News stories from Saturday February 8, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- College tuition costs -- especially at private campuses -- will rise more sharply than ever next fall. Most colleges report tuition increases of more than 10 percent, the highest single-year increase so far, according to a nationwide sampling by The New York Times. Many college officials said that the rise in tuition can be expected to continue for the rest of the decade. [New York Times]
- Economics teaching at Harvard University has come under attack. Charges from within are flying at the economics department, long regarded as a source of strength and direction for much of modern economics. Prof. Wassily W. Leontief, who had been one of three Nobel prize-winning economists at Harvard, recently resigned at the age of 68 to join the faculty at New York University. He left Harvard with a criticism of the department, where he had been a member for 44 years. [New York Times]
- The six-month transition period allowed under law for former President Richard Nixon to "adjust to the life of a private citizen" expires today. He will then become a private citizen with sharply reduced perquisites allowed him from government funds. He is also a frail and lonely recluse clinging to the hope of salvaging his reputation and returning to politics. He insists that despite "errors of judgment" he is innocent of any criminal wrongdoing. [New York Times]
- The White House announced that John Dunlop, a Harvard economist and a former director of the Cost of Living Council, will be nominated as Secretary of Labor. At first, he reportedly refused President Ford's offer to succeed Peter Brennan, who has resigned, but changed his mind following repeated appeals. [New York Times]
- Two major subsidiaries of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company are coming under wide federal scrutiny following allegations that they used corporate funds for secret political contributions, and that one of the companies engaged in illegal wiretapping. Both companies, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and Southern Bell Telephone Company, have been the subjects of local investigations for several months. [New York Times]
- Ethiopia's military rulers said today that Eritrean guerrillas had tried but failed to cut the vital road link between Addis Ababa and its only supply of oil. An announcement by the military government over the national radio said that three guerrillas had been killed in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up a major bridge on the road between Addis Ababa and the Red Sea port of Assab, site of the country's only refinery. Earlier, reliable sources in Addis Ababa said that guerrillas had blown up a bridge southwest of Assab, effectively cutting the road link to the capital. [New York Times]
- A private American contractor in Los Angeles is recruiting several hundred former members of the United States Special Forces and other Vietnam war veterans to train Saudi Arabian troops to protect oilfields. The training will be carried out in Saudi Arabia under a $77 million Defense Department contract awarded to the Vinnell Corporation, an engineering and construction concern that has been active for years in the Persian Gulf. It is the first such contract given to a private American company to train a foreign army, the company said. [New York Times]
- A shipment of American-made Tow anti-tank missiles recently arrived in Oman, a highly placed informant said. The United States agreed last month to sell an undisclosed quantity of missiles in the first known direct arms sale by Washington to the Omani government. This was regarded as a further indication of growing American interest in Oman, a conservative oil-producing nation, which is getting support from the Shah of Iran against a radical-led rebellion in Dhofar Province. [New York Times]
- Martyn Green, the British actor and singer who set the standard in Gilbert and Sullivan interpretation for a half a century, died in Hollywood of a blood infection. He was 75 years old. He had been working steadily up to death. His last appearance was in the British play "The Sea," whose Chicago run ended Dec. 22. [New York Times]