Higher
Education
Exam inec
I'
Sixty-Ninth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
The Student's Obligation...
By LANE VANDERSLICE
Daly Staff Writer
HILOSOPHICAL DEBATE on whether a student should be primarily
responsible for his own education can go on all night, but there are
two factors that increasingly will force the student to answer mainly to
himself for his own education.
Often given as reasons for making a student responsible for this
job are self-respect, a sense of responsibility and other "philosophical"
considerations. But these considerations don't convince someone who
believes that the primary responsibility for an education lies elsewhere.
Talking about something else, Louis Armstrong once said, "if you got
to ask whatit is, you ain't never going to know," and so it is with these
philosophical considerations-if they haven't already convinced, they
never will.
Painfully evident in the last several years is the increasing financial
squeeze in education. It will grow even worse, according to the best
estimates. On one side: mushrooming enrollments. On the other: ap-
propriations for higher education that rise slowly, if at all.
According to Michigan legislative committee estimates, enrollment
figures will double by 1970, reaching 270,000 students. To keep up with
the expanding enrollment and maintain the same plant, investment
per student in 1970 would require a total annual capital outlay for
Michigan schools in the neighborhood of $60 million.
A gross national product that makes educational appropriations
look like a drop in the bucket may fool us into thinking there is ready
money available for higher education. A glance at the State's financial
situation should dispel the illusion. Usually optimistic John Dale Rus-
sell, the head of the legislative committee, could only say that $60
million dollars yearly for educa-
tional facilities "might" be reach- KIRK CHARGES:
ed in "five or ten" years.
The trend seems tobe againste U nive
limiting enrollments. As another S egsltiv cmmtte U ntuy.in
legislative committee study in-
dicated, state college and uni- By RUSSELL KIRK
versity presidents are almost unan-
imously against limiting state-wide This spring, much to the chagrin
enrollment. This means that more of the empire-builders at the Uni-
students will be educated in pro- versity of Michigan and Michigan
portionally less classroom space State University, the Michigan
during years to come. And this Legislature reduced the annual
means, wthout educational appropriations for these enormous
doubletalk, that a greater -per- institutions by about a million
haps much greater - educational dollars apiece.
burden will be placed on the stu- This is a straw in the wind:
dent.sstate legislators are beginning to
* * * feel that the demands of state
colleges for more and more money
STUDENT TALENT will be the have coie to resemble a racket.
one educational resource in abun- The state legislators are right.
dance in the next few decades. It From UM and MSU, of course,
would be utter nonsense for edu- came anguished cries of "What-
cators not to demand an intensive ever are we to do about the rising
use of this resource by putting the tide of enrollments?"
student more on his own, and Such was their agony that their
saving scarce teachers andbuild- administrators actually hinted
ings. they might be compelled, after this
Some might say pushing stu- blow, to raise entrance-standards
dents towards learning more by as a means of reducing costs.
themselves is an undesirable sec- Wouldn't that be dreadful?
ond choice, one which is expedient, No, frankly, it wouldn't.
and little more. No single action could do more
However, after graduation the for decency in American education
responsibility for learning is placed than some raising of entrance-
squarely on the individual. Prepar- standards,
ation for individual study should*
start in college, to give good in- WHAT educationists call "the
dependent study habits, rising tide of enrollments" has
A professor of English at Stan- been caused, to some extent, by
ford said in a recent Saturday Re- the increase of population in the
view "talent is common - more United States, and by the popular
common than the ability/ to con- appetite for college degrees stim-
trol it." He was talking about ulated by the G.I. Bill.
young writers, but the observation But nowadays this "rising tide"
applies to all of us. It may take in considerable degree, is a fraud.
practical developments to teach It is the universities and colleges
us a philosophic lesson We should that deliberately create the tide.
have learned before-that we are UM and MSU, for instance, com-
primarily responsible for our own pete intensely in the recruiting of
education, freshmen; mailing thousands and
WITH LOANS:
CongTess Aids Students
By The Associated Press
IT'S EASY TO SAY, and a lot of people have said it: "There's nothing
wrong with education in this country that a little more money won't
cure."
Now the government has stepped in with a 900 million dollar pro-.
gram to finance four years of aid to education. It features loans to
college students, cash grants for graduate study, and pump-priming to
strengthen the teaching of science, mathematics and modern foreign
languages,
Despite its broad horizon, this probably is not the cure for all the
ills that have beset education. However, it's still too early to know. One
"When Opinions Are Free
Truth Will Prevail"
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
Who Leads?
rsities Per petj
, SEPTEMBER 28, 1958
NIGHT EDITOR: PHILIP MUNCK
OFFEE. . . BLACK
C tte
By Richard Taub
i ,tIat Pressure
thousands of expensive brochures,
sending out their publicity people
to every high school in the state,
and inventing new curricula to
attract those students who simply
aren't interested in anything for
the mind.
