Wednesday, August 27, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
Wednesday, August 27, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven
In crisis:
By MARTIN iHIRSCIHMAN Olson and the preparation
With an upsurge of student blue ribbon study on the
cation school, it seemed th
interest in curriculum, the nam- year would be an importan
ing of a new dean, and a series for the school.
of moves to reorient the out- But it is doubtful that
look of the entire school, the one could have predicte
education school has completed just how important chan
a year of unprecedented activ- the school would be o
ity, direction from which th
And there are indications that petus for reform would c
this activity is only a glimpse Perhaps the most impo
into the near future of the change came with the na
school. of Wilbur Cohen, former
Last fall. with the expected retary of Health, Educatio
retirement of Dean Willard C. Welfare, as dean of the s
Cohen
n of a Cohen is a spry, energetic ma
edu- who is used to administerin
at the multi-billion dollar program
nt one Although originally a profes
sor in the social work school, h
any- appears to be well equipped i
d the his knowledge of the problem
ges in of education.
r the Cohen's objectives upon tak
e im- ing over the school appear clea
ome. -he is moving to jolt the scho
ortant out of the complacency whic
aming has allowed its quality and repu
Sec- tation to plummet over the pas
n and decade.
chool. At the same time, in an ex
Engineering harmony
By MARCIA ABRAMSON
Like most University units, the engineering
college is suffering this year from a critical lack
of funds.
But unlike many other schools and colleges in
the University, engineering has few other prob-
lems. Students and faculty are on exceptionally
good terms and students are well represented
on school-wide committees.
In fact, there is so much cooperation that
student-faculty committees make decisions, not
by vote, but by consensus.
The college has also moved to solve what many
considered one of its major problems: over-
concentration on the sciences, which led to the
stereotype of the engineer, smothered by his
slide rule and oblivious to the rest of the world,
especially the humanities and social sciences.
Beginning last year, the college instituted a
new program with a much heavier emphasis on
humanities and social sciences. Great books and
composition courses are now required, and more
free electives are available to engineering stu-
dents. Pass-fail on a limited basis-more liberal
than the literary college program-has also been
instituted.
But this has not changed engineering stu-
dents' reputation for political conservatism.
Most engineers give their full support to Engi-
neering Council, the college's student government
which is set up on a class basis.
So, the engineering college's main problem
continues to be money, especially money for
buying new equipment. For the past three years,
engineering has not had enough funds to replace
obsolete equipment. Money budgeted by this for
the University has remained constant despite a
strong inflationary trend, resulting in a real dol-
lar reduction of about 15 per cent.
The budget squeeze may also stifle attempts
by the school to increase study related to socia
problems. The school asked for an additiona
$187,000 from the State Legislature, but it is not
likely to receive the funds.
Dean Gordon VanWylen explains, "There are
two main areas we want to push into. First, we
would like to put much greater emphasis on
technical problems related to the needs of so-
ciety-transportation, water resources, air pol-
lution and the impact of technology on th
environment."
The second major area for increased emphasi
is basic research into new fields of technology
he adds.
Another problem which the school will fac
for a while is limited facilities. The centra
campus buildings are old, and the entire schoo
is scheduled to move to North Campus-but not
for at least another eight years. The school's
research facilities, however, are already located
on North Campus.
VanWylen says it would take eight years for
the move if planning began now. But as yet no
funds have been allocated for the project, in-
cluding money for planning.
The school has been forced to hold enrollment
at a steady rate for several years. But in the last
year the space problem has been alleviated by
what is in reality yet another problem for engi-
neering: the draft.
Because jobs in engineering are most often
draft-deferrable, engineering graduate student
have been dropping out of school in favor of
deferred employment. Last year graduate en-
rollment dropped 20 per cent.
takes 4
n pression of his concern for the
.g social problems of the country,
s. Cohen is attempting to make
s- the education school more rele-
C vant to the community - es-
n pecially to the problems of up-
s lifting Detroit's inner city.
As part of his attempt to re-
vitalize the school, Cohen has
r moved the office of the dean
ol back into the main education
h building. This, he explains, will
- allow for closer interaction be-
st tween himself and the school's
students and faculty members.
And the new dean's plans for
working in Detroit have begun
to take on increasing volume
as he unravels them. Not only
will the education school h a v e
students formally study urban
teaching in Detroit this fall, but
Cohen is planning an all-out
community education program
for the inner city.
S Some of the plans for increas-
I ed involvement in Detroit did
1 pre-date Cohen's appointment-
t but not by very much. Formed
last November, a special stu-
dent-faculty commission has
been working on development
of a unified urban education
program, including a two-year
stint in Detroit complemented
- by relevant courses in Ann Ar-
e bor.
Impetus for the commission
s study was a widespread feeling
among students and faculty
, membersthat thededucation
school should be more involved
1 in solving the pressing prob-
lems of urban America.
Students have pointed with
t dismay, for example, to statis-
s tics which show that only four
per cent of those teaching in
Detroit public schools received
r teacher training at the Uni-
versity's education school. This
percentage is exceeded by Ten-
nessee State College.
One of the major forces push-
t ing for expanded involvement
t -in urban education was the re-
cently formed Students for Edu-
- cation Innovation.
By now a large and influen-
tial group in the school's decis-
ion-making structure, SEI has
s secured student representation
f on a broad spectrum of faculty
- committees.
