The Michigan Daily - Saturday, February 9, 1985-- Page 3
Ohio State to kill
campus birds
COLUMBUS (CPS)-One cold night,
during the next few weeks, before
spring temperatures start rising above
50 degrees, a small cropdusting plane
will buzz the Ohio State University
campus, drenching selected areas with
a detergent-laced water solution.
As the sun rises the next morning-if
the plan works-university workers
will begin picking up the frozen car-
casses of hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of dead pigeons and starlings.
THEY'LL HAVE frozen to death
because their natural water-resistant
coating was wrecked by the detergent
solution.
"It's the simplest, most humane
method we've been able to come up
with," explains Ed Lavere, OSU's direc-
tor of environmental health and safety.
"As the birds are nesting in the trees at
night, we'll spray them with the
detergent and water and they'll slowly
freeze to death."
Awful as it may sound, the tactic is
only the most recent in an unofficially
declared national campus war against
pigeons.
DOZENS OF campuses over the last
ten years have adopted tactics that
would make some war criminals blush
in trying to stampede, kill, and otherwise
remove the birds.
OSU's bird problem is so bad "people
either have to leave campus by 4 p.m.
or wait until after dark because of the
number of birds roosting overhead,"
Lavere laments. "We have to do
something."
The University of Arizona tried to
scare its pigeons away with metal owls.
Maryland used "electronic clickers" to
discomfort them. Yale University in-
stalled $15,000 worth of screens. Ken-
tucky put up "mesh hardware cloth" to
keep them off certain buildings.
OTHERS HAVE fed the pigeons
drugs, left plastic snakes in their
roosts, soaked them with hoses, and
trapped them in cages and dropped
them off in rural areas.
They almost always return to cam-
pus.
"In the war against the birds," ob-
serves OSU zoologist Sheldon Kustick,
"the birds are winning."
"THE USUAL Greek Revival ar-
chitecture you find on campus" is the
culprit, theorizes Paul Knapp, head of
the Association of Physical Plant Ad-
ministrators of Universities and
Colleges.
"The pigeons love to roost and rest
there," he points out. "They even color
the buildings to suit themselves."
Failing to convince them to move
voluntarily, Illinois, UCLA, Berkeley
and Maryland administrators-among
many others-try to kill them.
WHILE OSU's spraying method is
likely to draw criticism, they hope it
will be less controversial than the tactic
the school has used in the past.
Until this year, OSU officials would
select one Sunday every January to
round up the local bird population and
systematically blast them with
shotguns.
Last year the mass shootings drew
unusually harsh criticism, and the Ohio
Humane Society even stepped in to
condemn the slaughter.
"POISONING OR killing the birds is
aestetically unacceptable and of
questionable value," says Paul
Steward of the American Humane
Society.
Two months before OSU's Black Sun-
day, the Champaign (Ill.) County
Humane Society chastised the Univer-
sity of Illinois' "relocation program,"
which consisted of stuffing campus
pigeons into burlap sacks and, as ad-
ministrator Edward Cousins puts it,
having them "put to sleep."
OSU's spray-and-freeze method also
"is totally unacceptable," argues Den-
nis White, director of the Humane
Society's animal protection division.
"THE DETERGENT spraying
method has been used many places
before, much to the ire of the animal
protection community," he says. "We
define a humane death as one that is
quick and painless, and the spraying
method is neither."
"The plant administrators are the
Rodney Dangerfields of the campus,"
Knapp says. "They're caught in a Cat-
ch-22 situation. They can't ignore the
birds. They'll be blamed when students
get sick or a faculty member is bombed
and his clothes are ruined."
The birds are also health hazards.
DEPENDING ON the health expert,
officials say bird droppings can tran-
smit dangerous diseases like cryp-
tomococcosis-which is similar to
cerebral meningitis-ornithosis and
histoplasmosis.
"Histo leaves spots like cancer on the
lungs," Lustick says. "Sometimes
lungs have been removed because of
this."
