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EIrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD -IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBUCATMOMS
Each Time I Chanced To See Frank
riD.
The University's $55 Million Fund Drive
by H. Neil Berkson
?pinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MIcH.
:h W1il Prevai
NEwS PHONE: 764-0552
titorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
)AY, DECEMBER 2, 1964
NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN BRYANT
No Curriculum Approach
For Residential College
UNIVERSITIES are for educating, but'
not many students come to them with
this idea foremost in mind. Thus it falls
to the universities to do all that they can
to encourage students to become educat-
ed.
When the University pursues policies
that not only reinforce anti-educational
attitudes, but directly hinder getting an
education, it is failing as an academic
institution.
AMONG THE MOST detrimental poli-
cies pursued by the University are
those of maintaining a curriculum and
the academic paraphernalia accompany-
ing it.
A curriculum is harmful in a number
of ways:
-It divides 2material along lines that
are sometimes arbitrary and often some-
what different than a student would
wish, forcing him to learn irrelevant mna-
terial, not to learn some things at all,
and occasionally to learn the same thing
more than once;
-The division of subject-matter com-
bined with a finite number of course of-
ferings means that some things can-
not be taught at all and that some ap-
proaches to a subject cannot be tried;
-Aside from a few directed reading
courses, there is nothing to encourage a
student to pursue his own academic in-
terests. If it isn't in a course that thef
student can take, the University will not
help him to learn it.
FURTHERMORE, a curriculum leads to
numerous administrative and faculty
conveniences, each further detrimental
to the pursuit of education:
-Classes, in which the teacher loses
his obligation to be interesting and in-
formative and the student is forced to
display his knowledge through often un-
fair, unrewarding and uneducational
homework, papers and tests;
-Grades, which impose the question-
able goal of getting good ones at the ex-
pense of the more worthy goal of learn-
ing;
-Distribution requirements, an expres-
sion of lack of faith in the students and
a source of academic alienation and not,
so-academic unhappiness and frustra-
tion;
-Graduation, a concept which because
of the above factors has come to mean
an arbitrary end to education, and an
end at which people are far more un-
equally educated than their grade-points
indicate.
THE RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE offers a
golden opportunity to dispense with
all this academic rigamarole. A plan such
as the following might be tried:
Incoming students get a catalogue list-
ing teachers in the college and their spe-
cialties and interests. Then they talk to
the teachers they find interesting about
$their educational goals. 'The teachers
make recommendations to the students,
suggesting readings, other relevant peo-
ple to talk to and original work that might
be done.
Students graduate whenever three fac-
ulty members decide to offer a degree,
and tley flunk out whenever three fac-
ulty members think they are not mak-
ing good use of the educational facili-
ties of the college. Nothing but an inter-
est to learn would be required; nothing
but lack of- such interest would be pro-
hibited.
Lectures take place whenever someone
has , something to say. There are no
classes, but faculty members must make
themselves available to students 30 hours
a week-something close to the' time they
now spend on classes, office hours and.
grading. The size of the college is small.
enough so that most of the students and
faculty can know each other, and stu-'
dent-teacher contact is always close
enough to enable all assignments to be
made in the interest of students' knowl-
edge rather than teachers' (for grading).
THE PLAN MIGHT FAIL. But the pur-
pose of the residential college is to
educate, something that is not being done
very well now in the literary college. The
college's designers are supposed to inno-
vate; they should try something differ-.
ent, like this.
-EDWARD HERSTEIN
Editorial Director
ANYBODY SEEN $55 million?
Not that it's been lost, but the University has visions
of finding such a sum in the midst of alumni, founda-
tions and industry.
Confirming the most public secret of the past year
and a half, President Hatcher last week announced
a fund drive timed to climax in the Sesquicentennial
year, 1967. The University has had a professional firm
examining and working on such a drive since spring,
1963. The major questions were two:
-Would a public university have the same success
raising millions of dollars in a special drive that private
schools have had?
If so, how much could the University expect to take
in?
