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Tendential terrifying tenure tangles

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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1972

National emergency!

0N NOVEMBER 7, this country will be
faced with a national emergency.
The crisis comes in the form of a deci-
sion: Will Richard Nixon sit for four
more years as the most powerful man in
the world?
Despite recent polls, the choice has
not yet been made, and it will not be
made until the polls are closed on Tues-
day. And you, believe it or not, may be
the deciding factor in the outcome of
the election.
We support, and plead that you sup-
port, the candidacy of George McGov-
ern. Your vote, especially, is critical.
The most depressing, the most despair-
ing, the most hopeless words are cur-
rently echoing around the nation: Four
More Years. The words are. a bad dream,
a nightmare. Four More Years of war;
Four More Years of domestic and inter-
national repression; Four More Years of
an almost total disregard for constitu-
tional rights and freedoms; Four More
Years of economic disaster; Four More
Years of governmental corruption un-
precedented in the last five decades;
Four More Years of seeing only the bloat-
ed, infected underbelly of the American
spirit, of seeing only the way it does not
have to be: Four More Years without
hope.
IN RECENT days, the national press has
droned continually that college stu-
dents are apathetic. And indeed, there is
a general feeling of political pessimism

and frustration in the nation as a whole
as well as on the campuses.
But do we care so little that we can
allow the now-familiar intonation to
continue? Can we allow Richard Nixon
to get off the hook of Indochina now,
after he has tailored his policy there to
placate our protest rather than to really
end U. S. involvement?
It is not only in Southeast Asia that
Richard Nixon's presence in the White
House will be felt.
That presence will be in the minds of
those who would protest-but do not be-
cause of fear. Fear that they, too, will be
victims of the blatant disregard for civi
liberties shown by the present Adminis-
tration. Fear that they will be rounded
up, like the protesters in Washington in
May 1971. That they will be judged by a
William Rehnquist. Or that their news-
papers will hesitate to use "dangerous'
sources, because their reporters will b
prosecuted.
WE SUPPORT George McGovern be-
cause his presidency would allow a
real discussion of the problems facing
us. And because we believe that a re-
examination of our nation's policies is
not only important, but vital.
Apathy in this case is an abdication o:
responsibility. We urge an end to it, an
we urge energetic support, in every con-
ceivable way, for the candidacy of George
McGovern.
-THE SENIOR EDITORS

By CHARLES STEIN
IF MARK GREEN manages to
survive his current bout with
the review committee, his prob-
lems will be far from over. For
Green is presently in the sixth year
of his appointment, and like most
other junior faculty members, this
is the year the University will de-
cide whether or not to grant him
tenure.
Tenure, in effect, means that a
faculty member is given a teach-
ing appointment for an indefinite
length of time, and barring d i r e
circumstances, it generally means
he can have his job for as long as
he wants it.
As one might suspect, such se-
curity does not come easy. Each
faculty member under consider-
sation must subject himself to a
rigorous system of evaluation on
the departmental as well as the
college level.
On paper, the various procedures
look particularly equitable, but in
practice, this has not always been
the case.
Critics of the system describe it
as a closed and narrow process
which places a tremendous amount
of authority in the hands of a few
people in each department.
Every department in the Uni-
versity does have its own pro-
cedures for making tenure decis-
ions and it is on the departmental
level where most of the power re-
sides.
AS A GENERAL RULE, each de-
partment head appoints an ad
hoc committee to study the record
of a prospective faculty member.
The committee in most cases is
made up only of tenured professors,
usually chosen for their experience,
or in some cases, for their famil-
, iarity with the candidate's specific
g area of study.
This group then procedes to look
at the record of the candidate and
S is asked to come up with a recom-
mendation about his performance.
f In all cases, departments cited the

