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One hundredfve years offedftorialfreedom
Monday
April 22, 1996
Duderstadt, board confront racial tensions on campus
By Jodi Cohen
and Jeff Edridge
Daily Staff Reporters
In remarks about the racial atmosphere on
campus, President James Duderstadt and Re-
gent Nellie Varner (D-Detroit) issued lengthy
statements at Friday's Board of Regents meet-
f" addressing the role of the Department of
Public Safety.
The remarks come after John Matlock, director
of the Office of Academic and Multicultural
Initiatives, was charged with resisting arrest and
assault and battery Thursday. They also come
amidst political efforts in California that could
remove the role affirmative action plays in hiring
practices and admissions to public universities.
"I am very concerned and disturbed by racial
Varner speaks openly on DPS training, policies at meeting
incidents," Varner said. "I am very disturbed by
things that have been brought to my attention by
our campus police."
Varner said she hopes DPS policies and train-
ing are examined thoroughly.
"My hope is that a lot of discussion is set up
by the police department," Varner added.
"Maybe we should look at how it is functioning
and what its relationships are with all the mem-
bers of the University community."
Duderstadt said the University is looking into
the most recent situation.
"We are deeply concerned about the incident
involving one of our most valued employees,
John Matlock," Duderstadt said.
Matlock was charged Thursday with two mis-
demeanor counts steming from a Feb. 17 inci-
dent with DPS officers.
Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Arbor) urged a
review of the "internal security program."
DPS spokesperson Elizabeth Hall said offic-
ers go through a six- to eight-week "extensive
training program."
"It covers a variety of topics ranging from
sensitivity to diversity to special concerns about
campus safety," Hall said. "It is a really compre-
hensive program."
LSA sophomore Shantan Reddy said there
are race-relation problems with the city's police
department. Saturday night, he said, a group of
minority students were followed by Ann Arbor
Police Department officers.
Reddy said a group of "black people" were
leaving the Michigan Union to go to a party.
"The cops were following everyone," Reddy
said. He added that one officer told him the
group appeared to be a "potential hazard."
"It was definitely racist," Reddy said. "They
see black people walking to a party and they
think it is a potential hazard. They assocate
danger only with color."
AAPD officials could not be reached for
comment on this incident.
Duderstadt also reiterated his longstanding
support of affirmative action at Friday's board
meeting.
"Most of us at the administration believe
those policies have had a very significant, posi-
tive impact at this institution," Duderstadt said.
In March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals ruled in Hopwood v. Texas that the Uni-
versity of Texas could not use race as a factor in
their admissions standards. At the time,
Duderstadt issued a press release opposing the
decision.
"I do not hesitate to say the University of
Michigan considers race along with a range of
other factors when enrolling students. And we
will continue to do so," Duderstadt said.
'fake Back
the Night
ByKateGIkman1
Daily Staff Reporter
A crowd of more than 200 women
chanting, "Date rape happens all the
time, it's time to treat it like a crime,"
marched though the streets of Ann Ar-
bor without escort Saturday night in the
"ake Back the Night" rally.
3eating drums, sharing stories and
banding together has become a tradi-
tion for the now I 7-year-old annual
march, and from a distance the demon-
strators seem to voice the same de-
mands year after year. But listening to
the complicated and contradicting view-
points of the eight speakers made it
clear that the politics of this movement
havechangedasnewissueshavearisen.
This year's theme, "Breaking the
cklash Against Economic, Cultural
and Physical Violence," emphasized
that violence against women cannot be
separated fromother societalproblems,
namely racism, homophobia, classism
and ageism. r
"Not all (survivors of violence) are
white and upper-class," said Jannelle
White, who helped organize the march.
She said society should not separate
n e kind of oppression from another.
hite said she was concerned about
showing realistic images of survivors.
When arranging speakers, White said
she worked against scheduling too manyt
white, middle-class women who had
been abused by strangers. Focusing on
breaking stereotypes, White included c
women from all different backgrounds.
Reaching for a realistic vision of
sexual abuse, Verna Spyth, who works
for ADAPT, said people with disabili-
~s "are beaten, raped, robbed and left
Wdie in (their) own urine."
Spythesaid90 percentofpeople with
disabilities will be victimized in their
lifetimes.
Tonya Jones, a speaker who called
herself "a welfare survivor, domes-
tic abuse survivor and U.S. citizen
See RALLY, Page 2A
Rose criticizes profs., praises
programs in address to regents
'U letter may
have obstructed
Mattock case
By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter
A series of incidents, labeled by one top admin-
istrator as "miscommunications," may have led to
a clash between the University and state police -
all stemming from the arrest of John Matlock,
director of the Office of Academic and
Multicultural Initiatives.
A Michigan State Police report on the investiga-
tion into the arrest, parts of which were published
in newspapers this past weekend, includes a letter
written by Jackie McClain, executive director of
Human Resources and Affirmative Action.
