Page 2-B-Friday, September7, 1979-The Michigan Daily
U of Mass. students
return to crumbling
library
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) - Six years
ago the University of Massachusetts
opened a modern 28-story tower touted
as "the tallest library in the world."
But when classes resumed Wednesday,
students found the library barricaded,
its brick facade crumbling and its one
million books temporarily out of reach.
"This is no way to start the school
year," lamented Chancellor Henry Kof-
fler as librarians tried to determine
which essential books would be.moved
from the building so students can use
them.
KOFFLER, IN his first year as chan-
cellor, said the main library will
remain closed until engineers figure out
what is causing the mysterious rain of
brick chips from its sides. The entire
plaza outside the building is ringed with
barricades to keep people at a safe
distance.
The library, whose vertical windows
give-it the appearance of a giant accor-
dion, stands in striking contrast to the
much smaller and older red brick
structures that dot the campus. It was
completed in 1973, and its facade has
been flaking intermittently ever since. .
School officials said the latest closing
was prompted by a consulting
engineer's report delivered last week
which warned that the problem was
potentially far more serious than had
been thought.
UNIVERSITY spokesman Arthur
Clifford said tests revealed stresses all
along the facade's links to the tower's
concrete walls. Although officials noted
the potential danger of the falling brick
chips, no one on the 24,000-student cam-
pus has reported being struck by one.
But, "It's a hell of an inconvenience,"
said one senior who requested
anonymity. "They had all summer to
fix this problem.
"It's not so bad for me.. . I know my
way around," he said.
"But the freshmen are going to have
a tough time."
BOOKS ARE available at the
libraries of various graduate depar-
tments and schools, he explained: "But
you have to know they're there."
Monte Pearson, president of the
Graduate Student Association, said
research for his dissertation could be
crippled by a prolonged library closing.
"If students have to go elsewhere for
their research, then this isn't much of a
graduate school," he complained.
James Johnson, an announcer at the
university radio station, was an un-
dergraduate when the library was built.
"The library we had before was suf-
ficient. But they had to build this, just to
have the tallest in the world."
OTHER STUDENTS found the
closing amusing. Ken Grand Pre said,
"The only reaction I hear is, 'Here it
goes again.' It's a big joke on cam-
pus ... It's just another example of the
efficiency of the university."
Library Director Richard Talbot said
it was likely that about 250,000 books
would be moved to neighboring Godell
Hall, the former library building which
has not been entirely converted for
other uses. Librarians have computer
records showing which books were the
most used.
He said reference books, periodicals,
and volumes placed on reserve by
teachers also will be moved and books
might be carried from the library
through a tunnel to another section of
campus.
DAVID O'CONNELL & Sons of
Holyoke was the contractor for the
library and the internationally
renowned Edward Durrell Stone was
the architect. C.E. Maguire of
Providence was design engineer.
University officials said it would be
"unfair" at this time to single out any
one of three as responsible for the
scaling facade.
O'Connell could not be reached to
comment on the shutdown.
The library is not the school's only
building problem.
A heating plant built in 1974 has never
worked because of leaky pipes. The $22
million Campus Center has a leaky
roof. The six-story campus parking
garage has cracks in the walls and
leaks in the roof. The Graduate Resear-
ch Center has become nationally known
for the mysterious minor illnesses and
menstrual problems that afflict many
of its workers.
Sailors jailed for wearing KKK robes
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NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The white
robes ofthe Ku Klux Klan (KKK) have
appeared on another Navy, ship, and
four sailors are in the brig of the air-
craft carrier Independence as a result.
Three whites were arrested after
they entered a compartment on the In,
dependence wearing the white sheets
and hoods symbolic of the KKK.
A BLACK SAILOR was arrested after
he pulled a knife on the three hooded
figures. Another black sailor took the
knife away, and there were no injuries,
a Navy spokesman said.
Lt. Cmdr. Jim-Lois, a public affairs
spokesman for'the Navy here, said the
three white sailors were being held
pending special court-martials. The
black sailor is awaiting a captain's
mast.
