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Ninety-six years of editorial freedom
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Vol. XCVI - No. 110
Copyright 1986, The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Thursday, March 13, 1986
Ten Pages
'U'faces
worst ever
'housing
crunch
By EVE BECKER
The housing crunch is on and is
greater this year than ever according
to Student Legal S rvices, which is
conducting a research project to
determine the causes of the housing
crunch.
Larry Fox, an attorney for Student
Legal Services, said he has noticed a
rise in rents, an increased demand for
student housing, and cases of in-
timidation by landlords. Because
landlords can be mdre selective about
tenants, students are reluctant to
complain to their landlords, he said.
"IT SEEMS to be even worse now
than it was," said Fox. "Students are
i scrambling now to find housing. It's
starting earlier so landlords can pick
and choose."
The low vacancy rate, 0.79 percent
for Septmeber, 1985, caused rents to
escalate, making the University's
rents second only to Northwestern
University in the Big Ten schools.
SLS is conducting a housing resear-
ch project to identify the problems
Rand pose solutions to Ann Arbor
housing problems on and off campus.
"WE'RE TRYING to do a study to
put together a report to see whether
the University should try to provide
more housing," said .Marc Fried, an
LSA junior who is working on the
report. "We're going to try to get the
University to work with the city."
"There's little question that there's
a housing crunch this year," said
associate director for housing John
Heidke. The resident halls are filled to
over 100 percent capacity, and the
University must provide rooms first
to incoming freshmen, so some retur-
ning students may not be accom-
modated, he said.
Fox said the high cost of off-campus
housing may discourage students
from attending the University and has
a "4isproportionate impact on
minority students. I think the Univer-
sity has a responsibility at least in
that area to provide for students who
come here."
THE ANN Arbor housing research
project will study the need for ad-
ditional housing, the rents students
pay, the effects of downtown
development on the costs of housing,
See SLS, Page 3
Regents react
to PIRGIM
f4
eproposal
Daily Photo by CHRIS TWIGG
Cool and creamy
LSA sophomore Amy Silverman takes off her mittens to enjoy an ice cream cone yesterday, as temperatures
hovered in the upper 30s.
MIfichigan Right to Know
proposal passes Senate
By NANCY DRISCOLL
Members of the University's Board
of Regents yesterday expressed con-
cern that the Public Interest Resear-
ch Group in Michigan's (PIRGIM)
proposed funding system may not be
constitutional and predicted that it
will not be approved by the board-.
PIRGIM, which is part of a nation-
wide consumer action group, is
currently gathering students'
signatures in support of a
"refusable/refundable" funding
system with the University. This type
of funding system would
automatically assess students a $2
fee unless they request not to be billed
by checking a refusal box on their
Student Verification Form. Students
would also be able to request a refund
at a later date.
ON MONDAY the Supreme Court
upheld a federal ruling that declared
unconstitutional Rutgers University's
funding system for the New Jersey
PIRG.
The third circuit court of
Philadelphia ruled in August, 1985
that Rutgers' system, which required
students to pay a mandatory $4 per
semester fee - even though it was
refundable upon reque§t - violates
some students' constitutional rights.
The court, however, did notrule on
the constitutionality of the type of
system that is being lobbied for by
PIRGIM.
Nonetheless Regent Deane Baker
said he believes PIRGIM's proposed
system could be affected "in a major
way by that case." Baker said the
courts opinion "clearly states that
PIRGs are not educational
organizations, they are political." He
added that PIRGIM is filed as a lob-
byist organization in the state of
Michigan.
IN FEBRUARY of last year the
regents voted to terminate PIRGIM's
funding contract with the University,
which had allowed them a positive-
checkoff fudning system on SVF for-
ms. The, contract was terminated
because of a lack of student support.
Under bylaws created by the regen-
ts in 1972, any organization that had
initial support from 50 percent of the
student population and one-third sup-
port thereafter would be eligible for
the special funding mechanism.
Because of changes in the
registration process, in subsequent
contracts with PIRGIM the regents
lowered the margin of continued sup-
port needed to 25 percent, 20 percent,
and finally waived the requirement
altogether.
BUT THE regents decided last
February that to requalify for such a
system, the student group must again
prove that they had support of more
See PIRGIM, Page 5
By LAURA COUGHLIN
with wire reports
Senate approval yesterday of legislation which would
give Michigan residents access to information about toxic
'chemicals in the workplace met with mixed reactions in.
Ann Arbor.
The legislation, known as the Right to Know, was passed
unanimously by the State House of Representatives
earlier this year, but needs to be signed by Governor
James Blanchard before it becomes law.
THE BILLS allow residents of a county to obtain lists of
hazardous chemicals used in their areas, requires firms to
supply such lists to local fire chiefs, and gives employees
the right to refuse to work with some hazardous
materials.
"We support the package," said Andy Buchsbaum of
the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan, although
he said that there were faults in the bill.
Buchsbaum said that although the information will be
available to the public, people will have to write away for
it. This, he said, unnecessarily delays communication.
WES PRATER, a spokesman for the Ann Arbor Fire!
Department, said a Washtenaw County proposal is better
because it provides for local distribution of information.
If the state law goes into effect, the county law will not,
but when the state law is renewed after April 1, 1987, ex-
perts expect that it will be similar to the country proposal.
