I Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109' Thursday, February 17, 1977 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan estrict on tanker trueis Dorm 1o 'HE RECENT SPATE of fiery tank- er truck accidents has given Mich- igan residents a disturbing look into the knee-jerk mentality of our state government. It is certainly no coin- cidence that state officials have chosen this particular time to start instituting tougher safety standards for these four-wheeled fire bombs. We can only be glad that the re- forms are underway before any lives have been claimed or damage real- ized. The state's handling of the PBB disaster offers eloquent testimony to the harm that can come about thrgugh governmental ineptitude and indifference... Perhaps what is most alarming is the long-standing nature of this prob- lem. Tanker trucks apparently vio- late state safety guidelines with some regularity and with little fear of prosecution. The extent of this law- lessness was well-illuminated by State Police spot checks over the last two weeks. All 14 of the tankers checked during that time were not in accord- ance with state safety requirements. And orgy with the heat generated by the much-publicized accidents have the State Police begun to crack down. Colonel George Halverson, di- rector of the State Police, has an- nounced that his men will check ap- proximately 10 trucks a day from now on. But clearly, more far-reaching action is in order. Governor William Milliken and Halverson have already taken a step in the right direction by banning all trucks carrying flammable substances from some highways during bad weather and peak traffic periods. However, other measures are imme- diately necessary. The state should require special licensing for all tanker truck dri- vers. Tandem trailers, those with a smaller "pup" trailer attached to the larger one, should be outlawed. It also might be desirable to 'get spe- cial speed limits for tankers. We urge the Legislature and Gov. Milliken to move quickly to imple- ment these measures, before these potentially deadly rigs exact a toll of human lives; NEXT WEDNESDAY, the University is holding its Third Anual Massive Displacement Ritual - the dorm lottery. There is no telling how many peop'e will be forced out of the dorms, but as one housing office official put it, "t do know we're not going to have enough spaces." ifficceoaodnoa.n Once again students are pitted against one another; not just for grades, sports, dr socially, but even for housing. The competition and general ill-feeling this engenders keeps students eyeing one another, as op- posed to the housing set-up which created the need for the lottery originally. There are those who enter the lottery as a game, with no intention of signing a lease with the University even if they win. This only serves toaincrease the anxiety inherent in this un- necesary and absurd situation. Once forced out of the dorms, a student-tenant faces an extra-ordinarily tight housing market (at peak times, less than one-half of one -per cent of Ann Arbor's hous- ing is vacant), exorbitent rents, oppressive landlords, and according to the Michigan Student Assembly's Housing Law Reform Project, housing of which at least 90 per cent was discovered to be severely violaitng the city and state housing codes. IN RECENT ARTICLES in this column, we have discussed some aspects of Ann Arbor's housing crisis, focusing on the private rental market. However, the University, Ann;Arbor's landlord, has also played a significant role in perpetuating the critical housing,- shortage. Approximately half of Ann Arbor's tenants are stu- dents; many other tenants are living in Ann Arbor due to various connections with the University. The Uni- versity thus has the obligation, which it has yet to meet, to house a good portion of this population and to take the pressure off the rapidly deteriorating private market. Moreover, by failing to build a sufficient supply of housing, the University is helping to keep private rental prices at phenomenal levels (MSA Hous- ing Project found that Ann Arbor's median rent is 72 per cent higher than the national median). Con- sequently, these actions, or inactions, are effectively driving out low-income and working-class tenants and students, nullifying any commitment to "free" ac- cess to education for all. Rterystriki In 1971-72, the Federal Housing and Urban Devel- opment (HUD) College Housing Program offered the University $5.6 million at 3 per cent interest (most interest rates are around 9 per cent) to build the desperately needed student housing on the Ann Arbor campus. Despite the support this offer received from the