Brown and White Vol. 87 no. 38

              lehigh university brown and white 215-866-0331 vol 87 — no 38 bethlehem pa friday march 5 1976 student housing hindered by bethlehem officials by jeff bloom and dave klucsik — first of a three-part series — political pressure exerted by top bethlehem city officials has prevented the university from entering a long-term lease arrangement of south side town houses the lease arrangement would have solved the university's present and projected long-term housing shortage problem last summer the university negotiated with a bethlehem realtor for the leasing of the 36 townhouses of the benedict birkel estate the houses are located on birkel avenue west of lehigh's brodhead avenue parking lot and north of delta sigma phi fraternity after necessary renovations were made the homes would have provided housing for 216 students last april anthony agentis of a.s agentis realtor proposed to university officials a deal m which agentis would sell the block to a local developer who would make all necessary renovations and then lease the homes to the university for undergraduate housing renovations would be made to meet both local zoning ordinances and university specifications eric ottervik vice president for plan ning and h joris rosse director of physical planning met with bethlehem mayor gordon mowrer and bethlehem community development director franklin gaugler concerning the deal last summer mowrer claims to have discouraged the university from undertaking the project in an interview last week mowrer said i'd much rather see lehigh build apartment units on fourth street where the college theatre is ottervik told the brown and white that mowrer and gaugler had warned that if the university attempted to go ahead with the deal regulations regarding the in spection of houses could be very strictly enforced he said that the city would make the leasing deal very difficult every step of the way in addition mowrer warned that his office would do nothing to alleviate political difficulty inflicted on the university by south side politicians and other residents harmonious relationship on july 17 rosse wrote to agentis stating •".. lehigh university wants to maintain harmonious relationships with the city of bethlehem and it appears that taking any official action m the area of the birkel estates could hamper those smooth relations we therefore regretfully must in dicate that we are not prepared at this time to take any official action or enter into any legally binding agreements with you or any other entrepreneur to develop the birkel estate block for lehigh housing last week agentis told the brown and harassment not found by university investigation by olga yannitsadis the university will not bring charges against any student for the harassment of a lehigh woman student according to arthur mann associate dean of students mann university discipline committee case officer said a thorough investigation has taken place but the alleged harassment cannot be substantiated the incident reportedly occurred oct 4 it involved the possible sexual harassment arthur mann of a woman student at a university fraternity discussions have been held with those involved m the incident and facts collec ted according to sharon drager assistant dean of students drager's role m the investigation was that of a fact finder who would present evidence to the discipline committee she said drager said she could not disclose any information on the case and noted that it was not her responsibility to make any decisions on the matter the woman involved m the incident said she had gone to william quay dean of students after publication of the incident m the brown and white and told him that the harassment issue was getting on her nerves the story has been blown out of proportion she said this week but added she did not know who was responsible for this originally the woman told drager that if called before the disciplinary committee she would report that harassment or teasing does occur at the fraternity m question it was a minor incident just horseplay the woman said one of the men picked her up bodily as she left the ladies room carried her upstairs into a room and new residence priorities eyed by ken bandler the residence halls office is developing new priorities for alloting housing space to residence halls students this new housing configuration could change the present distribution of university students m dormitories some of the changes being discussed are necessary for the university to comply with title ix of the federal regulations prohibiting sex discrimination m education according to the regulations university housing must be comparable m quality and cost and proportionate m quantity for both men and women applying for residence space various sources have indicated that the residence halls office is considering new policies which may include a new mechanism for students to choose their living preference and the abolishment of squatter's rights further integration of freshman and upperclass dormitories is included m a recommendation sent to the board of trustees executive committee by its ad hoc committee examining the university's residence lottery system an authoritative source said last week increasing the number of integrated dormitories will not result m a reduction of the number of gryphons the brown and white was told sources have indicated that the new residence policy may also call for ad legal action is started against cheech & chong by debbie kelley the university is contacting lawyers over the failure of cheech and chong to fulfill their contract to perform at grace hall last month according to student activities council sac president bill conrad 76 cheech and chong are bound by con tract to appear said todd heck 77 sac concert chairman the contract further provides that some penalty fee be charged m the case of failure by the performers to fulfill the contract he added sac had hoped to reschedule a concert on the conditions that the losses from the february 6th concert be recovered that no loss would be guaranteed for the rescheduled performance that the students be given a show of high quality and that the admission charge be less conrad said lehigh students should be entitled to the same show at a cheaper price at the expense of cheech and chong he added the sac has offered cheech and chong quite a few dates and prices for an alternative performance which they were very anxious to reschedule at the time of the previous concert but none of the offers has been accepted conrad said william quay dean of students has opened an additional weeknight concert option to offer to cheech and chong as a rain date for their performance conrad addea * to reimburse the sac for losses suffered m the february concert cheech and chong will inevitably have to take a salary cut for an alternative performance conrad said however the performers still townhouse leasing prevented b&w photo by gleason pressure the city of bethlehem exerted political pressure on the university last summer preventing the lease or purchase of 36 town houses for student housing shortly after the university withdrew from private negotiations with a local realtor the realtor considered filing suit against the city for grave interference and injustice to free en terprise see bethlehem page 4 see renovations page 9 see no sexual page 10 see university page 8 inside weekender p 4 bridge expert p 7 im hoops p 1 1 guy goes west p 12