University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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Students enjoy the use of the Music Room on campus. The facility was under consideration as a possible location for a commercial bank but students banded together to keep it intact. The Administration denied the room was a potential location for a commercial enterprise. tudents ppose Commercial Bank Petitioners attempting to block possible efforts to relocate the music room and study lounge on the Cam- pus Center concourse collected over 500 signatures in early October, while university administrators de- nied they were considering the loca- tion as a place for a commercial bank. Chancellor Randolph W. Bro- mery, who had formerly denied hav- ing considered the spot for a bank location said bids were sent out two years ago, and several banks had sub- mitted bids. He said he believed the banks considered the bids expired and the project would have to be re- bid. He repeated his previous state- ment saying there were no current plans to construct a bank in the Cam- pus Center. The music room space was one of several locations under consideration Bromery, Wood visit Hokkaido On Sept. IO, UMass President Robert C. Wood and Chancellor Randolph W. Bromery embarked on a two week gift-bearing mission to Japan. The two administrators and John Maki of the UMass political science department met with Japanese edu- cators at Hokkaido University for three days in celebration of the cen- tury-old educational exchange pro- gram between the two schools. The relationship between the uni- versities goes back to 1876 when Wil- liam S. Clark, then president of Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College Cnow Ulvfassl, went to Hokkaido at the in- vitation of the Japanese government to help establish an agricultural col- lege there. One of Clark's students later became president of Sapporo Xgrlcultural College tnow Hok- lt idol, tthere he furthered Clark's idea . During the war years. ties with Hokkaido were broken, but in l958 UMass was awarded an Aid for ln- ternational Development Grant which went toward re-establishing the relationship, .--..1,-N--.--- Y ,,,, ..1.....,, to accomodate an expanded Cashier's Office. The former Cashier's Office was closed down later in the year, due to insufficient space for proper secu- rity measures. This left the Campus Center and the Student Union with- out such an office. Michael Pill, member of the Campus Center Board of Governors QBOGJ said, In the short run, they fthe administratorsj are telling the truth about not putting in a bank. In the long run, they're lying through their teeth. Pill, a lawyer, added, I agree with Chancellor Bromery that the present bank bids are invalid. He felt, however, that the bank issue was far from dead. Stuart Belkin, co-coordinator of the Union of Student Employees, was opposed to any efforts to move the music room and lounge, and through the petition attempted to halt any such action. Campus Center Director, Dean William F. Field, said I-did not want a bank. I tried to argue this thing through. I'd be delighted if the chan- cellor formally canceled the bids. Field, saying he was sick and tired ofthe whole issue, added, It's mostly a matter of credabilityj' as to wheth- er.or not students want to believe the administrators are trying to slip a bank into the Campus Center. Bromery made a similar.state- ment saying, If anyone will not be- lieve in my integrity, they can go take a leap. Infirmary Hit NORTHAMPTON - Allegations were received by the Hampshire County district attorney's office late in September against some UMass Health Services employees for il- legal and improper conduct, as termed by UMass students involved with the Student Advisory Board which submitted the complaint. According to a statement issued to the press after the group of stu- by Student Allegations dents met with a staff member ofthe district attorney's office, the com- plaint dealt primarily with a sup- posed conflict of interest existing in hiring, promotions, competitive bid- ding, and the awarding of overtime pay and what the group termed pos- sible corrupt gifts made to some em- ployees at the Health Center. District Attorney John M. Calla- han was not there to receive the alle- This student is taking advantage of infrmary facilities, which were brought under fre by students charging the Health Ser- vices with illegal and improper conduct by employees. gations personally but said in a tele- phone interview the following day that his office would look into the matter out of due process, but added, there probably isn't anything in it. Barry W. Averill, director of Health Services, and president of the National College Health Association, said the accusations are categorical- ly untrue and that the statement contained only vague accusations. Averill said, I've done nothing, nor has anybody on my staff. Every- thing we have ever done has been in accordance with proper University channels, that's for sure. James H. Starr, a student Legal Services Office attorney who helped the students prepare the official statement said that tens of thou- sands of dollars over a course or three to four years were involved in ques- tionable purchases of services and supplies. Michael R. Federow, Graduate Student Senate president, said the possibility of kickbacks and bribes ex- isted in the purchasing of contractual services. Averill said the only instances when supplies might be purchased without following a bidding proce- dure would be if an instrument or pharmeceutical was needed immedi- ately. He said he had checked with his business people and was not aware of anybody who's received any gifts. That's ridiculous.

