TV & VIDEO - April 16, 1987

A black group at the University of Michigan said Tuesday it wants CBS newsman Mike Wallace dumped as commencement speaker because of a remark he made six years ago. The United Coalition Against Racism said the charge stems from a “60 Minutes” story Wallace did about a San Diego savings bank accused of duping, among others, a black and a Latino victim. During a break in the interview, a savings official admitted the contracts were hard to read. Wallace, unaware the tape was still rolling, said they were especially “hard to read if you’re reading them over the watermelon or the tacos.” Wallace, a 1939 Michigan alumnus, says the black group’s complaint is “absolute foolishness.” The university has been the target of recent protests by black students over alleged racism on campus.