"Students don't accept that they are
nuisance animals," Knapp complains.
"Birds have a license no other nuisance
can have. They are as dirty as
cockroaches."
Cleaning up after them can be expen-
sive.
OHIO STATE spends up to $3000 each
time it has a commercial firm clean the
campus, estimates Dean Ramsey,
OSU's landscape architect.
The University of Texas at El Paso
pays workers $5 per hour for three or
four hours a week and buys them
protective clothing and breathing ap-
pliances to clean up the mess.
Alternatively, in 1982 UTEP spent
$3500 to feed campus pigeons corn ker-
nels laced with a drug called Avitrol.
Avitrol, says John Kummings of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "affects
the bird's nervous system. He flies
erratically, and scares the other bir-
ds." The ploy didn't work at UTEP.
.Bea 2 Associated Press
San Diego Zoo keeper Vickie Kuder has her hands full of fur as she carries
Meje, a baby koala bear, with the help of a toy teddy bear. The zoo has recen-
tly announced a program that will send the Australian marsupials to other
U.S. zoos.
AT&T divestiture brings problems for colleges and students
From College Press Service
It's been over a year since a court or-
der broke up American Telephone and
Telegraph's communications monopoly
into one long-distance service and
seven regional carriers.
And it's been an unusual and oc-
casionally rocky year for students as
their. campuses struggle to cope with
the changes by testing new phone
systems and sometimes even becoming
their own phone companies.
MOREOVER, A number of colleges
"don't know what they're doing," one
consultant charges.
Other observers, moreover, don't see
the situation changing much in 1985.
For State University of New York at
Binghamton students, 1984 was a year
of dead lines, charges for extra services
and higher phone rates.
"THE UNIVERSITY installed the
system in good faith," says Marjorie
Leffler, the student government
president. ""They hoped to provide
cheaper service than the phone com-
pany."
It hasn't quite worked out on other
campuses yet either.
The jury is still out on college-owned
telephone systems, says Michael Toner
president of the Association of College
and University Telecommunications
Administrators.
SOME SCHOOLS considering
telecommunications equipment pur-
chases still are appraising the mistakes
of colleges that have already ventured
to become their own phone companies.
"Most (systems) have been in ser-
vice for less than two years," Toner
notes. "Some schools that had the old
Centrex (Bell-owned) system would
have been better off not to switch as
Bell rate decreases have made some
alternate systems more expensive."
While most schools buy phone
systems to save money, expenses for
new staff and equipment can mount up
quickly, he adds.
THE UNIVERSITY of Chicago's
three-year-old system cost nearly $15
million to install, adminstrator Carol
See explains, while the university hopes
to save only $10 million over the next
five years.
UCLA expects to save $15 million
over the next 15 years with its $19
million system, says John Terrell,
system manager.
But Larry Larson, University of New
Mexico telecommuncations manager,
claims UNM has cut phone expenses by
50 percent since its December, 1983,
purchase of a $6 million state-of-the-art
system.
PHONE BILLS have decreased from
nearly $270,000 to about $107,000 a mon-
th, he says.
University of Missouri officials hope
redesigning the telecommunications
systems at all four campuses will save
up to $10 million in 10 years. Beginning
with the Kansas City campus, Missouri
officials are developing long-distance
and local service for faculty, ad-
ministrators and students, reports
Coleman Burton, the director of
telecommunications.
"Another reason for the system is to
get our act together," Burton admits.
"At Kansas City there are eight dif-
ferent phone systems for three different
locations. With the new system, we
hope to save $3 million to $5 million at
KC alone in ten years."
DESPITE ANTICIPATED savings,
many campuses still are finding a few
bugs - and some resentment - in their
systems.
University of Tennessee dorm
residents say the number of available
AT&T lines has been cut to force users
onto the university-owned Infonet
system.
SCHOOLS WHICH have purchased
their own equipment seem to be lear-
ning to run the systems and to solve
problems that arise, he notes.
