The Michigan Daily - Thursday, May 12, 1983 - Page 3
Draft-aid law criticized in letter
By JACKIE YOUNG
A faculty committee this week sent a letter to top
University officials urging them to back the repeal of
a controversial law tying student aid to draft
registration.
The law, scheduled to go into effect July 1, would
require all male students to certify that they have
registered for the draft receiving federal financial'
aid.
THE LETTER asks key administrators, faculty
members, and students to urge University President
Harold Shapiro to support a repeal of the law.
Although Shapiro wrote letters to the Department of
Education last February objecting to the added bur-
den the law would put on the University's financial
aid office, he has not yet criticized the law itself.
The faculty members who drafted the letter are on
the Civil Liberties Board, a subcommittee of the
faculty Senate Assembly. Chairman of the board,
Martin Gold said the panel objects to the law
Faculty board
urges law's repeal
because its enforcement would violate a student's
civil rights.
The board drafted the letter following a Minnesota
federal court ruling which temporarily blocked en-
forcement of the law.
ALTHOUGH the Minnesota judge said the law was
"likely to be unconstitutional," it is unclear whether
his decision effects students nationwide or just those
in Minnesota.
The University's financial aid office, however, will
not ask students to certify they have registered for
the draft until it is certain the law will go into effect.
The board commended the financial aid office for
waiting to ask students to comply with the law.
The letter asks University officials to back a bill by
Sen. David Durenburger (D-Minn.) which would
repeal the law. It is important that the University act
quickly the letter said, because the law is scheduled
to go into effect July 1.
The board objects to the law because it would
discriminate against men who depend on federal
financial aid to attend college.
The law would also be self-incriminating and deny
due process, the letter said, because a student who
refused to sign a statement certifying that he
registered with the Selective Service would
automatically be denied aid.
Students who violate the law could receive a 5-year
jail sentence and a $10,000 fine.
Copies of the letter were sent to Vice President for
Academic Affairs and Provost Billy Frye, chairman
of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Af-
fairs, Herbert Hildebrandt and student leaders Mary
Rowland and Richard Luker.
'U' asks committee to
push state aid boost
By CHERYL BAACKE
Special to the Daily
LANSING - The University cannot
continue to provide high quality
education without consistent funding
from the state, said University
President Harold Shapiro Tuesday.
Shapiro urged members of a state
Senate appropriations sub-committee
to back Gov. James Blanchard's
proposed 9 percent increase to the
University for 1984.
DESPITE THE increased state fun-
ds, tuition for next year, will increase,
although not as drastically as in the
past, Shapiro said.
"We don't expect the state to solve all
our problems," Shapiro said, "but we
cannot sustain the quality (of the
University) on our own."
The cuts in state funding to the
University in the past four years has
caused rapid tuition increases, which
Shapiro called a "worrisome thing."
Without adequate financial support
from the state, the burden fell on stud-
ents to preserve the quality of the
University, he said.
THE MAJORITY of the proposed 9
percent increase in state funds would
only cover rising utility costs for the
University and staff benefits.
The increase would only be 4.5 per-
cent of the University's total budget,
Shapiro said.
Compared to large universitites in
other states, the University receives a
smaller percentage of state funds,
Shapiro said.
The University has not yet reached
"a point of no return," but it is ap-
proaching it, Shapiro said.
THE MOST important effect of Blan-
chard's proposal Shapiro said is that he
believes it reflects a long-term com-
mitment to higher education.
The most important asset to the state
in the future is a highly-trained,
flexible, and adaptable workforce,
Shapiro said. To encourage this, he
said, universities must also be flexible
and adaptable.
Blanchard's proposal would also
provide a 9 percent increase in state
funds to both Wayne State and
Michigan State Universities. Smaller
state institutions would only receive a
7.5 percent increase, which some
educators said is unfair.
Shapiro, however, said it is important
for the larger universities in the state to
have more funding because of their role
in research and development.
It is more expensive to maintain a
top-quality research university,
Shapiro said, because of the added
costs of updating lab equipment and the
higher faculty salaries.
Final approval of Blanchard's
proposal should be completed by the
end of June when Congress recesses.
The proposal must first pass through
various subcommittees in the state
Senate and House of Representatives.
Flash flood
A city water department worker tests a fire hydrant at the corner of Main
and Washington yesterday. Iron deposits in the hydrant have caused the
water to turn brown.
West Germany: Center of nuclear terror?
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Second of a three-part series
FULDA, West Germany (AP)-If the
nuclear "balance of terror" has a
fulcrum, it lies here in the gentle green
valleys of Hesse.
Outside this old cathedral town in the
German heartland, troopers of the U.S.
Army's 11th Armored Cavalry stand
ready to take the first blows of World
War III. Across the East German bor-
der just 10 miles away, young Soviet
soldiers maneuver and drill against
that same dreaded day. And farther
back, on both sides, atomic weapons sit
in wait.
IF THE SOVIET-led Warsaw Pact
ever attacks Western Europe,
strategists say, in the first hours the
Red Army would pour into the valleys
of the "Fulda Gap."
But today President Reagan and
other Western leaders have a more
immediate political battle on their han-
ds in Fulda, as in hundreds of towns and
cities across Western Europe-a fight
over deployment of new U.S. missles
in Europe. The outcome may help
shape the future of the western allian-
ce.
The people of Fulda and the rest of
West Germany are taking sides. "We
cannot stop the Russians without
American help," Hans Rill, a retired
school principal, told a visiting reporter
outside Fulda's twin-spired cathedral.
"Russians do not make peace unless
they are faced up to forcefully....The
missiles should be set up."
BUT GERTRUD Schilling, a state
legislator and local leader of the anti-
missile Greens party, said more and
more west Germans are frettng over
their American connection.
"Our so-called friends want to make
Europe a battlefield," said the 34-year-
old peace activist. "People have been
told over the years, 'The Russians are
coming: The Russians are coming:'
But what we see every day is an
American invasion, tanks in our gar-
dens, maneuvers, preparation for
war."
Many in Europe fear that the greatest
threat to this continent is not Soviet
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