1 E EIGHT TIHE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 1951 mw. 'RING CONCERT: Beethoven Will Highlight' 'U' Orchestra Program llow V illage .Looks to oTmorrow I. * * * * * * * * Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9", enerally regarded as the com- oser's finest and most difficult cork, will be performed by the rniversity Symphony Orchestra t 8:30 p.m. Wednsday in Hill ,uditorium. Conducted by Prof. Wayne Dun- ip, the Orcrestra will be assisted y the University Choir featuring oloists Grace Ravesloot, '53, so- rano, Gloria Gonan, Grad., con- alto, Robert Pearson, Grad., ten- r and Jack Wilcox, Grad., bass. The Choir will be directed by rof. Maynard Klein. * * * "THE SEVEN LAST WORDS of What's Up, In the .Dorms (Any items of interest concerning any dormitory, cooperative, or league house may be reported to Judy Lager at The Daily, 2-3241, or at 3-0715.) Residents of the West Quad- angle will get a chance to im- rove their reading speed and ac- irracy by means of a remedial eading course. Scheduled to begin next week he course will be given twice eekly by Charles Wegener, '51, :ademic chairman of the Quad. AN EASTER EGG hunt has een planned by the women of fartha Cook as part of their ho- day celebration. The search will take place Sun- ay morning in the Blue Room of ae dormitory. No girl will be ser- ed breakfast until she finds an gg and prizes will be awarded the winners. THE WEST QUADRANGLE en- rtained the Board of Governors Residence Halls Thursday at a inner in their honor. After the inner a meeting was held for all ten of the quad. Problems of im- roving dormitory living condi- ons were discussed. PLANS FOR the installation of new transmitter are now being lade by the members of the West uad Radio Club. Under the leadership of Leon- ard Holder, '53E, licensed ama- eurs or "hams," belonging to the club send messages to other amateurs all over the world. No member may transmit mes- iges until he has passed the raining program sponsored by ie FCC. Details of this program ill be discussed at a club meet- g at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the uad. Christ" by Haydn In the original version, will also be included on the program. The history of this work, pub- lished in 1801, is reportedly a re- markable example of the transfer of a work from one medium to an- other. Haydn was requested by a canon of Cadiz to compose in- strumental music on "The Sev- en Last Words of Our Savior on ' the Cross." It was customary at the Casthedral of Cadiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent. The ceremony began at noon and after a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pro- nounced the first of the seven words and delivered a short dis- course on the word. This ended, he left the pul- pit and prostrated himself be- fore the altar. The pause was filled with music. The bishop then pronounced the second word, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. The movements to be heard Wednesday aare from the rarely performed original version for orchestra. Scheduled for future presenta- tion in the third and final concert of the year is Brahms' "Symphony No. 3 in F major." IAU To Present Arts Festival The Inter-Arts Union, though forced to drop two plays from its program, still hopes to present broad coverage of creative works by students at its Third Annual, Student Arts Festival, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Chamber music, dance, songs, poetry, two one-act operas and an art exhibit will constitute the Festival. Disagreement between the IAU and Bob Rosenberg '53, who wrote "War Sky," one of the plays sched- uled, resulted in withdrawal of 'that play. The other play, "What's Holding Us Back?" by Saul Gott- lieb '52, could not be cast. Tryout Call A tryout meeting for all stu- dents interested in joining the Generation business staff will be held at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Student Publications Building. Sprawled over more than 16 square miles in eastern Washtenaw County lies the largest temporary housing project built during the last war-Willow Run Village. Here is a survey of the Village as it exists today =- the plywood home of 200 worker families and a thousand University student families-and a sketch of hundreds of housing projects undertaken dur- ing the last war emergency, the Village is be. coming more important now as the need for homes in this area grows more and more acute. its prospects for the future. Exemplifying the Village May Expand in Near Future Willow Village has, in effect, overstayed its leave. Built to last until 1948, it must today become permanent, in order to save the Ann Arbor-Y1psilanti housing shortage from becoming even more, acute. According to housing authorities, tearing it down, or allowing it to collapse of its own accord is completely out of the question. * * * PROPOSED expansion of man- ufacturing plants in this vicinity, in line with defense mobilization, may pour more workers into W a s h t e n a w and Xieighboring counties than were here during the war. Willow Village was filled to overflowing with workers then; today, a third is filled with stu- dents. But first, the problem is sim- ply to make the existing Village permanent. Expansion can come later. According to Marvin Tableman, chairman of the Vil- lage Residents Council, top pros- pect for permanence is a plan by which the City of Ypsilanti would annex Willow Village by baying it from the government. In the fall of 1949, the Willow Village Redevelopment Committee was set up to study ways that ownership of the Village could be transferred from the Public Hous- ing Administration, its present owner, which had expressed a willingness to sell the project. This way, it could become a city or part of a city with