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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, September, 5, 1974 1
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By GORDON ATCHESON
'£The worst problem sharing a bath-
room with men," say a 19-year-old wo-
man living in a University residence hall
"is that in the morning all the sinks are
covered with shaving cream."
Her casual attitude is typical of the
students now living in two dormitories
where on some floors coed bathrooms
have become the accepted norm.
HOWEVER, the University adminis-
trators who officially prohibit dorm resi-
dents of the opposite sex from using the
same bathrooms view the situation with
somewhat more consternation. They fear
the school's public image suffers when
alumni 'and parents of students hear
about the phenomenon..
Since the coed facilities are not sanc-
tioned, nobody knows exactly how many
actually exist, but they apparently spring
up in direct proportion to the number of
coed corridors in a dormitory.
In the 500-person Alice Lloyd Hall
there are nine coed corridors serving
about half the residents and each of
those corridors has a coed bathroom.
RESIDENTS OF East Quad, which
houses about 800 students, say there are
"several" coed facilities in that building.
But the directors of Lloyd and East Quad
officially deny the existence of any coed
bathrooms.
Despite University pressure, the stu-
dents show no signs of relinquishing the
coed facilities which they find extreme-
ly practical.
Although the residents now accept
coed bathrooms as routine part of dor-
mitory life, many students initially had
qualms about using them. "At first I
didn't like to ,shave in the bathroom
because the women would stare at me,"
one young man admits sheepishly. "But
they aren't interested anymore."
THE MORNING rush in a coed facility
seems, no different than in any other
residence hall bathroom. Mumbled
greetings and comments about the wea-
ther or upcoming exams liberally punc-
tuate the frantic search for bobby pins
and tooth paste tube caps.
At the same time towel draped figures
head for the showers with little concern
over who else is coming for going.
"It's not as if we have wild orgies, I
mean early in the morning we're still too
bleary-eyed to see much of anything
anyway," one Lloyd Hall resident ju-
diciously points out.
The students describe encounters dur-
ing the day as much less harried but
equally nonchalant.
A FEMALE DORM dweller explains
that she wouldn't think of walking down
a corFidor in her pajamas but isn't em-
barrissed to use the coed bathrooms.
"There really is a lot of privacy," she
says. "All the showers have curtains
and nobody runs around without any
clothes on."
Her roommate claims that "the coed
bathrooms have become so common-
place we don't think about them much
anymore." But she like most of the
other students quietly declines to give
her name because her parents "wouldn't
understand how it is."
AT LEAST a few residents in Lloyd
Hall do not understand either, and con-
sistently go to other floors where the
bathrooms are not coed.
The University officials also still try
to operate the facilities on a sexually
segregated basis.
"As an administrator I'm supposed to
get rid of the coed johns but I'm not
going to stand in front of the doors and
check people in and out," says hall di-
rector Richard Munson Lloyd.
It's pretty clear the students are win-
ning the battle and that coed bathrooms
probably cannot be eliminated simply
because the dorm residents will continue
to use "whatever facilities are the most
available."
Art info center provides
news on cultural events
Martha Cooktrue luxury
By JOAN HOFFMAN
Martha Cook is the most luxurious and
allegedly the most virginal residence on
campus. As'one woman claims, "Martha
Cook is the biggest chastity belt in the
Midwest."
The women's dorm has been derisively
labeled Prude's Palace and the Virgin
Vault because of the infamous visitation
rule to which it tenaciously clings. Men
are forbidden to venture beyond the first
floor during the week.
However, the barriers, between the
sexes are smashed on the weekends when
men can invade the women's quarters
until 1:30 on Saturday and midnight on
Friday and Sunday nights. No stern resi-
dent director, however, roams the halls
in search of stray males, and, according
to well-placed sources - the morning
often finds several brave men tiptoeing
down the long, regally vaulted hallway,
still brushing the sleep from their eyes.
THE WOMEN are unanimous in citing
the building's lovely, palatial style as the
main reason for foregoing the cinder-
block cubicles found in most coed dorms.
One woman, recalling her first glimpse
of the marble Venus poised gracefully at
the end of the long, windowed entrance
hallway says., this place is a museum: it's
gorgeous."
Barb Singer, a former South Quad resi-
dent breathed a sigh of relief when she
moved into Martha Cook.
"It's so calm here. The quad was a
madhouse - who wants to come home
to a zoo?" she comments.
HOWEVER, not all the dorm's resi-
dents were quite as satisfied with its re-
fined atmosphere.
Sue Slotnick, who is disappointed with
the women who live in Martha Cook,
comments, "I thought people here would
be more interested in learning, but they're
grade-conscious and not very serious about
intellectual pursuits."
Although Martha Cook used to be strict-
ly an honors dorm, grades are no longer
an ostensible admissions criterion. The
women, however, still maintain an accur-
ate reputation for being book-cracking
academicians.
A HIGH PERCENTAGE of pre-law and
pre-med students choose Cook for its quiet
atmosphere, cozy study rooms and maid
service which allows them maximum
study hours. Fittingly, a statue of Por-
tia, Shakespeare's most intellectual wom-
en, stands within the narrow niche above
the building's doorway.
Because the dorm is conveniently lo-
cated on South University across from
the UGLI, it is possible to roll drowsily
out of bed at 8:00 and be meticulously
taking notes by 8:10.
While other dorm dwellers pay exorbi-
tant prices for papery eggs at the nearby
greasy spoons, slosh down salty oatmeal
in their rooms, or stoically endure hunger
pangs until noon, Martha Cookies, as the
residents are both affectionately and de-
rogatorily known, feast on hearty break-
fasts in their own dining room.
On lazy Sundays, they forego the din-
ing room and munch on pastry, juice, and
coffee served in the kitchenettes on each
floor. This Sunday tradition has been
much distorted, and many uninformed
students disdainfully talk about the "Mar-
tha Cook princesses who have breakfast
in bed every morning."
IN THE SPRING, the women dine on
the veranda, which overlooks a lush green
lawn and a well-manicured garden.
Ann Peckenpaugh, a Cook resident,
speaking of the lively volleyball game in
progress, the private tennis court, and the
bikinied women pursuing tans as studious-
ly as their finals, says enthusiastically,
"This place is a country-club in the
spring."
Blue jeans, even the unfaded, high-
waisted fashionable variety, are disdained
at Martha Cook's sit-down dinners. Four
times a week the dorm's 154 women don
dresses, skirts, and "nice" paints to con-
sume cuisine that definitely ranks a cut
above the usual dorm fare.
While some residents enjoy the formal
dinners as a relaxing interlude, otherst
label them "ridiculous, pretentious, and
too long."
After small talking at dinners and Fri-
day afternoon teas for a year, Mary Cy-
bulski, concedes, "I feel a lot more com-I
fortable around my grandmother's
friends."
ONE MARTHA COOK tradition many
women attack as "sexist and outdated"
is the code language that identifies male
guests as "callers," and women as "visi-
tors." It is of prime importance to others,
however, meaning the difference between
a critical glance in the mirror and a flick
of mascara or merely descending "au
naturel."
Although many residents welcome the
sit-down dinners, maid service, weekly
teas, formal dances, and plush furnish-
ings, other women express a disquieting
dissatisfaction with the gracious living.
Cybulski, who is leaving the dorm's
comfort for a co-op this year, explains,
"I feel like I've been really pampered.
I really don't need all this stuff," she
says gesturing at the brocaded sofas and
inlaid Steinway piano in the Gold Room.
THE LUXURIOUS surroundings that
compel one women to seek out co-op liv-
ing appeal magnetically to most residents.
Therese Johnson, a three year veteran of
Martha Cook, says with obvious pleasure,
"Eating out on the terrace I feel like Miss
Ritz." She admits however, "When the
maid first vacuumed my room, I freaked
right out."
Living in a country club and a museum
can be "a wonderful novelty" as resident
Lisa Sommers asserts. She predicts, how-
ever, that "It's so pretty, safe, and con-
venient that I think I will get tired of it.
One year I'll conclude that I don't need
153 girls around to keep me happy."
By JANET HARSHMAN
You've always wanted to learn
the ancient art of belly dancing
and wondered where you could.
Now all you have to do is wiggle
up to the second floor of the
Michigan Union, walk into the
large room with the 'fireplace
and high ceilings, and look at
the wall.
Here in the new Pendleton
Arts Information Center, which
opened in April, is everything
you've always wanted to know
about art events but were afraid
to ask. Included are resources
concerning the arts in Ann Ar-
bor, Detroit, and even as far
away as Stratford, Canada.
FORMERLY THE Pentdleton
Library, but more recently used
as an attic for storage, the Arts
Information Center offers a uni-
que facility to those interested
in the arts.
"There isn't another place like
this anywhere on campus," says
Marsha Dykstra, an art student
who runs the Center. "Here you
can find out what's going on in
Ann Arbor in terms of, art,
theater, film, dance, music,
books and local history."
However, the center is not just
for those who are interested in
art.
"IT'S AN INFORMAL meet-
ing place for people to come
and share ideas," says Dykstra,
"a place where people can come
and meet and talk about their
interests."
