Y Seventy-Third Year EDrrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF M. HIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Truth Will Prevail" Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must b noted, in all reprints. AY, FEBRUARY 26, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: GERALD STORCH Should the University Eliminate Its Freshman, Sophomore Years? Yes PRESIDENT HARLAN Hatcher's continued emphasis on research in recent pronounce- ments reflects the growing inclination of the University toward graduate and professional studies and research. Today the greatness of the University-its vision, initiative and results -lies in this area. Research, in particular, has been expanding at an exponential rate. This year spending in this area will reach an estimated $36 million and by 1970, Ralph A. Sawyer, Vice-President for Research, predicts, $100 million. Initiative and inventiveness have also marked the graduate program. Many of the schools and colleges have been making reforms and revisions as knowledge expands. Interdiscip- linary programs have augmented growing de- partment activities. U NDERGRADUATE education, however, es- pecially in the freshmen and sophomore years, is the backwater of the University. In his first two years, the student is faced with many barriers. To meet the distribution re- quirements designed to provide broad educa- tion, he must attend large lecture courses often taught by an unstimulating teacher in a class so large that he can neither get the proper attention nor be stimulated by the instructor. He rarely gets a chance to study with the top up-and-coming men in various dis- ciplines. Although the introductory course lec- tures are usually given by department chairmen or by senior professors, the student has little contact with them outside of class. The recita- tion sections, where the student may receive personal attention, are taught by teaching fellows or instructors just beginning their aca- demic careers. However, with the Junior year, the student can sense the greatness of the University and partake of its juicy morsels. When he enters the advanced courses, he gets to the meat of his chosen discipline taught by top men in their fields. The department begins to exhibit greater concern for its students, preparing them for graduate studies. THE UNIVERSITY'S orientation t o w a r d graduate studies and research makes im- provement of undergraduate education-espe- cially in the freshman and sophomore years- difficult If not unlikely. President Hatcher recently underscored this orientation by declar- ing that the University's first concern in meet- ing the student population explosion was the expansion of graduate and professional schools. Increasing federal research aid is also ex- panding and encourages graduate education as research projects help support such education. Static state appropriations which mainly sup- port undergraduate education will also cause the University to follow the line of least re- sistance-and expand its graduate programs. Thus it is time for the University to con- sider dropping the freshman and sophomore years rather than letting them deteriorate in the face of pressures toward specialized gradu- ate and professional education. This change cannot, of course, occur overnight, but if the University makes a basic policy decision now, it can effect it gradually over the next 10-20 years. CURRENTLY, it is possible for thestudentato get the same basic education at any state college or junior college. The important dif- ference comes when the student specializes in the third year and studies under the high- quality teachers of the University. With proper standards, the University can assure that the incoming juniors could have the proper basic education. Admission could be based in large measure on a rigorus achievement examination which would force up lower standard junior colleges. Before the University can drop its first two undergraduate years, it must find a replace- ment. The current state college system is not large enough to absorb several thousand stu- dents and meet the rising demand for college education at the same time. It must encourage the growth of high-quality junior colleges which will provide the necessary basic educa- tion. This encouragement would mean a seem- ing reversal of current University policy which appears to be indifferent or hostile to them and a modification of its branch policy. UNFORTUNATELY, there are a number of drawbacks that would take 10-20 years to iron out. It would take that long to create a string of locally-supported, high quality junior colreges to adequately replace the first two years. The University would have to overcome an adverse political reaction. It has long sym- bolized excellence in undergraduate education and many legislators would hysterically react to hsyterical constituent demands to put their sons or daughters in Michigan as freshmen. necessary. On the academic side, the enroll- Internally, this move would radically change the University and 20 years' planning would be ment of University would shrink by several thousand necessitating' a rearrangement of No SUPPOSE you are a highly qualified high school graduate, and you're looking over Michigan's higher education system, trying to decide where to spend your undergraduate years. Now, suppose you discover that the idea of dropping the University's freshman and sopho- more years-has already been put into operation. The freshman and sophomore years have been pulled out of the University, its appropriation has been cut proportionately and the money the state saved has been passed out among the various junior colleges so that they could ex- pand enough to handle the 6000-odd extra stu- dents. For the sake of