The -Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 42-S
"Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, July 17, 1981
Ten Cents
Sixteen Pages
Regents to
vote on tuition
hike today
Daily Photo by PAUL ENGSTR
THREE GRADESCHOOL CHILDREN enjoy one of the exhibits at the
University's Exhibit Museum. Though the museum's budget has been cut
$41,000, its director, Robert Butsch, assures it won't severely affect services
to the public.
'U' E xhibit
cutby $41
By REBECCA FRELIGH
Daily staff writer
Frequenters of the University's.
Exhibit Museum need not worry too
much that dramatic cuts in the
museum's budget will mean dramatic
cuts in the museum's services to the
public, according to the museum's
director.
The news may come as a relief to the
busloads of school children who visit
the museum each week.
"TODAY WAS probably the 100th
time I go to visit the Exhibit Museum,"
wrote Ann Arbor elementary school
pupil Vasco Lima, in a painstakingly
neat thank-you note to the museum's
staff.
"But today was the funnest," Vasco
continued, "because today there was a
guide to explain the birds, dinosaurs.
etc."
DESPITE A $41,000 cut in the Exhibit
Museum's 1981-82 budget, all that "et-
cetera" Vasco wrote about will not go
Museum
,000
unexplained. The reduction won't affect
services to the thousands of annual
visitors to the scientific displays in the
wedge-shaped building at the corner of
Washtenaw and Geddes Avenues, ac-
cording to curator and director Robert
Butsch.
"The last thing we would do is cut our
services to the public," Butsch said,
who recently took a few minutes to
discuss the cut in a workroom in the
museum building, where he was super-
vising a class.
SO THE museum will continue its
guided tours and its sponsorship of such
programs as the AstroFest, Butsch
said. And the building will still be open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on
Sunday, as usual.
Where the cut will be felt is in the
exhibit-preparing function of the
Museum, Butsch said. The $41,000
represents the salaries of three people
See EXHIBIT, Page 10
By MARK GINDIN
Daily staff writer
After their first day of discussion on
the University's proposal to increase
tuition by 18 percent, some University
sources said it seems likely that the
Regents will approve the recommended
hike.
The Regents discussed the proposal
thoroughly yesterday with University
administrators but put off a vote on the
matter until this morning to allow for
consideration of public comments later
yesterday afternoon.
THROUGH ALMOST two hours of
discussion on the recommendation, the
Regents voiced little opposition to the
hike, and one Regent, Deane Baker (R-
Ann Arbor), even questioned whether
18 percent would be enough to balance
the University's budget.
In his opening remarks and written
action request, Vice-President for
Academic Affairs Bill Frye explained
to the Regents the reasoning behind the
request for the across-the-board rise.
He said that even if the 18 percent in-
crease was approved, it would only
cover the fixed costs of the University,
and provide for a small increase .in
faculty and staff salaries.
WITH THE state appropriation to the
University for this year still uncertain,
said'Frye, any effort to make up a firm
budget would be useless. Frye said he
hoped a budget could be ready for the
Regents' September meeting.
Hopefully, the budget then will be
retroactive, he added.
Frye said the University needs $20
million to $30 million to maintain its
present financial position, without any
further program cuts. An 18 percent
hike in tuition would generate just more
than $15 million, he said, which would
just about cover this year's fixed costs.
With $15 million in "inescapable
costs," $24 million would be required to
raise salaries six percent and $31
million is needed for an eight percent
salary program. The factor that will
determine how much the salary
program is increased is the now-
uncertain appropriation from the state.
THE STATE budget has been signed
into law by the governor and has in-
cluded a 12 percent increase in funds to
the University for the coming year, Bob
Sauve, assistant to the vice-president of
academic affairs, said last week.
"Nobody believes it (the promised 12
percent) is there," he said, and "the
chances are 99 to 1" the governor will
issue an executive order reducing the
appropriation.
In the best case, saidFrye, with a 12
percent increase in state ap-
propriations and an 18 percent tuition
rise, a salary program of only eight to
nine percent would be possible, "which
is well below the inflation rate."
Realistically, said Frye, an increased
state appropriation of eight percent and
a tuition rise of 18 percent would allow
no more than a five to six percent
See REGENTS, Page 7
Reg..ents
approve
hospital
fundi~ng
By MARK GINDIN
Daily staff writer
The Regents yesterday approved a
recommendation to continue the total
Replacement Hospital Project at a new
increased maximum cost of $285
million. The action was a reversal of a
previous decision to hold costs of the
project below the $210 million level set
by the Michigan Department of Public
Health, said a University Hospital
planner.
In February, the Regents had
deferred portions of the hospital project
in order to stay below the limit
stipulated by 'the Certificate of Need
issued by the MDPH, said Marsha
Bremer of Health Science Relations.
THE DECISION yesterday was a
recommendation to the MDPH that
those services are in enough demand to
See REGENTS, Page 2
Harry Chapin dead, see Page 3