Brown and White Vol. 97 no. 32

              see radon page 7 fraternities or their actual readings but said they were just slightly above the state maximum safe allowable level the report of the readings was not available to the brown and white and it is not known which if any of the residence halls or academic buildings were found to be contaminated chase explained that the tests were one day air samples and were done by the private consulting firm of health physics associates she added that each building that was tested had samples taken on several floors and at each end of the building the results are currently being studied by brinjec-kambic associates a mechanical engineering firm chase said they have been studying the heating and ventilating systems of those buildings tested since october or november these things take time there are about iso buildings involved chase explained and said in about two months the results of the study should be ready she added that if the study showed a problem with radon con tamination in certain buildings remedial action would be taken by stuart m silberman two fraternities on campus have been found to have higher con centrations of radon gas than the maximum safe allowable level set by the state department of en vironmental resources according to eric ottervik university vice president for administration and planning ottervik explained that the harmful elements are actually the products of the radioactive decay of radon gas called radon daughters he also ex plained that the reading prong of the appalachian mountain range was an area where one would find higher concentrations of radon radon samples on campus were taken last summer during the months of june and august according to pat chase director of facilities services and physical planning every university-owned fraternity and residence hall as well as a sampling of academic buildings were tested chase said she explained that when areas are poorly ventilated the concentration of radon daughters in the air is likely to increase this was the reason the tests were done during the summer chase said when the houses were sealed tight ottervik would not disclose the two , b*w photo by larry dech just when everyone thought the snow had stopped in favor of a week of rain the campus got another coating on saturday night 215 861-4181 bethlehem pennsylvania tuesday february 25 1986 lehigh university the brown and white v01.97 n0.32 sdi possible source of funding by lori soderlind a university research contract originally granted by the army materials and mechanics research center may now be receiving funds from the strategic defense initiative sdi without informing lehigh of the switch we heard from no one except the morning call commented richard streeter director of the office of research referring to an article last week which attributes news of the funding switch to an army spokesman i whether it's now sdi money or not may be irrelevant " richard streeter director office of research george sih professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics who has been working on the two-year 160,000 contract did not apply for the research through sdi his work involves investigating the conditions which cause various materials to break and has been supported by the ballistic missiles defense materials programs office in watertown ma for several years according to streeter neither our contract file or the contract person at watertown in dicate any contract switching the confusion may have been caused by a computer or per sonnel error however lehigh belongs to the council of governmental relations an organization which directs offices of research and whose officers can and do switch funding sources depending on where money is available streeter acknowledged that a switch could have been made without lehigh's consent at a recent council meeting in san francisco several representatives from other research offices expressed similar concern that their contracts had been switched without proper notification streeter said if it happened it's somewhat irritating because we heard nothing about it he said adding that the failure to notify lehigh was probably nothing malicious just a mistake somewhere whether it's now sdi money or not may be irrelevant streeter said noting that lehigh's official policy is to treat sdi just like any other research money the university may receive the only festriction on contracts is that findings must be publishable not classified or secret last semester several lehigh professors joined a nationwide movement criticizing sdi commonly known as star wars as ill conceived and dangerous and signed a petition objecting to university research for the project other professors however support lehigh's official stand on the issue arguing that the source of the contract is irrelevant and their research will have many applications besides weaponry unless sih's contract has been switched there are currently no sdi funded research projects at lehigh streeter said his office expects to have a definite report on the contract early this week mw photo by bill wilson wanna dance nearly 1,100 people filled grace hall saturday to hear grammy award-winning jazz artist chuck manglone during a rendition of my funny valentine manglone pulled danielle zimet 87 from her seat for a dance around the floor campus test finds radon