Miami Hurricane, August 01, 1973

              IBam
umratt]?
Vol. 19. \o. I
SPECIAL >l.\ll. Ml \1  I IM I IO>
281-1401
o\ nil ivsiim
• liiri 4. i-.a riii hi ion hurl the- I -I football
pletun .' Iti-Mri ii bo u i il . . . Ilur rieane
Sport**. Sri-linn
• Gel am ldi-a of what lea ftpeel in I hi* was
eaf a ronr.ri series, . . . H urri<-an.- Inter-
lainmi-ni S«>a*iion.
• Haiti:   \n Islaori Nation . . . Feature
SUMMON:
'A
(MifVERsinr of _u^
Auca -1973
I'BftAftY
«*fl>
u
A Tug Of War...
tats* <*rn>>\,<. By JEM wc;
By JEFF WOLLMAN
Of Ttio Hurrlceno Stall
"AH I will say about Norman Manasa is: we recognize his
work . . . nothing beyond that," went the statement which
began a recent conversation with UM Vice-President for Academic Affairs Dr. Carl McKenry.
Norman Manasa, the pursuastve and dedicated campus
figure responsible for making SUMMON the accredited academic program it is today, has been officially severed from
any connection with the program and the University.
SUMMON offers credit-only work in several academic
areas serving many of Miami's surrounding county and community agencies.
The decision, according to Dr. McKenry, came as a result
of certain action on Manasa's part which McKenry's office
termed "irresponsible and unjustifiable".
The action in question, was a letter written by Manasa
which sought to disavow the legitimacy of a UM request for
federal monies for SUMMON.
The proposal had been assembled and presented in Washington by Dr. Thomas Vest of the UM School of Education
without Manasa's knowlege, input, or approval. And which,
Manasa claims, included such significant changes as could
present a very real threat to preserving the integrity of the
program.
On June 18th 1973 the U.S. Office of Education informed
UM, through its TTT Office, that some federal monies had
been released on short notice of availability, and that SUMMON fulfilled requirements that made it eligible for consideration for receipt of a grant.
This news was quickly passed on to McKenry for action
since the deadline for submission of a request was set at June
20th. According to McKenry's office "every possible effort
was made to contact Manasa, but he was out of town and unavailable." McKenry and Dean Beery of the School of Education conferred and it was decided that Dr. Vest could be authorized to prepare the request and sign it on the University's
behalf. Vest flew to D.C. that evening where he began joint
sessions with UM's Washington office in preparing the formal
request.
It took two days of consultation to draft the proposal
culminating in the submission of a $149,000 request for federal funds.
.VKKenr ited tha'   mrpediately upon Vest's re
turn, he left a duplicate of the proposal on Manasa's desk
along with a note recounting the circumstances and chronology involved.
According to Sami Burstyn, McKenry's assistant charged
with reviewing the SUMMON matter: "(then) out of a clear
blue*sky, all of a sudden we find out that Manasa has sent a
• letter to the UPEt office (in D.C.) denying the- Vest had any
right to speak for SUMMON, and asking that the request not
be considered as it was nol a legitimate one."
During the course of a Hurricane investigation into the
matter, several discrepencies were discovered.
When asked specifically what efforts werp made to
consult and inform Manasa, three additional and substantively differed versions were noted.
Dr. Vest, newly appointed Director of SUMMON, stated:
"I made one, possibly two calls" . . . "but he could not be
reached".
A phone conversation with Dr. McKenry provided another recollection. "Why would anyone have to contact him (Manasa) . . . he is not a student, he is not an administrator, and
not faculty," McKenry said.
When the question was pressed again he replied: "I don't
know."
He ..as then reminded thai on an earlier occasion lie said
that 'everyone tried to reach Norm to no avail." To this he
replied: "I have nothing to say."
Manasa. however, categorically challenged the veracity
of these statements. "I was not out of town and In fact was
around my office," he said. Manasa then produced bank statements and cancelled checks (one to cash) dated the 18th and
10th of June drawn from a bank opposite the University.
These documents substantiated that, in fact, he was not only
in Miami but potentially available.
There was also disagreement as to whether Manas
any legitimate claim, through his connection with the pin-
gram, to be involved in the negotiation of the proposal.
