From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 07/22/01-09:48:36 PM Z
judy wrote:
> Shannon, I don't know what things are like in the state of Texas (don't
> think that's a good topic right now), but in State of New York a call to
> OSHA can shut a school down. Mine was fined $22,000 a few years ago for
> improper storage of chemicals.
I heard that the EPA did this to a university, maybe in Texas, maybe Rice,
but I can't remember exactly. The offense was not capping the barrel that
the used chemicals were in. (At Glassell, the used fix was stored in an
open buchet!) For some reason, as I said in my previous email, we have been
told that OSHA is not the agency to call. But maybe we should call OSHA
ourselves and find out from them if that's true.
We also were told that the EPA in Texas is not real active. You can see and
smell the evidence of this around you. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be
a good idea to call and find out.
Last semester I was too busy getting well and keeping up with my coursework
while sick to really have the energy to do all this. I just signed some
petitions and sent some emails. But now I'm all well and ready to raise
some hell.
I'd add the obvious -- given the paper
> trail you presumably have on this problem, you can get the school's
> insurance cancelled. Hasn't ANYBODY in this supposedly litigious country
> threatened a lawsuit ? Also it might not be too far fetched to question
> the school's accreditation.
Those are good ideas. I had only thought of one: the lawsuit idea. Then I
decided it might not be in my interest to sue the school I'm trying to get a
degree from.
I did indirectly threaten the Glassell school with a lawsuit--a sort of
veiled threat--in the letter that I sent to the director about the problem
there, and as I said, the problem was presumably quickly fixed, although the
bad teacher that caused the problem is still there. I think she should have
been fired myself.
I don't know how the humanities college is accredited. The architecture
school goes through a rigorous inspection every three years or so. Maybe the
humanities college does also. But how would you get a chance to talk to the
inspectors, as a student?
>
> As for getting the trays covered, yeah, I know what you mean. One strategy
> that really did help is appoint student "monitor" either for semester
> (extra credit) or each class at beginning. THEY turn out the lights, so to
> speak, and if the tray isn't covered, have to answer for it.
We have monitors in the darkroom for the fundamentals and intermediate
students. And they cover the trays at the end of the day. It's the
advanced students and graduate students who are slobs!!!
We don't have a monitor in our "advanced" darkroom because it's assumed that
we are mature and can clean up after ourselves. Wrong!
> At least (presumably) they're not smoking in the classroom????
nope. But sometimes I've eaten a balance bar in there. Bad me!
--shannon
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