100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

April 26, 1963 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1963-04-26

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Seventy-Third Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
hAeee STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

T
i 81

s1

SIDELINE ON SGC:
Council Buries Issues
In Philosophical Talk

, APRIL 26, 1963

NIGHT EDITOR: MALIDA BERRY

Engineering College Needs
Curriculum To Fill Gap,

'-'4/f.

.
r
t

E SPLIT between the backgrounds of
tudents in engineering and students of the
ral sciences in the literary college is too
e. As a result of students being forced to
le between the two different degrees, the
llment in the engineering school has been
ning.
ie present traditional engineering curricula
.ot allow enough time for both a thorough
vledge of engineering practices and an ade-
e background in languages, humanities and
it sciences. The engineering college should
ide a curriculum which fills the gap be-
n the two colleges.
ie engineering college is being run under
,sically sound assumption: it is wrong to
engineering students for specific jobs in
.fic fields. No "radar engineers" exist at
University. But this assumption does not
nd to types of occupations, such as re-
h and development, sales or production
;n. The engineering college is only begin-
to accommodate students in curricula
h prepare them for different types of
potions.
the situation exists today, engineering
ents do not know before they graduate
kinds of jobs they are going to take.
may choose fields that interest them, but
tually the companies which employ them
not be giving them jobs which correspond
bly to the courses they took in college. In
cases, the content of any one course may
r be used. And students often change their
osed fields of work after graduation. Many
exist where a graduate starts work and
,ins in a field which is completely different
the one he studied in college.
SO, SOME fields close up, no longer exist
r become so overcrowded that an engi-
s talents are wasted. In the past this
lem was serious. Students trained for
rating station equipment about 25 years
found after graduation that no jobs were
able to them.
e engineering college is correct in not
ting a philosophy of training students for
fic jobs. Practices of the engineering col-
indicate that the present philosophy is to
students a common background which
iarizeS the student with engineering work

At present about 80 per cent of all the tradi-
tional curricula is common to engineering grad-
uates. The college gives the student a balanced
diet of laboratory and classroom work in wide
and specialized areas of knowledge.
ONE MAY WELL think that industry would
exert an influence which would tend to
pressure the engineering college into modify-
ing course content one way or the other. How-
ever, the influence of industry on curricula
is not-a case of companies coming in and de-
tailing the requirements they need in graduates.
The immediate needs of industry are not
always consonant with the interests of gradu-
ating engineers; the technical training that
companies may need in graduates probably
would not aid engineers in their careers in the
long run. Fortunately, engineering curricula
are not dictated by industry.
But industry plays a large part in determ-
ining the popularity of fields of specialization.
For instance, by offering larger salaries and
by relaying attractive information to students
before they graduate, companies spur increased
enrollment in electrical, aeronautical and
mechanical engineering. The strongest demand
for engineers is coming from defense and aero-
nautical and space employers.
AT THE TIME of graduation, industry also
plays a large part in determining the type
of occupation a student will enter.' Often he
seldom considers whether he will go into re-
search and development or into production
operations or sales. And this division is impor-
tant. Working behind a desk is engineering
work of completely different character from
working in a laboratory. It requires a different
background.
Yet the engineering college prepares its
students without regard to which type of occu-
pation they will be entering. And the difference
between students who go into research and
development and those who go into other types
of occupations is not arbitrary. In general,
students who receive grade point averages
about 2.6 go into research and development,
and those with lower averages go into produc-
tion operations, design or sales. However, the
number 2.6 is not completely clear cut-there
are many students for whom this division
doesn't hold.
The college is already beginning to accom-
modate students headed into research and de-
velopment with its science engineering degree
program. The program offers a fundamental
knowledge of science and an adequate famil-
iarity with the social sciences and humanities.
But it is rigorous and is limited to students who
are drawn from other engineering fields.
ONE POSSIBILITY which would perhaps be
attractive to students in t h e natural
sciences would be a three-year professional
program to follow a two-year preparatory pro-
gram in the literary college. Yale offers both
a four-year engineering program and a three-
year professional degree. One advantage is
that at the end of two years in the literary
college-instead of at entrance to the Uni-
versity-students could decide whether they
wished to 'go into an engineering program.
Also, after the total of five years, those stu-
dents in the professional program could be
given the background to go into research andI
development.
Whatever the final solution, the engineering
college should plan to offer curricula to engi-
neering students which allow them to go into
research and development occupations with a
proper background.
-MICHAEL SATTINGER

.... a

ZA

I

I

''GENTLY , NoW, OR 14EL

/.
BE ON OUK' NECKS MAAIN.