Public institutions have shied away from massive
fund raising because, theoretically, the taxpayer satis-
fies their needs. This has not been the case, however,
as state legislatures have generally left higher education's
needs unrecognized.
SO NOW the University will seek $55 million "to,
ensure the vital margin"-the margin which has his-"
torically allowed this institution to compete with the
best private schools and colleges in the country. This
is all well and good. There will probably never be
enough money to do all the things that should be done
here.
Nevertheless, fund raising carries certain pitfalls
which, if unavoided, would do much to taint the Uni-
versity's efforts.
An institution always conscious of its image can
become hypersensitive when looking for money. Stan-
ford, for instance, just finished a $100 million drive, and
there were accusations that the university sought to
"muzzle" its more controversial professors and (in some
cases) students in order not to offend the conservative
rich. A similar move here would be rather sad.
MOREOVER, the utility of $55 million could be
seriously hampered by donor restrictions. The $6 million
already received for a chilren's hospital Is certainly
valuable, but to a very limited number of people. If
somebody were to contribute money for a faculty center,
it wouldn't do much to further the educational aims of
the University.
The money needed most-unrestricted money tc
boost departmental expenditures and experimentation-
will be the money hardest to come by. Donors have a
knack for wanting to see something with their names
on it. This, of course, is understandable.
In any case, as the University grows in big business
proportions, the money now being sought should help
to keep it from turning into a mere factory. Unhappily,
perhaps, individuality must have financial backing.
It will be the community's responsibility to see
where the money is going and to cry foul if necessary.
* * * ,*
LERE'§ AN INTERESTING sidelight to fund raising'
Experts say from experience that if an institution
were to seek a hypothetical $30 million, the fi
million would come in major gifts from,10 peo;
second $10 million would come from 100 peop
remainder would come from all other contributors
over, for every actual giver there must be three pc
givers. If, in other words, 10 millionaires were
$1 million each, they would have come from a
30 millionaires, 20 of whom might have given but
+ * * *
THE LITERARY COLLEGE steering committee
- benefits only itself, but Monday it consider
concept-an interdisciplinary science program-
might have a healthy impact on undergraduate
tion. Daily writer Robert Johnston evaluates t
below.
As he says, it's not a new proposal. Yale bi
Paul B. Sears, for one, suggested a two-year se
of "science rather than sciences" in a June i.
(whatelse?) Science magazine. The "'lack of comn
tion . . at the beginning level among science d
ments themselves" is leading to serious fragmer
he argued.
Sears also contended that much information
to nonscientists is buried in advanced courses re
for specialists. "Right or wrong," he wrote, "the in
sion prevails that the typical introductory college
is taughtwith a jealous eye on the possible major
'must be prepared'" to continue.
ENGLISH MAJORS ON NORTH CAMPUS:
interdisciplinary Science: Pabmor Insp
By ROBERT JOHNSTON
AN interdisciplinary science
Acourse for' liberal arts majors
is an idea that has great potential
at the University. The literary col-
lege steering committee proposed
such a program last night, and,
hopefully, the proposal 'will be im-
plemented.
Interdisciplinary science is hard-
ly a new idea, of course. In re-
search it is becoming the rule
rather than the exception. Centers
and institutes for advanced inter-'
disciplinary study are proliferat-
ing on campus with amazing
speed. But, with respect to.cur-
riculum. which is still taught in
fragmented areas, it appears that
the "trickle down" theory has been
assumed to be in opera'tion.
That is, if you get enough top
quality faculty d o i n g high-
powered research and teaching
high-powered courses that relate
directly to this research, even-
tually some of this excellence. will
trickle down into undergraduate,
and then underclassman 'courses.
So far there has been too much
assumption and not enough action.
The interdisciplinary science pro-
gram would be a chance to har-
ness some of this upper level ex-
cellence for the masses--the lib-
eral arts undergraduates.
** *
THE FIRST STEP,- however,
shows signs of being in the wrong
direction. The article in yester-
day's Daily spoke of "correlating
all the sciences" in the course and
using rotating lecturers. 'This
sounds dangerously like high
school general science courses and
English 123, neither of which have
very good reputations.
