Brown and White Vol. 88 no. 44

              lehigh university brown and white 215^866-0331 vol 88 — no 44 bethlehem pa wednesday april 13 1977 program committee to be formed to ponder high-rise student housing by jerry miller a program committee will be formed this week to consider possible student housing m a proposed off campus highrise according to maureen quirk 77 former residence halls council president last week eric ottervik vice president for planning said that there was no need to form a program committee at this time to consider the highrise plans quirk said the committee which will consist of students faculty members and administrators will give students a voice m the planning and development of any new residence facilities the committee was formed after an open letter from the forum residence subcommittee and a brown and white editorial called on the administration to incorporate student input into the highrise planning process the university is negotiating with a group of private developers for 200 student housing spaces m a proposed high rise apartment building ottervik said last week the highrise could be constructed on the site of the university-owned college theater and possibly house students as early as september 1978 five floors of the highrise could be leased by the university for student housing the highrise is also planned to contain several floors of apartments rented to area citizens the lower floors of the building could contain commercial space the residence subcommittee mailed a letter to several administrators during easter recess concerning the formation of a program committee the letter drafted and approved at the april 5 meeting of the residence subcommittee responded to comments made last week by ottervik an agreement between the university and the developers could come within the next week to 10 da vs ottervik said last week the letter called on the university to form a committee consisting of students faculty and administrators to aid m the planning of any new residence facility a similar committee was formed for the planning and development of rh-11 the subcommittee is concerned ac cording to the letter because the university has continued to look into this housing development without forum in volvement or proper student input as necessitated by tlie forum through its constitution and resolutions the letter states it is important to determine if from a student's point of view the proposed facility is feasible two hundred unusable spaces don't do any good said quirk a subcommittee member she and other subcommittee members expressed concerns about the design costs and feasibility of the proposed building other areas of concern noted m the letter include dining service student security m the proposed building and the project's effect on the university residence system the university com maureen quirk dismissal surprises 2 b&g workers jobs phased out superintendent says by jim donahue two university employes m the buildings and grounds office b&g lost their jobs two weeks ago according to paul miller superintendent of b&g the positions of assistant superintendent and draftsman were phased out robert evans personnel director said the two employes have been treated well but would offer no reason for their dismissal eric ottervik vice president for plan ning who is responsible for b&g would not comment on the situation miller said he believed the ad ministration must have felt the two positions were no longer needed william kiss former assistant superintendent of b&g said he was sur prised when miller told him april 1 that he was placed on an immediate leave of absence until june 30 kiss would not comment on the possible reasons for his dismissal stephen lancsek former draftsman said he was notified about 11 a.m that his job would be terminated at noon the same day he said the end of new construction was probably the reason for his dismissal lancsek also said he asked evans for a transfer but evans told him no openings existed for a man with his skills ac cording to lancsek evans refused to give him an official letter of termination of employment lancsek who had been employed by the possible alarm violations discovered in fraternities byjohntanzola three fraternities may be m violation of a pennsylvania state law requiring fire alarm systems according to russell dugan supervisor for the department of labor and industry for the area which includes bethlehem the pa state fire and panic act of 1927 states that buildings such as fraternities must have fire alarm systems if the buildings have more than two stories and have sleeping accommodations for 10 or more people above the second floor three fraternities m sayre park without fire alarms may be three stories high since each was built on a hill some question exists as to whether the first floor is considered a story or only a basement all have more than 10 people sleeping on the upper floor and were constructed after 1927 dugan said the law states if more than one-third of the first floor is five feet or more above ground level it is considered the first story not a basement dugan also said smoke detectors do not constitute an alarm-system there must be bells and a manually operated pull box he explained according to records compiled by the buildings and grounds office b&g the fraternities m question contain three stories in 1973 b&g made an inventory list of all fraternities based on the ar chitectural plans this list included the ballot stuffing best m four years as 1,500 students stuffed the ballot box see story page 5 michael exstein 77 forum vice-chairman and hildy shandell 77 forum secretary-treasurer set up the voting station for last week's forum elections voter turnout was the see committee page 5 see phasing page 8 see 3 fraternities page 9 inside tuition committee p 4 slimnastics p 7 pledges lacking p 8 lieberman champ p 12