"The county Right to Know bill is a much better
regualtion, but a little bit is better than nothing," Prater
said.
ECHOING Prater, Buchsbaum said, the state proposal
"does not provide local access for information and it
doesn't provide for local enforcment."
But he praised the bill that automatically sends lists of
the locations of toxic waste to fire fighters. "We'd rather
have all three bills than nothing at all," Buchsbaum said.
Following passage of the measures, the Right to Know
Task Force, a coalition of groups, hailed the Senate's ac-
tion as "a tremendous victory for the citizens of
Michigan."
Scott Tobey, chairman of the task force, said the group
encourages people who are exposed to toxic chemicals to
begin demanding the information the law provides.
'U' official justifies
following of protesters
By ROB EARLE
Police and campus security guards
followed protesters from North Cam-
pus to Central Campus last Friday
because the officers believed the
protest would continue elsewhere,
University Public Safety Director Leo
Heatley said yesterday.
Heatley said either a police or
security officer heard one of the
.Profs. question warmer
superpower relations
By ADAM CORT
University professors voiced mixed
reactions to a recent Associated Press
poll indicating that Americans don't
think nuclear war is likely in the next
15 years, and that relations are im-
proving between the two super-
powers.
The professors agreed that a
nuclear conflict is unlikely, but war-
ned that relations are still strained.
The poll released yesterday in-
dicated that although most people
believe the Soviets are a military
threat to the United States, nearly
three-quarters of the 1,512 adults
questioned think a nuclear war with
the Soviets is not likely to occur before
the turn of the century.
THE POLL also indicates that. 47
percent of those polled believe
relations between the United States
and the Soviet Union "had improved
under President Reagan."
Faculty members responding to the
survey agreed that nuclear war is
unlikely to occur in the immediate
future. "The threat of nuclear war is
always present," said Ronald Suny, a
Russian history professor, "but I'd
have to agree with the poll that a
nuclear war is very unlikely."
United States diplomatic history
prof. Bradford Perkins agreed,
saying that the chance of a nuclear
conflict between the two nations is
"very, very small."
REACTIONS were mixed, but
generally in disagreement with the
public's positive view of relations
between the two countries.
Political Science professor,
Raymond Tanter said he sees only
marginal improvement, if any.
"Relations have improved because
(the countries) are not calling each
other names, but there has been no
resolution in those areas like Third
World influence that will bring real
improvement," he said.
Suny agrees that "Relations have
improved since the low point of late
1983 and early 1984," but he added
that "it was Reagan that drove them
that low."
SOME professors were skeptical of
the public optimism.
History Prof. Gerald Linderman
said, "I think that Americans are still
feeling a post-summit optimism
though nothing has happened to
justify that confidence." People are
"optimistic because they saw a cor-
dial relationship" between the two
heads of state, but there have since
been no developments that hint upon a
friendly personal relationship, he
said.
. The professors agreed that
relations will continue to be strained.
Though Tanter does not believe the
future is entirely grim, he said he does
not expect progress in either arms
control or Third World relations in the
near future.
"It would be foolish to relax our ef-
forts to control arms," said Linder-
man.
protesters at the Stearns Building on
North Campus say the protest would
move to another building, because the
building had been closed to the public.
VICE President for Student Affairs
Henry Johnson was appointed by
Shapiro to investigate the incident, in
which campus security and Ann Ar-
bor police officers followed demon-
See PROTEST, Page 5
Activist
promotes
Mid-East
Relations
By ELLEN FIEDELHOLTZ
Reconciliation of the Arab-Israeli
conflict will be impossible until each
side views the other as equal, said a
Palestinian speaker who holds Israeli
citizenship last night.
"'I'm not here to draw maps," said
Mohammad Darouwshe, who believes
that coexistence of Palenstinians and
Israelis is the only way to make peace
in the war-torn Middle East.
STEREOTYPES play a large role
in the conflict, the lecturer told an
audience of 50 in the Union. Both
Arab and Israelis grow up with pat
definitions that categorize their op-
ponents. Palestinians are
automatically associated with
terrorism, while Israelis are seen as
invaders and killers, Darouwshe said.
But both sides actively participate
in murders, he said. "Killing is
killing. Death is death. Ten people
See POLITICAL, Page 2
Daily Photo by CHRIS TWIGG-
Mohammad Darouwshe, an Israeli citizen who was born in Palestine,
speaks to a crowd in the Michigan Union last night.
TODAY
Bun lovers
7 Ut'T T MA PUTIV APihp hav hnn
build and that the two entrepreneurs are in the process
of working out a regular route. Their innovative
creation features a countertop, and enough stools to set
ten hungry residents. Most students expressed sur-
prise at seeing a red vehicle which resembled a bus
outside their dorm selling hot dogs. LSA junior Joe
Saul said, "It's a ,great idea and definitely one of the
The first time he proposed, Bostwick was turned down.
"I just wasn't ready to get married in 1928," said Ar-
thun, who was at college in Dillon preparing for a
teaching career. Bostwick and Arthun each married
someone else, raised families and lived in different
towns in western Montana. They never corresponded.
But Bostwick's wife died last year. Last winter, an
INSIDE-
DECAY: Opinion discusses America's decaying
campuses. See page 4.
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