The Michinan Daily-Friday May 28, 1982-Page 3
r SL4SHIED TIRES, TORCHED CARS AT CALLFORNIA UNIVERSITY
Faculty feuds over tenure

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Internal
feuding has thrown the Chicano.Studies
Department at California State Univer-
sity-Los Angeles into turmoil, with fires
set, tires slashed and brake cables
sliced, authorities said this week.
Disputes have been sparked by such
issues as tenure, alleged lax grading
and a scramble for jobs amid Univer-
sity budget cuts.
MOST RECENT was the dispute over
tenure granted by a university commit-
tee to Professor Roberto Cantu after
other faculty members in the depar-
tment voted 2-1 against granting him
tenure.
On March 11, just six days after that
committee voted, Cantu's car was set-
afire in a camous parking lot.
Contu said he is scared.
"I DON'T KNOW what will happen
next," he said. "I didn't know being a
professor was such a high-risk oc-
cupation."
A central figure in the controversy is

Bert Corona, 63-year-old part-time
Chicano studies professor who led the
opposition to Cantu's tenure.
Cantu claims Corona threatened him,
telling him to get out of the department,
saying, "What happened to your car is
nothing."
CORONA DENIED that, adding, "I
said, 'We're not going to make it easy
for you.' "
Two months earlier, an arsonist had
set fire to the department's building,
causing $100,000 in damage.
Last September, the garage of the
chairman of the department was tor-
ched as he slept in his house. Chairman
Lou Negrete's car and 10 years of
research went up in flames.
THE SERIES of fires is being in-
vestigated by John Holloway of the Los
Angeles Fire Department's arson
squad.
Negrete said Donald Dewey, dean of
the School of Letters and Science, asked
him to investigate Corona's policy of

easy grading for foreign students.
Corona, a self avowed militant who
argues that the university should do
more to serve the Chicano community
and Latino students, said people
wrongly blame him for the violence.
THE FEUD apparently stems partly
from the fears that tenuring full-time
professors amid shrinking university
budgets might threaten the jobs of part-
time professors such as Corona.
Though Corona said he has argued
with Cantu and Negrete, he denied in-
volvement in any physical attacks.
"I personally condemn violence in all
forms, and I oppose it as a vehicle for
anything to be solved," he said. "We're
being smeared with guilt by
association."
CORONA SAID he suspects some
"dirty tricks operator."
One of Corona's students has admit-
ted threatening Cantu, but denies
carrying out any of the violence.

Corona
... denies instigating violence


New 'U' hospital
future assured

officials
By BILL SPINDLE
Despite continuing fears that state
support may fall through, University
Replacement Hospital planners believe
that they will be able to finish the $285.
million project.
Concern over state funding for the
project, roughly $173 million, arose last
month when the state credit rating was
lowered by Moody's Investor Service, a
New York-based investment firm.
University planners expressed fear
that the state, with its lowered rating,
would be unable to sell the bonds
necessary to raise project funds.
THERE HAVE been encouraging
signs, however, that state funds will be
available, according to Saunders
Midyete, associate director of finance
at the University Hospital.
Midyette said that the State Building
Authority "took action" at a recent
board meeting - that reaffirmed the
state's intent to raise project funds.
Midyette also said he was encouraged
by the state's sale of "Group II"
building project bonds. These bonds
must be sold before the Replacement
Hospital's "Group III" type bonds can
go on the market.
"THE FACT that they were able to do
that underwriting in the market is
positive to us," Midyette said.
State officials expect to begin
payments of the $173 million in
January. To make the payment on
schedule, however, the State Building
Authority must sell long term bonds by
January, a prospect that is uncertain

say
considering the unstable bond market
conditions.
To prepare for the worst - a delay in
state funding - hospital planners will
present a report to the Regents in Oc-
tober detailing how much a can-
cellation of existing project contracts
would cost, Midyette said.
MIDYETTE emphasized that the
report is merely a precaution, and that
any action to stop the project would not
be made until January, when the state
payment is expected.
"We feel as good as we think we can;
of course, nothing is certain," he said.
Meanwhile, construction continues at
the site of the new hospital which will
replace the existing University
hospital. the hospital is the largest con-
struction project underway in the state,
and one of the largest in the country.
The project, scheduled for com-
pletion in 1985, is being constructed
with the "fast track" method. With this
method, parts of the site already are
being built while others are still in the
planning stage.
The fast track method will help get
construction bids out before inflation
raises prices, according to
Replacement Hospital planner Marsha
Bremer.
A steel girder frame currently is
being raised on the site's west end, and
the foundation for the rest of the site is
being prepared. The frame is
scheduled to be completed by Septem-
ber.

k Daily Photo by JACKIE BELL
Darkeninrg skies
The weather yesterday provided a different view of S. University Ave. from
the Engineering Arch.