comparison, let's also assume that another University, say Michigan State, remains as a four-year undergraduate school. So what choice do you have? You can go to one of the junior colleges, as the theorists expect. There (since these school would still be fulfilling the function they fulfill today) you would be thrown in with about the top 50 per cent of your high school class, be in cor- respondingly slowed-down courses, and have to interrupt education after two years to change to another college. Or, you can go to MSU, with somewhat higher admission standards and a much more advanced academic program (in- cluding a full-fledged honors program which a junior college couldn't afford), where you could get an uninterrupted four-year education. The choice is obvious. "Fine," says the split-em-up theorist, "so you'll go to State for two years and then trans- fer to the University." This is a good possibility, as long as in your two years at MSU you don't form any sort of ties with that campus. The chances are very great that while at MSU you will join a fraternity, or get involved in some student organization, or form friendships which you won't want to leave, or find certain professors or departments stimulating, or simply like the place in general enough that you won't want to give it up and move elsewhere. The resultant effect on the state's college system would be far from what the theory en- visions. A sizeable proportion-if not a majority -of the most qualified upperclassmen would stay at MSU. What would this do to the quality of the supposedly elite, first-rate upperclass school the theory implicitly asserts that the University would become? BUT LET'S PLAY the game. Let's assume that the top MSU students do decide to come to Ann Arbor for their last two years. MSU would become bottom-heavy-a sort of advanced junior college with a relatively small and mediocre junior-senior student body grafted on the top. "Great!" cries the theorist, "there's the speeded-up junior college that my system needs!" Okay. But if we're going to have an elite junior college to supply the University with its top-notch upperclassmen, why not set it up in Ann Arbor? And why not make it part of the University? And then why not eliminate this artificial division altogether? Our reason- ing leads us inexorably back to the status quo. Just to be fair, let's start over once more, and suppose that for some reason (perhaps to please the theorist) you do decide to go to a junior college. Good for you. Now, here are a few of the rewards you get: 1.) You find yourself in what amounts to a glorified high school. Not only will the pace be slow for you and unchallenging, but the range of courses available will be extremely small compared to what the University now offers its underclassmen. There would be no way, for example, to take a junior-or senior- level course or two, for they would all be in Ann Arbor-so if you happen to be ready for such courses, your choice is slim: how many junior colleges can offer you, for example, six different beginning philosophy courses or 13 different languages? 2) Contact with the University's top profes- sors may be sparse for underclassmen now, but at the junior college, the opportunities for such contact would be nil. Only seeing such top teachers in a lecture hall is far from ideal, but it nevertheless is stimulating even there, and is certainly better than not seeing them at all. 3) Perhaps more important, you'd be iso- lated from all contact with upperclassmen. The newcomer benefits from their longer experience and "(hopefully) increased sophistication in innumerable ways. In an informal way, upper- classmen perform many of the functions which assorted bureaucracies would otherwise have to perform: academic counselor, tutor, continu- ing-orientation leader, social advisor, informa- tion desk, and-perhaps most important- source of inspiration. 4) You'd also miss out on numerous other things: an extensive library system, large-scale student organizations (which the split-'em- upper gleefully sends to an untimely death), extracurricular lectures and cultural events, and all the other attractions a university can offer. T IS CLEAR that the simple act of changing location does nothing but create problems. If, indeed, freshmen; and sophomores are get- tina a ra w ea at the University. the answer "Only When I Laugh" rc-c y I 1 .r'- za~ k X- -7-' LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: On Non-Dictation Of Local Legislation . M .. . ,. --,..+ - :.r '~ r ' .fr.:, .w-,aim co'~ LATIN AMERICA: Meeting Stimulates Theories By CAROLINE DOW Personnel Director LAST WEEK a group of experts and afficinados on Latin Amer- ican affairs gathered at Swarth- more College to discuss the prob- lems and new developments in that area. The topics discussed by the 300 students and 30 experts in a three day period are much too vast to be covered intensively. However, an attempt has been made to sur- vey some of the more striking theories and facts that highlight- ed this second annual Swarthmore conference. The following state- ments by those who attended are arranged under top headings and present a brief glimpse into the many discussions. * * * AMERICAN Foreign Policy-The focus on economic development is much too narrow. Economic growth must affect the rural areas, although this is much more diffi- cult than building a cement mill. -Chester Bowles, presidential as- sistant for Asian, African and Lat- in American affairs. Do not expect too much of the Latin Americans in the way of gratitude-we are not going to get much thanks .-Bowles. The Alliance for Progress is the most advanced step in the gradual acceptance of the need for eco- nomic planning in underdeveloped countries. - Cleantho de Piava Leite, executive director, Inter- American Development Bank. The basic idea of the Alliance for Progress-that of attempting to stimulate economic development through technological change, is sound.