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 I II I 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 I