in schools"; and a $50 million
program to place computers in
Michigan classrooms.
"It is time for a strategy that goes
beyond today's crisis or next year's
school budgets. It is time for a
strategy to guide us through the
1990s and into the 21st century - a
strategy for Michigan's 'Schools of
Tomorrow.,'
focuses
ducation
"We must set tough performance
standards for our schools - includ-
ing a rigorous core curriculum,
competency testing for new teachers,
and higher student performance on
math, reading, and science tests,"
Blanchard said.
Rep. Morris Hood (D-Detroit),
chair of the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Higher Education,
said he "applauded the emphasis on
education" in the governor's speech,
but expressed concern over funding
for Michigan colleges.
"My concern is that higher
education be affordable," Hood said.
"I just hope the funds are available
in the state."
"The governor is a real fiscal
conservative as far as education is
concerned," Sederburg said. "Tonight
he challenged the education estab-
lishment to increase its productivity
without increasing its funding."
In the past few years, state legis-
lators have been critical of Michigan
colleges for increasing student tu-
ition to compensate for low state
funding. University of Michigan tu-
ition, for example, has risen 25 per-
cent in the past three years.
The governor also emphasized
fighting crime and unemployment,
boosting education and business, and
improving the state's environment
in his 25-minute speech to a joint
session of the legislature.
On the environment, the governor
said he would push for a law that
would require polluters to clean up
hazardous wastes and allow the state
to collect triple damages from those
who do not.
The governor, however, made no
mention in his speech of the contro-
versy over storing nuclear waste in
Michigan, over which demonstrators
expressed indignance outside the
State Capitol yesterday.
All of Blanchard's major new
proposals were revealed over the past
week as his aides carefully orches-
trated a series of headline-grabbing
leaks to various newspapers.
Associated Press
Governor James Blanchard stressed his strat-
egy for Michigan's "schools of tomorrow" in
his state of the state speech yesterday in
Lansing.
I
Local residents may face waste management tax
BY KRISTINE LALONDE
Third in a three-part series
Ann Arbor taxpayers will bear the brunt
of much of the city's efforts to fix its
overflowing landfill.
The city - already in a budget deficit -
has proposed a solution which will cost
$20 to $50 million to establish. After that,
it will cost more than $15 million a year,
about three times the amount Ann Arbor
currently spends for solid waste manage-
ment, to maintain.
Members of the Solid Waste Task
Force, which the City Council appointed in
1986, hope Ann Arbor will implement a
recycling program, a composting system, a
system of separating recyclables from
garbage at the landfill, and a waste to fuel
conversion facility.
If the programs operate as expected, the
amount of waste deposited in the landfill
will decrease 87 percent by 1995.
City councilmembers will explore many
sources, including the state government, for
funding. Last December, the Michigan De-
partment of Commerce granted Ann Ar-
bor's waste management division a
$260,000 grant for research into the city's
waste control problems. But these efforts
are barely scratching the problem's surface.
The Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) has $150,000,000 to distribute for
waste programs statewide. But the applica-
tion process is competitive and Ann Arbor
is only one of many cities facing a landfill
crisis.
To generate more revenue, the city will
raise fees levied to private garbage haulers
for dumping trash in the landfill.
In fact, councilmember Jeff Epton (D-
Third Ward) said future fees may be ten
times as high-as the current amount. Epton
said revenue from the addition would be
crucial to funding.
"I can't imagine how we're going to
(fund) most of what we have to do in the
future if we don't get (the addition)," he
said.
But even with raised fees, the city will
have to depend on taxpayers for most of the
money. The city's solid waste management
is currently funded by a property tax, but
these taxes are limited by the state. So lo-
cal officials will have to ask city residents
for a special tax.
City Administrator Del Borgsdorf said
local taxpayers are usually receptive to
taxes for specific issues such as parks or
street maintenance. He is optimistic that
See Waste, Page 6
Congress turns
down pay raise
i "1 Lester
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Congress voted yesterday to take
away its 51 percent pay raise and
rushed the legislation to President
George Bush, who signed the
measure hours before a midnight
*deadline.
The raise would have become law
at midnight without Bush's sig-
nature on the resolution rejecting it.
Lawmakers were anxious to end
the public outcry against the
$45,500 increase, which left them
feeling, in the words of one repre-
sentative, like "cannon fodder for
trash television and talk radio."
First, the House voted to reject
the raise by a vote of 380-48. Less
than three hours later, the Senate
followed suit by a vote of 94-6.
