QEi e Mid$r an Daitj
Eighty-Four Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Governance:
POLITICS IN LSA
How decisions are made
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1974
The polities of college: LSA
WE ARE STUDENTS who have been or are
enrolled in the College of Literature, Science
and the Arts who have been involved in at-
tempts at educational change in this College
and this University. Some of us have been in-
volved in formal decision making structures of
the College, some of us have been involved
in raising the levels of awareness of students,
faculty and administrators alike through news
and editorial writing in the student newspaper
and some of us have simply been concerned
and active in an ongoing struggle for educa-
tional change.
We have been told repeatedly that we have
been involved in an undergraduate education
process that is not only one of the best in this
country, but one of the best in the world and
yet our collective experiences as students in
the past several years have been experiences
of frustration and dissatisfaction with virtually
every area of the College and the University.
In response to the heaviest student pres-
sure this University has ever known, a commit-
ment to increase the representation of minorities
and disadvantaged students was made, a com-
mitment which, well past the target date, has
not been met.
0 A student-faculty policy committee was
established in this College only to discover, three
years later, that none of its policy recommenda-
tions have been adopted.
* A committee was established to study the
quality of underclass experience, only to have
its proposals ignored.
* Several different well thought out propos-
als on badly needed grading reform were writ-
ten only to be stunningly rejected.
* A proposal to increase the consideration
of the quality of teaching (vis a vis research)
in tenure decisions was rejected by the faculty.
O A proposal to improve the faculty repre-
sentation and to formally include students in the
basic decision making process of the College
was rejected by the faculty.
* A faculty member in the Chemistry De-
partment was suspended because he used class
time to illustrate some of the uses 'of chem-
ical technology that bore some relevance to
our "real world" experience.
* Tuition and dorm rates have been increas-
ed unbelievably not only ignoring but rejecting
students claims for a role in the decision mak-
ing.
OUR EXPERIENCE has been that this College
has neither made any great steps forward
nor backward in the last several years. Our
undergraduate educational experiences have
been experiences of stagnation and mediocrity.
We see at least two reasons for this stagna-
tion:
Students in this College have been engaged in
a crippling self-fulfilling prophecy. Students
have been estranged from a legitimate role in
the most important decisions that have affected
us. After a series of decisions clearly against
our interests in which we had little or no
decision making power, many of us justifiably
felt alienated and unable to significantly con-
trol our own educations. As the result of these
feelings of alienation, we become apathetic, be-
lieving that nothing we could do could change
our edicational experiences.
Because we are operating in systems of con-
flicting and competing interests, our apathy it-
self became a cause of our alienation thus com-
pleting a very vicious cycle. Each decision that
went against our interests without organized
or unorganized student action encouraged the
next decision-making body to ignore our in-
terests ev'en more.
The ultimate example of this was the out-
rageous tuition hike foisted upon students last
summer which provoked only feeble organized
action and no unorganized protest action. Our
apathy on this issue represents a carte blanche
to any decision making body to feel free to
ignore our interests without having to worry
about any negative consequences, as not even
costing each and every one of us great sums
of money seems to be able to provoke us to
action.
TILE INACTION will almost certainly re-
sult in decisions against our interests, it is
often not the case that simple action will cause
favorable results because we are involved in
economic-political structures that were design-
ed to serve other, powerful interests. So what
else is new, you understandably ask. What can
be new is a heightened everyday awareness of
this College, this University, this country, this
reality, in political and economic terms; and
what can be new is a heightened awareness of
political and economic consequences of our
everyday actions, and setting up personal poli-
tical and economic policies that reflect our in-
terests.
A few examples: Departments are funded ac-
cording to a formula based' on a function of the
number of students taught by their department.
If enrollment in a department drops signifi-
cantly, that department will feel a financial
crunch as its costs will remain virtually fixed
while its revenues will drop dramatically. De-
partments understand this and you should too.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News:Dan Biddle, Mary Long, Jeff Riv-
Boycotting departments is very easy to do and
if enough students are so aware, it need not
require any organization.
