ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Inside Washington Christopher Wright Assistant Director A L A Washington Office employees. “The Secretary will interpret the section concerning fringe benefits (§86.46) to require, where an institution’s female perma­ nent employees are disproportionately part- time or its permanent part-time employees are disproportionately female, and the institution does not provide its permanent part-time em­ ployees fringe benefits proportionate to those provided full-time employees, that the institu­ tion demonstrate that such a manner of provid­ ing benefits does not discriminate on the basis of sex.” The regulation would also apply to admis­ sions and fellowship policies of library schools and to faculty hiring and promotion practices. While the large number of women enrolled in library education programs would seem to make this an unlikely field for male prejudice, Anita Schiller and other researchers have demonstrat­ ed the scarcity of women in faculty and admin­ istrative positions in the field.2 With this in mind, library school deans should read the pro­ posed rules with a careful eye. Further, HEW would prohibit discrimina­ tion based on “such matters as marital or pa­ rental status” and “pregnancy and related con­ ditions.” Presumably this would protect the father of ten who wanted to go to library school as well as the pregnant professor whose tenure was in question. As President Derek Bok told the Harvard alumni, “The underlying issues are sensitive. They call into question familiar traditions and practices within the University. They some­ times provoke a passion and a rhetoric that arouse resentment in many listeners. But there is no denying the importance of the topic or the need to grapple seriously with the problems that are raised.”3 One man who has grappled with the prob­ lems of sex discrimination and the government’s attempt to promote affirmative action programs is Richard A. Lester, Princeton economist and former dean of the faculty. Lester has just completed a report to be published this month by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Educa­ tion titled Anti-Bias Regulation of Universities: 2 Anita R. Schiller, Characteristics of Pro­ fessional Personnel in College and University Libraries (Springfield, 111.: Illinois State Li­ brary, 1969). 3 Derek C. Bok, Remarks prepared for de­ livery at the annual meeting of the Associated Harvard Alumni in Tercentary Theatre, Harvard Yard, June 12, 1974. With the coming of hot weather the subject of sex has arisen repeatedly in the sober de liberations of librarians, professors, and the gov­ ernment. On every occasion the topic was viewed with disfavor. In the same four-week period: the president of Harvard University informed his alumni of the “dispiriting implications” of current univer­ sity policies toward women; the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare issued nine-page proposed regulation banning sex dis­ crimination in academic institutions from nur­ sery school to medical school; the American Li­ brary Association came within one vote of ban­ ning “pronouns denoting masculine gender to describe the membership at large”; and the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education is­ sued a report written by a former Princeton dean criticizing government-imposed affirmative action programs in the academic world. For librarians and library administrators the most significant of these events will be the pub­ lication of the proposed regulation by HEW which would implement for the first time the sex discrimination prohibition in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.1 Printed in the Federal Register on June 20, the regulation calls for an end to discrimination by sex in the employment and admissions policies of all insti­ tutions which accept federal assistance with the exception of certain traditionally one-sex places such as military academies, parochial schools, and small colleges. Among other things, the proposed regulation could affect certain fringe benefits as they apply to women librarians. For instance, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act calls for equal peri­ odic benefits or employee contributions to mem­ bers of each sex in fringe benefit plans. But in the area of life insurance, the preface to the proposed rules points out, “assuming different life spans at particular ages between the sexes, and assuming equal contributions by all em­ ployees, Title VII implicitly requires payment of higher employer contributions for, and the possibility of higher total benefits received by, women.” The proposed regulation suggests al­ ternative benefit schemes. In addition the proposed regulation addresses itself to the question of fringe benefits such as health and retirement programs for part-time 1 Proposed Regulation: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex (45 CFR Part 86), Federal Register, 20 June 1974, p.22227-40. ­ a 181 Faculty Problems and Their Solutions.4 The r port is reputed to be sharply critical of so aspects of the government’s affirmative acti efforts. The Lester report would seem to be usef reading for librarians and library educators w should be carefully studying the propos HEW regulation. The government is active seeking suggestions or objections to the pr posed rules. Comments should be sent befo October 15 to: Peter Holmes, Director, Offi for Civil Rights, Department of Health, Educ tion, and Welfare, P.O. Box 2974, Washingto DC 20013. In addition, copies of comments would appreciated by ALA’s Washington Office. 4 Richard A. Lester, Anti-Bias Regulation Universities: Faculty Problems and Their S lutions (Berkeley, Calif.: Carnegie Commissi on Higher Education; New York: McGraw-Hil 1974). Requests for Standards Working Papers Due to a clerical error shortly after the New York Conference, copies of the 1959 Standards for College Libraries were sent to persons who had requested, instead, the background/working papers of the committee which is revising the 1959 standards. The ACRL office asks that persons who were affected by this error resubmit their requests. Copies of the papers will be sent upon receipt of the new request. e­ me on ul ho ed ly o­ re ce a­ n, be of o­ on l, ALA Goals Award to Standards Project The Association of College and Research Li­ braries has been awarded a J. Morris Jones— World Book Encyclopedia—ALA Goals Award for 1974/75 by the Executive Board of the American Library Association. The award will fund Phase II of ACRL’s project to revise the 1959 Standards for College Libraries. Phase I of the project to revise the college library standards, which was supported in 1973/74 by a J. Morris Jones—World Book Encyclopedia—ALA Goals Award, was aimed at defining the goals of the standards and the assumptions upon which standards are based. Phase II of the project will enable the members of the committee preparing the revision to dis­ cuss the revision with leaders of regional and national organizations in postsecondary educa­ tion. The committee is chaired by Johnnie Givens, librarian at Austin Peay State University, in Clarksville, Tennessee. The project director is David Kaser, professor at the Graduate Library School at the University of Indiana. Other members of the committee are: Arthur Monke, librarian at Bowdoin College; David L. Perkins, head bibliographic librarian at California State University, Northridge; James W. Pirie, librari­ an at Lewis & Clark College; Herman L. Tot­ ten, dean of the School of Librarianship at the University of Oregon; and Jasper G. Schad, di­ rector of libraries at Wichita State University, ex officio. ACRL Board of Directors Highlights of New York Meeting MET in executive session to discuss the report of the Committee to Evaluate the ACRL Ex­ ecutive Secretary and VOTED that the full report be forwarded to the ALA Executive Director, that the Executive Secretary be commended for her work, and that the pro­ cess of evaluating the Executive Secretary be continued. GRANTED chapter status to the Academic and Research Division of the Minnesota Library Association. HEARD a report from the chairman of the Slavic and East European Section Ad Hoc Committee on the LC Classification System and LC Subject Heading Use in Regard to Slavic and East European Materials. VOTED to support the recommendation of the ACRL Committee on Interlibrary Communi­ cations and Information Networks, to estab­ lish an ALA committee on interlibrary co­ operation, with divisional representation on the committee. ACKNOWLEDGED the appointment of the new editor of College & Research Libraries, Richard D. Johnson. HEARD a report from the editor of Choice. VOTED to approve as policy the Model State­ ment of Criteria and Procedures for Appoint­ ment, Promotion in Academic Rank, and Tenure for College and University Librari­ ans (including Appendixes) as published in College & Research Libraries News ( Sep­ 182