University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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are available. The fact is, however, that the major tuition hike was approved by telephone vote of the Regents without consultation with the Budget Priorities Committee. Fleming insist- ed that the telephone vote was necessitated by circumstances. According to him, there was no information on the court ruling as late as the July Regents ' meeting and there is no meeting in August. In such a case, Fleming said, it is standard procedure to use telephone votes. The President also spoke about the issue of the 1970 BAM demands. The university agreed to ' provide financial aid for a ten per- cent qualified black enrollment, he said, and we can ' t use a double standard for blacks. In a seperate interview Mr. Wilbur Pier- pont, University Vice President in charge of finance, reiterated Fleming ' s views on stu- dent involvement in financial decisions. He also responded to charges that the university is a combination landlord and stock market player. Pierpont emphasized that the U-M owned Willow Run Airport is not a profitable oper- ation, and that money made on other univer- sity investments is used for students. He gave the ' Ensian access to the ' 73-74 budgets which substantiated his statements. In October an open meeting was called in Rackham Auditorium to discuss the tuition question. Included on the panel of discus- sants were Fleming, Pierpont, Gill, Dan Biddle from the Michigan Daily, and David Winter of SAC. Fleming started things off by explaining the original court order and the Regents ' solution to the problem which the order created. He emphasized things like not having exact figures and avoided the issue of a possible budget surplus. The student representatives countered with charges that the U-M average tuition was the highest in the Big 10, ana that the University was pricing students out of the market. At the request of many of the 150 or so students present, the meeting was turned into an open forum. One SAC member demanded negotiations on the tuition strike, which Fleming count- ered with students never show up . Gill returned with the administrators are paid to do it. We have classes too. At this point the meeting broke into a quibbling session and people began to leave. Meanwhile, the strike itself was getting into swing. The leaders set a goal of ten thousand student withholdings on the Sep- tember tuition payment. It was thought that this would create a disaster within the ad- ministration, since available funds were lower at this time. U-M President Robben Fleming, and Mr. Wilbur Pierpont. 25

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3) adequate financial aid for needy students, 4) re-evaluation of residency regulations, 5) re-establishment of in-state status for all graduate teaching assistants, 6) an accurate and complete financial statement from the University. These were accepted by a majority of the students present. Other proposals were either ruled out by the chairpersons or voted down. This platform was adopted just prior to the September Regents ' meeting. SAC decid- ed to demonstrate at that meeting to show the Regents how they felt. About 65-75 people marched to the Administration Build- ing and jammed the lobby. About 15 more students, plus reporters, were allowed into the meeting. The protest seemed rather disorganized at first, with everyone standing around wonder- ing what to do. Then someone came in with a megaphone and the chanting started: 2-4-6- 8, lower the tuition rate; 8-6-4-2, no more racist U. This and other chants went up, but the frenzied dedication of some ' 60 s protests was not apparent. Some people laughed and joked, and a few just stood around watching. There was also no harrass- ment from building officials, who had perhaps learned something from past exper- ience. The Regents tried to carry on as they normally would. The meeting was disturbed at times by the loud chanting (particularly when the students got next to the chamber door and held the megaphone to the crack), but otherwise the meeting was only slightly disrupted. The Regents began by discussing various other matters, and then moved on to the tuition issue. A discussion of the residency regulations captured the attention of everyone. An appeal process was discussed, and the con- sensus was to leave it to the courts. One member suggested review by the Regents, but the idea was rejected on tne basis that it would take too much time. The next item brought up was the summer telephone vote on raising the fees. After practically no discussion, it was confirmed unanimously. Next the Regents considered a motion to make public all university salaries, by name, in order to ease the charges of rascism. This motion was defeated soundly with only two votes in support. At this point two members of SAC got the chance to present their demands and the reasons behind them. The Regents drank water, lit cigarettes, and generally appeared to pay little attention. Lee Gill, President of SGC, spoke next and apologized for the disturbance. He explained it as the students saying ouch to being burned. Gill asked for some student input into the Regents ' decisions. They replied that stu- dents rarely attend their meetings. And Gill returned with let us into your closed meet- ings where the real decisions are made and we ' ll get some real student input. On this sour note the meeting ended. In an interview with the Michiganensian, President Robben Fleming expressed his feelings on the student representation mat- ter. There are two students appointed to the Budget Priorities Committee, ' he said. The students don ' t show, and then secrecy is claimed. The minutes of those meetings

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PORTRAIT OF TENSIONS 26