The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 27, 1990 - Page 5
PENN STATE
Continued from page 1
Chair of Trustees Lawrence Owen,
Ferguson cited Article VIII, Section
5 of the Michigan Constitution as a
statute potentially violated by this
recent action. The article states in re-
gard to the state universities of
Michigan, "Each board shall have
general supervision of its institution
and the control and direction of all
expenditures from the institution's
funds."
University of Michigan General
Counsel Elsa Cole said the law's
application concerns the powers the
universities' boards have given their
presidents. "The law is read and in-
terpreted to give the regents full
power over the universities, but they
have delegated certain responsibili-
ties to the president," Cole said.
"The powers of the president are very
broad as stated by our bylaws, but
the power itself is inherent."
University of Michigan Regent
Thomas Roach isn't as agitated as
Ferguson because he has a different
attitude on the Penn State situation.
"We were aware, not of very
much, that there were discussions
under way and it was going to be
looked at," he said. "The President
has clearly indicated this was not a
done deal."
Roach also said that in his 15
years as a University regent, none of
the four presidents he has dealt with
have asked him how to vote at a
Council of Ten meeting.
If certain governing boards were
upset about not being consulted,
many athletic departments were
equally livid, especially with nu-
merous financial and scheduling
questions directly affecting their
departments yet to be addressed.
"I was shocked," Schembechler
said in December. "I don't think it
was very well thought out, but they
did it, and now it's been dumped in
the laps of the athletic directors to
sort the mess out."
Athletic department officials out-
side of Michigan are also furious.
"I don't think there is a univer-
sity in the conference that didn't find
the process a problem," Northwes-
tern Associate Athletic Director
Betsy Mosher said. "All athletic de-
partments were aggravated at the lack
of consultation and hope the presi-
dents will consult more with them
in the future."
According to Ferguson, Michigan
State Athletic Director Doug Weaver
resigned as chair of the Big Ten's
Board of Athletic Directors over the
issue. Weaver was unavailable for
comment.
The conference's faculty are also
annoyed with the presidents. The
Purdue Faculty Senate voted Feb. 26
by a two-to-one margin to condemn
Beering for not consulting them on
the Penn State issue. The Ohio State
Faculty Senate came to the same
conclusion a week later and went one
step farther.
"We will be sending a letter from
our senate to others in the conference
concerning this issue of faculty
governance," Frantz said. "We felt
things were going smoothly with
the faculty running things, but I
guess the presidents felt otherwise."
After sending a message to fac-
ulty representatives around the con-
ference on Jan. 25-26 called
"Principles for Improved Communi-
cation," the presidents set up a Feb.
19-20 meeting to discuss the prob-
lems between the two groups, Frantz
Soundoff
Principal figures in the Penn State situation comment on the
process by which the Nittany Lions were 'invited':
said. Only one president, Iowa's
Hunter Rawlings III, showed up at
the meeting - leading Frantz to
comment, "What does that tell us of
the new principles?"
Many around the conference are
also perplexed by the presidents first
extending the offer to Penn State and
later deciding to analyze the ramifica-
tions.
"It's a little bit different to make
a decision and then go back and look
at it," Michigan Interim Athletic Di-
rector Jack Weidenbach said.
Michigan Law Prof. Doug Kahn,
a faculty representative and member
of a Penn State transition committ-
ee, is more blunt.
"It's more than a little odd,"
Kahn said. "I would describe it as
bizarre."
A perturbed Minnesota Athletic
Director Rick Bay said, "I think the
things we're looking at now should
have been examined before the invi-
tation was ever extended in the first
place. So we're kind of going about
this backwards as far as I am con-
cemed."
The presidents defend their ac-
tions by saying they had no choice,
that Penn State would have been put
in an unenviable situation if no in-
vitation had been extended.
"If it hadn't been leaked, the con-
ference call (between presidents Dec.
18), I think, would have backed
people off," Duderstadt said. "But
unfortunately it [the press leak had
already happened. It put Penn State
on the spot and so I think there has
had to have been some damage
control."
