The Michigan Daily -Thursday, November 1, 1990 - Page 3 City seeks contract with recycling firm Students contend with "by Chris Afendulis Ann Arbor's collection and pro- cessing of recyclables will be ex- panded as the city takes bids from .private firms vying to perform those ,services. : Bryan Weinert, the city's Man- ager of Resource Recovery, said the 'eity will be taking bids from private{ firms in December or January to se- lect a group to collect recyclables beginning on July 1, 1991, when the city's contract with Recycle Ann Arbor runs out. y "It's prudent to see what's out there," Weinert said about the city's .lan for private bids. .RRecycle Ann Arbor, with a pro- eessing facility located on Ellsworth 'road, will continue to process the city's recyclables until Ann Arbor completes its Material Recovery Fa- ility (MRF), near the city landfill, in early 1993. Weinert said the future facility will be owned by the city and oper- ited by a private firm. Mike Garfield, Environmental Is- sues Coordinator of the Ann Arbor - cology Center, said the new ar- rangement would increase recycling pickup for single-family housing Students1 by Chris Afendulis from monthly to weekly, and would expand collection for multi-unit housing in the city. Garfield said the Ecology Center - which is affiliated with Recycle Ann Arbor - supports the idea of the city looking at other firms' pro- posals for collection and processing of recyclables, but added, "We're very confident we (Recycle Ann Ar- bor) will get the bid." "We're not going to go out of business if we lose the curbside bid," said Ed Boucher, Recycle Ann Ar- bor's Director of Commercial Recy- cling Services. He said the organiza- tion is still committed to environ- mental goals, and would continue to educate the public about such con- cerns even if the group no longer collected the city's recyclables. Buck Marks, the University's Recycling Coordinator and represen- tative on the city's solid waste commission, said a firm's access to vendors should be a prime considera- tion in deciding its effectiveness in managing the city's recyclables. Martin Caman, Executive Direc- tor of Recycle Ann Arbor, said the changes would improve service for the city. TA accents Increased awareness of the need to recycle has caused boxes such as this one to crop up all over campus. by Jesse Snyder When LSA junior Nancy Vander Velde took Chemistry 125 as a first- year student, her foreign teaching as- sistant's accent was so difficult to understand that she and her lab part- ners took turns asking questions. "We would fight over whose turn it was," she said. "I couldn't under- stand him at all. All I understood was when he said 'safety first.' Alexa McCulloch, an engineering senior, also experienced language dif- ficulties with foreign instructors. "I had a chem. TA who never knew what you were asking. He would always nod his head 'yes, yes, yes,' even if you were wrong," she said. Engineering Assistant Dean Gene Smith said while communica- tion difficulties do not constitute a major problem, there are occasional reports of difficulties with foreign TAs. "We usually ask students to give it a couple of weeks of acclimating, and often the problem disappears," Smith said. "Some cases are more trouble, and we try to find another section and notify the department. We don't ignore problems." "Fifty percent of graduate stu- dents are foreigners," Smith said. He explained that hiring graduate stu- dents to teach sections is necessary in order to reduce class sizes. Leonald Leung, a foreign TA in the math department, acknowledged he has had some problems commu- nicating with his students but the difficulties are not insurmountable. "I try to explain the problem to them. It can be overcome," he said. While language problems occur in almost every department, Smith said that most of the problems that have come to his attention deal with first-year level LSA instructors, par- ticularly in the mathematics field. When interviewed, history Prof. Rhoads Murphey, an LSA academic counselor, focused on the problem in the math department, and in Math 115 in particular. Murphey said stu- dents often complain about their Math 115 instructors. The problem, he said, lies in the lack of faculty teaching the course. "The faculty thinks it's beneath them," Murphey said. "My advice (to students) is to drop the course or take it elsewhere." "The course is mostly taught by TAs, and a great majority of the