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OPINION
Page4 Friday, February 19, 1982 The Michigan Daiy
Retrenching, reducing in plain English
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By Julie Engebrecht
The most difficult thing about the coming
budget cutbacks may be wading throu6h the
administrative legalese used to describe
various proposals.,
In addition to the development of a new
language, old words that we thought we knew
have taken on new, and somewhat ambigious,
meanings.
Instead of going to all the expense of a tran-
slator, we've prepared a guide to the next set of
"academic unit budget reallocations."
A spectator's guide
to budget cuts
Centrality: One of the criteria said to be used
to evaluate the worth of an academic program.
As administrators explain it, the departments
of chemistry and history are "central." The
geography department was not. Along the
same lines, LSA and the law and medical
schools are central. A number of others may
not be. (See Schools and colleges.)
Cost containment or cost avoidance: Saving
money.
Deans and department heads: The pressure
is on these administrators to scurry about and
get their respective academic houses in order
before higher-ups start wielding their budget-
cutting chainsaws.
Erosion of general fund resources: Money is
getting tight.
General fund: The portion of the budget that
pays for most of what goes on at the University.
Student tuition, which has skyrocketed in
recent years, and state appropriations, which
have been declining in the same recent years,,
comprise the bulk of the general fund.
High priority needs: Those things that help
keep the University in the best possible light.
Under the five-year, plan, the most pressing
needs include: increasing faculty salaries
especially those of. the most-favored
professors; attracting top-flight graduate
students; improving research incentives and
facilities; and pioneering "new intellectual
breakthroughs" with the University's name at-
tached.
Long-range programmatic planning: A
creative approach to cutting the budget-the'
Administration's five-year plan, for instance.
"Out of the woodwork": According to ad-
ministrators, supporters of ill-fated programs
come from here. Commonly used when the talk
turns to the political backlash that's expected
when any part of the University is targeted for
elimination or heavy cutbacks.
Regental Guidelines for the Discontinuance
of Academic Programs: A set of ' formal
criteria and procedures designed to be used
when someone or something recommends that
an academic department or program be
eliminated. The guidelines have been used
twice thus far, resulting in the closing of the
geography department and the transfer of the
physical therapy program to the Flint Campus.
The guidelines are expected to be used
again-soon.
Retrenchment, redistribution, and
reallocation: Terms as important to the five-
year plan as reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic are
to a basic education. Through retrenchment,
the University' will become smaller. Through
redistribution and reallocation, some parts of
the University will become smaller than
others.
Schools and colleges: The University has 17.
Administrators have made no secret that some
of these larger academic settings will be
marked for serious review. There's a strong
possibility that one or more, may be closed
permanently. Among the most likely can-
didates, observers say, are the schools of
Natural Resources, Education, Library Scien-
ce, Social Work, and Nursing. (See Centrality.)
Selective program reductions or closures: Of
the $20 million to be cut from the budget over
the next five years, $10 million will come from
the unlucky programs and departments-or
schools and colleges-that wind up in this
category. Academic programs that fall here
should expect cuts of more than 10 percent.
Some of the savings are likely to come from
programs that will be shut down completely.
(See Variable shared reductions.)
Student participation: Has two meanings: 1)
an administrative euphemism for "k'eeping the
kids quiet" or 2) a situation in which students
offer constructive advice about the Univer-
sity's future. The outcome depends both on the
attitudes of faculty members and ad-
ministr tors and the willingness of students to
take their responsibility as advisers seriously.
Teaching and the advancement of
knowledge: Colloquially, teaching and resear-
ch. Together, they're why the University
exists. Although defended by many as being
equally important, teaching is expected to be
the loser as course offerings are reduced,
classes become more crowded, and the gran-
ting of tenure becomes more selective.
Tenure: Job security for professors. Under
the dictates of the five-year plan, its per-
manence may begin to fade. And
paradoxically, as it becomes less valuable as a
commodity, it also could become nearly im-
possible to obtain.
Variable shared reductions: The other half of
the money to be saved through the five-year
plan is expected to come from variable shared
reductions, the closest thing the administration
has to' across-the-board cutbacks this season.
For academic programs, the reductions will
range from 0 percent to 10 percent; for ad-
ministrative support units, the cutbacks will
range from 5 percent to 15 percent. Those por- 4
tions of the University that don't fall into the
"selective program reduction or closure"
category will get hit here. (See Selective
program reductions or closvres.)
Vice President for Academic Affairs Billy
Frye: The administrator most proficient in
"budget-ese." He's the first one to arrive at the
Fleming Administration Building in the mor-
ning and the last one to leave at night. Expect
the five-year plan to keep similar hours. 4
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Engebrecht is a former Daily editor.