A recent article in Science Mag-
azine pointed up both the dangers
and at least one solution that has
been attempted. The authors, Prof.
H. H. J. Nesbitt of Carleton Uni-
versity, Ottawa, and Prof. John
Hart of Brock University, St..
Catharines, Ontario, state -at the
outset:
Two kinds of science courses
usually available, which may be
roughly classified as "history
and philosophy" on the one
hand and "the nature of the
World" on the other, do very
little to impart what science
really is, -and what scientists
really do.
Our course had to convey, in
26 weeks ,a sense of the scien-
tist's participation in the prog-
ress of science. We wished to
establish the idea that progress
in science is irregular and at
times haphazard, that scientific
papers are npt always master-
pieces of great clarity, and that
scientists may on occasion err.
We thought that, at .the end, of
the course, there should be
plenty of unanswered questions,
science being essentially an
open-ended business.
With these goals in mind, Nes-
bitt and Hart, both,,scientists, set
up ScienHce100. Rather than at-
tempt any kind of survey of
science, an approach which im-
parts few lasting facts and no
lasting ideas to the liberal arts
major, a single restricted subject
was chosen to be studied, in this
case the biochemistry of genetics.
Math and technical' subject pre-
requisites were minimal.
'We wanted a field with an ac-.
tive current literature and yet a
clearly defined history. Our
idea was to trace the history
of. the subject chronologically
through a Judicious selection of
papers from the original litera-
ture. The accent throughout was,
on contemporaneity.
The st)idents studied the orig-
inal literature and interpreted it
without using a "textbook dig'est'"
for aid. "The question to be asked
all through the course was, 'What
would you do next'?" It was no
survey course. Students them-
selves even decided that articles in
IF YOU ARE A LIBERAL ARTS MAJOR, chances are that you have never been in
North Campus buildings shown above. A good interdisciplinary science course could ii
pus research meaningful and relevant to nonscience undergraduates. Center left is
Science and Technology. Directly across the street from it is the Phoenix Project with
reactor. At right, from top to bottom, are the Fluids Engineering Bldg., Automotive!
Office of Research Administration and Cooley Electronics Laboratory. Oother build
storage and printing. Off to the right, not shown, are three aeronautical and astronau
labs, a space research lab under construction and the cyclotron building.
OSA MakesI t Difficult
HUNDREDS OF UNIVERSITY students
stood in line Monday for tickets for
the University Rose Bowl tour. Lack of
foresight and organization resulted in a
miserable time for the majority.
The Union planned ahead and arranged;
a chartered train trip, complet6 with ho-
tel rooms and added features, the week
before the Michigan-Ohio State ,game.
The Office of Student Affairs did not
begin making plans until the Monday
after Michigan's title-clinching victory.
The Union, travel committee ,kept in
touch with the University and made the
presentation of its plans after the game.
The University refused the proposal and
instead interviewed 12 'agents that Mon-
day. The Union rates were lower than
those proposed by the University and
Gibbs Tours, Inc., since the travel agents
raised their prices after Michigan got the
Rose Bowl bid. If the University had made
preliminary arrangements before the-
game, reduced costs would probably have
been possible.
LAST WEEK, Vice-President for Student
Affairs James A. Lewis announced the
tour plans which called for space for,
about 500 people 'in each of the three
forms of transportation-bus, train, and
airplane.
The train tour' was only $10 cheaper
than the plane trip. If one buys meals on
the two-day train trip, the airplane would
be less expensive. When this was brought.
to the University's attention, it still
claimed that plane and train transporta-
tion were distributed in the correct man-
ner. Monday's overwhelming response for
air travel disproved this theory.
If the University had made early plans
and had carefully studied past Rose Bowl
trips made by Illinois and Wisconsin stu-
dents, a clearer forecast of Monday's
transactions would have resulted.
It was not stated that one had to pay
for side tours on Monday in order to
have them at reduced costs. Many people
were unable to take advantage of this
)pportunity because they had only enough
money for the basic tour.
