Seventy-seven years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications
"I'd like to apologize for 'soft on communism'
charge .. I was quoting the 'old Nixon ..,
I~r.
-=-WA\LT ER S H A P IRO-C
Is academia,
academic?
Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Dlly exp ress the'irrdividual opinions df staff writers'
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
DAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1968
NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID MANN
Classified research
one year la ter
i
ONE YEAR LATER, it seems absurd to sified contracts. The inter-university 1
resurrect and re-debate the contro- committee, recommended by the Elder-
versy that was classified research. De- field Report to pressure against "over-
spite arguments that the University's af- classification," is apparently no closer to
tairs with the defense department are im- being formed now than it was before the
moral or at least unfortunate, research- January release of the report.
ers here are unlikely to relinquish their
claimsi on handsome government contract THE RELATIONSHIP of the University
offers. with the military should be clearly
Even though the controversy has been limited and defined, if it is to exist at all.
subdued by the promise that the Coon The operation of the Classified Re-
committee would solve the conflicts con- search Committee is crucial in determin-5
cernin'g secrecy, the issue of classified re- ing exactly what the partnership of the
search is, or should be, very much alive University and the defense, department
simply because secret projects are still should be.
being done here. Although it has been disappointingly
During the months of June, July and slow in getting; down to business, the I
August this year, more proposals were committee can be infinitely influential
sent out by the University than were when and if it deqides to act. The faculty
transmitted during the same period a group has the almost limitless power of
year ago. Furthermore, these proposals a supreme court, 'since'"it will judiciously
were transmitted 'without the review of interpret the general guidelines of the
the new Classified Research Committee, Elderfield Report. Even Vice President
assigned by the Elderfield Report on Clas- Norman's guaranteed veto cannot stop
sified Research, and appointed last June the committee from demanding a Uni-
to check new research offers. \ versity Assembly review of a contract.
Thus, protests against classified ' re-'
search are at least as valid as they were THE COMMITTEE can block any further T
last year, because there is still not an ade- military research in foreign countries; no
quate guarantee that the University will it can halt research whose eventual use lef
not continue to accept blatantly' unwise may result in the death or maimings of fle
and immoral contracts. human beings; it can stop the University
When, and if, the new review committee from accepting contracts whose results on
begins to function, it will be operating be- will not be allowed to widen the pool of pr
hind closed floors, so that its own judg- scientific knowledge. he
ments are beyond scrutiny. bef
But there is another serious ditawback To
vHIS IS NOT to insinuate that all ad- in the structure and power of the com- the
mittee: it lapks' student representation. ph
ministrators, faculty and researchers Although chairman Dr. Coon says he i
are not toy be trusted when they act inde- ish
pendently, nor that all classified con- hopes for eventual student membership
tracts are insidious, war-oriented projects. on the committee, that possibility is ph
dimmed by the fact that the Elderfield We
However, the attitude shared by many Report suggested a group "broadly rep- Mr
esearchers rthat "Unless you are making resentative of the entire faculty." Stu- Mr
bullets your work is not necessarily for dent,+who t eredthe clsfe re- wa
war use," is unreasonable and irrespon- dents,. who triggered the classified re- Te)
ware, ishe ueraonblgiand irre.n search controversy, are conspicuously ab- tha
sible in the era of technological warfare. sent from participation in its resolution. sce
Despite sincere, scientific .notions on Pre
the part of University researchers, it is It appears as if the classified research ha
clear that involvement with the defense controversy, in its varied and complicat- hav
department is at worst involving the Uni-. ed forms, should be revived for another aser
versity in the conduct of an immoral war earnest evaluation. The fact that many dat
or at best setting the University up in a administrators and researchers foresee be
business in which it should have no in- no change evolving from last year's dis- s
terests. cussion gives rise to doubts whether the vot
Even harmless contracts, unnecessarily cautions and considerations advised by stif
classified, are apt to remain secret, since the Elderfield Report have been taken se- trip
of
there is no easy divorce system from the riously. dox
tight controls on all military-funded clas- -HENRY GRIX pro
Sena Or eorge and
.......... r ...,r MURRAY KEMPTON
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Doing it with dignity
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UNFORTUNATE Mr. Hum- Carolina (44 votes) all refuse to
rey, it must plainly be seen support the ticket. The South then
is the bookkeeper the firm came to Chicago to nominate a
ehind whileall the partners candidate upon whom it would at
o Venezuela. once run out.
