The winners selected had included Scott A. Bass, director of the university's Gerontology Institute, Stephen Coelen, director of the Massachusetts Institute for Social and Economic Research, James E. Dalen, chairman of the Department of Medicine, Robert G. Light, associate director of the Massacusetts Cooperative Extension Service, and Joseph S. Slavet, director of the Boston Urban Observatory. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
President to Decide on Discipline For Students who Broadcast Racial Slur
University of Michigan President Harold Shapiro will decide early next week if disciplinary action will be taken against two students for racial slurs they made during a campus radio talk show last February.
Senior Ted Sevransky, a disc jockey for WJJX, and his sophomore friend Peter Gonzalez, arranged for Gonzalez to call in with racist jokes during Sevransky's talk show. WJJX fired Sevransky, but the university took no disciplinary action against the two last year.
The WJJX controversy was but one in a series of recent events which reflect the tension between students and administration over the treatment of minorities at Michigan, said Bruce Belcher, student general council for the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA).
Belcher said that MSA feels the university doesn't care about racism, and will refuse to accept the legitimacy of any action taken by the administration against Gonzalez and Sevransky.
"We feel that action against the individuals involved should be taken in a court of law, not a kangaroo court run by university administrators who want to give academic sanctions to persons involved in criminal acts," Belcher said.
Incidents of discrimination have continued to plague the Michigan campus this fall.
Last month, several students held a scavenger hunt which allegedly awarded points for tearing down posters announcing activities for the campus' United Coalition Against Racism, Belcher said.
And in the last week, seven incidents of physical assault of homosexuals have been reported, said Henry Johnson, Michigan vice president for student services.
"We have no explanation for the growing number of troubling incidents. You get one instance getting publicity and people of the same persuasion pick up on it. The result is a snowball effect," Johnson said.
Johnson said that racial problems are not endemic to Michigan, but one student involved with Minority Student Services said racial tension at Michigan is exacerbated by students' fear that the university's high academic standards will fall as more minorities enroll.
"Students I talk to believe that as Michigan continues to enlarge its minority enrollment, standards will be lowered. It's pitiful, because minorities are saying the same thing," said Michael Dashner.