fuidligall it Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTrrORrTY OF BOA D IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS finlonh Are Free. 420 MAYNAARD ST., ANN ARBOR, Mici i. sWill Prevail NEws PHONE: 764-0552 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