excesses of solicitude which Mr. Humphrey,' if he has the
led , his appointment can slightest hope left, must depend
be explained as a business on the Kennedy heirs. This is pre-,
ition to keep the Kennedy cisely what Mr. Johnson does not
from getting hold of the files ' want him to do; and, besides that,
the ;packing of the bags. along with all the other tawdry
ost of his 'original backers, prizes of his triumph; the V i c e
ly argument for Mr. Hum- President has to make do with or-
as a candidate was his not ganizers whose passion is less for
Robert Kennedy; that van- him than it is against the Ken-
with Sen. Kennedy's murder. nedys.
s doubtful that Mr: Hum- EVEN SO, if Mr. Johnson
hs heard from Sidney would stop and think, he would
erg since. A few persons know that the only certain way
aroundt on the strength of to keep Sen. Kennedy from in-
umphrey's not being Ed- heriting the party would be to
Kennedy; Gov. Connally of elect Vice President Humphrey;
seems even to have thought if that is beyond imagination, the
)erseverance in this conde- only.remaining chance would be
on migt ringi andice to invite the Kennedy heirs in,
ential nomination and, If he give them full command of the
otten that, he might e v e n campaign and, if they work hard,
endorsed the ticket; but, blame them for its failure and,
is, Mr. Humphrey, while a if they dog it, blame them for its
tly good Democratic candi- sabotage.
o his friends, is hardly to It is hard to believe that any-
ught of as a President. one established cares enough to
GOV. CONNALLY (100 think of such devices. Still, in
to nominate Humphrey) New York, the early Humphrey
the Vice President on his supporters are fleeing to any
o Texas; Govt. McKeithen judgeship suggesting shelter;
isiana (35 votes) and Mad- those who, are not lawyers just
f Georgia (19 ,votes) and quiver there immobilized; f o r
ly Gov. Moore of North them the game is up; they cannot
his amazing
imagine a society in which the
Mayor, the Governor and the Pre-
sident will not all be Republicans.
HE SHOULD announce t h a t
John English is his campaign
chairman in New York and Jesse
Unruh in California. Each would
be at once excessively embarrased
at the suggestion and debarred
from declining. They may not be
able to carry their states-w h o
could conceive of a genius w h o
might?-but they will have 'to
work and they might carry Mr.
Humphrey out with honor from
what is otherwise a sure disgrace.
The Vice President ought to
know himself disabled enough by
the past to understand that he
could not do worse with the fu-'
ture. If he would begin with per-
sonnel, he might even have the
'delightful surprise of discovering
that principle occasionally fol-
lows. Mr. Humphrey, so far, has
endured more humiliation that I
had imagined would satisfy even,
me; enough and more. Let him
turn what -is left of him over to
the Kennedy heirs. Let the thing
be done, if it must be done, with
dignity. Mr. Johnson gave him
the nomination only to dbandon
him. May he trust the mercy of
the Kennedy heirs; whatever else
we know about them, we know at
least that they do the thing with
dignity.
(Copyright 1968-New York Post Corp.)
budget
LAST WEEK I dutifully went to
all my classes and filed ver-
batim accounts of the proceedings
In my green spiral narrow-lined
notebook.
Eagerly I awaited Sunday and
the chance to claim my reward
for diligence. But imagine my
horror when I discovered that the
General Electric College Bowl had
been pre-empted for a football
game,
As my .senior year grinds re-
lentlessly toward graduation, I
fird myself spending more and
If the university is
to survive as anything,
more than a reserva-
tion for the alienated,
it must rediscover
some internal ration-
ale of its own.u
more time talking with my friends
about mutual futures. ,
These conversations all seem to
begin with some wistful remarks
about the joys of a farm in Nova
Scotia. The image flickers before
us for a few moments and then
ursts under the glare of oppres-
sive reality.
AN AWKWARD SILENCE soon
follows, occasionally broken by
vague mutterings of Europe or
Canada. But the speaker dimly
recognizes, even as he speaks, that
the expatriot is a rakishly pathe-
tic figure from another era.
