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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This nus t be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD PRATT
Student Support Is Crucial
For Ref ormning SGC
A WEEK AND A HALF AGO Vice-Presi-
dent for Student Affairs Richard Cut-
ler spoke at the fourth annual conference
of the United States Student Press As-
sociation.
Realizing that the mature, modern stu-
dent has a right if not a duty to aid in
the administration of those segments of
his university which directly concern him,
Cutler emphasized the desirability of
drawing from "pockets of student inter-
est" on the university campus those stu-
lent leaders who could successfully carry
out this duty.
In introducing his theory of pockets of
student interest, Cutler attacked the
myth of "general student interest." This
is the myth on which SGC is based, the
3oneept that students take enough gen-
eral interest in their community to be,
very- interested in electing representa-
tives to look out for that general interest.
That this is in fact not the case is il-
lustrated by SGC's continuously declining
election returns, both absolutely and in
terms of percentage.
Although it is possible that some sort
of "pockets of student interest" repre-
sentation would be more desirable than
'general student interest" representation,
it is not clear just how this latter kind of
representation could be arranged.
One way would be for Cutler or one of
his assistants to ferret out the members
of the pockets of interest. But no matter
how enlightened an administrator doing
the picking might be, he would still be
somewhat removed from direct student
contact, and this removal could all too
easily lead to poor appointments to study'
committees.
A better way might be to provide for
the election of representatives on the bas-
is of these pockets of interest--anyone
interested in a particular pocket of in-
terest could vote. This approach could
solve many difficulties here.
T IS OF PRIME importance is that
the students themselves take the ini-
tiative to be active in their own sphere of
interest. .
It cannot be overemphasized that "their
own sphere" must not be limited to mem-
bership in what is usually thought of as
an active campus "organization." There
=s no reason why a living unit or hobby
club cannot serve as just as good a
"sphere" as SGC or the Union Activities
Committee.
Whatever the method in which the in-
terest pockets might represent them-
selves, there are several problems facing
the representatives and their con-
>tituents.
The first problem is that the new rep-
resentatives will have constituents in the
sense that SGC never, at least in the re-
cent past, had. It is now enough ;to elect
SGC members and forget about them.
But under any interest pocket system
of representatives, the constituents them-
selves will be operating much more close-
ly to their representatives. This will mean
a need for more responsive representa-
tives-and more aware constituents.
No matter how responsive or aware the
members of such a system are, they will
still have another major problem in creat-
ing an effective student role in Univer-
sity decision making. That problem cen-
ters around what might be called an
"information gap" in student decision
making.
Recently, that gap manifested itself in
Barry Bluestone's revelation that the
wage raise for student help in residence
halls,, because of concomitant revisions
in the pay scale, did not come to the ap-
parent 25 cents, but had risen only 17
cents. Being unaware of the true finan-
cial status of the quads, Bluestone's group
could not bargain reasonably accurately
for realistic gains.
What is there to prevent this same
thing from happening to the ideal repre-
sentatives, assuming they can be fairly
elected? Nothing except Cutler's efforts
and their own good sense.
WHICH BRINGS US back to the real
crux of the problem. Everyone has
ideas for reforming SGC, either along the
lines of Cutler's speech as outlined here,
or along others. But a key feature in all
of them is the revision of the concept of
all-campus constituency in favor of the
concept of interest group representation,
a concept entirely dependent for success
on interested students.
As mentioned above, any such group
will have grave problems, problems which
can only be solved by a reevaluation of
the role of the active student on cam-
pus. The old image of the active stu-
dent, picket lining and pamphleteering,
will hopefully always be with us.
But revision of the method of student
representation must create a new image
of, the active student to coexist along
with the traditional one. It must be the
image of the truly responsible student,
not one for whom "responsible" means
inactive, but one for whom the word con-
notes a combination of activism and good
sense.
AN IMPROVEMENT in student govern-
ment and in student representation on
this campus depends directly on how
many of these students are willing to
step from the ranks of the 30,000 and do
their part in aiding their fellow students
and the University.
-LEONARD PRATT
Michigan MAD
By ROBERT JOHNSTON
HEso-CALLED "Challenge"
letter, reprinted below, is just
about the only attempt at self-
criticism produced within any of
the University's schools and col-
leges that has even seen the light
of day in recent years. And this
one is being printed over the ob-
jections of Dean Floyd Bond of
the business administration sch'ool.
