F
f
I
U~br ir1$oau Bally"
Sevmtsy-Fiftb Year
EITrED ANDO MANAGED 3Y STUDENTS OF THE UNrvERSITY OF MICHIGAm
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD iiN CONTROL OF SUENTPUWCATbo~ts
GROWTH IS COMING .. .
The University and Its Environment
Where Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBoR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail
NEWs PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3,1964 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID BLOCK
Off-Campus Housing Office:
It Must Be Made Effective
THE UNIVERSITY'S Office of Off-Cam-
pus Housing, as presently operated, is
obsolete; its staff, dedicated as it per-
sonally might be, is not equipped to act
as a guide or regulator of off-campus
housing.
The power of the office comes from its
ability to accredit off-campus housing.
University accredited facilities have the
advantage of the housing office's recom-
mendation when students request infor-
mation on available apartments. In re-
turn, the accredited apartments must
meet certain standards of fair treatment
to students.
AT ONE TIME, getting accreditation
was an important way for a landlord
to make sure that his apartments would
be filled. But in the last several years the
influence of the off-campus housing of-
fice has decreased among local realtors.
This is because these realtors have sud-
denly realized that, with the University's
enrollment expanding at the present rate,
there are now so many students in Ann
Arbor that a market is assured with or
without housing office sanctions. Hous-
ing office approval thus appears more
and more restrictive without providing
the landlord with advantages. This is the
first of the big changes which have out-
dated the housing office: realtors' reali-
zation that they no longer need it to
make their apartments pay.
A second change is closely connected
with the causes of the first. While ex-
panding University enrollments have de-
creased housing office power, they have
simultaneously increased University re-
sponsibilities in the off-campus housing
area.
Traditionally, the University's policy
was one of extensive "laissez-faire."
It was believed that when students left
University-sponsored housing, they also
were leaving an area of University re-
sponsibility. Private housing was equated
with free enterprise, in which the Uni-
versity had no right to interfere.
THE UNWRITTEN BASES of the off-
campus housing office have always
been in line with this laissez-faire under-
standing. The University never accepted
responsibilities in off-campus housing,
so neither could the housing office.
Therefore, it has always operated more in
an advisory capacity than in an enforc-
ing capacity.
But the previous basis for the Universi-
ty's approach to the off-campus hous-
ing problem was one which pre-supposed
that a relatively large percentage of
University students would be living in
housing that was University operated,
such as residence halls, or University
approved, such as Greek units. Looked at
ij this light, it is clear that the Univer-
sity never made a stand in favor of free
enterprise as much as it made a stand
against troubling itself excessively for a
small percentage of off-campus students;
free enterprise and its defense were noth-
ing more than a casual smokescreen for
what few complaints might arise.
BUT THE TENET that few students live
in off-campus housing no longer ap-
plies. About 33 per cent of all students
now live in housing that is not affiliated
514~~ tt
H. NEIL BERKSON, Editor
KENNETH WINTER EDWARD HERSTEIN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
ANN GWIRTZMAN..............Personnel Director
BILL BULLARD .................Sports Editor
MICHAEL SATTINGER .... Associate Managing Editor
JOHN KENNY........... Assistant Managing Editor
DEBORAH BEATTIE ...... Associate Editorial Director
LOUISE LIND ........Assistant Editorial Director in
Charge of the Magazine
TOM ROWLAND ...,........Associate Sports Editor
GARY WYNER.............. Associate Sports Editor
STEVEN HALLER ................Contributing Editor
MARY LOU BUTCHER.........Contributing Editor
CHARLES TOWLE ........ Contributing Sports Editor
JAMES KESON................Chief Photographer
NIGHT EDITORS: David Block, John Bryant, Jeffrey
Goodman, Robert Hippler, Robert Johnston, Lau-
rence Kirshbaum.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Lauren Bahr, Gail
Blumberg, John Meredith, Leonard Pratt, Barbara
Veyfried, Karen Weinhouse.
