v -- UNION SUPPLEMENT Y L Latest Deadline in the State D4ai..tj UNION SUPPLEMENT VOL. LXVI, No. 154 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MAY 13, 1956 SIX PAGES Projects Center Around Addition Little Club, Snack Bar Name Contest, Dedication, Open House Scheduled The Union is planning four projects-a dance, a name contest, a dedication and an open house-in connection with the completion of the new remodelling and addition. A new Little Club dance schedule will be resumed beginning Sat- urday, a Name-the-Snack Bar contest will close Friday, a formal dedication will be held June 14 and an open house will be held next fall. Little Clubs, following a new Union policy, will be free of charge. Two Years Spent They have not been held in rece Union Opera Forty-Eight Years Old By VERNON NAHRGANG A small group of theatergoers, including Michigan's Gov. G. Mennen Williams, made its way down the aisle of a local movie theater. Moving into a vacant tenth row, the latecomers seated themselves. At the front of the theater, the conductor made his appearance, "bowed and raised his baton. After a short, loud overture, the bright rose-colored curtain rose on singing and dancing choruses rendering the production's title' song. "Film Flam", the 1955 Union Opera, was underway. Another milestone had been reached with the 36th in a long line of Union Opera productions stretching back to "Michigenda" In 1908. But last- year's production was more than a milestone or just an- other i na long chain of operas. "Film Flam" was the last offering of Union Opera. The decsion was made earlier this year to replace the 48-year- old tradition with a new show, a Union Coed Show. It was felt that a show with both male and female particpants would have more to offer the cam- pus both in experience and in mu- sical comedy entertainment. With the next Union production r in December, then, a new tradi- tion will replace an old one, one that has experienced a glorious history reaching back to 1908. The series of all-make produc- tions has seen sell-out audiences in New York's famed Metropolitan Opera House, productions that toured eleven states with a per- formance a night for sixteen days, shows that were received at the White House in Washington, D.C. Needed Money r Last year's "Film Flam", with four Ann Arbor performances for the first time in many years, made its mark in the tradition of Union Opera-now almost 50 years old. Union Opera was born late in 19.07 because its parent, a newly- formed men's club called the Mich- igan Union, needed money to es- tablish itself. After trying to raise money by several unsuccessful methods, the new club decided upon a musical comedy. "Michigenda", the first Opera, was presented at the Whitney Theater in February, 1908. Like its immediate successors, "Michi- genda" was a satire on college life. Donal H. Haines, later a journ- alism professor at the University, and Roy Welch collaborated to write the book and musical score. They began the tradition of stu- dent-written scripts. The first opera, with its hit' song, "When Night Falls, Dear," was a great success, immediately insuring an annual student produc- tion. Financial returns from the first opera were great. too. It was the early Union Operas that financed the first Michigan Union build- ing Established Firmly It was decided to present future productions in December, so the second onpra. "Ciiure " was eivn nt months awaiting complettion of the cafeterians and Snack Bar. The dances will return to their usual Friday night schedule next semester, according to Union So- cial chairman Joe Sherman, '58. Chance To See The Snack Bar name contest has been extended to Friday to give more people a chance to see the new room as it nears com- pletion. When completed the Snack Bar will feature a soda fountain, Juke box, booths and tables. Free dancing will be held there next serester on Saturday nights when regular dances are not sched- uled. A prize of $100 is being offered for the name selected, along with an essay of no more than 25 words explaining the rationale behind the name. Entry blanks for the contest are available at the Union desk or stu- dent offices. Judges for the contest have been announced. They are: Universi- ty President Harlan Hatcher, As- sistant Dean of Men John Bing- ley, Alumni Association president T. Hawley Tapping, and former Union President Todd Lief, '56. President Hatcher will. also cut the ribbon on the new Union wing at the dedication at 5 p.m. June 14. The Union Board of Directors and Union alumni will be guests at the ceremonies, fol- lowed by a dinner at 6:15. View Completed Wing A Union Open House is sched- uled for the afternoon and eve- ning of Sept. 22. It will be the public's first chance to view the fully completed Union addition. Featured in the Open House will be a fashion show, displays by dpartments of the University, by studeent organizations, and pos- sibly by Michigan industries, a dog fashion