The Michigan Daily-- Thursday, September 6, 1984 - Page 13
00
Business students to pay
$100 fee for computers
By THOMAS HRACH
Business students will enter the computer age this term
with a new computer network for the business school, similar
to the one already in use by the engineering school.
But new technology doesn't come cheap, so the aspiring
businessmen will be charged an additional $100 per term.
"You just can't turn around without having to use a com-
puter in the business world," said Gilbert Whitaker, dean of
the School of Business Administration. "After graduation our
students will have a leg up to the power of computers."
THE BURROUGHS Corporation of Detroit has taken up
the project, which will become the most ambitious computer
familiarity project of any business school in the country. This
is the first time the company has undertaken such a project
in this great a magnitude.
The system will utilize 90 computer terminals throughout
the business school to link the students,faculty, and staff. Ac-
cording to Whitaker, terminals, which can be used-as word
processors, will be uwed to help familiarize students with the
types of computers used in the business world.
The project would be similar to the Computer Aided
Engineering Network developed by the engineering college
in conjunction with Apple computers. Students in that school
have also paid a $100 surcharge added to tuition bills each
term.
WHITAKER SAID that the new system has become
necessary in order to keep the University competitive with
prestigious business schools in the East. The system will link
a number of microcomputers and also provide user access to
the University's central computers.
"What we'd like to create is a corporate business at-
mosphere," said Leonard Bertagnolli, program director for
Burroughs. "Computers have become the foundation for
education in the business fields."
Burroughs hopes to have the system fully operational by
mid-October, according to Bertagnolli. The new system will
be well worth the $100 per term fee because it will reduce
"the growing fears of using a computer in the business
world," he said.
"Any project which integrates the use of computers into
education will well be worth the cost in the long run. The real
issue is not the cost but how much the students will learn
from the computers," said Bertagnolli.
Burroughs will send seven representatives to campus for the
first year the system is in operation to help work out the
logistical problems and train faculty and students. In addition,
the business school will hire staff to train users, maintain
equipment, and work with the faculty in designing software.
Because this is the first such project for Burroughs and the
most extensive of any business school in the country, Ber-
tagnolli said his company will benefit for putting the Univer-
sity in a position with those making future business decisions.
Daily Photo by CAROL L. FRANCAVILLA
Construction workers put the finishing touches on the new business library and computer management buildings.
I Ublack enrollment to increase
(Continued from Page 1)
pected to remain at last year's number
of 26.
Admissions officials estimate that the
University will enroll eight Native
American students this fall - only five
more than the number who attended the
University last year.
Officials cite intense recruitment ef-
forts by the admissions office - in-
cluding a letter-writing campaign urging
iinority students to attend the Univer-
mity in addition to minority orientation
programs - as being responsible for
the expected increase.
"WE'RE QUITE pleased that the ef-
forts we made (this past year) helped in
the anticipated increase for minority
Students," said Monique Washington,
an admissions officer.
Aside from the stepped-up recruiting
efforts by the admissions office,
Vniversity officials credit an increased
number of financial aid packages and
merit-based scholarships to the small
ninority enrollment increase. '
If students can receive long-term
financial aid packages from other com-
'petitive universities, many won't come
to the University where non-needy
students are not guaranteed scholar-
ships as many are at other universities,
Washington said. The funding increase
for financial aid has begun to entice
qualified minority students to come to.
the University, she added.
Increasing black enrollemnt has been
a University goal since the Black Ac-
tion Movement strike in 1970 which
utterly shut down the campus. In
resolving the strike, University
president Robber Fleming pledged to
increase black enrollment to 10 percent
within three years.
THAT GOAL has never been met, the
closest being in 1976 when the figure
rose to 7.2 percent. Since then, the
numbers have steadily dropped,
despite University efforts to recruit
black students to the University.
The 10 percent black enrollment goal
is not a key objective for admissions of-
ficers although "it is something we'd
like to see," Washington said. "A lot
needs to be done first to decide what the
pool of admittable students is before
establishing a realistic goal," she ad-
ded.
But to many, retention is a much
greater concern than the number of
minority students who come to the
University.
ACCORDING TO Billy Jo Evans, a
chemistry professor, minority students
should be assisted in scheduling cour-
ses which provide them with incentive
to stay at the University.
The primary objective of the Univer-
sity should not be to simply retain
students, Evans said. It should be to
help them succeed in the area they are
interested in.
The effort to reach out to under-
represented minorities includes in-
creased attention to minority students
in community colleges and high schools
and having University student "am-
bassadors" who graduated from
largely black high schools to go back to
those schools and give an optimistic,
objective report to admittable students
to offset the negative attitude many of
these students have of the University.
7
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Sth Annivesary
1934-1984
MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE
Apple deal sours local
computer business
Main Store: 549 East University
Electronics Showroom: 1110 South University
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (313)662-3201
s (Continued from Page 1)
lbusiness" because local dealers sup-
plied software and peripherals to those
Vho bought the computers.
.BUT ACCORDING to Reding the
Vniversity's discount backs retailers
-i ilo a corner with customers.
'"We bear the brunt of it," she said,
referring to the discontent of many
,-eople outside the University com-
: :unity who are not eligible for the of-
br. "People think we're ripping them
,off, until we pull out the invoices and
S:how them what we're paying for (the
Q omputer)."
M . Fleckenstein said his own company,
e which deals primarily in IBM computer
; ystems, has suffered because of the of-
!:r.
: "(THE IBM) Personal Computer (is a
4,000 machine, and (students, faculty,
:and staff) have the option of buying the
;-acintosh for $1,100," Fleckenstein
id "Wee sold say, 35 systems in
,ecember and maybe 10 in January,
when the University's offer went into
effect.
y Fadden of Inacomp said he believes
at whatever the consequences, local
$tailers are going to have to live with
a;pnsortiums like the one Apple has
°Xrmed with the universities.
W"The consortium is here: it's alive
apd well," Fadden said. "In fact, the
econd wave is here. Computerland
j astern Michigan is considering (a
program similar to Michigan's),
Wayne- State is considering
something.
ACCORDING to Fadden, everyone
had a chance at the contract Inacomp
has. with the University. "It wasn't
something against free enterprise."
In the long run, said Fadden, wider
use and ownership of computer benefits
retailers as well as the Apple company.
"It's a very wise move to get com-
puters into everybody's hands," he
said. "I think it's good for everybody."
According to Apple spokesperson
Dixon, reported that Macintosh sales
both in and out of the universities have
been strong.
"We're still a little backlogged," she
remarked. "We sold 72,000 (Macin-
toshes) within the first 92 days.
Dixon said Apple expects sales of the
Macintosh to reach 250,000 by the end of
the year.
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