Business Staff
JONATHON R. WHITE Business Manager
SYDNEY PAUKER .............. Advertising Manager
JUDITH GOLDSTEIN...............Finance Manager
BARBARA JOHNSTON............ Personnel Manager
RUTTH SCHEMNITZ ............... Systems Manager
with the University. It is clear that
where the University at one time prob-
ably had no reason to intervene in non-
affiliated housing, it certainly has rea-
sons to do so now: 10,000 students cannot
be ignored.
In the aggregate then, the University's
responsibilities have increased greatly in
the off-campus housing field. The result
is the picture of off-campus housing we
have today: student and landlord apathy
regarding the accreditation system, a
general tendency of apartment owners to
disassociate themselves from the Uni-
versity as much as possible and a Uni-
versity tendency to pretend that off-
campus housing problems do not exist.
For the time being, the situation might
be acceptable; far too many students are
being mistreated in this area but so far
they have not been too vocal a group and
have done little to upset the present
status quo. But the problems which this
sort of organization will create are many
and serious.
I SE PROBLEMS are brought out
in an analysis of what has happened
to the housing office since the announce-
ment of the construction of South Uni-
versity's 18-story apartment building.
Suddenly local realtors have seen a
threat to their monopoly in the introduc-
tion of out-of-town finances connected
with the South "U" apartment building.
And they have turned to the University
for help-help which the University's
powerless housing office cannot provide.
The realtors tendency therefore has
been to pull even farther away from that
housing office. As they see it, if the office
cannot provide them with the financial
security they want, they will disassociate
themselves from it and seek security in
other ways, such as long-term leases,
higher rents and the infamous damage
deposit.
AND WHAT WILL the out-of-town
builders tend to do when they find
themselves in a situation of non-regulat-
ed student housing? Quite naturally, they
will charge what the market will bear-
that is, what Ann Arbor landlords are
obtaining now-and students will be in
an even worse bargaining position than
they are now. Clearly, some form of Uni-
versity action is needed.
The off-campus housing office should
be allowed to develop some means of
enforcement of students' rights in dis-
putes with landlords. Specifically, a pol-
icy requiring that all student apartment
buildings above a given capacity be certi-
fied would provide the office with all the
authority it needs to enforce housing re-
quirements.
HERE CAN BE NO DOUBT in the mind
of anyone who has examined the mat-
ter that off-campus housing at the Uni-
versity is heading toward higher rents,
more stringent leases and less student
bargaining power.
It must be reemphasized at this point
that it is not just a few students that
are of concern. One out of every three
students in University classrooms will
suffer from the University's failure to act
in this area. Apartment contract terms
are difficult enough to meet at present;
unless the University takes some action
in the fairly near future, an unprecedent-
ed number of its students will suffer.
The University's moral responsibility
cannot be rationalized away with vague
allusions to free enterprise and caveat
emptor; there is a large area of injustice
here which the University can eliminate
only if it chooses to do so. In such a case,
the University's responsibility is undeni-
able.
0NE SOLUTION has been proposed. If
those closer to the problem can pro-
pose a better one, they have a most defi-
nite duty to do so. It is not necessary
that this particular solution be imple-
mented. But it is necessary that some so-
lution be implemented and that it be done
soon.
-LEONARD PRATT
N14to Tn K Mn
By RICHARD L. MEIER
IN WRITING on this assignment
I must admit to a special bias.
Since much of my work is con-
cerned with planning for under-
developed areas, I feel impelled
to express the development view-
point. Planners are concerned
about the process of achieving a
better future for people and their
institutions, while most other ad-
vice-givers seek methods of re-
storing the system to a steady
state. In this case my observations
suggest that the best set of policies
may well have unsettling effects
in Ann Arbor and its vicinity. A
few of the existing amenities may
need to be sacrificed in the course
of combatting the regional prob-
lems of poverty and unemploy-
ment, and others more compatible
with the future be installed to
take their place.
The University environment,
especially Ann Arbor and the De-
troitdmetropolitan area, doesnot
provide features that are easily
incorporated into a forecast of
development. The territory has
reached an unprecedented con-
dition of economic development.