-Prof. George Blanksten, of Northwestern University. The Alliance will work in the democracies (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay) and the revo- lutionary countries (Boliyia, Cuba, Mexico). It will not work in the others because they are dominated by groups dedicated to the status quo ...,they just do not care- Prof. Edmundo Flores, of the Na- tional Autonomous University of Mexico. Will the landowning classes commit economic suicide by as- senting to substantive chance?- a student. The aim of American foreign policy is to "do good, make a prof- it and be liked"-Prof. Samuel Shapiro, of Oakland University. * * * SOCIAL CHANGE-The prob- lem of unassimilated Indians are often discussed but Latin America faces another problem of "unas- similated slums" in the cities - Gary MacEoin, of the Overseas Press Club. "The slums are actual- ly assimilated because their in- habitants do participate in an urbanized political pattern."-de Piava Leite. "There is no middle class in Latin America-only an aristocra- cy that did not make it."-Flores. Positive nationalism may be a viable competition for religion and Communism. * * s STUDENTS-Although the par- ticipation of the students in Latin American universities gives a good administration-the quality of the curricula is lower.-panelist. "The student leaders of today in Latin America are the student leaders of tomorrow." - David Spencer, Harvard.. The Catholic Church is evolving from a status quo alliance to a great understanding of mass prob- lems and the leadership of liberal reforis.-de Piava Leite. * * * ECONOMY - Latin American leaders are rapidly realizing that they have more in common with the Southern half of the world (Asia and Africa) than with the industrial powers North of the equator. They recognize that the world is no longer bi-polar but multi-polar and that they can no longer afford to ignore the grow- ing market of the Eastern bloc.- de Piava Leite. "Coffee stablization is just a hidden subsidy to plantation own- ers."-Edmundo Flores, of the Na- tional Automous University of Mexico. * * * COMPARISON-Latin America can be compared to the United States of the 1850's. This was a period of upheaval opposed by an oligarchy of the Southern land- owning artsiocracy. We can draw an analogy between John Brown and Fidel Castro.-Prof. Shapiro. The existence of Communist move- ments in Latin America is an ex- ception to Prof. Shapiro's theory. The good of Castro may be that he forces the oligarchy to accept change through fear of the Com- munist alternative.-Prof. Robert Alexander, of Rutgers University. * * * THE ARMY-There is a possi- bility that the Army may be a means of social revolution as an authoritarian rather than totali- tarian instrument of change. They may also provide a Nasserite or "Peronista" alternative to the rev- olutionary pattern.-Prof. Alex- ander. The armed forces are becoming a democratic force because they are recruiting from all classes.-de Piava Leite. * * * THEORY-We may be experi- encing a revival of Social Darwin- ism in our search for patterns of change and our assumptions that all change in a pattern is good i the progressive sense - Prof. Blanksten. A typical revolution is "an as- sault on the National Treasury"... a real revolution involves nation- alization and land reform.-anon. Although we have sought three closely related patterns at this con- ference, those of derpocracy, de- velopment and revolution, there can be no generalization about Latin America from which we can predict the future.-Prof. Alexan- der. There are three possible theor- etical relationships between politi- cal revolution and economic devel- opment: 1) Political revolution can arise as a result of a need for economic development. 2) Economic development can cause dislocations which may re- sult in political revolutions. 3) Political revolution and eco- nomic development are mutually exclusive-Prof. Alexander. "Must we polarize democracy and development?"-Prof. Blank- sten. To the Editor: AS A PAST member of the Hu- man Relations Board, I should like to offer some comments ger- mane to President Hatcher's re- fusal to express, a need for fair housing in Ann Arbor. First, whatever merits the Uni- versity's (public) hands-off policy on local legislation may have, President Hatcher's reply does not explain his indifferent handling of the previous request from the Human Relations Board. This was a simple request for public re- affirmation of the University's concern in the area of fair hous- ing at a time when the question of legislation was not even at issue. Indeed, his cavalier dismis- sal of that previous mild request was almost certainly a factor in- fluencing last week's less docile reaction to his silence. * * * SECOND, in defending his po- sition, the President pointed proudly to the University's policy of refusing bulletin board space to landlords who discriminate on the basis of race. And he is justly proud, for the University has now established a fairly good record of nondiscrimination within its own walls. But it is unfortunate that the community has been left with the impression that the "rash" Hu- man Relations Board is somehow unaware of this massive "behind the scenes" civil rights movement to which he calls witness. For even these small steps to which Presi- dent Hatcher can now point so proudly have themselves resulted only from months of negotiation and pressure by the HRB. Finally, as statements by City Council members made quite clear, the Human Relations Board was hardly asking President Hatcher to "dictate legislation" to the city. The