iursuay, zepremoer o, I,;, r
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Hun ting
for
housing
in
A 2
RC: Activist stronghold
1- .t _
By STU McCONNELL j
"Hey, you write about hous-
ing for the Daily, right?" a
friend of mmine asked me in
January. "What's the best way
to find a good house or apart-
ment for fall?"
"Knock on every door in the'
city," I remarked drolly. '
"NO, BE serious," he said.
"I am serious," I replied.
"All the decent housing in thel
city passes from resident to
resident by word of mouth,' and:
the only way to find out where
it is and how much it costs is3
to pound the pavement."
"But isn't there a' list or
something?"
"Yes," I said. "It's calledt
telephone directory."
Not literally true, but
you're considering renting
Ann Arbor, be aware that y
are entering one of the in
crowded and expensive housi
markets in the country .
Average monthly rent for
one - bedroom apartment
about $200; for a two-bey
room about $290; for an, eff
iency - a unit where t
kitchen, bedroom, and livir
space all melt into one
other - approximately $185
Houses for groups of pec
generally average about $1
per bedroom, but such un
are scarce and are usuallyt
first to disappear from the, im
the
Making a coo
ket. Both houses and apart- they have available for the poverished tenant usually tries
ments are cheaper the farther fall in January and Febru- to rent out to someone who will
you get from campus, ary, and these units are al- be staying the summer.
As for overcrowding, the set- ways the first ones snappedb.
tlers in 1880 probably had anf upu because they take so lit- The whole subletting process
easier time trying to rent a tle effort to track down. is a kind of comic reversal of
spare log cabin. The vacancy Smaller landlords are more the fall housing market. There
rate for the "central eight"! elusive - and often less ex- are more places to live than,
census tracts of the city is less pensive. The only way to 1- people to live in them, and sub-1
than two per cent, and some: cate some rental property is let prices zoom down to an av-
units which were built for one to run around knocking on erage of about $60-$70 for a
person now contain four. doors - doors, that is, which single roam.
For the house-hunter, this aren't already decorated with
means two things. First, if you a sign reading "this ,house BUT, YOU say, if housing is
want a single room you're go- rented for fall." so scarce why doesn't somebody
ind to pay a lot for it - in One additional problem for build some more of it? A cogent
some places as much as $280. renters is "subletting." Most question, and one which Uni-
Second, the "season" for fall leases are for twelve months, versity officials, city adminis-
house and apartment shoppers but most students are only in trators, landlords and tenant
begins in mid-January. town for eight months. Result: activists have been asking for
Some of the larger rental lots of empty apartments in the the last twenty years. No ma-
agencies publish lists of what summer time, which the im- jor housing development has
been built in seven years, and
the last one was a monstrous
-- and monstrously expensive -
e Te
higfr rise,
Tenants say the reason for
/the housing crisis is that evil
landlords are conspiring to
a time when many people were i cisions are determined by the blockrnew developments and
having trouble making ends eight students elected each year raise rents. Landlords say pro-,
meet. ' to the Board of Directors by perty taxes are too high, land
In 1932, 25 men rented a house the ICC membership. prices are too steep, and evil
In 132,25 en entd atenants make the market unat-!
and called it the Michigan So- The Board decides the rate trats tokinestorThe ty
ciait House Thetused pany and direction of ICC expansion, says the University isn't meet-
of the same collective princi-
ples currently employed by the assumes responsibility for pro- ing its responsibility to house its
ICC. Within two years, two perty purchases, and collects students by building more!
other co - operatives were or- an assessment from the indi- dorms. And the University says
ganized, one a house for vd- vidual - houses to pay mort- it's the city's problem and!
men. gages, taxes and insurance pre- raises the dorm rates every
By 1937, students leaders rea- s year
I f o-te ned or c-orinaionTenants interested in organiz-
lized the need for co-ordination ICC SUBCOMMITTEES on de- ing to fight high rents, decep-
of co-op activityd on campus. velopment, education, mainte- tive landlord practices, and
T loped for i nance, and finance provide the scarce housing may be interest-:
group action in buyig, mem- Board with recommendations ed in the Ann Arbor Tenants
cl evntmathletiducand theroand manpower to implement Union, which is located on the:
r programs. fourth floor of the Union.
cooperative activity.
- - W W x M '"M-o- W -%W -
By MICHAEL YELLIN
When the 1500 members of the University's
service workers' union struck last spring,
most students reacted with apathy or animos-
ity to the loss of janitorial, hospital and dorm-
itory services.
But not at East Quad, home of the Resi-
dential College (RC). There, most of the 650
students supported the strike, ceasing work
in their cafeteria positions, joining picket
lines and preventing supply deliveries.