The value of openly airing,
throughout the University, self-
criticism such as the Challenge
letter represents should be imme-
diately evident. One of the philo-
sophical tenets on which a univer-
sity is based is the ideal of free
and open discussion, yet much of
the life and development of this
university proceeds under a cloak
of artificial and unnecessary se-
crecy.
There seem to be several rea-
sons for this. First, there is a
great problem of protocol and
proper procedure within the aca-
demic community. Every faculty
member is principally worried
about his own position, his own
reputation and his own vested
interests. He becomes sensitive
and defensive toward any criti-
cism, so that everybody ends up
keeping quiet to avoid offending
everybody else so that one's self
in turn doesn't get hit by any
stray arrows.
A mutual conspiracy of silence,
i other words, or a mutual de-
fensiveness that boils down to self-
defense.
SECOND, there is a great de- -
sire among the academic policy-
makers to keep everything under
wraps until the final product can
be made public. Daily reporters
run into this constantly. Some-
thing is not "ready" for publicity,
they are told. Ready for what if
not ready for discussion among all
those who should have been dis-
cussing the proposals from the
time they were first brought up?
This second problen seems to
boil down to a fear of public
discussion, a fear of having any-
one outside a tightly-knit com-
mittee, its friends and the deans
really in on the issues. This doesn't,
seem like much of a way to gath-
er up a maximum number of ideas,
viewpoints and suggestions for
improvements and to get them
implemented.
THIRD, and this is related to
the second point, fear of public
discussion (and by public I mean
students and faculty, since that's
the only public that's even inter-
ested) seems tobetbased either
on a fear of scattered faculty
opposition sufficient to kill some
new ideas before they get a chance
or on a fear that someone out-
side will propose something new
and break the status quo he is
trying to stick to.
This argument seems to me to
destroy itself. One small group
of committee members acting as
a blocking agent to any sort of
change is hardly very constructive
- rather like the House Rules.
Committee. Similarly, a commit-
tee shouldn't have to be afraid of
anyone knowing what it is doing
for fear that it will be quickly
blocked by a small, behind-the-
scenes furor.
The problem here comes down
to one of developing consensus
on any proposed changes. When
almost every faculty member has
a highly-elevated opinion of the
way he does things, and gener-
ally won't even consider that any
changes besides those he himself
thinks up might be valuable, it's a
little hard to get anything mov-
ing. And when this faculty mem-
ber is one who never thought up,
on his own, any changes at all,
movement becomes impossible.
IT THEN BECOMES a matter
of sneaking things through, of
developing new ideas carefully be-
hind closed doors, planning their
implementation and the follow-
through, springing a full-blown
plan upon a faculty in which
enough support has already been
lined up to get the plans approv-
ed, and of steering clear of clumps
of easily-anticipated opposition.
which has all too many ways of
making itself felt.
There are several things seri-
ously wrong here. It is a -truism
that, when it comes to making
changes affecting their own work,
faculty are the most reactionary
of any occupational group. Their
answer to anything new and dif-
ferent is almost automatically
"no," and one has to anticipate
this and work from there. This
position is becoming more and
more ridiculous.
There are too many students
to be taught/too many things in
larger and larger universities to
meet greater and greater social
demands for all types of educated
persons for centuries-old methods
of teaching and university orga-
nization to be allowed to persist.
BUT ALL THIS doesn't make
the devious committee method
used to put good ideas through
any more palatable. If the fac-
ulty are to do anything, they
must do it together, work on it
together and implement the plans
together. Forcing new ideas on
them won't help the situation-it
will only aggravate it as faculty
become resentful and redouble
their efforts to sabotage new proj-
ects and plans.
As it stands, however, any for-
ward-looking committee is gener-
ally right when it says nothing
will get done unless it is devious.
So it is up to the faculty to carry
on public discussion aimed at
broadening their outlook, aimed
at getting away from their isolat-
ed viewpoints of their own indi-
vidual and independent import-
ance.
More 'understanding of the to-
tal educational job that the fac-
ulty have to do is needed. They
think too much in terms of their
own two or three courses and their
own group of favorite students.
These become vested interests, and
the larger picture is forgotten or
ignored.
THE BUSINESS administration
Challenge letter is in fact a chal-
lenge to the faculty there to think
and act on some of these prob-
lems. Dean Bond seems greatly
worried about the public image
of the school, the fact that the
"same things could be said of any
other school in the University,"
and the problem of negative, de-
fensive reaction within the busi-
ness administration school.