TODAY AND TOMORROW:
Contests Show Political Trends

Challenges
OMMEI14TING on his appointment to the
literary college deanship, Prof. William
aber, chairman of the economics depart-
ent, said it was "an honor" to be given the
portunity to provide "administrative lead-
ship in meeting the challenges of the post."
Indeed, the literary college, ,as well as the
tire university, is involved in a crucial
riod. The challenges facing all of higher edu-
tion require more teachers, more classroom
id laboratory space and more time to meet
e pressure of a growing student population
i increasingly complex body of knowledge
akes it mandatory that more people be edu-
ted and that educational systems expand
eir boundaries.
It is these and many more challenges that
of, Haber hopes to meet. He is a respected
culty member, an expert in his field of labor
onomics as well as a man interested in the
erations of the University. His background
ows him to be a well-informed and compe-
nt person, able to provide the literary college
th the leadership it should have in this
riod of challenges.
-M. BRAHMS

By WALTER LIPPMANN
r]pIS WEEKEND in Italy there
will be held the first of a series
of European elections. Next year
there will be an election in Great
Britain, and in 1965 there will be
one in West ,Germany. Moreover,
there will be some kind of French
election in December, 1965, be-
cause General de Gaulle's term of
office ends in January, 1966.
Unless Premier Fanfani is upset
this weekend, we shall have in the
Italian election what might be
called a preview of the general
movement of European politics.
Fanfani, who is a Christian Dem-
ocrat, has formed a working ar-
rangement with Nenni, the leader
of the Socialist Party. Until this
so-called "opening to the left," the
bulk of the Italian Socialists were
allied with the Communists. At
the national level, though not so
completely in the localities, the
Nenni Socialists have broken away
from the Communists and have
openly denounced the undemo-
cratic totalitarianism of the Com-
munist Party. ,
This political maneuver has
strengthened the Christian demo-
cratic government and given it
a good majority in the parliament.
It has at the same time drawn
the Christian Democrats away
from the right and from the far
right.
It is of great historic signifi-
cance that Fanfani's action has
had the blessing of the Vatican.
The issue in the elections this
weekend is whether the working
arrangement between Christian
Democrats and Socialists will be
ratified and thus encouraged to
develop into a big coalition of the
center.
* * *
THE BASIC PATTERN of Ital-
ian politics is that the two large
mass parties are drawing closer
together and are drawing away
from the true-believing Commun-
ists on the left and from the old-
believing fascists, monarchists,
feudalists and reactionaries on
the right.
The same pattern is discernible
in West Germany. There the So-
cial Democrats have turned away
from their Marxist inheritance
and have converted themselves
into a party of the left center. The
Christian Democrats are at the
same time moving toward a co-
alition with the Social Democrats
-presumably after the election of
1965 when, it is believed, the So-
cial Democrats will have become
a very large party, though they
will be short of being a majority
party.
The basic .pattern is also dis-
cernible in GreatBritain.sThere
the conservatism of the younger
Tories is far to the left of what
is called conservatism in this
country; the leftism of the Labor
Party is far to the right of Marx-
ist socialism.
THE EUROPEAN movement
away from the ends toward the
center reflects the practical ex-
perience of Europe since the Sec-
ond World War. The feudal and
aristocratic elements of continen-
tal society have been largely liqui-

