THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, February 27, 1974
-PAID ADVERTISEMENT-
I
THE
REPORT
OF
THE
COMMISSION
IV
GRADUATION
REQUIREMENTS
Continued from page 7
lations and Advice, a more formal selecting, its members, take stepss
and official code of reference; 4) so that admission to the Honors
A Master-list of Course Offerings; College is not fixed by the closing1
and 5) A Catalog of Courses Cur-o
rently Offered, published each of a course and that all interested
term with accurate descriptions of students are aware of the oppor-1
subjects covered, modes of teach- tunity to enter the Honors Colleget
ing, and assignments required. The after their admission to LSA, seek
task force should recommend to increase student and faculty
which of these need be published awareness that departmental hon-1
annually, which more or less often. ors programs are open to stu-I
dents not previously members of
VH. 7. The Dean should assign the HonorspCollege, make fuller
at least one person, half-time, use of a living-learning program of,
who would report to the Associate its own, and consider what innova.-
Dean for Curriculum and the Cur- tive teaching programs it might
riculum Committee to carry out sponsor.1
the recommendations of the taskt
force and prepare these publica-
tions in the future.
VII. S. Every department should.T
maintain a place within its of- VIII. ATTENTION
fice where student inquiries can be
accurately answered, appointments TEACHING
made with the faculty, and where
mimeographed course outlines, ad- The Commission seriously con-
vice on concentration, and state- sidered but rejected various mech-'
ments of curricular changes will anisms (generally viewed as nec-
be easily accessible. essary by experts in these mat-,
ters) that would in effect force the4
.Ea nCollege to give greater attention to
The Educational teaching in general and non-de-t
EnIromtenlt partmental teaching in particular.4
These devices included the possi-
We endorse the recommenda- bility of creating an underclass
tions of the Living-Learning Cod- college, of establishing a depart-
mittee and believe the freshman- ment of general education, or of
courses and Institutes proposed in instituting within each department-
this report would help to bring the a committee on underclass teach-
advantages of these programs to ing which would have a budget of
still more students. (27) In this its own and report directly to an
College, however, courses held in associate dean. We believe that in
the residence halls will benefit company with the other recommen-
freshmen primarily, and the les- dations of this report there are
sons that can be learned from the, gentler and less divisive ways ofI
success of the living-learning pro- giving institutional life to the con-
grams should be applied more' cern for teaching which this facul-
broadly. Drab and sometimes ty has repeatedly professed and
squalid classrooms and offices, often demonstrated. (28) The Com-
bare corridors devoid even of a mission recommends that:.
bench, a magazine or a poster,
whole floors on which the single VIII. 1. The Curriculum Com-
social center is the space around' mittee be reorganized in order that,
an empty coke machine--these con-'it may give the College more cre-
ditions are as appalling for the ative and long-range guidance; a)i
neglect they imply as for the effect its membership should be enlarged
they inevitably produce. to nine faculty members and six;
students (presently there are six
For many students such condi- faculty members and three stu-I
tions symbolize a general indiffer- dents); b) the Committee should'
ence to their education and their not meet as a whole only occasion-;
welfare, an indifference confirmed ally, operating primarily as three
when University-sponsored plays sub-committees:
and concerts have few seats at
prices students can afford, when at The Committee on Courses would
the head of a block-long registra- give formal approval to all regu-
tion line they learn the course is lar, Pilot Program, and Course-
closed, when transcripts are with- Mart courses; generally supervise
held for a technicality or an er- and make recommendations for
roneous bill. Faculty members'the reduction in the number of
wishing to give a three-hour final courses offered in any single term
examination, move a class to a that will follow from the changesl
larger room, or organize an extra- in the credit-hour system; work
curricular meeting often experi- with the Associate Dean for Cur-
ence a similar feeling of helpless- riculum and the person in charge
ness. Size and poverty underlie of publications (Recommendation
many of these problems, but often VII. 7) in designing and preparing
the difficulty is merely that no one catalogs.
