Five years ago…
The Michigan Daily reported that University Secretary Walter Harrison was one of three finalists in the University of Hartford presidential search. Harrison joined the University in 1989 as vice president for public relations. Regent Phil Power (D-Ann Arbor) said Harrison’s departure would be a great loss for the University.
“It will have a pronounced impact because he is a liaison between the Board of Regents and the community,” Power said.
Hartford announced Harrison as its choice the next month. He started at the position in July.
Ten years ago…
Three months into their first term, Regents Larry Deitch (D-Bingham Farms) and Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) attended a Michigan Student Assembly meeting to discuss student concerns about rising tuition and the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Both students and the regents said they found the discourse very valuable.
“I’m looking forward to this as the beginning of a series of dialogues,” Deitch said.
April 13, 1970
Vice President Spiro Agnew came to the University and criticized the recent agreement between University officials and the Black Action Movement. The accord called for the black student population to rise to 10 percent by the 1973-1974 school year.
“In a few years time, perhaps – thanks to the University of Michigan’s callow retreat from reality – Americans will give the same fish-eyes that Italians now give diplomas from the University of Rome.”
The University never fulfilled its agreement, and black enrollment stayed below 5 percent until President James Duderstadt initiated the Michigan Mandate in the late 1980s.
April 17, 1978
The Michigan Daily reported that faculty members were recruited by the CIA to do classified work. Such recruiting had been going on since 1967.
April 15, 1958
Michigan Daily reporters Barton Huthwaite and James Elsman were arrested by Cuban police after attempting to get an interview with rebel leader Fidel Castro in the mountains of Cuba. The government released them after 12 hours.
April 14, 1964
President Lyndon Johnson accepted the University’s offer to speak at the 1964 spring commencement ceremonies. At commencement the next month, he proposed his idea for a Great Society, one that “demands an end to poverty and racial injustice – to which we are totally committed in our time.” He was the first American chief executive to speak at the University’s graduation.
April 15, 1935
Michigan Gov. Frank D. Fitzgerald said he favored excluding students from state institutions who refused to serve in the military.
Fitzgerald’s announcement came after a peace protest at the University and Michigan State College.
April 17, 1981
Twenty-two-year old Bursley Residence Hall resident Leo Kelly shot and killed two fellow residents Edward Siwik and Douglas McGreaham at 6 a.m. When police came to the dorm after the murder, they found Kelly calmly sitting in his room holding a sawed-off shotgun. Kelly’s fraternity brother Warren Fudge described Kelly as a “loner.”
“Most brothers now probably won’t even know him,” Fudge said.
April 13, 1971
The University’s Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics changed its rules to allow women to serve on the board. The election of Rose Sure Berstein to the board prompted the change.
April 15, 1954
LSA administrators said they were considering plans to exclude all seniors with a “B” or better average from final exams. They were concerned seniors had too many finals in too few days.
April 18, 1959
University President Harlan Hatcher was in the Soviet Union on a tour of the country’s educational institutions. Hatcher said he was very impressed with the English instruction at Soviet universities.
– Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Jeremy Berkowitz.