At the same time, the recovery
of Europe has made irrelevant and
uninteresting the socialism of the
prewar era. The Socialist parties
of Germany and Great Britain,
and now of Italy, are no longer
"working class" and Marxist. They
are middle class, which includes
in modern Europe as it does in
this country a great mass of blue-
collar workers as well as the white.
In the Marxist sense, there is no
class struggle in the advanced
BRANCH:
By KENNETH WINTER
AMID A final flurry of confusion
and newspaper misreporting,
this year's stormy careers of the
two Delta College expansion plans
have ended.
Their dying moments went
something like this: the "piggy-
back" bill (setting up an inde-
pendent state senior college at
Delta) was in the Senate Appro-
priations Committee. Its chair-
man, Sen. Frank Beadle (R-St.
Clair) and his colleagues were
about to give it the axe. The reso-
lution for a University branch at
Delta, though technically still
alive in the Legislature, was vir-
tually dead.
" s ,
UPON LEARNING that Beadle's
committee was about to kill their
plan, the "piggy-back" bill's sup-
porters passed the word around
that the University was going to
set up a branch at Delta next fall
-with or without the Legisla-
ture's consent.
Worried, Beadle called Univer-
sity officials, who reluctantly gave
him a letter reaffirming (for the
nth time) the University position.
No indeed, President Hatcher's
letter said, we certainly won't defy
you. Be calm.
So the "piggy-back" bill was
calmly killed - and the Univer-
sity was promptly represented in
the press as having thrown its
branch plan to the wolves in order
to stop the "piggy-back" bill. The
reported "agreement" between
Beadle and President Hatcher, in
fact, amounted to nothing more
than a reaffirmation of a policy.
the University has publicly held
from the start: to do nothing on
Delta without the Legislature's
support.
THE FUTURE of the Delta
question now rests with the new
"blue-ribbon" Citizens Committee
on Higher Education, which will
recommend a plan for a Delta-
area degree-granting c olle g e.
Their report on it may be ready
this fall.
Preliminary indications are that
the chances of them recommend-
ing a branch at Delta are prac-
tically nil. The branch concept al-
ready has two strikes against it:
First, the study committee's
basic reference is the 1958 Russell
R~nnf n- Rffrhiyay, liaes

countries of Western Europe. But
there is greater affluence than
any Communist country has come
anywhere near to.
In the 18 years since the end
of the war, the prestige of Soviet
Communism, which was bright
while Europe was prostrated, has
grown dim as Europe has recov-
ered. Today, the Russian problem
is how to extricate their advanced
economy from the toils of the to-
talitarian regime. The old Com-
munist doctrine flourishes today
only in the backward countries,
notably in China.
Althuogh there are no elec-
. tions in the Soviet Union, there
is ground for thinking that it, too,
is in the midst of political change.
Mr. Khrushchev is not a personal
dictator ns was Stalin. The So-
viet Union is ruled by an oligarchy
of which Mr. Khrushchev is the
boss and the leader, but not the
absolute master.
He is faced, I venture to think,
with a tangled knot to untie. The
Soviet Union and its economy
have reached - a state of develop-
ment where they are too complex
to be run by dictation from the
Kremlin. Russia needs at least a
certain amount of freedom to
think, to speak, to invent, to con-
sult and to initiate. It also needs
peace with the nuclear power of
the Wes.t
On the other hand, historical
experience shows that it is ex-
tremely difficult and dangerous to
loosen up the bonds of a regi-
mented society. Liberty is a heady
drink, and again and again re-
gimes forced by discontent to lib-
eralize themselves have come
crashing down not long after.
My guess is that Khrushchev is
stumped because he does not kncw
how to let freedom advance with-
out risking the very existence of
the regime. I would not suppose
that he is in such a tantrum
about the artists merely because,
like General Eisenhower and Mr.
Truman, he dislikes what they
paint. He is angry because he is
frightened at what a growing
freedom, which is unavoidable,
will do to Soviet society.
(c) 1963, The Washington Post Co.

By LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM
WHILE COUNCIL members
philosophize, student-faculty
government burns.
Engaging in a wordy but fruit-
less discussion Wednesday night
which might have been titled
"what are we? and where are we
going?'" most 'Ludent Govern-
ment Council members seemed to
know neither.
They showed instead a tenden-
cy to assert broad generalizations
about such vague subjects as
"greater Council unity for better
planning." What they neglected
to realize was that their planning
is in the fulfilling-and SOC has
been tragically lacking in follow-
ing up its' passed motions. Two
cases in point, the Harris proposal
and motions to improve student-
faculty relations, were lying on
the table, lost in the shower of
generalities about Council's inef-
fectiveness.
Their discussion was sparked by
Howard Abrams, '63, warning that
"I don't think Council has been
thinking about what we are doing
now, what we should be doing,
and what we are capable of do-
ing. "
Other Council members took up
the challenge and their philoso-
phizing quickly spread to that
favorite tabletalk question of lib-
eral-conservative f a c t i o n s and
their effect on Council.
** *
ONLY MIKE Knapp, - '64BAd,
and SGC Treasurer Frederick
Rhines, '64, could be heard above
the verbiage about "ideological
commitments, " "consensus," and
"factions." Rhines made a practi-
cal suggestion that members read
their mail in the afternoon to as-
sure more intelligent considera-
tion of issues at the Council table.
But it was Knapp who really
singled out the faults of the dis-
cussion by attempting to switch
the topic at hand back to the real
issues. "I don't think that lately
we've been working on trivial
things," he said.
While one" member called for
the introduction of f'more sub-
stantive and intelligent proposals"
few words about the Harris report
or student-faculty government
could be detected.
* * *
NOT THAT Council members
had forgotten about them, it was
simply their assumption that once
motions are passed, policy is im-
plemented, Council =n e m b e r s
called for general goals. They only
had to look at their unanimously-
passed motion on student-faculty
government. It says in part: "Stu-
dent Government Council believes
that the ideal of free interchange
of knowledge and belief is essen-
tial to the effective functioning of
any educational community.. .
It is imperative that students and
faculty think of each other as
Joint members in a community of
scholars, with similar concerns
and activities."
Council members ialed for spe-
cific goals; they had only to look
at their work of that evening. SGC
had established a revamped Com-
mittee on University Affairs pro-
viding for subcommittees of two
members to try to meet with fac-
ulty subcommittees.
People for these committees will
simply not materialize because of
SGC motions. SGC President Tom
Brown, '63 BAd, has noted that
"the best way to get qualified
people for these subcommittees is
through individual contacts," con-
tacts which could and should be
made by Council members.
The second issue basic to Coun-
cil's future is the question of its
right to rescind recognition of
fraternities and sororities. Final
curtain goes up next month when
the Regents will receive Univer-
sity President Harlan Hatcher's
recommendations. Fortunately for
Council, (it couldn't have cared
less) Brown intends to inform the
Regents in detail of Council's

stand supporting the Harris re-
port.
* .* *
STUDENT Government Coun-
.cil members displayed their rhe-
torical eloquence last night. True,
there was nobody to listen but the
two Daily reporters. True, the
campus cared little what "their"

government debated. And true too,
spring is upon us, spreading its
rays of apathy.
Council gave its grandiose con-
sideration to the "dynamicism" of
a two-party system or the chances
of progress through cooperation.
And on the table before them,
buried in a pile of sheets and
notes, the Harris report, the re-
organization of the Committee on
the University and perhaps the
opportunity for Council to stand
as a respected body sat buried and
neglected.

To the Editor:
STUDENT behavior at this Uni-
versity has reached new depths
as asininity with the advent, once
again, of the "silly season." Tues-
day morning at 2 a.m. a group of-
about twenty men came into
Greene House in East Quadrangle,
mounted to the fourth floor, pro-
ceeded to hammer on all the doors
on the fourth floor, and, cursing
and shouting, dragged one of the
residents out of bed, down the
stairs to the front lawn of the'
Quadrangle, stripped him naked,
and spread a paste of red brick
dust on him with a broom.
The occasion? The initiation of
a new member into the Sphinx
"Honorary".
Upon questioning the newly
honored one, I was informed that
such activities were quite custom-
ary, and were first cleared with
Director of Student Organizations
John Bingley, the local police de-
partment, and the resident ad-
visor of the house in which the
tappee lives.

