Tuesday, August 27, 1968
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Pag Fve
Tuesday, August 27, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Poac.Five
LUCY KENNEDY
Success
via, loophole
When I was a sophomore I was going to transfer. Many people
around me were thinking of doing the same thing. The core of
my advice is don't-don't transfer. Find a reason to stay here and
stay because once you've been at the University you won't be
happy anywhere else.
A small co-ed liberal arts college in New England (Middlebury
College to be exact) was, I thought at the time, the perfect escape
from the impersonal pressure to the big "U." I was accepted, but
the admissions director's first question was, "Why would you
want to transfer here from the University of Michigan?"
With this question burning in my mind, I looked around for
some reasons to stay. I found quite a few.
The advice of a graduating senior on how to live 'the good
life at the University may carry little weight in comparison to the
pundits of parents and counselors, but for what it's worth, I
offer suggestions on how to -live in. Ann Arbor and like it for the
first two years as well as the last.
/ The University community is set up to provide you with
every opportunity for mental growth; but, as I discovered after
my proposed transfer, you often have to fight for good academics.
The .major fight you must wage s with yourself. You must
accept the fact that you are here to learn and find the area in
which you can learn most. The most efficient system the University
has designed to learn and grow is classroom teaching and hard
studying--just like high school only more so.
Classes are about 60 per cent worth attending. You will soon
judge which teachers or courses fall into the other 40 per 'cent.
If you're going to cut however, make sure you or a trusted buddy
makes it to class at least once a week to see that the course is fol-
lowing the syllabus (they frequently don't.)
To get the most out of classroom learning follow one com-
mand: "DON'T BE INTIMIDATED."'
Registration, the first major obstacle to good courses and
teachers can be hurdled with a thorough knowledge of the loop-
holes in the "ironclad" bureaucracy and a certain amount of
brassiness.
If you find some reason to be unhappy with the courses you
have signed up for during orientation, changes are not as difficult
as they seem. Departmental advisors at registration are often
harried but quite helpful. Many are graduate students and they
can give you the straight dope on a course or a professor. Fre-
quently courses you want to take will be listed as closed, but per-
sistently sitting in on a class may get you in in the place of a
"no show."
There are, however, few courses yu can replace in your
freshman year if you plan to keep up with distribution courses.
One sticky area, I strongly advise getting out of the way as
quickly as possible is language. If you place out of some language
don't be noble and start a new one. With the possible exception
of Latin, which you don't have to speak, introductory language
courses are difficult. Plan to either work hard and actually learn
the language or forget about grades and just slide through; but
make sure you find out early what is required to get a gentle-
man's C.
If as a literary college student, the language requirement or
any other part of your program sems to be completely out of
your spectrum, at least investigate changing schools. Like dropping
or adding courses, this is not as difficult as the University likes to
make it seem. For a major change of this nature or the threat of
real academic trouble, I strongly suggest for literary college stu-
dents Assistant Dean James Shaw who has agreed to act as an
ombudsman for student's academic problems: Deans or depart-
4 ment heads are good advisors in any school or college if an aca-
demic convolution threatens.
It takes more, however, than, finding your way into the best
courses for you to get the most from the University's learning
opportunities. After talking to the man from Middlebury, I dis-
covered many classroom adjuncts that will undoubtedly prove of
more long range benefit than the courses that get me my sheep-
skin.
Some students go through four years of school without talking
to a professor-ddn't be one of them. Most professors are quite
accessible and worth the effort of getting to know. Go to ridiculous
sounding things like quad faculty dinners.
Professors and equally learned people outside of academia are
Involved in Ann Arbor cultural events. Go to as many as you can
afford.
Cheap culture is to be dbtained from the better part of the
student body. Be open; get to know people despite apparent
gruffness. The future Arthur Miller you're rooming with may be
scared too.
'As you are doing Call this maturing, however, you will be
treated as an adult, in the sense that people will expect you to
separate the good from the bad advice. Seek your own direction
and find a means to attain it. Guard against upperclassmen like
me who tell you wisely the first day of class to wait and buy
your books. We wise-guys may have bought them all by the final.
Counseling takes new direction:
Advisors used as resource only
Natural Resources forms artificial environment
'Unknown
U
from Bach to
By NADINE COHODAS
While most students are well
aware of the University's social
activities like football games,
homecomings, -winter weekends,
and special concerts, many aca-
demic happenings go unnoticed.
During the past year in several'
of the University's colleges new
research, curriculum development,
and college restructuring have
taken place.
The School of Architecture andI
Design recently changed its stu-
dent-participation rules by allow-
ing student representatives to sit
on departmental committees. The,
students officially exercise only
an advisory capacity but have
equal influence with the faculty
in making decisions.
The students selected by class-
mates with faculty approval pri-
marily are in a position to help
implement . curriculum changes
and course additions.
Last October, the Architectural
Research Laboratory was awarded
a $27,000 contract by the Defense
Department to use modern tech-
nology And materials in solving
the nation's housing problems.
The research yielded a plan for
low-cost housing made of fiber-
glass casings that require little
upkeep. Military personnel will
be the first to use the new three-
and four-bedroom homes.
