The michigianDaly
igan-Wednesday, June 17, 1981
Ten Cents
Sixteen Pages
Frye urges
geography
elknination
i wan you,..
... to support my tax plan. President Reagan fielded questions on a
wide range of issues and tried to garner support for his tax cut plan
yesterday in his first televised press conference in more than three
months. See story, Page 10.
U.S. to sell
arms to China,
Haigannounces
75
By ANDREW CHAPMAN
Daily staff writer
In a long-awaited statement made public
yesterday, University Vice-president for
Academic Affairs Bill Frye announced he
would recommend the discontinuance of the
University's Department of Geography to the
University Regents.
Frye's recommendation will be presented
to the Regents tomorrow at their June
meeting. However, a decision from the
Regents on discontinuance may not be an-
nounced for another month.
REASONS GIVEN by Frye for the proposed
elimination were the general economic
climate of the University, the "slipping"
scholarly quality of the geography depar-
tment, the department's non-central role in
the LSA College, and the large amount of
resources that he said would be needed to
raise the department to an acceptable stan-
dard.
Geography department Chairman John
Nystuen said he was not surprised by Frye's
recommendation "because the ad-
ministration did not show a response to
arguments made in the department's defen-
se."
LSA Acting. Dean John Knott defended
Frye's decision. "This is not something we
take great pleasure in," Knott said. "There
was a necessity for taking this kind of ac-
tion."
"I BELIEVE the recommendation realizes
budgetary realities and the department's
failure to compete successfully,'Knott said.
Students enrolled in the geography depar-
tment were distressed by Frye's -announ-
cement, although none said they were sur-
prised by the decision.
Ph.D. pre-candidate Victor Santiago said
he felt the decision had been made a while
ago, and that yesterday's recommendation
was just "a question of rubber-stamping it."
DOCTORAL candidate Margaret Wilder
criticized Frye's open hearings held over the
past two weeks, in which students and faculty
members were encouraged to provide
suggestions and criticism. Wilder said she
believed Frye's hearings had "little or no im-
pact on his decision."
However, Frye said that the talks he held
with members of the University community
were "significant," and that "had the inter-
views provided different input the report
could have been modified, delayed, or witi-
drawn."
University President Harold Shapiro said
the open hearings "helped articulate various
options."
See GEOGRAPHY, Page 9
From AP and UPI
PEKING-Secretary of State
Alexander Haig said last night that
the Reagan administration has,
decided in principle to sell arms to
China, and that the United States
and China agree on the need to con-
front Soviet global expansion.
Haig said the deputy chief of
staff of China's army, Liu
Huaqing, will visit the United
States in August to explore specific
purchases of arms that can kill, as
opposed to those used for military
support purposes, such as trucks.
IF A DEAL is struck, it would be
the first time the United States has
sold arms to China since the com-
munist takeover in 1949.
He told a news conference at the
conclusion of his three-day official'
visit here that the administration
will remove the so-called
munitions list restrictions that now
prohibit arms sales to China.
Haig met yesterday with
Premier Zhao Ziyang and Com-
munist Party Vice Chairman Deng
Xiaoping. He said afterward his
visit to China was "unusually
productive and successful."
HE SAID he told the Chinese that
Reagan intends to treat China "as
a friendly nation with which the
United States is not allied but with
which it shares many interests."
Haig dodged specific questions
on the degree to which the U.S.
relationship with Taiwan was
discussed, but he appeared to say
it was not a stumbling block. He
said he explained the ad-
ministration's "unofficial relation-
See U.S., Page 1Q
rFrye
... not just administration vs. faculty
A4AUP ,profs
question.
geograph
decision
By ANDREW CHAPMAN
Daily staff writer
Representatives of the American
Association of University Professors will go
before the Regents tomorrow, claiming that
the administration ignored an essential
Regental bylaw in its review of the geography
department.
The professors will argue that if the bylaw
was violated, as they believe it was, the ad-
ministration's recommendation to discon-
tinue the geography department is invalid.
ACCORDING TO the AAUP represen-
tatives, the Regents' bylaws leave such
questions as program discontinuance with the
faculty-not with the administration.
Former president of the AAUP, and
University mathematics professor, Wilfred
Kaplan said "we are arguing that the ad-
ministration's procedure was inconsistent
See AAUP, Page 5