crackling moral indignation of President Hatcher's statement, "We do not beeve . . . the Uni- versity should attempt to dictate legislation . . ." was admittedly very dramatic. One could only wish that the carefully cultivated rhetorical skills so completely dis- played by our leaders in the do- main of public relations were as zealously devoted to the service-of human relations. -Daryl J. Ber, Grad Silence .. To the Editor: IT IS UNFORTUNATE that Pres- ident Harlan Hatcher has had to justify his silence on fair hous- ing legislation for Ann Arbor by implying that the Human Rela- tions Board wishes "that the Uni- versity should attempt to dictate legislation in Ann Arbor." We asked the President publicly and unambiguously to state the University's position on fair hous- ing legislation for Ann Arbor. Would such a statement consti- tute, as President Hatcher sug- gests, "an attempt to dictate legis- lation in Ann Arbor?" We think not. The University has probably been confronted with discrimina- tion in housing in a more con- crete form, and over a longer per- iod of time than any other organ- ization in Ann Arbor. The Univer- sity was faced with this problem before the NAACP existed, yet President Hatcher feels we have no right to make a statement in this area. LET US ANALYZE this "state- ment" which President Hatcher did make to the press. The first paragraph was simply a restate- ment of the University's nondis- criminatory policy which was set forth four years ago in Regents Bylaw 2.14. He then sympathized with student and staff victims of discrimination, and stated that progress has been made. The sentiment is noble and so is his optimism, but what does he intend to do about the problem? If President Hatcher has been "in constant touch with the human relations groups of the University and Ann Arbor," as he stated, he should be aware of how pitifully slow progress has been. Students have no voice in Ann Arbor, yet they are subject to both the legislation of the Ann Arbor City Council, and the dis- criminatory practices of its citi- zens. The University must speak for the vital interests ofits stu- dents, faculty and personnel. -David Aroner, '64 Chairman, Human Relations Board Furor? . To the Editor: WHAT IS the fair-housing furor all about? The Human Rela- tions Board is busy concealing this in a flurry of misleading and false propaganda. The details of my indictment: First, the HRB asks President Hatcher a vague question which they later point out doesn't neces- sarily ask for what it obviously does-a University attempt to in- fluence city legislation (the pro- per province of the citizens). Second, the HRB and company then claim that President Hatcher as a person-not a spokesman for the University-does not take a stand on the proposed law. No one has asked him. Third, the HRB attacksthe President for not commenting on the general area of fair housing; and the need of change if there is to be no bias. Their question was deliberately worded to prevent this-it demands University com- ment on fair housing legislation. * * * THE UNIVERSITY as an im- personal institution-a constitu- tional corporation, has no right to attempt to influence the citi- zens of any political unit by any- thing but the presentation of facts. The HRB does not want Presi- dent Hatcher to present facts; they want him to tell people what they should do-in the name of the University of Michigan. (In addition to being undemocratic, this would probably create resent- ment among Ann.Arbor politicians for what they would rightfully perceive as improper arrogation of authority by the University.) President Hatcher has taken the only possible stand: he has been misrepresented by the HRB and to some extent by The Daily itself. It is time this stopped. -Robert L. Farrell, '63 AT THE STATE: Lo-tery A Dead See IT HAS LONG been apparent that good Bible stories make bad movies, but "Sodom and Gomor- rah" is ridiculous. Effortlessly, the dialogue hits the very nadir of the dramatic art; itsrbrilliance can be attributed to an inspired adaptation of Gene- sis which bridges the gap between King James and King Kong. The main trouble with this is that Stewart Granger (as Lot-believe it or not) gets all the Bible-lines ("Yea, even as the Sodomites shall we live") while the really good stuff is wasted on the evil Gen- erals ("The word of the day is Kill"). Even Pier Angeli, not generally noted for her effusiveness, takes a try: After an incredible battle where the catsup flows (almost) like blood, where impassioned thousands are successively burned, drowned, and quartered, and which leaves the survivors totally ruined, she manages quietly and with poise to deliver her big line. "Victory," she simpers, and the crowds go wild. Stewart Granger's big moment comes in a jail cell while praying. For a while all is quiet, and then with an assist from Miklos (Quo Vadis) Rosa, who causes God to appear in the second violin sec- tian, Mr. Granger is vested with that celebrated ultimatum. Suffice it to say that he is quite out of tears by the time his wife is turn- ed to salt. And by this time so is the audience, which is released to look back at the newsreel (pen- guins walking) and turn its ticket stubs into the box office. -Dick Pollinger 1 FEIFFER A PIKARUAHEJT pbR EllJr fnV FUTURE 6FCU6A, P. 6rAP19 VP TO 70 m A TOMiffU BACKC DOWN! 6Vftlf InH1 ,fR! qou 56& A)o A M1ARMN.I6r 519. F~ 0 0") U P T O T u e 1 0 5 T M U f 'MN'tt BACK AFTg T41t S ATRog "T ~ rCMC6' O qoo) 5t FR A !1ARH-A- MO A-R 'I M POLAfl,51g aicZCoeto VA LA AtJT 5OVAKIA A00P PO4N0t2(. -qoU'te 5E. IF 106 5TA00 P PO hH '(6' ACK D~OW E0 WoiW9A AFOO.T116 1'fAI PH. 6 O C u 151 ? Qo qot, FIRST N6 M05T 5AW' VPTO MIAKE TLN fPUT BACK 146 AW! AFT69 TH{AT. 56 }ATO ' AFreCR k47CI~HA$ srOM LVCfrktt f VA