Regents continued from page 3

Regents

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with national film distributors. The insufficient keeping of records was cited by the SOB as "improper in the spirit of the regulation on credit standing which is intended to protect the status of all student organizations." Under their present probationary status, Friends of Newsreel will be allowed to go ahead with the scheduling and showing of films on campus in July and August. They must however, by the end of this period, show the SOB that they have made "reasonable progress" towards improving their financial dealings with distributors. Newsreel is also expected to bring up their student membership percentage to be in accordance with the 50% percentage required by the SOB code for student organizations.

The probation will be effective until early September, at which time the Student Organizations Board will review the Newsreel application for renewal of recognition.

Friends of Newsreel, a politically oriented student film organization with ties to the New Morning Media cooperative, had charged that the SOB investigation, as led by chairperson Elliot Chikofsky, was a politically motivated "fishing expedition" aimed at driving Newsreel off campus. However, a recent SUN inquiry revealed that there was sufficient cause to question Newsreel's practice with film distributors, which has endangered the other campus film groups and provided an excuse to the University in its efforts to implement financial controls over all student organizations due to their alleged "irresponsibility." No other group besides Newsreel has ever been accused of piling up back debts and then not acknowledging them, most notably the other "politically oriented" film group, New World.

Although three debts to distributors that were eventually publicly acknowledged by the Friends of Newsreel were hastily settled after the onset of the SOB investigation, attempts were made to cover up the existence of another debt of about $200 owed and still unpaid to New Line Cinema in New York.

Furthermore, Kirk Karhi, manager of New Line, charged at a recent SOB meeting via telegram, that Friends of Newsreel and the New Morning media cooperative were financially connected, which both groups continue to deny. Karhi let on that two past groups, the Conspiracy Coffeehouse and the U of M Film Society, had also piled up back debts with New Line, and that they were also connected with the present Friends of Newsreel, George DePue, a senior member of the New Morning collective and a principle in the U of M Film Society, was in attendance at the meeting and denied the charges, stating that "you can find any fool to say anything at any time."

Karhi however, visited Ann Arbor last weekend, and made public documents which demonstrate some validity to his claims. Contracts from New Line with all three groups show that one person had been active in ordering films for all three (Newsreel, Conspiracy, and the Film Society). The person is one Tom Martin, a name surrounded by mystery as his signatures show great variations, and very few local people (if any) have ever seen him, so there is doubt as to whether or not he even exists. A recent call to Newsreel resulted in a staff member stating that he had never heard of Tom Martin. A return call a minute later had another employee stating that Martin had just stepped out, and would return the call later, which he never did.

On a less speculative note however, there has been a financial tie demonstrated between New Morning and Friends of Newsreel, despite their continual denials of such a connection. New Line Cinema contracts show that Friends of Newsreel has in the past ordered films for themselves, with instructions for the bills to be sent to New Morning.

It was also reported in the Michigan Daily this week that Friends has been using its funds. without admitting it, to support the Michigan Free Press, a newspaper edited by George DePue. Newsreel, it was reported, gave the Free Press over $3,000 from January to April of this year.

The significance of these ties is that as a non-profit student organization, Friends of Newsreel must be financially independent, and must at least be honest and direct about its financial practice, which has to be open to public record. The above charges, if proven, could damage Newsreel's recognition chances in September. Covering up the financial truth, piling up back bills for years, denying obvious connections – all these activities have played into the hands of the University Administrators and helped to gain them sympathy for the obviously repressive move of implementing financial (that means total) control of all potentially active student organizations on campus.

-- Marty Stern