As an example of this last de-
vice, I give you an innovation at
Michigan State. MSU now offers
a "Curriculum in Food Distribu-
tion," granting BA and MA de-
grees. Chain grocery stores and
wholesalers have given MSU some
money for this boondoggle; but,
as in all such schemes, in the long
run most of the cost must be borne
by the people of Michigan.
Is your delivery boy a Master of
Arts in Food Distribution? No?
Then you must be living in a
horse-and-buggy town.
My immediate point is this: most
of the big state universities and
colleges will sink to any abyss of
fraudulent vocationalism in order
to attract those young people who
won't go to college if they're ex-
pected to do any thinking there.;
MANY OF the really good liberal
arts colleges experience difficulty
in finding enough young people to
fill up a freshman class of two
hundred or less.
The better a college is in its
standards, indeed-unless it has
an Ivy League snob-prestige-the
more difficulty it has in attracting
freshmen candidates. For most ap-
plicants display a positive aversion
to the works of the mind.
What they, and their parents,
seek in a college is social'adjust-
ment, the snob-prestige of a de-
gree, and promises (often delu-
sory) of vocational training and
advancement.
But why should state funds be'
expended extravagantly to satisfy
such appetites? The'tuition paid
at state institutions is only a
fraction of the real cost of main-
taining them; so you and I make
up the deficit through taxation.
At a state college near my vil-
lage, enrollments have increased
tenfold during the past decade.
(This formerly was a little business
and technical college, privately
controlled; then the state took the
place under its grandiose wing.)
There are enormous; new brick
buildings to house the hundreds of
married couples that have enrolled,
and every apartment has a built-
in dishwasher.
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The Faculty's Role ...
JAMES SEDER ,
Daily Staff Writer
AN AMERICAN just entering college is usually emerging from a period
when it is'fashionable to be violently anti-intellectual. It is unlikely
that he had any intellectual experiences at either home or school. He
really doesn't know much about intellectualism, except that it is some
kind of mystique practiced by bohemians, mad scientists and ex-com-
munists.
Then he gets to college and finds out that it is listening to boring
lectures and learning how to make efficient use of an exam file. So he
ends up spending his afternoons at the I-M Building and his evenings
in front of a television set. And on the night before ani exam, he pulls
an all-nighter to cram. Every few months he gets a vague feeling that
he is missing something and begins to try and draw out his instructors.
But either because their syllabus is too rigid to afford to be interrupted
by irrelevant questions, or because they're intellects, the instructors are
insulted and offended by the obvious groping of the student, or, most
frightening of all, they evade his questions because they don't feel
that it is their function to depart from' the subject matter. And so the
student sinks back into 'apathy. Such is the fate of many students' at
this University-and incidentally at many other schools.
It's hard to blame American youth for being unintellectual, and
spending all their time in front of a television set when they've never
known anything else and their efforts to discover something else are
rebuffed-not dramatically suppressed, but merely shrugged off.
One "shrugger" is a 'professor in the engineering college (but there
are several like him throughout the University) who is illustrative of
an extreme example of this faculty attitude. He specializes in a rather
technical aspect of applied science,
He ;was asked if he made any
attempt to relate his material to
any broader aspects of science and
uate F raudif he ever attempted to imbue his
t te rau students with -any professional out-
look or ethics.
As for the mind-well, there's* *
one course in American govern- THE PROFESSOR answered
ment. That's the Department of that he did not because he did
Political Science, the whole she- not have time. He paused for a
bang. second and then he volunteered
A book could be written about the following comment: "In any
the hoodlum-and-trull element at- case, I'm not sure that it's my posi-
tracted to our student bodies since tion to ge$ involved in this type of
World War II, a phenomenon ,of thing."
our times much resented, and com- There are two inherent dangers
mented upon, by the decent stu- in this type of reasoning. The first.
dents. is obvious: if every professor in
* . the University, or even a signifi-
cant number of them, were to take
WITH FOND parents, the mos0 this attitude, this would cease to
popular feature of the state col- be a university and degenerate into
leges is their matrimonial market a technical training school.
--and very popular this is with the The second danger is less dra-
rising generation, too. ' matic, but invidious. Technical and
You meet so many other won- mechanical skills, admittedly, must
derful young people, you know, be developed, but if these are pre-
and you can choose. sented-by-inference-as the only
What may be less agreeable to thing that is relevant,; the results
parents, whether or not the won- may be disastrous. Either students
derful young people find spouses will accept this attitude as a ra-
it is simple for them to find what tional philosophy and a material-
the late Alfred Kinsey delighted ism of a new but devastingly in-
in calling "sexual partners." human type will evolve, or the.stu-
"I'm sure there couldn't be any- dent will follow his present trend
thing wrong with Michigan State of revolt: via apathy.