"We anticipated problems during the
cutover to the new system," UCLA's
Terrell remembers. "One minor
problem occurred, but users didn't
even notice because our service was so
lousy before."
"There are good and bad systems,"
Toner explains. "Some systems are ab-
solutely horrible. Schools putting more
work into the selection decision
generally get a better system."
"UNIVERSITIES have to find and
train quality people," Beidelman con-
tinues. "They have to be able to.offer
competitive salaries."
"If my clients don't make commit-
ments, they fail and there's nothing I
can do about it," he adds. "They're
very aware of problems, but I can't say
they all know what they're getting in-
to."
Schools must choose equipment, ser-
vices, and options based on such things
as the college's location, the type, age
and cost of the current system,
penalties for conversion, *and the
school's academic mission, Beidelman
says.
THE BIGGEST complications, he in-
sists, are politics and competition.
"Cost is approximately $1,000 per
line," he says, "and it's a highly
politically' oriented expenditure.
Pressure by vendors on governing
boards and universities becomes
hostile and extremely competitive."
But a more obvious problem,
especially to colleges selling dormitory
phone service, is student abuse of long-
distance service.
COLORADO STATE University
students recently ran up $6,245 of
illegal phone calls by breaking assigned
long-distance codes. Two students face
felony computer fraud charges for calls
of more than $200.
The University of Oklahoma's six-
digit billing codes have tempted some
students to charge long-distance calls
to as many as 30 different codes.
"Students like to try to find ways to
beat the system," Wayne Olson,
Oklahoma's telecommunications
manager observes.
But officials quickly caught the
culprits, Olson says, and withheld their
transcripts and admission approvals
until the charges were paid.
Exiles speak nk"
(Continued from Page 1)
died in Russia and in the Eastern
European satellite countries Milosz'
said. "Only.the slogans survive because
these are important in organizing the
(Soviet policies)," he told the crowd.
The symposium was the fifth in a
series of lectures sponsored by the
Nicolaus Copernicus Endowment and is
part of an effort to raise money to en-{
dow a chair of Polish studies at the
University. Czech novelist Josef Sk-
vorecky also spoke.
Milosz
... recounts impact of communism
-HAPPENINGS-
Highlight
The Asian American Association is celebrating the Lunar New Year
tonight at Stockwell. There will be authentic Asian cuisine, live entertain-
ment, and dancing. The celebration begins at 7 p.m.
Film
Alt. Act. - Network, 7 p.m., Nat. Sci. Aud.
AAFC --Rear Window, 7 p.m., The Man Who Knew Too Much, 9p.m., Nat.
Sci. Aud.
MTF - The Big Chill, 7 p.m., Michigan.
MED - Romancing the Stone, 7:30 p.m., MLB 4.
Hill St. - A Clockwork Orange, 7 p.m., Hill St.
SGL - Deep End, 7p.m., Sundays and Cybele, 9 p.m., Angell Aud. A.
Religion & Ethics - Listen To The City, 7 p.m., MLB 3.
CG - This is Spinal Tap, 7p.m., MLB 4.
MED - Purple Rain - 6 p.m., MLB 3.
Performance
Ark - Evening with Cole Porter, 8 p.m., 637 S. Main.
Major Events - The Temptations and The Four Tops, 7:30 p.m., Hill
AUditorium.
School of Music - Piano Recital, Tania Fleischer, 8 p.m., Recital Hall.
Performance Network - Vatzlav, 8 p.m., 408 W. Washington.
University Musical Society - The Feld Ballet, 8 p.m., Power Center.
Speaker
Hillel Foundation - Celebration of Jewish Arts, Mike Burstyn, 8:30 p.m.,
Mendelssohn Theatre.
College town accept students, study says
WASHINGTON (CPS)-College
students get drunk, try the patience of
local police and monopolize public
parking spaces, but a new survey of
"town-gown" relations finds most
college towns take these inconvenien-
ces in stride.