entire University Housing Division and even Presi- dent Fleming, the Regents pulled a 4-4 tie vote, whi.: meant no action was to be taken, and the offer was allowed to expire. Why, given all this support and evidence of the TENANTS RISINGI by RICHARD DUTKA I critical nature of local housing (which, incidentally, has since gotten much worse, as documented by the MSA Housing Project) did the Regents vote down the loan? ONE STORY has it that by turning down the loan, the Regents were showing their "respect" for student demands!? A housing official stated that in the weeks prior to the Regents' vote, there had been student de- monstrations against dorm rate hikes and for an in- creased commitment to affirmative action. The Re- gents, realizing that the HUD load would have to be supplemented by other University funds, which probably would have meant a slight dorm rate raise, decided to bow to the students' wishes; against the entire community's interest, they maintained the severe hous- ing crisis. How could anyone complain about our Regents not being responsive to student demands? Another factor that some say was involved in the de- cision was the fear that if student enrollment dropped off, as had been happening in many state universities acros the country, we would be left with vacant, use- less dorms in a few years. The University has had an official "nogrowth" pol- icy since the late 1960's, yet student enrollment has ' gin Sconsistentlyincreased (except 1971) and even jumped as much as 1,112 additional students in one year (1975). It seems highly. unlikely that enrollment at this Uni- versity will significantly decrease in the coming years; after all, this is The University. as prestigious and en- dowed as many of the finest private schools. The ad- ministration, by all accounts, will simply not allow attendance to slide down-hill, even if they have to lower some admission standards or admit more out-of-state higher tuition students. STILL OTHERS CLAIM that the Regents, being members of the upper crust of society, have too much of a "business instinct" (or perhaps even a business tie) to encroach on the super profit market of the local landlords by building more housing. Any or all of these explanations could comprise the basic reasons for the loss of the loan and a great deal 'of student housing. One thing, however, is for cer- tain: the action was in neither the students nor the community's interest. Recently, HUD has proposed reactivating the Col- lege Housing Program. New construction or acquisi- tions. however, are the lowest priority; the govern- ment would rather see money spent on weatherizing or refinancing old student housing projects than on relieving the housing shortage. Many ofces in the University and the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) have been writing proposals to alter the-priorities and 'they are planning for newly available monies. Recognizing that students may prefer not to live in the traditional dormitory setting, alternatives have been devised .in- cluding apartment-like i'nits more Baits style hous- ing, and even proposals for student management of the new'living quarters. What is desperately needed now, HUD offer or no HUD offer, is pressure from tenants, all tenants, on the Regents (and City Council) for an" adequate supply of housing at a -reasonable cost.rA relief in the stu- dent housing plight means less students out in the private market competing with the community-teniants for space. Housing one sector of the population frees up the same amount for another sector. Once again, proof of the objective basis of the need for the unity of all- tenants. We don't need more lotteries; we need more housing. 1naL MERCY .SMYS KhUVEr w OTU ACtV "" /~g K nI er " "*" Fire retardents may cause cancer By PAUL A. EISENSTEIN AT LEAST 9,000 AMERICANS are burned to death each year. Two million Americans suffer- burns, with one in ten requiring medical care. A third of all serious burns are suffered by children under the age of ten. Whether a fire victim's clothing catches fire can 'mean the difference between life and death. Since the 1950's Congress has passed a number of laws regulating the sale of flammable fabrics to try and reduce the number of pre- ventable injuries and deaths. But recent findings indicate the fire- retardent chemical "tris-BP" - used in about half of all children's sleepwear - may be a'potent carcinogic agent. This poses serious problems for both the gar- ment industry and the Consumer Pro- duct'Safety Commission (CPSC), which is charged with regulating the flamma- bility standards. IN 1953, CONGRESS passed the Flam- able Fabrics Act, primarily