He should, however, be'delighted
that at least some of the students
there are still kicking around, and
he should certainly do everything
he can to see that positive re-
sponses are generated and encour-
aged. For most of the school's
committees have long been the
obstructionist type, worrying, pro-
crastinating, fussing and staying
in the same old ruts.
These students have demanded
that some issues be discussed and
that something be done for a
change. They have had up to, now
few answers except Hatcher-type
teas and get-togethers and little
projects of one kind or another
to keep them busy. These stu-
dents are interested in their edu-
cation, and they have every right
to be, not in extra-curricular ac-
tivities designed to thwart their
ideas.
THE STUDENTS have raised
many points of criticism, broad
and specific, and they don't want
bureaucratic platitudes in re-
sponse. Platitudes about how good
things are relatively, about this
or that project which is being
discussed, about how everyone
really is concerned with the same
things the students are-this is all
defense.
If faculty and administrators
in the school would engage in
some offensive maneuvers instead,
they wouldn't have to worry about
their image-it would be great:
nor would they have to worry
about their relative position in the
University-it would be at the
front.
The Challenge letter is a posi-
tive attempt to stimulate some ac-
tion. It should be met in kind.
The rest of the university might
learn something.
*
4
A Challenge from the Bus Ad Students
"I
Text of the Demand for Bus Ad Re form
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following
letter, drawn tip last spring by six
business administration students
who received their MA's in May,
was sent around -to faculty and
administrators in the business ad-
ministration school. About the same
time, The Daily received a copy,
which is printed below and which
is the subject of Robert Johnston's
column above.
THE UNIVERSITY is the breed-
ing ground of society's man-
agers and leaders. The strength
and survival of society is de-
pendent upon the change and
ideas which the intellectuals
bring into it.
The University must serve as
a crucible of doubt such that the
student can challenge the exist-
ing: order of things. The Uni-
versity must present a forum of
ideas, such that the student can
be challenged by many doctrines
and search for his opinion
amongst them..
Above all, the University must
provide the inspiration to accom-
plish this.
THE BUSINESS SCHOOL is not
exempt. Our economic society is
in many ways fat and over-civiliz-
ed. The magnitude and reach of
the American business community
demands that the product of the
business school be more than a
well-trained technician.
He must be the same thinker
and doubter that we produce for
education, the arts, the political
realm, and science. He must be a
confident man, armed with ideas
and prepared to assume social re-
sponsibility both within and out-
side the business spectrum.
He must be a thinking man who
has definite ideas on the social
responsibility of advertising, the
significance of- the civil rights
movement, and the administra-
tion's policy on foreign trade.
EVIDENCE should be found
within these very halls of this
type of breeding. There should
be a student standing up in class
and demanding the professor show
supporting evidence. We should be
able to see a student stumble out
of class with a dazed look in his
eye, wondering where he found
the words when he stated his opin-
ion.
We should find a strong student
council with eagerly sought vacan-
cies-and with strongly felt de-
mands for funds or courses or
changes. We should find informal
seminars which extend into the
night with the janitor interceding
before one student could get in
his last point. We should find a
school newspaper in which there
was nothing but criticism and sug-
gestion and essay and running de-
bate.
We should witness a crowded
business leadership award cere-
mony in awhich every student knew
that the recipient was his choice
or that he had been outvoted. We
should be able to hear an -inspired
young man state that he is ex-
cited' to be here.
In short, the business school
has a distinct responsibility to
provide more than a text, class-
room and sequence of assign-
ments. The school must provide
the other half of the education
which the graduate will need to
assume his responsibility.
THE UNIVERSITY'S business
school does not accomplish this
task. Few students would not ad-
mit that it is a superior school
and a good education. But few stu-
dents do more than attend class,
do their reference work in the 11-
.brary, and then depart without
feeling. When it comes to select a
job, few students are not accept-
ed by the more progressive firms
in our country. But few students
carry with them the exciting be-
lief in their own potential or a
sense of destiny.
What is being said here is that
the University business school is
certainly subject to question. The
school should be an inspired
school. It is not. The school should
carry a professional flair. It does
not. The school should be a de-
manding school with an attrac-
tion for only the best minds. It is
not.
The school should produce young
men with creative, doubting minds
who question the entiresstructure
of things. The school does not pro-
duce that kind of young man.
