IS ANN ARBOR THE NiXT SILICON VALLEY?
State races to recruit irms
By PETE WILLIAMS
First in a three-part series By all accounts, the state's industrial economic in the industrial economic base is
Fifteen years ago, Ann Arbor was at the center of a base is going through a rapid transition. The foun- state's economy. Still others say1
traumatic social revolution. Today it is quickly dries and smokestack industries centered in Detroit, should have a more active role in the
a threat to the
that government
transition.
The way of the future?
becoming the center of a quieter though equally
dramatic type of change: Michigan's rapid conver-
sion to a high technology industrial base.
which have kept the state afloat in the past are
retooling, automating, and computerizing in order to
survive.
THAT TRANSITION is part of the birth of high-
tech - computers, electronics, robotics, and related
industries which heralded the emergence of the com-
puter era. ,
There are conflicting opinions as to what high-tech
will do to the state - if anything at all. Some
economists and businessmen argue that no such
change will occur. Others claim that a drastic change
Whatever the outcome of those debates, one point
seems to be certain: Ann Arbor will be a focal point of
this industrial evolution. The city earns that distin-
ction because of its reputation for research excellen-
ce, its abundance of state-of-the-art computer and
electronics firms, and its location in relation to most
of the state's important industrial bases.
"THERE IS no doubt about it," said State Sen.
Lana Pollack (D-Ann Arbor), "Ann Arbor is of course
See STATE, Page 11
Ninety-four years of editorialfreedom
Vol. XCIV, No. 17-S ri1984
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Friday, June 15, 1984
Fifteen Cents
Sixteen Pages
Black enrollment.
expected to top
5 percent in fall
P 1 MREBECCA KNIGHTi/Daily
Powerplay
Dave Goodrich (left), Joyce Frierson and Bob Beedle picket in front of the
Detroit Edison building on Main Street yesterday. 3,600 Edison workers have
been on strike for two weeks.
* Bush casts
tie-breaking
vote on MX
proposal
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate,
on the rare, tie-breaking vote of Vice
President George Bush, defeated 49-48
last night an attempt to ban 1985
production of the MX nuclear missile.
The surprisingly close call for the 10-
warhead weapon came on a proposal by
Sens. Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.), and
Charles Crassley (R-Iowa) to cut $2
billion in production funds but allow
$600 million to be spent to keep the
missile assembly line "hot" for the
future.
See SENATE, Page 11
Inside
With a jury selected, the murder
trial of Ricardo Hart begins. See
Page 3.
" Opinion strikes out against federal
drinking age regulation. See
Opinion, Page 6.
" Arts puts a contract out on Once
Upon a Time in America. See Arts,
Page8.
" Sports raises Hel over tonight's
Duran-Hearns bout. See Sports,
Page 15.
Outside
Mostly sunny skies with a high be.-
ween 75 and 78.
By MARLA GOLD
The number of black freshpersons at
the University is expected to increase
by about 40 percent this fall, according
to an admissions official.
The increase in the number of blacks
who have paid a deposit and announced
their intention to enroll may bring the
University's total black enrollment up
from last year's 4.9 percent to 5.4 per-
cent for the upcoming year, said
Assistant Admissions Director Dave
Robinson.
PERCENTAGE-wise, relative to
last year we're quite pleased with the
number of applications, admissions,
and deposits," Robinson said.
Despite the increase, Robinson said
the University will never meet its goal
of a 10 percent black student body
unless the University reaches out to
students before their senior year in high
school to help them catch up on the
"basics - English, math - so they will
be prepared" for college.
In response to a paralyzing class
strike by the Black Action Movement in
1970, the University pledged to increase
black enrollment to 10 percent in three
years.
FOURTEEN years later, that goal
still has not been met.
In 1976, black enrollment peaked at a
little over 7 percent. Since then, the
number has dropped steadily, and last
year it was only 4.9 percent, or 1,516
students.
Admissions officer Monique
Washington said the University needs
to work with minority students in the
eighth and ninth grades to let them
know what courses they will need in
preparation for college.
Robinson said the University needs a
program like Upward Bound, a
federally funded summer program
designed to give minority students in
the 10th and 11th grades an early orien-
tation to college life and improve skills
they will need for college.
THE PROGRAM exists at Eastern
Michigan, Western Michigan, and
Wayne State Universities, and the
Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills.
The University has been denied funds
for an Upward Bound program several
times, Robinson said, because the
University "hasn't had a history of ser-
See BLACK, Page 14
'' rograms
' .
help to raise
-minority
enrollment
By MARLA GOLD
As a part of the University-wide ef-
fort to increase the low minority
student enrollment at the University,
various schools and offices sponsor
programs aimed specifically at
recruiting minority students.
During the 1983-84 schoolyear, the
total enrollment was over 30,000 studen-
ts. Of these, only about 3,000 were
minority students - just over 10 per-
cent of the entire student population.
WHILE THE number of Asian
students has grown, the number of
blacks and other minorities has fallen
or remained at very low levels.
Minority pre-orientation programs
See SPECIAL, Page 14