Another example: At the beginning of each
term, students pay bookstores, publishers and
faculty lots of lousy books. This robbery need
not persist. Cooperative textbook exchanges can
be set up with virtually no overhead so that we
could buy used books for less than at the stores
and sell used books for more than what the
stores will "give" us. We can also demand
that the library system buy a sufficient number
of bad required books so that it need not cost us
anything to read required books that we do not
want to own or support. Nor is that any good
reason why every student in a class must buy
a book or his or her own.
A FEW WORDS about organized and unor-
ganized actions: organized actions (like demon-
strations, letter writing campaigns, etc.) re-
present large concentrations of power which
require large amounts of energy to effect and
to maintain the organizations. Organized ac-
tions are therefore both powerful and expen-
sive.
Unfortunately, after a period of tinie, most
organizations replace their original function
with the function of maintaining themselves and
the organizations that yesterday acted in your
interests, today act in its own. This is called
being coopted and it happens all the time. Or-
ganizations regardless of their functions can
only be kept honest if most affected individuals
take personal and active interests in those
organizations' actions. That is why unorganized
(in relation to other people) action is so im-
portant.
Personal, unorganized action is the only way
to protect yourself from being coopted and
to maintain your personal integrity. Although
unorganized action is relatively cheap, it has
the disadvantage of being less powerful than
organized action and we therefore believe that
both types are necessary, but neither by itself
is sufficient.
Unorganized actions have another disadvant-
age. Because they are generally less power-
ful than organized actions, their effects are
generally less dramatic and may not be im-
mediately evident and are therefore sometimes
overlooked. It frequently happens that people
trying to influence one decision fail on that
particular issue, but influence later decisions.
This is unfortunate. Please be aware of that.
Organizations and organized actions should
therefore be viewed merely as personal tools
for active change, rather than the desirable
changes in and of themselves. We believe that
any person or group that relies entirely on
some organization to protect its interests de-
serves whatever ill it receives.
THIS IS THE first of a two week series on
t" College of Literature, Science and the
Arts. Through an examination of some recent
incidents in this College's history, we hope to
provide you with better understanding of the
structure of this College and suggest types of
actions you personally (yes, you) might take
to further your own interests relating to your
education, the College and your life. We believe
that actions should be made with feeling for
justice and responsibility. When this College and
this University begin to act more justly and re-
sponsibly regarding students we will start
preaching to you about justice and responsibil-
ity.
In this series of articles, we will describe
incidents relating to the political and economic
structures, the systems of information analysis,
the curriculum, student and faculty evaluation,
student services, students' interests and em-
ployees interests. We could not deal with all
these topics comprehensively if we wanted to.
It is our purpose merely to suggest a perspec-
tive with which you can personally act to im-
prove your education and the College. The ac-
tions must be yours.
WXE HAVE CHOSEN to examine the College
of Literature, Science and the Arts both
because it is seriously in need of great student
interest and action and because it provides a
convenient subject for our model of individual
action which we hope you will apply, not only
to the College and the University, but also to
other economic-political structures and to your
life in general. We suggest that as a good be-
ginning to your action to improve the College,
call or write your favorite bogeyperson at the
College and tell him or her what they are do-
ing wrong, and call or write somebody, here
who is doing something and tell that person
too.
By JOHN LANDE
IMAGINE THAT YOU are an ad-
ministrator in this College. You
have probably been a member of
a college faculty, either at this or
some other institution, and you
have probably been frustrated in
your faculty role by some policy
matters which you think tiat you
can improve. As a member of a
faculty you have been a member
of a relatively small, we! paid
group with a lot of decision-mak-
ing power and responsibility. As an
administrator you have become a
member of an even smaller and
even better paid group with even
more power and more responsibil-
ity.
