Wednesday, August 27, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
page F IvE+'
Wednesday, August 27, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Fiv&'
Student
power secures
liberalized
dormitory rules
By MARCIA ABRAMSON
and SCOTT MIXER
In 1967, as students realized
that they were entitled to con-
trol the way they lived, a full-
scale drive began to end one of
the most repressive, arbitrary
University traditions: d o r m
rules.
And that drive has been com-
pletely successful.' In spring, 19-
69, the Regents finally ended all
dorm residency requirements,
thus granting each student the
right to determine his own life
style.
In addition, as this supple-
ment goes to press, the Regents
are expected to soon end the
last vestige of the women's cur-
few-the requirement of paren-
tal permission for eliminating
hours of women who do choose
to live in the dorms. The resi-
dence halls board of governors
has already approved the move.
The drive against dorm rules
was tied in with the continua-
tion of the Student Power
Movement of 1966. In April 19-
67, student activists won con-
trol of the highest appellate
student judiciary, then called
Joint Judiciary Council. The
new JJC promptly announced it
would not enforce any rules un-
less they were made by students.
Bolstered by this decision,
student activists in fall 1967 be-
gan the campaign against the
women's curfew and the limita-
tions on visitation by the oppo-
site sex, which were both estab-
lished by the board of goveinors.
These dorm rules were basic-
ally designed to prevent sexual
intercourse, which is still offi-
cially banned in University
housing. But many resident ad-
visers did not enforce the rules,
and many girls who wanted to
house governments and staff
members had stopped observing
the rules completely.
And in December, the board of
governors eliminated visitation
regulations, leaving the decision
up to each individual house.
The board also ended the
curfew for a one-term trial per-
iod, stipulating only that par-
ental permission would be re-
quired for women under 21. The
Regents approved this decision
in January. The trial was a suc-
cess, and in the fall, 1968, ano-
ther trial was set for one year
-with parental permission still
required.
But, the board subsequently
came to its own decision that it
was unnecessary to require par-
ental permission, and this was
recommended to the Regents
on a permanent bass.
Also wiped out during the
drive-but with less fanfare and
debate - were residence hall
dress requirements, which forc-
ed girls to wear skirts to dinner
and established Sunday dress
up rules. The rules were so un-
popular that dorm staffs elim-
inated them quickly as soon as
students began complaining.
The only remaining dorm rule
was the residency requirement
for all freshman men, and fresh-
man and sophomore women.
Students had been complaining
about the dorms for as long as
there had been dorms, but the
complaints meant more as the
movement against regulations
became successful. In addition,
many women argued that the
requirement discriminated on
basis of sex, and some even talk-
ed of bringing a court suit.
But dorm housing itself con-
tinued to be in demand, as some
units were converted into offices
and the Residential College took
over East Quad. Housing offi-
cials began to realize that the
dorms would probably be filled
even if there were no require-
ments, and studies from other
universities which had aban-
doned required residency back-
ed them up.
At Purdue, for instance, 95
percent of freshmen live in
dorms, and at Wisconsin 81 per
cent of the men and 91 percent
of the women in the freshman
class choose the dorms.
In addition, more upperclass-
men at the University were
staying in the dorms, at least in
part as a result of the end of
the old living regulations.
As a result, the board of gov-
ernors and the Regents, after
careful study, ended the resi-
dency requirement for all stu-
dents who obtain parental per-
mission.
But the decision has not re-
sulted in a mass exodus from the
dorms. Figures available so far
indicate that most of next year's
freshman class will live in the
residence hails, and that the
dorms may have to turn away
as many as 500 people.
The "liberated" sophomore
women are also sticking with the
dorms. Only 27 percent of them
have chosen not to live in the
residence halls next year.
The end of compulsory dorm
residence has placed the resi-
dence halls in the housing mar-
ket on an equal basis. It is no
longer just sound academic po-
licy to try to make the dorms
liveable-it is a matter of eco-
nomic survival.
The change in the dorm's in-
age as an elected living arrange-
ment rather than an assigned
barracks situation should have
a profound effect on the dorm
dweller.
The "I-can't-wait-till-I-get-
out-of-here" attitude and the
chronic complaints about food
and lack of privacy may be re-
placed by attitudes of students
who have selected a dorm for
some of the unquestionable mer-
its-prepared meals, reasonable
leasing agreements, a multi-
tude of educational and recre-
ational facilities, and no hassle
with a landlord over such triv-
ias as garbage collection.
