Seventy-Fifth Year' EDrrEDAND MANAGEDBY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSTY OFMICHIGA UNDER AUTHORITY Of BOAttD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT P ucAmroms Opnons A.Fme,- 420 MAYNARD ST., An ARBoxr, MicH. ith WM m r&U NEWS PHONE: 764-0352 Editorials printed in The 'Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. AY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL SATTINGER Baby Boom Threatens University's Functions Each Time I Chanced To See Franklin D. Student Affairs: The Past Sugests the Future by H. Neil Berkson ' EPTEMBER 30, 1961. The Daily headline: "BACON At the same time, lines of authority which were extra-curricular life - both are essential to personal QUITS POST." "... I personally am not in tune with vague and often undefined prior to the reorganization development. some of the changes which seem inevitable in the years now run straight through to the vice-president. THE NEXT OSA vice-president could play a major ahead."TH NETOAvc-rsdncolply mar But more important than the- structural changes role in both enunciating the values of extra-curricular In a single fragment from her letter of resignation, has been the change in attitude toward students. Dean life and creating more meaningful programs than now former Dean of Women Deborah Bacon still teaching Bacon personified a stifling paternalistic atmosphere, exist. It is vital that he have a strong academic back- in the English department, provided a preview of coming an atmosphere which recognized neither the growing ground in order to emphasize the link of the OSA to later, a group of faculty, students and administrators sophistication of students nor some of their basic rights the classroom. were to declare in the now-famous Reed Report:"...the as human beings. Sine her departure the Naturally,"he should have some administrative ex- time is right for a reformulation and explanation of .system has been cleaned up, women's hours have been perience. And unless he also has a commitment to stu- the University's policy and an improvement in its ad- liberalized and senior women have received apartment dent responsibility, he will negate the work that has been ministrative arrangements in student affairs." and key permission across the board. Moreover students done over the last two years. Now the University's first and only vice-president who et i trouble al Or imagined-r o o But the OSA primarily needs a depth and sense of for student affairs, James A. Lewis, has announced his subjected to the criminal treatment they were once purpose that only a faculty man can bring to it.,If it'is own esigatin afer ten ear on he ob. e wll lave likely to. receive. Vice-President Lewis will leave his suc- puosthtnlafclymncnbrgtot.Iits own resignation after .ten years on the job. He will leave. cessor a better OSA than existed ten years ago. to remain merely a service organization, it doesn't re- as soon as a successor is named. The qualifications of cquire a vice-president. that successor are important, but they can be considered BUT SO FAR the OSA has done very little in the' only in the context of where the OSA stands today., area of student activities, and it is this area to which the next vice-president must turn. and the odds are that President Hatcher will name a THE / REED REPORT sparked both a. structural successor within two or three months. The new man reorganization of the OSA and a dramatic change in The increased academic pressures of the University' will most likely come from within the University. Rumors philosophy. The deans of men and women-with parallel have, in the past five years especially, hurt student activ- have already enveloped such people as Associate -Dean responsibilities-were eliminated in favor of a functional ities. This problem . reaches extremes when academic James -Robertson of the literary college, Associate Dean arrangement. Thus one housing office now takes care- counselors caution against extra-classroom life, advising Charles Lehmann of the education school and Prof. or doesn't take care, if you wish-of both men and students to move through the University as quickly as Richard Cutler of the psychology department. Any of the ;women; there is one counseling office, one scholarship possible and to worry only about grades. Forgotten is three, or anyone who matches their qualifications, would office, one activities office, the substantive relationship between curricular and be excellent for the OSA. JUDGING FROM ,the current expansion of undergraduate education to accom- modate the "baby boom," the University has accepted 'respotisibility for helping to educate this adolescent horde. With the present acceptance and future planning of such swelling enrollments, University officials 'are seriously miscalculating the - proper role of this institution in "Michi- gan's system of higher education. 