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September Gbrtuhvr A ilruivtu mth gvutnmarg nf Eurnta Southwest Seourit Tightened One of the fall semester's recur- ring news events revolved around the Southwest living area, one of the country's most densely populated liv- ing quarters, containing numerous low-rise dormitories and live 22-story towers. Residents of the area were plagued by several incidents concern- ing objects being thrown from the towers. Steven Rodman was hit on the head by a roll of toilet paper tossed from a window of John F. Kennedy tower on Sept. 16. Rodman was mo- mentarily knocked unconscious and spent three days in the University In- firmary under precautionary mea- sures. Brian Turner, who had been ac- cused of hitting Rodman with the ob- ject was later acquitted on the charge. There were numerous incidents of a similar nature during the beginning of the semester. Another student was accused of throwing a weight out of his tower window while he was adjusting the screen on the window. He was spotted by a security man around the time a weight had crushed the roof of a car parked below his dormitory. The stu- dent was later found to be innocent. On Sept. 27, David McDonough was suspended from the university for allegedly throwing a cinderblock out of the ninth floor lounge of Washing- ton tower. in the early morning hours of Sept. ll. Witnesses said McDon- ough had been involved in a poker game on the morning of the incident and angered at having lost money in the game, threw the block out of the window. Stories of the Southwest incidents were carried in local newspapers as well as the Boston Globe. University officials said screens would be placed on tower windows to alleviate this hazard and issued strong warnings to the residents of the area, saying such misconduct would result in suspen- sion and criminal charges. Looking deceptively calm in this picture, Southwest was a dangerous place to live in early September. ,, , ,, -f '-: .I ,, Q.. School started, and along with it, the books came out. From any angle, some things-basically never change. Earthfooa's Offers Alternative Menus Tostados, gazpacho, cold cucum- ber soup and pero may not sound like the typical college lunch, yet Univer- sity of Massachusetts students began forking up such meals Sept. l3. They were eating at Earth Foods, a student-run, vegetarian restaurant in the Commonwealth Room of the UMass Student Union Building. Earth Foods, which has expanded in its second semester of existence. unlike two other Campus Center eat- ing places, the Hatchet-and-Pipe and the Campus Center Coffee Shop, is a non-profit organization staffed en- tirely by students and all meals there are homemade. A complete hot meal such as piz- za, onion soup, garden salad, and tea costs less than SZ. We have a responsibility to give students a decent meal they can al'- ford every day, said Bill Sprague of Earth Foods. Malcolm Quint, an original founder, said he fought for eight months to persuade university offi- cials to allow a vegetarian restaurant on campus. There were a lot of people want- ing and needing vegetarian food and we had the resources to have the rcs- taurant, Quint said. After receiving a SL700 grant from the Student Government Asso- ciation, Quint was awarded the Stu- dent Union space for Earth Foods which opened May, I976. We're always adding to our menus. And once a week. there will be an ethnic dinner, you know. Mexi- can, German, italian meals. said Joanne Fillatti. menu planner. No meat or fish and only small amounts ofdairy products are used in Earth Foods meals.

