Brown and White Vol. 108 No. 14

              the brown and white lehig vol 108 no 14 all the lehigh news first friday october 27 2000 new housing law may violate freedom by amy cohen many lehigh students are unaware that in less than two weeks a new law may go into effect that will directly affect off-campus housing both the city and the local newspapers have kept the bill quiet but there will be a nov 6 vote for the bill to become a law while bethlehem mayor donald cunningham feels this bill is designed to help students other bethlehem residents including some landlords feel this bill will hurt both students and low-income residents alike one of the provisions in the law says that the owner must maintain all of his or her buildings according to the city's codes and perform regular maintenance of the premises according to cunningham there will be an annual inspection ensuring that the property meets all city codes most of our landlords are very good and the property is kept up very well cunningham said cunningham feels the law is being designed for the protection of the tenant local landlord and bethlehem resident alex roxandich however feels the law is taking away individual freedoms according to the law all landlords must obtain a license for each regulated rental unit there are several grounds for non-renewal suspension or revocation of the license if the landlord does not comply with the regulations imposed by the new law roxandich feels the law gives code inspectors too much power there is also an addendum to the law that must be signed by both the owner and the occupant along with the rental agreement part of the addendum says tenant agrees that the maximum number of persons permitted within the regulated rental unit at any time shall be and the maximum number of persons permit ted within the common areas of the leased premises at any time shall be according to roxandich the blanks are to be filled with the number of people on the lease according to the law no rental agree ment may allow the owner or occupant to waive or forego rights or remedies under this ordinance i don't care if you get to have a party or not but it's a big assault on freedom and rights roxandich said you can't tell people how many people they can have in their rented area roxandich said this goes against the freedom to assemble and the freedoms of religion and speech news writer darin henry 03 lives off campus and is extremely concerned about what will happen if this proposed bill becomes a law they can't tell me how many people i can have in my home henry said it's a violation of my freedom and rights another part of the bill states that if an occupant is convicted three times of dis ruptive conduct or any other violation b&w photo by ryan ucwinko within a year the owner will be forced to evict the occupant if the landlords do not evict the occu pants the city can sue them and take away their property roxandich finds this to be a big problem she said she would have problems financially if she were forced should the new bill pass students in off-campus housing will only be able to have a limited number of people in the house at one time or else face eviction professors hold session on online instruction by jessy schocker informal meeting with professors discusses possibilities of expanding online course options news writer lehigh staff gathered tuesday in the bayer galleria of the linderman library for an informational meeting regarding online instruction presented by a panel comprised of professors ed gallagher jack lule and ken sinclair the moderator bruce taggart vice provost of information resources asked four questions to which each panel member responded in addition the audience was permit ted to ask several questions involving the integration of the internet for teaching and branching out from the typical class room setting professor lule chairman of the journalism and communications department has experience in online teaching since 1997 he said the online courses were a way to better interact with students and a way for the students to better interact with each other online courses provide students with a 24-hour link to their class seven days a week lule said professor sinclair an economics pro fessor familiar with online teaching for at least two generations of software said he had been accustomed to teaching in a tra ditional classroom but was asked to be a guinea pig for an online lab that proved to be very helpful sinclair also spoke of the conve nience of course info as an effective tool for students to obtain handouts videos power point presentations lectures and announcements from a web site he called the program user friendly and said both students and teachers will be motivated to use it because it will make life easier as there is a plethora of information available gallagher a librarian and member of the english department also lauded the online method of teaching students do better in online settings because they can self-select courses that will play to their strengths gallagher said lule said students learn in different ways and that online courses offer students more flexibility they can come to class when it is con venient for them and spend more time thinking about questions without having to answer on the spot lule said he added that students also may feel more comfortable talking about personal issues online as opposed to in class professor lule mentioned one student who opened up about her family while her father was in the vietnam war a story that most likely would not have surfaced in a traditional classroom setting following the idea of a more comfort able online environment lule men tioned that instruction via the web is an excellent way for international students who are not quite comfortable enough with the english language to speak out to express themselves in writing a member of the audience asked the panel members how much extra time is spent using online teaching see online page 4 see housing page 4 i head football coach student senate what happens to xjuxck kevin higgins is a role inaugurates 44 money set aside for facx yl 4m rm model on and off the officers see page 3 club budgets rywl fljl field see page 19 see page 7 don't forget to turn i sports 15-20 news 1-6 lifestyle 7-14 hour tomorrow night a*n i golf 18 world news briefs 2 matter of opinion 8 men's soccer 20 lehigh briefs 5 horoscopes 9 j football preview 20 win apt cruiser 6 face in the crowd 13