Under the leadership of new-
ver trouble(
ly-elected President Jack Eis- teaching-the faculty of the
ner, SEI is expected to maintain School of Education should be
and expand its influence in the relieved of the responsibility";
coming year. - That the school should
While the major thrust of "seek to impose a greater coher-
education school reform h a s ence among the tripartite re-
thus far centered on the prob- sponsibilities for teaching,
lems of involvement in urban service and research";
teaching, the report of a spec- - That the school should
ial blue ribbon commission re- "consciously and deliberately
leased in March described the strive to lower the degree of
problems of the school as much parochialism which now seems
more basic. to permeate faculty attitudes";
The chief recommendations of - That "the University close
the report were: the laboratory school (Univer-
- That "the University allo- sity School) as early as prac-
cate greatly increased funds to ticable but not later than June,
provide necessary administra- 1970," unless it can "become a
tive services"; center for innovation, experi-
-That "if it is deemed poli- mentation and research in edu-
tically necessary for the Uni- cation."
versity to certify students for The last recommendation was
teaching - to provide appren- implemented in May when the
ticeship experience and basic Regents ordered the phasing
vocational information a b o u t out of University School. Clos-
ing of the school is expe
help alleviate some of t]
cation school's space an
getary shortages - at
temporarily.
In the financial aren
hen has won top priority
school in next year's bud
quest to the State Legi
This was one of the con
which the new dean set
ceptance of the post.
The problem of teach
tification is a much mo
ficult one for the sch
tackle and there has, th
been little evidence ofi
in eliminating this func
the school. In speaking
challenge which faces th
cation school, Cohen l
fact, asserted that the.
undergraduates can and
effectively utilized.
Ironically, the most p
ed
school
cted to problem which may face t h e
he edu- school in the fall is only peri-
d bud- pherally related to the s t u d y
1 e a s t commission's recommendations.
The Ann Arbor Education As-
aa, Co- sociation, which represents a
for the large number of local teachers,
dget re- has set Nov. 1 as the deadline
slature. for resolving a dispute over the
iditions use of Ann Arbor schools by
for ac- University student teachers.
The AAEA argues that t h e
ier cer- University has not properly con-
re dif- sulted Ann Arbor teachers con-
hool to cerning the role of student
aus far, teachers, and has demanded
interest compensation for supervisory
tion of teachers.
of the If no settlement to the dispute
he edu- is found before the Nov. 1
ias, in deadline the practice teaching
school's experience of 56 per cent of
will be the education school's student
teachers could be placed in
pressing jeopardy.
Fund cuts stunt. social work
By MARCIA ABRAMSON
The social work school, largest in the
nation, has more than doubled enrollment
over the last five years in response to the
rapidly growing number of students who
want to enter the field. And the number
of applicants keeps growing, although the
University's budget squeeze may force the
school to put a tighter clamp on admis-
sions this fall.
At the same time, social work students
have become among the most activist in
the University community. Many were in-
volved in helping local welfare mothers
in their drive one year ago for more money
to buy school clothes for their children.
Other social work students are active in
community programs both in Ann Arbor
and in Detroit's inner city.
Student activism has extended into the
school's academic structure through the
Social Work Student Union, which last
year won virtually equal representation for
students on 13 of 17 major faculty com-
mittees.
During a seven-hour meeting, the
school's faculty responded to mounting
pressure from SWSU, which was demand-
ing an end to what members called
"tokenism"-for example, the seating of
only three students with 11 faculty mem-
bers on the curriculum committee, a com-
mittee whose decisions are highly signifi-
cant to students.
SWSU accepted the faculty's proposal,
which provided for equal membership on
most committees with a faculty chairman
who would vote in case of a tie. But they
added some qualifactions over certain com-
mittees, like the faculty search committee
-which had no student members-and the
grievance committee.
Eventually, some student members --
though not an equal number-were added
to the search committee, which is respon-
sible for recruiting new faculty members.
SWSU, along with the Association of
Black Social Work Students, also pressed
the school to admit more minority group
students.
But although the school would have
liked to hire a second recruiter, no funds
were available as it appeared likely that
the school would not receive a requested
$100,000 increase in state appropriations.
Dean Fidele Fauri explains that further
increases in admissions have become vir-
tually impossible because the faculty is
already overloaded with work.
"The faculty is interested in getting more
social workers into the field, and so they
may go a little over and beyond the call of
duty," he says.
But, he adds, "We've gotten to the point
where the faculty workload cannot be in-
creased any further."
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Allan F. Smith has promised some in-
creases in funds-but not enough to cover
all the school's needs.
The shortage of state funds is not the
school's only financial headache. In addi-
tion, the federal government, which heav-
ily subsidizes social work education, is re-
ducing its aid. As a result, many students
will lose essential scholarships and fellow-
ships.
"Our federal support for scholarships for
the first time will be reduced rather than
increased," says Fauri. "And you can't just
tap other sources for the kind of money
we get from the federal government."
Social work students presently receive
about a million dollars in scholarship aid.
The Department of Health, Education and
Welfare supplies $950,000 annually for
teaching support and scholarships.
Public Health awaits
$7.9 million addition
Last year marked a turning point for the public health school
as construction began on a $7.95 million building addition which
will allow a long-awaited increase in enrollment and research.
Construction began in January, but it is not known now just
when the addition will be ready to open. The facility is being
financed largely through federal grants and also through gifts to
the public health school.
When the new facility opens, the school is expected to receive
more funds from both the state and the federal government. But
until then, public health will be living on a very tight budget,
perhaps even tighter than many other University units hard-hit
by reduced state appropriations.
Public health depends heavily on federal grants-which pro-
vide over $1.3 million for tuition subsidies and training programs
alone.
And this year, the school is likely to lose at least $50,000 to
$70,000 to a new public health school starting at the University of
Texas. The same amount of federal money will now have to be
distributed to one more school.
Associate Dean John Romani says this means the University's
public health school will lose between two and four faculty posi-
tions.
4
"Man, like
I
say,
STUDNT BOOK SGRVIC
is the ONLY place to buy
books and supplies."
I - - . I