Viet offensive may
oust Cambodians
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Exten-
sive Vietnamese forces now being
positioned in western Cambodia may
soon launch an all-out drive that would
send more than a half-million Cam-
bodians fleeing into Thailand, some
military analysts here say.
The Vietnamese now have up to half
their 200,000-man force in Cambodia in
the west: six divisions in place and
three others moving into positions
along a 210-mile are from the Gulf of
Thailand to the flat, brush and forest
lands in northwest Cambodia.
HANOI'S TARGETS are the guerrilla
hold-outs of ousted Premier Pol Pot and
anti-communist groups known as the
"Khmer Serei" or "free Cambodians."
Vast numbers of sick, hungry civilians
have gravitated to .the two anti-Viet-
namese factions, living in makeshift
camps straddling the border.
There has been much speculation
about a Vietnamese offensive - and a
possible spillover of the war into
Thailand - since the monsoon rains
receded in October, making large-scale
military movements possible.
Virtually no one is predicting a Viet-
namese invasion of Thailand, but there
is still concern that Hanoi's troops may
enter the country in "hot pursuit," or
even in order to bloody a few Thai units
as a warning to Bangkok to cut all its
connections with Pol Pot and the Free
Khmer.
Thailand has stepped up its vigilance
at the frontier, assigned some top
commanders to the area and involved
the international aid community in
helping Cambodian refugees to such an
extent that Hanoi's planners would
have to weigh carefully any military
action inside Thailand.
So far, fighting has not been heavy,
and only sporadic shelling and in-
trusions by "foreign troops" into
Thailand have been reported along the
frontier.
Reye's
Outbreak
A seven-year-old girl is listed in
critical condition at C.S. Mott
Children's Hospital where she is
receiving treatment for Reye's
Syndrome. Her six-year-old
'brother, listed in good condition,
is also hospitalized with the same
disease.
Holly and Andrew Burgett,
from Union City, Michigan, were
admitted to the hospital Wed-
nesday after contracting the
disease.
REYE'S SYNDROME usually
affects young children and
adolescents recuperating from
viral infections such as flu or
chicken pox. Although it is not
contagious, the disease is often
fatal. Symptoms include severe
vomiting, followed by mental
disorders, such as hallucinations
or delerium.
Although there is no cure for
the disease, the "Reye's Syn-
drome team" at Mott Hospital
has substantially reduced the
death rate from nearly 50 per
cent in 1974, when the team was
established, to 20 to 30 per cent.
The Michigan Daily-Sunday, December 2, 1979-Page 5
EVERYTHING YOU NEVER EXPECTED FROM AN APPLIANCE STORE.
fk335
r
Tenure system could
hurt teaching quality
(Continued from Page 1) '
professors looking for jobs, fewer
young academics are being granted
tenure.
Colleges and universities all across
the country suffered from a general
panic about the tenure situation in the
early 1970s. Academic journals are
chock full of tenure-related studies and
evaluations.
AS THE DECADE wore on, it became
apparent that any pending "disaster"
was many years into the future and that
there was sufficient time for a well
thought-out solution. Scholars in-
terested in the subject spent much time
trying to decide whetheror not there
really was a problem at all.
But now, as the 41exibility of the
University is reduced, and faculty
members become virtually locked into
their positions, a general University
policy to deal with these problems is far
from a reality. Administrators and
faculty members conclude that an
aging faculty and budget constraints
are challenges which face the Univer-
sity, but none of the answers are clear.
"IT'S INEVITABLE," Frye says of a
more stringent policy. "One thing it
means is that job opportunities for
young people are clearly limited.
Fewer people are preparing (to enter
academic professions) because there
are no jobs. People aren't going to keep
taking Ph.Ds."
Young Ph.D.s face a future in which
46 per cent of the University's LSA
Professors will be in their 50's and 60's
in 1990, as opposed to 28.7 per cent now,
according to Johnson's study.
In addition to the fact that the older
faculty will become more expensive,
the University is losing money each
year because of inflation the age
creates an even greater problem. John-
son's study pointed out that a tenured
professor in his or her late 50s is on the
average. more than twice as expensive
as a new assistant professor and over
half as expensive as a tenured faculty
member in his or her early 30s.
THE CURRENT condition of fiscal
restraint "simply aggravates what is
already going on" with respect to the
University's limited ability to hire new
faculty members, Frye says.
Fewer of those receiving Ph.D.s will
be able to find academic jobs, and those
who do are not willing to let go of those
jobs.
Also, highly qualified young
academics-nay be reluctant to come to
the University if they know the prospect
of promotion is low.
University President-designate
Harold Shapiro says the faculty tenure
problems mentioned will be one of the
main issues on his agenda for the
coming decade. "It's one of the things
I'm thinking a lot about. The adequate
renewal of faculty is a major concern,"
he says.
JOHNSON ADVOCATES periodical
reviews of tenured professors to
discourage the accumulation of what he
calls "the dead wood in a department."
He says any change in tenure policy
"would be real innovative on the part of
the University."
He cautioned, however, that "abrupt
change" should be avoided.
Indeed, abrupt change seems far
from likely given the current mood
among professors and administrators
who all say they feel administrative
centralization of the tenure process
must be avoided. Mention of change
frightens many in offices around cam-
pus.
An older faculty is not necessarily
worse, and increasing age does not
necessarily indicate problems. The
faculty will, however, probably have a
different intellectual orientation.
"One can only speculate that some
changes will occur particularly in the
intellectual orientation of the natural
and social sciences faculties," John-
son's 1975 study predicts. "One could
anticipate less stress on frontier and
testing research, and more stress on
the integration of broader areas of
research," the report also says.
Frye says there is not a lot the
University can do about the aging
problem. "There is no radical cure. We
can urge early retirements. Modest
things have been done in that regard."
He explains that because of aging and
current market conditions, the federal
government has concerned itself with
creating a pool of young scholars,
through such groups as the National
Science Foundation. Frye says an
organization might, for example, sub-
sidize a position if the University would
generate a tenure track slot for the
academic. This has not yet been done
on a large scale.
But a policy which would allow only
new Ph.D.s to be hired would even-
tually bring a department to have one
group of junior untenured faculty, and a
second group of senior tenured faculty,
with few in between. Faculty members
say morale and productivity would
become victims of such a situation.