t * *'
THIS ASSERTION strains my
credulity. Can a responsible Uni-
versity administrationan condone
such behavior? The panty raids
which are forever being censured
by the same Office of Student Af-
fairs, which apparently permits'
such antics as occurred this morn-
-ing, hardly seem to me to be more
destructive.
And yet on closer inspection one
suffers serious doubts. Possibly
this is just a chance occurrence
which will be cleared up with the
suspension of the persons in-
volved, if they can be found, and
the names of the Sphinx and the
Office of Student Affairs will be
shown to be free of any connec-
tion with the incident.
* * *
AS THIS is my first year at the
University, I have had no direct
experience with former occur-
rences of this nature.
Perhaps it would not be too
strong for the more serious stu-
dents and members of the fakulty
to censure the administration for
condoning conduct unbecoming
to a University.
-Walter O, Haas, '66
Usurpation...
To the Editor:
WE FREQUENTLY read Pleas
for mre power in student
government. It is "right" that stu-
dents govern their own affairs.
"Administration" is not criticized
as often for doing things wrong as
it is attacked for not letting stu-
dents handle matters.
How good is student manage-
ment? SGC and class office elec-
tion seldom exhibit the maturity
we claim when we request more
governing power.
* * *
I AM IMPRESSED with the
student government's lack of effi-
ciency. In addition to not being
able to run a proper election, it
spends a great portion of its time
debating a constitutional point,
procedures, or policy relating to
matters that they have no juris-
diction over.
A good example of this last
point, assuming authority that
student government does not
have, is the long-standing misun-
derstanding between the East
Quadrangle Council and the Uni-
versity of Michigan Amateur Ra-
dio Club. This arises from the
fact that some people in East
Quadrangle receive the signals of
the Radio. Club in their record
players and radios. The, proper
action of the Council wouldhave
been to write the Club Trustee,
who controls the equipment's use,
or the Federal Communications
Commission, which controls the
Club's license.
.Either of these would have ef-
fected a prompt, permanent solu-
tion to the difficulty as well as
immediately curtailed operations
that were linked with interfer-
ence. After legislative delay with-
in the Quadrangle for months, the
Radio Club discovered the situa-
tion.
, , ,
EAST QUADRANGLE Council
usurped the power of the Federal
Communications Commission by
passing legislation to keep the
Club off the air. They did not of-
ficially request the Club to refrain
from operating, nor did they make
anyone responsible for the en-

LETTERS
to the
EDITOR

I

#

1

Necessity Defeats SOS

HE UNIVERSITY's plans to phase o u t
University High School have dealt a big
w to students presently enrolled at U High,
a spontaneous effort they have banded to-
her to form an SOS-Save Our School--
nmittee.
rnder present plans the University will
asfer the U High classes to the Ann Arbor
ool system in 1966 to make room for the
.cation school in the present facilities.
'he plans are dependent upon the passage of
:hool bond issue in Ann Arbor which will be
L in May. If the referendum passes, Ann
or will begin to build a new school on land
ich the University donated to the city in
North Campus area..
IE STUDENTS are attempting to influence
the public to defeat the bond issue. They
e that if it is defeated they will be able
stay at U High. They are, however, only
longing the death throes of the school,
Editorial Staff
MICHAEL OLINICK, Editor
ITH OPPENHEIMMICHAEL HARRAH

While one can sympathize with the students,
it is obvious that Ann Arbor will need a new
high school in the near future. Facilities
presently in operation cannot suffice for the
large numbers of incoming students. And the
education school is likewise mushrooming. With
each year the administration needs more space
for classes. I
It is clear that the ones to suffer in the
transfer will be the U High students. They will
transfer in their senior year to an unfamiliar
school and be asked to adjust quickly. College
entrance may even be jeopardized since activi-
ties count heavily in admission practices and
new students are unlikely to get active easily.
Many of the U High students also come from
areas outside of the Ann Arbor district. While
Ann Arbor has a very good school system, some
of the outlying areas do not. Therefore, some
students will be forced to go to schools which
fall below the high standards set by both Ann
Arbor and the University.
BUT THE University owes its first commit-
ment to its own students. It must be con-
cerned about crowded classes and lack of
classroom space for its education students. The
move is inevitable unless more money will be
annronriated by the Legislature for a new edu-

"I'm Off To

Bold Adventures, Only I Dassn't
Cross The Street"

- r
4,q
.tj
I' * '

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan