UMass Paper

In the wake of last week's takeover of the offices of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst student newspaper, editors of the paper and representatives of Third World groups at the University have agreed to a 12-point plan that grants the groups a voice in selecting the newspaper's Third World editor.

The Third World groups will select up to three candidates for the position of Third World editor, according to a spokesman for The Collegian. The board of editors of the paper will elect one of the candidates as editor, but if the editors reject all three a conference committee of editors and Third World representatives will resolve the situation.

Thirty black students occupied The Collegian's offices after the paper's black affairs editor and assistant editor had been fired. This move was taken by the paper's managing editor, Charles O'Connor, because, he said, the two were not doing their jobs.

The two, Richard S. Gordon and Abdul Malik, said that racism caused their dismissal.

Gordon and Malik have now been named editor and assistant editor, respectively, of "Grassroots," a weekly supplement to The Collegian which covers the university's Third World community.

O'Connor said yesterday he doesn't think the agreement "gives us much progress besides giving us something tangible to work with." He said he would prefer to see Third World students join the paper "through existing channels."

O.C. Bob Daniels, associate dean of students at UMass, said yesterday, "We recognize it is only a temporary solution...that this problem is a symptom of a larger one." He said, however, that "both groups ought to be commended for finally sitting down and dealing with the problems."