TAs are foreign," Murphey said. "Math is not a skill you need a spoken lan- guage for." "It's the worse course in the col- lege, a disgrace," he added. However, Prof. James Kister, as- sociate chair of the math department, said students sometimes use accents as an excuse when they do poorly in a class. "We have seen students who have trouble understanding math, push it off onto the actual language communication," he said. A foreign math 116 TA, who didn't wish to be identified, agreed. "In general, I suspect students think they have problems because they don't do well," she said. "Some are spoiled, and they blame things on the foreign TAs. They should think first." Kister said Math 115 has im- proved in the past year due to fel- lowship support that has enabled the hiring of more faculty. "There haven't always been a lot of faculty teaching 115, but there have always been some," he said. "There are around 60-65 sections in Math 115 and this year faculty are teaching 32 of them." Kister admitted that this was un- usual. In past years, as few as 10 sections have been taught by faculty. Kister also said the department has become more careful in screening potential TAs. "There are fewer of these prob- lems, but they do happen," he said. take part in recycling craze From attempts to step up collec- tion in the Law Quad to promoting the use of recycled paper in course- Packs, various groups on campus Und in Ann Arbor' are working to expand collection of recyclables and encourage the purchase of recycled goods. - Andy Duncan, a member of Re- cycle UM's Steering Committee, said the student-run group is trying to increase concern for recycling col- lection in the Greek system, as well as in off-campus, multi-unit housing currently not serviced by the city. Martin Caman, Executive Direc- tor of Recycle Ann Arbor, said the facility works to increase collection at such apartment complexes. "We've worked with people on a unit-by-unit basis," he said. He es- timated the number of units serviced by these efforts at 3500. The city's current program con- sists of monthly collection for sin- gle-family housing, but will soon be expanded to include apartment com- plexes. Recycle Ann Arbor also offers four recycling bins throughout the city, where residents may drop newspaper, glass, and tin. They are located at the city garage, 721 N. Main; the city landfill, 4170 Platt; at Pauline Plaza, west of Stadium Blvd.; and the Veteran's Pool and Ice Arena, 2150 Jackson. Additional materials such as cor- rugated cardboard, car batteries, plas- tic milk jugs, and scrap metal may be taken by students to the drop-off station at 2050 S. Industrial. LSA senior Helen Johnson lives in a 23-unit apartment complex without recycling collection service, but said she and her roommates make recycling trips regularly. "At first it's a pain," she said, "but once you start it, it's worth the pain you put into it." Bill Krebs, an LSA first-year stu- dent who lives in Markley, said re- cycling procedures in University res- idence halls were too confusing, and discouraged him from recycling. "The bins all look alike, so I just throw it in," he said. Christa Wyatt, an LSA Senior and member of the South Quad resi- dence hall staff, said she experienced difficulty in motivating some stu- dents to recycle. "There's only so much we can do on an everyday ba- sis," she said. She suggested recycling informa- tion be posted on residence hall room doors, like fire procedures, to remind students what can be recycled and where it should be taken. The University's grounds and waste management division currently collects corrugated cardboard, news- paper, office paper, and wood waste from residence halls, family housing and administration buildings. Buck Marks, the University's recycling coordinator, said a new, $119,000 grant from the state will help expand recycling collection in administra- tion buildings. The Law School's Environmental Law Society is currently seeking to expand recycling collection in the Law Quad using some of that grant money, said member Lynnelle Det- zler. Recycle UM also promoted the use of recycled paper at local copy shops, an effort so successful that it now costs no more for a coursepack printed on recycled paper than for one on virgin paper. "It's really well established," Duncan said regarding the shops' use of recycled paper. He also said once one store began using the paper, the others followed "like a domino ef- fect." Use