Students debate
'sexism' at MSA
BY RYAN TUTAK about acquaintance rape, said she had
Various University students de- not witnessed any sexist acts by
bated charges this week by LSA ju- Phillips.
nior Sarah Riordan - who resigned "Mike is a very forceful person
last week as Michigan Student As- who has very strong beliefs and ar-
sembly representative and Student gues forcefully for them," she said.
Rights Committee chair - that as- "I can see how his forcefulness... can
sembly President Michael Phillips is seem intimidating to some women
sexist and overbearing. on MSA."
Riordan, a representative for a SHE SAID sexism occurs when
year and a half, had said Phillips' women receive different treatment
"sexist, manipulative, and unneces- than men and that it should not be
sarily aggressive" leadership style confused with mere rudeness.
creates an uncomfortable and hostile
environment at MSA. At two as- Steiner added that Phillips asked
sembly meetings last term, she un- her to help set up workshops on
successfully asked Phillips to sexism for the assembly the day after
apologize for interrupting MSA Vice Riordan resigned.
P President Susan Overdorf, an LSA But MSA Minority Affairs Chair
senior. Delro Harris, an LSA junior, said
But Overdorf said that although sexism is prevalent at MSA. "I have
Phillips sometimes is difficult to seen several sexist remarks by vari-
work with because he is "volatile" ous members of the assembly," he
and opinionated, "I just work around said last week. "The president tells
that. I see it as one aspect of his the vice president to shut up in as-
personality. He does a good job." sembly meetings."
OVERDORF added Phillips did
not single out Riordan. "I don't see Law School student Eric
his behavior to Sarah as sexist," she Schnaufer, who .has supported
said. "We see him treat men in the Phillips on several student issues,
same way." said Harris' comments were
Phillips has refused to comment inappropriate. "Clearly it's not up to
on the charges. males in the assembly such as Delro
University Sexual Assault Harris to determine whether the as-
Awareness Prevention Center Direc- sembly is sexist," he said. "Sexism
tor Julie Steiner, who has worked in the assembly should be dealt with
with MSA to set up workshops by women in the assembly."
D1uderstadt
-. to be 11th 'U' president
Search
Continued from Page 4
by interviewing candidates in public.
The other remaining candidate
was State University of New York-
Buffalo President Steven Sample,
several sources said. The Buffalo
News reported Sample withdrew his
application last weekend, the Buffalo
News reported Monday. Sample told
the News that his family was not
ready to leave Buffalo.
The Free Press and News reported
this week that the regents had asked
University of Illinois President
Stanley Ikenberry to be a candidate
three times. But sources confirmed
the regents stopped soliciting Iken-
berry after narrowing the search to
10.
Hiene
Continued from Page 3
'The Ann Arbor Zoo.' You have to
see them to believe them."
Hiene said it is hard to find a job
in Ann Arbor that will pay the rent
"You can work at Burger King, bu
that won't pay enough. You can
work for the University, but they
only hire you for 89 days... so you
won't get in the Union.
"The students, shop owners, and
the government don't give a damn,'
Hiene said. "When do we start to
care about the homeless? Do we pu
blinders on, or do we do something
.4n..,it?"
The Michigan Dily - Friday, June 10, 1988 -Page 5
Papers' suits may
affect presidency
BY RYAN TUTAK violated the OMA during the 13-
The next University president month-old search. The regents, they
could be stripped of the position if said, met in groups of four to inter-
the Michigan Court of Appeals rules view candidates and review applica-
that the University's Board of Re- tions, while telephoning the
gents must conduct the presidential remaining regents during and after
search in public, said Joan Lowen- the closed meetings.
stein, an attorney for the Ann Arbor THE NEWS claimed the re-
News. gents violated the FOIA by also
The regents' attorney, Roderick withholding information from their
Daane, was unavailable for com- travel records.
ment. But Washtenaw County Circuit
Though the regents may choose Court Judge Ross Campbell ruled to
the 11th University president before keep the search closed, after the re-
the three-judge panel hears the case, gents argued that releasing their
the regents may have to restart the travel destinations would cause un-
search in public if the court rules necessary speculation about candi-
against them, Lowenstein said. dates and may harm candidates'
THE MICHIGAN Court of reputation at their current institu-
Appeals will consider next Tuesday tions. Campbell, in a written opin-
whether an Ann Arbor News and ion, said the round-robin meetings
Detroit Free Press lawsuit to open were in compliance with the OMA.
the closed search merits immediate Joan Lowenstein, the News' at-
attention, said assistant clerk at the torney, said the News appealed be-
Michigan Court of Appeals Linda cause Campbell ignored a recent rul-
Sherer. She added that the actual ap- ing that the Wyoming, Mich., city
peal could still take three weeks. council violated the OMA by hold-
Three weeks ago, the News filed a ing closed meetings in sub-quorum
suit (which the Free Press later groups to decide water contracts.
joined) at the Washtenaw County Campbell said the regents' closed
Circuit Court, saying the regents meetings were valid because they
violated the state's Open Meetings met to discuss personnel matters.
Act and Freedom of Information Act. But Lowenstein said Campbell's in-
The OMA requires public bodies, terpretation was incorrect. "The
like the regents, to announce meet- Open Meetings Act doesn't distin-
ings where a quorum is present. For guish among content (such as) per-
the eight-regent board, five members sonnel over contracts," she said.
makes a quorum. The FOIA states LOWENSTEIN said the re-
that public bodies must release pub- gents' four-member nominating
lic documents, with some excep- committee selected to decide the final
tions. candidate is a public body because it
At the hearing two weeks ago, is empowered to make decisions on
the News' attorneys said the regents public policy.
Sui~ts
Continued from Page 1
client" because he had no insurance.
"Everyone had been put through a
lot of pain," said Dennis Bila, Neal's
counsel. "No one wanted to pursue
this issue any further."
The case became a center of con-
troversy last year because Neal filed
his slander suit against his accuser
several months before the trial. But
bills introduced in both houses of
the Michigan legislature yesterday
would prevent such a situation from
happening again.
THE LEGISLATION, intro-
duced by Sen. William Faust (D-
Westland) and Rep. William Van
Regenmorter (R-Jenison) would pre-
vent defendants accused of rape from
filing suits against their accusers
until after their trials.
"Faced by a civil action, the vic-
tim may be intimidated from pro-
ceeding with her case," Van Regen-
morter said.
Julie Steiner, director of the Uni-
versity's Sexual Assault Prevention
and Awareness Center, said the
legislation was "significant and im-
portant," especially since it came af-
ter the Neal suits were dropped. The
legislation would "protect women
from the same kinds of intimidation
tactics" that Neal used, Steiner said.
Washtenaw County Circuit Judge
Edward Deake said the parties dis-
missed the charges "with prejudice
and without cause" - meaning nei-
ther party could refile charges, nor
could any information on the slander
suits be disclosed.
NEAL was found not guilty of
raping the student, a member of Zeta
Tau Alpha sorority, in his Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity room during
a party March 19, 1987.
The woman filed a personal in-
jury in March 1988, after Neal filed
the slander suit. Neal, before his ac-
quittal, filed the slander suit against
Cooper, who handled the criminal
trial, and the woman.
- The Associated Press con-
tributed to this report.
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