The letter stemmed from a Feb. 17 incident in
which Matlock allegedly shoved two Department
of Public Safety officers during an event at the
Central Campus Recreation Building. Matlock
was charged Thursday under two counts -resist-
ing arrest and assault and battery.
Richard Soble, Matlock's attorney, said his
client plans to plead not guilty at a hearing sched-
uled for tomorrow.
Yesterday, McClain told The Michigan Daily
that on Feb. 26 she sent a letter to Lt. Gary
Kregelka, commander of the Ypsilanti branch of
the state police. The letter requested that the
investigation be suspended so that the matter
could be resolved through more informal means.
According to newspapers that obtained the re-
port under the Freedom of Information Act, state
police officers accused the University of distrib-
uting McClain's letter to student witnesses - a
move that they claim hindered the investigation.
Washtenaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor
Joseph Burke said yesterday that an obstruction of
justice charge against the University is "not under
current evaluation."
The Michigan Daily was unable to obtain a
copy of the police report because FOIA offices
within the state police department were closed for
the weekend and administrators contacted by the
Daily said they did not have the report.
McClain confirmed yesterday that her letter asked
that the state police's investigation "be stopped
immediately." She asked instead that the situation
be resolved "through mutual understanding."
The police report has led to speculation about
whether the letter can be considered an obstruction
of justice.
After the initial CCRB incident, President James
Duderstadt asked that an outside organization,
such as the state police, be involved in the inves-
tigation. However, on Saturday,
University General Counsel
Elsa Cole said Duderstadt never
officially sent the letter to the
state police requesting their in-
volvement.
Cole said some of the mis-
communication stemmed from
not knowing which University
office would contact the state
police. She said Duderstadt did
Matlock not know that DPS had con-
tacted the police.
"The head of DPS had invited them in thinking
he was acting under instruction of the president,"
Cole said.
A group of administrators that met Friday, Feb.
23, decided to try a different route to resolve the
incident, but later said they did not know that the
state police investigation had already begun.
McClain said a small group of administrators,
including the president, Provost J. Bernard Machen,
Vice President for University Relations Walter
Harrison, Cole and Associate Vice President for
Business Operations Paul Spradlin, who oversees
DPS, met to discuss alternate methods of resolution
- three days before McClain's letter was sent.
"There were a lot of emotions running high,"
McClain said. "We thought we could have set up
informal talks. At the time, we didn't know the
state police had begun the investigation.
"The consensus of the group was that we could
ask the police to hold up," she added. "We knew
that if they said no, we could do nothing about it."
Then, on the following Monday morning, acting
under the direction of Duderstadt, McClain said
she sent a letter to the police.
She said she had planned on calling the police, but
Spradlin told her she had to put the request in writing."I
wrote the quick paragraph and faxed it off," she said.
The letter was sent early on the morning of Feb.
See MATLOCK, Page 2A
Marching
for
justice
Above: "Take
Back the Night"
participants
march down Main
Street during the
17th annual rally.
Left: Sonal Sheth
(foreground), an
Ann Arbor
resident, attends
her first rally
because she said
she felt it would
be an empowering
experience.
Photos by
TONYA BROAD/Daily
By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents
eared a place at the table for recently
ucted Michigan Student Assembly
President Fiona Rose on Friday as she
delivered MSA's biannual address.
As the second MSA president to ad-
dress the regents, Rose read what she
called a "state of the students" speech.
MSA secured its non-voting represen-
tative and the right to a biannual ad-
dress last year.
At the meeting, University Presi-
*t James Duderstadt said Rose's
'resence at the table is a symbol of
new student-administration relations
and cooperation.
"The relations between the Michigan
student body and the University Board
of Regents has been continually im-
proving," Duderstadt said.
versity atmosphere in and out of the
classroom.
"There was a lot of squirming in the
room," Rose said.
Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor)
said Rose did not accurately represent
the entire University.
"Her criticism was a little bit over-
dramatic," Baker said. "As she spends
more time at the
University, her
views will change a
little bit."
Rose criticized
student-teacherrela-
tionships at the Uni-
versity, as well as
professors who
spend large amounts
of time publishing
Rose materials rather than
giving lectures. She
shiny benefits based on academic stat-
ure rather than commitment to quality
teaching," Rose said.
Rose encouraged the University to
forgo "job training" and vocational skills
in favor of an education that empha-
sizes humanism.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Maureen Hartford said she agreed with
Rose's emphasis on "the strength of
the liberal arts education."
"I do believe that higher education
should be taking us to 'what you
know,' not 'what you will be,"' said
Hartford, who said her own liberal
arts education taught her to concen-
trate less on "careerism" than on
knowledge.
Baker, however, did not praise the
content of Rose's speech and suggested
she present a "brief and concise opin-
ion" in her next address.
.I I
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