Opinions
Second thoughts on the EMU petition
A petition is currently being circulated
that, asks for a building suspension on the
EMU addition that is now in the advance
planning stage. Before you consider
signing the petition we ask you to review
the following facts:
The Erb Memorial Union was opened
in 1950 to serve an enrollment of ap
proximately 5,200 students. An initial
addition was provided in 1961 to meet a
growth in enrollment to nearly 8,500
students. Present enrollemnt is 15,300
students.
The student union facilities were
adequate for about 8,500 students, but now
have demands placed on them which are
nearly double the design capacity. Since
the gap is so large in this one building
there is no escape from the significance of
these figures; the effect of over
crowdedness cannot be diffused or
dissipated over the campus, congestion is
enormous. During peak hours there are
long lines waiting to be served, and it is
almost impossible to find seating for
groups of two or three persons; lounge
seating throughout the day and evening is
difficult to find; tables and chairs
previously used for informal study have
been converted to dining space; and group
meeting rooms are scheduled to capaicty
throughout the school year. The serious
overcrowding prevents the present union
from functioning as a center for the
community and indeed the forced turn
over strains the very usefulness of the
existing facility.
The fundamental factor which in
fluenced plans for the future addition to
Erb Memorial Union is the compelling
need for maintaining personal contact and
interaction among all members of the
University community. One of the
potentially significant contributions of the
union in the social-intellectual life of the
campus is that it should serve as a com
mon meeting ground for students and
faculty outside of classroom and office. It
should stand as an important element in
combating forces of depersonalization that
seem to characterize some large in
stitutions. Since the Student Union is the
only common meeting ground for the
entire community, an inadequate facility
can seriously undermine the spirit of the
community at all levels.
Eight alternative sites for the Student
Union Addition were investigated by the
Student-Faculty Planning Committee. The
sites were adjacent to Erb and central in
concept or remote and a satellite. A
central location was the recommendation
of this student-faculty committee after
considering the implications of the
alternative sites. The Student Union
Planning Committee, composed of four
students, the S.U. manager, and one ar
chitect, evaluated central sites to the
north, south and east of the present
building using the following criteria:
1. Existing and estimated future
pedestrian movement to and through the
site.
2. Vehicular and service traffic to the
site.
3. Development of the aesthetic
relationships to the existing buildings.
4. Development of ecological factors in
the site such as the preservation of open
space, existing trees.
On 15 October, 1970, the Student
faculty Campus Planning Committee,
upon the recommendation of the Student
Union Planning Committee, approved a
location east of the present Erb Memorial
Union partly on the Onyx Street right of
way and partly in the Carson quadrangle.
This location best satisfies the criteria of
site selection for a Student Union Addition.
Although 13 per cent of Carson Quad will
be utilized by the S.U. addition, it should be
pointed out that the Quad is not designated
permanent open space, and is, and has
been in the past, considered as a possible
site for any building that requires a central
location.
The proposed plans leave ap
proximately 87 per cent of Carson Quad
open with its existing environment un
disturbed. Special attention has been given
to preserving the existing major trees in
the Quad. A series of outdoor terraces and
steps provide a functional link between
interior and exterior activities. This
relationship between the proposed
building and Carson Quad will insure its
continued existence as an open space.
Carson Quad is a beautiful space and it
is the belief of the Student Union Planning
Committee that the proposed E.M.U.
Addition does not destroy it' but rather
enhances its value to the student body.
Elizabeth Streukens
Dennis Periquin
Janies Teasdale
Bill Muir
Members Student Union Planning Com
mittee
Letters
Tim and Fran*
A few short comments on Tim Travis’
reply to Franz:
First of all, though Franz speaks
critically of drugs and this supposedly
indicates some ignorance on his behalf, I
can personally vouche for his awareness of
both their effects and differences. Franz
has "bet'n around". What he criticizes is
the drug culture as a whole, which, like
any mass of people, has both good and bad
elements. Yes, barbituates were
responsible for those deaths mentioned—
but lteds seem to be rising in popularity
lar faster than their value would warrant.
Acid is no Cod send either a very close
friend of mine is now doing a hitch in a
mental hospital Cood ol’ acid.
I smoke marijuana and enjoy doing so.