The Natural Resources School
has extended its research during
the year and has added a new
Ph.D. program in urban and
regional planning.
A team of scientists under the
direction of Frederick Smith,
chairman of the school's depart-
ment of wildlife and fisheries, has
been .organizing an ecosystem
study program for the Interna-
tional Biological Program.
Subsidized by federal agencies,
the program is designed to estab-
lish six experimental environ-
ments-coniferous, deciduous and
tropical forests, desert and arctic
tundra.
Long range results from thef
program are expected to help
improve man's ability to manage,
renewable natural resources, and
to provide methods for improving
environments.
Another project in the Natural
Resources School was the estab-
lishment of the environmental
simultation system known as the
Michigan Educational Training
and Research Operation (MET-
RO).
METRO is to be used in metro-
politan planning, and is designed
to build computer models that
can aid politicians and decision
makers in solving city problems.
events
The program runs on donations
from several foundations which
total about $50,000 a year.
METRO originator and director
Richard Duke explains METRO
is set up like "war games."
An IBM computer simulates a
city environment and subjects re-
act to that environment by play-
ing a game with the computer.
The subject attempts to find
viable solutions to urban prob-
lems. These solutions are subse-
quently plugged back into the
computer to test their success.
The School of Music 'continued
this year with its regular student
concerts and highlighted the year
with an opera directed, produced,
staged, and casted completely by
music school participants.
During the summer, the Uni-
versity works in conjunction with
the National Music Camp, Inter-
lochen, Mich., where students can
take both music and academic
courses for college credits.
As an outgrowth of a Feb-
ruary 1967 conference h ld here,
the College of Pharmacy is in-
stituting a program in clinical
pharmacy.
Dean Tom D. Rowe explains the
program is set up to make the
pharmacist more aware of the
patient's needs rather than plac-
ing the study emphasis on distri-
bution of drugs.
Rowe says the new program
will help make the pharmacist
a more effective "health profes-
sional" and in the long run im-
prove general health care.
By LESLIE WAYNE
The concept of the student
regularly meeting with his coun-
selor has been a bit shaken up
this year, by several new develop-
ments in the counseling depart-
ment.
Formerly, each student was re-
quired to consult with his coun-
selor about his general program.
However, last year an experimen-
tal program in group counseling
allowed many students to waive
these regular meetings.
Group counseling,dbegun last
year for psych students, brings
30 to 50 students. together with
several counselors who explain the
course offerings. If a student
feels he needs no further coun-
seling he can sign up for the
courses immediately.
However, if the student desires
further counseling, he can make
an appointment with one of the
counselors.
Although the program is pre-
sently being evaluated early re-
ports indicated that it has been
"generally successful," according
to John Pyper assistant chairman
of junior-senior counseling.
In a furter effort to dispense
with some of the more irritating
aspects of academic counseling,
the literary college has instituted
an optional counseling program.
Under the terms of this program
students may register for classes
for the junior and senior year
without having to meet with
their counselor.
-If his counselor approves, a
student can submit his program
for the next two years and meet
with his counselor dnly when he
wants to change his schedule.
Both of these programs repre-
sent the counseling office's philos-
ophy that a counselor should be
more of a resource person than
a high school type guidance
counselor.
"Entering freshmen usually
come in with the impression that
the counselor should be his guar-
dian," says James W. Shaw as-
sistant dean of the lietrary
college.
However, at the University the
student is under no obligation
to see his counselor after the
initial half-hour interview, ex-
cept to have schedule cards ap-
proved.
The key to the counseling pro-
gram is the student's own inia-
tive. If the the student wishes,
he can make an appointment at
any time to see his counselor.
The student on the freshman-
sophomore level is not allowed to
concentrate in a particular field
and therefore does not have a
counselor in his field. However,
when he declares a major the
second semester of his sophomore
year, the student is able to choose
a counselor in his field of inter-
est
"We are not a ritualisaic or-
ganization in which a number of
impersonal clerks are availeble
to approve course selections madel
by a number," Shaw explanis.
"Nor are we a psychoanalysis cen-
ter for 'solving social problems;
our true function lies somewhere
in between and we try to be avail-
able when the students needs us."
When a student needs more
than academic advice, he will be
referred to a more specialized
agency on campus.
Personal counseling services are
also up to a student's initiative
or a referral by the counselor.
Such counselingincludes handling
the emotional and physical prob-j
lems than can interfere with a
student's career.
Health Service, for instance, isi
available as a fulltime clinic forj
the exclusive benefit of students,
with a staff of doctors, nurses and
technicians, a 60-bed infirmary
and the facilities of University
Hospital.
The Buereau of Psychological
Services has a staff of trained
psychiatrists and psychologists
who talk to students about prob-
lems of social adjustments or
academic difficulties.
The Office of Financial Aid as-
sists students who encounter
emergency financial shortages or
are under serious financial disad-
vantage.
The Office of Religious Affairs
uses the services of thirty local
chaplains as counselors in student
concerns with religious and philo-
sophical questions.
The function of the Reading
Improvement Service is to train
students in adding to their reading
speed and improvement of their
study habits.
The Residence Hall system also
offers Resident Advisors and staff
counselors, whose general aim is
to assist students in making the
best adjustment to University life
and its demands.
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