Faculty At EMU Picketing Regents

YPSILANTI - Sign-carrying faculty pickets gréeted the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents this morning when it convened for its monthly meeting. About seven pickets carrying "No voice, no choice," and "We will not be managed" signs quietly occupied seats in the spectator section of the Regents room. According to plans arranged by the faculty on Tuesday, other demonstrators were supposed to show up later during the regents noon break. The faculty demonstration is the result of a growing rift between EMU faculty and regents that was widened considerably by what the faculty saw as the regents' exclusión of organized faculty is J s groups such as the Senate and American Association of University Professors (AAUP) from the selection of a new EMU president. The pickets chose today's meeting for their demonstration because of the presence of Dr. Harold Abel, one of the two candidates for the president's job. Abel is president of Castelton College in Vermont. The other candidate is Lt. Gov. James Brickley. A similiar demonstration is expected when Brickley appears on campus next week. At an AAUP meeting Tuesday, faculty members made it clear that it is not the candidate's they are demonstrating against, but rather what they cali their exclusión from selectiong those candidates. However, the AAUP members also made it clear that they would prefer Abel over Brickley, or for that matter, almost anybody over Brickley. The mention of Brickley drew a few catcalls. According to Faculty Senate Chairman Maurice Laney, Brickley's candidacy is politically motivated, and the faculty "doesn't want a political appointment." Brickley, said Laney, has no doctórate and limited experience in higher education. Laney went on to criticize Regent Timothy Dyer's "leak" to a Lansing newspaper that Brickley was "the number one candidate for the job. Dyer was on the committee that drew up the recomendation," continued Laney, "And those recommendations were apparently drawn to fit oné man." On October 11, Vice President Bruce Nelson did ask the AAUP to select three i of its members to meet the candidates when they appear on campus. A similiar offer was extended to the Faculty Senate. However both groups turned it down. According to AAUP president Fred I Anderson, ". . . it was an empty gesture I that carne too late."