show, and a mixer in the Snack Bar complete with jazz band. A large dance will be during the evening. New Union Officers' Names Listed The new officers of the Union are: Roy Lave, '57E, President; Fred Trost, '57, Executive Secre- tary; Herb Karzen, '57, Adminis- trative Vice-President. Executive Council members, who also serve as committee chairmen, are: Administration, Chuck Kri- ser, '58; Campus Relations, Roger Dalton, '58E; Public Relations, Don Young, '58; Publicity, Tim Felis- ky, '57E; Personnel, Tony Tritti- po, '58; Social, Joe Sherman, '58; Special Events, Art Gaudi, '58; Student Services, Duane LaMor- eaux, '58E; University Relations, Fred Wilton, '58E Board of Directors Members of the Union Board of Directors are: Student directors, Buck Bebeau, '57, Tom Cleveland, '57, Gene Hart- wig, '58L, Mark Sabin, '58, Dave Smith, '58Med, and Fred Williams, '57, along with Lave, Trost and SGC President Bill Adams, '57, Karzen, ex-officio. Faculty members, Prof. Arthur Carr of the English department, Prof. Douglas Hayes of the busi- ness administration school, Prof. Chester Wisler, emeritus, of the engineering college. Administration, Vice - President -Daily-Sam Ching UNION ADDITION-The new wing on the north of the Union building, It and a remodelling program, the product of more than a year and a half of construction, will cost $2,900,000. On Construction $2,900,00 Project Includes Addition, Deferred Maintenance By PETE ECKSTEIN The Union's $2,900,000 addition and renovation, the result of seven years of planning and construction, is in the final stages of its piecemeal completion. Since 1949 the Union student and business offices have been de- voting a major part of their energies toward the planning of the project. Construction began in the Fall of 1954 when the Union combined its Fiftieth Anniversary celebration with groundbreaking ceremonies for the 60-foot wing on the north side of the old Union building. While some of the money has come from a long-standing build- ing fund accumulated through the receipt of Union dues-part of male students' tuition - $2,000,000 was obtained from a bond issue to be . payed off over a 26-year period. Approximately half the $2,900,- 000 has gone for "deferred main- tenance"-new mechanical equip- ment, furniture and fixtures, kit- J chen equipment and a complete renovation of the 37-year-old elec- trical, plumbing and heating sys- tems. A few of the results of the "de- By TED FRIEDMAN ferred maintenance program Un- ion patrons will immediately rea- "What we're striving for is a lize are air-conditioned dining well-informed freshman on the rooms, better lighting, modern staff of the Union," said Kirke furnishings in much of the build- Lewis, '57, former Union Personnel ing and a more efficient heating Committee chairman. system. He stressed the importance for Behind the scenes, safety and staff members to be well-versed efficiency in many areas will be in both Union activities and acti- greatly improved. vities on campus, saying the men But the most obvious change have to "be able to be with people of all has been the new, four- and work with them." story addition and the changesin The Union has set up an elabor- the Union it allows and necessi- ate program to sift out these types tates, Radical alterations are now, of men, he explained. From the being completed in the basement, time he a il the te ground and first through fourth time he is a tryout until the time floors. he petition 4or a senior office, a Beginning at the bottom, stu- student working on the staff.is dents will come into more contact observed carefully. with the Union basement with the Uninterested Droppers finishing of a large hobby and "The thing about this system activities room, soon to be equipped is that the people who aren't in- with tools and supplies. Darkrooms terested have dropped out by the will soon be finished for campus end of the semester," Lewis said. shutterbugs. Staff em es ,a sho . Union employees are now en- Staff members pass through joying new locker and shower four stages: rooms provided for them in the The first is the tryout. basement. ° A new maintenance At this stage, the main work shop provides enlarged and im- involves becoming familiar with proved facilities for upholstery the Union offices. At the end of and mechanical repair work, while their tryout period, the students storage facilities will be centralized submit petitions stating why they in the basement also. feel they are qualified to become Mazes of ducts and pumps, large Staffmen. ventilating fans and a new elec- The petition, along with an ob- See ADDITION, Page 3 jective test concerning the Union Is Union NINE COMMITTEES: Button Older1Uin rus pno Than Union? MctyJVaried Projects ByS RENE GNAM By BILL HANEY Not much thought was given to the history or origin of the Michi- gan lapel button until a collection of the buttons dating back to 18991 was discovered in a campus barber shop. The 40 buttons all bear