Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday. ,ugusf 27, 196$
Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, August 27, 1968
r
aculty tries
to set stable
intellectual
climate
4
By LUCY KENNEDY
"Why anyone would want to sit
through a faculty meeting is be-
yond me," one faculty member
commented recently. "They're so
boring."
The meetings may be boring,
but students found them impor-
tant enough to demand and fi-
nally obtain this year permission
~to attend,
Faculty approval of student
concerns such as dorm ,regula-
tions or the draft have been found
to carry enough weight with the
Regents to make faculty govern-
ment a matter of great concern.
The all important intellectual
climate of the University is also
a major responsibility of faculty
government through decisions in
areas such as classified research,
All University governing bodies
(University Senate, Faculty As-
sembly, and Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs)
are the principle voices of the
faculty's stand on ,'University
policy.
Led by the University President,
the Senate, made up of all 2200
full time faculty members, is pos-
sibly the most impressive of these
bodies.'
Due to its bulk, however, the
Senate meets only twice a year
and acts as little more than a
body for final approval. Policies
brought 0p the Senate for ap-
proval have sometimes been in-
stigated by the time the Senate's
bi-annual meeting comes around
-a practice which some Senate
members have protested.
Initiation and discussion of
f a c u 1 t y resolutions generally
comes from the Faculty Assembly,
a 65 member group elected by the
various schools. The number of
members a school has on Assem-
bly is proportional to the number
of faculty members that school
has in the Senate (i.e. the lit-
erary college has the highest
number of representatives on both
the Senate and Assembly).
Most of the actual- work done
by the Assembly is carried on by
standing subcommittees.
The six standing committees
are fairly autonomous and can
initiate consideration of anything
they consider relevant to their
area, without reference to SACUA
or Assembly. The Student Rela-
tions Committee, for instance, ap-
pointed a subcommittee to start
work on course evaluation.
Area committees advise, and
sometimes pressure, vice presi-
dents in their areas and keep
SACUA informed of any note-
worthy events. One SACUA mem-
ber is on each standing commit-
tee.
SACUA meets on a regular
weekly basis and as such provides
the best link between the faculty,
as a whole and Regents, admin-
istrators and students.
SACUA consists of nine mem-
bers elected by Assembly from its
membership for three year terms.
No more than three members of
SACUA are from the literary col-
lege and no more than two may
be from any other school or col-
lege.
SACUA elects the officers of
Assembly, nominates and co-
ordinates the subcommittees of
Assembly. In its function as co-
ordinator of Assembly commit-
tees, it supervises most of the
work done on Senate (all-fac-
ulty) or Assembly resolutions.
Individual schools and depart-
ments are organized much like
the all University bodies.
The literary college faculty is
a typical example.
Every tenure faculty member in
the literary college is eligible to
vote in the monthly faculty meet-
ings, but as in all University de-
cisions, much of the initiation
and discussion of ideas goes on
in a smaller executive committee.
At weekly meetings the execu-
tive committee discusses matters
of educational policy such as
pass-fail, salaries, teaching fellow
status, or the college's stand on a
University or national issue that
might be relevant for monthly all-
faculty meetings.
The executive committees in
most schools and colleges as well
as crucial committees such as cur-
riculum frequently are quite auto-
nomous and make decisions in-
dependent of the faculty as a
whole.
Schooland college faculties also
determine standards of admission
and budget allocations. In many
of the larger schools (particularly
the literary college) much of the
work on budget allocations and
faculty promotions is handled at
the departmental level.
One member of Psychology de-
p a r t m e n t commented, "the
amount accomplished with a spirit
of support and agreement in a
large department such as this is
difficult to conceive."
Faculty cooperation and agree-
ment, however, sometimes ap-
pears less than complete.,
Admission of students to meet-
ings of Assembly and Senate was
one area of sharp disagreement.
The reasons for the faculty's
hesitancy to allow students to at-
tend their meetings underlie their
hesitancy to take on decisions
that could increase their respon-
sibility in relation to the adnin-
istration.
Faculty members seem quite
conscious of their role as the
permanent members of the Uni-
versity's academic community.
Many do not like to be seen Ill-
prepared, as in spontaneous de-
bate, and most, hesitate to take
on a task unless they are sure
they can do it well.
One SACUA member commented,
"Faculty members are stuck with
with , anything they do for a lot
longer than, students. They gen-
erally put in so much time on a
project that they are possessive
about it-hurt by criticism and
determined to see it done well."
Cautious about competing with
each other at the governmental
level, faculty groups last year re-
fused to take stands on the issue
of academic discipline pending the
release of the Hatcher Commis-
sion Report.
Faculty members were also re-
ticent to admit students to their
meetings because they feared dis-
ruption-as they fear disruption
on the campus along civil disobe-
dience lines or in the area of
funds and prerogatives.
