September 2, 1974

Arab League on Sept 1 sets Oct 26 as date for conf of Arab leaders in Rabat, Morocco, to work out joint strategy for next phase of Middle East peace talks; 20 delegations also take up Palestinian request to enter question of Palestine as separate item on agenda of forthcoming UN General Assembly; request is believed certain to be endorsed by Arab League and to be supported later by so-called nonaligned nations; request was submitted by Palestine Liberation Orgn (PLO) chmn Yasir Arafat; Palestinians hope that their cause will be recognized as one of 'natl liberation' and that UN debate will increase their leverage in seeking their 'natl rights'; by this, they mean establishment of Palestinian state on west bank of Jordan River and in Gaza, both of which are occupied by Israel; by setting Oct date for Arab summit conf, delegates seem to have concluded that conflict between Jordan and Palestinians over who should repr west bank Palestinians in any peace talks will be left to Arab leaders to decide; Egyptian Pres Sadat's July communique with Jordanian King Hussein that PLO reprs all Palestinians except those in Jordan discussed (M)

AFL-CIO pres George F Meany says organized labor would be compelled to strike against voluntary wage guidelines proposed by Labor Sec Peter J Brennan in order to catch up on wage increases to combat price increases, int on ABC-TV program Issues and Answers; says striking under such conditions would appear unpatriotic (S)

CUNY study of grades awarded in '67 and '72 finds grading practices at univ's 18 undergrad colls vary so widely that student who would not graduate at 1 campus might graduate with honors at another branch; finds open admissions did not produce any consistent shift in grading practices; rept, 1 of most detailed studies of grading ever produced in higher educ, was prepared by CUNY dean Lawrence Podell and staff members Rena Kramer and Dr Barry Kauffman; univ spokesman says that because 18 undergrad colls are disparate insts, no effort has been made to impose common grading standards; many of colls were autonomous entities before banding together in '61 to form CUNY; major findings include: largest percentage of students with high grades occurred at Queens Coll, while lowest grades were awarded at John Jay; marks awarded in educ courses were higher than for any other subject at almost all sr colls; failure rates were highest in mathematics, chemistry and biology; City Coll grades showed significant decline between '67 and '72; other findings listed (L)

Mgrs of artistic and entertainment attractions in NYC rept that attendance and receipts have increased despite rise in costs; those commenting include Met Opera mgr Francis Robinson, Variety (pub), League of NY Theaters exec dir Irving Cheskin, Amer Ballet repr Virginia Hymes, City Center exec dir Norman Singer, Lincoln Center spokesman John O'Keefe and Alvin Ailey Co gen mgr Ivy Clarke; those troupes discussed include Natl Ballet of Canada, Moiseyev Dance Co, and NY Philharmonic (M)

Ital Communist party makes strong bid, in form of frontpage ed in party newspaper L'Unita, to collaborate with Govt to save nation from econ disaster; pol observers in Italy are nevertheless struck by timing and forcefulness in wake of West Ger's granting of $2-billion loan to Italy to help country overcome its econ problems; ed declares that without Communists problems of econ crisis cannot be tackled; L'Unita also repts on West Ger's $2-billion loan to Italy, using remarkable restraint in its comments; paper merely observes that West Ger is seeking 'hegemony' in EEC; most Ital newspapers view West Ger loan as important success for Rumor Govt; Min Luigi Preti notes that West Ger, while granting large credit to Italy, has nevertheless requested part of its gold reserve as collateral, speech; financial sources say West Ger credit is for 6 mos but can be extented for 2 yrs limit; note that Italy will pay close to 8% interest and place 1/5 of its central bank's gold reserves at disposal of West Ger as guarantee for repayment (M)