Burford
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Former
Environmental Protection Agency
chief Anne M. Burford bowed to a
storm of criticism and withdrew
from the chairmanship of a federal
advisory panel yesterday, less than
a day before her scheduled
swearing-in
Her move followed overwhelming
votes in both houses of Congress
urging President Reagan to rescind
his selection of Burford as head of
the National Advisory Committee
on Ocean and Atmosphere.
The furor over Burford reached a
crescendo over the weekend
following publication Of her
comments deriding the committee
a "nothing-burger . . . a joke."
Her resignation "was the second
best thing Anne Burford has done
for the country in the past 3 1 / 2
years," commented Jay D. Hair, ,
executive vice . president of the
National Wildlife Federation. "The
best was her resignation as head of
the EPA."
"For the long-term success of
(the committee) it is probably
desirable that she has resigned,"
said John A. Knauss of the
University of Rhode Island, an
oceanographer whom she was to
have succeeded as head of the
Hijacked French jet still in captivity
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
Associated Press Writer
The Arabic-speaking hijackers of an Air
France jetliner carrying 63 people freed four
ailing hostages at Tehran airport yesterday and
agreed to release 10 more in exchange for
passing their demands on to France, Iran's news
agency reported.
The hijackers threatened to shoot a French
citizen every hour if their demands were not met,
the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
It did not say what the demands were. There
were believed to be three hijackers.
The news agency first reported the release of a
woman and her child, and shortly after quoted
Tehran Radio as saying two more passengers
had been freed. All four were were taken to the
medical unit at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport for
treatment. Their identities were not given.
Later, it said the hijackers had agreed to free
nine women and a child in return for Iran's
passing on its demands to the French
government and the media. It did not say when
they would be released
The hijackers said France had until 9 a.m.
today Tehran time to give a positive reply to
their demands, or they would kill a French
citizen every hour, the news agency said.
France's charge d'affaires in Tehran then was
summoned to the foreign ministry and advised of
the demands, said the IRNA report, monitored in
London.
It said Iranian officials emphasized that Iran
wanted to end.the hijacking peacefully, and
urged France to coperate with the Iranian
government.
Authorities earlier said the sky pirates had
threatened to blow up the plane if they were
denied landing rights in Iran.
the
daily
resigns from committee
Rep. James H. Scheuer, D-N.Y.,
who was the chief sponsor of the
House resolution calling for her
removal, said: "Mrs. Burford is at
last showing more good sense than
those who proposed her
appointment. I am sure her
decision will come as good news to
Republican political strategists,
and to environmental leaders in
both parties."
Rep. Guy V. Molinari of New
York, ranking Republican on the
House Public Works and
Transportation subcommittee, one
of the half-dozen congressional
panels that investigated the EPA
under Burford's stewardship,
agreed she did the "proper thing"
in stepping aside.
"It did provide the Democrats
with a political issue," Molinari
said. "They used it to their best
possible advantage, and by her
resigning she effectively removed
that issue from the political
sphere."
Announcement of her
appointment to the advisory group
had come in a routine
announcement July 9, and Burford
was to have been sworn in as
chairinan this morning.
In Santa Barbara, Calif., Deputy
White House press secretary Larry
Speakes said Reagan was notified .
of Burford's withdrawal early
yesterday and had accepted it.
The plane was commandeered over
Luxembourg 22 minutes after takeoff from
Frankfurt on a Paris-bound flight Tuesday
afternoon. It made brief stops at Geneva, Beirut,
Lebahon and Larnaca, Cyprus, before heading
for the Iranian capital.
There was no confirmation of what weapons
the hijackers carried, but they were reported to
have hand grenades and other explosives and
knives.
Two anonymous callers to the French news
agency Agence France-Presse in Tehran
claimed responsibility on behalf of Moslem
groups opposed to France's selling arms to Iraq
for use in the war with Iran, and its offering of
refuge to Iranian exiles.
Nationalities of the hijackers were not known,
but a tape of their conversation with a Lebanese
official earlier at Beirut Airport showed they
spoke with prounounced Lebanese accents.
The hijackers threatened to shoot local and
foreign reporters allowed to approach the Boeing
737, which was surrounded by Iranian security
forces, Iran's news agency said.