THIS BEHAVIOR WAS not unusual for
Residential College students. Ivy - covered
East Quad has long had the reputation of
housing students who become involved in
issues-the last large group of "radical" stu-
dents on campus.
Established as part of-the literary college
(LSA) ten years ago, the Residential College
combines the benefits of a large university
with the intimacy of a small liberal arts col-
lege. According to Carol LaMantia, Director
of the RC Counseling Office, the college was
born at the request of faculty members who
wanted to teach where "stress would be put
on undergraduate study" and not graduate
or research work as in many other parts of
the University.
The RC's academic requirements are more
stringent than those of its mother institution,
LSA. Its language requirement makes cer-
tain a student is proficient in a foreign lan-
guage by requiring a comprehension test
followed by a reading course which calls for
students to be able to read, write and speak
in a foreign language before graduation.
THE LANGUAGE requirement is a major
cause of drop-outs in the RC; the college's
academic board allows little lee-way in its
standards.
But despite the tough language require-
ment, many students consider the RC a less
strict, more easy-going college. All courses
w -lq - m w wM
are graded on a pass/fail basis, with an ac-
companying written evaluation of a student's
work made by the instructor. In the past, RC
students have stuck with the pass/fail sys-
tem, saying it provides a less pressured class-
room environment which allows for openness
and encourages honesty among both faculty
and students.
Most of the classes, held in East Quad, are
seminars rather than lectures. Members of
the RC community contend this, too, provides
a forum for open discussion of ideas and.a
freer flow of communication.
RC CONCENTRATIONS (majors) differ
greatly from those in LSA, and fill a void in
the larger college's curriculum. Among the
available concentrations are Comparative,
Literature, Creative Writing and Literature,
Drama, Humanities and Social Science. In-
dividualized concentrations are also avail-
able.
In addition, students have access to the
Field Studies Office which can give credit for
work done away from Ann Arbor. In' this..
manner, students are allowed to apply the
skills they have learned in actual situations
and jobs.
Recently, the RC received a large grant
from the federal government which has been.
used to develop research groups within the
college. Each consists of a handful of stu-
dents and a faculty member and have con-
ducted projects in many areas including
wholeistic (dealing with the entire person)
health and community health. The groups
allow undergraduates to conduct-and write
up research projects in the same manner as
graduate students,
Possibly due in part to the freer atngos-
phere of the RC, the college's students have
excelled in'the field of creative writing, walk-
ing away with many of the cash prizes given
out in last year's Hopwood competition for
excellence in writing.
By GREGG KRUPA CO - OPERATIVE HOUSING
Sometimes you have to take differs from apartments and
out the garbage or do the dish- dormitories in two distinct
outthegabag o doth dih-ways. First, no landlords or
es. Sometimes dinner isn't what wat irstrs lako r
you' lie, bt te pepleprivate investors make a pro-
aound the tae r sul fit from co-ops. Instead, the
meal - time company. members, who are both the
No, it's not home with Mom owners and users of the coop-
and Dad, but then again, it's not eraitive, redistribute the sav-
the dorm with a million other rgs that accumulate from op-
people scrambling for their erations at the enr of each
serving of beef and noodles ei- a ster, the form of re-
ther. ibts
Second, cooperatives are anj
CO - OPERATIVE HOUSING economical form of housing be-
in Ann Arbor is an economical- cause members share the work
ly feasible alternative to and expenses necessary to op-
dorms, apartments and frater- erate the houses. Each member
nities, but to residents it offers is expected to spend four hours
much more than that. a week working around the
"I was scrambling eggs one, house. The tasks varytfrom
Sunday morning after becom- maintenance, like caulking
ing a boarder at a co-op, when showers, to preparing meals,
one of the, women at Lester to vacuuming the living room
House walked up and put her floor.
arm around me," said Tony At most ICC houses around
Lentz in- the Inter-Cooperative Ann Arbor last winter,' the to-
Council Member Handbook. "It tal rent payment, including
was the most natural thing in room and . board and, utilities,
the world, but the touch of an- was $120 per month. For many
other person almost sent me [co-op residents, especially out-
through the ceiling-I had been of-statestudents, the' difference
that insulated from my fellow between room and board at a
humans." . I co-operative and dormitory
The Inter - Cooperative Coun- 'rates makes, it possible for
cil (ICC) is a non-profit cor- them to attend the University.
poration organized, owned and.
managed by its student mem- THAT CO - OPERATIVES
bers to provide low-cost, self- save their residents money is
controlled housing at the Uni- not surorising, in light of the
versity. The ICC currently pro- fact that the first Ann Arbor,
vides housing for more than 700 co-operative was established in
students. the midst of the Depression, at
THE FIRST DWELLING ac-
tually purchased by the ICC
was the A. K. Stevens Cooper-
ative in 1944. The house is still
in operation. The largest ex-
pansion of the ICC took place
in 1970, when the organization
almost doubled in size with the
opening of the North Campus
Co-operatives. This nine-house;
cluster was developed under a
40-year low interest loan grant-
ed by the,department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development:
under its College Housing Pro-
gram in 1969.'