Your professional life is no long-
er centered around your teaching
and research but around your of-
fice and your time. You spend
most of your time either in long
meetings which nobody enjoys or
with individuals who have come
to you with their problems. Y o u r
time is one of your important
scarce resources.
YOUR EDUCATIONAL concerns
have shifted largely from con-
cerns of individuals to concerns
of groups.
You must deal with the Univer-
sity administration to get the mon-
ey to run the College, and you ar
responsible to the Univers.y for
the well being of the College in
terms of budgetary, personnel, and
capital concerns of property, build-
ings and equipment policies.
You must deal with the faculty
who are concerned with favorable
poliices regardnig tenure, promo-
tion, curriculum and general ad-
ministrative procedures.
You must deal with students
who, to a greater or lesser degree,
are interested in improving t h e
quality of teaching and counseling,
and getting a greater share of the
relevant decision making. Ii' you
are going to appeal to alumni for
financial support, you must satis-
fy them that you are running the
College well and presumably not
permitting those stone-etched stan-
dardswe hear so much about to be
eroded.
IF YOU ARE a relatively pas-
sive administrator, your job is to
satisfy these groups to the degree
that you are dependant on their
support and to the degree that you
can tolerate their lack of support
or even resistance. If you are more
active, you must noteonly try to
satisfy all these ifferent groups,
but you must also try to effect
your personal ideas about .he way
the College ought to be run
It is therefore not surprising
that, given the level of student
participation in the administration
of this College, the educational poli-
cies have been so clearly against
our interests as students. It is also
not surprising that what admin-
istrators fear the most is he poi-
ticization of the College because
they understandably do n t want
to be responsible to any more in-
terests than they can get awa
with and still survive.
As I see it, the College ad Uni-
iversity are innerently political.
When an organization spends more
than $24 million a year (i.e.. total
expendi ures by LSA in 1072-73,
according to the Uiversity finan-
ial report. God and the Uvcrsyv
accountants only know how muih
is really spent). Mny choice-s must
be made and unless there is an
even distribution of power among
the various interested groluis, at
least some of the decisions will be
politic31, i.e., based on the dist-
bution of power. When an admn-
istration tells you that the don't
want decision making to he poli-
ticized, they mean that thy don't
want you to try to influece the
decisions.
BESIDES, SINCE when have de-
cision here not been poh;c J
0 The University did not permit
a student bookstoreto be set up
becauae they felt that studerts
were being charged ex.iorbitant
prices as the local bookstore:, they
establiined the store only aer
heavy pressure in the fo:m of
lare student demonstrations.
* The University did not agree
to the minimal Black A c t o n
Movement (BAM) demands cut of
an acute sense o. social justice:
they agreed only under the most
intense political pressure.
* The College .d not establish
the Bachelor of General Studies
(BGS) degree because they felt
that it was educationally worth-
while, they designed that degree as
a political cop-out to maintain the
language requirement.
* The college did not open the
faculty meetings to the public.,
seat students on faculty commit-
tees nor establish the Student Fa-
culty Policy Committee (SFPC) out
of concern for student interests,
they did so only to avoid even
greater student representation.
* The deliberations of the Com-
mission on Graduation Require-
ments were not based purely on
educational concerns, buz were
largely shaped by considerations of
what was thought to be acceptable
to the senior faculty.
DECISIONS THAT affect you
are only as political as you make
them and perceive them. I, too,
:wish that educational decisions
mprc. not mndpin nlitittArerm.
In the remainder of this article,
I will describe some of the decis-
ion-making bodies of this College
and suggest ways in whici you,
both individually and collectively,
can influence their decisions to re-
flect our legitimate interests as
students.