THE BUSINESS SCHOOL and
all other American business
schools have a great responsibil-
ity for improvement. There are a
number of devices and concepts
which the school, the administra-
tion and the faculty should shoul-
der for this improvement.
1) The, administration and fac-
ulty could well do some soul-
searching as to how well do they
measure up to the task of produc-
ing the questioning and confident
and inspired young man?
2) Faculty members could di-
vest themselves of too much out-
side involvement and too much
academic busy work in order to
turn their talents upon question-
ing and challenging the student
in his classroom.
3) . Ethics and implications
could be incorporated into any
course and the student could be
challenged to debate his ideas.
4) Professionalism could be the
flavor of the school if the gradu-
ate students were separated and
challenged to produce. The grad-
uate student is not an undergrad-
uate sophomore and should find
the espirit and group standards
of his own professional school.
5 No student here is exhausted
by too much academic work. He
is only exhausted by the busy
work he finds himself doing be-
cause of the lack of challenge.
6) The business community an;!
the social community want an
analytical young man who can
solve problems with enthusiasm
and confidence. 'When we speak of
the case method, how many in-
structors demand little more than
a 30 minute preparation before
class? There are many students
who will never know the satisfac-
tion of a complete case analysis
and the firm conviction in his
voice when he depends his solu-
tion in class.
7) Do we have any one course
in this curriculum which deals in
business ethics, social responsibil-
ity or national development?
Shouldn't this be a required
course?
8) Is our curriculum flexible
enough to allow the interested
student to investigate all his in-
terests? Does every student need
six hours of marketing?
9) The student could be inspir-
ed to speak his mind with mean-
ingful essay competitions on con-
troversial business topics.
10) Research courses could be
instituted wherein the student
would be required to investigate
and interview the men and ideas
in the practical business commu-
nity.
11) Communication in the busi-
ness school is non-existent. Who
has ever explained to the stu-
dent about the policies which
should be changed or the planned
evolvement of the curriculum?
What student has ever spoken to
the dean or heard his ideas? How
many professors have stood in
debate over the composition of a
course or the ethics of firm's
operation? How often is the stu-
dent solicited for his opinion or
suggestion? Two-way communica-
tion is a forgotten concept.
12) We look at the dynamic,
talented students who are receiv-
ing their master's degrees. How
many of these men would be in-
terested in doing doctoral work to
staff the next generation of pro-
fessors? What incentive, social or
financial, is there for the most
creative students to stay to breed
others in his image?
13) We could use more profes-
sors with more diverse back-
grounds to give a broader per-
spective to course material. Indus-
'trial relations is a much more ex-
citing course when taught by a
psychologist. Advertising material
means something when the pro-
fessor has spent years in an agen-
cy.
14) Students could be required
to participate more in group proj-
ects where they can learn to ex-
ercise leadership and find the
practical truths of group dynam-
ics.
15) Student organizations with-
in the business school should be
given the incentive and support
to allow them to develop into
professional forums and opinion-
molding organiaztions. Not all the
thinking has to be done in the
classroom.
THE CONCLUSION here is that
the University of Michigan busi-
ness school should be a highly
professional and inspired cruci-
ble which produces a questioning
and confident young man who is
able to meet the challenge of
society. The school is not that
crucible. It could be.
-John F. Shelby, '60, U.S. Mili-
tary Academy; MBA, '65, BAd
-Louis B. Cushman, '63, Am-
herst; MBA, '65, BAd
-Duane D. Strupp,'62, Univer-
sity of Wisconsin; MBA, '65
BAd
-Reginald D. Barnes, '62, Uni-
versity of Colorado; MBA, '65,
BAd
-William Sites, '60, Cornell;
MBA, '65, BAd
-Gordon J. Comerford, '58,
Marquette University; MBA,
'65, BAd
iV
City Council Good Planning
A New Idea in Honors
RATHER QUIET development in the
Honors program, lost in the semes-
'er's-end rush last spring, offers some
encouraging indications of internal
,hange and improvement.
The development, quite simply, is the
addition of a new course, College Honors
,99, to the program's course roster. But
College Honors 299 is different from the
program's more customary fare of courses,
often as overcrowded as the usual cours-
-s and distinguished mainly because more
-eading is required. The new course, in-
stead, depends entirely on the initiative,
ingenuity, land creative spirit of the stu-
dent-for it is a completely "open-ended"
course.