Still, many officials stress it
might have been beneficial to spend
more time discussing the project
before proceeding with it, as certain
presidents involved were poorly
briefed about Penn State. For exam-
ple, Duderstadt didn't know where
Penn State is located before "invit-
ing" them into one of the country's
premier conferences.
"I haven't had any further inter-
action with Penn State other than
making certain that the press relose
that came out of, what is it, College
Park or University Park or wherever
Penn State is...," Duderstadt said in
a February interview - two months
after the December meeting.
But if athletic officials and 'fac-
ulty are unhappy with the
"backwards" process or the lack-of
consultation, they may have duily
themselves to blame. "They [the
Council of Ten] don't have to
consult anybody," Purdue AD Stev-
ens said. "The rules say what they
did was legitimate. If people.:are
yelling now, then they're yelling
two years too late."
Volunteers rewarded
Michigan student David Krone receives a plaque from Roger Smith, Chair
of General Motors. Krone, Pamela Crockett and Steve Edelstein were the
threedUniversity students awarded the General Motors Volunteer Spirit
Award for service on campus and in the community.
MSU steroid probe is
'reventive medicine
'It would have been
more desirable, of
course, to be able to
have much more
consultation before
even a decision in
principle would have to be
made. It just did not seem to be
feasible (because of the press
leak).'
Nils Hasselmo
University of Minnesota President
'The issue is one of
faculty governance. The
faculty representatives :
and the Faculty Senates
were never consulted
on the matter, and they
are the body that supposedly
controls the athletics at this
institution. We have to decide what
kind of conference we're running.'
David Frantz
Ohio State University Athletic Council
Chair and Dean of College of Humanities
EAST LANSING (AP) - An
investigation into claims that play-
ers on Michigan State's 1987 foot-
ball team injected each other with
steroids may be more preventive
MSA
Continued from page 5
Currently, the University Re-
gents can deputize campus security,
through the office of the County Sh-
eriff. However, the proposed legisla-
tion would allow the administration
to circumvent the Sheriff's office,
and have the officers answerable only
to the Regents.
"How is an armed security officer
going to stop acquaintance rape on
campus, or racial harassment, or
vandalism?" Van Valey said.
The deputization debate relates di-
rectly to the current controversy over
University President James Duder-
stadt's efforts to institute a Code of
Non-Academic Conduct, the Action
Party members explained.
One of the party's main plat-
forms is the fight against any type
' of administration control over stu-
dents' conduct.
"If this bill were to be passed by
the state legislature., the university
administration would be free to im-
plement a strict code governing stu-
dents' non-academic behavior, and
use these armed security officers to
'enforce it," Van Valey said.ag
While the candidates were acting
','.on behalf of all students, they
tressed that their lobbying efforts
,were only part of what the Action
party wants to do to protect student's
rights at the University.
MONEY TROUBLES?
We're here to help.
It's a new Write: Help Mel
advice c/o Michigan Daily
column in 420 Maynard
the Daily. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
SCINEMA okDIRECTORY
medicine than punishment, President
John DiBiaggio said yesterday.
DiBiaggio also said he doubts
that the allegations of steroid use
were aired because of a feud between
Michigan State football coach Ge-
orge Perles and reporters, as Perles
charged Friday.
"I can't say that it was written for
that reason and I don't think anyone
can, although there is no question
there are some personality conflicts
there," DiBiaggio said.
But he said the steroid charges il-
lustrate the "fox in the henhouse"
concern he raised when he argued un-
successfully against the board of
trustee's decision to make Perles ath-
letic director as well as football
coach.
.
" " ,
'To question the
integrity of the
presidents is indeed
offensive. The
presidents did not
:usurp powers they
didn't have.'
'I was shocked. I don't
think it was very well
thought out, but they
did it, and now it's been
dumped in the laps of
the athletic directors to
sort the mess out.'
Steven Beering
Purdue University President
Bo Schembechler
Ex-University of Michigan Athletic Director
.1
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