Robbins
Resigns
Dr. John Robbins, associate
professor of history, has resigned
his tenured position after 10 years
with the university.
The resignation, submitted
Oct. 26, is effective June 30,
though Robbins says he hopes he
will be able to teach summer
school.
His resignation, he said, was
caused by a combination of thing,
not least of which is the
department itself. "I'm not happy
with the direction the department
has taken", he said," especially
the firing of Andrea Solomon. I
was one of the ones who fought
against that. Certain kinds of
things, like the standards we're
holding, just don't seem realistic.
"I'm dissatisfied in a lot of
ways with the way the university
is goirt. Out side of the BCA and
HDL nothing is going on here. I
was looking for people who
fought, faculty and students who
shared in running the university,
different and innovative things.
"I would like to have been left
alone a little more to teach, not
the symbolic ritual of academic
bullshit, to publish when I had
something to say. 1 would have
•iked to have been involved where
we could really do something
other than spin wheels. American
higher education is in trouble, and
I rn not sure it can be corrected
from within."
Robbins said he was
uisappointed with the students
who, after the movements of the
late 60's, "sold out too easily for
the wrong things." Robbins said
that the universities have become
iriterested in the perpetuation of
their interests and less interested
by charlotte porter
in service.
"The university tends too
much to serve the interests of the
Establishment, it tends to lag in
Innovation because the people in
control are products of the system
which rewards them and they're
not going to change it."
Robbins came to the university
10 years ago, seeking a small
urban college where "the
fundamental interest was in
teaching. It was Interesting to
watch the place grow. I didn't
want to be stuck in some large
college — I'm not by nature an
academic hermit."
He said that his decision to
leave may not have been solely
prompted by his disappointments.
"Even If I had been totally
happy I might still have left. I've
been here 10 years — It's time to
do something different. A person
should not spend his whole life
teaching. I number most of my
friends among the students and
I'm going to miss them. But its
time to decide you want to do
something different.
"I'm thinking about going to
law school. I'm interested in some
kind of civil liberties practice.
There are tremendous inequities
in American society, and the law
might get them changed. I'd like
to travel maybe India or Australia.
I don't want to live my life in a
rut'"
"A lot of people think I've
flipped out. Like the hippies in
Easy Rider, I'm doing something
they can't do. I'm a threat to
people who've made their
compromises and aren't happy
with them."
volume ix, number 11,
november 6, 1973
ilOURSBitL
Court Rules
Butterfield
Wrong
Journal photographer John Baynard, armed with his trusty camera,
sallied forth to picture fall. His work is displayed on the following
pages.
The Student Superior Court, in
their Oct. 28 session, upheld the
plaintiffs in the first part of a case
concerning the powers of the
student body president.
The first part of the case,
brought by Terry Fulbright and
A/alter Young against Richard
Butterfield, concerned what the
plaintiffs termed Butterfield's
illegal appointments to the
Student Media Board.
On June 14, Butterfield
appointed Mary McNeill, Ed
Ridgell, and Bill Frye to the SMB,
after their approval by the Ways
and Means Committee of Student
Legislature. The legislature,
however, was not to meet until
July 15, so the new appointees
took voting office and were
approved by the July 15
legislature meeting as of June 14.
The plaintiffs argued that
Butterfield had no right to
appoint without the consent of
legislature and that legislature had
no right to approve retroactively.
The defendants, represented by
Bill Frye, attorney general
designate, pleaded not guilty, and
the two hour session began.
Frye said that, Butterfield's
actions were in accordance with
Robert's Rules of Order. He
stated that an emergency situation
existed and that Butterfield was
forced to act as he had. Without
this power, Frye said, 'a body
cannot begin to act in anything
like an emergency situation.,
Frye was the first witness
called by the plaintiffs, who asked
who had informed him that he
had the power to vote on the
board. Frye replied that the SMB
did accept him following the
approval of the Ways and Means
committee.
Butterfield was the next
witness.
Young, who did most of the
questioning for the plaintiffs,
asked if Butterfield had made the
appointments without the prior
2/3 consent of the legislature.
When Butterfield attempted to
explain, he was cut off by Young.
Frye objected to the question, but
was overruled by chief justice,
Tom Duley.
Young then asked the
question, and Butterfield again
told him that the question was
irrelevant. Duley told him to
answer, and Butterfield explained
that a presidential appointment.
under the existing rules, did not
require anything.
Butterfield said that the people
he had appointed to the SMB
were the only ones he could find
at the time.
"The board could not operate
without members," he said.
"There is no procedure I have to
follow In making an appointment.
The legislature was not to meet
until July 15,nearly a month away.
Approval by the Ways and Means
Committee is tantamount and
these people were approved and
accepted by the chairman of the
Media Board."
Young then attacked
Butterfield on his statement that
Frye, Ridgell, and Ms. McNeill
were the only students he could
find to fill the vacancies.
"Did you advertise that there
were vacancies to be filled?" he
asked. Butterfield admitted that
he had not.
Under cross-examination by
Frye, Butterfield stated that
important work had to be
undertaken by the board. Every
year, Butterfield said,
constitutional revisions were
undertaken by the board, but the
business undertaken by the Fees
Commission (the body composed
by two members of the media,
legislature and Union Board which
splits student fees) was the most
urgent of the summer.
"Had the Media Board not
been able to operate," he said,
"there would have been no money
to the media, legislature, and
union board until after the fall
elections."
"Is it normal to go to those
you know best for
appointments?" Frye asked.
"I want people capable of
doing the job," he said. "I'm one
person, and I have no governance
as to how I should make
appointments. I talked with Bill
Frye, who suggested Mary and
convinced me that Ed would do
it. I also came up with Mary
Newton, who was unable to serve.
Summer school is a hard time to
find people. There was a limited
number of students that I
personally knew who would be
here all summer and into the fall."
Young then called Fulbright,
who testified that the at large
members appointed by Butterfield
had voted at the meetings. At this
point, the plaintiffs case rested.
by charlotte porter
Frye, in presenting the case for
the defense, called Mike Aldridge,
chairman of the Media Board, as
his first witness.
"In your opinion as acting
chairman of the media board,"
said Frye, "was there an
emergency in business?" Aldridge
replied that there was, and was
asked to explain.
"There were budgets, the
question of who would go to Fees
Commission, and constitutions
and statutes to be approved."
Aldridge further stated that the
board had been without a quorum
since the spring, since the two
faculty representatives were
abroad, and thus it was impossible
to meet.
He further stated that the
members appointed by Butterfield
sat with the approval of the board
and that, to his knowledge, there
was no disapproval on the part of
any of the board members.
Fulbright tried to establish that
there was in fact a quorum
present during the summer, and
Duley called a 10 minute recess to
consider the question.
When the session resumed, the
defense called Butterfield. Frye
asked him to outline the normal
procedure for handling
appointments.
"When a vacancy is created,"
Butterfield replied, "I go out on
my own with no established
procedure or guidelines and pick
arbitrarily the person I feel is
most qualified to do the job.
Being only one individual, I only
know so many people. I pick the
person, present It to the Ways and
Means Committee, which
interviews the person and votes in
closed session. If the appointment
is approved, the chairman brings it
up for legislature approval."
Since no at large
representatives were elected to the
board in the spring, he said, it was
necessary to get at least two
people on the board. The first
legislature meeting of the summer
was June 10. The Ways and Means
Committee, which must approve
all appointments, did not meet
until June 14. The next legislature
meeting was to follow a month
later. Butterfield said that he felt
that approval by the Ways and .
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