to stop the sale of highly inflammable fabrics, par- ticularly the infanmous "torch" sweaters made of brushed rayon. Over the years, the standards have been amended to include carpets, rugs, mattresses and mattress pads. In 1972, Congress also included children's sleep- wear in sizes 0 to 6X (sizes 7 to 14 were included in 1975). That was also the year that Congress created the 'CPSC which took over jurisdiction of flammability standards from a variety of other federal agencies. The need for such standards was ob- vious, says one staff member of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Over- sight and Investigation, which suggested the creation of the CPSC. "Children were wearing these nice pretty pajamas and nightgowns and what they really were were wicks," he added. "Most of the garments worn by children were highly flammable. If a child -came near a flame, the garment would burn to ashes in seconds." TO N'EET THE new standards, the garment industry drastically altered its children's sleepwear. Many of the more popular fabrics, including cotton-polyes- ter blends and rayons were virtually dis- continued while other fabrics, such as treated 100 percent polyesters, becatne the new big sellers. But sometimes a solution can turn out to be worse than the problem it solves. "Some chemical flame retardants pro- vide a good example of a technological innovation where adverse effects may outweigh the benefits," wrote Arlene Plum and Bruce N. Ames, of the Uni- versity of California at Berkeley Science magazine on January 7. Their article, and others since, contend }that there is a serious hazard in using tris to treat polyesters. Treating' polyesters with tris not only adds to the cost of the garment, but also adds an additional 10 to 29 per cent to the weight. Most of this tris is in the form of "surface" tris, which is readily available for either absorption through skin, or through ingestion by children who suck or chew on their clothes. (Most other treatment processes bond the ad- ditive to the fabric, but tris can only be tonically applied. Not long after tris was introduced, a rmmber of scientists beenn to be con- cerned over the chemical's similarity to a number of known mutagens and carcinogens. The interest in tris was heightened when the National Science Foundation issued its list of the 80 chem- icals likely to be most detrimental to human life and the environment. Tris had made the list. SERIOUS WORK BEGAN, many of the studies being compiled in the Blum and Ames article. But the damning evidence came only last week in a report releas- ed by the Washington-based Environ- mental Defense Fund and based on "conclusive" tests conducted by the Na- tional Cancer Institute. "We've analyzed the (Cancer Insti- tute's) dataand found . . . carcinomas (cancerous tissue) in over 50 percent of the rats . . . a similar incidence of tu- mors in male mice and a high inci- dence of (breast cancer) in ft male mice," explained Joseph H. Highland, chairman of the Toxic Chemical Pro- gram at the Fund. Spokespeople for a number of fabric manufacturers indicate that they have been planning to phase out tris for the last year, and some have already be- gun switching to new processes. The problem is to find a suitable replace- meet for tris. TRIS IS POPULAR for a number of reasons. It is relatively inexpensive to use; it does little to alter the strength --or the feel of clothing; and once it was' in use for a while, it became easy to apply. "There are no combinations that per- f.rm as well, overall, as tris and poly- ester. What (the tris problem) means is a lot less flame retardant fabrics will give the consumer good results," says Fred Fortess, director of the School of Textiles at Philadelphia's College of Tex- tiles and Science. And garment manufacturers may no longer have a choice. Michigan Chem- ical, the nation's largest manufacturer of tris, has announced that it has stop- ped' manufacturing tris for topical (or, fabric) use. FOLLOWING THAT announcement, a spokesperson for the American Apparel Manufacturer's Association indicated that member manufacturers would no longer use the chemical, adding that the garment and chemical industries are working "on an emergency basis" to try and find a suitable replacement for tris. A number of new processes for treat- ing polyesters have been introduced re- cently, including products from Stauffer Chemicals, and Mobil Oil's "Antiblaze 19." A SPOKESPERSON FOR the National Cancer Institute suggested that consum- ers "shouldn't panic or throw their clothes away," that they should deter- mine which sleepwear is treated 'poly- ester and "launder the garments sev- eral times." But