three areas of teaching, research
and service to the department and
University as the criteria they used
for evaluation.
Once the decision has been made,
the recommendation is sent on
to the next level. In some instanc-
es this means a small elected ex-
ecutive committee or in other de-
partments it may involve the en-
tire tenured faculty.
If the department decides in
favor of tenure, the record is sent
to the next tier in the bureau-
cracy, which in the case of LSA,
means the college's executive com-
mittee.
This group consists of six mem-
bers elected by the entire faculty
of the college and in the tradition
of all great American government-
al bodies, they in turn send the re-
commendations to one of three
subcommittees.
Divided into the broad categories
of natural science, social science
and humanities, the subcommittees
study the department's report and
make their own recommendation.
The executive committee then vot-
es on each candidate and sends the
recommended names on to the Re-
gents for final approval.
ACCORDING TO Ned Dougherty,
assistant to the Dean of the liter-
ary college, nearly one-third of all
favorable departmental reportsvare
rejected on the executive level.
If, however, a department re-
port is negative, the person's
chances of getting tenure are prac-
tically nil. The rejected candidate
can appeal to the dean or the exe-
cutive committee to ask the de-
partment to reconsider, but if it
chooses not to, the case is closed.
"After all", said Dougherty, "we
can't really impose a faculty mem-
ber on a department that doesn't
want him."
This department autonomy does
indeed place a great deal of power
in the hands of a relatively small
group of people, and some have

charged that it leaves the door
open for political persecution.
Such a situation developed in
1969 when the chemistry depart-
ment decided not to give tenure
to Julien Gendell. Gendell h a d
been active in local anti-war ac-
tivities and some faculty members
at the time felt he had been denied
tenure for that activity.

up to you and tells you how to act
or what to write, but after a while,
you get to know what they ex-
pect."
ANOTHER CRITICISM o f t e n
leveled at the tenure system is the
excessive weight some feel it gives
to research. Critics argue that
teaching ability counts for practic-
ally nothing in the eventual decis-

Departmental autonomy does indeed place a
great deal of power in the hands of a relatively
small group of people, and some have charged
that it leaves the door open for political perse-
cution.
..4" .......................

Psychology professor Robert
Hefner, led an ad-hoc study of the
Gendell case, and his report to the
dean came to the conclusion that
Gendell's political activity had
been primarily responsible for his
dismissal.
A similar case that same year in-
volved Thomas Mayer of the socio-
logy department, and despite ap-
peals, neither man's dismissal was
reversed.
HEFNER SAID, however, that
such blatant cases of political per-
secution are rare.
"Most of the time," Hefner re-
lated, "a department's decision to
admit a new member, is just like a
country club's. The old members
decide if the person will fit in with
their particular group and this
thinking plays a role. in their even-
tual decision."
Another faculty member who
wished to remain anonymous con-
curred with Hefner's analysis.
"The pressure a department puts
on is subtle and internalized," he
commented. "No one ever comes

ion, while the number of publica-
tions is considered crucial to an
individual's success.
Economics Prof. Alexander Eck-
stein, a member of the LSA exe-
cutive committee claims that
teaching is weighted in equally
with the other two criteria. Hefner,
on the other hand, says that while
a great deal of lip service is paid
to teaching ability, it is clearly the
weak sister in the tenure decision.
He also feels that the concept of
service is narrowly defined and is
interpreted to mean only service
to the University rather than to the
community as a whole.
Students also object to the tenure
system on the grounds that they
are virtually excluded from the de-
cision-making. Student evaluations
are usually looked at on the de-
partmental level, but except in
rare instances, there is generally
very little student input in the
process.
In an effort to remedy what they
see as some of these weaknesses,
the Joint Student Faculty Affairs
Committee has come up with a

number of recommendations con-
cerning tenure.
COMPOSED OF TEN faculty and
ten student members, the commit-
tee calls for the creation of a
parallel decision-making structure
which would include both students
and untenured faculty as well as
senior faculty.
The group would operate in much
the same fashion as the college's
subcommittee, but would concen-
trate more heavily on teaching per-
formance. It would then discuss its
findings with the departmental and
college committees involved in the
tenure process.
"This plan would enable groups
which have previously been. ex-
cluded from the tenure system
to have some input," said psy-
chology professor Dick Mann, a
member of the committee which
drew up the proposal. Mann add-
ed that the plan would also enable
people from outside the depart-
ment who are familiar with a fa-
culty member's contributions in
other areas, to participate in the
evaluation.
THE PROPOSAL will be present-
ed to the November meeting of the
faculty, but insiders say that its
chances of passage are not strong.
"After all, conceded one faculty
member, "the departments have a
vested interest in the present ten-
ure system. You can't really ex-
pect them to give up all that pow-
er."
Even if the committee's propos-
als are adopted, however, the fin-
al decisions on tenure will still be
made by a small group of senior
faculty.
It seems unlikely that the system
will be significantly changed in
time to be of much help to Mark
Green and others like him.
Charles Stein is a Daily Might
editor.