Day to day and long-range ad-
ministrative affairs of the ICC
are coordinated and imple-
mented by a small staff of of-
fice personnel. Major policy de-
Greeks
shed
stuffy
By EIL.EEN DALEY n't admit to it. It was not sur-
During the late sixties and prising that the number of peo-
early seven ies, the mention of ple joining the Greek organiza-
sororities and fraternities con- tions plummetted to an all-time
jured visions of snobby, virginal low.
Anita B r y a n t androids, and Within the past few years,
dumb jocks who sat round however, sororities and frats
every night drinking bee. and have shaken off their high-brow
talking about what a great time elitist stereotypes, and more
they had drinking beer the night students are going through rush'
before. The idea of pledging a every semeser.h
house was as popular as votinge
for Nixon-you certainly would- ALL KINDS of people are,
pledging, and since the new'
members no longer fit the
snob/jock s t e r e o t y p es , they
houses themselves have changed;
as well.
Many of the traditional rules,
including the once stringent vis-
itation policy, have been elimi-
nated or at least relaxed to the
point where house regulations
are not much more imposing
than dorm rules.
High rents, I o w quality
Pilot: Not a school for aviators
.By LORI CARRUTHERS
No, the Pilot Program is not a home for fledg-
ling aviators.
But freshpersons and sophomores seeking an
alternative to the regular University curriculum
can seek a type of free flight in the Pilot Pro-
gram, a unique living/learning experience. Pilot
students are housed in Alice Lloyd Hall, where
many of their courses are conducted by staff
members who also reside there.
FOR THE NEARLY 575 Pilot students, the
only requirements are to live in Lloyd and en-
roll in the Pilot Theme Experience, a one-credit,
pass/fail course. The Theme Experience is not
a typical course, however. Instead of traditional
classrooms, Pilot students earn credit by at-
tending lectures, book discussions and becom-
ing involved in community projects.
Pilot also sponsors visiting lecturers and per-
formers. Last year, it played host to such varied
guests as Tom Hayden and the Leningrad Sym-
phony.
"Pilot hopes for the students to see the con-
nection between, the classroom and the real
world," said Miirgot Morrow, Pilot Program di-
rector.
support of Proposal A, the bill to ban throw-away
bottles and cans. One group of Pilot students
gained local recognition when they staged a
mass clean-up of Ann Arbor's Delhi Park to
illustrate the number of non-returnable bottles
which had become litter.
Last year, Pilot students also worked in co-
operation with the Washtenaw County Humane
Society and the Public Interest Research Group
in Michigan (PIRGIM). Pilot students are of-
fered a wide variety of options to fulfill Theme!
Experience community service requirements in
ways that can be personally fulfilling as well as
educational.
This year, reflecting changing student inter-
ests., the Theme Experience will deal with hu-
man rights, including the issues of gay rights,
women's rights, political dissent in the Soviet,
Union and prison reform.
apartments and thet
ing dori situatio
prompted hundredso
dents to search fora
tive housing, and m
them are discovering t
ing in a sorority or fra
really is not such a ba
The cost of living in a h
comparable to living
dorm or apartment. Th
is usually good, but Gre
ing provides an oppo
to develop close frie
as well as offering a
organized social life no
able to dorm or -apai
dwellers.
"It's cheaper than the
but that's really not
joined," explained junior
Schneider, a resident of
Alpha Theta. "You gett
a lot of people really x
you tend to join a hous
the people are a lot lik
self. There's always so
to do something with.
ships -are a lot closer.1
a feeling of home, wher
dorm is more institution
Of course, the' idea o
'in a house situation with
group of people, is not ap
to everyone.
image
tighten- ly every F r i d a y afternoon,
n have pledge f o r m a 1s, intramural
of stu- sports, sour hours after.football
alterna- g a m e s, parents' weekend, a
any of week of fundraising activities for
hat liv- charity climaxing in Derby Day
aternity and the annual football game in
d idea. the Mudbowl, toname just a
house is few.
in a Belonging to a sorority or-fra-
he food ternity entails more than having
eek liv- a good time and a place to live.