THE DEAN
According to a recent memo
prepared by the Dean's office en-
titled "Organizations of the Dean's
Office" (available from N e d
Dougherty, 2522 LSA Building, 764-
0321), ths Dean's responsibilities
are: 1) the overall responsibility
for the programs and personnel of
the College, especially the formu-
lation of major policy; 2) liaison
with the Executive Officers and the
Regents of the University; 3 co-
operation with the College Execu-
tive Committee (as required by
the Faculty Code, the dean also
acts as chairperson of the Col-
lege Executive Committee) a n d
Associate Deans in implementing
the goals of the Colege; and 4)
cooperation with Chairpersons, Di-
rectors, Faculty and students (note
upper and lower case distinctions)
on all matters of mutual concern
to the work and welfare of the
College.
THE DEAN therefore theoreti-
cally functions as a planner and
an executive. Because of the m-
ability of the statuary policy-mak-
ing body, the governing faculty, to
function effectively, the dean mak-
es many policy decisions.
Dean Rhodes has been apponted
to serve ,as Vice President of the
University for Academic Affairs,
effective July 1, and an acting
dean will be appointed for the next
fiscal year while a search commit-
tee will screen applicants and make
recommendations to the Pres;dent
for the new dean. As currently
planned, the membership of t h e
search committee will include stn-
dents, but not in equal nimbers
with the faculty members. I think
that the selection of the new dean
is of equal importance to students
and faculty and the membership
on the search committee ought to
reflect this. This is a decision of
the President, so if you would like
to express yourself on this isue,
call or write him.
THE EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
The Faculty Code states that:
"The executive functions of the
College shall be performed by the
Dean asisted by an Executive Com-
mittee. The Executive Committee
is charged with the duty of in-
vestigating and formulating educa-
tional and instructional policies for
consideration by the faculty, ard
it shall act for the College in mat-
ters related to budgets, promtions
and appointments. ' The Faculty
Code clearly limits the power cf
the Executive Committee and not
policy-making power, but as men-
tioned before, the Governing Facul-
ty as established by the Faculty
Codetisunable to decide policy
effectively and so most of the pol-
icy decision-making is actually
done by the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee submits
reports, often terse to the point
of incomprehensibility, of its ac-
tivities at each faculty meeting.
THE REGENTS BYLAWS re-
quire that the Executive Commit-
tee be composed of six members
of the faculty, each serving three
years appointed by the Regents on
the recommendation of the Presi-
dent. In practice, the Governing
Faculty elects two members each
year and the winners are rubber-
stamped by the president and the
Regents. The dean serves as chair-
person and each asoiate dean is
an ex officio member without vote.
The current members of the Exe-
cutive Committee are: Jean Card-
uner (to July, 1975), Bily Frye
(to July, 1975), Maxwell Reade (to
July, 1976), Wilbert McKeachie (to
July, 1976).
The faculty's nominations for the
openings on the Executive Com-
mittee are: Herb Paper, Harriet
Mills, Arthur Barks, Richard Bail-
ey, and John Pedley in Humani-
ties; Donald Eschman, John Allen,
Mark Ross, and Peter Smita in Na-
tural Sciences; and Jack Price,
Al Meyer, Howard Schumann, and
John Stevens in Social Sciences.
If you know any of these people,
you should tell the Presidert how
qualified you think they are to
serve on the Executive Committee.
It still remains for the president
to select two faculty members to
be selected from a list submitted
by the Governing Faculty. (These
members will serve from July 1974
to July 1977). These are thc peop'e
who make most of the decision in
the College and you should com-
municate your feelings and
thoughts regarding educational
and instructional policies w i t h
them.
THE GOVERNING
FACULTY
The governing Faculty, as dein-
ed by the Regents Bylaws, includes
full, associate and assistant profes-
sors, and instructors and lecturers
with at least half-time appoint-
ments and of at least one year's
standing and who have been an-
The faculty of this College num-
ber about 1,200 and the quorum
of 100 (approximately 9 per cent)
for the monthly meetings i, some-
times difficult to achieve and mair-
tain. These meetings are largely
attended by faculty whose coffins
are opened especially for the oc-
casion.
