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May 8 1972
TO: Interested Media
FOR RELEASE: On receipt
Contact: Jeanne Tashian and
(313) 769-3945 (after 6 pm,/weekends)
A team of women researchers at the University of Michigan, calling themselves The Ad Hoc Committee Concerned that President Fleming Does Not Meet With Women, recently sat outside the President's office for a week, observing all comers and carefully recording their vital statistics. The team had hypothesized that sexism at the University was in good part due to the fact that women did not have sufficient influence at high levels in the University. Specifically, they felt that President Fleming did not meet with women. After analyzing their data, the team found:
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1. The central hypothesis was generally, but not totally supported. Over the course of the week, Fleming met with 145 persons, 21 of whom were women. |
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2. All but one of the women he met with, were in groups that, for the most part were a majority of males, and were not concerned with women's issues. As opposed to the one woman he met with singly, there were 26 males with whom he had individual meetings. One male met with him a total of 11 different times, one a total of 5 times and one a total of 4 times. |
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3. No women over the age of 60 met with him, while 17 males over the age of 60 did meet with him. One woman between the ages of 50-60 met with him, while 46 males in that age category met with him. |
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4. No women, singly or in groups, participate in the informal relationship that many male administrators have with Fleming, i.e. walking into his office through the back entrance to chat without an appointment or without checking with his secretary. |
In a meeting with the President, the AHCCTPFDNMWW presented their findings to him and made the following recommendations:
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Fleming Meeting With Women
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1. In the name of non-discrimination, President Fleming should begin interchanges with women at an informal level, to familiarize himself with their activities and arguments. These exchanges should include women from all races, creeds, job categories, student categories and political persuasions. |
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2. He should begin to attend some of the fine functions that women on campus and in the community are sponsoring. |
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3. He should begin to visit the units of the University where women work and study, so that he can begin to know them and their life-styles. |
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4. More women should be placed in high-level administrative, faculty and political positions at the University so that they can influence decision-making from that level. The Commission for Women should remain in its present status of reporting directly to the President, rather than being pushed down the line, reporting instead to an Affirmative Action Officer. |
President Fleming admitted that the substance of the report was true, and could not deny that he met with few women. He indicated that he would be willing to meet with more women if the Committee, in Cooperation with the Commission for Women would work on getting small groups together in an informal setting, to discuss specific subjects. We are now gathering suggestions for topics and names of women who might wish to meet with the President in this fashion, for this series of summer seminars for sexists. It is hoped that other interested Vice-Presidents, Deans and Department Heads might be persuaded to attend some of these meetings as well.
Topics already suggested are: Women in Research; Affirmative Action as an Affirmation: Creative Approaches; Women and the Fear of Reprisal; the Problems of Non-Academic Women; Graduate Women; Recruitment of Women, etc.
If you are interested in participating, contact: Jeanne Tashian, 769-3945 (nights, weekends) or the Commission for Women, __________, 3-2203; Copies of the complete report are available by writing to: PROBE, Inc, P. O. Box 317; Ann Arbor 48107. Please enclose 50¢ for reproduction and mailing. This project is being funded out of women's pockets as usual.