Finally, with a kind of resigned
sigh, my friend begins talking
about graduate schools, applica-
tion dates, and GRE's. Then with
his voice rising he begins enumer-
ating the joys of life in academia,
He mentions the low-kep at-
mosphere, the long summers, and
the congeniality of company and
environment.
But just as the cancellation of
the GE College Bowl left me de-
void of any academic motivation,
my friends who speak slowly and
sadly about taking refuge in an
ivory tower seem devoid of all
but the pragmatic motivations of
the disenchanted purist.
ADMITTEDLI~ THERE still are'
some commonly held justifications
for academia. There are those who
delight in the perverse and semi-
sophisticated ritual of<matching
"wits with the champions" on the
College Bowl. And for the masses
of the goal-oriented, education to-
day still has its traditional utili-
tarikn ends.
On the other hand, the disen-
chanted at best regard education
as a kind of mental parallel .to
buying and saving books. There is
Svalue there, but it's more orna-
mental than relevant.,
Compared to the profound pro-
blems of the age, the lack of a
thorough-going rationale for aca-
lemia would seem a relatively
peripheral issue at best. But this
lack, of rationale could 'profound-
ly alter the future 'of the institu-
tion.
FOR YEARS we at the Uni-
versity have been involved in a
kind of ritualistic struggle with
the state legislature for m o r e
money. Each year we return from
Lansing semi-rebuffed and lick
our institutional wounds for ano-
ther year taking small solace in
our mutterings about the paro-
chialism of state legislators.
But perhaps we too have been
insular in not trying to view the
struggle from the perspective of
the businessmen and Rotarians in
Lansing.
It is easy for them to see the
need to support those aspects of
the University - like the en-
gineering school - which are
providing necessary vocationalj
training. But what defense, other
than tradition, can be made for
the humanistic aspects of the
curriculum like history and
music?
So ,is it any wonder that the
.egislators in Lansing tend to re-
gard the University suspiciously,
every now and again wondering
aloud whether it's anything but a
refuge for the disenchanted and
the anti-materialists?
SURPRISINGLY ENOUGH, the
viewpoint of many students is
quite similar.
Entering my senior year, it has
become increasingly clear that
we as members of the upper mid.:-"
dle class have been afforded by
society four years of grace be-
fore we are expected to do any-
thing vocationally useful.,
Since these four years are,
relatively pleasant despite the re-
sidual melancholy of uncertainty,
it is quite understandable that
after graduation a growing num-'.
ber of students make a lifelong
home of academia.
pleasure in a world that refuses
to give them any meaning. Per-
haps it Is unfair to expect anyone
to make education relevant in a
mindless age.
SO WHILE a large number of
student activists are vaguely alien-
ated from their education, the
only concrete goals they have set
up for academic reform are the
abolition of language, distribu-
tion, and physical education re-
quirements acd greater Univer-
sity involvement in social action
programs.
There is a certain understand-
able escapism in 'all these pro-
posals, for they seem almost tot-
ally unconcerned with reforming
the more traditional academic as-
pects of the university.
Faculty members concerned with
undergraduate education also
seem to be suffering from a crisis
of imagination.
For example, Arthur Mendel
of the history department in his
elaborate analysi sofacademic
confrontation ' (Daily, Sept. 19)'
devotes only one paragraph to the
actual fruits of academic reform:
"Why not for example have
the University pay for credit-
courses designed entirely by stu-
dents and stffed by' visiting
lecturers invited by -the stu-
dents? Why not weave together
traditional on-campus credits
with credits earned from stu-
dent involvement in civic af-
fairs?"
With almost all students lack-
Ing any ultimate rationale for
their education, it is hard' to see
how the fundamental needs of the
student body would be affected by
granting them maximal freedom
of course cfeation.
Too often, as 'in the current
Ann Arbor Free School, the cours-
es would mostly be a supplement
to the morning paper and one's
initial political predilections. oth-
er student created courses might
tend to reflect the fadish tenden-
cies of modern pop culture.
Admitted one should not attack
this kind of petty reform, for any
liberalization of . the University's
stifling bureaucracy would be a
welcome change.