Although Bush had supported the
raise, spokesperson Marlin Fitzwater
said his boss "will abide by the
wishes of the Congress."
The congressional votes also
denied large raises for top federal
executives and federal judges. Some
lawmakers predicted that defeating
the raises would accelerate an exodus
from government service.
Indeed, Chief Justice William
Rehnquist said in a statement: "I
deeply regret the congressional
action, which has prevented the fed-
eral judges in this country from
receiving a well-deserved pay
raise...We will not be able to attract
and retain the kind of judges we
need...unless we pay our judges
fairly and equitably."
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole
(R-Kan.), said Bush told Senate
Republicans yesterday he might ask
Congress to approve lesser raises for
the judges and executives.
With its votes, Congress rejected
raises proposed by a presidential
commission and endorsed by then-
President Ronald Reagan. Senators
and representatives would have seen
legislative ability."
The Senate last week voted 95-5
against the raise, but the wording of
that resolution differed from the
House version approved yesterday.
Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt.), who
had voted against the raise, voted for
it yesterday.
Jeffords said he cast his vote
yesterday to make clear his view that
judges are badly in need of a pay
raise and because, unlike last week's
measure, this one did not curtail
lawmaker's rights to make speeches
for fees.
Theother senators voting for to
sustain the raise were Democrats
Christopher Dodd Of Connecticut,
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
and Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii; and
Republicans Frank Murkowski of
Alaska and Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Despite overwhelming House
margin, members were clearly torn
between their desire for a pay raise
and the public scorn heaped upon
them for considering the increase.
The chamber applauded loudly
when Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, (D-
ill.) told colleagues in a rousing
speech before the vote, "each mem-
ber of this House, Democrat and
Republican, is worth a salary of
$135,000 a year."
Protestors
candidate
University
JESICAG ""E'E"/ Daily
angered by the LSA Executive Committee's recent rejection of a Black woman
who was selected by two search committees to fill an open joint position at the
march in front of the LSA Building.
talks on
turn to
Judaism
BY GIL RENBERG
Julius Lester is a man with two
heritages.
Lester, a professor in the
Department of Judaic and Near
Eastern Studies at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, is a
Black Jew.
"I am a Jew; I am not a Jewish
convert," Lester told a crowd of 200
gathered in the Hillel auditorium last
night.
In his talk, he gave "an overview
of my spiritual odyssey" toward
Judaism.
Lester grew up in the midwest
and the south. His father was a
Methodist minister. "My strongest
memories are of sitting in church on
Sunday mornings and hearing my
father preach," he said.
Despite the influence of his
father, Lester did not feel he was a
true Christian. Even as a child, he
said, "Jesus was not very interesting
to me and didn't seem real."
However, while he found the New
Testament boring, he was fascinated
by the Old Testament.
In his teenage years he declared
himself an atheist, much to his
father's chagrin. Still, although he
recognized no religion, "God spoke
to me."
One day, while visiting a
synagogue with a friend, he saw the
Torah, the holy book of scriptures
and law, and felt a "surge of
unknown love."
Lester said "God entered" his life
when he realized that he was
"nothing," compared to permanent
bodies like mountains and seas.
In 1968, while moderating a radio
program about relations between
Blacks and Jews. he was branded an
Protesters say LSA went out
of its way to reject Black prof.
BY JONATHAN SCOTT
Nearly 100 demonstrators yesterday protested LSA's
recent rejection of a Black woman candidate who two
University search committees recommended to fill an
open senior joint faculty position in sociology.
The candidate was removed from consideration by
the LSA Executive Committee two weeks ago despite
the two committees' unanimous support.
"When LSA should be going out of its way to
encourage the hiring of minority candidates, in this
case they broke with their usual policy of approving
search committee decisions, and effectively blocked the
hiring of a qualified minority candidate," United
Coalition Against Racism member Barbara Ransby
told a crowd of protesters and observers in front of the
LSA Building.
Ransby pointed out that the Executive Committee
The decision in review
Jan. 23: After an 18 month search, the LSA
Executive Committee rejects a Black woman
candidate to fill an open tenured faculty position at
the 'U'. The candidate had received the unanimous
recommendation from two University search
committees.
Jan. 26: Sociology Chair James House and
Director of Women's Studies Abby Stewart both
publicly challenge the Executive Committee decision.
Jan. 30: UCAR requests a meeting with
Duderstadt to review the decision.
Feb. 3: Duderstadt declines a meeting with UCAR
and advises the group to raise concerns about minor-
ity hiring with Provost and Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs Charles Vest.
4'
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