Brown and White Vol. 91 no. 31

              lehigh university brown and white vol 91 - no ifj 215-861-4184 bethlehem pa friday february 1 1980 panelists agree afghan situation good for carter by john burke the crisis in afghanistan is the greatest threat to world peace since world war ii according to oles smolansky chairman of the international relations department it is also the greatest thing that ever happened to carter he added smolansky made this statement tuesday night during a panel discussion of united states-soviet relations after afghanistan — is detente dead ' michael hodges associate professor of international relations directed the panel which also included lt col arthur phelan professor of military science professor gary olson from moravian college and professor nils wessel from lafayette college panel members argued about labeling the crisis the way smolansky did but all agreed it was president carter's biggest break ' carter has started a cold war in an election year olson said to me it is purely a political move olson said increased military spending will mean advantages for business is detente dead — u.s.-soviet relations after afghanistan was the subject of a panel discussion tuesday night hi neville lounge from left to right are lt col arthur phelan professor of military science gary olson professor at moravian college b&w photo by kevin carroll michael hodges associate professor of international relations nils wessel professor at lafayette college and oles smolansky department chairman of international relations 4 professors to be forced to retire by jim donahue and eric hqkenson john haight professor of history will celebrate his 65th birthday on may 31 1982 on june 30 1982 he will be forced to retire by the university had his birthday been july 1 when a new retirement age for professors goes into effect haight would have been allowed to work to age 70 i've been robbed cut off by 30 days haight said of the university's decision to follow an exception in the new mandatory retirement law which applies to tenured faculty haight is one of four professors who would like to continue teaching but who will not be able to because of the university's retirement policy forced retirement the university will force these professors to retire at ageus between june 30 1980 and june 30 1982 on july 1 1982 the mandatory retirement age will be raised to 70 years of age for tenured university professors in 1978 congress considered raising the retirement age to 70 the house of repre sentatives passed a bill which raised the retirement age to 70 for everyone the senate however bowing to pressure from the american council of education and university administrators passed a bill excluding professors from the new higher retirement age a compromise was worked out in the conference committee for that bill by which tenured faculty could be retired at age 65 from jan 1 1979 to june 30 1980 after that the retirement age increases to 70 robert williamson professor of social relations is another of sixteen professors who will reach retirement age before the retirement age is raised he is one of the four who wish to stay on i think it's better to go into retirement gradually by having full time involvement cut to part time and then go into retire ment williamson said i'd like to stay on for a limited time he added policy not fair williamson said he did not think it was fair that university professors were singled out as a group while members of other professions will be allowed to con tinue working until retirement at age 70 john van eerde professor of modern foreign languages said our group of professors has given a good many years of service to the university and if we can go on then we should be allowed to chuan chih hsiung professor of mathematics said the important members of the university are not only administrators professors important professors are just as important he explained it is not fair that the dean provost or president can stay longer hsiung pointed out that most of the professors who are being forced to retire have served the university for 20-30 years adding that as long as someone is energetic and productive they should not be forced to retire others not upset the remaining 12 professors either want to retire for personal reasons or can stay on at the university because they are working on research projects some professors who could be affected by the university's policy are not upset by the matter donald wheeler professor of physics said he had always planned to retire at age 65 however i enjoy teaching and would be perfectly happy to continue on fascinated bb.w photo by glen smith , although some students physically make it to their 8 o'docks every morning staying there mentally is another story the back of packard auditorium is one of the university's better classrooms in which to catch up on ilf fd "■ *' harris quits as of june 30 relinquishes sac job now after 1 0 years nathan harris assistant dean of students has submitted his resignation effective june 30 i've been here ten years and it is time to quit harris said yesterday today is the tenth anniversary of harris hiring and he said he submitted his resignation this early in the semester so there will be ample time to find a replace ment for the fall semester harris said he does not have any idea whatsoever what he will do in the future he does not presently have another job offer effective immediately at ms own request harris has been released from his responsibility as student activities council sac advisor he added that he will be available to help if necessary harris did not want to list what he felt were his major contributions to the university over the past decade saying simply that he would let history be the judge of his record he did however say one of my biggest disappointments is black student enrollment — we missed the mark set for 1980 there have been some plusses harris added noting particularly that the attitudes of both sides have improved considerably harris is the third member of the dean of students office to resign in less than nine months associate dean of students robert reeves resigned during the summer and accepted a vice presidency at worcester polytechnic institute and hershel dorney assistant to the dean of students resigned last semester he did not have another job in addition arthur mann associate dean of students retired for health reasons after the spring semester 1979 harris said his resignation was in no way connected to the other leavings calling it a coincidence in addition to being advisor to che sac harris also advised the black students union bsu wlvr and several university dubs see panelists page 10 inside rush reutlh p 7 life-savers p 9 ww vwil w