Page 4-Thursday, July 23, 1981-The Michigan Daily
MSU may try
buying-off profs
to avoid ay-ofs

V

EAST LANSING (UPI) - It may cost
financially ailing Michigan State
University nearly $2 million to buy off
excess professors rather than laying
them off.
That's the estimate made by MSU
budget officer Patrick Keating on an
incentive plan proposed as a means of
avoiding some of the tenured faculty
layoffs that threaten to traumatize the
university community.
THE MSU Board of Trustees will be
asked this week to recognize the poten-
tial liabilityin the university's books.
Budget cuts in academic programs
are threatening to force the layoff of up
to 100 tenured professors. University of-
ficials have identified a total of 200
"potentially at risk" professors in
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programs facing curtailment.
Under the buy-out program,
professors on the list who resign or
retire by Aug. 31 would receive two
years' severance pay. Those who agree
to retire by June 30, 1982 would receive
1 years pay.
IN PROGRAMS not facing total
elimination, faculty members may
request part-time status for up to five.
years at which time they would be
guaranteed full-time work.
Option plans could reduce the layoffs
by about one-third, according to the
assistant MSU provost for personnel.
Interest has-varied from department to
department.
Most professors are "reasonably
good natured" about the buy-out plans,
he said.
"A number are saying it has required
them to think about their careers and
career opportunities," be said, adding
some are talking about going back to
school.

In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
Agca convicted,
sentenced to life
ROME-An Italian court convicted Mehmet Ali Agca yesterday of
shooting Pope John Paul II and sentenced him to life in prison for the
assassination attempt that also left two-American tourists wounded.
Agca, 23, a self-proclaimed Turkish terrorist, again boycotted the court
proceedings and his lawyer, who had sought a lesser sentence of 30 years in
jail, said Agca himself will decide whether to appeal.
There was no immediate comment on the verdict from the Vatican. The
pope is still hospitalized.
The sentence of life in prison-maximum penalty under Italian law-was
announced after 6 hours and 45 minutes of deliberations by the jury and
judges in the three-day trial.
Chrysler, Exxon report profits
WASHINGTON-The Chrysler Corp., propped by $1 2 billion in federal
loan guarantees, celebrated yesterday its first quarter in the black since
1978-even if the margin was as thin asa dollar bill.
Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca said his company had an after-tax
profit of $12 million in the April-June quarter on sales of $3.1 billion, up 54
percent from the same period a year ago.
"Chrysler has fought its way back to profitability," Iacocca told a lun-
cheon at the National Press Club. ".... We've got our act together and we're
on our way back."
Exxon Inc., the world's largest oil company, also said yesterday its
second-quarter profits were up 77 percent from the same timea year ago.
The company said profits would have been down were it not for the
strength of the dollar.
House rebuffs Reagan's
planned cuts to the arts
WASHINGTON-The House yesterday rebuffed President Reagan's bid to
halve federal support for the arts, approving a $157.5 million budget next
year for the National Endowment for the Arts.
The appropriation is only 10 percent less than the $175 million endowment
budget proposed by President Carter for fiscal 1982 before he left office in
January. Reagan had proposed cutting that figure in half, to $88 million.
The arts spending was part of a package approved by the House, 358-46.
The House-approved figure is a slight reduction in the $159 million spen-
ding in the current fiscal year by the arts endowment, which underwrites ar-
tistic ventures from ballet companies and orchestras to sculptors and pain-
ters.
At the same time, the House approved a $144.6 million appropriation for
the National Endowment for the Humanities, which makes aid grants to
literary and scholarly pursuits, including museums and libraries. Current
spending by'the humanities endowment is $152 million. Reagan proposed
cutting the Carter budget of $169 million roughly in half.
IRS investigates Kansas
City Hyatt construction
KANSAS CITY, Mo-The IRS is investigating reports that city building
inspectors took money from foremen during construction of the Hyatt
'Regency Hotel, where two skywalks collapsed and killed 111 people, the
Kansas City Times reported yesterday.
The Times, in a copyright story, said "one reliable source" had confirmed
the IRS Criminal Investigation Division was probing reports that inspectors
took the money and failed to report it as income.
George Warmuth, IRS investigations group manager, refused officially to
confirm or deny any IRS investigation, but he acknowledged that he and
another IRS agent were studying city records in connection with the Hyatt
disaster-copies of contracts, payments to subcontractors and general
financial records.
Economy takes turn for worst
WASHINGTON-The economy, which perked along smartly early this
year, took a sharp turn for the worse from April through June, the gover-
nment reported yesterday. But the White House rejected suggestions a
recession is at hand.
The Commerce-Department reported .that declining sales in the second
quarter pulled the gross national product down by 1.9 percent-a huge swing
from the 8.6 percent growth rate from January through March.
The generally dismal figures did have a few bright spots. While the
economy was shrinking, the inflation rate dropped to 6 percent, its lowest
level in three years by a GNP-based comparison. And the national rate of
savings increased to 5.3 percent in the second quarter, up by 0.7 percent
from the earlier period.
The GNP bottom line, the value of all goods and services produced, was
$2.381trillion-$2,880 billion.
After surveying the numbers-seasonally adjusted and projected to yearly
rates-White House deputy press secretary Larry Speakes said, "There is
no basis for speculating that we are in a recession."

Apparent suicide
A 60-year-old male Ann Arbor
resident was found dead ina scar parked
in front of his home on Charlton St.
Tuesday morning, as the result of what
police believe to be a suicide. He was
pronounced dead on the scene after
police discovered him at 6 a.m. with a
high-powered rifle in his lap and a fatal
wound in his chest.

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LONNIE BROOKS