'I-I
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Sinclair
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Vol. XCII, No. 116
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Campus cloak and dagger
DISTURBING trend of petty
ti-federal investigations spread to
the University last week.'
It is hard to imagine just what top
secrets are hidden in ,the Un-
dergraduate Library, but agents from
the Federal Bureau of Investigation
did their best last week to hunt them
out. FBI agents came to campus to find
out what a visiting Russian
mathematics scholar was reading
from the library's Engineering-
Transportation collection.
Library employees refused to com-
ply with the FBI requests for infor-
mation about the scholar, citing policy
which prohibits revealing facts on
library patrons. Even though the
library's contents are obyiously
already public knowledge, the FBI
reportedly feared the Russian was
photocopying sensitive material and
shipping it home.
The FBI's UGLi mission seems un-
pleasantly reminiscent of ' a red
scare-an overblown reaction left
behind years ago with the McCarthy,
era. The intrusion threatens a prin-
ciple of academic freedom: The free
transmission of academic information
across international boundaries.
Recent intrusions into academia
have increased noticeably. The State
Department recentlydemanded, and
justifiably was refused, restrictions
upon foreign scholars at such
prestigious universities as Stanford,
Massachusetts , Institute of
Technology, and, the University of
Wisconsin. One university president
called such intrusions' "appalling,"
and, like the other college leaders,
refused the request.
Federal officials do -have a valid
point in restricting the spread of cer-
tain information to certain countries,
such as the Soviet Union. Deciding
which scholars are admitted to the
United States, and what access to
governmental files they receive, is
properly a matter for federal con-
cern-however it should be done at
points of entry, not at University
libraries.
The days of furious hunts for subver-
sion on campuses are long past.
Playing cloak and dagger games is a
pasttime that should be left to school
children, The government also would
do well to refrain from interfering with
foreign scholars and allow academic
freedom its appropriate free rein.
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Ensuring the safety of 'Night-Ride'
To the Daily:
Many men and women are con-
cerned about the frequency of
rape in the Ann Arbor area. Much
of this concern focuses on the
lack of adequate and accessible
transportation at night, which
forces many women to walk
alone in the dark. That women
simply should not walk alone at
night is an often-heard yet im-
practical approach to the
problem of rape. Many women
are unwilling or do not know
people whom they can rely on to
continually accompany them to
their destinations. The only door-
to-door transportation available
has been costly cab service.
Fortunately, this problem can
now be somewhat alleviated. As a
result of the continual efforts of
PIRGIM (Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan)
and AATA (Ann Arbor Transit
Authority), the AATA received a
grant from the federal gover-
nment to implement a "Night-
Ride" program for the Ann Arbor
area. AATA is subcontracting
this project to a cab company
which will supply .door-to-door
service at fixed rates between the
hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The
target date for this program is
March 1 of this year.
Though the grant has been
secured, further details of the
service will be finalized within
the next two weeks. The two
major points still undecided are
the number of cabs which will be
available to the program and the
fare of the ride. Presently, the
proposed range of the fare is bet-
ween one and two dollars. If the
fare is costly, frequent and
broad-based use of the service
will be impractical. An insuf2
ficient number of cabs would also
threaten the usefulness of this
service.
Even though the grant has been
won, more work needs to be done
before the program can achieve
its full potential. The, AATA
board will meet Feb. 24 to finalize
the details of the plan. Those in-
terested can attend the meeting
or call AATA to participate in tle
final decision-making process.
Ann Arbor can become a safer
place with such a "Night-Ride"
service.
--Susan Shapiro
Karen Pernick
PIRGIM Women's
Safety Task Force
February 17
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Low student participation
To the Daily:
In regard to your coverage of
the. City Council primary in the
First Ward, you quote me as
saying that "Earl Greene got no
support from students." But you
omit the rest of the sentence,
namely "... which surprises me
since Greene was the candidate
who most clearly came out for
tenant rights and improvement of
the student rental situation."
Aside from the issue of student
housing, my remark, "I hope the
students are happy with what
they got" means only that I am
sorry that they did not par-
ticipate in the choice.
Larry Hunter, who defeated
Greene, worked hard for his vic-
tory and will have Greene's and
my support as he works to uphold
Democratic values on a
Republican City Council.
The voter turnout .was about
double that of recent primaries.
Too bad so few of the votes came'
from students.
-Richard Browne
treasurer, Committee to
Re-elect Earl Greene
February 16
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