The Michigan Daily-Friday, August 14, 1981-Page 9
SOME CLAIM MOVE REFLECTS SHIFT TO THE RIGHT
Teachers reject minority policy
LANSING (UPI) - Lansing
teachers-bucking their union
leaders-are calling for an end to an 8-
year-old affirmative action policy that
protects minority educators during
layoffs.
The 642-to-473 advisory vote Wed-
nesday cheered supporters of the
seniority system, while some black
teachers saw it as new evidence of a
political shift to the right. Lansing
Schools Education Association
President Tom Ferris called it a disap-
pointing sign of "retrenchment."
Lansing Superintendent Matthew
Prophet, himself black, said the district
still strongly supports the unique policy
that currently is the subject of
negotiations along with other items in
the local teacher contract.
The vote was designed to provide
guidance for LSEA bargainers in their
talks with the district and some fear the
outcome may make a settlement more
difficult.
Many believe the policy, designed to
combat the last-fired-first-fired syn-
frome which makes seniority-based
layoffs so devasting for minorities,
ultimately will wind up in court.
At present, 17.2 percent of Lansing's
teachers are black, compared with 36
percent of its school children.
A total of 48 teachers, including 37
thenured white instructors, were laid
off before the current contract expired
July 31.
"I am pleased with the election," said
Earl Granzow, a white junior high schol
civic teacher with 15 years of seniority
in the district. "You can't have some
union members protected more than
others," he said.
South African
police comb
the countryside
Sfor 3 guerrillas
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (UPI)- Police
searched the countryside southwest of Pretoria
yesterday for three black nationalist guerrillas
believed responsible for a rocket attack on South
Africa's largest military complex.
The search was launched after four Soviet-made
122mm rockets slammed into the Voortrekkerhoogte
military complex shortly before midnight Weden-
sday.
MILITARY SPOKESMEN said one of the rockets
exploded near a maid's quarters, injuring a woman
slightly. The other rockets hit a toilet, a hedge and an
open field, causing minimal damage.
Residents in the Indian township of Laudium said
they saw the rockets streaking through the air
moments before Zahed Patel, 17, was shot by the
three men as he was parking his father's auto near
the launch site.
A MOTORIST chased the gunmen until they fired
at his car. Police alerted by the noise pursued the
gunmen and forced them to abandon their car after a
flurry of shots. They fled into a field where they
disappeared in the darkness.
Police immediately cordoned off all black and
mixed race townships in the area and set up road-
blocks and search parties.
The military complex, about 10 miles south of
Pretoria, is the largest in South Africa. It contains
two airbases and numerous army facilities.
There have been more than two dozen bomb and
gun attacks by black nationalists since the beginning
of the year, but the assault on the military base was
the first time rockets have been used.
arts jobs
(Continued from Page 1)
graduates on the basis of their specific
degrees, according to an executive at
Xerox Corporation in Southfield.
The main emphasis when hiring
liberal arts graduates for sales
positions are the interview, job-related
activities, and extra-curricular ac-
tivities, said Cheryl McIntosh,
manager of sales and planning at
Xerox.
IN FACT, McIntosh said, most of the
people in marketing are liberal arts
graduates. A student's major is not
usually a determinant of who should be
hired, she said. The individual is
assessed for personality, desire, skill,
and experience.
The skills of a liberal arts major are
the abilities acquired during the
educational process, May said. Data
synthesis, writing, self-confidence,
communication and other abilities are
usually present in a liberal arts degree
holder.
The manner in which graduates
acquire their jobs is also a subject of
much misconception, May said. "Only
about 20 percent of available jobs even-
tually make it to the want ads" in
newspapers or on bulletin boards. The
most common way to get a job is
through "personal solicitation," she
said. This involves contacting people in
various occupations and expressing an
interest, thereby making contacts for.
later job hunting.
CONVENTIONAL vocational
educations-such as engineering and
auto mechanics-are good for some
DEBORAH MAY, ASSISTANT director of the University's Career Planning
and Placement Office in the Student Activities Building explains that the job
outlook for liberal arts graduates is not as dismal as generally believed.
people, but "33 percent of jobs in the 80s
will be ones we haven't heard of yet,"
May said. A broad education is flexible
enough to eventually adapt to a
changing world, she added.
Salaries for liberal arts graduates
are generally lower than those for
engineering grads because of the high
demand for engineers at this time, May
said. "But the gap in salaries grows
smaller after four or five years," and
those with the higher salaries are not
necessarily those who are the most
satisfied, she said.
May advises students to explore their
many career options as early as
possible in their education.
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