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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID BLOCK
Regents Should Prepare
To Buck Tuition Hike
EMBLAZONED above the portico of An-
gell Hall is an early congressional
statement of federal responsibility toward
education. It reads: "Religion,. morality
and knowledge being necessary to good
government and the happiness of man-
kind, schools and the means of education
shall forever be encouraged."
The statement, originally contained in
the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, has
made its way into Michigan's constitution
and the University's charter. Its most ap-
propriate niche, however, is in the sec-
ond floor conference room of the Admin-
istration Bldg.
For it is there the University's govern-
ing body, the Board of Regents, meets
once a month. It is there, sometime next
spring, that they could determine that
the government is not "encouraging" ed-
ucation sufficiently to run the University.
This conclusion is invariably linked to
another: the decision to raise tuition.
THE POSSIBILITY of raising students
fees to make up for a shortage creat-
ed by insufficient state funds is at pres-
ent remote. But such a tuition boost,
the second in four years, is definitely not
excluded from consideration.
A 200-year old motto does little to-
ward paying teachers or supporting a $70
million budget. It should, however, serve
as a reminder to the Regents that the
state is committed to supporting the Uni-
versity. They must begin now to prod a
citizens' group studying higher education
and a spanking-new Legislature into see-
ing that the governmental commitment
is met at the state level.
THE PROPONENTS of a tuition increase
-and there will be many-can sound
the same argument that is annually dust-
ed off at about this time. Summarized,
this argument holds that higher educa-
tion is carried to the same laws which
govern business and finance. The theory,
carried to the extreme, says that stu-
dents should be charged the full cost
of their education to promote efficien-
cy. The reasoning is that if their major
source of operations revenue was the
student body, universities and colleges
would fight to keep costs low and hence
attract students.
With due respect to classical economic
principles, the opponents of the "effi-
ciency method" have conjured up visions
of education taking a Madison Avenue
approach. Like automobiles, cigarettes
and detergents, education would be tout-
ed on television to the tune of chauvin-
istic phrases such as "It's what's upstairs
that counts."
In addition, the efficiency argument
has been countered by examples such
as trimester here which demonstrate that
very little space, at least, is wasted.
THERE IS, HOWEVER, a new and more
tenable argument for raising fees. This
argument has even gained validity among
University officials who once stoutly op-
posed tuition hikes.
The argument holds that with scholar-
ship and loans available in unprecedented
quantities, needy students can afford ris-
ing educational costs. Officials emphasize
that, since state legislatures fail to pro-
vide their share, student revenue must
be boosted.
SecOnd class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Published daily Tuesday through Sunday morning.
subscription rates: $4.50 semester by carrier ($5 by
mail): 8 yearly by carrier ($ b mail).
Although the University received a rec-
ord $44 million for general operations this
year, its building program received slight-
ly more than $5 million. Student reve-
nues could thus conceivably be channeled
toward construction of the smaller aca-
demic units which campus planners fa-
vor.
THE DEMOCRATS on the Regents have
long fought for what Regent Eugene
Power calls "the low tuition principle."
Briefly stated, it says that low-cost
public higher education is both a pre-
requisite and a financial benefit to a
democratic society. He concludes: "Rath-
er than raising educational fees, we ought
to be striving to lower them and eventu-
ally eliminate them entirely."
Power counters theses that scholarship
and loan funds are a suitable substitute.
His belief is borne out by federal esti-
mates that the average University stu-
dent comes from a higher economic back-
ground than the student at Wayne State,
where overall fees are substantially
cheaper.
Studies have also proved a correlation
between cost and a student's desire to
attend an institution. Furthermore, not
all students are anxious to go to school
on credit,
BUT THE MAIN argument against the
tuition increase is engraved in An-
gell Hall. If the University is to take the
position that it is the student's responsi-
bility to fund his education, then where
does it draw the line? At what level is the
state share supposed to settle? The logi-
cal consequence of increasing fees is to
continually ease the pressure on the state
until it feels no responsibility at all. With
a newly-districted Legislature and a ma-
jority of new faces stocking it, the lack
of pressure would set a poor precedent.
The Regents will not set the tuition
hike, if they do at all, until they have a
good indication of what the Legislature
will do. But there is a subtle process of
interaction between the governing board
here and the Legislature.