ON THE OTHER HAND, civic-
action projects and Inner C I t y
courses will do little to help the
University solve its overwhelming
problems of identity and role.
* In fact there is something
frightening in the belief held by
many sensitive students, faculty
members, and administrators that
the University's only relevance lies
in solving the'problems of the lar-
ger society.
Whilethis is a laudable goal, by
subordinating its educational
goals for social altruism, the uni-
versity merely becomes a research
arm of the Department of Health
Education and Wlfare or the
Ford Foundation.
Rather, if the! university is to'
survive as anything more than a
reservation for the alienated, it
must rediscover some internal ra-
tionale of its own.
My own stubborn preference
lies with a kind of humanism
which would be concerned with
the quality of life in a society,
focused solely on the quantitative j
aspects of civilization.
WHENEVER I WATCH the
College Bowl; I am struck by the
contrast to my roommate of two
years back who dropped out of
the University one day In the
middle of October.
For six months he led a quiet
kind of life - sleeping late, read-
My friends who
speak slowly, and sad-
ly about taking refuge
in 'an ivory tower
seem devoid of all but
the pragmatic motiva-
ions of the disen-
chanted purist.
ing poetry, playing, his cello, and
rumaging through our bookcases.
Whenever his money ran low,
he picked up a manual job in the
storeroom of the A & P or sweep-
ing the floors at Sears-Roebuck.
After a few days he called in sick
every other day and finally quit
when he obtained enough money
to last about a month.
SomehoW, there seems to be
something fundamentally wrong
with a University which drives
people like this to California. die
wouldn't have stayed had the
University had ten Inner City
courses, but he might have ling-
ered had the University been a
bit more concerned with human
values.
4*
*
-0
*S
By JIM NEUBACHER
ACROSS THE STATE, univer-
sity officials have been living
for the last month and a half with
the knowledge that in the coming
fiscal year there will be no money
forthcoming from the state for
new projects and programs.
They know that despite an ex-
pected enrollment increase of five
per cent there will be no money
from the state for additional fac-
ulty members.
Last year, the University watch-
ed as the state failed to meet the
need for a nine per cent increase
in academic staff salaries. T h e
American Association of Univer-
sity Professors 'watched too, and
the University lost its prized "A"
rating in their rankings for sal-
aries of full professors.,
This year, the state has com-
mitted itself in principle to pro-
viding the state's colleges and uni-
versities with funds for a seven
percent increase in the salaries of'
academic personnel. Yet our Uni-
versity officials, while anxious to
get the funds, know that at most
the increase will simply keep the
University in line with the na-
tional average raise.
Moreover, simply looking at the
amount of money the state will
possess to spend on higher educa-
'tion next year regulates these pro-
posed raises to the status of a fine
idea which is fiscally impossible.
Prospective income figures for
the state in the '69-'70 fiscal year,
according to the State Bureau of
the Budget, show that the state
will have less than $14 million
more than currently available for
the entire higher education pro-
gram.
THESE PROJECTIONS h a v e
that such raises at this Univer-
sity alone will cost the state more
than $4.5 million, more than a
third of the total funds available.
Now ask the other ten state col-
leges and universities what they
plan to do for money.
At this point you may rightly
be thinking to yourself, "but state
officials can't be that stupid, can
they?" Let, me assure' you, they
are not. They know;perfectly well
that the proposed hike in wages
would cost closer to $19 million.
However, they don't have $19 mil-
lion. So they have contrived one
of the most absurd, illogical un-
substantial arguments ever heard
in order to convince the state's
university administrators t h a t
they really don't need more fac-
ulty members.
It goes like this.
IN GOVERNOR George Rom-
ney's recent austerity guidelines,
which set forth this grim picture
of things to come, the faculty pay
raises are recommended for two
reasons. The first is to keep Mich-
igan colleges and universities
competitive for good faculty mem-
bers. The second is absurd; the
raise is "payment for increased
faculty productivity of student
credit hours - an increase esti-
mated to be five per cent for the
system as a whole,"
But it sounds reasonable, right?
If workers in an auto plant pro-
duce more cars, they deserve a
raise right? Same thing with the
instructors, right? Wrong!
