Sunday
mogczrne
Page Three
inside:
page four - books
page 5-perspective
February 15, 1976
Number 17
. ..
FEATURES
Martha Cook through
the ages:
Times don't
By SARA RIMER
IT WAS 1935 in Ann Arbor. Mari-
juana was unheard of. Team
captain Jerry Ford's leather-hel-
meted Wolverines had a losing
football season. On the campus,
badminton was the rage.
The rules at the Martha Cook
dormitory were straight as a ram-
rod. And so were the women-most
of the time. They all studied hard
enough to make honors grades,
dressed formally in long dresses for
dinners, and expected their dates
to call them a week in advance.
It was strictly forbidden to eat
the salad before the main course.
When Gertrude Veneklasen, of
Grand Rapids, wanted to go off to
the Naval Academy for a weekend
function, the dorm required writ-
ten permission from her parents.
Veneklasen, now Gertrude Hueb-
ner, a retired Regent from Bloom-
field Hills, comes back every year
to meet the new Martha Cook wo-
men, nicknamed Martha Cookies.
She finds the rules looser and the
women freer, but the atmosphere
is still strong in tradition and
grace.
Huebner remember the women's
behavior in 1935 as-dignified. "We
wore hats a lot," she recalls. And
although she preferred "engineer-
ing students, even in those days,"
she says the women considered it
great fun to hang out the dorm's
French windows and wave at the
law students who lived in the dorm
across the street. The building di-
rector, however, deemed it Improp-
er behavior for young women.
ON NOV. 25, 1935, the women
breathlessly readied the dorm
for open house, when those same
law students were invited upstairs
for their annual look at the wo-
men's bedrooms. The doors to those
rooms were left open. The event
was recorded in the 1935 yearbook:
"Clothes were pried out of corners.
towels hung neatly on racks, and
beds strewn artistically with dain-
ty little pillows in order to impress
the male eleient with the domes-
tic attractiveness of Martha Cook
women."
On Feb. 14, 1935 tradition was
shattered and for the first time a
radio brought downstairs to the
sedate Blue Room for dancing.
The dorm was exactly what Uni-
versity alumnus William Cook had
in mind when he donated it in
1916 as a place where "the charm
and grace and principles of cul-
tured A m e r i c a n womanhood"
would be developed. He named the
hange so
building, with its Gothic arches As the
and turrets, after his mother Mar- without
tha Cook. , males,
When Huebner's niece began col- itself a
lege at the University a couple Vault.
years ago, her aunt thought back "The
to the good times at Martha Cook in 1935
and assumed her niece would live Vault,"
in that dorm, too. Huebner gave Butt
her niece a tour that began down halls in
the long, vaulted hallway with the women
marble Venus di Milo-a replica undeser
of the statue in the Louvre - pois- somei
ed at the far end. dorm v
They wandered through the junior.
plush main floor living rooms and ing the
dining room; their voices rebound- Is NotI
ed from the carved ceilings like ed on r
voices in a church. Their footsteps Assist
were muffled in thick carpets and Loving,
brocaded chairs. In one room, wo- men h
men played Cook's own Steinway night ir
piano with in inlaid Italian Renais- smuggle
sance walnut case, outside
women
HUEBNER'S NIECE was unmoved. night, t
"I'd just as soon live in a mu- creetly,
seum," she said, and went off to junior.I
live in a sorority. o rcaught
Change has come slowly to Mar- student
tha Cook. On a campus where re- possible
volution was the cry just six years possible
ago, and in a town dubbed "Dope Beca
Capital of the Midwest," Martha rate fro
Cook stands apart and whispers of ing, its
the past.Govern
As a :reult, Cookies often feel of Rege
compelleto defend their decision wor M
to live in te elegant building, and ionkto
vehemently deny that they are
pampered, sheltered princesses. WOME
They are quick to point out that Coo
some of the more time-worn tradi-
tions have been discarded over
the years. And it is quite true that
Martha Cook is changing ,although
in gradual, dignified manner.
The law students are still study-
ing in the quad - also donated by
Cook - across the street, but it's
not considered improper or even
very much fun to wave at them.
Some women admit they don't
bother to close their curtains when
some future lawyers put down their
books and pick up binoculars to in-
vestigate through Martha Cook's
bedroom windows. A FUL
The Blue Room has been redeco- inat
rated in sunny colors and renamed periousl;
the Gold Room, swallow
The salad can be eaten before, Two lon
during, or after the main course. of the r
the size
RUT ONE THING hasn't changed in anot
since Huebner's sheltered years in yellowc
Martha Cook. Men are not allow- m u s i
ed to spend the night - ever. And phones,
during the week they are limited glockens
to the main floor rooms except for German
7-11 p.m. on Thursday evenings. The
fast
only .dorm left on campus
24 hour visitation for
Martha Cook has earned
nickname - the Virgin
way tney used to guard us,
, it certainly was a Virgin
Huebner laughs.