The only "requirement" for the course
s some tangible product at the end, such
Is a paper or a report. The most impor-
tant part of the course, indeed, lies in,
setting it up. The student with a bright
dea for doing something original and
ndependent--on almost anything con-
ceivably academic-goes to a professor,
convinces him the idea has intellectual
merit and then works out further ar-
rangements with him. He may earn from
one to three credits for "taking" his in-
dependently-planned and independently-
"taught" course, which is surveyed by the
professor of his choice.
terest and guidance to promote what may
become intellectual adventures of the first
order.
Of course, this is not all the Honors
program needs. It has been apparent for
some time that the selections standards
of the program (mainly quantitative
scores of high school grades and Scholas-
tic Aptitude Tests) tend to favor not the
student who can use knowledge creatively
but the student who is merely very good
at soaking it up.
And, even assuming that the program
knew better what sort of people it should
select, it would be unable to recruit them
very strenuously-for the University, un-
like Michigan State University, which has
continually outdistanced it on this im-
portant question, seems to feel that ac-
tually seeking large numbers of intel-
lectually active people by recruitment is
somehow uncouth and boorish:
Last, many other changes might be
made in the program's course offerings,
including the development of an entire
Honors curriculum, rather than the bits-
and-pieces approach which now is fav-
ored.
BUT ALL THIS cannot happen at once.
What is important is that College
Honors 299 has happened. For this out-
standing action. the Honors Council-and
By NEAL BRUSS
WHEN A REAL ESTATE devel-
oper plansnarhigh-rise apart-
ment on or near campus, he is
blueprinting a section of the lives
of hundreds of students.
It would be nice if students
could avoid cramped, airless quar-
ters, but on a crowded, expand-
ing campus there can often be no
choice. "Home" might have to be
a basement apartment or a wall-
locked suite 18 stories above the
earth. Students owning automo-
biles might have a special problem
if there is no space provided to
park them.
This is why current high-rise
planning efforts being made at
the request of Ann Arbor's City
Council are important.
THE UNIVERSITY and Ann
Arbor communities have been
seeking for almost a year to find
effective standards for intensive
land use on the campus area. In
October, 1964, a committee was
formed of. interested individuals to
make a studyof effective city
planning as related to high-rise
building.
Initiated by Council, this "Joint
Committee on Central Business
District High-Rise and Parking"
worked in three major areas. Its
report, delivered to Council in
July, offered suggestions on' con-
trol of height and setback, on
density and on parking provisions.
The original report was sent
through several city agencies for
consideration before legislation
would be offered. It should be back
soon.
When Council first heard the
report, it was not prepared to set
forth immediate, legislation. In-
stead, to warn builders of possi-
This complicates the issue, but
not unjustly. Council maintains
responsibility to developers as well
as citizens and students.
FOR STUDENTS, the high-rise
issue is important but elusive. Re-
ports are presented in architects'
language. One local planner pre-
sented a detailed critique on the
committee's report, stressing urban
design. Only well-educated plan-
ners are capable of easily under!
standing the issues involved.
It is fortunate, however, that a
conscientious committee was found
to begin studies on the issue.'
The minutes of the committee
show intelligent, thorough, and
precise work executed by the Uni-
versity and civic officials and pri-
vate individuals involved.
Council is aware of the great
responsibility it holds in affecting
both present and future growth in
Ann Arbor. It'has and will be
faced with complicating claims,
and the final high-rise code of
zoning and building structure will
be a product of great considera-
tion.
OUT OF THIS WORK will come
specifications for the lodgings of
hundreds of students for many
years. Council will decide how
crowded rooms will be, how much
one man's share of light and air
should be and whether he can
park his car or not.
High-rises are tied up with the
future. Whether they are built
poorly or well, they will not nome
down for many years.
1
"Nobody Caii Accuse Us Of Djscrjmjuatjou"
~C OL~x $6K ,
Do We Reject Creativity?
By CLIFF W. WING, JR.
In Daedalus
PRESSED toward objectivity by
the force of large numbers of
college applicants, admissions of-
fices have developed actuarial
tables relating the credentials of
applicants to some of their college
performance.
T'nhiin oc n nni ,- mp fn
who would probably fail; and, very
importantly, it has given impetus
to improvements in the academic
curricula of secondary schools.
But despite these contributions
and accomplishments, the admis-
sions process in American higher
education remains gross, unre-
fined, and unsophisticated, and
provides little assistance in ident-
ifns fri,,rr, ivP 1lent
i