A court-martial is roughly equivalent
to a civilian trial while a captain's mast
is a non-judicial hearing conducted by
the commanding officer of a vessel.
"I DON'T HAVE any identification of
the men involved as yet," Lois said
Wednesday. "I have wired the ship for
the information, but since they are in
the Mediterranean, it will take a couple
of days to get a reply."
Lois said the incident occurred last
Friday while the ship was in port at
Athens, Greece.
The Norfolk-based aircraft carrier is
the third Navy ship to report Klan ac-
tivity on board. The others were the
Concorde, a supply ship based here,
and the submarine tender Canopus in
Charleston, S.C.
NAVY SPOKESPERSONS say the
Concord now has seven known KKK
members- and six to 10 known sym-
pathizers, while the Canopus has a
fewer but undisclosed number.
Two of the three whites arrested
aboard the Independence were mem-
bers of the Klan, but it isn't known how
many other sailors aboard the carrier,
which carries a crew of about 4,500,1
might belong to the white-supremacy,
organization.
Adm. Thomas Hayward, chief of-
naval operations, said in a message to
ship commanders last week that while
it is not illegal to belong to the KKK, it
is illegal for a sailor to do anything that
disrupts the capability of the ship to
function or promotes disharmony
among sailors assigned to the ships,
i
Police to intensify search
for MSU 'Computer whiz'
4
EAST LANSING (UPI)-Police said
Wednesday they will make an aerial
search of the Michigan State University
- campus in hopes of deciphering an ap-
parent bulletin board map left by a 16-
year-old computer whiz who disap-
peared three weeks ago.
Authorities also said they may bring
in specially-trained tracking dogs from
Texas to aid in the search for James
Dallas Egbert III, who last was seen
Aug. 15 in a dormitory cafeteria. -
THE FLIGHT MAY provide a link
tbetween a thumbtack-studded bulletin-
board the youth left in his dormitory
room and campus geography, police
said.
Bill Dear, a private investigator
hired by Egbert's family, said the
youth, described by friends and
teachers as a computer genius, was a
member of a campus organization for
homosexual students and was a staunch
supporter of gay rights.
Both Dear and campus police were
basing most of their search for the
Dayton, Ohio native on the bulletin
board and its possible connection with a
complex fantasy game.
DEAR ALSO SAID investigators
have concluded that the youth did not
write a suspected suicide note, which
said he wanted to be cremated if his
body was found.
"We think someone was trying to
mimic his writing," he said. "It may
have been traced" from another sam-
ple of Egbert's handwriting.
The young man was active in a group
which played "Dungeons and
Dragons"--a game involving fantasy
and role-playing. Police said they were
seeking to learn from other game
players the meaning of the pattern of
chrome thumbtacks and colored pins on
Egbert's bulletin board.
"THE NUMBER of different pins in-
dicates thebeginning of the game. We
believe it could be a maze or a clue to
his whereabouts," Dear said.
He said some avid players may at-
tempt to play the game according to
Egbert's pattern to help unraval its
meaning.
Sgt. Bill Wardwall of the MSU cam-
pus police said authorities have mailed
a photograph of the bulletin board to
T.S.R. Hobbies, the Wisconsin manuf-
cturer of the "Dungeons and Dragons"
game.
Although police have not concluded
that foul play was involved, Dear said'
Egbert may not have left his usually
cluttered dormitory room willingly.
"His room was neat, his clothes were
folded in a military style right down to
the socks," he said. "Nothing was
missing. He was wearing a shirt, T-
shirt and shoes."
In 1885, George Washington-
developed a transformer which allowed
a high-voltage alternating electricar
current to be transmitted over great'
distances at relatively low cost, says
IPO Inc., a group dedicated to preser-
ving the patent system as an incentive
to innovation and creativity.
Our Professional Books Dept. stocks
a really fine selection of
BUSINESS-
TEXTS &
REFERENCES
including such subjects as: Taxes,
Accounting, Management, Small
4.
q4~
"I
Business, and
CPA Reviews, to
name several
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