The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 23, 1986 -Page 3
'U'
surveys Barbour,
Newberry for asbestos
By MARC ROSSEN
Benita Green, a freshman and
former resident of Helen
Newberry Residence Hall,
noticed that the insulation on her
pipes was torn when she moved
into her room earlier this month.
The University relocated her to
another room while they sealed
the exposed asbestos.
But because of her concern
about health risks, she decided to
move into a private apartment.
Last week, Helen Newberry
and Betsy Barbour residence
halls were given top priority in
the Housing Office's asbestos
control program because exposed
asbestos was discovered in
several residents' rooms.
ALL UNIVERSITY residences
will be surveyed as part of the new
University program which
requires that every dormitory's
asbestos insulation be examined.
The testing involves taking
samples of insulation from rooms
to determine what kind and how
much asbestos is present.
Surveyors also mark asbestos-
insulated pipes with stickers
which read: "CAUTION:
contains asbestos fibers. Avoid
creating dust. Breathing asbestos
dust may cause serious bodily
harm."
Although Newberry and
Barbour residents were notified
by the housing department that the
survey would be conducted, many
were shocked to find the bright
yellow stickers on almost every
pipe in Newberry.
Exposure to asbestos particles
in the air is a health risk,
according to a state health
department worker who asked to
not be identified. When
insulation wrapping is
deteriorating, as it was in some
Newberry and Barbour rooms,
asbestos particles get in the air.
IF TIE particles are inhaled it
is possible to contract lung cancer,
he said, but it usually will not
show up for approximately 40
years. The chances of getting
cancer increase as exposure
increases.
Officials expect every
residence hall to be tested by the
end of this year by a private firm
and the University's Office of
Occupational Safety and
Environmental Health.
In most cases the exposed
asbestos can simply be re-covered
to prevent particles from flaking.
off into the air and posing a health
threat.
"As long as (the insulation) is
in good condition, we don't have to
remove it," said Ken Schaltze of
occupational safety. Asbestos
removal is a difficult and costly
operation.
LSA freshman Jeanne
Wiemer's father noticed exposed
asbestos from pipes in her Barbour
room in late August. In mid-
September, Wiemer and her
roommate spent two days in a
Barbour guest room while the
asbestos in their room was sealed
and removed.
"It's a real inconvenience
when you're trying to get settled
in," Wiemer said.
Daily Photo by SCOTT LITUCHY.
Asbestos was found in this bathroom on the third floor in Helen Newberry.
U' expects extension
of financial aid law
Educators optimistic about
nation-wide SAT scores
By MICHAEL LUSTIG
Congress is working t
reauthorize a law which provide
;amajority of the University's
financial aid funds before i
expires Sept. 30, but University
officials say the law will be
extended until a new one i
passed.
Office of Financial Ai
Director Harvey Grotrian said
reauthorization of the law is
"vitally important to us" becaus
more than 75 percent of th
University's $55 million it
financial aid money is allocate
by the law, known as the Highe
Education Act.
HOUSE and Senate conferenc
committees are now trying t
compromise on their separat
versions of the law. Grotria
said if the law is not passed befor
it expires, Congress will pass
resolution allowing financial ai
programs to continue at presen
levels, until the act i
reauthorized..
Nite Owl
(Continued from Page 1)
Weidenbach estimated i
would cost an additional $20,000 t
run the bus during the summe
months, when ridership would b
low due to a depleted' studen
population.