Its relationship to the rest of the
world is illustrated very vividly
by a recent study of annual wage
levels where the data were plotted
as contours on a map. On it the
industrial belt of the United
States showed up as a high-wage
ridge with a line of dominating
peaks running from Cleveland to
Chicago. The completion of the
labor negotiations in 1964 will un-
doubtedly raise thegDetroit area
to the all-time wage level ever
achieved by a city in all history.
Salaries tend to follow wages with
a few years lag, so the affluence
should diffuse to all but the un-
employed.
YET THERE IS something quite
sick about the prosperity around
us. The Detroit area has been
losing more population through
migration than it receives! Also,
looking forward, it appears that
the auto industry may confidently
expect a 2/3 per cent growth rate
up to 1980, but this output will
provide a declining number of jobs
in industry and perhaps a constant
number in the present services
produced for export to other areas.
New ways of making a living need
to be introduced soon, or the pin-
nacles of the regional economy will
be undermined. Unemployment,
particularly among the youth, is
due to become an increasingly
serious problem over the nexthdec-
ade or so. Where are the jobs of
the future?
To find new jobs one must look
for the nuclei of growth industries.
Possibly they will expand to pick
up the slack. The well-known ex-
amples, such as aerospace indus-
tries, pharmaceuticals or plastics,
are not heavily represented here.
Services to the federal govern-
ment are growing rapidly in many
parts of the country, but in De-
troit they are minuscle. Some ef-
forts are being made to promote
tourism, but the lure of lakes and
forecasts to the north makes De-
troit's attractions appear tawdry.
The only really vigorous, fulminat-
ing growth activity in prospect
for the area is higher education,
together with the research, devel-
opment and higher professional
services that naturally accompany
it. The foci are in Ann Arbor,
East Lansing and the civic center
of Detroit.
Higher Education as a
Growth Industry
THIS SUB-TITLE is pure non-
sense, according to a rigorous
definition of the term. Intuitively,
however, it does appear appro-
priate; a projection of present
trends reinforces intuition much
more than it does the classical
formulations of the social sciences
that underclassmen are expected
to comprehend.
At ine time the growth industry
for the Ann Arbor area was service
to agriculture, but later it became
a railroad and manufacturing cen-
ter. Although the University has
been here a long time, it showed
signs of becoming a growth in-
dustry only during the era of foot-
ball glory and the Great Depres-
sion, when everything else seemed
to be folding up. It later went into
high gear and strained its capa-
city for the "veteran's bulge" in
enrollment. The period thereafter
was one in which demands for
college entrance were only slowly
rising, so the 'University retooled
and regrouped, mostly under se-
vere budget stringencies. Feder-
ally-financed research, however,
became truly significant during
this last decade.
Now the improved high school
curricula, together with the "baby
boom" classes, have greatly in-
tensified pressure for entrance.
However, planning for higher edu-
cation in Michigan has been too
late to cope with the situation.
Few new institutions can be creat-
ed in the short time remaining,
therefore existing institutions must
expand by five per cent or more
per year in enrollment. Since prior
growth has left little slack in
the system, the expansion of fa-
cilities must equal or exceed this
rate. Over the next few years the
race to construct new teaching
capacity and acquire faculty will
of activity every five to eight
years, and in Michigan it is Ann
Arbor that sets the pace. Already
it sponsors the cultural activity
of a typical metropolis of a million
persons. Few make money out of
the arts, but many eke out a liv-
ing.
Prospects for the
Community
THE NEW growth industries
evolved in the Ann Arbor en-
vironment will not pollute the
streams the way paper mills and
food processors did in the past.
The air in the future will be no
more smoggy than now from the
inevitable build-up of traffic, since
the auto firms have promised the
public health commissions that
they will have the effusions from
cars under control by the 1968
models.
The new generation of firms and
agencies believes in conspicuous
production, sothat modern, land-
scaped exteriors for places of work
will be almost universal. There-
fore the eyesores of the future will
not arise from disregard of the
pROF. RICHARD L. MEIER of the natural
resources school is an expert on com-
munity growth and planning. He has been
a Fulbright Scholar and a visiting lecturer
at Harvard. His books include "Science and
Economic Development," "A Communica-
tions Theory of Urban Growth" and "De-
velopment Planning." Meier is also a re-
search social scientist with the Mental
Health Research Institute.
.PLANNING IS NEEDED
become very desperate indeed, and
there will be a premium on the
adoption of innovations like the
trimester calendar. Each of them
will add only a little extra to
capacity but together they may
avert a crisis.
THE GROWTH of the graduate
school and the assembly of a top-
quality teaching staff greatly in-
creases the potential for higher
professional services. The medical
complex in Ann Arbor is a small
growth industry all by itself. Sim-
ilarly, when resources become
scarce, as with clean air, pure
water and room for recreation,
Ann Arbor is the best place to
establish the headquarters of the
study groups in the resource use
professions.
The presence of large numbers
of leading investigators and scien-
tific talent attracts research funds.
Future research is expected to be-
come more diverse and employ a
greater range of talent. These
qualities introduce a multiplier,
because many corporations and in-
dustrial associations are looking
for sites with unusual combina-
tions of expertise and experimen-
tal facilities for their long-range
research and development. Others
wish to carry out their most ad-
vanced production in a neighbor-
hood where potential trouble-
shooters abound. Spinoff from uni-
versity research to various "hard-
ware" producers has already been
a much publicized job-creating
phenomenon. In the near future,
however, it appears likely that
nonindustrial offspring will be
more fertile and produce even
more jobs.
* * *
WHAT OTHER new additions
seem likely? The use of the uni-
versity as an information center
has so far been hidden in research
contracts and free services to citi-
zens. But now there are many
more independent consultants,
some of them building their own
organizations. These, too, will lo-
cate nearby and produce cards,
tape, programs-all of them typi-
cal of a small but burgeoning
"software" industry. Perhaps a
few fortunes will be made in the
process.
But the growth industry with
the most rapid rate of all is "high-
brow culture." Figures show that
recordings of modern classical
music, drama, orchestra instru-
ment playing, painting, sculpture
and all the rest of the creative
arts are doubling in their scale
public but from honest mistakes
that can be romanticized after an
interval of vociferous criticism.
The only undersirable wastes and
by-products of these industries are
unnecessary and unwanted human
inactivity, otherwise known as
congestion.
* * *
ANN ARBOR'S physical envir-
onment is already adjusting to this
future, both for better and for
forse, depending upon one's taste
for change. The apartments that
have been sprouting around the
campus and on the city's edge
represent only the beginning of
what is in store. Shops have been
abandoning their quaint small
town character; now they are
more urbane - and expensive!
Little tracts of settlement are
dribbling out into the countryside,
with professors and executives
creating small estates in the fruit-
land and the mature forests, while
the white collar workers spread
into the tilled fields.
It seems highly probable that
Ann Arbor, in common with some
other university cities, will take
on many of the boom characteris-
tics that in the past fifteen years
have been associated with Florida
and California. Portions of the
more educated and mobile popu-
lation in the nation choose to
move into such areas because they
like the style of life, and then
they proceed to create their own
employment opportunities. Ven-
ture capital is quick to note these
"hot spots" in the economy and
much speculative building is ini-
tiated by large-scale outside en-
trepreneurs. This growth stimul-
ate more interest and the middle-
scale operators move in. By then
the accelerators take hold and a
"snowball" phenomenon is evi-
dent. A great deal of chaotic new
growth will occur rapidly.
CITY AND COUNTY plans do
notsanticipate this kind of growth
pressure. A realistic view until
very recently would require the re-
spective agencies to expect steady
incremental growth only slightly
increased from what has been ex-
perienced in the recent past. More
than that, local planners know
that they are powerless to guide
and direct forces that are metro-
politan, statewide and national in
character. On that scale even their
capacity to obstruct is limited.
