e Mic iganDa
Vol. XCI, No. 33-S Ann Arbor,'Michigan-Saturday, June 20, 1981 Ten Cents Sixteen Pages
Regents ax geography
Vote marks end o
long, rocky review
By ANDREW CHAPMAN before voting at 10 a.m. to eliminate the
Daily staff writer department.
"It (discontinuance) is not a desirable op-
The University Regents voted unanimously tion," Frye informed the Regents. "But it's
yesterday morning to discontinue the the best option we have."
geography department, effective July 1982. SEVERAL REGENTS expressed concern
Geography department Chairman John and regret over the decision to drop the
Nystuen, who appeared resigned to the geography department from the LSA college.
decision, said later, "The Regents were har- Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor) said,
dly going to go against their own ad- "Geography is in the unfortunate position of
- ministration, being the first department that we discussed
f>"THE DECISION should create increased in this way."
alienation and suspicion among the faculty However, Baker defended the ad-
members and students," Nystuer predicted. ministration's recommendation, saying,
The Regents discussed the discontinuance "This process has been responsibly done."
with members of the University ad- Many of the Regents raised questions con-
ministration, including President Harold cerning the "good faith" effort at relocation
Shapiro, Vice President for Academic Affairs of tenured faculty members promised by the
Bill Frye, and LSA Acting Dean John Knott, administration.
REGENT PAUL Brown (D-Petoskey)
asked if the University would be able to at-
tract "top quality" geography professors if
there is no department.
Frye assured the Regents that locating top-
notch geography faculty would not be too dif-
ficult. "Harvard has one of the nations top
geographers, but they have no department,"
Frye pointed out.
Nystuen disputed that point later. "I doubt
they will be successful in relocating the
(University) tenured faculty," he added.
A REPRESENTATIVE of the American
Association of University Professors made a
presentation to the Regents at Thursday's
meeting claiming that the discontinuance
See REGENTS, Page 13

Ann Arbor and
The Bomb
What would happen to Ann Arbor in the
event of a nuclear war? Public officials
examine this question yesterday. See story,
Page 3.

Doily Pnotos'nyrPAUL ,n'-.
REGENT NELLIE VARNER confers with Regent Thomas Roach in the Regents' chambers (top). Geography department
Prof. George Kish and Chairman John Nystuen leave the administration building after the Regents' vote.


Michigan
1therapists
defend 'U'
"program

By ANN MARIE FAZIO
Daily staff writer
Physical therapy officials across the state are
rallying to save the University's endangered physical
therapy program through massive letter-writing,
campaigns and media appearances, officials said
yesterday.
University and state physical therapy officials,
most of them fiercely opposed to the recommended
discontinuance of the University program, point to an
already severe shortage of physical therapists as a
central reason to preserve and further bolster the
sagging academic program.
PRESIDENT OF THE Michigan chapter of the
American Physical Therapy Association Dale Fitch,
said he has been in touch with the media across the
state, particularly interviews with local radio and TV
stations.
Fitchssaid the MPTA is sending letters to the
association's nearly 900 members. These letters will

give details of the recommendation and addresses of
appropriate individuals to contact and express their
concern to over the program's possible discontinuan-
ce.
They have contacted the Michigan Hospital
Association and will be holding meetings with state
legislators, Fitch said, to try to persuade them to
become involved in the conflict.
Medical School Dean John Gronvall made a
recommendation to University Vice President for
Academic Affairs Bill Frye last month that the
University's physical therapy program be discon-
tinued, pushing the program on to further review and
possible consideration by the University Regents.
UNIVERSITY administrators cited the program's
non-central role to the medical school and
deteriorating quality of the curriculum as reasons for
discontinuance. The University Physical Therapy
Program Director Richard Darnell confirmed that
the program academically is not up to par due to
See STATE, Page6