During this summer, Johnso
and Weidenbach had allocate
about $1,000 for mino
improvements in the service, sail
Julie Steiner, a member of th
Safety Committee. Thos
changes included installing bu
stop signs and giving driver
Grotrian said he expects the
o level of financial aid to go up
s despite the threat of sweeping
S budget cuts. "Even under the
st shadow of the Gramm-Rudman
y deficit reduction act, I think it
e will be passed," he said.
is Almost half of all student
financial aid is in the form of
d Guaranteed Student Loans, which
are long-term, low interest loans
s available to students who do not
e qualify for other loan programs.
e Currently, undergraduates may
n borrow $2,500 per year up to a
d maximum of $12,500. The House
r plan would maintain annual aid
at $2,500 for freshmen and
e sophomores, but raise the amount
o available to juniors and seniors
e to $5,000, and raise the maximum
n available to $14,500. The Senate
e version would permit freshmen
a and sophomores to borrow $3,000;
d juniors and seniors $4,000; and a
t cumulative total of $18,500.
s GRADUATE students, who can
obtain a $5,000 annual
expansion al
more visible identification cards
t and name plates on the bus.
to THE COMMITTEE has been
r working to improve Nite Owl for
e almost three years, and
it expanding the service shows the
increasing concern with campus
n safety that was highlighted in
d January 1985, when almost 50
r students held a sit-in at Johnson's
id office after he was quoted in
le Metropolitan Detroit Magazine as
e saying that rape should be kept
s quiet on campus.
rs At the sit-in, students made a
Grotrian
... predicts aid increase
Guaranteed Student Loan now,
would be able to borrow $8,000 per
year in the House plan and $7,500
under the Senate's version.
Other programs slated
receive substantial increases in
funding are need-based Pell
Grants and PLUS loans, which
are made to graduate students,
parents of dependent under-
graduate students, and self-
supporting undergraduates.
pp roved
list of demands, which Johnson
signed, that included the
installation of emergency
phones, the creation of a crisis
center, and improvements in Nite
Owl.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to
death," Steiner said. But she
added, "I don't think it's
anything preventative. Nite Owl
doesn't serve everybody in this
University."
"We may never be able to say
Nite Owl, the emergency phones,
or Safe Walk (a new escort
service) prevented a rape. They
work together to make the campus
safer," she said.
POLICE NOTES
Bank robbed
Police are investigating a
bank robbery at the East Stadium
branch of Michigan National
Bank, according to Sgt. Jan
Suomala of the Ann Arbor Police.
Two black males, wearing no
disguises, entered the bank
shortly after noon yesterday. One
of the men wielded a handgun as
they approached the counter,
placed the money in a bag, and
left on foot, said Sgt. William
Canada.
Police would not release the
amount of money stolen.
-Melissa Birks
WASHINGTON (AP)-
Educators expressed hope
yesterday that the standstill in
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores for
the Class of 1986 will turn out to be
just a pause in the rebound that
began five years ago.
Experts agreed that one reason
for optimism is that 23,000 more.
seniors took the SAT last year at a
time when high school
enrollments are shrinking.
Scores tend to drop when a larger
percentage of a high school class
takes the college entrance exam.
AND THE SAT's rival, the
American College Testing
Program, showed an
improvement in its scores, with
the ACT average now standing at
its highest level in a decade.
The SAT scores have been
closely watched as a barometer of
school performance for the past
decade. Last year, when the
average SAT score jumped a
record nine points to 906,
President Reagan attributed it to
the success of the school reform
movement that khis
administration has pushed.
More than 1 million seniors
took the multiple-choice SAT,
while 729,606 took the ACT.
THE SAT - scored on a scale
of 400 to 1600 -- has hit plateaus
before as it fell from a peak of 980
in 1963 to its low of 890 in both 1980
and 1981.
Education Secretary William
Bennett said in a statement
Monday: "Clearly, the education
excellence movement has been
having an effect, and we're
holding the ground we've gained.
But now we must push ahead with
these education reforms to ensure
that we pick up steam again."
Bennett said he had
commented last February that a
surge in SAT scores this year was
unlikely.
BUT OTHER educators
admitted that they were surprised
by the lack of progress at a time
when many states have been
Re
Uae
tlaieg
C& wiwed
raising high school standards
and pouring money into their
schools.
"I thought they wuld have gone
up two or three points," said
California Superintendent of
Public Instruction Bill Honig,
whose own state scores held
steady at 904. But he emphasized
that more students are taking the
test and added, "I think things are
still moving forward."
