2 Girls Admitted To Building Course

Two Pioneer High School girls have been admitted to the previously all-male student home building program of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The decision to admit Támara Tocher and Sara Rutter, both seniors, was made a few days ago by a screening committee, according to Earl Shaffer, director of vocational education. Misses Tocher and Rutter were the only two females who applied. A total of 32 Pioneer and Huron students were admitted to the program, which features the students building a house. The program finished its first year this month. Miss Tocher expressed surprise that she had been admitted, saying officials had recently told her the program would "take the girls last." But she said she was very pleased. The Committee To Eliminate Sexual Discrimination, a group of several local women headed by Marcia Federbush, has been prodding the Ann Arbor Stud e n t Building-Industry Program t o admit girls this f all for several months. But Shaffer and others had not been encouraging about the girls' chances, because the schools view the program as a vocational one to prepare young people for a profession in the building trades. And women have been, in effect, excluded from the trades in the past. In April, the 11-man board of directors of the home building program passed a resolution saying the program "has not encouraged and does not encourage discrimination on the basis of sex regarding enrollment in the Building-Industry program." But a few days later, Shaffer still said that "with the prerequisites (for girls entering the building trades) the way they are, it is unlikely we will end up with any girls in the class next fall." Asked if the campaign by the local women helped admit the girls to the program, Shaffer replied that the women "caused us to re-think the thing and make sure we were looking at it from the proper perspective." But he added that both girls had fulfilled the prerequisites (seniors given first choice and completion of at least one industrial arts course) and were qualified for the program. Miss Rutter's mother, Mrs. Dorothy Rutter, said her daughter was "very enthusiastic" about the home building program and "wants to learn something useful." Miss Rutter was out-of-town and unavailable for comment.