The Senate Assembly recently
rejected a motion to lower the
mandatory retirement age from 70
to 68. Because of lengthy proced-
ural problems and the faLulty's de-
votion to trivia, intelligent dis-s
sion and active and effective de-
cision-making are virtually impos-
sible. Students interested in study-
ing boredom and inefficiency
would do well to attend a faculty
meeting.
THE STUDENT
FACULTY POLICY
COMMITTEE
In the winter term of 1971) in
the waning days of the student
power movement, the faculty
agreed to establish a faculty-stu-
dent committee to study the gov-
ernance of the College. During the
1970-1971 academic year, this com-
mittee drew up an excellent pro-
posal that provided for a repre-
sentative assembly which would
replace the current "town house"
government and which would in-
clude students and faculty in the
formal decision-making process in
equal numbers.
This proposal was discussed in
a special faculty meeting on April
20, 1971. 'A substitute motion, in-
troduced by four faculty members
who do not precisely represent the
progressive voice of reform, w a s
passed in its place, establiahing the
Student Faculty Policy Committee
(SFPC) to be composed of ten
faculty and ten students who
would introduce proposals to the
Governing Faculty.
In its three years of exi tence
the SFPC submitted severa! wor-
thy proposals. The only proposal
adopted by the faculty was a pro-
posal to decrease the size of the
SFPC from twenty to twelve. Co-
opted again.
THE
AD1MINISTRATIVE
BOARD
The Administrative Board, which
is composed of the. Academic Ju-
diciary and the Board for Academic
Action in the Faculty Code, is
empowered in the Faculty Code,
to: 1) supervise the academic coun-
seling programs of the Colege: 2)
act on students' petitions for ex-
ceptions to College regulations and
curriculum requirements and 3)
establish and administer academic
disciplinary policies. The Adminis-
trative Board is composed of four
voting faculty members, four vot-
ing student members, four ex-of-
ficio members and is chaired ov
Associate Dean Charles (Tony)
Morris.
It is my understanding that stu-
dents, faculty and administrators
alike are generally pleased with the
operation of the Admini-i ative
Board. Associate Dean Morris and
Eugene Nissen, Director ): Ad-
ministrative Board Actions, are re-
sponsible for the operation of the
Administrative Board, and their
work is to be highly commended
and encouraged.
The Administrative Board is de-
signed to settle student grievances,
but viewed in aggregate, :t also
makes policy decisions and reports
recurrent problems to officiall-' de-
signated policy-making bodies.
In appealing to the Administra-
tive Board you are thereftre not
only attempting to resolve 'a per-
sonalagrievance, but also making
a small input into a policy-making
process. While this effect may not
resolve your personal problems, it
should be viewed as one affeciug
students with similar prob ems in
the future, and tharefore is a t( o
for change.
This is not an Axhaustive review
and analysis of one Colege's de-
cision-making structures. If you are
interested in finding out more, I
suggest you start with Ned Dough-
erty.
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LETTERS-
Behavior mod debated
thesis . .
To The Daily:
A YEAR OR SO AGO, I got a
call from a lawyer who had only
recently moved from Detroit to
California. When this young man
was practicing in Detroit, I had
helped him defend several clients,
including a young black man ac-
cused of murder. My assistance
ranged from giving the lawyer
psychological profiles of poten-
tiol jury members to trying to
convince judges that certain clients
could not get a fair trial because
of the possible prejudice the juries
might hold towards the clients.
Apparently the lawyer thought
my contributions beneficialto the
people he tried to defend. When
this lawyer joined the staff defend-
ing Angela Davis, therefore, he
called and asked my advice. I talk-
ed with him for more than an
hour, and the next day sent him
all the materials from my files
that might have been of some use
to him. I was happy to do what
I could for Angela Davis - for
free - because I believe strongly
that anyoneaccusediof a crime
in the United States deserves
all the help possible.
I am reasonably sure that An-
gela Davis never was told of my
assistance in her case, and I have
no idea whether my advice was of
any practical value, so I cannot
be angry with her for attacking
me in public when she spoke re-
cently at Hill Auditorium.sBut I
am greatly distressed that she ap-
parently misunderstands what be-
havior modification is all about.
LIKE MOST PEOPLE who prac-
tice behavorial psychology, I am
strongly opposed to the use of
punishment to force change on
prisoners (or anybody else). The
fact that, under certain conditions,
we can gain almost complete con-
trol over someone's behavior does-
n't mean that we have the right to
do so; just as the fact we can
blow up the world with nuclear
bombs doesn't mean that it is ru-
mane or ethical or even prac-
tical to do so. But just as atomic
energy widely used can be of great
help to mankind, so can the wise
employment of behavorial tech-
nology often help people achieve
goals they might not otherwise
reach.
For the past three years, under-
graduates in my Advanced Labora-
tory in Behavior Modification (Psy-
chology 414) have worked with
prisoners at the Federal Correc-
tional Institution at Milan. All of
our "clients" at Milan are volun-
teers who wish to improve their.
reading skills or gain greater com-
petence in various academic sub-
jects.%
The Lab students have achieved
great success - first, by estab-
lishing a warm rapport with the
prisoners, and then by helping
these men build on the many psy-
chological and person strength the
men already possess. We have
many letters from these prisoners
thanking us for our efforts.
IT IS A PITY that Angela Davis
has not become aware of the great
benefits of behavorial technology
when used with volunteers in pri-
sons. It is a pity too that so many
people still equate "behavorial
modification" with the sorts of in-
human techniques described in
movies such as "Clockwork Or-
ange."
nell's psychology class, is not elec-
tro-shock therapy, sensory depri-
vation, or chemotherapy.
Never does McConnell even sug-
gest that students or anyone use
these techniques in their work with
clients. In fact, quite the opposite
is true, in that Dr. McConnell
teaches students the use of re-
wards to modify behavior rather
than the traditional means of pun-
ishment. In our laboratory class
McConnell will not allow a student
to negatively criticize another. All
input is given in positive terms
geared towards performance im-
provement; not the usual "you did
a s - - - - job" type of feedback.
McConnell denounces the use of
punishment in rehabilitation be-
cause of the resentment the client
feels toward his or her punishers,
and because any changes that are
made are usually shortlived. This
is why we are taught to reward
"good behavior" and simply ignore
"bad behavior" ("good" and
"bad" behavior being what so-
ciety has determined, not what we
have determined).
OUR WORK AT MILAN Federal
Correctional Institution involves
tutoring client volunteers in read-
ing and mathematics to aid them
in earning their high school equiv-
alency diplomas. We teach our
clients by rewarding them for
their successes. No criticism is giv-
en for lack of progress. For the
past 3 years our clients at Milan
have only given us positive feed-
back on the program and have ex-
pressed their gratitude for being
able to participate. Is this use of
behavorial modification cruel and
inhuman? Is it immoral to change
a person's behavior when that
person asks your assistance?
Yes, some behaviorists do advo-
cate punishment procedures; but
we here at the University of Mich-
igan do not. So when we talk about
behavior modification, let us not
associate it with electroshock and
brainwashing. Behavior mod is re-
warding appropriate behavior that
we in society have designated as
being appropriate. Behavior mod
is training an anxious client in deep
muscle relaxation. Behavior is as-
sertive training for someone who
never expresses his or her emo-
tions. Behavior mod is desensitiz-
ation of fears and phobias, and
contracting for improved interper-
sonal effectiveness. The goals that
are set up in therapeutic interac-
tion are arrived at by the client.
Only suggestions, not manipula-
tions, are given by the therapist.
THE PUBLIC is welcome to read
the students' final progress reports
to get a clearer idea of what be-
havior modification really it.
