Miami Hurricane, December 04, 1992

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		CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA FRIDAY. DECEMBER 4.1992
INSIDE
SAVAGE IN LIMBO
Savage in Limbo, showing through Saturday, may be the last production shown in Brockway Hall this year.
■ Accent — page 6
SEASON OPENER
The women’s basketball team will open it's season this Sunday against Florida Atlantic University.
■ Sports — page 8
grads’ homeless shelter may find home
By OANIELLE PARKS
Staff Writer
The brainchild of seven University of Miami architecture graduates, who while students last spring designed a low-cost housing structure for Miami’s homeless, may temporarily alleviate the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew.
“Our ideas are a valid solution to the homeless problem, especially now,” Richard Hubacker, who now works for a downtown architec-
AFTER ANDREW ture firm, said.
At an estimated cost of $2,300 each, the 10-by-16 feet bungalow-type shel-
‘Our ideas are a valid solution to the homeless problem, especially now.
Richard Hubacker, •halter architect
ters the students designed are meant to house four people. The shelters are arranged in a courtyard configuration, with each courtyard ideally housing 25 to 50 people.
In the initial plan, each community was meant to focus on a target group, such as single mothers and children or recovering drug and alcohol addicts, but this can be adapted to suit post-Andrew conditions as well.
Andy Menendez, director of Homeless Projects for Metro-Dade, is working with the group to find an appropriate site.
"I’m a firm believer,” he said. "I am very desirous of getting one of these things up and running.”
Menendez is looking to gain the support of community-based organizations to facilitate the search for a site.
"Chances are extremely good that we will be able to house folks, though perhaps not in the most ideal location,” Menendez said.
Menendez said land is currently at a premium, which makes the search for a site all the more difficult.
There is a possibility that a site near a Salvation Army building at 208 S. Dix-
ie Highway may become available.
“The beauty of a marriage between the Salvation Army and the students’ design is that it will be more than a place to live. There will be a social service provider as well,” Menendez said.
Menendez said the Salvation Army’s interest is a step in the right direction, "but no one ever said that government acts very fast.”
Though all of the students involved graduated last May, some are still active in the search for a site.
"Everybody wants to do something about [homelessness], but not everyone wants it in their backyard,” said Anthea Gianniotes, a graduate who worked on the project. “We’re still so sure this could work. We keep pushing.”
“One of the biggest tragedies is that it has taken these students so long to get this far,” Menendez said.
NEWSBRIEFS
Fund created to honor deceased English professor
A fund is being established in honor of Audley Webster, the University of Miami English professor who recently died from cancer.
Webster, who taught English at UM since 1983, spent nine years lecturing to students about the fundamentals of English composition and literature.
If the fund receives enough money, then an award of $250 a year will be given to a student taking a first year English composition class, beginning next September.
According to Professor Ron Newman, the English Department has already donated $500 to the Audley Webster fund and there is hope for more donations from the university community.
"Currently we are soliciting funds from colleagues and former students,” Newman said. “Every name will be sent on to Mr. Webster’s widow telling specifically who has given money to the fund.”
Donations to the fund can be brought to the English composition office in the Ashe Building, room 327.
—PAMELA WILFINGER
Graduation ceremony set for business students
The graduation convocation ceremony for the December graduates in the School of Business Administration will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 18 in the Gusman Concert Hall.
School of Business Staff Associate Ana Maria Exposito said there will be additional activities after the ceremony.
“There will be a reception with food and drinks in the common area on the main floor of the School of Business after the ceremony,” Exposito said.
Flash and video cameras will be allowed during the graduation announcements, provided there not many extra lights are needed.
Each graduating senior is allowed four tickets for the graduation ceremony. Tickets and other information will be sent through the mail, but any questions can be directed at Exposito at 284-4641 or Lori Pryor at 284-2510.
—PAMELA WILFINGER
Pearson fire causes stir
By CHRISTOPHER J. AVROS
Staff Writer
Pearson Residential College’s fire in the trash chute Wednesday morning was certainly not the first, but it was the only one in recent memory to draw attention from the news bureaus at WCIX-Channel 6, WTVJ-Channel 4 and WSVN-Channel 7.
CNN called. WSVN sent a helicopter. Seven Coral Gables Fire Department units — totalling 35 firefighters — arrived on the scene at 8:47 a.m.
Seven hundred residents were evacuated. No students were reported injured in either the fire of during their exit from the building.
’ The blaze was set accidentally by the "careless discard of smoking materials,” according to a fire department report.
Smoke spread quickly through the building, filling floors two through seven. A blockage in the trash chute near the fourth floor contributed to the build-up and permeation of smoke.
Many students in the building awoke to the sound of the fire alarm. Some said they took it lightly until resident assistants knocked on their doors telling them that it was a real fire.
"Within a few minutes, everybody was evacuated,” said Brett Schwartz, a junior living on Pearson’s fourth floor, who heard the alarm at about 8:40 a.m.