University," a Michigan matron The irony of the situation is
murmured after hearing a public that the tendency toward the en-
address by your servant. "My gineering professor's philosophy
daughter is having just a wonder- can be counteracted relatively
ful time there." easily. If the faculty were to look
No doubt. for and try to help develop the
For tho'se who like that sort of natural intellectual curiosity of
thing, as Lincoln said, that is the the student, many members of the
sort of thing they like. ' faculty might be surprised' -and
But when this carnival and this gratified by the results. Perhaps
matrimonial bureau are paid for if the administration were to em-
out of some one else's pocket...? phasize that this, as well as course-
The Legislature of the State of content, was one of the responsi-
Michigan is not made up of fools. bilities of a teacher, the trend'
National Review toward apathy could be stoppedi.
A
4
)N PAPER, Student Government Council is
a fairly powerful organization. And as long
s SGC was content to handle issues which
rere not terribly controversial, or which did
.ot threaten to embarrass the University with
xcessive publicity, the administration was con-
ent to let the group use its authority.
But now SGCI is faced with an issue, Sigma
Cappa, which could bring unfavorable publicity
o the University, and the administration has
tepped in with a rather clear attempt to
ressure the council to make the least contro-
ersial decision possible.
The pressure has come in the form of a letter
rom Vice-President for Student Affairs James
. Lewis.
Vice-President Lewis's prerogative to write a
etter to the Council is certainly clear. In fact,
ome one from the Dean of Women's Office or
he Office of Student Affairs must write a letter
o SGC informing it whether or not the sorority
onstitution, which is a secret matter, contains,
ny discriminatory clauses.
Dean Bacon, for example, wrote such a letter
o the Council back in 1955 when SGC first
onsidered recognizing Sigma Kappa and it is
model of its kind. "Copies of the constitution
f Sigma Kappa were recently sent to this office
nd have been placed on file with the Adminis-
:ation. Sigma Kappa has no statement any-
rhere in its Constitution which refers to race,
reed or color in any way."
Further, administrative advice is often help-
ul. However, Vice-President Lewis' letter goes
urther than the first condition and is not even
lose to the second.
BEFORE EXAMINING the letter, two things
should be noted. First, this column is in no
ay prejudging the sorority. The issue is Vice-
resident Lewis' letter, not SGC's decision con-
erning the sorority.
Second, that when Sigma Kappa was found
n violation of University rules back in 1956, the
onstitution was not the issue at all, (Miss
acon's letter took care of that), but rather
actions of the national officers of Sigma Kappa.
Space does not permit re-running the entire
content of Vice-President Lewis' letter, but
several things can be pointed out. It begins:
"The proper University officials;" notice the
tone. This is a most significant letter, it seems
to say. "The Proper" officials, not merely the
Dean of Women, nor the Vice-President for
Student Affairs, are gravely concerned with
the issue.
After a brief run-down on the course of
events leading up to the Council decision in
1956, the letter says the sorority was placed in
a "precarious' position. SGC found Sigma
Kappa violating University regulations; but
nowhere does Vice-President Lewis say this; in
fact, he avoids it quite assiduously with a "pre-
carious" position. This is, at best, a rather great
understatement of the actual facts,
THE CLINCHER lies in the next to last
paragraph. First, the vice-president re-
asserts the significance of this letter, "The Dean
of Wymen in consultation with other adminis-
trative officials [emphasis added] after reading
the Constitution and by-laws is now [emphasis
added] prepared to certify to the Student Gov-
ernment Council that Sigma Kappa meets the
requirements as stated in our published regula-
tions."
THIS IS NEWS? Miss Bacon said this back in
1955. Certainly, the constitution and by-
laws have changed and it should be pointed
out that they meet University requirements.
But the Vice-President's letter is written in
such a way that a) it carries very great
authority and prestige b) it gives the impres-
Sion the issue has been resolved. While a) is
certainly justifiable, it is not in keeping with'
Vice-President Lewis' general attitude which is
usually non-directive and considerably less
authoritarian; b) completely avoids the fact
that the constitution never was the issue and
that the national sorority's actions were.
In the light of these facts, there can be little
doubt that the letter was an attemept to influ-
ence the Council to come to a decision favorable
to Sigma Kappa. It is indeed unfortunate that
at such an important juncture -in SGC's short
history such an attempt had to be made..
