The Michigan Daily
Vol. XC, No. 33-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Tuesday, July 8, 1980 Free Issue Twelve Pages
Richter
resigns as
marchin
band head
By KEVIN TOTTIS
Michigan Marching Band Conductor
Glenn Richter has resigned the position
he has held for only one year to become
Director of Bands at his alma mater,
the University of Texas.
Succeeding Richter is Eric Becher,
who for the past two years was
graduate assistant to the Marching
Band. He will serve as interim director
for 1980 until a permanent successor is
named.
"HE (BECHER) is the ideal person
for the position," University Director of
Bands, Prof. H. Robert Reynolds, said.
"He knows how the band works. He was
our first and obvious choice.'
"It's really kind of a shock," Becher
said, commenting on his new position.
"There's nothing I'd rather be doing
than this job."
Richter said he was contacted by
University of Texas in the spring about
the position, but was not prepared to
leave. Texas later made him an offer
which included a significant salary in-
crease and tenure, he said. "I realized
it was too good a promotion to pass up."
He added that University of Texas
gives their bands a good deal of finan-
cial support, unlike the University,
which also made it appealing.
AS DIRECTOR of Bands, Richter's
duties will include conducting the mar-
ching band, teaching undergraduate
conducting courses, and "ad-
ministrative responsibilities."
Reynolds said he was not surprised
by Richter's resignation, because
Richter had kept him informed of his
correspondence with Texas. He also
praised Richter's job over the past
year.
"I thought it (Richter's performan-
ce) was exceptional," Reynolds said.
"He was a person coming into a par-
ticularly vulnerable position. He han-
dled it in a very mature way." As a
result, he said, "There are more people
coming back to band next year than
ever before."
MICHIGAN MARCHING Band Drum
Major Guy Bordo said he was surprised
See RICHTER, Page8
Elephantine signsv
Dennis Miriam, executive vice-president of the Detroit Convention Bureau,
distributes signs yesterday for display in fi'ont of delegation hotels during the
Republican National Convention which begins July 14. Republican unity is
being tested as competing forces debate the party's position on the Equal
Rights Amendment. See story, Page I.
Marwi, 'U'
square off
as tenure
trial opens
By HOWARD WITT
DETROIT-A trial that could have major impli-
cations for untenured faculty at the University got
underway yesterday as attorneys for a former
assistant professor and the University traded
opening blows in federal district court.
Counsel for Jonathan Marwil, the 40-year-old for-
mer assistant professor of humanities in the College
of Engineering who claims he was unjustly denied a
tenure review, contended that ordinary review
procedures were not followed in Marwil's case.
University attorneys countered that normal College
and University procedures were adhered to, and that
Marwil, inhis six-year teaching career at the Univer-
sity, had frequently "exceeded the boundaries of ac-
ceptable college behavior."
MARWIL IS SUING the eight individual members
of the University's Board of Regents and three
humanities department administrators for damages
of $100,000 and either reinstatement to the faculty
pending a tenure review or an additional $1.1 million.
Federal Judge Philip Pratt, who is hearing the
case, ruled last week to dismiss damage claims
against the defendants as University officials. The
suit is proceeding against the defendants as in-
dividuals. University General Counsel Roderick
Daane yesterday would neither confirm or deny that
damages, if awarded to Marwil, might be paid from
University legal insurance funds.
"It would depend on the nature of the award and
the reasons for it," Daane said.
JEROLD LAX, MARWIL'S attorney, argued in his
opening statement yesterday that "This case is not a
tenure case-the court is not being asked to establish
tenure. Rather, this case is about a tenure
review-whether Jonathan Marwil is entitled to cer-
tain procedures."
Lax explained that Marwil, who was dropped from
the faculty in May, 1979 at the completion of a two-
See MARWIL, Page 6
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