THEREFORE, it is necessary not only
that the Regents reject the tuition
hike in the spring, but that they fight
against it now. Last November's Regents
meeting was punctuated by statements
from several Regents that they were wary
of the high cost of learning-and would
fight to avoid further exorbitance. The
Legislature was eventually convinced not
to force a tuition hike.
This should serve as an incentive for
this year; a strong Regental declaration
against a tuition hike at this Friday's
meeting would be a good start.
It would also have immediate ramifica-
tions. .The governor's "blue ribbon" citi-
zens committee studying higher educa-
tion needs is preparing to issue soon a
blueprint for higher education in Michi-
gan. It will make financial recommenda-
tions. One of them is reliably reported to
ask increased internal support of educa-
tion through increased student fees.
THE TIME for a strong statement
against tuition costs is now, this
week. This is the moment for the Re-
gents to emphasize the statement which
adorns their major literary college build-
ing and decorates their own meeting
room.
-LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM
By MARVIN FELHEIM
I.
TRADITIONALLY, higher edu-
cation has generally been cen-
tered in two processes: 1) a teach-
er teaching and a student learn-
ing; 2) a researcher, professor or
student, at work in a library or
laboratory. To many persons these
images still represent the signi-
ficant and meaningful core of
education.
Meanwhile, the growth of the
modern university has made
necessary some distinct revisions
in this concept; the university is
no longer centered about these
basic relationships. Nonteaching
centers of various kinds engaged
in contract research for govern-
ment, and foundations have plac
ed emphasis upon more immedi-
ately tangible results: published
reports. The administrative re-
quirements of managing a huge
enterprise have resulted not only
in the creation of a new class-
managerial-but in the subtle
shifting of the duties both of
teachers and learners: they, too,
must participate in the process of
growth (or in the understanding
of the growth) of the organiza-
tion in which they function.
How often are faculty members
and students reminded that their
ideas or comments are lacking in
pertinancy simply because they
do not understand the complex
processes of a large organization;
how many hours do we spend set-
ting up procedures, only to find
ourselves trapped in the very de-
vices we have created (the Frank-
enstein syndrome)? Whether we
want to or not we must all become
part-time administrators or ad-
ministratively oriented. What fol-
lows is a subtle shifting of prin-
ciple.
LET ME BE explicit. A few years
ago, I was approached to serve
in an administrative job for which
I was both emotionally and in-
tellectually unprepared. However,
I had reached a point in my
academic career where, in effect,
I had to do something in the
University community over and
above teaching and scholarship.
The needs of administration make
this situation inevitable. My
doubts about my own interest and
ability to take on this "challeng-
ing" assignment (all administra-
tive tasks are "challenging";
teaching is rarely referred to in
this way) were rendered meaning-
less by the counsel of a colleague.
You have to do something, he
cautioned, so why not take this
assignment instead of waiting for
the next; something less attrac-
tive may be offered to you after
this.
Mind, no pressures are applied;
one is "free" to turn down these
opportunities. But eventually the
gaping maw of administrative
work gets us all. The irony: new
instructors anxiously anticipate
the chance to serve on commit-
tees; senior professors quietly seek
ways to avoid the unrewarding
drudgery.
II.
POSSIBLY no institution in our
society so immediately reflects the
conditions outside itself with such
abject imitative clarity as a uni-
versity. Professors are supposed,
nowadays, to be engaged in so-
cially oriented activities. The ivory
tower simply doesn't exist; it went
with the hedges on State St. (Just
consider how ludicrous and out
of place an academic gown would
appear should a professor wear
one on campus. Yet band uni-
forms, sports costumes, military
dress, etc., are seen everywhere
without arousing the slightest
surprise. The academic costume is
worn only by non-academics, in-
cluding the choir, in churches on
Sundays and at Commencement
time. By day the professor dresses
as much as possible like his coun-
terpart, the business man. At
Rotary meetings it is impossible to
distinguish the academic "Tom"
from the businessman, "Dick" or
the professional "Harry." We are
no longer removed from the mar-
ketplace: we are the marketplace.
I am not expressing nostalgia
for the past. I am talking about
a condition which exists, which is
eroding the traditional educational
processes and which offers in their
place no substitute. I am deplor-
ing our failure to plan in terms
of these existing facts, our re-
luctance to face the implications,
and our passive acceptance of
expediency as a way of life. I am
asking for a philosophy to accom-
modate and accompany the new
facts. Do our traditional values
and principles have any current
viability? Do we understand the
dynamics of the changes we are
undergoing? Are the multifarious
educational (and noneducational)
activities of the present-day uni-
versity capable of any intellectual
comprehension? Is is possible to
have a (any) philosophy?
LET ME BE specific. Popula-
tion pressures and the require-
ments of business, industry and
science have forced the University
the demands only by lowering and
manipulating our standards. Be-
sides, we are becoming emotionally
exhausted. We are workers with-
out the satisfaction of an adequate
wage. Even more, the traditional
satisfactions-teaching and re-
search-are no longer completely
integrated into the system. For
one thing, instead of being com-
plementary, they are now compe-
titive. One area has to be sub-
ordinated. And a totally new area
-administration-has moved in
to supercede the other two any-
how.
ALSO and more seriously in-
sidious is the fact that expediency
cannot and will not compromise
with traditional educational prin-
ciples, those which I mentioned in
my opening sentences. And we
have not had the time, the en-
PROF. MARVIN FELHEIM of the English
department is a specialist in American
literature and Shakespeare. He came to the
University in 1948, and in 1954 received
the University of Michigan Literary Class
of 1923 award for outstanding teaching of
undergraduate students. Prof. Felheim has
edited two anthologies, and has written a
book, "The Theatre of Augustine Daly."
...NO CHANCE TO THINK
may have been. My point is that
we are not today engaged in any
meaningful search for education
or for educational values for the
present or the future. No one, from
the President down, stands up for
educational principles.
* * *
OF COURSE, we could appoint
a committee. A group of already
overworked, tired men could meet
some evening (alternate Thurs-
days?) to talk and plan. Our
agenda? The compromises which
must be made: finances first and
foremost, procedures, then know-
how (Must we work with this
college(orthat? What about the
chairman of X department?
Whose backing do we have?
Should we consult the School of
Education or have the survey re-
search do a survey?) And then,
values. Oh, yes, but we are agreed
upon those; they are "in the
charge" to the committee. They
came with the territory, from the
proper vice-president. They are
our preamble. They exist, like
democracy. Or Christianity. Now,
let's get down to business. What
we want is a plan which works.
We need, first, a building. (Even
a badly designed, badly construct-
ed one will do. Query: is the myth
of the Tower of Babel the only
Biblical legend which has mean-
ing for our times?) And a prob-
lem. Hopefully, a foundation will
give us funds to hire researchers;
maybe we can borrow an IBM
machine.
But where in this picture is
there a place for the emotional and
intellectual commitments without
which there can be no teaching,
no learning, no true scholarship?
Where do we program blood, sweat
and tears? Are they publishable?
Have they been approved by the
curriculum committee? Budgeted?
Should they be given an office? Is
there a room available, and at a
popular hour? Have they been
assigned an examination code?
Meanwhile, the committee has
a report to prepare.
III.
PERHAPS I may be allowed to
state my thesis in another way:
the major problems confronting
the world today are largely the
consequences of population growth.
These issues have not been re-
solved by our society. The state
university reflects this disturbing
state of things.
The professor, once a seer, is no
longer a leader. The student, once
a committed individual, is now
mass produced, mass consumed.
Only the administrator is left
to lead. And he is an organiza-
tion man. No one leads, or steps
out. Some of the loudest voices in
America today are those advocat-
ing retreat. We are pushed for-
ward by an expanding population
and material growth (More cars
equal more democracy? A chicken
and a vote in every pot?). Where
is the intelligent discussion about
values and goals? There is, in-
stead, informed debate about
methods and means. We don't
know what we want. But we are
busily engaged in creating the
machinery to achieve it.
* * *
WE CRY OUT for leadership; a
head emerges. So it is appointed
or elected chairman, not a leader.
but a manager. This occurs regu-
larly in every area of University
life and activity. The danger is
that 'we accept a policy of com-
promise as a principle of existence.
Few people on the campus operate
on the basis of faith. Most of us
function as managers with an
implicit belief in methodology.
We accept compromise first, even
in our own thinking, rather than
last, in terms of irrefutable argu-
ments. We all see the problems;
few face the issues. We are all
middleaged. The zest of youth is
tempered by the same processes
which dilute the mellowness of
age. Everybody is a vice-president.
And underneath it all, where
there should be stirrings of new
birth and new ideas and vigor,
there is violence-in our novels, in
our art, in our sports, on our
streets. And we are all critics,
either in practice or by aspiration.
We lack originality because we
accept ingenuity in its place. We
don't lead and plan, we react.
NEXT WEEK: Richard L. Cutler
j
I
to expand. And we have met those
pressures. We are on a year-
round calendar. Our use of space
is probably as efficient as that
of many an industrial plant. In-
deed, the parallels between our
operations and those of a large
factory have repeatedly been
pointed out. Such assertions used
to be considered comic. They can
no longer be.
But the point is that we have
responded to expediency, at least
as quickly as industry. In return,
however, the public, the consumer,
has not repaid us in the only
terms currently viable: money, for
buildings or for equipment or for
salaries. Hence, in part, the frus-
tration of the faculty. We are
not gettinlg our share of the dol-
lar. (Compare the status of pro-
fessors with that of doctors, or
lawyers, for example, or of the
labor unions.)
Bud, worse, we have great guilt.
For we know that we have met
ergy or the motivation to come
up with new educational theories,
let alone even to think about
educational values. How canbwe.
when we are all so busy that
communication (such basic re-
quirements as a place and a time
to meet are often absolute ob-
stacles) is difficult, if not im-
possible. Our emotional and in-
tellectual commitments are to
such a variety of things that we
cannot think in terms of philo-
sophical values. (For instance,
where are my allegiances: to my
department, my college, the grad-
uate school, the University? I
serve on boards or committeesin
all these areas: I change my hat,
but not my sports jacket, for each
role. And in each capacity, I am
functioning as an advisor to an
administrator.)
We have simply lost sight of
education. Not that for a moment
I advocate a return to the Univer-
sity of the past, whatever that
I
EUROPEAN COMMENTARY:
Refreshing Breezes in Higher Education
By ERIC KELLER
Daly Correspondent
AS UNIVERSITY communities
all over Europe begin another
hectic school year, a new breeze
is stirring in the weathered block-
house of higher education.
At the University of Utrecht. a
new, independent, student weekly
is being published to compete
with the drab, all too official in-
formation bulletin that has been
put out jointly by students and
university officials up to this
time. It contains criticism at all
levels, previously unknown inthis
rather colorless, bourgeois Dutch
city. It also provides space for
constructive criticism .from stu-
dents and puts out an English
language column for foreign stu-
dents at the university.
Progress has been made at the
official level as well. The first
Dutch institution to be built ac-
cording to the campus concept has
just been finished at the Univer-
sity of Utrecht. It is the institute
of technology which has dormi-
tories and lecture halls like those
in the United States.
HOLLAND'S big neighbor, West
Germany, has education expan-
sion plans and President de
Gaulie is giving in moderately to
some of the age-old pleas of
French students. Besides expand-
ing facilities at all universities,
his government is considering a
fairer substitute for the dreaded
baccalaureat exam.
In Britain, the Labor Party call-
ed for elimination of another fear-
ed exam, the "11-plus," as a major
point of its platform. This exam,
taken between the ages of 11 and
12, rather unfairly divides all those
who may go on with university-
oriented education from those who
will be directed into vocational
training. At least one new univer-
sity will open this fall which is
a combination of the often
anachistic, traditional universities
of Oxford and Cambridge and the
so-called "red brick universities,"
which are considered socially and
academically inferior.
These indications of progress
are the first signs that officials
in Western Europe are willing to
recognize and, if possible, head off
an impending intellectual crisis.
In view of the large number of
scholars who leave Europe for the
United States each year, one tends
to overestimate the efficiency of
European universities. Instead of
a healthy surplus, these students
are indicators of this serious in-
tellectual crisis that has been com-
ing in Europe for the past five
to ten years.
THE MAIN PROBLEM in Con-
tinental universities is the con-
flict between traditional methods
of teaching and modern needs for
efficiency. The traditional aca-
demic liberty accorded to these
students has become more a hin-
drance than an asset to studies.
Traditionally very few papers
and exams were included in Con-
tinental university work. This
system evolved from the nine-
teenth century, when professors
lectured to very small groups of
students. The student had ample
opportunity to be directly stimu-
lated by the teachers, who, in
turn, could recognize immediately
whether a student was making
progress or not.
But the picture is different to-
day. The lecture halls all over
Europe are crammed with stu-
dents for courses that were once
conducted in a family-like circle.
In Germany, a gymnasium (high
school) graduate cannot enter a
university immediately after grad-
uation, because universities are
too full.
MOREOVER, education is ex-
pensive for the government. Social
legislation presses for low tuition
fees, but instructors' salaries and
building costs rise. Almost all
scholarships are sponsored by the
state, and private sponsorship of
other university causes has prac-
tically ceased.
Just as in American state uni-
versities, European education has
become "mass production." More
efficient checks are necessary to
make sure that no part of this
expensive education is wasted on
languages and literature, plus
many students of mathematics, go
into the teaching profession as
soon as they can. Similarly, prac-
tically all medical students leave
the universities as soon as pos-
sible. This assures the country of
the highest number of teachers
and doctors, but it leaves a gap at
the universities-there are very
few who go on to do higher re-
search or to hold professorial
posts.
Once a good high school teach-
er could do his own research in
addition to his teaching duties.
Thus he could obtain, besides the
doctoral title, a license to teach
college level courses. But today,
teachers are overburdened and
have no time for research. And,
even if they did want to teach,
the traditional patriarchal system
of professorships at European uni-
versities offers low salaries to
newcomers. No real ladder of
success is provided. As a matter
of fact, when finally a profes-
sorial post is vacant, there is no-
body qualified to fill it.
The bottleneck which creates
this crisis lies between the doc-
toral degree and the professor's
title. As a result, many of the
young scholars seek-and usually
find-greener pastures on the
other side of the Atlantic. The
United States is still the land of
opportunity.
DUTCH UNIVERSITIES have
to rely on good teachers rather
than researchers and authorities
to fill vacant professorial posts.
Professors are overburdened to
such a degree that, even at this
level, they cannot find time to do
research. Neither does the pro-
fessor have time to become
acquainted with much of the re-
search done in other countries. It
is often astonishing to hear
Europeans' ignorant or negative
remarks about American research
in areas outside ofscience. As a
result, students here sometimes
do not learn about the latest re-
search efforts.
Even in science, Europe's one-
time leaders of research encounter
similar difficulties. They are often
hampered by insufficient govern-
ment or private funds, which
makes expensive laboratory tests
impossible.
THE STATE of higher educa-
tion in Europe does indeed need
extensive changes. The intellectual
crisis has gone on, unrecognized
in its complexity, for too long.
The slip-back in study efficiency
and effective output has been un-
noticed until very recently. Finally
those in power are waking up to
the fact that something must be
done.
But even if quite drastic meas-
ures are introduced, a full-sized
comeback of Continental educa-
tion will be slow. Partial recupera-
tion has set in in a few areas-
at the uppermost level of research,
at least. But for higher education
in general, the situation is bound
to get worse. Even if a change in
direction will come about 1970, it
will take about 10 to 15 years
to get back to former high levels.
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NIGHT AND FOG:
French Documentary
Relates Nazi Horrors
ALAIN RESNAIS' "Night and Fog," a French documentary skill-
fully shows that the horrors of Nazi conmentration camps could
take place again.
Shown last night by the Union as a follow up to George Lincoln
Rockwell, "Night and Fog," was not just a set of film clips designed to
show a 1964 audience how terrible it was in 1944.
* * -* *
THE FILM STARTS with a present-day scene in color of the
verdant fields surrounding the concentration camp at Dachau. The
camp is peaceful. It's grounds are choked with weeds. The electrified
fence that once meant instant death is rusting away. Then Rensnais
cuts to a black and white film clip of the camp in action. The
previously empty grounds are choked with prisoners.
This then is the format. The film cuts repeatedly from tranquil
color scenes of present-day Dachau, to black and white shots taken
during the war.
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