Mass Media (Newspaper) - March 15, 1977, Boston, Massachusetts THE MASS MEDIA Volume XI No 21 University of Massachusetts at Boston Tuesday March 15 1977 Steamer Calls For Free Period Switch By Robert Starting next semester free period time will be changed On Tuesday and Thursday free period will start at in the afternoon Monday Wednesday and Friday the free period will remain at its present time Vice Chancellor Robert Steamer announced the decision late last Thursday The initial proposal made by Registrar Frank Casey called for the free period to meet at five days a week The compromise decision was made by Chancellor Golino and Vice Chancellor Steamer because the University is strongly divided on the issue Steamer said Many of the faculty and administration per are for the change Steamer elaborated while most of the students it seems are opposed The initial proposal had gone as far as the University Assembly when it was returned to the Academic Affairs Committee to be reconsidered The main objection to the proposal was that the registrars office had not conducted a poll to find out how the students felt about the change Steamer pointed out that the change wilt be on a trial basis There are no plans to extend it beyond the Fall 77 semester Steamer added that he is receptive to the idea of a student referendum next semester to determine the students reaction to the time change But Did They Ask Students by Robert There is a feeling among many UMB students that trie Ad ministration is not truly concerned with the needs and opinions of the belief was recently reinforced when the Ad ministration attempted to have the free period time changed The Administration sent to the University Assembly a proposal to have the free period moved from its present time to in the af The University Assembly wisely sent the motion back to the Academic Affairs Committe to be reconsidered analysis One reason the proposal was sent back was that no student poll concerning the issues was taken In fact most students were not aware the motion to change the free period was before the University Assembly for final consideration UMB Registrar Frank Casey initiated the proposal to change the free period Casey told Mass Media reporters there was not enough time and the University could not afford to conduct a student poll Casey admitted he started to in the possibility of moving Free Period page 3 Womens Week Celebrated at UMB International Womens Day has been celebrated annually since 1911 The March eighth date was originally designated to recognize the organized strength of working women It has evolved into a day of reflection on the rights of all time for com their historical women and a memoration of achievements International Womens Week was observed at UMB in a daily series of events held from March 7 11 The Womens Center spon Professor Joseph Alper speaks about Trustees technical refusal to negotiate with FSU during last weeks emergency meeting photo by Ken Stevens sored the weeklong activities for the first time last year and expects to continue the celebration as an annual tradition Members of the Womens Center were most ac involved in planning for In Womens Week but dozens of UMB women par in the events and workshops Following are last weeks highlights Monday The collective sponsored a poetry reading at which Ann Isaacs Diana Lett and Ellie Kellogg read their work It was really well Ann Isaacs said There was an easy open atmosphere Women sat on the floor Most of our poetry is political its definitely all feminist One of the most im portant reasons for having the to encourage women to feel comfortable about their own writing We hope that more women will share their writing with us the next time since they know theyll be in a supportive Tuesday A panel discussion on the Future of Womens Rights was attended by about eighty women The idea for the panel was initiated by the Womens Rights Com Carmen Rivera was one of the five outside speakers and she discussed the politics surrounding the high unemployment rate of Puerto Rican women in the United States She also decried the sterilization abuse of women in Puerto Rico where 35 percent of the women of childbearing age have been pressured into sterilization by government birth control proponents Lucy Mattson of the Preterm Strike Committee spoke about the causes for the strike against the clinic She charac them as dehumanizing treatment of both workers and patients by the managements at and policies Ellen Cassidy a staff member of 9 to 5 an organization for women office workers discussed strategies for insuring that the government enacts responsible af action programs Ms Cassidy urged the audience to learn to fight Reba Williams of NOW and the Socialist Workers Party ex the need for Black feminism Were told not to be in this movement by some Black ac But the Womens Movement speaks to our particular needs daycare affirmative ac tion the right to abortion and if Black women had these couldnt they work better for Black rights as a She considers Black feminism to be an important link between Black and white groups Womens Day page 9 Trustees Move Spurs FSU Protests by Alice Cutler The Union held an emergency meeting last week to plan strategy for fighting against the Trustees technical refusal to bargain with the union President Wood has been unalterably opposed to the for mation of a union at UMass and in a letter sent out to all faculty claimed that This action the negotiating refusal reflects a deep and genuine concern for the long range interests of the University and the He stated again his reservations about the com position of the bargaining unit and of the detrimental effect he believes that it would have on the University governance procedure President Wood also assured faculty that he would try to ex adjustments but that this would be dependent upon the availability of FSU members are angered by President Woods stance and during the meeting discussed the various legal and political actions which they can now take Steering Committee member Joan Liem ex pressed their reluctance to initiate court action The problem with legal action is that its such a lengthy process We think wed win at every also that Wood would appeal every For the time being plans to pressure to President Wood by picketing his office and They also plan to circulate a petition requesting to reverse their decision We really believe that the Trustees are not fully aware of the background of the State Labor Relations Commissions decision to recognize the composition of our collective bargaining unit We want to provide them with ac curate data on the unit deter The FSU includes full time and some parttime faculty and professional We presen ted the FSU position to the in expedited hearings This means that each side loses the to ap peal UMass had the opportunity to present their side then After four months of hearings before the full board and another four months of deliberations the ruled in our Ms Liem also stated that the FSU has not ruled out the possibility of legal action but we want to explore other ways of pressuring Wood FSU Steering Committee mem ber Elliot Kreiger characterized President Woods letter as He views the refusal to negotiate as evidence of bad faith on President Woods part Its not a technical Mr Kreiger said Its simply a refusal It demonstrates a contempt for the legal process and contempt for the faculty Its an attempt to break the union If Wood were genuinely concerned about the University he these wouldnt be employing divisive Mr Kreiger said that the FSU has not considered the possibility of striking We dont want to hurt students We want to demonstrate to the Board of Trustees that these delaying tactics are directly harm ful to the FSU members are trying to in crease their numbers and have FSU page 8 On the Inside Nuclear Power page 2 Highhandedness page 10 Being Earnest page 12 Mass Civil Liberties attorney Linda Scholle speaks about legislation af women during women s rights panel discussion Ellen Cassidy of 9 to 5 a women office workers organization is at left photo by Debbie Karacozian