of recycled paper in coursep- acks at printshops varies. Dollar Bill Copying estimated that 95% of its coursepacks were printed on recycled paper, while Kinko's put their esti- mate at 50%. Michigan Document Services said all of their coursepacks are printed on 100% recycled paper. Owner Jin, Smith said pure recycled paper costs more, but, "We find that demand is such that it's worth it." THE LIST Student Locator joins Campus Info. What's happening in Ann Arbor today Meetings LAGROC (Lesbian & Gay Men's Rights Organizing Committee), weekly meeting. Union, Rm. 3100, 7:15-8:30. Michigan Video Yearbook, weekly meeting. Union, 4th floor, 6:30. Amnesty International, weekly meeting 'of local chapter. B116 MLB, 7:00. Palestine Solidarity Commit- tee, weekly meeting. International Center, 7:30. El Club de Espanol, weekly meeting of the Spanish Conversa- tion Club. MLB 4th Floor Com- mons, 2:30-4. ACT-UP Ann Arbor (not affili- tated with the Revolutionary Work- ers' League, which is listed below), weekly meeting. Call Patrice (665- 1797) or David (662-6282) for loca- tion or info. 7:30. ACT-UP, weekly meeting. Union, 7:30. In Focus Filmworks. Real to Reel -. first showing of student filmmakers' films. Bring pennies. 1008 Frieze Bldg., 6:00. German Club discussion of work and study opportunities in Germany. MLB, Rm. 2212, 6:30. Rainforest Action Movement. Group yearbook picture to be taken at 6:30. Brazilian Greens presenta- tion follows. School of3Natural Re- sources, Rm. 1520, 6:30. Intervarsity Christian Fel- lowship, "Lordship of Christ/ Holiness." Michigan League base- ment, 7:00. Speakers "Earning Prospects for the Post Yuppy Generation," "Microchips and the Mouste- rian - My Summer at Combe Capelle," David Hamermesh, speaker. Brown bag luncheon. Ruthven Natural Science Musuem, 12-1:00.- "Scanning Tunneling Mi- croscopy: Techniques and Ap- plications," sponsored by Chem- istry Dept.; Prof. Bradford Orr, speaker. Rm. 1640, 4:00. Furthermore Safewalk functions 8-1:30 am Sun.-Thurs., 8-11:30 Fri.-Sat. Call 936-1000 or stop by 102 UGLi. Northwalk functions 8-1:30 am Sun.-Thurs., 8-12:00 Fri.-Sat. Call 763-WALK or stop by 2333 Bursley. ECB Peer Writing Tutors available to help with your papers Sunday-Wednesday, Angell/Haven Computing Center, 7-11:00. Forum on Pornography & Censorship, sponsored by Con- sider. Michigan League Ballroom, 7:00. The Dancing Turtle Prayer Circle, sponsored by Guild House Campus Ministry. Guild House, 802 Monroe St., 7:30. University of Michigan Jazz Combos in Concert. Rackham Lecture Hall, 8:00. Arts at Mid-day, providing a preview of the forth-coming produc- tion of the play, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Union Pendleton Rm., 12:15. This is Zionism. Information on Zionism being provided in the Fish- bowl during the day. Jobs on campus for F-1 stu- dents, Ally Adnan, speaker. Inter- national Center, Rm. 9, 3:30-5. The Attic, appearing at the U- by Lynne Cohn When students dial 764-2330 ex- pecting to hear a Student Locator operator's voice, they may be sur- prised to hear a recording. Campus Information combined with Student Locator Oct. 28; stu- dents can now call 764-1817 to re- ceive student or University numbers. Some students have already no- ticed a positive change when using Campus Information. "Combining the two services should make information more ac- cessible for students," said senior Ted Wagner. "The operators are ex- tremely helpful, considering that they must be bombarded with requests." Campus Information employees refused to comment on the change. Campus Information operators will provide student, faculty, and de- partment phone numbers. Operators will continue to connect callers with the number they have requested as long as it is not a student phone number. "Student Locator was very help- ea 7"c ful," said senior Alan Taylor. "It was easier to get in touch with someone by using Student Locator because it was designed exclusively for student phone numbers." Campus Information provides services from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m., extending Student Locator services from its previous hours of 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. "I think it is very efficient and convenient that the University has decided to combine all information by calling one number instead of several," said Karen Habra, an LSA sophomore. Food Buys 1 1v COOKIES 1 Enjoy the Game with SMrs. Peabody's I Voted Ann Arbor's Best Cookie