The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 8, 1984 - Page 3
SECOND FRONT PAGE
'U' MAY REIMBURSE WITHHOLDING TAX
Congress to solve TA tax conflict
By PETE WILLIAMS
The question of whether the University must
withhold federal taxes from teaching assistants'
paychecks may be decided in Congress this month.
A joint Congressional committee will try to recon-
cile differences between proposed House and Senate
bills, which would allow TAs to take home the ap-
promiately $75 presently withheld from their salaries
each month.
"'TAS RECEIVE a tuition waiver that equals about
one-third of their tuition," said Daniel Gamble, the
University's manager for compensation and staff
relations. "When the Interal Revenue law expired,
that waiver was considered taxable income so a cer-
tain amount of tax was withheld from their
paychecks."
The University began withholding the federal in-
come tax last January when an Internal Revenue
Service ruling, section 127, expired. According to
University attorney William Lemmer, the expiration
of that law left the University no legal choice but to
withhold the money.
But Celeste Burke, president of the Graduate
Student Employees' Organization, the teaching
assistants' union disagreed with the University
claim. Although the University "may not be wrong in
withholding," she said, there was no legal reason for
it.
BURKE SAID the University chose to withhold the
tax to protect itself from federal punitive measures.
"It's just a high-priced insurance policy purchased at
the price of the graduate students," she said.
The decision to withhold the tax shows an insen-
sitivity toward teaching assistants, Burke said.
"At best, it was just carelessness, and at worst, it
was out and out maliciousness," she said.
THE UNIVERSITY offered interest-free loans to
TAs who were having financial difficulty because of
the withholding.
Thomas Butts, the University's representative in
Washington, said he is working to get the
congressional bill passed. "The University is very.
concerned about passing the law," he said. "We're
not at all happy with the present situation."
GEO earlier this year cited a U.S. Treasury memo,
which, according to Burke, shows that IRS had never
intended for employers to change withholding prac-
tices prior to 1985.
THE MEMO reads, "The Treasury" Department
and the (IRS) will not issue any regulations or rulings
altering the tax treatment or non-statuatory fringe
benefits prior to January 1, 1985. Present ad-
ministrative policy will not be changed during this
period."
University attorney William Lemmer said GEO
was interpreting the treasury memo incorrectly and
that, despite Burke's claim, the University has no
legal choice but to withhold the money.
"They have got an apple and they're trying to make
an orange," Lemmer said. "That memo doesn't ap-
ply to what we're doing."
Both GEO and University officials feel that the
issue will soon be resolved with the passage of the
'congressional bill.
"The University has a very strong opinion that the
bill will be passed," said Gamble. "We are already
working on a way to refund the withholding."
I
Students get choice in
dispute over degrees
By DAVID VANKER Michigan, passing the exam is man-
A student yesterday withdrew her datory in some states and for anyone
threat to sue the University over the who intends to become a consultant.
degree she received from an unac- IN ADDITION to the choice between
credited program in the College of degrees, Klein gained the right to take
Engineering last month. the P.E. exam through an appeal to the
Mary Klein and five other April accrediting b ard in which she proved
graduates will be given a choice bet- she had met their design requirements
ween a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and a through electives.
Bachelor of Science in Engineering "All I ever wanted was the degree I
(B.S.E.) degree, Associate came in for (B.S.E.) and to take the
Engineering Dean Charles Vest said P.E. exam," Klein said yesterday. "I
yesterday. wanted to show that my education has
KLEIN AND twenty-eight others in been equivalent with other engineers'."
the Engineering Physics program last Engineering Physics, separated in
month sent a petition to the colleges 1980 from the Engineering Science
Executive Committee after they lear- program, provides students with a
ned that, contrary to the listing in the stronger background in physics than is
college's 1982-83 bulletin, the Ac- available in other engineering depar-
crediting Board for Engineering and tments.
Technology had refused in 1981 to ac- "To generalize," Vest said, "the
credit the program. students who go into a program like
According to Vest, Engineering Engineering Physics tend to be more
Physics, oriented toward the theory interested in the science than the design
rather than the professional practice of and they usually go on to graduate
engineering, lacks the engineering school."
design credits necessary for cer- Previous Engineering Physics
tification. graduates received the B.S.E. degrees,
Completion of an approved program - and the issue of accreditation went un-
makes a student eligible to take the mentioned until the students filed the
Professional Engineers' (P.E.) exam. -petition last month.
Though not required of all engineers in
Say cheese
A Papua tribesman takes a souvenir picture of Pope John Paul II during yes-
terday's mass in New Guinea. See In Brief, Page 4.
Faculty salaries dropping, report says
By GEORGEA KOVANIS
University professors' paychecks are
far slimmer than those received by
their peers at private colleges across
the country, according to a report
issued by a faculty committee.
The report, prepared by the Commit-
tee on the Economic Status of the
Faculty, showed faculty salartias at the
University have been nosediving during
the last decade.
THE LOSS in faculty salary is
because the amounts have not in-
creased at the same rate as inflation
the report says.
Faculty salaries, when adjusted by
the consumer price index, fell 17.3 per-
cent from 1973-1983, according to the
report. Even when using a more con-
servative price index - the GNP
deflator - as a basis for comparison,
faculty salaries dropped 8 percent.
The report blames the decrease on
the lack of adequate state ap-
propriations for higher education.
"YOU CAN easily show a 25 percent
decline in state support for the Univer-
sity of Michigan," said Prof. John
Gross, who presented the report to the
University regents at their April
meeting.
Compared to Michigan State and
Wayne State Universities, the Univer-
sity "has been systematically under-
funded," said Gross. As a result, he The salaries fell 10.5 percent compared
said, the salaries have decreased. to those at Columbia, 13 percent com-
Faculty salaries have dropped pared to MIT, 15 percent compared to
significantly below those at other Princeton and 21 percent compared to
universities, according to the report. See SALARIES, Page 12
'U'doesn'twant$20,000Byoe gift
By GEORGEA KOVANIS English professor, has been trying to
The University isn't paying any at- give the University a $20,000 gift it just
tention to the old adage that says: Don't won't take.
look a gift horse in the mouth. It won't SOUND Ridiculous?
even accept the present Prof. Bert Hor- Most professors are assigned to teach
nback has to offer.
For four months Hornback, an See'U', Page 14