McKenry insists "Norman was only a consultant" . . .
(he) never was and is not now connected with the University
in any way." He went on to say; "Norm had nothing to do
with the proposal .the new "proposal (June 18) is totally
different than the earlier one submitted by Norman" . . .
"yes. different in every way."
Vest said that he felt there was no excuse for Manasa's
actions. Asked whether Manasa's earlier proposal had been
used as a working model for the one he drafted in Washington, Vest said: "I only saw a copy of Manasa's proposal before I left" ... "I did not take a copy with me ... I designed
the whole proposal up there."
Manasa pointed out that he has severed as thp program's
director in the past four years and during this tenure
developed proposals and presented them on the University's
behalf as recently as April 13, 73. He made a copy of his
April '73 proposal available to the Hurricane which was, in
most parts, identical with Vest's. Although Vest stuck to hi-
laim of complete aitfhorship of the docu
of roirna
a verbatim copy
nasa's This clearly indicates that Vest
must have had a copy along with him in D.C   from which
major segments were lifted
The Hurricane then referred back to McKenry's contention that Manasa's ties to the program were only of a consul
tory nature. This was confirmed by Burstyn, Dr McKenrv.
Dr. Vest and other UM officials
Confronted with this information, Manasa was again able
to produce documentation which Indicated many instances in
which he had heen officially recognized as the director of this
University program.
A letter from Robert Simpson, Director of UM's TTT
Project to the U.S. Office of Education, proceeded thusly. "It
should be noted that TIT will be acting as the fiscal agent for
this program (SIMMON) and lhal the actual responsibility'
lor the implementation of the program will be ihe responsibility of the SUMMON Director, Mr. Norman Manasa".
Among the other documents were correspondence from
I'M President Henry King Stanford, former V.P. for Academic
Affairs Armin Gropp, and other letters from Robert Simpson:
some of which had copy lists including the names of Dr. Mi
Kenry, Mr. Spmo of ITT. and Eugene Cohen, then V.P fa
Financial Affairs and Treasurer of the University.
Comparison of Manasa's and Vest's proposals could offer
the beat possible explanation for what motivated Manasa's
letter to Washington seeking to cancel the request.
Manasa related his knowlege of the events which led up
io this action but began his story from an earlier time frame.
Apparently, for some time Manasa's allegedly ambiguous position had been a bone of contention between himself an<:
Kenry   McKenry insisted that in order to retain accreditation
program had to have a suitably credentiaied director. Although Manasa conceded this point, he disagreed with McKenry over just what power this "figurehead" would have,
and expressed his opposition to McKenry's suggestion of
for the position.
Manasa was wan of not only the possible usurpation of
nis powers as prime mover of the program, but made his wish
known that his choice for the job was Professor Charleton
Tabeau. He felt Tabeau was eminently qualified through his
several years of direct participation in the program both as a
tacult* member and advisor
Vest, admittedly, had no prior involvement with the program. During a meeting with McKenry to discuss the April 12,
proposal for funding SUMMON, Manasa claims1 "the proposal
was due the next day" . . . "for the sake of expediency I
agreed to temporarily step dow n to Program Director" . . .
"so that no hasty choice need be made of a permanent Project
Director". . . "you have to understand that the question was
who would eventually run the program" ... "I made this
compromise so that the proposal could he sumltted in time."
Mi Kenry assured Manasa that no final choice of a Proj-
.  ett Director would be made un tfTne in the future and
that the choice would be made in a joint decision hetwepn
McKenrv, Manasa.   the SUMMON * um-
tn it tee, and representatives of the School of Education
M Kenrv then signed ihe proposal as the Principal Investigator (Project Director! at ', release time ('4 of his salary
would be payed for watching over the program).
Burstyn was able lo confirm that such an agreement existed but was unable to specify all the details.
On May 21st Manasa met with Dr Vest at which time
Vest told Manasa Iip "sort of had been appointed by McKenry
as Project Director" and "expected to handle all funding
and policy matters"
In light of ihe fact thai he received no official notification to support Vest's statement, Manasa waited for an opportunity to take it up with McKenry.
Continued On Page S