There are eighteen students on Student Gov-
ernment Council. And these eighteen feel their
responsibility in this area most heavily for
several reasons. First, the decision itself with
its possible consequences is important. Second,
some five hundred students (if the last time
gives any indicatipn) will be watching the group
reach this decision. Third, other Universities
and colleges as well as national sororities and
fraternities will be waiting for the outcome. Yet,
it is necessary that these students act maturely
and reach a fair, objective conclusion after
weighing the evidence.
A'
thing seems certain: the program
should increase the supply of
teachers. Since the shortage is
reckoned at about 135,000, that
would be a step in the right direc-
tion.
But will the program actually
open college doors for students
who wouldn't otherwise go beyond
high school? Will it increase the
number of Americans proficient
in foreign language?
THE STUDENT loan program
provides 10-year, three per cent
loans for college students, up to
$1,000 a year but not more than
a total of $5,000. Repayment must
begin one year after the borrower
leaves college.,
Preference goes to good stu-
dents who 1) want to teach, or
2) have shown particular aptitude
in science, mathematics or for-
eign language.
The loan program has raised
two questions: 1) Is it really going
to do the job for which it was
designed - help more of the na-
tion's bright students get a col-
lege education? 2) Is it a good
idea for a graduate to come out
of college already burdened with
a debt of $4,000 or $5,000?
Certainly, a student loan pros
gram can be a helping hand, giv-
ing the student less time working
and more time studying. But
there probably never will be ac-
EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM:
The' PhD's Role in Ed
By JOAN KAATZ
Daily Staff Writer
THE RECENT Russell committee
report on faculties in state
educational institutions declares
that financial support. of faculty
members "will have to be intensi-
fied and increased substantially"
if the present levels of high quality
education are to be maintained.
It then continues to relate the
sharp decline in the economic
status of the college teaching pro-
fessions to the number of PhD's
entering fields other than educa-
tion.
Although the Russell report may
be justified in relating declining
economic conditions in institutions
of higher education to a decline in
the number of doctoral graduates
in teaching, a much larger ques-
tion arises when the report infers
that the decline in teachers with
doctoral degrees may relate to a
decline in educational standards.
Basically, how much does a PhD
mean in the field of higher educa-
tion?
In terms of number of years, it
signifies that the instructor has
GETS MORE MONEY:
Regents Expand Fund
By THOMAS HAYDEN
Daly Staff Writer
A way to describe theseries of events which led from the University's
decision to apply for Federal appropriations under the National Defense
Act is to say that the student loan fund here is like a snowball.
It has been expanded voraciously during the past two years as
unemployment and recession have cut into students' wallets.
At the end of last semester the University's fund totaled $1,458,000,
representing a jump of $400,000 over the June, 1957, sum.
Even with the increase, practically all, the funds made available
were used up. A total of 5,889 loans were distributed in the 1957-58.
school year, as compared to 4,959 the previous year. It was not hard to
see that the pattern would con-
tinue this fall, especially as the
nation tried to recover from an
economic depression.
And it has continued. Applica-
Vlucatio tions for renewal of loans are run-
ning unusually high, the loans
office reports. At the same time,
repayments of last year's loans
have been coming in sluggishly,
although they are expected to pick
up.
Dean of Men Walter B. Rea has
summed up thensituation in a
single, salient sentence:
"The need for loans is un-
precedented."
Two contributions should bright-
en the picture, although it is
doubtful that they are more than
a temporary cure.
One is a $200,000 bequest from
the late Della Noble, of Pontiac.
In all, the Regents have. chan-
._,neled more than $500,000 from
private donors into the loan fund
during the past two years.
The other is an expected grant
of up to $250,000 from the Federal
government for which the Univer-
sity applied Friday. Since each
institution receives a share of the
total funds proportional to its per-
ter Teaching entae of the total number of
ter eachng.students in the country, the Uni-
versity is in at least a fair position
Whether the teacher possesses a to obtain a good portion of its
doctors degree or a masters degree potential allotment.
is important in ,e'valuating his The national funds will be used
knowledge of the subject ,matter for "long-term, low-interest" loans
:'
Editorial Staff
RICHARD TAUB, Editor
[AEL KRAFT JO
torial Director
DHN WEICHER
City Editor
DAVID TARR
Associate Editor
LE CANTOR.................Personnel Director
AN WILLOUGHBY.....Associate Editorial Director
ATA JORGENSON ..... ..Associate City Editor
ZABETH ERSKINE. ....Associate Personnel Director
AN JONES...................Sports Editor
RL RISEMAN,. ** *..«o.Associate Sports Editor
COLEMAN -.. .......Associate Sports Editor
VID ARNOLD................Chief Photographer
Bushness Staff
But Will He En
personality is important, but fur-
ther stressed that those qualities
necessary to a good researcher are
important to a good instructor.
i