ARE THEY DOING?

The Place of Alumni at the University

Continued from Page Thirteen
better controlled, but "the cleanest
athletic set-up in the Big Ten" is
claimed for the University.
Martens reports little alumni
pressure or interest (until recent-
ly) in University fraternities. The
houses are owned by alumni cor-
porations and only when finances
get in bad shape do the alumni
step in.
But in other areas, Martens says
there is little or no pressure, for
example in whether or not to
pledge a given man. Fraternities
are getting away from having to
take "legacies" (sons or brothers
of chapter members). "There are
no alumni at the houses during
rush," Martens said. The relation-
ship between alumni and under-
graduate chapters is now a busi-
ness relationship, he explained.

ALUMNAE activity in sororities
is much greater. Some sorori-
ties submit their preference lists
for pledges to their alumnae group,
which then rearranges the list as
it sees fit. Sorority undergradu-
ates also cite alumnae pressure to
improve socially or academically
and pressure to pledge certain
girls where the alumnae group
does not actually make up the
rush preference list.
But the overall attitude of Uni-
versity alumni is apathy and not
pressure. In the academic realm,
there is slight chance for alumni
pressure. The faculty has tight
control of curriculum and grading
standards, for example. The fac-
ulty and administration keep con-
trol of admissions, calendaring
and hiring faculty men.
One possible source of influence,
but a slightly different form of in-

fluence, is in the area of research.
A large gift for nuclear research
can orient a school's research pro-
gram toward this area. Corpora-
tions, by the restrictions they put
on their gifts, can give this type
of direction to University research.
The alumni gift is almost always
too small to have any effect in
this way.
ALUMNI PRESSURE in the
realm of student activities is
an ambiguous matter. Dean Rea
cited the active interest of some
affiliated alumni in the discrimi-
nation issue, because the matter
of fraternity - sorority property
rights enters in. Some alumni are
"strongly flavored with yesterday,"
according to Rea, and oppose ad-
vances in the discrimination area.
But he emphasized that these vo-

i

cal elements were a small minority,
and that some alumni were equal-
ly as strong in their favoring of
anti-discrimination.
Alumni clubs located out-of-
state also protest the limited out-
of-state enrollment which may be
in danger of even more severe lim-
itations. Alumni can pressure both
individually or as a club. Individ-
ual complaint, pressure, or sugges-
tion is the more common form.
TrHE ALUMNI group is a power-
ful segment of the University
community which the University
is now trying to interest in its
problems. Alumni are the Univer-
sity's "sleeping giant." Some pro-
gress is being made, for example,
broadening the base of alumni
contributions.
The Alumni Association is pre-
senting each graduate with a
year's subscription to The Michi-
gan Alumnus, in this way trying
to develop the former students' in-
terest as alumni while student ties
are still strong.

The student who had a connee
tion with a small group on cam-
pus tends to be the most active
alumnus. Although many excep-
tions can be cited, affiliates seem
to be more active alumni, as do
members of student organizations
like the Union, IFC, or Michi-
gamua. As one administrator put
it, these people have "some place
to come home to" and need not
"stand around the Union lobby
until they meet someone they
know." The group ties bind these
people to something more than
the large and somewhat imperson-
al University; they are members
of a small group with an addition-
al loyalty to this group.
When the "s l e e p i n g giant"
awakens, if it awakens, the Uni-
versity must be ready. The alumni,
like every other group in the Uni-
versity community, must have a
cause. Direction from the Univer-
sity could make the alumni a
strong force for improving this
University's quality, if and when.

AVie
How is
SIZE AND COMPLEXITY, both
actual and potential, are the
dominant chatacteristics of the
University in 1960. A University
already staggering in extent and
intricacy has plans for the near
future which include expansion of
enrollment to at least 28;000 stu-
dents, increased utilization of the
North Campus, and enlargement
of the branches at Flint and
Dearborn.
Much of the expansion which
has taken place and which will
take place appears to represent a
response to short-term needs
rather than the result of long-
range planning based upon clearly
conceived ideas of the University's
ultimate goals.
One consequence of such often-
improvised expansion is a major
communications problem among
the various segments of the Uni-
versity, a problem now recognized
by the administration and the
Regents. That the projected ex-
pansion of the University will ag-
gravate this problem is obvious.
For if there is one irreducebale
necessity in education, it is com-
munication among all concerned:
students, faculty, administration,
alumni, and those who provide
financial support to the institu-
tion.
B UT THERE is an even greater
problem resulting from the
University's complex structure,
and to which the communications
problem contributes. This problem
is that of the perceived goals of
the University,
The particular aims of the Uni-
versity's separate schools and col-
leges are well defined: the literary1
college, to create a liberally-edu-
cated man; the business school,
to create a man who will function
effectively in a business environ-1
ment; the architecture college, to
create a man with the enlarged

w of the Growing Univc
Size Affecting the Nature of the Insti

i

IK~


1I

11

DOWNTOWN ANN ARBOR
"'a wonderful place to shod"



GROWING LARGER--Complexity has become the key word in discussir
Angell Hall no longer represents a unified school.

and disciplined creativity which
will enable him to compete suc-
cessfully in his chosen field.
But basic to the nature of a
university is the assumption that
it must be more than merely the
sum of its parts. A university edu-
cation must extend beyond the
bounds of the academic require-
ments of any particular segment
of the institution.