A report of the Assembly's Re-
search Policies Committee re-
leased this spring largely sup-
ported the University's participa-
tion in classified research. The
report argued, "classified projects
are accepted primarily because
this is the only way at the mo-
ment to secure financial support
for certain significant research
projects. One must submit to the
nuisance and restrictions involv-
ed in-order to secure support for
certain types of research."
Generally, however, f a c u it y
members acting in governmental
bodies are friends of the student.
Last year, for instance, SACUA
agreed with Student Government
Council's resolution that "driving
regulations should be abolished
and the Assembly's Student Re-
lations Committee recommended
that students be allowed to make
their own rules.
4i
What did you do at the U today, Daddy?
By DANIEL OKRENT
Feature Editor
No, that scholarly man stand-
ing up there in front of class
does not earn his salary for lec-
turing for maybe six hours a
week to word-deadened ears.
In Fact, it's hard to say ex-
actly what he's getting paid for.
As a member of the wildly and
widely-ranging University fac-
ulty, his time and his abilities
are so varied that they defy
reasonable definition.
At the end of the 1966 aca-
demic year, there were 2174
professors like him in the Uni-
versity's 17 separate academic
units. Thirty per cent were full
professors and 15 per cent were
teaching fellows; the remainder
filled the ranks of associate, as-
sistant, lecturer and instructor.
Professors may be involved
in classroom work, departmen-
tal administration, service on
faculty committees, or en-
grossed in writing for the schol-
arly and professional journals.
He may be temporarily on leave
or he may teach all three se-
mesters of the academic year.
He may be compiling data for
the Kerner Commission or test-
ing infrared spotting devices
for Prince Bhumibol of Thai-
land.
Thomas N. Tentler teaches
history and hates to go to
meetings. As assistant profes-
sor, the rank most often en-
countered in the lecture hall
by the freshmen and sopho-
mores, he teaches a 500 student
survey course for the history
department, one of the literary
college's largest and most pres-
tigious units. Tentler may go a
semester without meeting one-
tenth of his students, and he
feels badly about this. But large
classes are necessarily the bur-
den of the assistant professor,
the newcomer to the staff.
Prof. Tentler wakes up at 8
a.m. in order to make a nine
o'clock. He'll spend the rest of
his non-classroom day in de-
partmental meetings discussing
next year's course schedule, or
in his office, grading papers
and meetini with students. fie
goes to faculty lunches, he
goes to his teaching fellows'
classes, he spends anywhere
from thirty minutes to day pre-
paring his next lecture.
Marvin Felheim, a full pro-
fessor in the English depart-
ment, came to Ann Arbor 19
years ago and has had more
than his share of meetings.
Having served on committees
ranging from SACUA's Student
Relations Committee to the ex-
ecutive committee of the Eng-
lish department, Felheim can
speak from experience.
"Committees are an obliga-
tion that the faculty has to
the University," he explains.
The committees that men.
like Tentler and Felheim serve
on address themselves to every-
thing from the selection of new
deans to arbitration of student-
faculty differences. They're oft-
en the kind of affair that is
closed to students, and Felheim
has a "hey, buddy, let me tell
you something" attitude when
the topic turns to their closed-
a lecturer who comes in and
reads off of yellowed notes,"
Felheim insists. "I remember
when I was a student and had
to listen to lectures that were
three years out of date."
So the early-rising Felheim
secrets himself away each day
to put together a new lecture.
"But never in my office; I
wouldn't get anything done."
When he is in his office, how-
ever, he keeps the door open,
and finds himself talking with
a coed about her pregnancy as
much as her pentameters. The
few hours a week he devotes to
office hours prove to be a run-
ning, uninterrupted conversa-
tion with his students, some-
thing else he sees as a profes-
sor's obligation. But, he admits
frankly, he enjoys it.
required to turn out scholarly
material, and there is a reason-
able justification.
"Academic departments at
major universities are national
departments., The criteria are
universal, and for every deduct-
ible reason, you've got to pub-
lish," Felheim says.
When a school is trying to
attract the best students and
the biggest foundation grants,
it has to have a noteworthy
reputation to boast. And, a fac-
gty member's published works
are the only available determin-
ants of reputation. Students
may all love a pr6fessor for be-
ing a stimulating, exciting
teacher, but this is the kind of
information that never makes
it off this campus and onto
other campuses, or into the of-
f~ of the Fnrd Fnid itin
r
Prof. Felheim finds meetings boring
Faculty salarles
____________________________________________________________________do___r- -doo tuaure.Three reaenmberofothrnumbe0r11Wruf roitheriii
"Strategically, for the admin- functions that necessarily fall Then there are the PhD com-
istration, it actually would be into the professor's pattern. mittees to chair, the local
best to kep the meetings open. Just as Tentler, an assistant speaking engagements to 'at-
They're so damn boring, the professor, supervises a group of tend, the graduate school rec-
students would lose interest im- graduate teaching fellows, Fel- ommendations to write, even
Unediately." heim and others of his rank the faculty parties on Saturday
Of course, the professor's life supervise the assistant profes- nights.
