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Housing Office: It Must Be Made Effective THE UNIVERSITY'S Office of Off-Cam- pus Housing, as presently operated, is obsolete; its staff, dedicated as it per- sonally might be, is not equipped to act as a guide or regulator of off-campus housing.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