11 The Michigan Daily-Thursday, June 11, 1981-Page 11 STUDENTS FILE SUIT OVER DIT CLOSING Administrators facing legal battle (Continued from Pagel1) "Program of Study Contract" was not a But it is a passage in the president's in population that DIT had always ser- no longer any diplomatic represen- guarantee of a degree, but merely an report, attributing low enrollment to ved. The school was no longer con- tation in the United States, and without outline of requisite courses needed to the school's inner city location which venient to many factory and' office government support, families cannot graduate, and valid only insofar as the has triggered the charge of racism. In workers which had been the backbone send money out of the country. school was still operating. But since past years, DIT was predominantly of its constituency. Many individuals Last year, Iranian students registered only 550 students are enrolled on the white, but after the 1967 race riots and simply would not stay (or return) after for maximum course loads and DIT DIT campus, whereas in 1977 there - the consequent white flight to the dark." graduated a tremendous number. The were 14,000, there ark fewer than the suburbs,- Detroit and the DIT student Khomeini government discouraged number required to keep the school body became predominantly black. rTHERE ARE many instances of students from studying outside Iran, so running and it is impossible to offer a The report stated, "It was also during racism p the report. Now that the there was no continuing supply of first class program. this period that the demographics of the school is predominantly black, essen- studenta. tal hyaesyn hr s' h "The school should not be based on Citing a passage in the President's Detroit area began to impact the student quality needed to skeep the Iranian students," said Anthony Bun- report, the students intend to show that college. As business and industry scoden,"uiye dd Iranian students," said-Anthony Bn- the decision to close the school was moved to the suburbs, so did the close- school open, Rivers said. dy, head of student government, who need 18 credits to graduate before DIT closes. "They should have done more to recruit new students. Our recruiting ef- forts haven't been up to the standards they should be." ANOTHER DETERMINING factor cited by administrators in DIT's drop in enrollment has been increasing com- petition from many surrounding com- munity colleges which offer similar programs for smaller tuitions. The students' suit charges DIT with a conflict of interest - specifically, that two presidents of Lansing and Oakland community colleges, presiding on the DIT Board, recruited students to their colleges away from DIT. "It appears to students that the decision to keep the school open presen- ted a conflict of interests since mem- bers on the board are vying with the school for the same students," said Ralph Richardson, the students' lawyer. But Ellis insists that the presidents have not influenced or taken away from DIT's student pool and explains their presence on the Board was a strategy to recruit new students on the junior level to DIT. "ETHICS ARE very important. It is a negative thing to recruit students when the quality of the program is threatened by financial crises," Richardson said. "Schools recruit under the assumption that the students can finish a degree. A college has a greater obligation to their clientele than a retail store." The school is being charged with reneging on that obligation, specifically, a breach of contract the students signed when they entered DIT. ACCORDING TO Ellis, the based, not on number, but on a sup- posed decline in the quality of DIT students. "THEY DON'T think it's worth keeping it open," said Bundy. The school's inner city location is a determining factor in steadily declining enrollments. A charter allows DIT to relocate but the student body - com- posed almost entirely of blacks and foreigners - think that any desire to move to a different area on the school's part may be racially motivated, accor- ding to their lawyer. PRESIDENT ELLIS calls the rumor of a move a "red herring" and firmly denies it. "There are absolutely no such plans," he said. Corrections, In the story, "Prof's sign causes dispute," (Daily, June 10), the Daily in- correctly referred to Vice President for Academic Affairs Bill Frye as LSA dean. In the story, "Open hearing debates fate of geography," (Daily, June 9), the Daily incorrectly quoted mathematics Prof. George Piranian. Prof. Piranian said at the hearing: "I have often heard conjecture that the final decision on geography (department) had been reached in 1980 and that, regardless of anything the faculty might say, the administration will carry it through. If the conjecture is correct, the ad- ministration has little respect for the faculty, and it can expect the faculty to return the compliment." The Daily regrets the errors.