Pearson suffered little damage. Heat shorted out phone lines to 10 suites, and there is scattered smoke and water damage. Much of the damage was confined to the fourth, sixth and seventh floors. A hole was knocked into a concrete wall near the second floor trash chute by firefighters.
The sprinkler system, which is heat-activated, r did not engage, saving the building from water damage.
A fire department press release stated all fire systems operated properly, but the sprinklers in the trash chute specifically designed to douse a blaze did not entirely extinguish the fire.
PETE CAMERON/Special to The Hurricane
BATTLING THE BLAZE: Two Coral Gables firefighters carry a fan used fo clear the smoke from the trash chute fire in Pearson Residential College Wednesday morning. Thirty-five firefighters from seven units responded to the call.
SAFAC holds open forum on 1992-93 funding
By LISA ANN SMITH
Staff Writer
Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee chairman Timothy Hoffman said at an open forum Tuesday night that although the student activity fee will remain essentially the same for the 1992-93 year, the number of campus organizations increased from 130 to 150 in this year.
Representatives from 20 campus organizations, which are funded mainly by student activity fee funds, attended the forum.
Hoffman said special considerations will be taken into account when it comes time for SAFAC to distribute funds, but students must realize that funds are limited.
“The meeting was a small step in the right direction but more needs to be done. Many clubs are confused about how SAFAC is allocating funds,” Neeraj
Vora, Indian Student Association representative, said.
The committee also suggested fundraising and dues as alternative means of financial support for the organizations. Hoffman extended an invitation to representatives of all clubs and organizations to come to the SAFAC office in the University Center with any questions or suggestions.
Hoffman talked about each of the nine guidelines which provide fair distribution of the $65.25 paid by every University of Miami student.
Only two guidelines enacted by SAFAC met with serious opposition from students.
One was a $250-per-person airfare allocation which may be granted to clubs and organizations wanting to participate in national conferences. Several students felt that $250 was an excessive amount in comparison with the prices of airfares.
Hoffman said students should realize that this is the
maximum amount of money which will be given. He also noted Guideline 9 which states that “SAFAC reserves the right to limit the number of members allocated funds ...” and said that most conferences were regional and not national and therefore did not require travel allocation funds.
Guideline 5, which states that “money will not be allocated for food expenses during travel, retreats, or club meetings,” was a major concern for members of the Indian Students Association.
Representatives from that organization said that it is necessary for the international and cultural club to have Indian food at their meetings and functions.
“The meeting went well,” SAFAC Junior Representative Stacy Roberts said. “People expressed their opinions. The topics of airfare and food will be discussed.”
Another forum was held Wednesday afternoon.
TANYA GILMORE/ GnpNe» Et*Of
SG stresses past, future involvement
By JASON ZDANOWICZ
Stall Writer
Student Government is making itself more available and more visible to students, said David Diamond, SG president.
According to Steve Cohen, speaker of the SG senate, the purpose of recent promotions, which include distribution of information on SG projects, a recruiting drive, plans for increased use of the SG bulletin board in the University Center and a student interest survey, is to “try to stir up some interest in what we’re doing” and to "increase involvement through increased awareness.”
A listing of the Student Government accomplishments for Fall 1992, as well as a list of the SG projects in progress, was provided to students throughout the week at a table set up in the University Center Breezeway. A reception was also held at the Rathskeller on Thursday night to address students’ questions about joining SG or about the projects SG is currently working on.
"We find if we don’t tell people what we’re doing, they assume we’re doing nothing,” Diamond said.
Committee battles homophobia
By MARIBEL PEREZ
Staff Writer
The Student Government Pro-Diversity Committee is trying to increase awareness of homophobia on campus, Chairperson Lajuan Meyer said.
The Committee has set up a number of open discussions at the Residential Colleges and in the University Center’s International Lounge. So far, few people have attended the sessions, but Meyer believes that is a result of two factors.
“First, I think we need a receptive advertising message,” he said. “But it’s also a matter of people wanting to get out and talk about their feelings and ideas.”
"We want the homosexual community to come and speak about how they feel ... some people just aren't ready to do that,” Meyer said.
The group hopes to address a variety of topics in the future.
“We are focusing on homophobia right now, but there are other issues such as racial, religious and gender differences which we would like to work on in the future,” Meyer said.
In the past, Pro-Diversity has been limited to helping out other campus organizations, SG President David Diamond said. This was due in part to low membership and a small budget.
"This is the first year the committee has pushed forward with its larger ideas such as diversity seminars,” Diamond said.
The committee, which is a part of the SG Cabinet, has been around for at least three years, according to SG President David Diamond.
“Since I appointed Lajuan as chairman, he’s just taken the ball and ran with it,” Diamond said.
The biggest problem the committee faced in the past was membership.
“I remember when it was made up. of just one person,” Diamond said.
There are currently eight people on the committee.
Anne Irwin, freshman, said she joined because "something needs to be done about people who are set in their own ways and who believe their way of thinking is the only way.”
The meetings which are held at the various residential colleges are usually announced through fliers in those colleges.
“The most important thing right now is to get more people involved,” Irwin said.
“I guess we just have to start at the bottom and work our way up,” said Meyer said.