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@center[Noise at Stanford]


Date:  September 11, 1984
To:  Steering Committee of Senate
From:  John McCarthy)

	I have found the Stanford Campus unnecessarily and unpleasantly noisy.
Discussion with other faculty and staff indicate that this opinion is widely
shared.  The following problems are apparent, but others may be important in
other areas of campus than those with which I am familiar.

	1.  Buses.  The buses stopping at the bus island in the oval are
supposed to stop their engines, but they usually don't.  Besides the noise there 
are stinks.  There seems to be no effort to enforce the rule.

	2.  Motorcycles and noisy cars. This is a particular problem in the oval.

	3.  Lawnmowers and leaf blowers.  The offices in the front of the quad
are often rendered unsuitable for study by these unmuffled machines.  At least
well muffled power lawnmowers are commercially available.

	4.  The backup beepers on campus vehicles are unnecessarily loud and 
are annoying for hundreds of feet.

	5.  The trash trucks emptying the dumpsters are unpleasantly noisy.

	6.  Many air conditioners and ventilation systems are too noisy.

	Some of these noise sources are not agents of Stanford, but others are.
The following suggestions are offered:

	1.  The Vice-President for Business Affairs study how Stanford generated
noise can be reduced.  Assistance from engineering faculty familiar with noise 
reduction should be solicited.  Giving up leaf blowers and acquiring quieter
lawnmowers should be considered.

	2.  Enforcing noise laws is important.  In addition Stanford can forbid
campus access to noisy vehicles.

	3.  It would be helpful to install a noise meter with a large display
indicator next to the oval.  The driver of a noisy motorcycle or car as well as
spectators should be able to see that he is in violation of law of campus
access rules.  There should be another meter on Palm Drive with a sign stating
that vehicles indicating on the red zone of the decibel meter are not allowed
on campus.

	I wish to recommend a brief Academic Senate discussion to determine
whether others regard noise as detracting from the serenity of the Stanford
campus and to solicit suggestions for alleviating it.