'The main force behind the University's acquiescence has been the Legislature's misunderstanding of the University's pru- cial role in Michigan's educational proc- esses. The legislators, being over sensitive to public sentiment, have decided that Johnny must have a college education as a matter of unswervable middle class course. This is fine until they start insisting that the University provide that educa- ton. with no questions asked. The Uni- versity has a definite right to ask ques- tions in order to discriminate among those who seek college education simply as training for an acceptable job and those who have the intellectual capacity and desire to take advantage of all that the University has to, offer them in the way of intellectual stimulation and advanced study. IT COMES BACK to the fact that a rou- tine undergraduate education is no longer enough for today's leaders. Only the University can provide the extensive and expensive training needed for scien- tists who work at the frontiers of knowl- edge, for social scientists laboring to un- derstand a few of society's myriad prob- lems, for professional ;men who have so much to learn in their rapidly changing fields and for well-trained teachers and professors who can carry on the edu- eating process. These teachers and pro- fessors are needed both within the Uni- versity and other schools and colleges of the state that are directly confronted with the baby boom. Here is a crucial point for the budget- minded legislators. It is the University that is best equipped to supply the rest'of the state's higher education institutions with the people holding advanced degrees who are necessary if those institutions are to do 'a good job. But if theUniver- sity 'itself is swamped in trying to take care of too many students, this source is cut off at the roots. AT MUST BE DONE, then, is to lim- ft, notgraduate and professional training, but undergraduate enrollment levels. This is pecessary, not to get rid of undergraduate education, but to preserve it in some meaningful and useful form. Four years of undergraduate study at the University is becoming increasingly stand ardl/ed, dehumanized and, pressurized in response to simple demands of number.' As this process continues, the graduates become increasirigly indistinguishable from their small state college counter- parts as well as less and less able and prepared to undertake advanced study. The University is perfectly capable of providing an undergraduate education second to none. Those lucky enough to talk with ,professors genuinely interested in undergraduate education and to par- ticipate In their courses realize this. How- ever, such education can't be provided for the swollen enrollments being anticipated and couldn't be even with greatly ex- panded funds. But to pursue a course where under- graduate enrollment is limited to those most able to benefit on both an under- graduate, and graduate level would be to untie the whole of the University in a con-' certed effort to meet the numerous prob- lems of today's world in an efficient way. SEVERAL POINTS need special empha- sis.First, the University has some of the finest facilities and faculty for grad- uate study in the Midwest, and ranks very high nationally in this respect. Sec- ond, undergraduate education ought to be considered as a preliminary part of the process that ends with the advanced degree; it should not be considered a separate adjunct or a pedagogical exer- cise in turning out technicians. Third, there is no need for the University even to try to handle ever-increasing under- 4."r ilt. f e +f.- graduate enrollments. There is plenty of educational opportunity at every level available elsewhere in the state. There is no purpose to waging a losing numbers battle with other state institu- tions. Nor is there any reason for playing constant guessing games with the Legis- lature as to enrollment size, outstate stu- dent numbers and funds deserved there- by. A clear statement of goals and inten- tions is needed. The University does not need to be a glorified high school. At one time the Legislature generously supported the concept of high quality higher educa- tion, and there is no reason to sacrifice such a principle now, when it is needed more than ever.' Neither is there any excuse for trying to please the Legislature with large num- bers on one hand and hoping to give these numbers a quality education on the other, as University officials are appar- ently trying to do. THE UNIVERSITY'S greatness and im- portance rests ultimately with its abil- ity to produce state and national lead- ers in science, engineering, the profes- sions, politics, business and academics. Any concern for lesser goals is misguided. With so many products of the nationa.,l college education mania pounding on the admissions doors, such concerns threaten these basic strengths. THE CONCEPT of mass education can- not be accommodated to concepts of individual instruction, seminar type dis- cussions and individual study and re- search that need such large investments in both faculty and facilities. These in- dividual concepts and approaches have been preserved, eve reinforced, in the University's graduate programs. They are rapidly deteriorating -in its undergradu- ate education.. The University of California admits no one from high school except those in the top one-eighth of their classes. All others must seek their higher education in the numerous smaller colleges and junior colleges. Those that show promise there may readily go on to greater things. LEGISLATORS and University officials need to acknowledge, and act on the wisdom of that approach. -ROBERT JOHNSTON Keep Smling THE OPENING WEEK of classes was dis- aster week for the administration. The first problem was the .flood of ex- tra freshmen who jammed the dormitor- ies. The administrators shuttled them into rooms already' being used, and then slightly lowered the rents for those in the crowded rooms. Then they ,faced the problem of furni- ture for the extra residents. The Uni- ' versity diverted shipments of 150 beds from other schools-which open later and thus have time to reorder-and gave the beds to freshmen who otherwise would have been sleeping on floors. They then tried to get desks and chests of drawers for the new students. But the administrators discovered to