The University is selling the
dorms in a determined program
to attract students, despite the
huge surplus of applicants ex-
pected for fall.
A co-ed floor arrangement is
also in the making. There seems
to be little opposition from the
administration to allowing males
and females to occupy alterna-
ting rooms on the second floor
of Mosher-Jordan Hall, and if
the experiment is a success,
many more similar housing ar-
rangements could become reali-
ties in response to student de-
mand for them.
Cooperafive a ternafive
Student protests repressive dorm rules
avoid late penalties simply did-
n't come in at all or received
permision from lenient advisers.
The rules were not uniformly en
forced.
Almost simultaneously, a wo-
man's house decided not to en-
force the curfew and a men's
house voted in 24-hour "open-
opens"-every day. After that,
the rules were on the way out
as JJC and Student Govern-
ment Council supported the
drive.
Women at Stockwell and Bur-
sley Halls stayed out past cur-
few. They appealed to JJC, and
the court ruled that the curfew
was illegal because it had not
been set by students.
The revolution spread quickly,
and by December almost every
student on campus backed the
movement. In many dorms,
By LORNA CHEROT
If you can't tolerate the regimented life of
the dormitory, and can't afford the extravagant
rent for an apartment in Ann Arbor, then co-
operative living may well be your salvation.
Although Inter-Cooperative Council is an
autonomous body, it is considered a form of
University housing without the myriad list of
regulations.
There are neither restrictions concerning pets,
nor the imposition of dress codes. Also, the posi-
tion of "house mother" was eliminated begin-
ning with this fall.
Issues like work schedules, meal hours, elec-
tion of officers and maintenance of the house
are determined by the individual houses. There
is no overall policy in these matters.
The only stipulation enforced by ICC is that
contracts of residents under 21 must be co-
signed by their parents, because state law for-
bids minors to enter a legal contract.
Cooperative living is a definite financial sav-
ing for the student. Room and board amounts
to approximately $80 per month or $750 a year.
Yet for the same services, pricesrin the dorms
range from $900 to $1200 per year.
Actually you get more benefits from co-op
living, since there are free laundry facilities, and
no definite hours are set for meals.
There is also an estimated saving of $20 per
month if you live in a co-op rather than an
apartment. Although the average rent is ap-
proximately $60 per month, expenses for food,
electricity and gas could easily bring costs to
$100 per month.
Yet co-op living demands a special kind of
person.
The co-op system needs responsible people,
who are tolerant and generous and are eager
to promote a congenial and informal, yet effi-
cient atmosphere. For the financial savings is
a result of the fact that co-opers do all the
housework themselves.
There are 11 cooperatives, which house some
350 roomers and boarders, located on Central
Campus. Debs, Michigan, Owen and Pickerill
are for men, while Lester, Osterweil, Stevt
and Vail are for women. Brandeis is for ma,
ried couples only, and Mark VII is reserved for
graduate women.
Nakamura, the largest house, is the only coed
one. But other houses are experimenting with
coed living for the summer ,and will make a
final decision either this fall or in the winter
term.
In view of the R gents action in January,
which released all men and women under 21
from the confines of the dorms, ICC has ex-
panded its holdings to include a cooperative
development on North Campus.
The 18 house complex has received a $1.24
million, loan from the Department of Housing
and Urban Development. This complex is ex-
pected to house 216 students.
The complex will be located on a three-acre
site that ICC has purchased from the Univer-
sity and 12 students will occupy each of the
18 houses.
Each house will be divided into two sitcs
containing two doubles, two singles and a bath-
room. The suite arrangement may allow for
coed living. In addition, each house will have
a common room complete with a kitchenette for
snacks, group activities, television viewing, and
late study.
On the ground floor, space will be provided
for study areas, a library, four dining rooms,
two kitchens, washing machines, photo develop-
ment, a work shop, and common rooms for large
group-activities.
So join the experiment in socialized living,
which allows the benefits of group living, with-
out costing a person's individuality.
'U' housing: Creative mediocrity
By SHARON WEINER
From the miniscule cubes of
Markley to the cells with strip-
ed curtains of Bursley . . .
from Mosher-Jordan's elevators
to West Quad's somber stair-
wells .. . from the rational to
South Quad's kitchen, Univer-
sity dorm life is a completely
unique experience for over 8,000
students each year.
Living in University housing
is an education in itself - not
including actual.classes held in
the buildings or educational
programs offered by some of the
more ambitious dorms.
