OPINION
ly
Page 4
Thursday, September 10, 1981
The Michigan Dai
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
A MICHIGAN (WHERE?) GRAD SEEKS TRUTH
Is there life after college?
Vol. XCII, No. 1
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
4 S
'Smaller but better?'
R EDIRECTION, retrenchment,
"smaller but better." No matter
what the prevailing term, the changes
the University faces during the next
decade will be a paramount concern.
; Throughout the past year, ad-
ministrators have maintained that if it
is to remain a quality institution, the
University must concentrate on those
areas in which it is strongest and
eliminate its white elephants. We
agree, to a great extent, with the ad-
ministration's overall philosophy. The
University needs some direction; it
can't continue on a course of develop-
ment focusing raw growth as its only
goal. As administrators have pointed
out, if the state's bleak financial
situation were to improve
dramatically, there is still a need to
determine where the University is
going in the 80s.
Although we agree with the ad-
ministration's underlying philosophy,
we are greatly concerned about its
methods of implementation. Ad-
ministrators must take to heart the
concerns and interests of the faculty
and students.
.The University community deserves
more than a condescending nod from
president Harold Shapiro or a
patronizing "I understand" from Vice
president Bill Frye. Acceptable
redirection will require effort by all
administrators to carefully consider
all viewpoints.
A prime example of the ad-
ministration's lack of concern for out-
side opinions surfaced last June in the
decision to eliminate the geography
department. Although the LSA faculty
voted to maintain the department and
many students advocated keeping it,
the administration chose elimination.
We, in fact, supported elimination of
the geography department; we
strongly object, however, to the sense
of predetermination put forth by ad-
ministrators throughout the review
process.
From a purely practical standpoint,
the administration should demonstrate
its support of the faculty and student
voice. If faculty self-governing proves
impotent, the University will not be
able to attract the quality'
academicians it so eagerly seeks. Few
professors will choose a university in
which they have no control over their
academic destinies.
The same will hold true for students.
If programs and departments are
stripped wantonly, with little heed to
student wants or concerns, top-notch
students will seek education
elsewhere.
The University can and should be
directed in the 80s, but administrators
must realize that in the implemen-
tation of the smaller but better
philosophy they are treading on thin
ice. They should provide effective
vehicles for students and faculty input
redirection, if they want to maintain a
well-rounded, solid academic en-
vironment.
I fell prey to catastrophe the other day. Af-
ter a Pennsylvania state trooper pulled me
over and "strongly insisted" that I turn in my
Michigan driver's license for one from Pen-
nsylvania, I made haste to take my written
driver's test. Before I sat down at the
examiners taable, I was handed a "PA
Drivers Manual" and was urged to study it.
"Hell," I thought. Here I am, a University of
Michigan graduate, and I don't know how to
drive? Stop at stop sign, go the right way
down a one way street, and don't hit
pedestrians. The multiple'choice test was
easy, and of 21 questions I answered 18
correctly-and I flunked! Nineteen, they told
me, was the passing figure.
I was crushed! My inflated ego was pun-
ctured. Had I received the equivalent of 18 out
of 21 on the tests I took at Michigan, I not only
would have graduated summa cum laude, but
right now I would be dissecting cadavers and
rubbing elbows with everyone who was
anyone at Harvard Medical School.
I present this as one more piece of evidence
to support my thesisthat post-college life is no
cake course. I anticipated fun, freedom, and
unrestricted pursuit of hedonistic pleasures
once I graduated. Not so; alumni life is tough.
I relish those memories of the difficult
decisions I never had to make while at U of M.
I just spent my fourth sleepless night trying to
decide in which bank to "deposit $500 for at
least two years." Will it be Bank A, which will
give me a blender, Bank B, which is waving a
blender under my nose, or Bank C, which is
enticing me with a blender? If I didn't want a
blender so much, I would choose Bank D,
which is ff rin interest at 171/9 ercent.
By Nick Katsarelas
relatively simple one. I never had to deal with
the old "is it going to be law, business, or
medical school" thing. With my grades, I
grabbed my diploma and took the first job of-
fer to come along.)
Ah. To be back in college. Every night we
used to sit around in our Lacoste shirts and
Topsiders, drinking beer, playing cards, and
singing college songs with lines like: "Mom
and Dad pay all the bills while we have
all thefun... " .
Funny thing, though, nine months after I
graduated, I get this note from the bank
telling me that until my hair turns grey, I'll be
paying them through the nose for the
thousands of dollars worth of loans that paid
for my education.
I called Mom. "Hey. What is this loan
business all about?" Irritated, she replied,
"You think your father and I were going to
pay all your bills while you were having all
the fun at college?"
And things like speaking are hardly easy
now. I learned a new way to talk in Ann Arbor
called collegespeak, a good example of which
comes from a friend of mine who was recently
describing one weekend night:
"We were at Charley's, right? and it was
crowded, I mean, we're talking no place to sit,
right? so we finally get a table and sit down
and order drinks and after a couple minutes
this guy comes up and he's mega-cute, right?
and he goes 'can I sit down?' and I go 'yeah'
antd hP s'S what's ?ni aP' ad T o
of him, right? so we finished our drinks and
left. Basically."