consecu- tive dates from 1899 to 1939, but1 all are of different styles. The dilemma arose when it was dis- covered that none of the buttons in the display were marked "Un- ion" until 1933-34. Many Union officials were con- vinced some of the buttons were not emblematic of the Union since the Union was founded in 1907 and it seemed unlikely the organi- zation could have gone 26 years until 1933 without its own. official insignia. Just recently Homer Heath, for- mer Union general manager who has been connected with the or- ganization since its founding, at- tributed the lapel buttons prior to 1908 to the Athletic Association, Heath said there was no way of establishing conclusively when the Union took over the function from the Athletic Association, but it was probably around 1910. Starting in 1934 the familiar round pin design still in use was adopted. However the use of dates was dropped after 1938 making it possible to use an identical style each year. Activities of the Michigan Union are many and varied. Ranging from such diverse proj- ects as speech and art contests to a student-faculty - administration conference, the Union annually sponsors major activities in nine different categories, each repre- sented by a committee. The committee set-up has been changed since last semester. One; committee no longer operates and another has been added to the list. Names of several committees have been changed and the committee functions have been altered. C h a r 1 e s Kriser, '58 chairs this semester's ADMINISTRA- TION COMMITTEE. The commit- tee's duties are to administer Un- ion-sponsored workshops, main- tain a Daily articles scrapbook, direct a future information booth, supervise new activities located in the Union's new addition, handle work simplification, and maintain a flip file-a record of current pro- ects. Training, administrative assist- ants and keeping tabs on office managers also come under the heading of the administration committee. Last semester, Neil Barnett chared the Administration Com- mittee. CAMPUS RELATIONS is a new- ly instituted committee to replace last semester's Union Relations Committee. Roger Dalton '58, chairman of the new committee, supervises the Student-Faculty- Administration Conference. The Student-Faculty - Adminis- tration Conference was started several years ago in the form of an outing and the most recent one was held yesterday. The conference picks four time- ly topics, usually related, and fol- lowing a keynote speech by Uni- versity President Harlan H. Hat- cher, discussions are held analyz- ing the various points concerned. These discussions are recorded by a secretary who reports at a gen- eral meeting. Summaries are then printed and circulated to residence halls, fra- ternities, sororities, and posted in public places. In this way, stu- dents, faculty and administration alike are brought into contact with problems facing the campus. The committee is also in charge of the Hatcher Open House pro- gram, sponsored last semester by the Social Committee. Campus Relations Committee also sponsors departmental coffee hours, Union forums, and main- tains student-faculty relations. Last semester, Roy Lave, '57E, now Union President, chaired the Union Relations committee. Walter E. Trippipo, '58, is chair- See UNION, Page 4 Presi .Asks New Suggestions The Union has served the cam- pus for 52 years; time, however, is no justification for existence. Iri 1904, when the Union was con- ceived, there was a strong need for such an organization, as is demon- strated by the amount of work put into its founding. The need was proven again when much ef- fort was expended to obtain the present building in 1916. We are now nearing the com- pletion of a three million dollar addition and renovation program.' With the new and improved facil- ities we are better equipped than ever to serve the student body. These facilities have been pro- vided in response to an obvious need. There are, however, many more desires and needs that the Union could feasibly satisfy jf we only knew of them. We sit in our offi- ces and contemplate a variety of new projects and services without knowing how the campus will ac- cept them. I would like to take this oppor- tunity to invite all students, male and female, to feel free to suggest to us those projects and services they would like the Union to un- dertake. In this way the Union can be helped to better perform its purpose of making everyone's stay on campus a more enjoyable one. -Roy Lave, Union President r t E r { r k t FORMER EMPLOYEE 'TELLS ALL': The Time 'The Lady' Came To The Union (EDITOR'S NOTE: The long history of the Union is marked by many little-known but colorful incidents. The author, a former Union em- ployee, describes one culled from several years of experience.) By RICHARD LAING Not all the guests at the Michigan Union turn out to be visiting professors, or celebrities, or someone's parents, Now and then there is foreign nobility. One summer afternoon a few years ago a middle-aged woman entered the lobby of the Michigan Union and marched up to the Main Desk. She was dressed in a baggy brown tweed suit, heavy brown twig- and-burr-resisting stockings and "practical" walking shoes. She had evidently been hiking across a moor or a heath or the like. The observer might also have suspected that she has come across a tennis match out there somewhere and played a few sets herself. She wore dark glasses and a sunvisor that made one recall movie shots of Helen Wills Moody trying to stave off Helen Jacobs in the final set at Wimbledon in 1935. She told the clerk her name. "I am Lady ." The clerk was somewhat impressed. She wanted a room. The clerk politely explained that there was a convention of Sanitation Engineers in town and without a reservation there was no possibility of a room. Ah, but she did have a reservation, she said, in a voice that, the week was up she moved into the Union and made it her base of operations during her curious stay here. For the Union staff this was the beginning of a comic opera; for certain Ann Arborites and University people it was not as funny. Now, three years later, most of these people enjoy telling the story on themselves. But however much some can laugh, there may be someone who does not think it at all funny, so let us adopt the convention of using vague pronouns to refer to everyone, including those extra-dignified persons who found themselves appointed as victims in what had all the markings of a confidence game and who would rather not talk about it. What is now a warm glow for some may still be arson for others. The Lady's name sounded vaguely familiar to many people. (It was in fact the same as that of a late eighteenth century English lady letter writer.) A vague sense of having heard the name before probably accelerated the Lady's social climb. Later, the gropings for the source of the name were in many cases erected into "early suspicion" of her real role. "Right from the beginning I was suspicious" was for a long while a favorite phrase in Ann Arbor circles, and this was true of the Union staff also. To the Lady it must have been obvious from the start that it would be best to make the headwaiter part of the act. His confidence would have to be secured early, and he would have to play his part if much more "confidence" were to be gained. But she destroyed this possibility Tell Workings Of New Three Officer Setup By DAVE TARR The change from two to three Union senior officers is working out quite well, according to those who should know. The men who hold the three offices of president, executive vice- president and administrative vice- president all agree that the addi- tion of the third post has gone a long way in accomplishing its pur- pose of helping to aleviate the senior officer work load. Post of Executive-Secretary was replaced by the two vice-presi- dencies. President Roy Lave, '57E, said he felt the setup was "excellent. There is better contact from the executive posts on down the line. Their seems to be better coordi- nation between the officers also." His job was described as pri- marily concerned with represen- tation of the Union to the Uni- versity. Executive vice-president Fred Trost, '57, described his post as basically one of supervising the area of student offices and exter- nal committees. In saying the system is working very well he reserved himself with the comment "The first few weeks have been rather difficult as will be the first year because we are setting the pattern for something new and we don't know everything recommendations from the try- out trainers and attendance rec- ords, determine whether he will receive the appointment The staffman, the second stage, stands midway between the try- out and Executive Councilman. Staffinen act as chairmen of proiect committees. They also may serve as personnel and office man- agers. In April, staffmnen petitioni for Junior Executive Council posi- tions. Variegated Selectors The Executive Council controls the Union committees. After one year, the Executive Councilman may be appointed d' senior officer, but the Executive Council is as far as most men go. Appointments are made by a Se- lections Committee, composed of students, faculty and alumni. The senior officers actually over- see all activities, Traditionally, since the Union's inception in 1904, there have been two senior officers: The President and the Executive Secretary. The President's duties tend to concern matters outside the Union while the Executive Secretary sup- ervises activities within the or- ganization. This next year, however, ,the Union plans to deviate from the previous system and appoint three senior officers: the President, an Administrative Vice President and an Executive Vice President. Assigned Workers Thomas Lewy, '58, of the per- sonnel enlistment program, report- ed the Union had 50 tryouts last semester and is hoping for 50 more this semester. I I