Official plans should not be chang-
ed until some alternative future
is more likely and has been as-
sessed, but there must be at least
a readiness to shift rapidly to a
new outlook. Meanwhile, much of
the work of the planners them-
selves should be directed to find-
ing accommodation to growth
rates in employment of six to
eight per cent per year.
Thus a basic conflict of interest
is revealed. Established Ann Arbor
residents favor slow and orderly
growth. They can become quite
heated about the step-by-step
erosion of the special attractions
of the community brought on by
redevelopment a n d congestion.
Liberals and conservatives alike
protest the space given up to traf-
fic arteries, parking spaces, dormi-
tories and public buildings, quot-
ing arguments drawn from past
experience rather than projections
of demand. Yet the Detroit region
desperately needs new productive
activities in order to provide jobs
for its youth, and by far the best
hope lies in an acceleration of
spinoff in the Ann Arbor area.
The state of Michigan also has
a strong interest in sponsoring
growth wherever possible because
the congestion building up at uni-
versity centers (which normally
vote Republican anyhow). Never-
theless all the action Washington
is presently under pressure to un-
dertake seems likely to funnel new
money into Ann Arbor. Because
the human resources in this area
are richer than elsewhere, and
the government is forced by its
own internal budgetary and ac-
counting controls to choose e-ti
cient locations, it is quite proper
that this outcome should occur.
Up to this point, however, I
have discussed only what is likely
to happen to the University and
its community. Exciting possibili-
ties for growth and diversification
were revealed as a natural out-
come of forces already at work,
but stresses and conflicts of in-
terest are also apparent. No men-
tion has been made of what might
be different if planning were un-
dertaken, some authorized agency
were to intervene, and develop-
ment were redirected so as to in-
crease over-all gains to society.
Policies for
Development
W HAT IS the dynamic at work
here? It appears that univer-
sity training not only accords sta-
tus, it also distributes income-
producing knowledge. A recent es-
timate of the wealth of the United
States suggests that the market
value of intangibles now substan-
tially exceeds the value of all
property. Organization is worth
much more than hardware. It is
apparent that some kind of human
resources accounting must be in-
troduced before one can be con-
fident that one development pro-
posal is superior to any of the
others that can be implemented.
The formal procedures for such a
set of accounts do not yet exist,
but the underlying principles can
be found in the results from stu-
dies of organization.
A large mass-university has an
output that is different from that
of a medium-sized university or
college. For one thing, it can take
on complicated tasks in producing
new knowledge that would swamp
a smaller school. This potential is
of great interest to the federal
government. The large profession-
al schools can supervise the major
changes in state government-an
important contribution to the wel-
fare of all the residents.
The degree-holders produced
are different because they have
been introduced to anonymous
relationships as underclassmen
and have learned to choose circles
for gratifying their special in-
terests. Big-university graduates
are better prepared for metropoli-
tan environments. It is always
interesting to note that embattled
communities in exurbia, struggling
to hold back the tide of urbani-
zation, are led by the graduates
of small colleges who never learn-
ed to live in a large community.
The large university, properly
directed, can be a tremendous
asset to society when coping with
a variety of urban problems.
* * *
ONCE IT IS recognized that a
university is an institution that
producesservices that can produce
wealth, analogous to the machine
tool industries that make the ma-
chines to produce machines, new
questions arise. How should the
public, the owners of this "cor-
poration," get the greatest return
from its operation? The answers
are somewhat disturbing, because
they indicate some serious con-
tradictions are hidden in the wide-
ly accepted liberal democratic
views about education.
It is important to know, for ex-
ample, what university education
is worth. Most valuable, perhaps,
is the elevation in status which
provides entry into the most in-
teresting and exciilg social oles
the society has to offer. Many
people would pay for this oppor
tunity with hard work of their
own or out of inherited wealth.
Education also yields a marked
increase in expectation of earn-
ings. Economists argue among
themselves whether the rate of re-
turn has been 10, 15 or even 25
per cent on the total investment
by parents, the students them-
selves, the endowments and the
state. It is evident, however, that
these investments in human re-
sources tend to be more produc-
tive than investments in natural
resources, transportation equip-
ment and most other directions.
