S Page 4-C-Thursday, September 10, 1981-The Michigan Daily E ONGS op -rqFA & " AQ Pt- 9A OK IT AIN'T WHA T IT USED TO BE Ann Arbor, circa 1980 BY R. J. SMITH The mind boggles at the number of sociological studies, newspaper editorials, political speeches, and magazine articles devoted to telling us that the students of today Aren't What They Used To Be. The heart sinks. But it's a message that deserves to be delivered. Today's more introverted students have tended to play less of a role in the activities of the city at large. Like a tether ball they wander so far from the center of their life, the Univer- sity, and then snap back. THIS IS QUITE different from how the city was only a few years ago. Let us examine what is to be called the Kiosk Interest Factor. (Kiosks are generally cement obelisks upon which posters, handouts, bumper stickers, and other sorts of announcements are put.) Just a few years ago, kiosks around campus and bulletin boards across the city were throbbing with all kinds of screwball pronouncements. There were notices for speeches by lef- tist agrarian reformers, rightist Liber- tarians, and all else between; shrewd come-ons for unorthodox classes; oodles of announcements for dances and marches and bake sales and third world music festivals. Which made for a high KIF. Poke around a bit, and you'll still find all this stuff. But kiosks lately have become concrete editions of The Trading Times. They are increasingly layered-over with announcements hawking concert tickets, motorcycles, dorm leases - flotsam and jetsam from A to Z. Students selling to studen- ts. What was once a useful tool for knit- ting the student's lifestyle into the city's has lapsed into a monument to collegiate salesmanship. THE DIFFERENCE between townies and students goes a lot deeper than just the fact that city kids generally skateboard with a lot more confidence than do collegians, or that if you ask your average students if they know where DeLong's Bar-B-Q Pit is, they will most likely bite their lips and whine "naw." No, what distinguishes students from the locals is the number of warts and callouses on their feet. Your basic Ann Arborite, if one may generalize, is ex- tremely ped-antic - must go to work, to school, to the Farmer's Market. No available statistics have been published on the subject, but one imagines the podiatrists at Health Service play a heck of a lot of golf. Most students would rather stick around the cafeteria or the near-at-hand fast-food joint tharr forage for food. And if everything else you need is basically close to you- classrooms, movies, libraries, liquor - well, why press on into the wilderness? It is all very sad. There's more emphasis, for better or worse, on hard study these days - a more powerful compulsion to turn the University environ into a comforting space station in the howling darkness of space. But like Captain Kirk said, space is the final frontier; to really do it up right in Ann Arbor, you gotta do some: hoofing - enough to get away from the shadows of the bell tower. You have to explore. So, journeymen and women, it's time See THERE, Page 7 w, . 1 Control' key o future of 'inn Arbor. development By GREGOR MEYER With a major research university, a core of high technology business, and a considerable amount of undeveloped land at its disposal, Ann Arbor has the potential to become an economic oasis amidst the financial chaos plaguing much of Michigan. Community leaders, however, stress the need for controlled development of industry in the area. "For the first time ever (in Ann Arbor), lots of people are attuned to the fact that you need economic growth," said Jim Frenza, president of the city's Economic Development Corporation and director of the Chamber of Commerce. "However, we are not mindlessly pro-development." COMPARISONS WITH industrial explosions such as Stanford University's Silicon Valley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Rt. 12, are inevitable when discussing high technology develop- ment, but city officials say Ann Arbor does not seem to be heading in that direction. "We can become an area that has a good niche in high technology without having all the liabilities that a Silicon Valley faces," said Mayor Louis Belcher. He said the city can avoid problems like overcrowding, higher housing costs, and traffic congestion by put- ting an emphasis on "quality and good planning." Ann Arbor's unique environment enables planners to expand its economic base, enhance the quality of education at the University in the face of declining state support, and maintain the character and quality of life in the city and surrounding townships. "I'M CONFIDENT we can sustain growth without becoming a blight to the area," said William Ince, senior vice-president of operations at the Irwin Inter- national electronics firm, and president of the Michigan Technology Council. The council is designed to provide a forum for in- teraction among high technology leaders and enhan- ce the positive relationship between the university and industry. It also assists in the establishment and growth of regional enterprises. Ince and others say they think the council has become the prime mover in aggressively developing the attitude that Ann Arbor is a leading and expan- ding industrial center. Cooperation with the Univer- sity is vital to this effort. "Anything the University does should not impede academic progress," said Don Smith, Director of the University's Industrial Development division. Ince said University-industry interaction is educationally beneficial. The University is improved when industry solicits consultation from its faculty, he said. "The more that professors relate to real life and get down to grass root problems, the more they learn and become better professors," Ince explained. "The graduates will therefore be better prepared." James Duderstadt, Dean of the School of Engineering, agrees that "involvement in real world problems is critical. The lifeblood of engineering is industry," he said. "But on the other hand, major technological innovation occured in universities." Duderstadt added that he thinks there needs to be a combination of academic and industrial research. The city should actively solicit companies from other states rather than leave the responsibility to the University and industry, according to Kenneth Stephanz, president of Manufacturing Data Systems. "The city should be at the head, and now they are tagging along," he said. "The cart and horse are reversed." See LOCAL, Page 6 r J 1' .:<3.3.E. . . . ..... ..,. . . ...,. . ..,. .E:.... -. . "Y >e. c ,. ......_.. . .. . .... . . .. . , , .. .,, v ,a n, . : '.f" < n. u~z.... v' ,. U..z..E...-. 1 e . ..<: e . .. . ,..