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Letters:

Rullard

boos ted,

blasted

Playing polities with peace

AFTER FIVE long years of trying to ne-
gotiate a peace treaty with Hanoi,
U. S. representative Henry Kissinger re-
,ported that we won't sign until some
other issues have been decided on. Espe-
cially the withdrawal of enemy troops
from South Vietnam.
Last week Kissinger said that the U.S.
disagreed with some of Thieu's objections
to the treaty. But Tuesday's decision
xseems' to show that President Nixon
cares more about what Thieu thinks than
he does about what the American people
think.
Ever since Nixon took office nearly
four years ago he has blatently and de-
liberately ignored every protest that has
been made against his policies in South-
east Asia. He sought a negotiated peace
with "honor" rather than the unilateral
withdrawal that many favored.
Now with the chance for "honorable"
peace imminent, he is seriously threat-

ening it by delaying the signing of the
treaty.
In a statement, the North Vietnamese
have said that the delay is "only an ex-
cuse to delay the signature of the agree-
ment and prolong the war. The Vietna-
mese people, along with the American
people and the people of the world, vig-
orously protest against this attitude of
the American side and demand that the
government of the United States proceed
rapidly with the signing in accord with
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as
agreed on Oct. 20."
NIXON'S BEHAVIOR on this issue is
just another item on the long list of
forgotten promises and contradictions
made since he took office. It's now time
for Nixon to quit playing politics with
Asian and American lives, and to sign the
long awaited peace.
-KATHY RICKE

Vote grading reform

MIDST THE muddled issues, the con-
troversy over balloting methods,
namecalling, and the large number of
candidates and parties running for of-
fice, the grading reform propositions
make it worth your precious time to vote
in the campus elections. Today is the last
day for casting your ballot.
Even though this vote is only a refer-
endum, a strong vote for grading reform
will have an impact on the governing
faculty when they meet to discuss the
issue on November 6. Student apathy, on
the other hand will likely table the issue
for several more years.
There are three basic proposals for
grading change listed on the ballot.
The curriculum committee proposal es-
tablishes a system of options for faculty
to teach either in a graded or non-graded
atmosphere. Students can regulate the
impact of the graded environment by
choosing between several options on how
that grade would be recorded on a tran-
script.
A proposal from the CUE proposal all
SGC
elections
Recommended-Bob Black, S a n d y
Green, Louis Lessem, Margaret Miller, Ken
Newbury.
Acceptable-David Faye, David Horn-
stein.
Unacceptable- Debbie Allen, Elliot
!'';1nfL-Y a tnkie_ red Friedman'.

100 and 200 level courses would be graded
pass/no record. In addition, students
with under 54 credits would be encour-
aged to elect all other courses pass/no
record - the idea being that if this is
to truly be a liberal arts college a stu-
dent should explore as many areas as
possible without fear of compiling a poor
record. The last two years would be
graded mostly in an ABCD/no record
fashion, recognizing the reality that
graduate schools and employers want at
least two years of grades.
A "merger" proposal combines both the
CUE and the Curriculum Committee pro-
posals bringing good features of both,
but also an increasing complexity in the
system.
All of the proposals provide to a great-
er or lesser degree for more pass/no re-
cord courses. In a pass/no record situa-
tion competition destructive to the learn-
ing process disappears along with stu-
dent-faculty hostilities. More important-
ly in-depth and honest evaluations of
student performance actually increase.
Faculty comment, criticism and longer
evaluations at the end of the course give
a clearer picture of what an educational
experience should be.
A SUBSTANTIAL number of faculty
members along with students labor-
ed several months to create these pro-
posals, to get them on the ballot, and to
put them before the governing faculty.
The most important issue is not which
proposal you vote for, but that you do
vote for some type of grading reform.
The faculty are watching this referen-
ium eolv to see if students really