their morti- fication that the plant producing these items for the University has been struck by its employes They're still wrestling with this. THE SECOND MAIN problem they ran into was loans. The University was forced to dip into emergency funds to supply money for scores of federal stu- dent loans. Congress hasl passed the bill authorizing the funds but neglected to pass the bill appropriating them. The bill is still stalled. If by some chance' Congress does not pass the appropria- tion, the University could be in trouble; since it is already thousands of dollars over its head in backing up the loans. The administrators' third problem was the bomb that exploded early . Friday morning in front of South Quad, blowing out eight dining room windows. They have joined with city police in watching and listening for clues to who set it off. ONE ADMINISTRATOR was reported near tears the other day. Another re- fers to himself as "a bundle of frustra- tions." Maybe these two are already, an- "You Think. There's Any. Chance We'll Be Displaced?" ,y~I~ j br~rA EUROPEAN COMMENTARY: Cri-tcize U.S. Activ in* Vietnamese Con f ict b. By ERIC KELLER- Daily Correspondent "I'M MORE interested in what happens in Washington than in 'the Hague." This comment is becoming more and more typical of the senti- ments expressed in Holland today.-- And this attitude was again evi- dent during the recent North Viet Nam crisis. People in this country and, in fact, throughout Europe' discussed our retaliatory measures in South East Asia as fervently as if their, own country had led the action. The German, English and Italian governments, for example, immne- diately' declared their support of the United States action-repre- sentative enough, for by far most Europeans supported t h e U.S. stand. HOWEVER, S e n a to r Morse's position would have found much more support on this- continent than it probably, did in the United States. Many people 'here feel that President Johnson reacted so strongly because of domestic poli- ticking. It is believed that the United States would have been more in-n clined to sit around a conference table if Senator Goldwater had hot been pressing for a more "de- termined" U.S. policy in SouthW East Asia. The most criticism is leveled at the fact that American forces are situated in an area 'so far away. from home. Malicious agressive aims are suspected due to'the United, States presence-suspic- ions that appear' even more justi- fied by Senator Goldwater's advo- cation of a tougher foreign policy., OPA 1°1,,T~+ IA& h e96 S 5 a. ._ - . sr THE ACADEMIC DILEMMA: Good Teachers or Publishing Scholars These groups, many of which have leftist tendencies, see less danger for world peace in 'Red China's years of guerilla warfare tthan in the United. States' one retaliatory action -against North Viet Nam. * * * THERE ARE also many people who see nothing wrong with Red Chinese expansion, easoning that China -has a "human right"' to' ask for richer farming areas in the South, since for centuries China' soil'haas not been Able to 'produce' sufficient food. China has, ac- cording to them, more'right to ex- pand in Asia than the 'United States has to set up military bases in that area. Much of this reasoning, is of course, based on the unfortunate experience of European countries ir South East Asia. Especially in Holland, the Indonesian adven-' ture is still a very fresh memory. The French pull-out from for- mer Indochina a n d England's probable departure from' Malaysia all confirm to many European ob- servers that the only reasonable policy for any Western country is to pull-out 'completely from South East Asia. A victory against guerilla war- fare seems impossible;,Andl be- sides, it is not their wish that the United States take over all the re- sponsibilities of vanquished Euro- pean powe rs-even if 'the, official- governments feel differently. AS FOR retaliatory action, it is clear, one is even tempted to say natural, that many" more Euro- peans, thanAmericans are jumpy about direct military involvement. The -unpublicized truti about public opinion in'this .country is that now, thirty years later, peo- ple are willing to accept scores of defeats again just as easily, as- easily as they did in the Thirties in order to "preserve the peace". Just as, France' 'did not' wine when Germany, invaded Polandf, 'due to an attitude of "I don't care about what happens so far away', many people now do not ,care enough a b o u t the freedom of South East Asia to. favor a de- cisive policy. What they do care about is their own peace and an appeasement policy. * * 4.' , IN A CAREFUL evaluation of European reaction to the recent South East Asian developments, one should not forget that many of these outcries are s i m p liy "American-baiting". In m a n y European countries,, indeed' all over the world, America-baiting is a favorite answer to all world problems which involve the Unit- ed States. For example, it was wrong that Roosevelt gave away Eastern Eur- ope to Russia after World War IL, The United, States did not lend a, hand in the Hungarian crisis. The United States d i d everything wrong in the Suez crisis and in the Congo, not to speak. of the'. Cuban-invasion or th e recent touch-off in Brazil. Incoherent and illogical, perhaps, but never- ,theless barely extinguishable. * * * BUT, despite this, after innum- erable conversations with Euro- peans about United States foreign policy, I am convinced of the rightness of a "speak softly but carry a big stick" policy. The stick has grown and so have Unit-. ed States responsibilities. But neither responsibility nor angry outcries should k e e p us from carrying the stick. And we ought too stop worrying about European' panickers, but s t a r t speaking softly. 4 I 4 4 EDITOR'S NOTE: Last spring Tufts University became an object of controversy when it refused to renew thecontract of Prof. Wood- row Wilson Sayre due to his avowed preference for teaching as opposed to research or writing. The so- called "publish or perish!" issue has been haunting many institu- tions, including this one, for some time. Below, via Collegiate P'ress Service, are''some of Prof.'Sayre's remarks on the subject. By WOODROW WILSON SAYRE MEDFORD, Mass.-Members of the Tufts administration ar- gue that the ideal faculty member is the individual who is both a good teacher and a publishing scholar. They go on to say rewards in the form of promotions, salary in- creases; and tenure will go, where possible, to those who satisfy both requirements. In other words, if you are merely a good teacher you will probably not be promoted,, you will not be given tenure, and you will most likely get only minimuml raises. By a hard-to-follow, logic, this is not called a policy of "pub- lish or perish," although for the teacher who is let go because of it, it is going to seem a pretty close fascimile. * * * BUT LEAVING semantics aside: what assumptions underlie this policy? It assumes that effective teaching is good, that scholarly publication is good, and that the two combined are even better. I have no quarrel with the first assumption. It is the common sense view of most people that the may even gradually throttle any. interest. * * * AT THE MINIMUM, research represents a confining interest with the teacher's interest in the "whole" student. Many students have rightfully complained, I think, about this situation. They and their parents are paying thou- sands of dollars for an education. Haven't they the right to expect that the main focus of the fac- ulty will be the growth and de- velopment of the student; rather than the advancement of the fac- ulty member through publication? Of course all publication does not conflict with one's teaching duties. In a graduate school espe- cially they may reinforce each other. But all too often they do not reinforce each other. In some fields the intensity of specialization required practical- ly precludes it from being relevant to the general undergiaduate courses being taught. ,It may be argued that publica- tion may help the student indi- rectly by improving the duality of the professor's teaching. This brings up the next'question. * * * DOES SCHOLARLY publication benefit the teacher? Certainly it enhanices his reputation, but does it improve his teaching? More un- supported generalizations have' been advanced on this question than on almost any other. Some argue, as in a recent ar- ticle in the Boston Globe, that it is extremely rare to have a first-rate teacher. that is also doubtful they would have been any worse if they 'had not pub- lished. I know some teachers feel that their ideas are sharpened and clarified by the necessity of pub- lishing. Others find publishing' a distraction from the business of, teaching. A vast mass of material must be mastered, much of it of little significance. And, then there is all the time and energy wasted in trying to get someone actually to publish the result. I think an important distinc- tion must be made. Good teach- ing does involve keeping up with one's field. To reread and rethink old material is essential.. This kind of scholarship, yes! But that such research and exalu- ation should necessarily lead to publication has not at all been demonstrated. DOES SCHOLARLY publication benefit any other groups? In the academic community today a col- lege gains status by the publics-, tions of its faculty members. I would guess that a hundred fac- ulty members who have publish- ed would add 'more prestige to an institution that if those hundred faculty members were simply good teachers. But surely it is actual excellence of teaching and scholarship (whether or not resulting in pub- ication) with which a university should be concerned and not the opinion of others.' Does scholarly publication bene- fit humanity? Much that has been published has had tremendopssig- nificance for the whole human the experiment has, already been done.. Practically, what does this do to the idea of every experiment and publication adding to the sum to- tal of human knowledge? I WILL END with a brief con- sideration of the third assump- tion, namely that the combina- tion of effective teaching and scholarly publication is better than either alone. Actually I think that' such an ideal if adhered to .will .result in a rather bland medioc- rity. You will t4nd to get teach- ers who are fair at writing and fair at teaching, but who are not particularly outstanding at eith- er. By insisting that every teach- er to the degree possible be com- petent in two arts (the art of teaching and the art of writing and publishing) you are likely immediately to 'lose those who are outstanding in only one of these arts. Can education stand such au policy? I think a university needs all types. It needs great researchers even if they can't teach.. And it needs gifted teachers, even if they, can't write. It is reasonable to bal- ance the different types through- out the faculty as a 'whole. But the point .is that if this is -done, then no single teacher should be rejected merely on the ground that be has not demonstrated both talents. * *. * A GENERAL POLICY of insist- ing on both teaching and publi- cation then is a policy that in fact will encourage mediocrity. 4 4 4 4 --- - _ ,I