* * *
AN INEQUITY of major propor-
tions is thus identified. The state
is making a capital grant to the
future member of the technical
and professional strata that is
worth $5,000-50,000 apiece. In the
past the American social system
expected, and received, much free
service from college graduates on
school boards, in voluntary services
and in other community partici-
pation. On the whole a fair return
was received for the subsidy. Re-
cently, however, the value of the
"grant" has been increasing rapid-
ly (salaried professional workers
trends, that automation is a con-
spiracy of the engineers, mana-
gers and bureaucrats to create
high-paying jobs for people with
expertise at the cost of security
for the working stiff.
This is one of the gravest in-
equities arising from the way the
university affects its social and
economic environment. Inequities
lead to friction, obstruction, delays
and outright vetos in some direc-
tions of development. Imbalance
in growth results, and cessation
of growth is likely to follow. Re-
moval of inequities is imperative
when constructing a development
program.
A Development
Program
MANY OTHER considerations
are relevant when a univer-
sity is to be used as an engine for
development. I will try to take
account of those I know in setting
forth the following partial pro-
gram, but I cannot list all factors
or explain how they relate:
1) The facilities of the Univer-
sity should be increasingly used
to overcome bottlenecks in social
and economic development by
identifying possible solutions, par-
ticipating in the launching of pilot
programs and speeding the spread
of successful innovations. They
are uniquely qualified for met-
ropolitan, national and world
scale problems.
2) The growth in industry, new
services, facilities, arts and hous-
ing associated with University ex-
pansion should be pushed ahead at
full speed so as to generate as
many jobs as possible.
3) A much more- detailed assess-
ment is needed of what would
happen in the vicinity if physical
growth were to accelerate to as
much as twice the present rate for
a while. (Investment in university
areas is now reported on enthusi-
astically in Fortune, the Wall
Street Journal and the New York
Times.) It should include a survey
of the extra controls and balanc-
ing techniques that could be con-
stitutionally introduced to guide
the expansion.
4) The University campus plan,
which puts most of the internal
traffic on foot or bicycle, should
be extended into the community
to accommodate the high-density
residences already in use and pro-
posed. Contributions to a system
of circulating buses might be used
as a partial substitute for parking
space. Techniques of operating a
"nickel bus" for areas about the
size of the campus and its environs
are now evolving in Washington
and elsewhere. Car rentals and
taxis may be similarly aided. This
approach would be most appreciat-
ed during the winter months.
5) A rationalization of the dis-
tribution of costs and benefits is
essential. One might pay for edu-
cation by drawing from anticipated
income using any of a number of
little-used financing devices, but
they should allow theeborrower
the same freedom to be a poet or
reformer, or to get married, as he
has now. Education for profes-
sionsnvital to welfare, in scarce
supply, and not in a position to
extract high incomes (e.g. social
work, teaching, nursing) could be
state-subsidized. Very likely the
education of women must be par-
tially aided because society does
not place a money value upon the
child-bearing role.
6) Pay increasing attention to
techniques for the quantitative
estimation of the production of
knowledge, and to the modes of
distribution available. Only then
is it possible to make estimates of
the productivity of the alternative
uses of the same resources. (For
example, a recent article starting
from this point of view suggested
that switching effort out of re-
search and into university teach-
ing should yield higher returns to
society under present conditions.)
MORE IMPORTANT than any
single policy, however, is the re-
alization that the large university
must be a microcosm of the com-
munity to which it belongs. It is
actually the embryo of the large
urban community that is to de-
velop in the next generation or so.
The more carefully the embryonic
microcosm is nurtured by its en-
vironment, the more balanced will
be its growth, and the more re-
warding will be the flowering of
an era in which human resources
are expected to be the predomi-
nant concern.
LETTERS:
A Call for
Tolerance
To the Editor:
I WAS SORRY to see Professor
Mendenhall's vehement attack
(October 30)~ on Professor Cut-
I
I
4
I
4
4
I
I
"What's The Latest On The Red Khrushlash?";
I
& %JrIAPZIWTT-
A