Ninety-One Years of Editorial Freedom I E Sic 43 fl IatiQ DINGY Last night's rain showers will end before noon. High around 60. Vol. XCI, No. 154 Copyright 1981, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, April 9, 1981 Ten Cents Ten Pages -ow rik Nurses stri e ei aN 3Ya ^' 'b& fi ' e dP/kt t;++ °YR/ y,,iE > r z Ar t F a aS aa} t f ,$, t H ^j F jn F t os ita s F{ t T 9 Fv F "1v n Nu '4j b .t {9 S:v. 3 {"P to ; ta, S S e WIN Daily Photo by DAVID HARRIS, TENANTS OF THE house at 736 S. State St. and their friends celebrate an order by Ann Arbor District Court Judge George Alexander yesterday finalizing the city's first private rent control agreement. er pays oin unique rent control pact By PAMELA KRAMER The tenants of the house at 736 S. State St. decided two years ago they, weren't going to put up with what they considered were shaky floors, poor insulation, and "near slum conditions." So they took legal action against their landlord, and started a rent strike. AND YESTERDAY, two years af- ter the tenants of the house first decided to withhold rent, Ann Arbor District Court Judge George Alexarder signed an order that will reduce the rent charged for the last two years and control the rent charged through 1982-83, regardless of who the future tenants are. The out-of-court settlement bet- ween Ann Arbor Tenants Union bargainers, Student Legal Services lawyers, and lawyers representing JRJ Realty is the city's first private rent control agreement, and tenants advocates say they hope the tenants' actions and success will set an example for other Ann Arbor residents. According to the agreement, 1979- 80 rent for the nine-bedroom house, which had been set at $1050 per mon- th, will be rolled back to $1025. Rent for 1980-81, which the landlord plan- ned to set at $1150 will be set at $1050; 1981-81 rent, which the lan- dlord planned to set at $1600, will be $1100; and the 1982-83 rent will be held at $1275, Jonathan Rose, Student Legal Services attorney for the tenants said yesterday. AN SLS statement said the Ann Arbor Tenants Union estimates "the arrangement will save the past, current, and future tenants nearly $15,000 over the four years. The rent strike which preceded the agreement is one of three strikes by tenants of the house against the lan- dlord in the past six years. The current tenants said they did not know about the strikes against the house when they signed the lease. "We saw it was in bad con- dition, but the lease and Dave Williams (of Old Towne Realty - the company that handled the lease) said it would all be taken care of," tenant David Simon said. "We ap- proached Student Legal Services because we didn't know what to do." "WHEN WE MOVED in this place was a mess," said Simon, who has lived in the house for two years. "One guy moved out after a week." Stuart Wolf, another two-year tenant, said residents of the house have withheld more rent than any other residents in Ann Arbor, and he listed a number of reasons for the rent strike. "The house shakes so much I could almost fall out of my bed (when the tenants on the second floor lift weights)," he said. "And if you look at the side of the house, you'll seewhere they're putting a fire escape because two weeks ago two members of the housing commission refused on walk on (the old one) because of the rotting wood." HE ALSO CRITICIZED the repair methods of the landlord. "One day two guys came in and said they were going to fix the house," Wolf said. "They put up rubber stripping because we'd been complaining about the insulation, and it fell off the next day." "Rent strikes in the past got rent reductions and repairs, but none of them got tenant union recognition on rent controls," Rose said. "I think the tenants gave up quite a bit, and we gave up some things," said IRJ lawyer Minka, commen- ting 4 n the settlement, negotiated by Greg Hesterberg of the Coalition for Better Housing. "The management company bent over backwards to please the tenants." Minka said he found it "humorous . . really humorous" that Rose called the agreement a major vic- tory for the tenants' movement throughout the state. "Tenants are very well protected in Michigan right now. Roger Chard, director of South Eastern Michigan Legal Services said that although the case does not set a precedent in a legal sense, the settlement could have an effect. By JOHN ADAM University Hospital nurses, staging the first strike in the hospital's 112-year history, walked off their jobs early yesterday morning. Non-emergency services have been cut back, according to Senior Associate Hospital Director Edward Schwartz, and the hospital is currently operating at approximately 60 per- cent of its capacity. The nurses called the strike early yesterday after a mid- night deadline passed without an agreement. Negotiations were called off at 4:30 a.m. yesterday. No further talks have been scheduled. Picket lines formed at 6 a.m. yesterday. Preliminary estimates by hospital administrators indicate that about 50 percent of the nurses in