feels authorized to make even ob-
vious improvements. The hundreds The Committee on Undergradu-
of people who operate the vast sup- ate Education would receive and
port services of this University maintain the small library assem-
are separated by experience and. bled by this Commission; be em-
geographic location from the stu- powered to give temporary but im-
dents and faculty of this College. mediate one-term authorization for
They often feel themselves alone experimental courses under a spe-
and misunderstood, applying rules cial set of course numbers; receive
and procedures legislated by the reports from the Residential Col-.
faculty or ordered by the adminis- lege. the Pilot Program, and de-
tration to a world determined to partmental curriculum committees
escape those rules. Yet this Com- on changes made in their teaching
mission in dealing with many of and curriculum; serve as consul-
these offices has usially found tants to interested faculty as well
them anxious to be helfl, proud as report to the faculty generally
of their flexibility, and sometimes on promising new educational ven-
rich in good ideas. tres here and elsewhere: with the
Associate Dean for Curriculum en-
Although the Dean's Office has corage and snervise the estab-
taken a number of steps that have i Is hi m e n t of interdisciplinary
already brought improvement in conrses, freshmen courses, and
many of these areas, the Commis- Collegiate Institutes; work with
sion recommends that: other offices of the University
VII. 9. The Dean and the LSA (such as Counseling, Career Plan-
Student Government oen a cor- ning and Placement, the Alumni
plaint bureau so that inadequacies Council, and University Extension)
in oureadministrative apparatus in securing their cooperation in
can be quickly identified. teaching programs where appro-
priate.
VII. 10. Each department make The Committee on the Improve-
every effort to sponsor departmen- ment of Teaching and Learning
tal student organizations and with wiould cooperate with individual In-
their help to create an environment structors and all teaching units in
conducive to relaxed and civil dis- establishing varied but systematic
course. programs for the evaluation of
courses by students and others,
VII. 11. The Student - Faculty and in assessing the qualitative ef-
Policy Committee undertake over fects of various curricular pat-
the next several years a series of terns; make recommendations to
reports and recommendations on the faculty for the improvement
ways of improving liaison with the of teaching; work with the Center
service-units of the University and for Research on Learning and
on the requirements for raising the Teaching, the Rackham School of
quality of the various aspects of Gradnate Studies, and the depart-
undergraduate life in the College. ments in creating programs for the
training of teaching fellows: co-
-nnat wthr.T andrthe Rt or.
and the amount of independent su- undetermined expenditures by this
pervision for which a faculty mem- College:
ber is responsible and that include'I
such forms of teaching as service I 'I.6 [physical quarters for Col-
on a Board of Studies; b) seek as legiate Institutes, which might
part of a general reassessment of have to be housed together in one
their efforts more efficient ways of office if there were no other pro-
allocating faculty time (on occa- 'ects, departments, or dormitories
sion allowing full teaching time to to which they could be attached.
be devoted to a single course or Although the needed space does
permitting faculty members to ac- appear likely to become available,
crue credits from advising and it could require modest expenses
supervision so that an "overload" for renovation or furniture.]
for two or three terms could lead VII. 9 [a complaint office, pre-
to a reduced amount of teaching sumably a partial assignment for
in a fourth term; c) continue tos ye prt a si e.fo
include detailed evaluations of someone in the Dean's Office. }
teaching and advising in their pro- VII. 4 [a telephone "hot line" in
motion requests and regularly dis- the Counseling Office.]
cuss these evaluations with every,
faculty member; d) if possible, es- VII. 6, 7 [the publication of sev-
tablish a regular policy for grant- eral catalogs and the appointment
ing reduced teaching time to fac- of one person, half-time, to be in
ulty members designing n e w charge of them.]
courses; and e) the largest depart-
ments should consider the advisa- IV. 10 [teaching fellows on the
bility of assigning someone to English Composition Board.]
serve as an advisor for full- or
half-time. Once a department has VI. 1 [some fees for outside lec-
developed such new policies, their turers, teaching fellows in the In-
- _tUUULrLinII w inc univrsity i/ a-
i
.j
C
.a
3
i
sumable with three members) as The fourth hour of four credit- Committee should in general ex-
departments choose to greate. Un- hour courses should not for most pect each budgeted teaching unit
less and until the device of Boards; faculty represent an increased in the College to allot approximate-
of Study becomes popular with ly,10 or 15 per cent of the teaching
students, the ad hoc boards called work-load but rather an account- time of its full-time equivalent fac-
for in the proposal will require ing of what they already do, made I ulty above the rank of teaching fel-
some voluntary sacrifice by facul- now into something that students low to the following kinds of teach-
ty except insofar as their depart- can expect and plan upon. By corn- ing: Introduction to the Univer-
ments count such service.] bining four-hour a n d two-hour I sity course, freshman seminars,
nars each had from 15
dents, then 1500-4000
could take them.
to 20 stu-
freshmen
t
t
t
courses, and by other arrange-
IV. 11 [English Composition ments the various departmental
Board, two or three faculty mem- accounting systems permit, there
bers.] - need be little overall increase in
VI. 1 [Introduction to the Uni- the time most faculty members ac-
versity, one faculty member and tually spend teaching. And teach-
guest lectures, some of which will ing responsibilities should, in these
be from the faculty. Freshman new arrangements, be somewhat
seminars; freshman orientation more equitably distributed.
seminars.] The four credit-hour system
VI. 4 [new interdisciplinary should, however, reduce the num-
courses.] ber of courses offered by a great
deal (although obviously not by a
VI. 6 [new courses in Collegiate full 20%); departments are being
Institutes.] asked to make it their policy to do
VI. 8, 9 [increased independent less of their teaching in formal
work and senior projects (which courses.
should, however, be so organized The teaching time thereby re-
as to try to maintain the College's leased must, however, be made
standard teacher-student r a t i o, available for these new programs.
e.g., by organizing courses, by di- The Commission therefore recom-
recting a large number of students mends that:
in the "monitorial" style in which
a student does not receive indivi- 1. All student credit-hours taught
dual tutorial, and by counting the by faculty members outside de-
supervision of students as part of partmental offerings should, for
the teaching load.)] budgetary purposes, be credited
. . to the department or departments
VII. 2 [increased advising by fac- to which the faculty member be-
ulty, but either as a teaching as- longs.
signment or as part of the fourth
hour of courses.] 2. The Dean and the Executive
"interdisciplinary courses (includi g
those of the established interdisci-
plinary programs), Collegilte In-
stitutes, Collegi-te Boards of
Study, English Composition Roards,
Undergraduate advising, the super-
vision of independent study.
Such an allocation of teaching
time should adeqaitely met the
needs of programs called for in
this report:
details should be communicated to
the College Executive Committee
so that other departments may
consider similar steps.
IX, THE MATTER
OF COSTS
The adoption of these proposals
would involve hundreds of faculty
members in the serious work of re-
designing courses and creating new
ones; clearly the Commission feels
such efforts would be rewarding in
themselves and justified by the
benefits they would bring. It would
be insulting to apologize to pro-
fessors for inviting them to 'think
new thoughts.
We have tried to be parsimon-
ious in creating new committees,
that tempting device for drafting
unremunerated labor, and have in-
flated the present number in only
two instances: a task force on the
College catalogs (VII, 6) and the
addition of three faculty members
to the Curriculum Committee (VII.
1. a).
Many of the Commission's pro-
posals may contain hidden costs,
but we believe they are slight and
easily controlled. This is true, of
course, for most suggestions that
classes meet in residence halls or
that the conditions of classrooms,
lounges, and offices be improved.
Other recommendations that fall in
this category are:
I. 10, 11 [the creation of a tem-
porary admissions office and the
assignment of a counselor to older
students, measures intended to be
taken within the present Counsel-
ing Office.]
IV. 4; VII. 3 (the filing of a Dis-
tribution Plan and a Concentration,
troduction to the University (pre-
sumably some other courses will
reguire fewer teaching fellows.)]
The heavy demand of the recom-
mendations in this report is upon
faculty time, but represents the re-
allocation of time freed by reduc-
ing the number of formal lecture
courses taught in any one term:
II. 5 [Board of Study, five facul-
ty members and such Boards (pre-
'
i
C
n
1
Current FTE faculty
in LSA 1,4?8.2
FTE teaching fellows 470.6
Faculty above TF rank 957.6
FTE 10-15%=96-144 FTEs
(College) Board of Study 2%/
English Composition Board 11/
Freshman Seminars 25
Interdisciplinary courses and
Collegiate Institutes 50
79
FTEs
Available for all other programs
listed in IX. 2: 18-66 FTEs
Freshman seminars with 25 FTE
faculty = 100-200 seminars (at 2
credit-hours). If these 100-200 semi-
Interdisciplinary and Institute
courses with 50 FTE faculty equals
200 such courses each year.