Complexity and size in an edu-
cational institution have value
only if they contribute directly to
the educational process.
These factors can contribute to
the end of the education process
at Michigan only if there exists in
the minds of students, faculty and
administration an overall view of
education which makes participa-
tion in the community of scholars
meaningful to their development
of a "central humane system of
thought," (to use Robert Graves'
phrase from The White Goddess),
a system of thought which inter-
relates all varieties of experience
in the mind of the truly educated
man.
A university-educated man, over
and above his own field of con-
centration, must develop respect
for all fields of knowledge. An
engineering student, for example,
should be open to an awareness of
the totality of man's intellectual
experience, beyond the specific
studies which prepare him forE
participation in his own field.
. The University is today pro-l
ducing too few men. Its schoolsi
and colleges seem to be turning out1
effectively-trained doctors, law-a
yers, anthropologists and engi-,
neers. But .these graduates havet
Partaken little of the enlargement
of human experience which is po-t
tentially the University's greatestv
gift to them. 1

stitution. Truly great universities
such as Oxford and Harvard pos-
sess this aura; the University, by
report of visitor and participant
alike, does not.
SUCH AN aura, though intangi-
ble, can only be the product of
self-conscious consideration and
articulation throughout the Uni-
versity of the need for mutual
commitment to university educa-
tion.
We feel the aura of mutuality of
educational purpose is lacking at
the University, precisely because
such consideration and articula-
tion are missing.
We fear this is harmful to the
University, and may well destroy
it as a quality institution in the
future.
This general lack has expressed
itself in many of the most serious
specific problems now facing the
University.
The UNrversity administration
expresses a generalized desire for
quality," rather than an individua-
lized goal for which this institution
(and each of those who compose
it) can aim. Often, this high de-
sire is expressed in terms of the
University's high standing among
the other educational institutions
of the country. Such a phrasing of
the problem is at bottom a back-
ward one, imposing a conservative,
hold the line attitude upon much
of the administration's thinking.

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Lush fresh fruit and

vegetable salads .

CAI "*.a

4

10 Stri4galt t hi
MAGAZINE'

Pastries that melt in your mouth, baked

Volume VI, Number 10

Wednesday, May 25, 1960

by us in our own bake shop.
Home made soups (assisted by Mr.

Heinz)

Famous Hotel coffee and tea by LaTou raine
Creamy rich dairy products from Bolgos Farms
Taste tempting Ice Cream from McDonald's
Come in and join us soon, luncheon
served from 11:00 'till 2:00 daily

MA NSM OOTH
UNIVERSITY ROW'
SPORTSHIRTS
100% Cotton,, .need no ironing.
Here's handsome trimness, thanks to the figure
fitting contour-cut of this fall-toned oxford sportshiri.
Designed to slip on over your head, and styled in the
authentic ivy tradition, you'll look great ...feel
great in this tapered shirt. And MANHATTANe
Mansmooth@ tells you this 100% cotton sportshirt
drips dry in no t.me ... needs no roning .".. stays
neat and wrinkle free all day.
Tice sMen's Shop

PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY
Contents
'U' PLANS FIVE-YEAR OUTLAY PROGRAM
By Thomas Turner Page Two
A VIEW OF THE GROWING UNIVERSITY
By Thomas Turner, Philip Power
and Jo Hardee - Page Three
FACULTY SENATE
By Joan Kaatz and Peter Dawson __Page Four
MEN'S HONORARIES
By Thomas Kobaker Page Five
STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND EDUCATION
By Jo Hardee Page Seven
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY
By Philip Power Page Eight
PLACE OF ALUMNI AT THE UNIVERSITY
By Robert Junker Page Eleven'
MAGAZINE EDITOR--Joan Kaatz
PHOTOS: Cover: Daily; Page Three: Daily; Page Five; Selma Sawoya;
Page Six: Daily; Page Seven: Daily; Page Eight, first column: Cour-
tesy of Martha Cook Building, others-Doily; Page Nine: Daily;
Page Ten: Daily; Page Eleven: Daily; Page Thirteen: Daily.

FOR THE University as it now Too often policy decisions appear
stands',s less a university than to be taken in response to advances
a "multiversity." The real educa- made elsewhere or in expedient re-
tional value of university status sponse to internal pressures for
and complexity is neither clearly space.. Rarely do the administra-
articulated nor effectively imple- tion's decisions seem based upon a
mented by administration and positive long-range program for-
faculty. mulated on the basis of the Uni-
Perhaps it is not deeply felt. versity's self-determined goals.
The only way the multiversity in The University's capacity for
Ann Arbor can become a true Uni- critical self-examination, of the
versity is by being energized by a obligations and functions of stu-
goal of true university education, dents, faculty and administration
clearly articulated to all connected and its obligations to the State of
with the institution, to which all Michigan is reduced to near-
members of the University com- nothingness by its lack of a per-
munity are deeply committed, in vasive sense of purpose which can
which they are all deeply involved. function as a standard for judge-
Only out of mutual awareness and, ment.
mutual respect on the part of each
constituent of the community can NPRAGMATIC terms, it is
come that true mutuality of educa- even more difficult for the Uni-
tional purpose which is essential to versity to convince the Legislature
the existence of any university and other sources of funds that
which aspires to be such in more educational excellence here de-
than name. mands increased support, if the
This goal, if shared by all, will University itself demonstrates no
manifest itself in an aura, an overall conviction and commit-
awareness of the existence and iment to its own individual goals.
functioning of an intellectual com- Again, lack of an overall com-
munity pervading the entire in- mitment to the ends of the Uni-

r
°1
t
12

MAKE IT GOODYEAR'S.. OF COURSE!

1107 South University

Phone NO 3-4046

THE
mil
whole,
furthe
wide



THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 1960