SCOTT THAMPSON,
executive director of the National
Association of Secondary School
Principals, said, "One yea- does
not set a trend. Next year will be
the critical year." If there is no
gain for the Class of 1987, he said,
"then we must ask ourselves, 'Are
we teaching enough English and
mathematics in junior high and
high school?'
Officials at the College Board,
which sponsors the SAT,
estimated that more than two-
fifths of 1986 high school
graduates took their exam. A few
years ago, only one-third of
seniors took the SAT.
Terry Novak, a research
director for the College Board,
said the biggest growth in SAT
test-takers since 1981 has been
among students whose grades
rank in the lower portion of their
class.
The ACT score for the Class of
1986 rose 0.2 to 18.8 on that test's
scale of 1-to-35.
Oluf M. Davidsen, president of
ACT, said "We cannot pinpoint
all the causes for the continued
gradual improvement in ACT test
performance, but quite likely
some of (it) is related to the
renewed concern about education
quality."
The number of students taking
the ACT exam was down by 9,000.
Two students assaulted
By NMESSA BIRKS
Two Ann Arbor women
were assaulted this weekend in
the latest of a recent rash of
assaults, according to Sgt. Jan
Suomala of the Ann Arbor
Police Department.
Police are looking for a
man who raped a woman early
Sunday morning near the
corner of Fourth Avenue and
Madison Street. The victim
told police that she was
walking home when her
assailant grabbed her from
behind, forced her behind a
house, and raped her. The
rapist was last seen walking
toward Hill Street.
The woman was treated at
University Hospital and
released.
Police are also searching
for a man in his 20s who
approached a -University
student Friday night as she
was walking on Cross Street.
The man pushed her in the
bushes, but the woman
managed to fight off the attack,
Suomala said.
The attacks are the latest in
a recent wave of rapes and
attempted rapes. Two weeks
ago, two University students
were raped by a man who broke
into their homes.
Last week, Ann Arbor
resident Christopher Barnard
Skinner, 20, was charged with
the assaults. Skinner was
arrested last Monday for and
charged with prowling near the
scene of the last attack, and he
was identified by both victims
the next day.
Skinner is scheduled to be
arraigned tomorrow.
11
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Campus Cinema
Kings Of The Road (Wim
Wenders, 1976), Eye, 8:oo p.m.,
214N. 4th.
A suicidal divorcee and a movie-
projector repairman travel
through the decaying villages of
East Germany. Probably deeper
than it sounds.
Images (Robert Altman, 1972),
AAFC, DBL/7:00 p.m., MLB
3.
Does Susannah York really
witness a murder while
vacationing in Ireland, or is
Altman just pulling a
Hitchcock? Watch and find out.
Three Women (Robert
Altman, 1977), AAFC,
DBL/9:oo p.m., MLB 3.
Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek,
and Janice Rule are thre women
on a crash course towards
something. Unusually
pretentious for Altman.
North By Northwest (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1959), MTF,
DBL/7:00 p.m., Mich.
Is Cary Grant really a spy, or is
Hitchcock just pulling an
his M. 0.
The Right Stuff, American
Institute for Aeronautics and
Astronautics, 7 p.m., 1.07
Aerospace Engineering Build-
ing, free.
Speakers
Marc Orbach -
"Transformation in
neurospora using a mutant B-
tublin gene as a dominant
selectable marker," noon, 1139
Nat Sci.
Qin Xiaomeng - "The Recent
Literary Upsurge in China,"
noon, Lane Hall.
Rita Dove - Visiting Writers
Series, 4 p.m., Rackham East
Conference.
Meetings
Archery Club - 7 p.m.,
Colliseum.
Junior Year Abroad at St.
Andrews, Scotland - 3 p.m.,
5208 Angell Hall.
Undergraduate Psychology
Society - 7 p.m., Pendleton
Room, Michigan Union.
MUSICIARS WANTED
TO PLAY AT SOUNDSTAGE
THURSDAYS IN-THE U-CLUB
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