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OPINION
Page4Tuesday, January 18, 1983 The Michigan Daily
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Running the
'U' like the Germans do
By Robert Hon igman
"Iprotest to you, gentlemen, that if I had
to choose between a so-called university,
which dispensed with residence and tutorial
superintendence, and gave its degree to any
person who passed an examination in a
wide range of subjects, and a university
which had no professors or examinations at
all, but merely brought a number of young
men together for three or four years and
then sent them away ... I have no
hesitation in giving the preference to that
university which did nothing, over that
which exacted of its members an acquain-
tance with every science under the sun."
-John Henry Cardinal Newman
A little more than 125 years ago, Cardinal
Newman shocked the Catholics of Dublin with
his ideas of a university. At the same time,
Henry Tappan, president of the University of
Michigan, was abolishing dormitories and con-
verting the University to the German ideal of
research and advanced graduate-level studies.
Later in the century, beginning with John
Hopkins University and followed by Harvard,
other leading universities adopted the German
ideal, grafting it onto their undergraduate
programs. Harvard led the way, using
graduate students to teach undergraduates in
order to relieve its renowned faculty from un-
dergraduate teaching chores, and devoting
part of its undergraduate tuitions and its vast
endowments to support enpensive, but
prestigious, graduate programs.
THE GERMAN ideal of a university dispen-
sed with residence halls. It had no concern for
the moral or social development of its studen-
ts; it is believed only in specialized studies and
advanced research. German science and
scholarship transformed Germany into a world
power. Prior to World War I, thousands of
young Americans went to Germany to com-
plete their educations with advanced studies,
especially in science and medicine.
After the war, there was a reaction against
the German ideal. With Yale and Harvard in
the lead in the 1930s, residence halls for un-
dergraduates were reintroduced as a integral
part of undergraduate life. The residential
ideal became part of American higher
education again through the '30s, '40s, and '50s,
until the student rebellions of the 1960s
signalled the end of university concern for
housing students.
Today, the German university ideal of
research and advanced studies clearly
dominates American higher education. A com-
prehensive residence hall philosophy seems
like a remnant of an earlier, era, with the
university of today supplying housing only as a
last resort.
SOME EDUCATORS imagine that we have
combined the best aspects of the English and
German ideals by having residence halls for
undergraduate students. But the German
system-with its large impersonal lectures-is
really being applied to undergraduates, while
the English system-which stressed personal
tutoring-is now given almost exclusively to
advanced graduate students. This is certainly
not what Tappan had in mind, since he firmly
believed that younger students needed more at-
tention and direction than older, more mature,
students.
The trouble with the German tradition has
been that it does not produce wise leaders or
mature citizens capable of distinguishing real
authority from false-as two world wars have
amply demonstrated. German professors
allied themselves with authority and upheld
authority, because specialized education
made the educated adult dependent on the
state.
Nevertheless, the American university is
blindly following the lead of the German
university tradition. Of the many things which
constitute a great university, faculty and ad-
ministrators are pursuing only those things
which match their own personal goals and
values, research and prestige. Money spent on
student housing can't be spent on graduate
education, research, faculty pay raises, or
university hospitals.
BUT RESIDENTIAL values, and a strong
and viable student community, are a
legitimate part of our universitytradition. Sin-
ce those values match student values, perhaps
it's time to give our students a major share in
determining university goals and values. What
may appear to academicians as self-
indulgence, the play-time and rough-house of 4
student culture, may indeed be more important
than acquainting students with every science
under the sun.
Honigman, an attorney, is a graduate of
the University.
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Sinclair
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Vol. XCIII, No. 88
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
A necessary tax hike
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N OBODY LIKES A tax hike. Those
legislators who do, usually don't
get to stay in Lansing very long. But
now that the state budget dificit may
top $750 million, a tax increase is
crucial to the viability of Michigan and
its institutions - whether state
lawmakers like it or not.
In the face of such a huge deficit, the
state simply cannot rely on budget cuts
alone to balance its books. State
Senate Majority Leader William Faust
maintains that even if the state were to
lay off all its employees now, it still
would not be able to balance its budget
by the end of the fiscal year. In
response to the crisis, Faust plans to
propose a two percent income tax hike
later this month.
Without approval of Faust's proposal
the sheer magnitude of the-deficit en-
sures that virtually no state-funded
program will remain untouched by
severe cuts. Already this institution
has suffered a $26 million "deferral" in
state aid. Add that to the cuts likely to
come and you'll get the amount of
money the University may never see if
the deferral turns into a cut - an
-amount that makes haggling over the
University's plan to reallocate $20
million pale in comparison.
The University represents just one of
the areas that will suffer such losses
without a tax hike. Yet despite this
bleak situation, many legislators
predict that a tax hike has little chance
of being _approved. The governor
self has yet to show support for any in-
crease.
Whyare many representatives still
holding out in the face of such pressing
circumstances? Opponents to the hike
charge that the state's taxes already
are too high and that an increase will
only scare away the new businesses
vital to economic recovery.
Michigan's taxes are not that high,,
however, in comparson to other states.
Tennessee, where many Midwestern
firms are relocating, has an income
tax rate of 25 percent higher than
Michigan's.Fears about the effects of
higher taxes are legitimate. But
Faust's proposal represents the best
solution to a problemthat offers no
painless way out. Without it, in-
stitutions that have taken years to
build - such as the University - will be
chipped away if the state simply relies
on cuts.
A tax hike is an unpleasant reality.
But for a state already besieged with
budget problems, it may be the only
way to keep Michigan from being
inundated in a tidal wave of red ink.
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SAUIR
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
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Michigan fans worst in the Big Ten
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To the Daily:
I would like to congratulate
John Kerr for his recent column
j exposing Crisler Arena for what
it really is-a study hall (Kerrse
Words," Daily, Jan. 14).
I couldn't agree with you more,
John. I honestly believe that
Michigan fans, not just basket-
ball fans either, are the worst in
the Big Ten, maybe even the
nation. You'd think they were
playing chess down on the har-
dwood the way the fans react
during the games. I've been
going to games regularly for the
last four years and during that
time there have been only three
or four games where I felt the
fans actually got behind the team
and helped them to a victory.
As it was pointed out in the
column, this sort of thing takes
place frequently at the other
11 '
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Take heart, copiers
arenas in the Big Ten. At other
schools, the home court can be
worth at least five or six points
because the noise can be so un-
nerving to the visitors. But
playing at Crisler is like playing
at a neutral site; sometimes I
think other teams must even feel
they have the home court advan-
tage, since our fan support is so
pitifully weak.
I think the best point made in
the column was the observation
that Michigan fans feel they
should never have to stand up. I
don't know whether the seats are
too comfortable or whether
people are just too lazy and don't
care to stand up, but have you
ever tried to stand up and cheer
for the squad at Crisler? Im-
mediately, you're inundated with
cries of "Down in front! ", or you
are beseiged by people tugging at
your clothing trying to get you to
sit down.
I guess people figure they paid
for that seat and, by golly,
they're going to use it. I feel sorry
for the people who sit behind me
and refuse to stand up; I think
this is the best way to show sup-
port for your team.
My other gripe with Michigan
fans is their negative attitude.
Michigan is one of the few places
in the country where a player can
be booed lustily on his home court
for an entire season just because
he committed a few errors
earlier in the year. I'm not saying
Dan Pelekoudas and Tim Mc-
Cormick deserve to get a stan-
ding ovation every time they en-
ter a game, but they certainly
don't deserve to be booed either.
These guys are playing as hard
as they can and a little fan sup-
port would go a long way toward
building their confidence.
I hope the fans at Michigan
realize the disservice they're
doing to the teams they're sup-
posed to be supporting. Michigan
has a great athletic program and
the players deserve better fans
than the ones here.
-Doug Holmes
January 16
To the Daily:
You seem to have fallen prey to
the old canard that borrowing
constitutes plagiarism "if a
professor can prove- that a
student's work is not original and
that the student was aware of it"
("Firm offers relief from term
paper nightmares," Daily, Jan.
13).
Please set the minds of your
readers at ease. The powers that
be always assume that the
student is not "aware of it"-lest
he be so absent-minded and self-
destructive as to append a foot-
note letting his professor know
that from here on he is using
someone else's material, with the
express intent to deceive. In
other words, the use of any
material is permitted as long as
the student does not use it in or-
der to deceive intentionally - just
unintentionallly.
Take heart , there is not
possibly anything between the
always that Frenchman Moliere
to testify that you took what was
yours anyway, and "if arts and
schools reply, give arts and
schools the lie."
It is true, the MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers,
Theses, and Dissertations still
describes plagiarism as
"repeating another's sentences as
your own, adopting a particularly
apt phrase as your own,
paraphrasing someone else's
arguments as your own, or even
presenting someone else's line of
thinking in the development of a
thesis as though it were your
own." The definition of this stuffy
publication, however, is long
superannuated and even such
stalwart, law-abiding folks as
graduate deans snicker at it and
don't think it's worth shucks
anymore in a bar fight, leave
alone one in U.S. District Court.
Therefore, please don't
frighten your readers un-
Sportswriter slips
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To the Daily:
I read with interest your
"Tipoff '83" basketball sup-
plement (Daily, Jan. 12). Does
the Daily have two Larry Freed's
on the sports staff, or is he just
hedging his bets?
In his column "Freedian Slips"
(truer words were never spoken),
he predicts that Indiana, Iowa,
pages later, in "Freed's Follies"
(does he have a reputation?), he
predicts Purdue and Minnesota
to finish seventh and eighth
respectively in the Big Ten stan-
dings. This would make them
unlikely recipients of NCAA bids.
Well, which is it Larry, or don't
you think the NCAA will notice?
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J