Hut neither of us support the rising drug
culture any more than we do the “Stupid
Shits of America." After attempting to
maintain a booth at the Renaissance Faire
and being, flatly, ripped off by a local
commune ifamily?) that was obviously a
part of the aforementioned culture, we find
it easy to sec less than virtue in such a way
ol life However, we no more agree with
.1 Kd the Fed" than with anyone else who
persists in attempting to lump separate
issues under one neat head
Franz and 1 both recognize the fact that
many tragic flaws exist in the "system"
presently used in this country. But with a
Page 6
little effort we can see even more good.
Your problem, Tim would appear to be
that you are so preoccupied with im
mediate results and the very uncertain
future that you want to tear the whole
thing down. Any change that takes place
over night (so to speak) will invariably be
ot such a nature that it will incense some
other group to the extent that the whole
destruction-violence trip will happen
again Result—chaos. Take a good look at
the game of “musical government" played
so often in South America.
It would surprise you, Tim, at the
extent to which you and Franz both agree
on the deficiencies that surround us. But
Franz would appear to possess something
you lack the ability to see more than one
side of a problem and to take his time
about further complicating it.
By the way, your reference to the use
ot Mescaline and its role as a mainstay of
the drug culture (whatever that is) is
indicative of a lack of information on your
part It costs a minimum of six dollars to
synthesize one dose of Mescaline. So how
does one buy synthetic Mescaline for two
or three dollars? Easy, he is really buying
a tun little adventure consisting of crank,
some form of downer, and one of the many
cheaper chemicals which also provide the
colorful little hallucinations tdelerium?)
we all love.
T. Symington
major uncertain
From the booth on 13th
Colleges were surprised
"Why are the universities so quiet this
fall?” I wave my forefinger in the air like a
wand and give out my theory: colleges
surprised thejnselves last spring—
whoever heard of 500 Modern Knowledge
Complexes acting together? Since
Amerika is attempting to establish the
absolute IBM dictatorship of the
Bourgeoisie, it’s very difficult for
daughters and sons in the new degree
seeking class to hold onto a view of
themselves which gives them a sure place
in the world struggle. I mean, are they
going to run the Empire, or are they going
to help the oppressed take power? That's
the real thorn that is pricking fingers in
this campus confusion about a little green
power slipping through white hands to
speakers on racism. After all, at the going
rate, white professors and white
politicians make fistsful more money by
talking us all blue in the face. No wonder
the campuses are quiet this fall—because
of the outrage finally expressed at colleges
across the nation, university students have
been attacked by all the self-seeking,
issueless politicians. It’s a little paralyzing
to find your whole future at the center of
the Law n Order stage, isn’t it’’ Stop, think,
look around Welcome to Babylon.
What we need to do is get over our
stage fright and get a clear idea of where
we are. Students can play with the ecology
scene, or the freaky hippy scene, or the
New-found Non-violence scene, or the
Liberal Democratic Senator scene, but
that’s all pick-up-sticks compared to the
Detroit Police Officer attack on the
Committee to Combat Fascism, or Angela
Davis on a hunger strike in that damn
woman’s concentration cell block in New
York, or the 25 insane indictments against
faculty and students at Kent State, or the
heroes of the Amerikan suburbs who are
still trying to win in Indochina by following
Westmoreland’s policy of “Bombing Them
back into blood puddles.” We students
need to say, Look Mister Murder, students
are not as important as you think. You
may control, for now, the Law n Order
Payroll Window, but the new American
revolution is coming home. Students are
not leading the Revolt this fall—the
unemployed and the prisoners are leading
us. All those "problem people” they
thought they could lock away, like Spiro’s
daughter in the bathroom, are getting it
on. It is with real awe that I watch this
nation's prisoners, supposedly put away,
seize their guards, issue demands, and act
together. Until recently, the Tombs in New
^ ork City was a model University—the
scholarship of brutality and pain, the
Mickey Mouse forced on people behind
bars, and a maximum of alienated in
dividual fear. Look, the prisoners may
have lost the first round, but all over the
nation, they are leading the Revolution.
Hooray for our brother and sister In
stitutions. The Tombs will rise again—
that's the new life!
Joe Schoenfeld