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

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PORTRAIT OF TENSIONS 26

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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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The tuition strike leaders continued a vigorous campaign for student support as the payment deadline approached. Ads appeared in the Daily urging students to withhold pay- ment and leaflettmg was heavy. In the last two days of payment, SAC members circu- lated through the long lines of students waiting to pay their bills and urged them not to do it. It became apparent, however, that the strike was not getting the support which it ' s leaders had anticipated. Actual figures are difficult to obtain, out the administration has issued a statement that there is no evidence of withholding within reason, noting that the normal percentage of students who don ' t pay and scholarship payments coming late must be discounted. SAC had also urged that students write letters of protest and present them at the cashier ' s window. What became of them? The ' Ensian traced them from their presen- tation at the window and found that a Mr. William Turner had thrown them all away. According to him, I couldn ' t care less. If the students don ' t know how to mount a protest I ' m sure as hell not going to help them. Apparently the only communication reaching the Regents was that sent directly to them. Anything Turner got his hands promptly disposed of. As it turned out, there excess of tuition revenues, 3.75 million dollars. The decided to give two million to the teaching fellows who were threatening a strike, half a million for new recreational facilities, and $60,000 for more financial aid. About a million was returned to the students as a cut in winter term tuition. The tuition strike died out, but many issues remain unsettled. The questions of who makes decisions and why, teaching fellow ' s rights, and possible further tuition increases will undoubtedly arise again in the near future. For now the administration seems to have won out (students got a par- tial refund and the TF ' s got some aid, but the striker ' s other demands were largely un- met). The full effects of the strike, however, may not be realized for years to come. on was was indeed an totaling about administration