The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, June 9, 1981,-Page 3
Research climate studied
Report questions faculty
on research environment
By JOHN ADAM
Daily research reporter
Complaints ranging from limited
travel funds to tiresome committee and
classroom commitments were revealed
in a report assessing faculty responses
to a survey studying the University's
research environment.
The purpose of the report is td
develop a series of actions to be taken
toward strengthening the research
climate of the University which was
said to be deteriorating in a 1979 report.
As Committee Chairman Lester
Rutledge said, "this report will have a
long lasting impact."
THE COMMITTEE sent out
questionnaires to faculty members,
believing it was the best method to get
the most accurate sampling of the
University's diverse research en-
vironment. 2,086 faculty members
responded, according to the report,
with nearly 75 percent of the regular
full-time professorial faculty members
participating.
More than 25 percent of the respon-
dents in departments such as
Engineering, Business Administration,
and Dentistry believe they were
required to spend too much time in
classroom instruction.
Once the professor is free from duties
such as committee work, classroom in-
struction, and counseling, the primary
deterrents to an ideal research en-
vironment are limited travel funds and
the indirect costs involved in research,
the report indicates.
JAMES LESCH, director of the
University's Division of Research
Development and Administration,
agreed that there should be more
money provided for faculty member
travel costs. The faculty members "are
our best salesmen" for securing fun-
ding for their own proposals, Lesch
said.
The faculty travel account-which is
over-run every year-was increased by
50 percent last year, but Lesch said.that
the travel account should be "three
times as much."
Indirect costs are the largest disin-
centive to research, particularly spon-
sored research, due to faculty misin-
formation about the nature of indirect
costs, the report indicated.
INDIRECT COST money totaled
about $27 million last,year, Lesch said,
and about two-thirds of the money goes
into the University's General Fund,
which pays for such things as
See 'U' REPORT, Page 11
PROF. LESTER RUTLEDGE, chairman of the committee which issued a
20-page report (inset) on the research environment at the University said
the report should serve to strengthen the University's research climate
which was reportedly on the decline.
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PROPOSES SE T DECIBEL LEVELS, ENERGY PLAN
Council discusses noise, energy
By LOU FINTOR definitive noise levels by decibel emission According to the proposed ordinance, certain ac-
City government reporter (measuring sound emission by intensity through a tivities are specifically prohibited if they produce
a special session of the Ann Arbor City Council decibel meter) and setting noise standards for "clearly audible sound on or beyond the property line
yesterday at the Michigan Theatre, members vehicles. of the property on which they are conducted."
ed the question of a new city noise control or- One citizen, Glenn Mensching, a member of the HIGHLIGHTS OF the proposed ordinance include
nce to citizens ina public hearing. Libertarian Party's State Central Committee, took prohibiting:
ch an ordinance would seek to control noises issue with the proposed noise ordinance, declaring to @ operating power tools or equipment between 10
as late-night stereos, "yelling, shouting, council, "These regulations appear to be designed to p.m. and 7 a.m. weekdays, and between 9 p.m. and 8
tling, loud talking, or singing on the public harass certain groups of people." He raised serious a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
tAs," and devices used for "killing, trapping, at- questions regarding how the new ordinance will be * operating "any device for killing, trapping, at-
ing, or repelling insects." enforced. tracting, or: repelling insects or other pests" between
IE PROPOSAL encompasses repealing existing ACCORDING TO Mensching, the potential for 104p.m. and 8a.m.
control ordinances and solidifying them into abuse of the proposed law far outweighs its benefits. " the operation or playing of any radio, television,
comprehensive chapter to be incorporated into "In a university town, there are people running up phonograph, or musical instrument between 12 a.m.
nn Arbor City Code. and down the street all the time. It could be stereos in and 8 a.m.
dit fn eiares dorms bars parties, just in terms of who com- " operating or using any device to amplify "spoken
ccW nCCUVLg oU bpURo I I I I iy 41U 1y,
office, the two major changes involve setting
Billwould
block transit of
nuclea"..r waste
through state
1V 11 , " , l/ 4 v , J v . vv . .
plains," said Mensching.
By GEOFF CAMPBELL
Daily staff writer
Highly toxic nuclear waste may soon travel
through Ann Arbor and other major Michigan
population centers unless a bill that would outlaw out-
of-state nuclear waste transport through Michigan is
passed in the state legislature.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Bennet (D-
Rockford Township), was drafted in response to the
announcement of proposed shipments of spent
nuclear fuel from the Chalk River research facility in
Ontario, Canada. Under present proposals, these
shipments would pass through Ann Arbor, Detroit,
Flint, Pontiac, and other Michigan population cen-
ters on their way to a plant in South Carolina.
Nuclear Assurances Corp., of Atlanta, has already
received federal permits to transport the waste from
Canada, entering the United States either through
New York or Michigan. But, because New York
already has a law forbidding the transport of such
waste through the state, the company would have to
See NOISE, Page 9
enter the United States through Michigan.
ACCORDING TO Rick Levick of the Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan, the proposed shipmen-
ts are considered to be of bomb-grade material. In
the event of waste leakage, "state and local officials
would be unable to handle the situation" because of
equipment and training deficiencies, Levick said.
Les Welsh of Greenpeace, an anti-nuclear group,
said that no formal evacuation plans exist should an
accident involving nuclear waste occur in transit.
Welsh added that all hazardous wastes are included
in the Hazardous Materials 390 state program, which
calls for a general evacuation in emergency
situations. However, the evacuation program "has
only been tested on paper," Welsh said, and
Congressman William Roth (R-Delaware) has
labelled the program "inadequate."
"The feds don't say anything about who assumes
responsibility if there is an accident," Bennet said. "I
say ban the damn thing (nuclear waste); tell them to
See BILL, Page 6