IRNA quoted one of the newly freed woman
passengers as saying there were three hijackers,
all carrying hand grenades. The woman, who was
not identified, said her husband was still on the
plane, and that none of the hijackers acted
violently.
The news agency quoted a second freed woman
as saying the hijackers collected the passengers'
passports and that several diplomatic passports
were among them, including one American. She
said a group of Japanese pilots and co-pilots were
among the passengers.
The hijackers also took radios from the
passengers to follow events, she was quoted as
saying.
Two masked hijackers were seen by the
c)IIe • ian
Attempts to contact Btirford
through her husband's office at the
Interior Department's Bureau of
Land Management were not
immediately successful. Her home
telephone is unlisted.
In the letter to Reagan, Burford
said said she was withdrawing "to
avoid any further disruption of a
'thoughful discussion" of
environmental issues.
"In recent weeks, there has been
an unwarranted furor created
around my appointment," she
wrote. "This debate does a grave
disservice to your. outstanding
record on the environment. The
people of the United States must be
given the opportunity to make a fair
and objective analysis of your
accomplishments on environmental
issues."
The House on Tuesday voted 363-
51 to urge the president to withdraw
Burford's appointment. The Senate
had voted 74-19 for the identical
resolution last week.
But the votes were not binding,
and Reagan said a week ago that he
did not plan to rescind the
appointment.
Burford resigned from the EPA
in March 1983 under fire for her
management of the agency and her
selection to head a committee that
advises the government had
outraged Republicans, Democrats
and environmentalists.
Diane MacEachern,
spokeswoman for the •
environmentalist Sierra Club, said
yseterday that Burford's decision to
withdraw shows that "neither she
nor the president was prepared for
the groundswell of outrage that
swept the country . . . it illustrates
that the environment is an
extremely high priority for all
Americans."
"Why it is that we ever got to this
point in the first place is beyond
me," said Rep. James J. Florio, D-
N.J.. "I don't know how she could
have taken the job after describing
it as a joke. It would have been
demoralizing for the other
commissioners."
reporters to be standing at the side of the plane
door, IRNA said. They were putting on short
sleeve shirts, according to the agency.
The guards stood no closer than 50 yards from
the plane, which was on the western edge of the
airport tarmac, IRNA said. Ambulances and fire
engines stood nearby.
In a tape recording of a conversation between a
hijacker and Beirut's airport control tower, one
hijacker said: "You must forgive me. I am going
to land and if anyone approaches, I shall say
`Welcome oh death'... I still have some fuel to
circle once or twice over Beirut but no fuel to go
to Larnaca. The plane will then come down by
itself no need for a pilot."
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman,
reached by telephone by The Associated Press in
Beirut, said shortly after midday that there had
' been no negotiations with the hijackers. He said,
however, that the ministry had provided an
Arabic translator at their request. The language
of Iran is Far•Ai.
"We will not open negotiations until they ask
for it," the spokesman said. "They have not
made any demands because they have not yet
talked to us."
Deniel Egea, an Air France steward, escaped
when the plane was being refueled at Larnaca,
and told a French reporter he thought there were
three hijackers. There was a report from Geneva
that a passenger had been shot, but Egea said the
passengers and crew were calm.
Swiss officials said the pilot told them the
hijackers carried hand grenades, but Cypriot
authorities said they carried knives and maybe
explosiveS.
IRNA said Iranian warplanes escorted the
hijacked aircraft from over Tabriz in
northwestern Iran, for 330 miles to Tehran.
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AP LAserpnoto
Anne Burford
Thursday, Aug. 2, 1984
Vol. 85, No. 29 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1984 Collegian Inc.
University firmly bound
to Affirmative Action
By BILL FERRELL
Collegian Staff Writer
The idea that affirmative action
benefits only women and
minorities is a misconception, the
University's newly appointed
Affirmative Action officer said
last week.
Suzanne Brooks said
Affirmative Action not only
protects women and minorities,
but also benefits veterans,
disabled people and the over-40
age group.
Brooks assumed the position of
Affirmative Action Officer on
June 11.
Affirmative Action is
collectively those activities that
an institution carries out to assure
equal access to services, Brooks
said. In addition, it takes a step
beyond to actively recruit
people who have been
discriminated against
historically.
However, Affirmative Action
does not mean establishing quotas
for people who are not qualified to
be admitted or employed, she
said.
