The Michigan Daily-Thursday, August 5, 1982-Page 3 STAXI PA TRONS COMPLAIN OF HARASSMENT Reaction mixed to Night Ride By BARB MISLE prevent the men from learning the women's ad- weLientman acknowledged that the average wait for Several female patrons of Night Ride, Ann Arbor's dresses, Shachter said. a Night Ride cab is 18 minutes, more than three times experimental late-night taxi service, have com- Such requests have caused conflicts with the cab the wait for standard taxi service. plained about the conduct of the male passengers drivers, she added. NIGHT RIDE differs from a standard taxi service with whom they share their rides, according to local "It is a problem that doesn't have an easy in that the cab may pick up more than one passenger officials. solution," said Chris White, planning coordinator for along its ride before dropping off each customer at Some women have said that they feel uncomfor- the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, which runs his or her destination. table about using the service-which employs the service in conjunction with Veterans. But the Night Ride, which runs from 11 p.m. to 6 Veteran Cab Co. taxis-when other males are "THE CAB company has been very cooperative in a.m. seven days a week, is cheaper than other taxi already in the cab, said Ellen Shachter, a member of responding to complaints," White said. "We have services. Passengers pay a fixed fare of $1.50 regar- the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan, asked the cab company to take someone else home dless of the distance traveled within the city limits. which was instrumental in founding the service last first if there is a problem among passengers." The service, which is subsidized by a $64,000 March. Stuart Avery, owner of the cab company, said he federal grant, will continue on a trial basis until Mar- "SOME WOMEN have complained they were felt the drivers would be able to resolve any conflicts ch of next year, but Schechtman said he expects the harassed by male passengers or the drivers," that might arise. money to last an additional six months. Shachter said. "The overall response to Night Ride has been If the final evaluation of Night Ride is positive, These womei have requested that drivers take any positive," said Perry Schechtman, the transportation Schechtman said, there is a good chance the service male passengers to their destinations first in order to authority's systems development manager. But will expand to include the Ypsilanti area. Dental School enrollment down says new Dean By SCOTT STUCKAL In the face of decreasing enrollments, the School of Dentistry will be em- phasizing improved patient care and increased interdepartmental' cooperation under the leadership of its new dean, Richard Chrisiansen. A former lecturer at both the Univer- sity of Maryland and Georgetown University, Christiansen began his five- year appointment as dean in July. He comes to the University from the National Institute of Dental Research, where he worked on "craniofacial anomolies," or deformatins of the skull which alter the way one's teeth mesh. THE DENTAL school enrollment will be decreasing from 150 to 135 due to a lack of funds and a decrease in the demand for dentists, according to Christiansen. "When the enrollment went up to 150 there was a request for additional funds for instruction. We never received those funds to service the 150 students," Christiansen said. There also may be increases in merit-based faculty salaries to retain dental school professors, many of whom have the option of making more. money in private dental practice, he said. Demand for dentists has dropped in recent years as the nation's overall dental health has improved, Christian- sen said. The smaller enrollment will help keep the present balance of one dentist for every 1700 people in the nation. FOR THE future, the dental school will be developing a five-year plan to accomplish its academic goals, Christiansen said. "The area that has to be addressed is -patient care," he said. "How can we improve the patient care and make sure it's available to everyone who wishes to have a problem attended to? The second concern the new dean stressed was for greater cooperation between various parts of the Dental School. "Across the board . . . every department's faculty will"have to fully aware of (other departments') curriculums to minimize duplication," he said. He added greater involvement of researchers with clinics could help them develop fresh research ideas, and investigate the field's future problems. See CURRICULUM, Page 4 Doily Photo by DOUG McMAHON THE NEW SCHOOL of Dentistry Dean, Richard Christiansen, says he will try to decrease overlapping curriculum and improve patient care in the den- tal school's clinics during his 5-year appointment. City Council opposes federal cable- TV bill AL Z By GREG BRUSSTAR The Ann Arbor City Council passed a resolution Monday night condemning a U.S. Senate bill that would take regulatory power of cable television away from municipalities and give it to the federal government. In passing the resolution, Ann Arbor joined many cities across the country that are calling for the bill's defeat. The municipalities argue that Federal Communications Commission control will damage community access to cable systems. "IF THE FCC regulates the cable in- dustry, it won't give a damn about Ann Arbor," said Elliot Chikofsky, the chairman of the city's cable casting commission, who presented the resolution. The bill passed the Senate Commer- 'If the FCC regulates the cable industry, it won't give a damn about Ann Arbor.' -Elliot Chikofsky chairman of the Ann Arbor Cablecasting Commission ce, Science, and Transportation Com- mittee on July 22 by a 12 to 3 margin. Sen. Don Riegle (D-Mich.) supported the measure. The measure will allow the FCC to set a franchise fee limited to the cost of local regulation. Cable companies have argued that municipalities use fran- chise fees to fund other city services. BUT THE measure will also mean a decrease in the number of access chan- nels required by most municipalities, according to Martha Schmidt, coor- dinator for Ann Arbor's Community Access Television. She said that funding for local programming will be cut off under the bill because communities presently receive the money for their access channels from franchise fees. Schmidt also expressed concern over the portion of the bill that deals with franchise renewal. "It is basically an automatic franchise renewal. The whole idea behind relicensing is to make sure (the cable companies) are responsive to community needs," Sch- midt said. The City Council resolution states the bill "would seriously restrict and crip- ple local community access television services and local regulatory control, and does not reflect the interests of private citizens and local government." Supporters of the legislation say it will benefit comsumers by decreasing costs. A cable industry spokesperson estimated that 22 percent of a customer's monthly fee goes toward regulation. Supporters also say that the bill will eliminate the present regulatory discrepancy between cable companies and satellite and microwave com- munications systems. Satellite and microwave systems are not assessed franchise fees, said a cable spokesper- son.: