Thursday, September d, 1973,
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
t-age Three
Thr-a,Spebe -193TE IHGA-AL
Courses:
Select,
don't settlel
y
By MARILYN RILEY
You're on your own, kid.
No doubt your parents, teach-
ers, counselors, dermatologist
and next-door neighbors have
all told you that when you get to
the Big U, there will be nobody
there to hold your hand.
They were right-sort of.
When you're looking for an
adviser to help you figure out
how to graduate in four years
(and hopefully learn something
along the way) your search may
be fruitless.
But just try to skirt a course
requirement while nobody is
looking and something magic
happens.
SUDDENLY LITTLE TROLLS
bearing "friendly advice" will
come crawling out of the wood-
work of the Freshman - Sopho-
more counseling office, crying
"foul" and telling you how it's
against the rules to try to break
the rules.
So what's a freshperson to do?
In high. school, rigid require-
ments and close contact' with
teachers and counselors may
have prevented you from pulling
any academic fast ones. After
all, skipping classes was strictly
against the law, and handing in.
a late assignment was punish-
able by The Lowered Grade.
And let's no forget those pop
quizzes designed to keep you in
line by making sure you've done
the required reading.
At the computer-rurt multiver-
sity - where the number on
your plastic ID card is more
important than your name-no-
body cares if you skip class,
never buy books or let your
typewriter rust from disuse.
TO THE UNINITIATED, this
lack of concern for your "wel-
fare" is the most serious draw-
back of a large university. But
to you, the enterprising young
student determined to get the
most education for your money,
anonymitity can be an advan-
tage.
For one thing, it allows you to
run your academic affairs pret-
ty much as you see fit. Some-
times this may involve conflict
with the trolls', but in many
cases, they won't even realize
what you're up to.
Course election time is a prime
example. If you've spent any
time flipping through the '73-74
course catalog, you've seen that
many of the interesting-sounding
courses have prerequisites or re-
quire permission of instructor or
upperclass standing.
IF Y O U' R E SHOPPING
around for social science and
humanities courses, you shouldn't
take all those requirements too
seriously.
In fact, you would do well
to choose upper-level courses
over 100 level introductory
courses.
In many cases, the upper-level
courses, being more restricted in
scope, are more interesting, and
worthwhile. Introductory courses
which try to cover the entire
field in one semester often end
up by covering nothing really
well and boring you in the pro-
cess.
Besides, these upper-level cour-
ses fulfill distribution require-
without the appropriate prere-
quisites.
Many times you'll find that
the counselors - who are pro-
fessors or teaching fellows first
and counselors second - aren't
as informed as student on pre-
requisites for various upper-level
courses.
You can't really blame the
counselors, though, since this
"At the computer-run multiYersity ... nobody
cares if you skip class, never buy books or let
your typewriter rust from disuse."
rg y y" M !{,; ., ' ?:"Y : 4 vi}} t"r':r{' ;";':""t;:i:dv::;}4",%r°}t. ....ryr,,4 :'+
form and a number two pencil, a
smile, and Three Good Reasons
(or as many as you can make
up) Why I Want To Be In Your
Class. Then be prepared to talk
fast.
It may work - or it may not.
In any case, you will be getting
valuable experience which will
serve you well in the real
world - all part of the educa-
tional process.
SO NOW -YOU'RE sitting in
class, and a little voice in the
back of your mind tells you this
course is not going to live up to
your expectations.
Perhaps the professor is put-
ting "you to sleep or the reading
list rivals the Encyclopadia Bri-
tannica for length.
In any case, if it looks as if the
course is going to be incredibly
boring or over your head, do not
suffer in silence - drop the
course.
This presents no problems, as
long as drop-add has not ended.
If, however, you have missed
the deadline, your task will be
slightly more difficult.
The first counselor you see
will probably give you a long-
winded explanation on why he
See FINDING, Page 8
ments just as well as the fresh-
person introductory courses.
Natural science courses are
less flexible, however. While
there may be no apparent logic
behind the numbering of social
science and humanities courses,
natural science courses are
carefully structured sequentially
so that the introductory course
must be covered before you can
move on to the complicated ma-
terial.
ONCE YOU KNOW what cour-
ses you want, how do you go
about making it official? If
you're lucky, your counselor
won't even notice that you're
trying to sneak into a course
'university offers more courses
than any one person can keep
track of. But this is just one
of the benefits ofthe multiver-
sity which can be worked to
your advantage.
However, if the counselor
catches you in mid-fake, you'll
have to go to the professor of the
course and. do the smile and
shuffle routine to get special
permission to enroll. This isn't
as difficult as it may seem.
All you have to do is arm your-
self with an election request
Escaping
aca demic
con fin ement
By ERIC SCHOCH
supplement co-editor
Scattered among the Univer-
sity's tightly-structured, traditi-
tional concentration programs,
an impressive array of academic
alternatives await students' ex-
ploration.
It is still possible, of course., to
get a traditional degree in one's
field of interest, fulfilling all the
college regulations: language re-
quirements, distribution require-
ments, and'so forth, taking only!
regular University courses.
But if you feel restricted by
these requirements, or decide
that the courses or concentration
you desire are unavailable or in-
'adequate, then there are alterna-
tives which can help you find
the educational experience here
more meaningful and to your
liking.
Four years ago, after much
pressure from students seeking
abolition of the LSA school's
language and distribution re-
quirements, the LSA faculty re-
sponded instead with an entirely
new degree, the Bachelor In
General Studies (BGS).
BGS has no distribution, lan-
guage or concentration require-
ments, and after graduation with
a BGS degree, there is officially
no field of concentration listed
on the transcript.
Despite initial fears upon the
part of some administrators and
faculty that the new degree
would only serve to provide "an
easy way out" for academic
loafers and that the degree
woulld not be accepted by grad-
uate schools across the country,
the BGS program has grown rap-
idly, last year reaching the point
where, inore student were "ma-
joring" in BGS than in any LSA
concentration program.
Many students, of course, have
chosen BGS to avoid language re-
quirements, and to a lesser de-
gree distribution requirements.
It has not been unusual, how-
ever, to find BGS students com-
pleting the language require-
ments anyway, using BGS only
because they wished a greater
degree of freedom in planning
their academic affairs. Many
students also pursue a normal
concentration program, although
unofficially.
The main factor in the success
of BGS, however, has been its
acceptance in graduate and pro-
fessional schools around the
country. The dire predictions of
the uselessness of the BGS de-
gree seem to have been un-
founded, as few BGS graduates
have met with difficulty because
of their degree.
The requirements for BGS are
few: at least 60 credit hours
must be at the 300 course level
and above, no more than 20
credit hours of advanced classes
in any one department, and no
more than 40 total credit hours
in any one department.
For those who find language,
distribution, and concentration
requirements stifling, BGS is the
way to go, ad increasing num-
bers of students are going that
way every year.
Course Mart
But you say it's not the re-
quirements that are bugging you,
but that the courses you'd like to
take don't seem to appear in the
catalogue. Well then, 'what you're
looking for is Course Mart, a
freely structured program that,
allows anyone, student or pro-
fessor, to define, implement and
teach a course on most any con-
ceivable subject. Such courses
can be taken by students for
credit.
Like BGS, Course Mart has
grown rapidly since its small be-
ginning in the Winter term of
1969 with four courses to several
times that number now.
Because such courses, official-
ly labeled "College Courses," are
not in any department, the credit
hours received do not count to-
ward concentration or distribu-
tion requirements, and students.
are limited to 15 credit hours of
Course Mart courses.
Students wishing to start and/or
teach a course must find a fac-
ulty member willing to act as a
sponsor, and all Course Mart
proposals must be approved-first
Tenure trauma troubles teachers
by the student-faculty Course
Mart Committee and then by the
LSA Curriculum Committee.
Recent Course Mart offerings
have included such topics as:
Consumer Protection, Parapsy-
chology, American Rock 'n Roll
Culture of the 1950s and Rudolph
Steiner's Road to Sensible and
Supersensible. Knowledge.
PESC
An even stronger challenge to
the rigidity of normal University
academic work is the Program
for Educational and S o c i a.l
Change (PESC).
As the title suggests, PESC is
oriented towards social and edu-
cational change by organizing
programs in conjunction with
University courses to study, en-
gage in research on and teach
about social change. In addition
to courses offered by the Univer-
sity, PESC offers some original
courses, usually t h r o u g h the
Course Mart program.
The most innovative aspect of
PESC is that its courses are open
free to anyone in the community,
whether University 'student or
not. Created by a group of stu-
dents, faculty and community
members in 1972 Winter Term,
PESC's attitude toward such
"free auditing" for community
members originally got it into hot,
water with the University admin-
istration, but the relationship
seems to have setled into one
of tolerance.
Using social change as a theme,
PESC has sponsored a series of
courses on such topics as Urban
Studies, Women's Studies, Revo-
lution and a year ago sponsored
a series of "State of the Univer-
sity" dialogues. Like C o u r s e
Mart, m o s t PESC - sponsored
courses provide credit toward
graduation, and ntany of the
courses originate in the Residen-
tial College or Pilot Program
Independent study
If you are just tired of formal
See ACADEMIC, Page 8
By JUDITH RUSKIN
The most frightening word
around for many faculty mem-
bers this past year was tenure.
The very mention of the word
caused professors to barricade
themselves in their offices. Many
refused to talk about it altogether
while others would do so only
"off the record." Those who did
speak out freely on the issue
often found themselves in hot
water.
Withholding tenure became a
political weapon in at least one
instance. It was used to remove
radical assistant professor Mark
Green from the chemistry de-
partment. An outspoken critic
of traditional teaching methods,
he was denied tenure for reasons
never made public.
In theory, the University calls
for equal consideration of three
separate elements in the granting
of tenure: teaching, scholarship
(research and publication) and
service to one's department..