O U V E'at the conference table. Fel- partment is almost as struc- out banew one is beginning
heim devotes his mornings to tured as a corporate entity. Cram it all into the trimester
class preparation, something he And professors write, too. The system - something openly ab-
feels is one of the most critical "publish or perish" legend is no horred by most of the Univer-
jobs a professor performs. cliche. Faculty members at a sity faculty - and you can see
"There is nothing worse than school like the University are what they're getting paid for
' t
ProbDably wondered
what the _,ft .
4Reet .x
STUDENT CO-OPS
are all about the
At Michigan there are six men's, five women's and one mar-k
r ,+
ried couple's co-ops which house about 242 students; anT
additional1 25 "boarders" take meals only. NICEST
WHO OWNS AND RUNS THE CO-OPS? WE DO
in each house each member, new or old, shares equal responsibility for all decisions;"
what to eat, how much to spend, how much to work . . . i -
The co-op houses are owned by the Inter-Cooperative Council (I.C.C), a corporation
set Vup and run entirely by the students who live or eat in the houses. . %.,r;t.."...
WHO MAY JOIN THE CO-OPS?
Anyone beyond the freshman year or who is over 21 who agrees to participate in runningY
the co-ops democratically is welcome. Members are accepted on a first-come, first-served k + u' h.
} basis, without racial, religious or political discrimination. There is no pledge or initiation at. th e
period.rt ,.jt s7 ;
WHAT ARE THE LIVING & EATING ARRANGEMENTS? bKklA
As a roomer, you are provided furnished living quarters as well as social space and eating
privileges. As a boarder, you get 20meals a week. ' w .n.., q r 3s, r a r si
"Guffing," or between meal snacking, is one of our most cherished traditions. Everyone s *
has free access at all times to milk, bread, butter, jam, and leftovers. Other items are charged
Any member may invite guests. There are adequate laundry facilities. Co-ops stay open G:
during vacat ion periods and in the summer. ,:,x+~# ,.~',.,.Px u luw"s+' -:, t ,
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Each house sets its own budget. Average costs for the past semester have been:
Week Semester
Room and Board $20.50 $328.00
Board only $13.25. $212.00 We have a tremendous stock of used books
New members pay a $40 deposit when they join; it is refunded when they leave.
for all your courses at the low SBS prices.
WHO DOES THE WORK? WE DO
All cooking, dishwashing, maintenance and management is done by the members. Any You need NOT reserve them .
member, new or old, can be elected officer: president, house manager, food purchaser or
accountant.
It takes from four to six hours per member to run a co-op. The exact work time is
Jecided by hous votem , aOpen till 9:0 P.M . for your convenience
There are no maids, janitors, or hired cooks. p n :0 o
-- --, - -':r .. ---..rrr - - 4r~rrrt fr. > c>. r ta i'rT7 Wi
go from
'A' to 'B''
By PHILIP BLOCK
Falling wage rankings are causing major problems for faculty
recruiters at the University. Just ask Vice President for Academic
Affairs Allan F. Smith.
Indeed, the University's national ranking in terms of average
compensation to faculty members has been falling since 1961
when it was among the top ten schools in this category.
Last year the University, .dropped from 17th to 23rd in the
nation according tb the American Association of University Pro-
fessors' (AAUP) annual report. This decline was largely due to the
drop in the University's AAUP average compensation rating for
full professors from 'A' to 'B.'
What does this drop in relative salary position mean to the
recruitment of new faculty members?
"We worry about a drop in our national standing because it
takes the edge off of our competitive position," says Smith. "We
are now finding that schools with whom we never had to compete
before are now competitvely bidding with us for new faculty
members."
Fortunately for the University, salary is not the only factor
which influences faculty recruitment. Prospective professors look
at several other characteristics of the school where they plan to
teach.
The relative prestige of the institution, the general location
of the school, and the atmosphere of the city in which the school
is located are other major factors. Also important is the quality of
the school's teaching staff, and the students whom the professors
will be teaching.
In the past the University has had many of these factors
working. in its favor, namely the prestige, the highly cultural
atmosphere of Ann Arbor, and the above average quality of its
incoming students.
However,;though these factors may help slow down any
decease in the quality of the school, the fall in relative wage
rates will eventually make an effect.
In its annual' report of 1963-64, the SACUA Committee on
the Economic Status of the Faculty emphasized this fact:
"Just as it may take several years before an institution that
has only recently attained a, high salary level can be expected to
achieve high academic status, it is likely that an institution
whose relative salary position has deteriorated may; at least for
some time, retain its high academic quality. As surely as the
position of one institution will improve, the position of the other
will certainly deteriorate."
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