BigT
For Better or...
...For Worse
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First in a five-part series
by Andrew Gottesman
and Adam Schrager
Daily Staff Reporters
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0 1990 T HE MICHIGAN DAILY
Contrary to public perception,
Penn State may never be a member
of the Big Ten Conference.
Though many have labelled it a
"done deal," differences in opinion
between officials and faculty at Penn
State and the Big Ten schools have
cast doubt upon the final outcome
regarding the admittance of Penn
State to the conference.
Big Ten presidents extended an
"invitation" last December to the
University Park, Pa., school to join
the conference. But many are not
convinced the idea of admitting Penn
State is practical or beneficial, and a
significant number admit it is too
premature to say whether the deal
will actually transpire.
"My feeling is - at least I hope
this is the case - is that it's not a
done deal," Minnesota Athletic Di-
rector Rick Bay said. "Once (certain)
questions are answered, there will be
enough information for the presi-
dents to take an official vote on
whether to add them to the confer-
ence."
But Penn State officials believe
they are only ironing out details
before an inevitable "final imple-
mentation" of the plan to join the
Big Ten, as stated in a Dec. 19 Penn
State press release. The conference
issued a release the same day, which
was identical but for the substitution
of unspecified "further action" for
"final implementation."
Administration, athletic depart-
ment, or faculty members from nine
of the Big Ten schools believe there
is still some doubt as to the finality
of the deal. The University of Ill-
inois is the only conference school
united with Penn State in saying the
Nittany Lions will definitely be
joining the Big Ten.
"If you went to Penn State, what
you'd find is they believe they're in
the Big Ten," said Walter Harrison,
University of Michigan Executive
Director of University Relations. "I
said to (Penn State Executive Direc-
reject
tor of University Relations) Roger
Williams, 'I want you to know what
(University of Illinois President
Stanley) Ikenberry is saying and
what you're saying is not the same
as what we're saying."
Penn State's perspective is reiter-
ated by Steve Garban, the univer-
sity's Senior Vice President for Fi-
nance and Operations.
"We know that it will have to be
done over some period of time," Gar-
ban said. "Our feeling is that we're
very anx-ious to have this as soon as
possible. We look forward to being
part of the Big Ten."
The Council of Ten, the Big
Ten's presidents and ruling board,
can admit another school into the
conference with a majority vote.
The presidents discussed Penn
State's inclusion at their bi-annual
meeting in December, but disagree-
ment is rampant as to whether they
agreed to simply investigate the mat-
ter or to formally incorporate Penn
State.
Not only is the status of the deal
confusing, but the process creating
Penn
this problem was equally cloudy.
According to all sources, Penn
State's admittance to the Big Ten
was discussed, after years of specula-
tion, at the Dec. 10-11 meeting. The
presidents cited Penn State's ability
to help the Big Ten spur intercol-
'... there are no memoranda of understanding
at all. Nothing has happened and that's the
honest to God truth'
- Purdue University President
Steven Beering
State
the end of that week to decide
whether there were any flags [ob-
stacles]," Michigan President James
Duderstadt said.
But the presidents never finished
their investigation because of a Chi-
cago Tribune story Dec. 15 - four
The Big Ten has yet
to put the ring on
Penn State's finger...
and may never do so.
Tomorrow: Was it a
Presidential initiative or a
power-play?"
legiate reform, its high academic
standards, and the potential for in-
creased East Coast exposure as reas-
ons which merited the exploration.
The Council decided to study the
matter further.
"What we would do is each of the
presidents would go back and touch
bases on their campus - with their
ADs [Athletic Directors], their
governing boards, their faculty reps
- over the next several days and
we'd then have a conference call at
days before their week-long probe
had ended - stating Penn State had
been invited into the conference. In
order to protect Penn State from
media and public speculation, the
presidents affirmed the Tribune's
story and temporarily dropped their
investigation.
"We did not want them [PSU]
walked out on a limb and then sawed
off," Duderstadt said. "Ikenberry,
See PENN STATE on
Sports Monday's back page
. .7
spoIT
Men swimmers compete in NCAAs
Women's Big Ten gymnastics
championships
Wrestling NCAA championships
OPINION
Stand up for the First Amendment
4
ARTS
You can't wipe Oscars on the side
of a couch
5
Ninety-nine years of editorial freedom
Vol. C, No. 116
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Monday, March 26, 1990
CopyrightO 1990
The Michigan Daily
Protesters
demand
more child
care at 'U'
by Eric Phillips
Williams: policy
approaches code
by Noelle Vance
Daily Administration Reporter
On the Diag Friday, about 150 people demanded that
the University provide better child care on campus to
students, faculty and staff.
The protest, sponsored by the Alliance for Campus
Child Care, attempted to raise awareness about inade-
quate child care services offered to University. students
and employees, said Alliance member Bobbie Simson,
an LSA sophomore.
LSA junior Vanessa Hansle spoke about the hard-
ships she has faced while simultaneously paying for her
son's care and her own education. "I work a full time
job when it's available just to pay for day care. I have
often had to make a choice between going to school and
paying for day care. What kind of choice is that?"
State Senator Lana Pollack (D-Ann Arbor), the
keynote speaker for the march, said as a University stu-
dent in the sixties she used to bring her children to ral-
lies such as this one. "Child care was an issue then, and
that was 25 years ago."