Pamphlets, posters, announce-
ments, schedules, and books
bedeck the various "interest is-
lands" in the spacious corners
of the former library.
In the, music. and dance "is-
land," for example, the wall dis-
plays concern announcements
and clas schedules for s u c h
courses as "The Ancient Art of
Belly Dancing" and "The Art
of the Hula."
Large, colorfully - decorated
notebooks lie on tables in each
island area, contaiinng newslet-
ters, bulletins, and other per-
tinent information about the
various arts.
BESIDES ITS function as a
resource service, the Center will
have another purpose in the fu-
ture.
"We're hoping to use it for
various organizations that want
to come and meet," Dykstra
says, "for things like poetry
readings and recitals."
For now, though, next time
you want to know where you can
don a grass skirt and shake a
little skin, you'll know where
to ask.
Students, street freaks toke down
at annual Ann Arbor hash festival
V®U5
Bivouc
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SWork and Western shirts
" Hiking bootsr
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Complete camping gear
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HAIRSTYLING
As You Like It!
NEW TRENDS FOR 1974
Trims-Shags
and Razor Cuts
2 SHOPS-
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611 E. University
615 E. Liberty
tmOD
By MARTIN PORTER
They came out in droves on
April Fool's day and the a i r
quickly filled with that charac-
teristic sweet aroma. Amidst
gloomy skies and unusual cold,
approximately 1500 street people
and students converged on the
Diag to celebrate the Third An-
nual Ann Arbor Hash Bash.
A
PERFECT
M ATC H.
PUT THE LFE
OUT OF YOUR MATCHES
BEFORE THEY PUT THE UFE
OUT OF YOUR FORESTS.
Despite an apparent lack of
coordination and a low supply of
hashish, nothing was able to
deter the dope smoking popula-
tion from holding their tradi-
tional springtime fest.
The Human Rights Party
(HRP) voiced concern over the
possibility that studenowstd lu
possibility that studetns would
get too involved in the festivi-
ties and would forget to vote in
he April city election. T h e
crowd was continually remind-
ed, either by leaflets or loud-
speakers, to remember the ser-
ious business of the day.
HRP furnished a shuttle serv-
ice from the Diag to the polls.
UNFORTUNATELY, it seem-
ed that the majority of t h e
crowd, mostly escapees f r o m
the city's high schools, w e r e
not old enough to vote.
One explanation of the suc-
cessful "Bash" was that it co-
incided with the voting on the
$5 marijuana proposal which
was narrowly approved by the
city's voters. Yet, few people
on the Diag seemed concerned
with the election.
"I came out here to s m o k e
dope, not to demonstrate in fav-
or of HRP," said one student,
"I'm sick and tired of people
in this town getting so serious
all of a sudden - what's wrong
with some good clean illegal
fun."
- IT WAS THE threat of "good,
clean, illegal fun" that caused
some to predict punitive actions
on the part of the city authori-
ties.
University Safety Director,
Col. Frederick Davids warned,
"If there is any noticeable vio-
lation of the law you can bet
the Ann Arbor police will take
care of it."
The fear of arrests turned out
to be no more than common
dope smokers' paranoia. Two
city plainclothes officers were
spotted onthe scene, buttno ar-
rests were made despite the
fact that marijuana and its de-
rivitives were being smoked
right beneath their very noses.
Landlords charge
astronomical rents.
(Continued from Page 8)
provide at least tolerable living
quarters. Unfortunately, t h e s e
dwellings are usually' snapped
up by enterprising students ten
to twelve months before the fall
term.
Consequently, if you - are a
freshman or a transfer student,
your chances of finding a rea-
sonably priced attractive dwell-
ing during July or August are
practically nil.
If you're lucky enough to find
a suitable apartment, hrowever,
only half the battle is over. Af-
ter you've waded carefully
through all the legalese in the
lease, it is your duty to make
sure that your landlord lives up
to his half of the bargain.
IF THE lease specifies a fur-
nished apartment, make sure
that all the furnishings prom-
tion of appliances, fixtures and
furnishings-g e t t i n g back a
damage deposit is often harder
than wringing blood from a
stone.
It is also a good idea to pur-
chase a copy of the housing
code at city hall. Landlords are
often much more complian
when their tenants are aware of
the local laws and threaten legal
action.
IF YOUR PLEAS for main-
tenance go unanswered despite
repeated reminders to you
landlord, you still have severa
recourses available.
One alternative is contactin
the people at the Student Lega
Aid office .in the Michigan Un
ion. Jonathan Rose, resident at
torney on the staff has muc
experience in dealing with land
lord-tenant cases. a
The Legal Aid office will gen
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