You think heroin is a tough habit to break?
Try cutting out all the "rights" and "likes"
from your vocabulary. I break out into a cold
sweat whenever I have to write, which is
every day, since I do it for a living. It's like
not easy, you know?
What is most shocking about these post-
college days is the reaction I get from people
who've just been told I graduated from U of
M. In Ann Arbor I used to see T-shirts that
claim "Michigan-Harvard of the Midwest."
Needless to say, I was taken by surprise when
I failed to see any T-shirt out here that Reads
"Harvard-Michigan of the East."
One more thing. Recently, I had the oppor-
tunity to meet the president of one of those
pint-sized private colleges out here-you
know, the ones the size of your high
school?-and after asking where I got my
degree, he said; "Oh, Michigan. Now that's a
good school. That's the one in East Lansing,
right?"
I guess there's a current country-western
hit that zeroes in on my "life after college,"
It's a song by Clint Rizzo and the
Beautymarks, called "The Easy Life is so
Damn Hard." It's about a coal miner who, af-
ter graduating from junior college, finds out
the coal mines aren't all they're cracked up to
be. The chorus goes like this:
I gave up my Wallabees
For a pair of working shoes
The easy life wasn't supposed to be
Sooooo daaamn haaard.
Really.
. s
_ s
- 1, --ss
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wiIs 0 11 11er1ng IIIL I t O pz ."- ~ '--i " nu ne goe w a s your name : an oI
The most agonizing decisions I ever made 'Lisa,' right? and I notice he's got this fox on Nick Katsarelas, a former Daily reporW
in college occurred at the beginning of the his shirt, I mean, we're talking Sears, right? ter, said that if he had to do it all over
semester when I set out to color-coordinate and it was gross, you know, so when he wasn't again, he would be a Saudi Arabian sheik,
my folders and notebooks for my courses. looking I turned to Sherrie and I go 'gaud!' "so's I could buy me one of them video
(My career choice, by the way, was a right under my breath, and it was like, get rid games."
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Student apathy: Who needs it?
Six years ago, the Daily carried a full page On campus, there is also a need for in-
advertisement which told students in a hand- creased student participation. Nearly all of
lettered scrawl: "Clothes are irrelevant By Pamela Kramer the student groups are suffering declining
bourgeois socially restricting products of a membership. Even the major organizations,
capitalistic society-but if you need any, such as PIRGIM and the Michigan Student
we've got the groovy stuff . . . The Plastic ALTHOUGH STUDENTS usually live in Assembly, are complaining that low levels of
Reality is called a credit card, and it helps Ann Arbor for only a few years, they are very involvement are hindering them in accom
you to get yourself together without getting it much a part of the city, and they have a plishing their goals.
all together at once. Be a plastic activist and responsibility to improve it in any way they
confront us about opening an account in your can, if only out of self-interest. It is important BUT THE "worthiness" of campus groups
name." to have city council members who will look is not the only factor which should attract
The ad reads like some bizarre satire of out for student concerns, but if students won't students. Participation is not all labor; it is
The Sixties Radical, and it's apretty good in- demand such representation through voting, usually more fun than work. And, it's impor
dication (advertisers tend to know their stuff) they shouldn't expect to get it. Students often tant to note that the experience gained can be
that by 1975, student activism was on its way feel powerless to alter situations in which very helpful in post-college life.
down the tubes. Now, in 1981 the situation has they are getting the short end of the deal. But With all of these wonderful positive points,
not improved. they are not powerless. Ann Arbor's unique why are levels of student involvement so low?
TODAY'S STUDENT is described as housing nightmare is a specific example of Writing the problem off to raw narcissism is
lethargic and apathetic by local politicians students working to change things. Tenants too simplistic. Students today are facing an
and campus leaders. Historians are calling us may think they have it bad now, but the economic crisis-complete with cuts in finan-
the "Me Generation," and accusing us of housing situation used to be worse: Illegal cial aid and hikes in tuition-as well as in
having 30-minute attention spans. And then, leases were the rule, maintenance was vir- creasing competition for grades (it's all part
there's always the 35-year-old: "When I was tually non-existent, and most tenants had of getting into grad school, or finding a choice
on campus, we cared. We were out protesting very little knowledge of their rights. But in spot in the job market).
against things we felt were wrong. Now, you 1970, a group of tenants decided they had had MORE STUDENTS HAVE to spend more
walk through any student lounge on campus, enough, and they organized the first in. a hours working to finance their education, and
nI~e £xrbigan 1alg
Vol. XCII, No. 1
Thursday, September 10, 1981
The Michigan Daily is edited and managed by students at The University
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Special New Student Editon Staff
Editor-University, Arts & Living....................STEVE HOOK
Editor-News, City, Surviving ........................PAMELA KRAMER
Associate Editor-News ........................CHRISTOPHER POTTER
Editor-Sports ....................................... MARK MIHANOVIC
Associate Editors-Sports...................... MARK FISCHER,
BUDDY MOOREHOUSE
Editors-Photography ..................................... JACKIE BELL
PAUL ENGSTROM
Advertising Manager ............................ MARY ANN MISIEWICZ