"Women are no longer able, willing and sometimes
interested in being confined to caring for their children,
but this is no indication of a lack of commitment to
their children," she added.
After the rally on the Diag, about half the protesters,
accompanied by two Ann Arbor policemen, marched to
the Fleming Administration Building to deliver peti-
tions calling for better child care to President Duder-
stadt.
However, the marchers were not allowed to go to
Duderstadt's office. Instead, they were channeled into the
regents' meeting room, where director of University Re-
lations Walter Harrison addressed their concerns.
One protester shouted at Harrison, "We don't want to
meet with somebody in PR, we want to meet with
somebody who makes policy!"
See CHILD CARE, Page 2
The newest policy proposed by University
President James Duderstadt is one more step in
President James Duderstadt's movement to-
wards a code of non-academic conduct, Michi-
gan Student Assembly President Aaron
Williams said yesterday.
The policy would regulate the forms stu-
dents could use to express their opinions in all
areas of the University campus.
Duderstadt announced the policy last Thurs-
day at the University's Board of Regents meet-
ing. He said a six-member committee of stu-
dents, faculty and staff will formulate the pol-
icy.
But Williams said MSA - which is re-
sponsible foir appointing student members to
University committees - may not appoint
students to the committee.
"We feel it's another policy further reducing
freedom on the campus," Williams said.
Williams said MSA was concerned the admin-
istration was implementing policy after policy
until it had enough to build a code.
"The University administration is going to
be here a lot longer than we are," Williams
said. "The policy-forming committee is one
more step towards a code."
Any policy regulating students' expression
needs to be broad, said Assembly member
Michael Donovan, an engineering senior.
"We should try to be as tolerant as possi-
ble. The administration wants a simplistic pol-
icy on a complex issue," he said. Donovan said
that while he personally thought the shanties
had lost much of their meaning and had be-
come nothing more than "piles of wood" he
understood students had a broad range of views
on the issue.
"We cannot have Duderstadt just come out
and say this is the policy... (though that)
seems to be the current trend," he said. "If he
can't get what he wants, he says this is what
it's going to be."
The decision to form a policy followed ex-
pressions of concern by members of the Uni-
versity's Board of Regents that the shanties
were "unsightly."
The shanties have been erected at different
times in the last four years by various campus
student groups to focus students' attention on
the issues of racism, discrimination, and op-
pression.
Since their construction, the shanties have
been battered, burned and destroyed; students
have called them unsightly; and the issues for
which they stand have been hotly debated
within the campus community. Today, an
anonymous group of students is even calling
for the shanties' complete removal.
The shanties are not beautiful because the
struggles they represent are not beautiful, said
Zeid Zalatimo, an LSA sophomore and mem-
ber of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee
which constructed a shanty on the Diag, to
support the Palestinian peoples' struggle for an
independent state.
"Shanties in refugee Palestine are not built
strong and sturdy. They're temporary. We
could build a nice condo on the diag, but it
would give a misleading facade," he said.
Charles Dudley, MSA student rights' chair,
criticized the new policy as an attempt to stop
students from communicating.
"The Diag situation is a unique situation.
That's where most of the messages back and
forth are going to maintained. The University
doesn't want students communication on the
Diag," he said.
This man and child were among the people who held a rally on the Diag
on Friday in support of child care.
Regents approve projects to help University women
Child care center for University Hospital
employees to be completed within two years
Tenure review period extended for faculty
who must provide care for dependents
by Diane Cook
Daily Women's Issues Reporter
The University's Board of Re-
gents unanimously approved the de-
velopment of a University Hospitals
child care center Friday.
Executive Director of University
Hospitals John Forsyth said the cen-
ter has been a priority for hospital
administrators for about three years.
Women comprise 77 percent of the
hospitals' work force.
hospitals may utilize the facility,
which will be open from 6:30 a.m.
to 6:30 p.m. and cost $90 per week.
Regent Thomas Roach (D-
Saline) expressed concern that the
center's hours may prevent employ-
ees who need nighttime child care.
"We have an awful lot of single
parent homes, that's what the statis-
tics tell us," he said. "We have to be
sensitive to that."
Project construction is estimated
at $2.4 million.
Forsyth said the center is particu-
larly attractive to employees because
they will develop the child-care pro-
grams.
"The program is built and defined
by the employees," he said.
The curriculum will be develop-
mentally based, focusing on the in-
dividual social, cognitive and physi-
ca1 neA nf the chilrran The facil-
by Diane Cook
and Donna Woodwell
Daily Staff Reporters
The Board of Regents unani-
mously approved a new policy al-
lowing faculty an extension of their
tenure review period for childbirth or
other dependent care responsibilities
at their monthly meeting Friday.
University President James Dud-
erstadt said the policy is an example
of new legislation for the increagine
She added that the new policy is
"one of the ways we are recognizing
the changing demographic changes.
It will further the overall case of af-
firmative action... (and) compliment
efforts for recruitment and retention."
The policy, which resulted from
a faculty initiative, was reviewed by
faculty governance, deans and the
executive officers before it was
presented to the Regents.
sponsibilities, only the "excess
hours of writing books which is
likely to be drained" by family care
responsibilities.
In case of childbirth, a woman
can petition her Dean's office for an
automatic tenure extension. In all
other cases of dependent care, the
Dean has the right to deny the
request. Vest said it isn't likely that
requests will be denied.