The state claims that the in-
crease in total student credit hours
produced is because of better,
more efficient, harder working
teachers.
"Increased productivity is bas-
ed on improved teaching methods
to ignore the fact that the five
percent increase in faculty pro-
duction of student credit hours
was accompanied by a ten p e r
cent increase in the total number
of students enrolled in the state
university system. (An increase
from 266,225 in the fall term of
1967 to an estimated 293,030 for
the current term). There was no-
where near this level increase in
the size of the faculty.
OBVIOUSLY, ten per cent more
students without, an equal in-
crease in faculty means m o, e
students per instructor, and thus
more student credit hours per in-
structor. The figures used in Lan-
sing are nothing but an indict-
ment of the crying need for more
academic personnel.
"Which side of the argument
you're on depends on what pur-
pose you want the argument to
serve," s a i d an official in the
Governor's office. "However, the
guys who drew up those guidelines
are insisting that teachers a r e
teaching better without any facts
to base it on. I myself agree with
the theory that m o r e students
mean more student credit hours."
Now, some might say that al-
though the logic of the men in
Lansing is contrived, and is based
on expedience, it is harmless.
Why? There is. no money for new
staff members anyway, whether
they admit it in so many words
or not.
But the logic of Lansing is NOT
so harmless. Instead of facing up
to the need for more funds, they
have tried to make inadaquacies
seem not only adaquate, but gen-
erous. Why so smooth? Because
not only will there be no 'funds
for new staff, but there are not
enough funds to c o v e r existing
In the cases where they are fill-
ed, the universities, faced with the
problem of spreading around an
inadequate amount of funds, will
have to take such strategies as re-
placing a retiring professor with
a "less expensive" man.
THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
will not, of course, announce that
it is cutting back its university
faculties. Instead, it announces
raises for all, then provides insuf-
ficient funds to do the job, and
leaves each university to suffer,
and to do the dirty work.
It is this strategy which points
to the single overriding cause for
the financial plight of the state's
h i g h e r education institutions;
George Romney, who runs t h e
budget office has already started
running for the Senate seat now
held by Sen. Phillip A- Mart, who
comes up for re-election in 1970,
The .tight money situation hit-
ting the universities is not due to
stinginess on the part of the leg-
islature. The fact is, the over-
whelming majority of the money
spent by the state for "general
fund-general purpose" expendi-
tures, is spent on public educa-
tion - m o r e than ninety per
cent!
It is obvious that the problem
lies in the revenue system and tax
scale structure of the 'state. This
is where Romney is at fault.
T H E RECENTLY ENACTED
state income tax, which went into
effect less than a year ago (Octo-
ber 1, 1968), levies a flat 2.6 per
cent tax on personal income, and
provides, along with the state's
four per cent sales tax, the ma-
jority of state revenues.
Romney w a s instrumental in
picking the figure of 2.6 per cent
does not feel that a tax-increase
is a possible or foreseeable avenue
because of taxpayer resistance.
It's purely a political' decision.
However, Romney has no place
to torn for funds. The antiquated
property tax, which provides the
core of school funds in the state
on the local and high school level,
is restricted by the state Consti-
tution from exceed'ing 15 mills on
any one piece of property, no mat-
ter who levies the taxes.
THUS, A PROPOSED state-
wide property tax assessment ,of
10 mills is illegal because some,
communities, by local vote, have
already reached the limit.
A guaranteed income tax would
provide more funds for the state
if properly s e t up, however, it
would require a constitutional
amendment, as graduated income
taxes are strictly prohibited in
Michigan.
Adoption of a graduated in-
come tax scale is also a position
that Romney has opposed in the
past, as have state republicans in
' general for years.
Thus Romney, to keep his po-
litical prestige in the state, has
adopted the position of the re-'
sponsible fiscal manager, and has
proposed repressive guidelines for
distributing the "wealth" in the
next year. He is also preparing
"target budgets," his ideas on how
much the universities, and other
state agencies, need.
These target budgets, often far
below what the agencies need, will
be sent to the agencies who must
later submit their formal budget
requests to Romney.
If, when the governor gets
around to making his formal bud-
get recommendations to the leg-
islature in January, his recom-