Highland of4 the Environmental Defense Fund sees the threat as much more serious, "You decrease the risk of cancer by washing the garment, but you do not eliminate it. Consumers should determine if their children's sleep- wear is 100 percent polyester. If it is, the chances are that it contains tris. We sug- gest, then, that they discontinue using the garment: Why take an unnecessary risk?" Paul A. Fisenstein is a Dairy staff answer. r FROM ITS ONSET, the necessity of the probe conducted by the House assassinations committee has been dubious. Now, with the comm- tee members in mutiny against their chairman - resulting in a tidal wave of bad publicity - any tangible find- ings that the committee might have made are now irreparably submerged under the cloud of controversy cre- ated by its internal schisms. The bickering began when com- mittee chairman Henry Gonzalez (D- Tex.) thought he fired Richard Sprague, chief counsel to the com-, mittee. Gonzalez cited Sprague's ree- fmmendation of a $13 million com- mittee budget as his reason for the firing. What followed was similar to a scene from "Mutiny on the Boun- ty." The other eleven committee members rose up in defense of Sprague and recommended to, him that he stay on. So far Sprague has done so, and the factors are stale- mated. Both parties to the dispute have appealed to Speaker ,of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill and other mem- bers of the House for justice. So far O'Neill has tactfully stayed out of the fracas, ' while the remainder of the House is showing increased annoy- ance at the negative publicity being garnered by the committee, and is taking an attitude of watching and waiting. The committee is scheduled for scrapping March 30th, a decision which is being vigorously appealed by its members. Ant extension of its life now appears doubtftil - which is probably the best solution. THE COMMITTEE was created amidst howls of protest. Most of this concerned its very raison d'etre. John Kennedy died over 13 years ago. Martin Luther King has' been dead for over 8 years. While it is true that the findings and conclu- sions of the Warren Commission still leave many questions and doubts as to the exact circumstances of their assassinations, the fact remains that these men are dead, and no findings of a new- committee will resurrect them. only a very costly expense to the tax- payers. It would be nice to know the realities surrounding two of the most tragic deaths of the century. How- ever, such curiosity quenching is a task to be tackled by professional historians and professors; not by con- gresspersons, who have enough prob- lems coping with the present and planning for the future to be dig- ging up the past. And if there was any possible ef- ficacy to the committee's investiga- tion of such a touchy subject, it would have to be accomplished un- der austere and non-controversial circumstances. These prima facie conditions no longer exist on the House assasinations committee. Come March 30, like John Kennedy in Ar- lington National Cemetery and Mar- tin Luther King beside the Ebeneez- er Baptist Church in Atlanta, the House Assassinations Committee should be laid to rest. *N C Editorial S'aff Co-Editors-in -Chief ANN MARIE LPfNSKI and JIM TOBIN KEN ASIGIAN g.........Editorial Director Managir.g Editors JAY LEVIN. OORGE LOBSENZ, MIRE NORrON, MARGARET YAO LOrS J:Jb.FMOVICH ............... Art Editor t MagazIne Editors SUSAN ADES end ELAINE FLETCHER s r~M r WRITERS. (wen Barr, Susan Barry, BrianiBlianchard, Michael Beckman, Phillip Bokovoy, Linda Brenners, Lori Carruthers, Ken Chotiner, Eileen Daley Ron DeKett, Lisa Fish- er, David Goodman, Marnie Ileyn, Robb Hahn- es, Michael Jones, Lnl Jordan, Janet Klein, (3:egg Kruppa, Steve Kursman, Dobilas Matu- oonis, Stu McConnell, Tom Meyer, Jenny Mil- ler, Patti Monteniurri, Tom O'Connell, Jon Fauslius, Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Kim Potter, Martha Retainck, Keith Richburg, Bob Rosenbaum, Denais Sabo, Annmarie Scbiavi, Eilzabeth Slowik, Torn Stevens, dim Stimpson, ike Taylor, Pauline Toole, Mark Wagner, Sue Warner,a Shelley Wason, Mike Yellin, Laurie Young and Barb Zahs, Business Staff !)07IORAH DREYFUSS ...... Business Manager KAr'HLEEN MULHERN . Asst. Adv. Coordinator DAVID HARLAN . ...... Finance Manager DON SIMPSON .S.. Sales Manager PETE PETER.SEN .. Advertising Coordinator C,6, 1E ST. CLAIR ..... Circulation Manager BETri STRATFORD .... Circulation Director Phoirgraphy Staff Why change names for By CHARLOTTE SEBASTIAN WAY BACK IN 1970 as the date of my marriage ap- proached, I decided to keep the name I'd always had, to remain Charlotte Sebastian, not to