the 1,100-member Professional Nurse Council are participating in the walkout. Strikes by public employees are illegal under state law. Hospital administrators said they have not decided whether to seek a court injunction to force the nurses back to work. KEY ISSUES remaining in the talks are scheduling, man- datory overtime, an economic package, and input into policies that affect nursing care, according to a spokesperson for the nurses. The nurses are also seeking improved communication between the nursing managers and the nursing staff. "I believe that as long as their positions on the issues don't change, it's going to be a long strike,"' said University Hospital assistant personnel director John Forsyth. "RIGHT NOW we think we are meeting their demands," Forsyth said, "but the nurses want the University to put down guarantees in case of possible future shortages." The University Hospital,which consists of seven hospital- size units on the medical campus, including the Main Hospital and Mott Children's Hospital, is operating under a contigency plan developed during the negotiations. All but one of the hospital's 19 operating rooms are in operation and most surgery is continuing on schedule, accor- ding to hospital administration. "New patients are being admitted on a select basis determined by the capacity of the medical services and the needs of patients," a hospital statement said. IN ADDITION, the hospital has reassigned administrative nurses to patient care duties and has obtained additional registered nurses from outisde sources. These, together with the licensed practical nurses and nursing aides have brought the nursing staff to a level consistent with the number of patients now in the hospital, administrator Schwartz said. The Nurses have been without a contract since September. Since then, the nurses have been working under a week-to- week extension of their old contract. Twelve days ago, the nurses told hospital administrators they would strike if an agreement on a new contract was not reached by midnight yesterday. About 18 months ago, a chronic shortage of nurses at then hospital forced many nurses to work overtime, and sometimes change shifts three times within a week. SINCE THEN, said Schwartz, "we have perhaps developed one of the largest recruiting drives in the country." Nevertheless, according to nurses, the problem still exists Cam. % UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL NURSES picket outside the hospital yesterday. Approximately half of the hospital's 1,000 nurses walked off the job yesterday over contract disputes with the administration. in isolated units. One spokesperson cited the thoracic unit where the hospital is "40 to 50 percent understaffed." According to the nurses' representative, the hospital will pay up to $500 for information leading to the recruitment of a nurse for that unit. Nurses in the thoracic unit occasionally must change shifts three times a week, the nurses claimed. The nurse council believes that these working conditions are driving nurses out of the profession. "We want to make conditions better so we stop losing nurses," a spokesperson said. A nationwide shortage of nurses is the crux of the problem, according to University hospital administration. This shor- tage sometimes makes overtime and shift-changing necessary, administrators said. Administrators added that although conditions aren't currently bad, the hospital is in no position to guarantee future workloads. According to Forsyth, nurses have requested getting three of six weekends off and no mandatory overtime after 52 hours. ,.. . . . . .. . .: .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. .A .. ri.lr.:Y.. . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...........C...... . . . . . ...................e..................:....4.................................................... :. .... . ..... . .. . . .. . .... .. . .. . .. .. .. . . ....v,.. ,: ...('....... . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . ...... ,.,... .. . .. . .. . .. . . ............. ......... ......... ......... ....x.... ........,n ,. . ......... ..,;.: grp dept. say's review ,report unfair By SUE INGLIS The geography department faculty charged in a statement that a recom- mendation calling for either elimination or program reduction of the department contains glaring om- missions and unsubstantiated asser- tions. The department, which made the charges in a formal statement to be related to LSA faculty today, also said geography review committee members Economics Prof. Harvey Brazer and History Prof. Sidney Fine were biased against the department because of previous remarks made during their involvement in a 1975 evaluation of the department. THE FOUR-MEMBER ad hoc review committee has recommended two alternative courses of action concer- ning the geography department, the first of which is to discontinue the department entirely. The second alter- native is to eliminate the cultural area of the department, leaving only 8 of 