The Michigan Daily-Saturday, June 7, 1980-Page 11
Panel blasts
Bulard's state
pension fund
divestment bill
Derailed train poses threat
Firefighters spray two tank cars of a derailed freight train at Graland,
Texas yesterday. An estimated 8,000 persons were evacuated from their
homes after the cars began leaking chemicals. By late morning, a leak in
a propane tank car had been plugged, and workers were trying to-right
a second car so they could drain it of 40,000 gallons of styrene monomer-
a colorless liquid used to make polystyrene plastic that poses a fire hazard.
Paper Chase fighting 'U'
over non-renewal of le ase
LANSING (UPI)-The state Invest-
ment Advisory Committee yesterday
blasted a bill which would force the
Department of Treasury to divest of
retirement fund investments in South
Africa.
The five-member panel, which
governs pension investments, voted
unanimously to oppose themeasure.
The group is best known for its op-
position to the use of pension funds for a
recent $150 million state loan to
Chrysler Corp. The loan was later made
from surplus cash.
UNDER THE BILL, sponsored by
Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Arbor),
public employee retirement funds could
not be invested in companies which
operate in South Africa.
The measure is the second of a three-
bill package outlawing investment in
South Africa.
The House has already passed the fir-
st of the measures, which outlaws the
deposit of state surplus funds in banks
doing business in the racist nation. The
third bill orders investment
divestitures by colleges and univer-
sities.
PENSION BOARD chairman Gene
Booker said the measure would "ad-
versely affect the financial future of the
retirement funds under Treasury's
management" and could endanger
future payments to current employees.
An aide to Bullard refuted Booker's
statement: "If he thought it would hurt
pension fund, he wouldn't have in-
troduced the bill," said legislative
assistant Barb Eldersveld.
SHE SAID AN increasing number of
financial institutions are divesting of
their South Africa investments with
good results.
However, the pension board urged
businesses to adhere to the Sullivan
Principles, which were drawn up by a
member of the General Motors Corp.
board.
The Sullivan Principles call for non-
segregation in all public places, equal
employment opportunities, and
minority training programs. Em-
ployers are urged to make im-
provements in the quality of em-
ployees lives outside the work en-
vironment, such as in housing, tran-
sportation and schools.
Eldersveld called the principles
"cosmetic" and said they have not
helped combat apartheid.
Students. to
confer with
Union staff
on ehanges
(Continuedfrom Page3)
den stuff" which has been neglected for
the past twenty years that is causing
the most difficulties.
Easthope warned as the Union
becomes less a "University resource"
and geared more toward students,
there is a chance the building will be
neglected once again. The reason for
this, he explained, is that students
responsible for the building's upkeep
will not be able to devote their full effor-
ts to the board due to outside respon-
sibilities.
UNIVERSITY Cellar President and
core committee member Matthew
Neumeier agreed, saying the students
chosen for the board must be willing to
dedicate the time necessary for the
positions.
According to Easthope, one of the
most likely changes to be instituted by
September will be the relocation of
Student Legal Services to a wing on the
building's third floor. According. to
Canale, this temporary move is
necessary because the organization has
outgrown its offices on the fourth floor.
(Continuedfrom Page3)
Paper Chase, operated an "unsuper-
vised and unlicensed" pinball arcade,
and denied Paper Chase the right of fir-
st refusal to the space (which allows the
present tenant to have the first chance
at re-leasing the property when the
lease expires) as was stated in the
lease.
ELLIS, UNIVERSITY attorney
Roderick Daane, interim Union Direc-
tor Suzanne Young, interim Union
Associate Director Rick Sline, and
David Raaflaub, Gordon's attorney, all
refused to comment on the matter, and
said they would refuse to do so while the
case was in litigation.
"Our position is that if the University
intends to re-lease the property upon
expiration of the lease, we get the first
chance at it and can re-lease it accor-
ding to the terms of the previous lease,"
Gordon explained. "Their position is,
'We have to say we prefer someone else
first, and then you can try to match the
offer'."
Gordon also disagreed with Union
management over its policy regarding
the operation of foosball games in the
Union basement. "I wanted to control
the pinball room and improve the ven-
ding equipment," he said, "But (in-
terim Union Director) Suzanne Young
told me that the University already had,
an operator there. But the foosball
games need supervision, and they
weren't getting it."
TO REMEDY the situation, Gordon
leased his own set of foosball games
and moved them into the copying cen-
ter. Union officials soon presented him
with an order to remove the games
within 30 days, an order he promptly
complied with, he said.
"I WAS JUST trying to set up a con-
versation with them. . . but (Assistant
Vice-President for Student Services
Thomas) Easthope just came up and
told me to 'get those shitty games out of
here'," Gordon said. "Obviously, my
relations with the Union must be sour,
but since there's no more Board of
Directors, who do I talk to now?"
The District Court ruled in favor of
the University in the termination of
tenancy suit in early May. Raaflaub
requested a new trial but was turned
down. Raaflaub has since appealed the
case to the Circuit Court, where it will
probably be heard in conjunction with
Gordon's suit against the Union
management, according to University
officials.
50C OF WIZARDRY
This coupon is_ worth 5OC of
pinball and video game
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* per customer.)
This coupon is good at:
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