specific government of its own. * * * THE COMMITTEE concluded that the most practical method BARRENNESS-THE MOST STRIKING ASPECT OF THE VILLAGE would be to hook up with Ypsi-+ simply being maintained as they $dents have always played a large lanti. The Village could be pur- chased from the Housing Admin- istration for the price of land alone, at 1942 prices. The Rede- velopment Committee joined with Ypsilanti officials to form a Greater Ypsilanti Committee, pe- titions were circulated among Vil- lage residents, and the annexation now awaits final clearance through local courts. Although the Housing Ad- ministration authorities have not followed any definite policy thus far toward making the units more permanent, they have improved some buildings with shingle covering. However, the majority of the buildings are f have been since they were built. Ipart in the community ife 0o There has always been a wait- ing list to get into the Village. Since the war, the size of the list has accurately reflected employ- ment trends in the vicinity, and the proposed conversion of the Kaiser-Frazer plant would boost it considerably. * * * IN THE YEARS immediately following the war, the University played a large part in the Village, with more than 1200 student fam- ilies living there. Although the number has decreased slightly now, with the student veteran population gradually working out through school, University stu- the Village. The University still runs bus- es back and forth from the Vil- lage. But they no longer carry the single students, who filled, several large dormitories from 1946 to 1950. Many of these students were veterans; some were transfer students who were shunted into Willow Village for want of other housing In town. Now, the Kaiser-Frazer Corp. has been reported getting ready to ask the government for exclu- sive use of the village for war workers., This would give workers a priority over veterans on the * - -- waiting list, and eventually, if planned plant expansions mater- ialize, would send the remaining student population searching for new homes. However, K-F and the Air Force would have to make a Joint request. IT IS ESTIMATED that Wash- tenaw County is already approxi- mately 5,000 housing units short. Willow Village, or something like it, will have to fill in. The Hous- ing Administration now owns a horse-shoe shaped strip of land around the present Village, big enough to aouble its size, if neces- sary. Last week, it was reported that Administration officials were considering expansion of the project, the Maybank hous- ing bill, now being discussed in Congress, to supply the neces- sary funds. But whatever way the Village turns, whether to a repetition of its last eight years, as a clogged,. somewhat anonymous housing project, or toward being a contain- ed civic unit, officials agree that something must be done soon. It is still temporary. Maintenance Big Problem For Project Soon after Henry Ford began in 1941 to build a bomber plant in a cornfield a few miles east of Ypsilanti, it became apparent that new housing would be need- ed for nearly fifteen thousand. homeless workers. The result was Willow Village, sixteen- square miles of inexpen- sive and temporary houses, dormi- tories and stores. It was packed full of workers from 1943 to 1945, and when veterans flocked back to school after the war, the Vil- lage eased the sharp Ann Arbor housinig shortage. TODAY, Willow Village is again fillingin a tight housing spot, and it may soon be expanded. In the meantime, ts owner, the Federal Housing Administration, is main- tainin'g it as well as can be man- aged.on a budget of approximately one million dollars. The average Villager doesn't plan to make it his permanent home, however. If more ade- quate housing were available in the general vicinity, at a rea- sonable price, he would prob- ably move. But despite the transient chracter of many Village residents, there are about 800 families which have lived there for nine years, ever since its opening. The Villager is represented by the Resident Council, an advisory group. Made up of twenty indivi- duals elected from each part of the project for a one year term, the Council speaks for the resi- dent to the management and out- side local government. Its presi- dent, Marvin Tableman, is head of the University Institute of Pub- lic Administration. THERE IS O concentrated commercial center in the project, so the Villager, must go to Ypsit Janti or Ann Arbor for heavy shopping. He may pick up gro- ceries or drugs, or go to the mov- les, however, without leaving the Village. Partial segregation exists in Willow Village, with one section completely filled with Negroes, one section mixed, and txe rest almost exclusively white. One of the five schools, located nea the Negro section, doesn't have any white children, and efforts to enter a few living nearby have consistently failed. The three thousand housing units are built in long rows, each row containing four or fivet am- fly groups. Some residents have painted and decorated their ply- wood and plasterboard apart- ments, but the construction is generally flimsy, and efforts of this sort have to be repeated ev- ery few months. U-shaped courts are the usual layout, with a communal driveway running down the center. Many Villagers have fenced off small backyards for themselves on the outside of the U. Although trees and shrubbery are almost completely lacking, the empty sky is broken up by an amazing number of television an- tennas. They average nearly two to a row of houses. A, A Daiy Photo Feature Story by CHUCK ELLIOTT Pictures by ROGER REINKE k , LOOKING INTO A TYPICAL COURT WITH ITS LONG ROWS OF DWELLINGS A I A AI. Our VERSATILE SUIT THE .JAUNTY. devil-may-care box jacket has adjustable IIP .- .4;:. 1 *~' 47 ''.Z A,',M