Brown and White Vol. 94 no. 49

              lehich university brown and white vol 94 — no 49 bethlehem pa tuesday may 3 1983 215 861-4184 residents upset by smags plans by michelle dumon graduate students currently living in the saucon married and graduate stu dents smags facility >»-■■ w^^n^h because they were not consulted by the forum prior to the approval of the soror ity relocation proposal according to jim curme co-chairman of the graduate student council gsc . they are the biggest party involved and they weren't consulted he said the proposal approved by the forum earlier this month states that the sorori ties might be able to move out of saucon valley to the lower campus by next year at this point we really haven't sat down and made any plans about who will move or when ann fritz coordina tor of graduate and off-campus housing said she noted that a decision will be made within the next couple of months when asked how the proposal will affect the quantity of graduate student housing in smags fritz said what they have now they certainly aren't going to lose she added that they may even gain some housing however the university has not as yet addressed the specifics of the proposal for example the financial implications of the move " kurt salsburg assistant director of residence operations said salsburg noted that prior to its appro val the proposal called for input from students however the gsc was not approached for its input curme said in response to this situation the gsc has submitted a letter to the administra tion which points out that there are other parties to be consulted concerning a major change in smags curme said in a separate action a graduate stu dent who lives in smags has circulated a petition which highlights important issues involved with the proposal upon the suggestion of jerry king dean of the graduate school the student initiated a petition that explained the position of smags graduate students their primary concerns according to the petition are as follows 1 that if undergraduates were to replace the sor orities in smags the overall noise level will increase 2 that the proposal should take into consideration the original intention of smags and strive to achieve it 3 that the communal facilities for graduate students need to be improved of the 39 students approached to sign the petition only one refused the student said the idea behind the petition he explained was to get enough signa tures to demonstrate to the administra tion that people are concerned about the proposal all we want to ask is that they look into it a little more before a decision is made he said the student explained that the sorori ties have three to four open parties a semester and we can cope with that he added that we are concerned that if they move out the number of individual parties will increase and will be much mrs humphrey explains bethlehem realty purchase by rhonda m stone five undergraduate university women will be housed in a home on bir kel ave purchased by m&h realty according to sheila humphrey wife of university provost arthur humphrey and a partner in the realty company an article appearing in the april 24 issue of the sunday globe made it look like i'm a straw buyer landlord one who purchases a property while an institution puts up the money mrs humphrey said the globe is implicating me as a straw landlord for the university , which just isn't true the article reported that the selling of properties in the south bethlehem area causes residents sleepless nights over the future of their neighborhood and later stating that mrs humphrey bought one of these properties mrs humphrey explained that the neighborhood is scared that lehigh will extend its influence into the south bethlehem neighborhood " and that any purchase her realty company makes has no connection whatsoever with the university mrs humphrey said i don't see why what i'm doing is such a scandal she explained that the house that is the twin of the birkel property located next door at 494 birkel ave is owned by another real estate company who renovated the property and rented it to five undergrad uate university women what i'm doing renovating the house and renting it to five undergraduate women isn't even a precedent in the neighborhood " tobak may initiate civil suit in effort to gain tenured post by maryellen connor and tom dipiazza in an effort to gain a tenured faculty position james tobak assistant profes sor of accounting and law may bring a civil suit against the university within three or four months i have consulted counsel and when i am sure that all avenues within the uni versity are exhausted i fully anticipate bringing a civil action tobak said tobak was denied tenure by the administration despite the recom mendation of the faculty in his depart ment the decision was upheld by the faculty personnel committee following an appeal by tobak although he would not elaborate tobak said he and his counsel believe an avenue of appeal may remain within the university which has not been exhausted he also said he could not define the nature of the civil suit at this time there are a number of different the ories that my attorney and i are discuss ing but i would rather not discuss them at this point he said to comment on the precise nature of the legal action at this point would be premature tobak has accepted a one-year termi nal contract with the university for the 1983'84 academic year however he indicated in a statement attached to the contract that he dissents from the deci sion not to grant him tenure and reserves the right to challenge that decision through university procedures and a court of law b&w photo by rob sternlieb the bed race on friday provided its usual share of thrills homestretch and s p lls - fortunately for the men of chi phi janice sobieski 86 flawlessly guided their bed through the course student hurt at phi sig sat kenneth barner 86 is listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit at st luke's hospital after injuring his spinal chord in a fall at phi sigma kappa fraternity on saturday evening according to a statement released by house president john norwood 84 barner was injured after jumping from a second floor balcony into a pile of hay on the porch below barner was the fourth person and first pledge to jump the president vice presi dent and pledge master all jumped before barner did according to house vice president chris moore 84 the extent of barner's injuries are as yet undetermined consid ering what has happened he's in very high spirits moore said tied up b&w photo by rob sternlieb sigma alpha mu pledges rich smith 86 left and brian okun 86 are shown competing in the obstacle course on thursday the interfraternlty council ifc sponsored the event which was added to the greek week schedule this year see faculty page 4 see residence page 4