Compliance ordered
to i Regent's policy
by GARY SEACREST
Nebra8kan Staff Writer
The NU Board of Regents
Monday ordered all studsnt
organizations to show com
pliance with the Regents' anti
discrimination policy by Fab. 1
or lose their official University
sanction.
But it is still undetermined
exactly how organizations will
have i to demonstrate their
compliance with the policy.
President Joseph Soshnik
said Tuesday that it has not
been decided what spscific in
formation student groups will
have to provide about their
membership practices.
Soshnik said specifics would
be determined after he had a
chance to confer with, Student
Affairs officials and members
of the Count il on Student Life,
including CSL Chairman John
W. Robinson, whose con
troversial report to the Regents
on racial discrimination was
released last week.
The Regeuts said organiza
tions with national affiliation
must submit evidence that the
policy of the national
organization is consistent with
the Board's policy or that a
specific exception is granted to
an NU group to permit its
compliance.
Calling the Greek system the
"weak link' in the chain of
implementing the Regents'
anti-discrimination policy,
Robinson's report recom
mended that an ganization
should not be allow to bar a
potential member .idess at
least one-iourth of the
members vote for rejection.
Currently many NU houses
allow a small percentage of
members to reject a potential
member.
Responding to recommenda
tions, by Chancellor D. B.
Varner , the Regents Monday
also directed the creation of a
committee of Student Affairs
administrators and students to
develop "programs of positive
action which will achieve the
desired goal of non
discrimination." The ; Regents also ordered
Student Affairs to work with
minority grcups "to assure an
attitude of reciprocal coopera
tion andnon discrimination."
Varner said, "No amount of
effort on the part of white
students cau be effective if
there is a systematic and
organized program on the part
of minority students to reject
honest and thoughtful efforts to
end discriTri lation."
The presidents of the three
University campuses were each
directed to tubmit a report by
IV'ay 1, outlking the progress of
his campus in. ending
discriminate n.
The Regeuts also urged the
presidents aid deans on each
campus to extend their efforts
to recruit qualified faculty
members fi om minority
groups.
"The recoi d here is not yet a
source of piide for the institu
tion," Varner said.
It was aluo ncted that the
Regents' concern extends to the
several offices which deal
directly with minority students
such as the Admissions Office,
the Office oi Scholarships and
Financial Aids and the Student
Health Center. ,
Varner said additional
recommendations concerning
the Regents' anti-discrimination
policy would be forthcom
ing. In 1965 The Regents adopted
the policy that student
organisations should not
discriminate on the basis of
race or color. The policy was
reaffirmed in 1970.
Varner also commended
Robinson Monday for the
"diligence with which he ap
proached the assignment and
for the integrity and courage he
has shown in formulating his
report and recommenda
tions." The Chancellor said
Robinson's report was en
couraging in some ways since
many student organizations are
making progress in combatting
racial discrimination.
' 'Unfortunately, however,
this progress has not been
uniform throughout the cam
pus," he said. "There remains
an obvious need for concern
about reservoirs of prejudice
which in all too many cases are
converted into overt discrimina
tion." Other story, page 3
Board quietly
receives report
A student" investigating com
mittee that studied the decision
not to hire Michael Davis
received praise, acclamation,
but no action on' their recom
mendations at the Monday
Board of Regents meeting.
Chancelloi D. B. Varner told
the seven-member committee,
headed by junior Dave Ratliff,
that they did a "first class and
responsible job."
Their 35-page report, as
reported in Monday's
Nebraskan, urged the Regents
to . reconsider their August
decision not to hire Davis, a
teaching fellow in the
University of Michigan phi
losophy department. And
the report requested the
Turn to page 8
J)
More than 150 students showed up Monday for
the Regents meeting, which was moved from the
Administration Building to a larger room in the
Nebraska Union to accommodate the crowd.
, , .. 1 - -- , J "WZittm 1 11 -iMiiuw.1 mwiillfiii-imif--i
Dave Ratliff, head of a student investigation committee that studied the Mi
chael Davis case, presents his group's report to the Regents.
g M Ua up umllAabj
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER
Faculty
egents
by JOHN DVORAK
Nebraskan Staff Writer .
Five senior faculty members
had to negotiate from early
Sunday afternoon until early
Monday morning to hammer
out a foui -paragraph com
promise between the Board of
Regents and S t e v e n L. Roz
man. That one-page, 250-word
document will, at least, stave
off the firing of the con
troversial political science
teacher for two months.
3 w
R
16, 1970 LINCOLN. NEB; VOL. 94, NO. 48
negotiates
compromise
And now, according to one
faculty member who has been
close to the Rozman case all
year, there is some hope that
Rozman might be able to keep
his job as an untenured assis
tant professor after all.
The faculty member stated
that, without the compromise, "
the Regents would have fired
Rozman at their Monday
morning meeting in the Union
even though the Academic
Privilege and Tenure Com
mittee has made no recom
mendations in the case. .
The - five-man delegation
asked early Sunday to meet
with the Regents. The com-,
mittee included c h e .m i c a 1
engineering professor Richard
E. Gilbert, chairman of the
Faculty Liaison Committee;
chemistry professor Desmond
Wheeler, president of the local
chapter of the American
Association of University
Professors; law professor
James Lake, past AAUP
president; horticulture and
forestry professor , Norman
Rosenberg; and music pro
fessor John Mo ran, a
representative of the Executive
Committee of the College of
Arts and Sciences.
First, the delegation asked
the Regents to delay a decision
0:1 Rozman's job status for 60
days and set up a fact-finding
faculty commitiee to in
vestigate the case.
Then it sought Rozman's
suggestions. Finally, an agree
ment amendable both to
Rozman and the Regents was
arrived at.
Perhaps the most important
aspect of the compromise is
that it provides a semblance of
due process in the case, which
began last September when the
Spelts Commission report
labeled Rozman's actions dur
ing the May anti-war protest as
"improper" and "highly inap
propriate for a teacher."
A fact-finding ad hoc com
mittee of senior faculty
members, selected by the
Faculty Liaison Committee
with the approval of President
Joseph Soshnik, will be set up,
according to the agreement
read at the Regents meeting by
Board President Robert
Raun.
The committee will be
furnished, promptly, a state
ment concerning the alleged
unsuitable conduct affecting
Rozman's possible reappoint
ment, a summary of the
evidence and a list of wit
nesses.' No later than Feb. 1, 1971,
according to Raun, the ad hoc
committee will furnish the
Board a report containing fin
dings of fact regarding the
Rozman case. The report will
be made public.
Raun said: "The commitiee
shall also have the opportunity
to advise and consult with the
Board of Regents with respect
to the com mi fee's findings
prior to Board action."
Gilbert, head of the Liaison
Committee, said he hopes the
ad hoc committee will be
selected and at work by this
weekend.
It is important that members
of the group be as impartial as
possible, he continued.
Probably, none cf the com
mittee members will have been
directly involved in the case
before. The committee will
decide its own procedures,
Gilbert added.
"They must work very
quickly," he pointed out, "since
they will have only about six
weeks for their query."