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Swine F la Vaccine Proves Controversial In an effort to circumvent a possi- ble outbreak of swine flu which was predicted for the winter of 1976, The Center for Disease Control QCDCJ, a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service, ran a program aimed at innoculating over 200 million Americans against the disease. All did not run smoothly, howev- er, as a number of deaths reported in October were linked with the vaccine. The victims died shortly after being innoculated. Dr. J. Donald Millar of the CDC in Washington said, There is no evi- dence that these deaths were caused by the vaccine. Most of the victims nationwide died of heart attacks, which field studies in Pittsburgh indicated may have been caused by stress. President Ford expressed confi- dence in the program by being inno- culated. He said, I believe that it is necessary for every one of 215 million Americans. The Ford Administration com- mitted itself early in 1976 to spending S135 million to avoid a flu epidemic like the one in 1918-1920 in which, approximately 20 million people died worldwide. Many states suspended their inno- culation programs after learning of the deaths. At UMass, Health Officials were being educated on the upcoming in- noculation clinic for the swine and victoria flu vaccine, as news reports indicated the death toll for recently injected persons had risen to 38. According to Arthur Hyman, head administrative assistant at the intirmary, UMass would go ahead with the scheduled clinic but would innoculate only those in the UMass community who are 18 or over, those who have chronic illnesses, and any- one over 65 who requested it. When asked what his feelings were on the death reports he said, no comment. Approximately 25 health services employees worked at the Oct. 25 clin- ic. Before receiving an innoculation, participants were required to read an information sheet and sign a consent form. The information sheet gave a brief history of the disease, the symp- toms of it, the vaccine which was to be used, the possible side effects, and several precautions. Q0 l A .1 '2- .fl Y 3 , A UMass student receives swine flu innoculation in a vaccination program held at UMass. JFK Memorial Funds Discovered Lnused In mid-September it was discov- ered thatbwhile the JFK Memorial Reading Room in the UMass library contained only 85 books, there was over 516,000 in an interest-bearing account at the New Bedford Institu- tion for Savings in the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Fund. This was found by Acting Student Senate Treasurer Thomas Kerrins when he found the file on the fund and proceeded to investigate. According to Kerrins, the fund was started when the Student Senate adopted the idea of money to be set aside for the purchase of books for the JFK Memorial Reading Room. The establishment of the fund wasjust one result of the formation of the Committee for a John F. Kenne- assassination of the late President. The committee engineered a Fine Arts Festival dedicated to Kennedy and considered plans for having a sculpture done and holding a concert in Curry Hicks Cage, among other things. It is unclear from the file, however, if anything other than the festival ever took place. Kerrins said the senate had been allocating 81,000 annually for the fund until 1971. In May of 1970, the money was transferred from an ac- count in the Recognized Student Or- ganization office to an interest-bear- ing account. Kerrins said it seemed that the fund was simply forgotten, and added he intended to initiate a committee to deal with purchasing books for the reading room in order to utilize the dy Memorial Service by the Faculty money in the memorial fund. Senate late in 1963, shortly after the U. M: NEW ZIP cone 01003 UMass was put in a class by itseUwilh a new zip code to simplify mail delivery Mao Tse-Tung Dies in Pekingg China ourn HONG KONG - Chinese Com- munist Party Chairman Mao Tse- Tung died in Peking on Sept. 9, at age 82, initiating a power struggle for leadership of his people. After reports of the arrest of Mao's widow, Chiang Ching, for plotting to seize power, China ap- pointed Hua Kuo-feng. former Pre- mier, as new chairman. Chiang and three other high offi- cials, allegedly from the radical, ul- traleftist branch of the Communist Party known as the Shanghai-Mm fia were reportedly arrested during Hua's surge to power. There was speculation that Hua's accession to power and the radical purge against Chiang could lead to a shift in China's policies. U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, however, expressed hope that the United States and China would continue on a parallel course of cautious friendship. ln the wake of Mao's death, au- thorities organized an unprecedented mass memorial service on Sept. 18 in the capitals huge Tien An Men Gate of Heavenly Peace Square, where Mao had celebrated his greatest tri- umphs. Rising from a simple peasant to leader of the world's greatest mass revolution, Mao was the only ruler known to the Peop1e's Republic of China since it came into being on Oct. 1, 1949, after Mao's forces drove Chiang Kai-shek from the mainland. World leaders hailed Mao as the last giant of the century and a world immortal. President Ford called his death tragic and credited Mao's vision and imagination which led to im- proved Sino-U.S. relations. Mao's body lay in state for a week in the Greta Hall of the People. The national day of mourning drew the nation's millions to stand in silence for three minutes of medita- tion, and sirens, whistles, and bells sounded throughout the country's factories and trains. Great throngs of young people, many of them in tears, entered the square and stood in front of the im- mense portrait of Mao and raised their clenched fists, chanting oaths: Beloved Mao, we commit ourselves to continue the struggle, always ac- cording to your teachings. Mao assumed leadership of the Chinese Communists in the l930's, beginning a long period of political turmoil. ln the l960's, hc used thc Red Guards to destroy the party and state structure and then turned the army to solidify his position. He called these victories his Cultural Revolutions.