BUT IN THE -past year, it has
become obvious to many that
more and more emphasis is being
placed on publication, usually at
the expense of teaching,
Because of a tightening budget,
fewer professors are being rant-
ed tenure. The University appar-
ently feels that, proceeding at,
the current rate,. it will have
morectenured professors on its
hands in ten' years than it can
afford to pay.
One faculty member estimated
that 50 per cent of all depart-
mental tenure requests are turned
Jown by the Literary College
(LS&A) Executive Committee.
Publication seems to be the de-
ciding factor for those who re-
ceive tenure and those who don't.
According to Russell Fraser,
English department chairman,
tenure requires the University to
make a life-long commitment to
an individual. "Publishing," he
said, "is an indication of vitality
of years to come."
It is simply not true, he adds,
"that the college cares only about
publication and not teaching.
Scholarship and teaching must
be in balance."
HOWEVER, there are those
that feel that publication is not
the only indication of a person's
promise for the future. "One can
demonstrate scholarly attributes
without at the same time having
to show large amounts of publi-
cations early in one's career,"
assistant English professor Stev-
en Weiland commented.
A classic case of the "publish
or perish" - principle this year
involved two assistant professors
in the English department, Jo-
seph Mullen and John Raeburn.
Both had been approved for pro-
motion by the English depart-
ment's executive committee, but
tenure requests were rejected by
the LSA Executive Committee.
Although the Dean refused to
comment on the case, it was con-
sidered common knowledge that
tenure was denied because of
lack of publication. Students and
fellow professors in the depart-
ment considered Mullen and Rae-
burn to be superb teachers.
"At the time of promotion we
all become great teachers," En-
glish Prof. Daniel Fader com-
mented sarcastically. "Scholar-
ship is the one clear piece of
evidence that a man or woman
is working. Teaching can become
automatic."
LSA DEAN FRANK Rhodes
refuses to comment on all tenure
cases as a matter of policy,
maintaining silence because it is
believed that commenting on an
individual's case will jeopardize
that individual's ability to get a
job elsewhere. But this silence is
allegedly often used to cover up
abuses of the tenure system.
Chemistry Prof. Mark Green,
for instance, was denied tenure
by his own department. The ten-
ure committee stated they could
not "find reason sufficiently com-
pelling to make a case ,to the
Executive Committee of the LSA
College for your (Green's) pro-
motion and tenure."
According to acting chemistry
department chairman Thomas
Dunn, Green had not maintained
his "initial vigorous program" in
research and had an only "mini-
mally satisfactory" teaching and
service record.
Green, however, defended his
record. He claimed to have pub-
lished more than the average
See TENURE, Page 8
Pilot, RC and Couzens provide
a more personalized educatoin
By SUE SOMMER
Cramped quarters, constant
noise, horrendous food-no dorm
is without these alluring charms.
But those who dwell in Alice
Lloyd Hall, East Quad and Couz-
ens would assert dormitories are'
vibrant classrooms as well.
They'd be referring to the
menagerie of academic pro-
grams, innovative and student-
generated, b a s e d within their
own dorms.
While goals and approaches
vary from program to program,
they share a common raison-
d'etre-the belief that the Big 'U'
is just too big and impersonal,
and educational opportunities too
limited.
TRYING TO ease the shock of
huge 1 e c t u r e s in introductory
nnlrs~_ AiceLlod'sPilotPro-
wiser in subject matter and the
ins and outs of University bu-
reaucracy, are also friends out-
side of the classroom.
A pass/fail grading system re-
lieves much of the academic
pressure and competition which
could interfere -with friendships
between neighbors.
In the past a sprawling slate
of courses was offered, including
dorm will focus. These "core
area" topics will include: com-
munity, struggle against aliena-
tion, individualism, and spiritual
quest.
Simultaneously, coed halls are
sweeping down from their isola-
tion on the top two floors and,
scattered strategically between
male and female corridors, com-
pose almost half the dorm.
"While goals and approaches vary from pro-
gram to program, they share a common raison
d'etre-in brief that the Big 'U' is just too big
and impersonal."
a:" a " 44'"{"'' fi{-. "4F")::Y.{.v{..rm i,>;:hi{{{"5;i::fi ii:{:":: r:'::j;:i;rr;A,;,; .{.t
AND COME A crisis, whether
the eviction of Oblio, Schnitzel
and Hendrix, the dorm livestock,
or the devastation of Bach Mai
Hospital. Pilot residents gather to-
gether to act.
Such a community exists as
well in East Quad with the Resi-
dential C o 11 e g e (RC) as its
nucleus.
Unlike Pilot, though, RC pro-
vides a full four-year liberal arts
program within LSA.
Classes are conducted, at East
Quad by LSA faculty with small
seminars a g a i n the rule - a
"really large lecture" means 50
students at RC.
Emphasizing interdisciplinary
study,, RC's concentrations in
drama, comparative literature,
creative writing and literature,
history of ideas and urban studies
are all unique at the University.
such titles as Political Campaign-
in Wete.rn Humanism. Com-
As the smallest coed dorm on
campus with approximately 600
in