PROBABLY the greatest error was the
cancellation of the flight from Chicago
to Los Angeles. The ticket office opened
in Room 3511 of the SAB at a few min-
utes before 9 a~m. At that time the linej
of students went down one hallway, down
three flights of stairs to the basement,
and extended through most of the base-
ment halls. With a line of approximately.
the same length, the Chicago flight was
cancelled early in the day. The reason for°
the cancellation was that "only seven
people had signed up."
Only the people 'in the immediate area
of Room 3511 were asked if they were tak-y
ing the Chicago flight. The vast majority
was not asked. The Chicago area con-'
tributes the second largest number of out-
of-state students; it does not seem very
reasonable that the tour should cancel
the flight without making certain that it
could not be filled by students standing in
line.
TIE LACK of communication with
those in line was apparent when Lewis
had to stand on a chair to shout to those
waiting in line. At least he could have
used a megaphone.
In the afternoon, the door separating
the third floor of the SAB from the stair-
case was locked because there was no
chance of accommodating the people,
waiting below the third floor with 'air
transportation.
Those remaining on the third floor
were hand counted. This was not a very
accurate way of determining how many
people still needed air transportation., In
fact, it just wasted time. People crowded
Scientific American were to be
avoided and original sources given
priority.
* * *
ONE OF the very strong points
'of this approach is that the stu-
dent is introduced to what might
be called original science. He is
forced to think and digest infor-
mation in the same way that.
scientists do. He participates in
the actual construction of a scien-
"It'Ns ot supposed To Be Used For A Crutch"
tific discipline, going ,through
every step in the construction
himself, It is hard work, of course,
but what student doesn't get men-
tal indigestion from the standard
textbook approach to teaching
science?.
Many of the immature entering
students apparently thought the
course might be a "snap." "They
were speedily disillusioned. They
had to work hard, interpreting
papers in a field well outside their
previous experience."
Other reaction was interesting
and revealing. The course was
called "woolly." The library had
to be searched for books to aid'
in interpreting the papers. But,
"The intelligent and mature stu-
dents were highly interested and
read widely. A few wanted more,
time to read the 'real' science
books that they had. theretofore
avoided."
AS Nesbitt and Hart have eval-
uated the results, "good students
can learn a great deal from orig-
inal papers in a field new to them
-far more, we believe, than they
can learn from a conventional
textbook on modern science."
The course was given depth by
restricting its field, but breadth
was introduced "by making neces-
sary excursions into relevant pe-
ripheral fields."
This is exactly how a scien-
tist operates. He has to plough
his way through previous work;
he acquires the skills and
knowledge that are relevant to
his speciality; and he has to de-
vise experiments in which mod-
ern technology is used to the
utmost.
For most liberal arts majors,
science consists of inexplicable
miracles and a plethora of scien-
tist gods that daily produce them.
But it doesn't. Science is going on
all over this University in a hun-
dred fields as exciting and im-
portant as the biochemistry of
gepnetics stdied pr1in "Science 1002f"
of
researcn
brings pr
ulty and
one of these faculty 1t
lecture hall? HIow many
more than a walk-thr
quaintance with these m
dollars worth of, scier
cilities.
Few even know that
cilities exist. There are
tunnels and space resea
the cyclotrons,, the Ph
actor, the huge labora
the Institute of Science i
nology, Buhl Genetics
Lab., the Mental Health
Institute, the Institute.
Research, to name a 'few.
few. There are many r
new ones coming.
Add to this the resour
University's library sys
many liberal arts undei
have ever spent any tin
for information in the er
physics, chemistry, s:
math libraries? Or even
eral Library?
* * *
FIFTY SCIENCE 10
could be set up in asn
ferent subjects without e
that $42 million annua
budget. All. that is nee
few scientist-professors
make good what they
being interested in unde
education, and a few sti
terested in something m
a textbook and UGLI rea
of English, history, philo
political science.
In a letter to Science
Janet Jeppson of New
said, "Once having les
used the principles of
ly most sorely lacki
graduate liberal art
* *
2N' A V' '- ~ U->