-Don Powell and five oth-
ers. Teaching Fellows for
behavior modification
courses.
and response
The author is Sunday Editor
of the Daily, and has been ob-
serving and writing about t h e
Washtenaw County Jail Inmate
Rehabilitation Program for over
a year.
* * *
WcCONNELL'S comments, a n d
tnose offered in his defense, arc at
best misleading.
McConnell writes here that he
is "strongly opposed to the use of
punishment to force change on pri-
soners." His Psych 474 teaching
fellows echo the same sentiment:
"Behavior Mod, as it is taught in
the April, 1970 Psychology Today,
entitled "Criminals Can be Brain-
washed - Now". It °s reprinted
as one of four presumably support-
ive statements on B-Mod in M-
Connell's "Psych 474 Workbook,
Winter '74".
TWO EXCERPTS from the piece
suffice. The first is on prisoner's
rights and whether behavior modi-
fication should be voluntary:
"I don't believe the Constitution
of the U.S. gives you the right to
commit a crime if you want to;
therefore the Constitution does not
guarantee you the right to main-
tamn inviolable the personality it
forced on you in the first place
- if and when the personality
maintains strong anti-social behav-
And as to how McConnell pro-
poses to deal with such anti-social
behavior in prisoners:
"I believe that the day has come
when we can combine sensory
deprivation with drugs, hypnosis
and astute manipulation of reward
and punishment to gain almost ab-
solute control over an individual's
behavior."
The latter comment puts into
perspective McConnell's statement
that ". . . the fact that we gain
almost complete control over some-
one's behavior doesn't man we
have the right to do so." One area
in which McConnell obviously be-
lieves "we have the right to do
so" is 'anti-social' behavior ex-
hibited by prisoners.
McCONNELL'S teaching fellows
are absolutely correct in saying
that the use of punishment in re-
habilitation only builds resentment
and is short-lived.
But for some mysterious reason,
they claim that McConnell agrees
with them. Apparently' they don't
read the material they are osten-
sibly teaching, and that leads one
to speculate that McConnell m a y
have done some brainwashing in
his own ranks.
As to the punishment techniques
themselves: Inhumane and coer-
cive, they are morally abhorrent
But even for those who discount
morality, the proven fact is that
they don't work, *Sensory depri-
vation, for instance, is no more
than behaviorist jargon for sotary
confinement and its attendant pun-
ishments. And solitary confinement
is jtist one of the neandrathal "re-
habilitation" methods which h a s
helped foster a 60-70 per cen re-
cidivism rate for offenders in this
country.
THE CRUCIAL element of this
discussion is that many people take
Dr. McConnell seriously, and n
that. light his statement that "To-
day's behavioral psychologists are
the architects and engineers of the
Brave New World' has an omin-
ous ring. Throughout the country,
there are prisons experimenting
with vicious and misguided behav-
ior modification punishment tech-
niques, under the guise of modern
rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation is a copolex and
difficult process, and cannot be
considered in an institutional va-
cuum, nor within the confines of
the behavioral model. One mu s t
look at an inmate's economic
background, his past environment,
and the kinds of constructive alter-
natives which could make a law-
abiding life-style possible.
THERE ARE isolated area in
which non-coercive behavior modi-
fiation - nartieularv where it
One final note: two other documents have
been published recently which this series hopes
to complement. The PESC Papers (available
at the U Cellar and New Morning, $1) is a
very valuable analysis of the economic struc-
ture of the University of Michigan. Even if
you cannot accept its Marxist assumptions, we
think it provides valuable insights. While The
PESC Papers do not propose specific organized
or unorganized actions to effect its goal of
fundamental economic-social change, The Re-
port of the Commission on Graduation Re-
quirements (available in the Office of Office
Services, 216 Angell, free) is exclusively devot-
ed to organized actions to effect its goal of
James V.
Professor
February
McConnell
of Psychology
28
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