Brown and White Vol. 84 no. 2

              brown and white vol 84 — no 2 kwwmi bethlehem pa wednesday september 6 1972 lehigh university news in limbo says connor the status of the lehigh university news a university sponsored publication reaching students faculty alumni parents and friends of lehigh is in limbo according to samuel i connor director of public information although it is unlikely that publication of the news will be suspended connor stated that it is not yet certain what revisions will be made a statement clarifying the administration's position will be made shortly by the vice president for development paul franz connor added according to a june 12 article in the bethlehem globe times the administra tion undertook a review of two alumni oriented periodicals the news and the alumni bulletin the globe times quoted an unnamed university spokesman as saying the impetus for the review came from many directions although none are specifically cited controversy surrounding the news began last february when it was learned that an article submitted for the news by editor and publications director john murphy was withheld by the university administration the story concerned b&w photo by john mizel lewis clashes with 72 grads on lu news by jeff brindle a petition condemning the termination of the lehigh university news and the contract of its associate editor robert cole has drawn a sharp rebutal by university president w deming lewis the petition which was signed by a number of last year's senior class leaders stated that the university news and cole were terminated because the university news had the integrity and moral conscience to report events on the lehigh campus as accurately as possible in reply to the seniors petition president lewis sent a letter to show where the document went wrong in its statement of facts and give a clearer understanding of the real issues involved first lewis stated bob cole has not been terminated at lehigh he will continue at the university as an assistant professor in the department of english a oil slick on river caused by u leak last week oil from the university's power plant found its way to the lehigh river through the city's storm sewer system serious environmental damage was prevented as university and beth lehem steel maintenance crews installed a bulkhead around the sewer outlet a total of 2,000 gallons of no 6 bunker oil was lost through a leaking pipe at the power plant and university crews began excavation of one of four fuel tanks to determine whether it was also leaking on aug 29 employees of the no 1 construction co working on the new street bridge reported oil slicks on the lehigh river sixteen hours later the oil was traced to the university where the oil was being heated and prepared for use in the university's heating system cleanup operations on the river included pumping oil from the surface of the water and deploying straw to soak up the oil cit crews flushed out storm drain pipes leading from the campus to the lehigh river state federal and local environmental and water quality specialists were on hand to oversee the cleanup operation univer sity director of physical plant robert numbers said they seemed to be pleased with the way things were going john w weaver of the state fish commission said his inspection showed some oil in the river backwaters but added that some high waters should clean up much of the oil weaver said that while a lot of the oil had been collected there would no doubt be short term damage as the film was caught on weeds rocks and underbrush he added that he did not think the long term effects would be serious parker tyler film critic speaks sept 12 widely acclaimed american film critic parker tyler will speak in packard auditorium at 8 p.m sept 12 the public is invited free of charge tyler's talk is the first in a series by public personalities presented by the forum tor visiting lecturers committee fvlc a student faculty organization a native oi new orleans tyler has for the past 25 years pioneered attitudes toward film as both a popular medium and an art at lehigh he will discuss the movies and the hero mylh he is the recipient of grants from ihe ford foundation and the guggenheim memorial foundation and a longview award for poetry his work has been cited for distinction by the nation and the new republic controversy and fiery debates not lacking in forum's history editor's note this is the last of two articles outlining the history of the forum opc.p formally constituted in fall 1970 the forum i soon discovered a plethora of explosive topics early in the year the campus was racked with a series of muggings and vandalism on the part of townspeople this came at a time when many forum members were first becom ing aware of the university's responsibi lity to the community monetary considerations caused the trustees to abandon plans to build domis in bethlehem proper and seek the cheaper land and building costs of saucon valley city planners were enraged not only did the move cost the city tax dollars but critically altered their plans for renovat ing the south side which is dependent on student business the matter was considered so important that city mayor gordon payrow and other prominent city officials attended one meeting to urge the forum to reverse its position we feel that lehigh has deserted the community in its decision the mayor said at the same time many forum members were doubting the wisdom of the decision on grounds other than community relations housing on saucon valley would result in fragmenting the campus critics argued that this would destroy one of the university's m.ajqr.asf-els-ils image as a small residential college finally a compromise was reached the first phase of building housing for married and graduate students would be built in saucon valley this would provide housing urgently needed for these students in a setting many found conducive to fami.ly life however no ur.r'ergradu'vte residences would be buill tar away from campus except under the most severe financial conditions to some this was a triumph in community relations others however questioned whether the adminis tration would be only too quick to use the financial out provided in the forum resolution the most heated debates of 1970 centered on what to do about saturday classes for 105 years university students had been required to attend classes 8 a.m to 12 p.m saturdays for at least the past 10 years and quite probably longer they were also the most sparsely attended classes more lectures were cancelled on saturday than any other day even in those classes which were held the attention spans of both students and faculty were limited a forum subcommittee did an exhaus tive study on the alternatives to saturday classes it seemed that almost everyone favored the elimination of those classes but almost none could agree on a new time to reschedule them among the plans b&w photo by smar prof george a dinsmore . . forum 111 chairman see status page 4 see forum page 5 see lewis page 4