More city officials than five years ago
cite alcohol and drug abuse as their
worst town-student headache.
BUT THE SURVEY also found many
city and college officials now cooperate
in solving the unique problems of small
college towns.
Student alcohol and drug use was the
number one campus-related problem
for 74 percent of the 56 cities curveyed
by Neward, Del., city planners and the
National League of Cities.
Almost all the cities listed parking
problems and off-campus housing
restrictions as other major problems of
hosting college students.
"THESE ARE THE old standby
problems in any university community
becuase young people make up a
disproportionate share of the
population compared to other towns,"
says Nancy Minter, manager of the
league's Municipal Reference Service.
In a similar 1979 survey, only 55 per-
cent of the cities rated alcohol and drug
abuse as the number one campus
problem.
"The increase in cities reporting
problems with alcohol may reflect the
nationwide concern with drunk
driving," Minter speculates. "And the
raised drinking age in some states
makes many students legally un-
derage."
BUT THE MOST dramatic change in
the ;984 survey is the increased
cooperation between city and college
administrators, she adds.
In the 1979 survey, only one city
reported a joint economic development
program with its college. Nearly 60
percent of the surveyed cities had such
projects in 1984.
"The effects of back-to-back
recessions on community finances and
the effects of budget cuts on univer-
sities make for cooperation," Minter
explains.
COLLEGES AND COMMUNITIES
are joining forces in such projects as
research parks, sports arenas, street
and sewer projects, buildings, mass
transit, student internships, and small
business research and development,
she adds.
"Cities have lots of respect for
universities and want to get along bet-
ter," Minter stresses. "We didn't con-
duct the survey to draw attention to
universities and students as problems,
but to determine what problems
municipalities face having a college in
town."
The 1984 survey included 45 cities of
less than 100,000 people, and 11 cities of
over 100,000.
"Cities were chosen whose main
game in town is a university," Minter
explains. "Very large cities were not
included because, while they may have
many schools, their politics, history
and development are not directly
related to a university."
Colleges with winning
teams attract students
NEW YORK (CPS)-Winning
athletic teams are twice as likely to at-
tract high school students to a college
as deter them, but most students say it
is not a factor in choosing their
colleges, a recent.survey suggests.
Fifty-four percent of the college-
bound high school seniors interviewed
by the Jan Drukowski Associates
marketing firm said that all other fac-
tors being equal, a school's emphasis on
supporting nationally-ranked athletic
teams has no bearing on their college
choice.
But among those who cared, 32 per-
cent said they would be more likely to
enroll at such a school, while 13 percent
were less likely.
The survey suggests academically
prestigious schools hoping sports suc-
cess will attract a pool of brighter ap-
plicants are engaging in wishful
thinking.
Survey director Leslie Weber found
the higher a student's score on the
Scholastic Aptitude Test, the less likely
a winning team would be an attraction
to the student.
About 58 percent of those with SAT
scores higher than 650 said winning
teams are not a factor for them.
U-Club avoids 3d citation
(Continued from Page 1)
If Crabb did indeed approve the ad,
Keck said, the U-Club "more or less
participated in a technical violation."
Despite this possible illegality, Keck
said that the LCC does not plan to pur-
sue the investigation.
"It's a very thin case - if we took it to
the attorney general's office, they
would probably wonder why we spent
so much time on it," Keck said.
HE COMPARED issuing a citation to
the U-Club in this instance with giving a
ticket to a driver for going 56 mph when
the speed limit is 55 mph.
Keck said he is also hesitant to issue a
citation because the LCC rules per-
pears again, even without the U-Club's
participation, he wouldn't be so
"broad-minded."
In the past year, the U-Club has been
cited twice by the LCC for selling
alcohol to patrons who were not club
members - a violation of its "private
club" liquor license. The U-Club paid
$600 in fines for the previous violations.
764-0558
PHIl3E
PREMIERES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1985
a weekly feature every Tuesday in The Michigan Daily