Brown and White Vol. 88 no. 48

              lehigh university brown and white bethlehem pa tuesday aprul 26 1977 vol 88 — no 48 215-866-0331 board approves 3.5-million arena by ed bogucz editor-in-chief 76-77 surplus predicted glick estimates 128,700 plans for construction of a 3.5-million indoor arena m saucon valley were ap proved thursday by the university's board of trustees construction is scheduled to begin this fall the arena which will have 6,000 per manent seats is part of the university's athletic and convocation center acc complex it will be used for spectator sports particularly wrestling and basketball and a variety of campus and public events construction would probably be completed about two years after it is begun according to eric ot tervik vice president for planning presently 2.5 million have been raised for the arena through the university's new century fund campaign paul franz vice president for development said the university will intensify its fund-raising efforts so that it would be able to raise the remaining 1 million before construction is completed in other business the trustees approved a 30,615,700 budget for fiscal year 1977-78 according to elmer glick vice president and treasurer the budget includes a surplus of 19,113 glick said a budget surplus of 128,700 for the current fiscal year was predicted m a report which glick presented to the board last year the university experienced a 154,085 budget surplus the trustees discussed a possible student housing m a proposed south side highrise and overcrowding of the university's libraries no final decisions were made by the trustees concerning the university's 10 year plan a proposal to make williams house coed on a door-to-door basis was not presented planning for the acc began m 1971 the acc originally was planned for con struction as two structures m saucon valley an arena and a field house the field house was completed m september 1975 at a cost of 1.85 million early this semester while ad ministrators and trustees were reviewing architect's rendering the university board of trustees thursday ap proved plans tc construct a 3.5-million indoor arena in saucon valley construction of the building which will have permanent seating for 6,000 is scheduled to begin this fall irwin claims allied fired him without notice by ken bandler managing editor richard irwin the former allied maintenance corp project manager at the university said he was dismissed by the maintenance firm in an unpublished interview three weeks ago an executive m the firm's new york headquarters said that irwin had been transferred to work with allied m philadelphia irwin explained that he was told march 22 that he would have to leave right away and was out of the office within an hour there was no warning and the firm provided no severance pay he continued he said his pay was terminated that friday they fired me like a dog irwin said richard irwin lewis a multi-talented president by michele macdonald features editor the office behind the glass doors m the alumni memorial building is spacious decorated with comfortable furniture and subdued colors numerous technical and intellectual books crowd the shelves the large desk is covered by an array of important-looking papers the atmosphere is reserved yet electric dr w deming lewis university president looks at home here the man is much like his office he is soft-spoken with a gentle grandfatherly manner but his mein is one of intellectual sophistication the dynamism which has propelled him through a life of rewarding achievement radiates through the reser vation lewis a physicist and mathematician who has done extensive work as a space engineer and research administrator has at tained remarkable success throughout his life his list of ac complishments is impressive he holds three degrees from harvard university which he entered at 16 and two from oxford university where he studied as a rhodes scholar he began work for the bell telephone laboratories m 1941 and eventually became executive director of their research-communication systems in 1962 he and three other bell executives initiated the work of b&w photo by glickman deming lewis takes time out for a game of squash the 62-year-old president has always been highly ranked on the faculty squash ladder mayor stresses obligation of university for highrise by peg pfenninger the university would be fulfilling its responsibility to the city to revitalize the south side by participating m the con struction of a highrise on the site of the university-owned college theater said bethlehem mayor gordon mowrer m an interview friday mowrer said he strongly favors the proposal to build a 5-million plaza highrise present plans for the complex call for a 13-floor structure five floors of which would be student apartments the building will also house apartments rented by city residents as well as office and commercial space the administration currently is deciding whether to sign an agreement with the south mountain inc developers ac cording to jim mccarthy of the city planning office construction on the complex would begin soon after the university signed the agreement the city has been good to lehigh mowrer said the university has a definite obligation to participate m the revitalization of the south side he con tinued he also said he favors the proposal because the complex which would house approximately 200 students would take some students out of the residential areas many of these students were forced to move off campus because of the campus housing shortage he said he was opposed lo integrating residential areas with students because they are often disruptive mowrer said students would be less likely to be a disturbance at the complex because 4th street is a commercial area mowrer said he was unaware that the complex would also contain public rental apartments i was under the impression that the rest of the space would be for offices he said last year mowrer discouraged the see economies page 9 see allied page 9 see university page 7 see mayor page 8 inside minority recruiting p 3 field house woes p 5 job hunting p 6 sackers excel p 12