In the dorms of over 1200
population, such as Bursley,
Markley, and South Quad, you
learn to cope with masses of
strangers, patiently accept end-
less lines, and tolerate a heir-
archy of resident advisors and
housemothers who are there to
"serve you."
The smaller dorms - like
Betsy Barbour and Helen New-
Out in the wil1ds
By LYNN WEINER
Everyone hates it at first.
Especially the freshmen who discover they've been placed in
the new 1200-student, coed Bursley Hall on North Campus by the
University Housing Office, while their first, second, and third
choices have been ignored.
But after the jokes about "mail by dogsled" and the different
zip code have worn off, the student either moves back to central
campus or stays and learns to appreciate not being within walking
distance of Angel Hall.
The commuting is the main disadvantage. An average 10 min-
ute ride can be miserable when shared with over the legal limit
of passengers stuffed on a miserable bus at 8 a.m.
And an occasional "wildcat" driver strike or erratic service
can be frustrating, especially during finals week.
But the beauty of North Campus and the dorm itself balance
the disadvantages. Bursley is clean, big rooms, carpets in the halls,
"soft-serve" ice cream in the dining hall, and the best food in the
residence hall system.
The dorm is equipped to provide a complete living environ-
ment for the student. It contains a library, pool and ping-pong
rooms, a photo dark room, weight-lifting rooms, music practice
rooms, snack bar, nice lounges .. .
It also has more than its share of peeping toms, and sadistic
jokers, encouraged by the dorm's relative isolation.
The isolation also causes what may be a unique cohesiveness
among the students of Bursley. Or perhaps attempts as "socialia-
tion of the freshmen" and cultural programs carry more weight
out in the wilds.
The composition of the residents is probably more musical
than the average dorm because of the proximity to the School of
Music. Nursing, engineering and literary school students make up
the bulk of the rest.
But whether the student calls it the "Bursley Hilton" or the
"overgrown high school," he usually isn't neutral to Bursley. Burs-
ley has both the highest transfer-out and the highest return rate
of the dormitory system.
berry -- offer similar divertise-
ments, with the added advant-
age (?) of sit-down dinners and
girls-must-wear-skirts- i n - t h e
dining-room types of rules.
And the food - nowhere, I'm
sure, in the entire state can you
get the selection offered here in
the dorms. Green roast beef or
ground round just isn't prepared
similarly anywhere else. But not
only are they unusual, the kit-
chen staff is creative and even
clever.
For instance, if something
like applesauce or fruit cock-
tail has a wilted lettuce leaf
or a sprig of parsley on top, it's
salad; if not ,it's dessert.
Or the things ground round
turns to after the first day.
Chili and chop suey and spag-
hetti and beef piew-- a veritable
international center.
But the food is only half of
what you're paying for. The
room itself deserves some men-
tion. Not much, but some.
If you're lucky, you get a
sink in South Quad. If you have
no luck at all, you'll get the
bathroom facilities of a Stock-
well or West Quad. Actually, the
situation is dismal enough to
leave for the resident to adjust
to without prior description.
But location is actually the
most important critereon (all
dorms are more or less dismal.)
Location either attracts or re-
pels the majority of Bursley re-
sidents to their home in the
North Campus woods, repels
most residents of the Hill, and
reconciles most of South Quad
to the swill produced in the kit-
chen.
But the people - yes the
people - are what constitute
the true character of a dorm
and contribute to your perman-
ent memories of the University,
The people make a dorm great,
or disgusting,
Perhaps you'll be rooming
with an exotic Arabian prin-
cess (if such things still exist) -
and you're a Zionist. Or maybe
as a potential anarchist you
must learn to live with a future
WAC or a ROTC supporter.
But whatever or whomever,
your roommate will afford you
the opportunity to pretend to
be what you're not or may even
become a friend with whom you
don't have to play roles.
Whether your memories be of
the bats of Stockwell, (who fly
in from the graveyard across
the street) or the Bursley bus
tride, East Quad's architecture or
walks up the hill, your dorm
experience, will - fortunately
or not - be forever fused as an
integral part of the University
experience.
And with recent changes in
dormitory rules, if you don't
like the experience, you can now
move out without waiting until
your junior year,
"Safety belts? Not if
I'm just going down to
the supermarket."
-Kathleen Farrell
(1943.1968)
"Safety belts? They
just make me nervous.
Besides, they wrinkle
your clothes."
-Louis Claypool
(1931-1968)
"Who can ever
remember to use the
darned things?"
-Gordon Fenton
(1921-1968)
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