today, no one patrols the
search of males, and the
think their reputation is
ved. "There certainly are
unvirgins here," declares
ice president Elise Bates, a
On a recent tour of build-
re were several "Virginity
Incurable" stickers display-
oom doors.
ant resident director Linda
23, says she is aware that
ave occasionally spent the
nside the building and been
ed down the elevator and
the next morning. But if
do have men spend the
;hey arrange their visits dis-
says Rossanna Moitu, a
If they don't, and they are
by Loving or building direc-
ve Chernow, they face a
judiciary committee and
expulsion. ,
se Martha Cook is sepa-
m regular University hous-
policy is set by a Board of
ors appointed by the Board
nts. The Governors are for-
artha Cook residents who
maintain the dorm's tradi-
N WHO APPLY to Martha
k are interviewed by Cher-
Daily Photo by PAULINE LUBENS
Martha Cookies
enjoying an afternoon
tea
now. The interview, unique among
University dorms, is important so
that women understand Cook is
the most traditional and conser-
vative dorm on campus, says Cher-
now.
Chernow says there are usually
about 50 women on the waiting
list. There is space for 153 in the
dorm. Why do women continue to
choose the most traditional and
conservative dorm on campus-the
only one with rules, maid service,
dinners served by student waitress-
es, and Friday afternoon teas?
"It's more civilized than other
dorms," says Jean Coulter, a for-
mer Markley resident.
Dorm president Jeannell Mansur
says the dorm is preferred by par-
ents.
Often, other students want to
know if Cookies are all rich, pam-
pered ,and stuck up.
Martha Cook is the only dorm
left on campus that serves break-
fast daily. Eggs benedict, quiche
lorraine, and cheese souffle are al-
ternated for Sunday brunch.
Although the dorm offers 21
meals a week compared to 13 in the
other dorms and has maid and lin-
en service, its rates are not higher.
Chernow says the dorm is oper-
ated on room and board revenue.
But a Building Reserve Fund has
been built up over the years, and
there are generous alumnae gifts.
THE WOMEN are from all income
levels, says Loving. She says
many work at part-time jobs and
several are in the dorm on schol-
arship. The maid service just
makes going to school a little eas-
ier, says Loving, herself a gradu-
ate student in Public Health.
Loving says the women, far from
being snobbish, are more fun-lov-
ing than ever. Last year one came
to her own 21st birthday party in
See MARTHA, Page 5
Sara
tor of
Simer is a former executive edi-
The Daily.
Music
therapy bid
unique bridge,
ir reaching the men tally disturbed
By JIM BROZO
tuckeda
for late
Rather,3
in the C
pital. "TI
look lik
staffer J
have se
with."
She a
as musi
dren's h
learning
sing alo
-is a re
treatmer
turbed.
Across
phychiar
apy has
niche. "
of music
treatmen
people w
al proble
tekop, a
L-SIZE GRAND piano dom-
tes the room. Sitting im-
y in one corner, it seems to
up nearly half the floor.
g tables occupy the center
room, which is only about
of a two-car garage. Off
.her corner are two garish
cabinets filled with shiny
c a 1 instruments - xylo-
metallophones, and a
spiel - all imported from
y.
windowless chamber isn't
away in the Music School
night practice sessions.
it's got a prominent place
.hildren's Psychiatric Hos-
Phis room probably doesn't
ke a lot," says .hospital
o Pickett. "But you should
en what we started out
nd Charlie Whiting work
c therapists at the chil-
hospital. Music therapy-
to play instruments and
ng while others perform
elatively new facet in the
nt of the mentally dis-
the street at the Neuro-
ric Institute, music ther-
also found an important
Music therapy is the use
c activity as a tool in the
nt of and rehabilitation of
rith physical and emotion-
ims," explains Roger Smel-
soft - snoken registered
guitar or another musical instru-
ment.
Of course, developing concert-
perfect harmony isn't the main
purpose behind the music therapy.
"It requires give and take, cooper-
ation, and an awareness of others,"
says the calm, casual Smeltekop,
who usually wears brightly colored
sweatshirts and corduroy pants to
work. "A musical skill can be per-
sonally gratifying as a social skill.
It gives patients more confidence
in themselves" - which is the key
to music therapy.
Although music therapy is not a
cure-all in itself, more than a
third of NPI's patients participate
in the program. And those people
involved cover a wide range of ages
and backgrounds - some are as
young as four, while others are
well into middle age. "As a tool for
dealing with the short attention
span of youngsters, music is quite
good," says Whiting.
See MUSIC, Page 4
4
Many techniques of German
composer Carl Orff, author of a
five - volume work entitled Music
for Children, are used at CPH. Orff
stresses that one need not under-
stand such things as music nota-
tion to appreciate the joy of melo-
dy, harmony, and even dance.
Thus, musical abiliy is hardly the
cutting edge in deciding who would
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