14 professors and retaining the areas, of cartography, and physical and urban geography. Both reports will be debated Monday at a special LSA faculty meeting. The faculty can vote to reject or accept the committee's findings. The decision to forward the review committee's recommendation to Vice President for Academic Affairs Billy Frye rests with the college's dean and executive com- mittee, who are not bound to the decision of the faculty. IF FRYE then supports discon- tinuance of the program, the recom- mendation will be acted upon by the Regents. Review Committee Chairman Brazer said yesterday he had not seen the geography department's response, but said because of their membership on the 1975 review committee he and Fine "felt obliged to lean over backwards as far as possible" in the recent review. "We felt sufficiently confident of our own integrity," he said. "I believe that they did a very careful, serious job of examining the evidence," said Acting LSA Dean John Knott. "I know that they wrestled with some very difficult issues. I believe the college owes them a debt for an effort they have made in trying circumstan- ces." THE STATEMENT of response charges the review contains "damaging selective use of data and of a relatively short datum period." The statement notes the most recent data on graduate students in the review report are based on GRE scores and grade point averages from only the 10 graduate students who entered in 1980. "No space is given to discussing the ac- complishments and quality of the present group of 35 students," stated the response. "Their well-articulated statements (at review hearings) described their creative contributions to the various fields of geography," the response ad- ded. "Nowhere, however, is a tran- script of those proceedings included with the report." THE REVIEW REPORT states graduate students who testified "made a favorable impression on committee members, typically presenting well argued statements with both academic and work related experiences." The report also contains trends in grade point averages dating back to 1975. Brazer noted that the fact additional statistics on graduate students were not included "suggests we were not im- pressed." He explained that compared to students in other graduate programs, geography students were not excep- tional. The response also charges that the review report fails to represent the strengths of the department. "This department has been a recognized leader in graduate training in American geography for over half a century. The overwhelming majority of our graduate students came to See GEOGRAPHY, Page 3 ~.. P kLU J9 , . 3.1 0' f.C" t.. vS.a 9 2 )C .> ".: n\>.. ,O. . v. S. .. , .: a . ., .M .. S t .. , .. . > .,..) . ) '.u. Xy ;!. , t'"w ' , ,. b. C. f. .Cw..si, A(. ..w. ...A. M , ,.. .. ^.' ..., ... v, .. w. )a .,.. a. aY' S x': e.:, .:. .. ... ..a...a.. trU: 'C .n, Y. ,. .... ,. #: N. .,a. .0.0. ,: ,.., x?.,..:... :.. ,:..';. .. -..,..,,.., ~am,.. ,, ... .o. 3lf ' ., s .' t ,,.,,...o . ..:. :.. ... .. ,., .,,, .. ,., a~ .,h .., ,, w,. .. ... _.. . o-," ,b .,:~k.,a,.a. zY.W.,.V.,.xA --TODAY Taxi into town NYONE DRIVING THEIR CAR DOWN State Street early this morning was in for a surprise. At 4 a.m. this morning the Michigan Flyers, a University flying club, moved one of their airplanes from Ann Arbor airport onto the Diag, via State Street and North University. The airplane is part of the Michigan Flyers membership promotion that they have every year just "before summer 'cause that's when the on campus. In addition, the group will host a benefit dance tomorrow night at South Quad end send the proceeds, along with $100 from the South Quad Council, to the Atlanta Children's Foundation. "It's more or less a message from the University of Michigan that the students are concer- ned," said Hunt House RDMary Jean Ferrick. Q Union yesterday weren't escapees from the circus; they were representatives of Ann Arbor Ozone House trying to draw attention to themselves in their annual fund drive. The money donated will be spent on family and youth coun- seling and helping runaways get back with their families, according to an Ozone House coordinator. The group has about forty people, each holding the bucket in two-hour shif- ts. They hope to earn about $800-$1,000, enough to run the Ozone House for about a week. 0I French fried book return I m ..ihnin fa TTM T n, _ nn-r n ,r,_,F_. Buc king bottle Mechanical bulls are too tame for the urban cowboys of Redmond, Washington, so they're busting a bucking beer bottle. Lately nobody much wanted to ride the mechanical bull at the New Towne Crier Tavern, so proprietors John Dalzell and Jack Vermuellen converted the critter into a bronco bottle. They got a huge plastic bottle-complete with a snap-on top-and fitted it around the bull frame. It was an immediate hit. The whirling bottle is harder to tame than an ordinary bull. The slick surface cannot be gripped firmly with knees or thighs and the ride is wilder. "It takes I ...A '"' I~ i