become Mrs. Thomas Renshaw. Why? Well, to be perfectly honest I didn't spend many hours pondering the issue. In my last two years as an undergraduate at Michigan State University the women's movement began to take hold. I found its principles and arguments very persuasive. I and my friends were among the first feminists at MSU; we participated in consciousness raising groups and many activities to work toward improving the status of women. Having such a strong foundation in wo- men's issues, it seemed quite logical to me to keep my own name. I suppose the crux of the matter was that it made as little sense for me to become Mrs. Ren- shaw as it did for my" future husband to become Mr. Sebastian. True, tradition was against me, but tradition just didn't make much of a case. It did have some strong advocates, particularly among my family and future in-laws. Its greatest cheerleader was my mother who has never quite understood where she went wrong with her eldest child. I casually mentioned to her one day my thoughts on retaining the name I had been given at birth and was naively unprepared for her response. "Please," she said tearfully, once she accepted that I was quite serious, "Don't ever let the family find out." It was the kind of response I might have ex- pected had I told her of an impending out-of-wedlock child, but not for this. My rational arguments were all presented but to no avail and we ended up by my agreeing not to flaunt the issue before the family while she chose to ignore the whole matter. Through the past several years I've come across one another's beliefs - especially this- one. Then there's the "Well why did you even; get mar- ried?" question. I like to think there's more to mar- riage than this one triviality. Perhaps what that ques- tion implies is that the subjection of the woman, as the name change is to my mind so clearly represen- tative, is inherent in marriage. I don't buy that. True, we don't have many models that would lead us to be- lieve otherwise, but more and more people are at least trying to work out true partnerships. Another question I am frequently asked is, "What about all the legal problems?" This is the one that worried me initially but my husband and I have pur- chased a house, filed joint income statements, I have my. own credit cards, Tom has his, both our names are on our checks and we've even brought a baby into the world -whose name incidentally is Hilary Sebas-. tian Renshaw - with little or no legal hassle. Well, the nurse who had to print Sebastian Renshaw on Hil- ary's tiny hospital bracelet, did complain a bit, but she managed it in the end. There have been a few mix-ups when people file me under Renshaw and I identify myself as Sebastian. One of my best mix-up stories is when my parents came to visit me in the hospital after Hilary's birth, asking for Mrs. Renshaw. Well, the nurse said, we mar riage? The non-verbal responses are sometimes the best. This same friend's husband has a great method for dealing with peoples' raised eyebrows or confused looks. When he and Carol are introduced as husband and wife but with their different last names, "Yes," he says, "I kept my maiden name." There's one ques- tion, not terribly common, that I don't have a very good answer for. My last name is that of my father's and so haven't I accepted at least part of this sexist social custom? Well, yes., remember I said I don't have a very good, answer. But I have lived with this tag all my life, and it fits me well. "Everyone knows me by it and I would be uncomfortable with any other. Not changing my name has had some advantages I didn't forsee. First of all, people who know me and not my hus- band, can usually find me. How many times have you tried with great irritation to get in touch with a woman whose husband you don't .know from Adam? I mean who knows if Jane Smith is with John, Joe, Paul or Adam Smith in the phone directory? My decision has also given me an excellent entre to present my now perfected talk on the joys of retain- ing one's name, during which I get in a couple of good strikes for Women's Liberation. This CAN have its disadvantages. There are times when I really don't want to become embroiled in such an argument.' A third advantage is that I'm sure many people don't believe Tom and I are really married and are thus "living in sin," made even more scandalous by the duration of our relationship and the birth of our daugh- ter. It gives me a delightfully wicked sensation that only the daughter of a. Baptist minister could fully appreciate, while I don't have to face the wrath of those who would be quite upset if we had truly adopted such a living arrangement.