Affiithative Action is inherently
beneficial to the entire
community, Brooks said. It also
helps the University to meet its
legal obligations.
Although the University is
committed to comply with Title
VI, Brooks said she believes
University President Bryce
Jordan would be just as
committed to minorities without
the provisions of Title VI.
Under the Title VI
desegregation plan adopted by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
the University is required to
reduce the disparity between the
number of black freshmen
enrolled and the number of white
freshmen enrolled within the five
year period of the plan by 50
percent, William W. Asbury,
executive assistant to the
president, said.
Title VI not only applies to Penn
State, but also to all of the state
funded universities, he said.
The University administration
plans to reduce this disparity by
100 percent, Asbury said. In other
words, the University's goal is to
double the number of blacks
enrolled within the five-year
period.
"I see no reason why we won't
achieve that goal, given our
committment," Brooks said.
The refurbishing of Walnut
Building and its official name
change to the Paul Robeson
Cultural Center are examples of
Testing laboratories a farce,
clean-up operator declares
By PHYLLIS MENSING
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA
Government asbestos testing
standards are a farce in a
multibillion-dollar industry that
can operate out of a back room,
says a New Jersey asbestos
removal operator currently
working for the Philadelphia
school district.
Anthony Natale, president of the
Duall Corp. of Mount Laurel, N.J.
is supervising the clean-up of
Webster Elementary school in
northeast Philadelphia, and co
author, with Philadelphia writer
Hoag Levins, of a textbook on
asbestos removal.
"You and I this afternoon could
start our own testing lab," said
Levins, who began investigating
asbestos alter it caused the death
of his wife's grandfather.
MN *lll
index
Arts 16
Opinion 8
Sports 10
State/Nation/World 4
weather
Hazy sunshine, warm and humid today and tomorrow with scattered
afternoon and evening thunderstorms. The high both days near 85. The
low tonight 64 by Glenn Rolph
the University's committment to
Affirmative Action, Brooks said.
In addition to the minority
recruitment programs, the
University also has a number of
retention vehicles in place, Brooks
said.
The Equal Opportunity
Planning Committee, the
Developmental Year Program
and student services are all
cooperating in the retention effort,
she said.
Title VI is not the only reason
behind the minority recruitment
effort, Brooks said.
Ebony and Ivory weekend is an
example of an activity that could
nbt have been mandated by a state
court, she said.
"We are changed and I think
permanently so," Brooks said.
As more black University
students graduate, more black
alumni will be available to recruit
minorities to the University, she
said.
The University also has a strong
black and minority faculty who
are very dedicated to the
recruitment of minority students
and faculty, Brooks said. Black
faculty members also provide role
models for black students.
"The efforts being made now
are not simply to increase
numbers. Penn State, would not be
the forward looking institution
that it is if it were simply trying to
increase numbers," Brooks said.
Penn State does not seem to
have some of the problems that
many other universities
experience, he said. For example,
the graduation rate of black
athletes at the University is very
high.
Brooks said she accepted her
position because the work is not
only challenging but it is also in
the interest of people.
Originally from Philadelphia,
Brooks said coming to the
University is like coming home.
Brooks said she spent more than
seven years as a Philadelphia
police officer in the juvenile aid
division.
Before coming to the University,
she served as Affirmative Action
Officer at the University of
Nevada at Reno.
"Suzanne Brooks brings an
excellent background to the job (of
Affirmative Action Officer),"
JoAnne Vanin, director of the
Developmental, Year Programs,
said.
"Suzanne Brooks was the best
candidate available to us,"
Asbury said. Brooks is doing an
excellent job in her work thus far,
he added.
"We could go out and buy a
microscope and open a lab in our
living room." He also said some
contractors shop for labs that will
give them favorable results.
Asbestos was once a common
ingredient in building
construction, but health experts
gradually became aware of its
darker side. The tiny fibers were
found to cancer and other serious
diseases and by the 19705, public
officials faced the question of how
to get it out of schools and other
buildings.
In the last decade, asbestos
removal has become a
multibillion-dollar business.
The microscope is a key area of
controversy in asbestos removal.
Some asbestos fibers are so thin
that an optical microscope, the
main tool recommended by the
government in testing, can't spot
them.