It should be remembered that
since most departments already
contribute significantly to interdis-
ciplinary programs and to inde-
pendent stutdy, many will find it
easy to meet their quotas but in
doing so will release considerably
less time thin the above figures
imply to new programs which
sho"Ildin any case begin more
modestly.
X. IMPLEMEN-
TATION
Although specific steps for car-
rying out these recommendations
are in most cases part of the pro-
posal itself, the Commission also
recommends that:
X. 1. The Dean and the Execu-
tive Committee should establish
ways to oversee the carrying out
of the above recommendations that
the faculty approves. They should
also report to the faculty not later
than eighteen months after such
approval on the effects these mea-
sures have had, adding whatever
recommendations they deem wise.
- FOO TNO TES -
1. The Commission
posed relatively little h
do with Honors Colleg
learning programs, theF
gram, and the Residenti
--all of which have been.
separate, recent studies.
has pro-' (Report to the Carnegie Commis-
having to sion, 1970), 26-27; although Spurr,
e, living- favors the A.A. degree. An encour-
Pilot Pro- aging analysis of the B.G.S. de-
al College gree is made by Dean C. Baker,
subject to Charles G. Morris, and David L.
Rodgers "A Different Expression
in Liberal Arts", Compact (Octo-
hr '47)M"
the Alumni Survey conducted for 'has been done apparently with
this Commission, 90% of the re- good effect at Cornell University,
spondents favored development of the University of Rochester, and
work-study or "Academic Field- 'the University of California, San
Work" programs. Diego. This in no way prevents
Santa Cruz; St. Louis University;
Hampshire College; and New Col-
lege, University of Alabama, as
well as to a number of other ef-
forts to establish problem-oriented
a v i
13. These patterns have been re-
fined from a number of definitions
of a liberal education but are
alcn dearlyc lno a to ffnrt tlan
C'
i
2. The poll of the alumni was
conducted for the Commission by
Jean Danzer Cobb, its member
representing the alumni. A sample
of 600 was polled (half men and
half women, half resident in Michi-
gan and half not, half graduated
since 1958 and half before) and
just over 31% responded. Obvious-
ly no scientific conclusions can be
drawn from such a poll, but the
indication of alumni interest in and
affection for the College was im-
pressive.
3. A statement at the Johnson
College National Symposium, Jan-
uary, 1972, in Walter E. Tubbs, Jr.
Toward a Community of Seekers:
A Report on Experimental Higher
oer, iv1z), iz-iz).
. aisu ciear y cruseto euors s e e.
7. The importance of the move- where to strengthen "liberal edu-
mrit toward regional examining cation understood as seeing thej
universities is stressed by Harold relatedness of things", Franklin
L. Hodgkinson, "Reflections on the Patterson and Charles R. Long-
Newman Commission" Change worth, The Making of a College,,
(May, 1972) 35-37. It is encourag- Plans for a Departure in Higher
ing that the report of the Task Education (Cambridge, MIT Press,
Force on the Lifelong University at 1966), 11, 47-48, 63.
Michigan State University similar-
ly calls for their cooperation with
other institutions in the state. 14. See Theodore J. Marchese,
"Reexamining the Undergraduate
8. The model curriculum at 29 Sequence of Studies", Journal of
prestigious colleges was found to Higher Education (February, 1972),
be eight courses a year for four 110-22.
years; Spurr, Academic Degree
Structure, 55. Recent reforms at 15. Report of the Committee on
other colleges have nearly always the Undergraduate Experience, 8-
included a reduction in the num- 9; in our meetings with alumni and
ber of courses taken, Liberal Edu- in our alumni survey the impor-,
cation at Lawrence, Report of the tance of training in the writing and
Select Committee on Planning, speaking of English was stressed.
September, 1969, 20, 29-30; Dwight
R. Ladd, Change in Educational
Policy (Report to the Carnegie 16. J. Parke Renshaw, "Foreign
Commission, 1970), 48, 62, 190. We Language and Intercultural Studies
doubt that courses in LSA are in the Present-Day College Cur-
either less demanding or less dis- riculum", Journal of Higher Edu-
tracting than elsewhere. The Cur- cation (April 1972), 295-302, found
riculum Committee in a memo that 102 of 235 institutions sampled
dated October, 1966, and the Dean had recently abolished or reduced
I
i
earning the degree in three years, 1 interdisciplinary programs, see
but the Commission was not con- Nearle R. Berle, eo., Innovation in
vinced that a three-year degree of- Undergraduate Education, Report
fered sufficient advantages to be- of a conference at Alabama, Janu-
come the norm or sufficiently dis- ary 1972. Interesting ideas for in-
tinct qualities to require a sepa- terdisciplinary courses on the pro-
rate program. From a similar con- fessions have been proposed by
clusion Dean K. Whitla proposes Harvard's President Bok and espe-
instead the elimination of the soph- cially by William Theodore de Bary
omore year, "The Three-Year A.B. of Columbia in "University Direc-
-A Proposal for Harvard", Liberal tions II, A Program of General
Education (May, 1972), 247-57. 'Continuing Education in the Hu-
President Derek Bok has also ex- manities", reports of December 8,
pressed doubt about the Carnegie 1971, and February 23, 1973. See
Commission's enthusiasm for a the argument for "problem center-
three-year degree in College Board ed" teaching by Willis W. Harmon
Review, No. 85 (Fall, 1972). in his February, 1970 paper for the
Bureau of Research, U. S. Office
20. Not that Michigan has been of Education, "Educational Future
enievconsistent; for 71 years, and Educational Policy", p. 17.
from 1841 to 1912, The University of Michigan's own Commission on Re-
Michigan graded its students on a source Allocation in its Final Re-
pass/fail basis. The reform adop- port of May, 1972, recommended
ted in 1912 with the enthusiastic on nage 13 that "Programs which
support of the Michigan Daily contribute to multiple teaching pro-
brought the letter grades used for grams and have broad service
the past 61 years. functions to the University should
receive special consideration in
budget allocations."
n y._.. .___"
Plan, which wi
ed counseling
the eliminatio
Mould require increas-' Education
and advising; but 1972), 32.
n of the requirement
(Lincoln, Nebraska,
i
that course selection cards be 4. The College Entrance Exam-
signed would also free a great deal ination Board is itself considering
of time; so would the establish- testing for other criteria. The
ment of the expansion of the Aca- Study of Education at Stanford, IV,
demic Information Center.] Undergraduate Admission and Fi-
IV. 12 [varied emphases in ele- nancial Aids, 44-46, proposes sepa-
mentary language courses, a step' rate competitions for admission in
that could not be allowed to in- terms of musical, creative, athletic
crease the number of language sec- talents, etc. Some fundamental
tions unless enrollments increas- questions about current tests are
ed. raised in David C. McClellan,
"Testing for Competence Rather
V. 8 and/or Proposal A [an ap- Than for Intelligence", American
pendix to transcripts or a student- Psychologist (January, 1973), 1-14.
controlled transcript; the addition-' Interested faculty and the Dean's
al costs should be covered by the Office might well cooperate in
service fees charged.] seeking outside funding for experi-
21. Recognition of the disadvan-
tages in recording grades pass fail
has led, for example, to a clear
'decline in the number of courses
taken pass'fail at Brown (Matt-
feld, Report to the Fellows of
Brown, 8-9). The Committee on In-
25. Arthur Chickering, A New
Model for Non-traditional students.
American Council on Education. II,
No. 3. (1971), pp. 2-4.
'',
1
'1
VI. 10 [modular courses in term
lIA should not, with reassigned
course loads, be more expensive.]
VII. 4 [an Educational Policy
Handbook prepared by the Coun-!
seling Office falls within their cur-
rent plans.]
VII. 8 [departmental informa-
tion offices presumably fall withint
the current duties of the secretar-
ial staffs and departmental assis-'
tants but might lead to the hiring:
of some students.]
A few of our proposals could
(and should) take effect only if
funds from outside the College be-
come available:
1.12 [Professional Fellows Pro-
gram]'.
ments insalternative measures of
ability.
5. The influential Second New-
man Report will recommend a na-
tional program of financial aid for
students returning to college after
government service, Frank New-
man, "A Preview of the Second
Newman Report", Change (May,
1972), 32. There is little danger,
however, of LSA's being flooded
by older applicants. Not only is
cost an effective barrier, the re-
port of the Commission on Non-
traditional Study finds that slightly
more than 12% of adults interested
in further education are primarily
interested in general education
rather than coursesrrelated to a
vocation or a hobby, Chronicle of
Higher Education (February 5,
19'73_ In n addition incrased nros-
and the Executive Committee ink'unheir language requirements. stitutional Cooperation warns that 26. J. H. Robertson, "Report of
their annual report for 1968-1969 Brown and Yale now have no lan- Deans of professional schools in the 'Committee on Academic Coun-
cautiously suggested the merits of guage requirements, most of the the Big iTen and the University of ? seling" (1959); the Ad-hoc Commit-
a four-course pattern. Four courses Ivy League requires one-year pro- Chicago believe that a student, tee on Student Participation in
a term is the normal pattern at ficiency. Enrollments in foreign more than a quarter of whose University Affairs expressed great
a great many institutions, among languages at Brown have contin- grades are recorded pass/fail, is at dissatisfaction with counseling of
them: American University, Am- ued to ro, JacqueBnA.d at a disadvantage in the competition all sorts in itsreport of 1966, p. 8.
herst College, Boston University, fieldA Report to the Board and for admission to graduate school In our alumni survey 51% of the
Bowdoin College, Brandeis Univer. Fellows of Brown University, (June or fellowship aid and is forced to respondents gave counseling low
sity, Briarcliffe College, Brown 1973), 10-11 rely very much on test scores. marks. See The Study of Education
University, Bryn Mawr College, ' at Stanford, V, 4ff. Dean Morris'
Claremont College, Colgate Univer- 17. Some interesting reforms 22. These attitudes emerge clear- reports are "Appropriate Functions
sity, Duke University, Harvard 'made at the University of Illinois ly on Tables 5 and 6 of data on 'for an Academic Counseling Sys-
College, Haverford College. Ken- and a study of student opinion The University of Michigan pre- tem", "Staffing an Academic
yon College, Lawrence College, there on language study are de- pared for the "pilot feedback pro- Counseling System", and "Aca-
Mount Holvoke College, State Uni- scribed in two papers by Wilga M. ject" of the American Council on demic Advising and Counseling."
versity of New York, University of Rivers: "Diversification of the Ele- Education and presented to the Counseling in residential and
Pennsylvania, Reed College, Smith mentary and Intermediate Lan- University a few months ago. The small units--Pilot Program, Resi-
C o I 1 e g e, Syracuse University, guage Courses" (mimeo, n.d.) and Report of the Committee on Un- dential College, Honors Council--is
Wellesley College. "The Non-Major, Tailoring the derclass Experience makes a simi- shown by all these studies to be
Course to the Person--Not the Im- lar point, viii. much more effective.
9. If the Rackham School of age", a paper given at Twenty-
Graduate Studies chooses to keep Fourth Annual Georgetown Round 23. The advantages of freshmen 27. Report of the Living-Learning
its present credit-hour pattern, then!Table on Language and Linguistics seminars, introduced at Harvard Committee, February, 1973, Frank
courses offered for four hours of (1973). The value of including more, than a decade ago, are now X. Braun, Chairman: 22% of our
undergraduate credit would carry some elementary linguistics is pre- widely acknowledged and their in- freshmen now earn some aca-
three hours of graduate. This is sented in William E. Harkins, troduction has become a common demic credit in the residence
currently done in several depart- "How Relevant Is Our Language feature of curricular reform. hells.
ments. Study?", The Slavic and East Eu- Student-led seminars have been
10. The Departments of History
nne Anliti l OApnrPmhaein e.-
ropean Journal, XV, 3 (1971), 341.
recommended for Princeton, The
Report of the Commission on the
28. The Departments of Psychol-
ov and of Phvsics already have