rtunity Every member has obligations
ndships to the house, and no one is ex-
semi- pected to shirk those 'responsi-
t avail- bilities. There are usually man-
rtment datory house meetings every
week, and house offices mpst
be filled.
dorm "Codrespondence must be an-
why I swered," remarked Theta mem-
fr Cn ber Sue Johnston, "andtthe
f Kappa books will not balance them-
well know selves."
wverl andtMembers are also expected to
ve where attend 'the majority of, house'
ue your- social functions.
mebody
Friend- If joining a sorority or frat
You get seems appealing to you, the
reas the next .step is to go through
ialized." Rush, held at the start of Fall
f living and Winter terms, although
a large not all houses are open for
ppealing winter rush.
"THESE ARE VERY real issues in the dorm,"
Morrow said.}
Morrow calls the program a "comparative
success." Although it was the home of radical.
ism in the sixties, some suggest that enthusiasm
for Pilot is on the decline. Morrow disagrees.
"It is actually beginning to take an upward
turn. Reapplication of returning sophomores has pp
increased, as have applications for incoming i a.".'.x""''> ..
fres'hpersons' she said. Daily Photo by CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER
"Attendance to lectures also- increased this Sorority and fraternity members whoop it up on the Diag during their annual Derby Days to
year," Morrow added. raise money for charity.
Rush is a week of visiting all
"I don't think I would have the different houses on'campus,
as much privacy living in a and becoming acquainted'with
sorority as I do now," noted the people living there. It isn't
one junior who lives in an niuch easier for the members of
apartment. "I don't want to the house to choose people to
feel obligated to a big organi- give "bids" to join -than it is
zation. When I come home I for a prospective membere to
want to relax and not worry decide which one,to pledge, but
about being to dinner on one thing is certain: rush week
time." is exhausting.
But Greek life offers its mem- Joining a sorority or fraternity
bers a wide variety of social is not for everyone, but .if it
activities. There are frequent seems interesting to you,' it
parties (usually TGs-celebrat- might be worth your time.to go
ing Friday's arrival-on Thurs- through rush to find out first-
day nights), a happy hour near- hand if Greek life is for you.
LAST YEAR'S Theme Experience focused on
science and technology and their social implica-
tions. Pilot Program students campaigned in
I
J
Not the Ritz
but it's home
By JAY LEVIN
One of the constant rituals of freshman
year around these parts is dormitory liv-
ing, and few students escape it. Like it
or not, almost everyone - save those
souls known as commuter students -
will have to spend freshman year in one
of the many behemoths maintained by the
University.
But, don't worry. Chances are you'll
love it. And you might even come back
for more. t
r For despite the many rumors you've
probably heard about dormitory living
and the lack of amenities provided by the
University, it is an experience of incal-
culable value.
Dorm life, besides being fun, is imper-
ative for the first-year student fresh out
of high school. And many older students
also find that setting up housekeeping in
a dormitory fits their lifestyle fine.
derance of starch should fill the most
cavernous of bellies.
Besides, the University is just that -
a university - not a Howard Johnson's,
So quit complaining and eat your grilled
chopped round.
In addition to food, the University offers
basic furnishings such as desks, lamps,
bed and mattress, mattress cover, closet
space, etc. Once in a while, the Housing
office bequeaths a scratchy grey blanket
which, not surprisingly, always ends up
stuffed in the back of the closet or under
the bed. Bring your own instead.
You can also expect tissue paper in
the bathrooms and, in most cases, many
sinks, johns, showers and soap dispens-
ers., The maintenance staff tries hard to
keep bathrooms and hallways clean, but
if you've ever spent Saturday night with
a bunch of drunk dorm residents, you'll
realize the magnitude of that custodial
task. Keeping your-room clean, however,
and prohibitions against certain appli-
ances, such as hot plates, portable ovens
and corn poppers, 'but everyone seems to
have at least one of these items, anyway.
(The booklet also tells of the dangers of
cohabitation, but everyone seems to do
that too). Should you bring a corn pop-
per to the University and plug it in, don't
fret. It's very unlikely that Housing Di-
rector John, Feldkamp will barge into
=our room and gnash the cord with his
teeth after ripping it from the wall.
A nice addition to any room is a port-
able frage, which can be rented for the
year from a number of local retailers.
They're small enough to slip away in the
corner of the room but large ehough to
store enough food to keep you from the
cuisine down in the cafeteria.
But don't rule out the cafeteria so fast.
Why, the place is a veritable cornucopia
of social experiences. So is your hall, your
lounge and your bathroom. The dormi-
..:;