Major Party Candidates

MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATOS . . . ■ ■■[■■IIIIIIIM I eleciea in miz, won nominauon mis year ' 1 over three other candidates. He received his BA degree in 1951 and his law degree in 1953, both from the U-M. He has served on governing boards of the U-M Club of Greater Detroit and the U-M Marching Band Alumni Association . His wife, Sally, also a U-M gradúate, has served as president of the Detroit Association of U-M Women and as a I member of the Alumnae Council's govI erning board. They have two sons attendI ing the U-M, in the College of Literature, I Science and the Arts and in the College I of Engineering. 'i Roach is emphasizing the rising cost of I higher education in his campaign, deI claring that "Inflation has made existing I loan programs out of date, and is pressI ing middle-income families out of the I University." Roach advocates a system of I government-backed loans students could I obtain without demonstrating need, ,so I that all income groups would be eligible. I The federally backed program of 1 Guaranteed Student Loans is "available I to anyone," but repayments carry a I maximum of 7 per cent interest, which I does not make the loans particularly atI tractive to banks, henoted. When the two Democratie candidates I were asked to comment on Michigan's I partisan system for choosing governing I boards of the major universities, Mrs. I Power said there is "no ideal way," adI ding that she welcomed this year 's comI petition among Democrats for the nomiI nation, while Roach declared "I feel very I strongly that regents should continue to I be elected by the people. The long term I (eight years) does more than anything I else to isolate the office from politics." I He did suggest that voters might give I candidates for the U-M, MSU and WSU I boards more individual attention if the I elections were held in the spring, sepaI rately from those for top state offices. Dona Scott Parker is an attorney and I director of the First National Bank of I Howell. She expresses a major interest I in the U-M's operating costs. While emphasizing that she is not pared at this time to specify portions of the U-M's $158,228,400 operating budget which can be reduced, she said she is "most interested in reviewing the budget" to ensure that the U-M "spends as wisely as possible." Any savings that could be made should be "passed on to students," she said. "I couldn't say that tuition can be cut," she added. Mrs. Parker received her BA in political science from the U-M in 1965 and her law degree from the University of Detroit in 1970. She is a partner in the law firm of Parker and Parker, in Howell, with her husband, Robert E. Parker. He is the mayor of Howell. They have one son, Robert, born on March 8, 1973, the day Mrs. Parker was elected a local bank director. She is also owner of Parker Abstract and Title Co., a member of the McPherson Community Health Center's board of directors, a member of the Michigan State Bar Association's committee on character and fitness, active in the U-M Alumni Association, and listed in the most recent editipn of "Who's Who of American Women Asked to comment on contentions that women are discriminated against in employment and promotiqns at the U-M' Mrs. Parker said "I'm convinced every effort is being made to give equal access to positions." she said her impression is that the U-M has done "an about-face in the last six years or so" on this matter, and cited as an illustration the listings of job openings published in the weekly University Record, which is easily available on campus. However, she added that it is "very hard to judge" the extent to which women and minorities may still experience discrimination when applying for jobs or hoping for promotions: "You can't crawl inside the minds of the people making the decisions . . . It's a subject I'm going to pursue." She added that those from whom she will seek more detailed information during the next few weeks include Nellie M. Varner, U-M director of affirmative action programs. She added that she also plans to meet with several U-M I deans and officers of some student or ganizations, and will also, during her campaign, "be walking around the campus at random, talking with students. There are a lot of them who don't organize in any formal way. Fd like to hear their viewpoints too." Mrs. Parker said "I'm not running at all because of a critical stimulus. It's be' cause of my admiration for the University that lam doingthis." Upton said he sought a Republican nomination for the U-M board with a special interest in "people problems student interests." "I'm anxious to be certain that we maintain opportunities for all types of study, a wide range of degree programs, as we have done, and in exploring other Dossibilities. "I'm interested in working with I dents on this. Sometimes students have a I better idea of what they're really I ested in than some of the old-line I rists." Upton is a trustee of Kalamazoo I lege, a private school. He said that while I the college operates on a considerably I smaller scale than the U-M, he feels that I innovations have been made there in I both academie programs and I tration which would serve him as useful I background as a U-M regent. As one I lustration, he noted that the Student I Council president regularly attends I trustees' meetings as a nonyoting I ber, stating "his suggestions are listened I to very carefully." : Upton said "I understand the I sity's Student Government Council I cently has not been as active as it could I be," adding that he is aware of questions I concerning relatively low turn-out for I some SGC elections and also the honesty I of vote-counting and financing. "If the I students want a representative to the I board, they have to elect one," he said, I adding that he considers SGC or a 1 cessor campus-wide organization the I logical mechanism for doing this. 1 "I think if a student were elected as a I regent it would be fine," Upton added, I although he suggested that a full-time I student "might not have the time and I background." Differing with an opinión I Atty. Gen. Frank J. Kelley issued I al years ago, Upton said "legally, I I wouldn't think a conflict of interest I would be created" by a student's election I to the U-M board. l While earning a bachelor's degree in I science, with a major in industrial and I mechanical engineering, which he I ceived from the U-M College of I neering in 1948, Upton was a vice 1 dent of Engineering Council, president of I Inter-Fraternity Council, and president I of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He held management positions with I Whirlpool Corporation between 1959 and I , 1965, and is now president of 1 ern Michigan Abstract and Title Co. of I St. Joseph. I Upton, who has been active in Berrien I County and state politics since 1952, serv-l ing as a state representative in 1963-641 and as county GOP chairman in 1966-69, 1 said "I have no objection to running for I an education position on a partisan 1 et, but I'm a little frustrated at being on I the bottom of the ballot." He added that I I his campaign will include organizatiorl I añ Upton for Regent committee among I ; Ü-M students, mostly from southwestern I I MichigarJ