Boost en Forsythe's nominating petit ons
invalidated by using the same tac-
To The Daily: tics which other had tried against
IT IS APPARENT that HRP is the Michigan Marijuana Initiative
attempting totmake a political is- petitions. While Bullard has pub-
sue out of the claim that Burg- lically denied any such action, his
hardt has been more active in role in the attempt was an open
community radical activities than secret in Democratic circles at the
his opponent, Perry Bullard. As a time. His position then as attornev
classmate of Perry Bullard's in for MMI only added to the hypo-
the Law School, HRP's claim seems crisy of attempting to disoualify
absurd to me. his opponent.
Although Burghardt cannot be We had personal reasons, as well.
faulted for his activism in a few To our faces, Perry praised the
radical causes, HRP's attempt to way the campaignrwas being run,
demean Perry Bullard's activism but from others we learned that he
with a "Burghardt has done more thought we did not know what we
than he has" tone is obviously lit- were doing. The capper came in
tle more than a smear campaign. late July when Bullard sent out a
As a three year participant in letter, citing cooperation from the
Legal Aid and as president of the Shapiro campaign as evidence of
student Legal Aid organization for support from other candidates. We
a year, I was constantly involved were enraged. Walter grabbed the
with many law students whose phone immediately and called Per-
rhetoric was much more prolific ry.
than their activity. Words a r e He began calmly, first protesting
cheap. And there are few w h o the letter and then going on to
stand behind their words with ac- other incidents which we had al-
tion. lowed to pass at the time. Perry,
Perry Bullard was one of the however, tried to make light of
very few students at the L a w it all with, "Aw! C'mon, Walter."
School whose activism matched, if Shapiro was not having any of
not exceeded, his words. Although that, but rather than' exploding,
it may be true that he did not he increased the intensity of his
choose to become an organizational voice a few levels and repeated
leader-superstar in any major on- his opinions of Perry's tactics and
campus cause as perhaps Burg- ethics. Walter's comments w e r e
hardt and I did in our respective hardly complimentary and he de-
efforts to aid tenants and to aid livered them in deadly earnest.
poor people, Perry Bullard none- So, when we learned that Walter
theless was and is a hard working had indeed endorsed Perry's can-
activist for causes and on issues didacy, we were somewhat surpris-
for which he feels he can contri- ed. The Oct. 19 Daily carried a
bute something. letter from Walter explaining his
His accomplishments in radcal, reasons - admiration for Perry,
creative causes far exceeded that disgust with HRP and confidence
of ninety-nine percent of our class- in the Democratic Party. Fine.
mates. His contributions to many He is entitled to his opinion.
of the changes that took place in However, as former members of
the Law School over the past years Shapiro's campaign staff, we want
were significent. to make it known that our opinions
It is true that Perry Bullard are not necessarily Walter's. Al-
was involved in a broad variety though we are in political agree-
of activities many of which he ment with Perry on a number of
has not even listed in his cam- issues, we find we cannot sup-
paign literature (for instance, be- port the candidacy of a person
ing one of the approximately thir- whose campaign tactics have
ty white law students out of 1100 shown him to be so little concerned
to take part in the BAM strike with either ethics or honesty.
and its activities). -Rob Bier
In some activities he was in a -Shari Danch
leadership position, in others mere- --Jonathan Klien
ly a contributor. But ne has al- Oct. 31
ways been a dedicated activist.
If anyone could have been more Dem positions
active in creative, radical commun-
ity activities than Perry Bullard, To The Daily:
he would have had to have invent- AS A DEMOCRAT who has en-
ed a day with more than twenty- dorsed HRP's state house candi-
four hours. date, Steve Burghardt, I feel obli-
I don't know whether Bu.I ghardt gated to correct some of his mis-
was so inventive. But I do seriously statements regarding the Demo-
question the itegrity of those who cratic Party's position on the abor-
claim anyone to have been more tin and taxrfr sus
activetanePerrhyBula. r HRP hasstated in its widely cir-
-Joseph T. Sinclair, '71L culated brochure that neither
Oct. 26 Democrats nor Republicans h a v e
taken a stand on abortion reform.
Blast This is erroneous. The Michigan
Democratic Party officially en-
To The Daily: dorsed Proposal B, the abortion
WHEN WE FIRST heard rumors reform referendum, at its last state
that Walter Shapiro was planning convention.
tn endorse Perry Bullard. we dis- HRP has also stated that Demo-

highly progressive and, contrary
to HRP statements, continued to
increase in graduation for incom-
es above $25,000 a year. HRP has
not of! red an alternative plan,
only inaccurate criticism.
I am sorry HRP can't get its
facts straight. Unfortunately, I
know its not due to mistakes made
in good faith.
-MarkLevin, '73L
Oct. 31
Exploited again
To The Daily:
RECENTLY THE DAILY carried
a letter from Walter Shapiro in-
dicating that the HRP 'heavies"
pushed a woman out of the State
Representative race. This letter is
now being sent to residents of the
53rd District with Bullard's liter-
ature, including myself.
Likewise Perry Bullard has
been stating that HRP regulars
like Steve Burghardt pushed Gret-
chen Wilson out of the race and
thereby any influence in the party.
I find it rather interesting to
have become a "political football"!
The accusations of Bullard a n d
Shapiro are false. My decision not
to seek the HRP nomination for
State Rep was based on m a n y
factors.
And since I'm currently Cam-
paign Manager for the 53rd Dis-
trict, it's obvious I am heavily
committed to Steve Burghardt's
candidacy and active in HRP.
Once again a woman is being
exploited by men. Bullard and Sha-
piro never discussed with me my
decision not to run, nor were they
at any meeting where my decision
was announced.
/ ' PZ pa'~
. _ SON \

Now they use falsehoods to bene-
fit themselves in a way that is not
only insulting to me personally but
also to HRP.'
-Gretchen Wilson
Oct. 31'
Vote
To The Daily:
I NOTE with some disquiet, as
does your editorial, (Daily, Oct. 30)
the possibility that many students
will fail to vote this month.
This disquiet is only in part due
to the fact that I favor McGov-
ern and the Democratic ticket gen-
erally, though it is obvious that
McGovern has more to lose from
student apathy than President Nix-
on.
Even if it were otherwise, non-
voting would be a bad symptom.
The non-voter should bear in mind
the following points. First, that the
perfect statesman is a figment of
the imagination; to choose at all is
to choose from among current pos-
sibilities. If you are waiting for a
better candidate 'than McGovern,
you might have to pass up not
only 1972 but perhaps 1976 and
other years later on.
Second, that not to vote, or to
throw away a vote on some impos-
sibility, is virtually to cast a vote
for the candidate you like least, by
depriving the candidate for whom
you would have voted of your
support.
We have the two party system,
and any vote subtracted from Mis-
ter A, acts as a vote for Mr. B.
-Preston Slosson
Professor Emeritus of
History
Oct. 30

Environment attacked
To The Daily:
AS SOMEONE who has been in-
volved in the ecology movement
for several years, I swas saddened
to see the Group-Integrity-PESC
;ampus political parties up to
their old environmentally-damaging
tricks.
Hundreds of their Group-Integ-
rity-PESC leaflets have been stap-
led to trees all over campus. These
staples can seriously damage, and
even kill, trees. But apparently
this doesn't seem to bother Group-
Integrity-PESO, who only seem
concerned with winning elections.
Last year, their "trick" was to
plaster paper bumper stickers all
over campus, thereby polluting our
eyestreams. These stickers were
never removed, and are still up in
many places a year later.
I will not vote for Group-Integrity
-PESC, and anyone who is con-
cerned about the environment
should do the same.
-Mark L. Slagh
Oct. 27
Lettersto, The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Letters
should be typed, double-spaced
and normally should not exceed
250 words. The Editorial Direc-
tors reserve the right to edit
all letters submitted.

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