The Michigan Daily- Friday, September 7, 1984-- Page 13 Controversy builds over proposed software center By PETE WILLIAMS To many in Ann Arbor, the Software Engineering Institute could be the most exciting thing to happen to the city in years. University administrators, city officials, and private businessmen are falling over one another to get the com- puter center to locate in the Ann Arbor area. But it seems that for all the positive reaction here to SEI, there is as much strong opposition. SEI IS A proposed computer research center funded by the Department of Defense. The defense department con- ceived the center as the place to renovate the computer programming industry. The researchers at SEI will also work on the development of a new universal higher-order computer language. The institute .is expected to have a $33 million budget and employ 250 technicians and scientists by its fif- th year of operation. With those goals, SEI has the potential to make the area where it locates the leader in software technology. Ann Arbor and the University are competing against Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh, UCLA, and others for the in- stitute. If Ann Arbor wins, it "will have attracted some of the best software and engineering minds in the country and located them in one place," said Michigan High Technology Task Force Director Bill Lukens. "Give these people five or 10 years and Ann Arbor will be the software capital of the nation." Gov. William Milliken designed the task force Lukens heads to bring such projects as SEI to the state. When Milliken left office, the task force became a non-profit organization dependent upon the generosity of Michigan corporations. Lukens said the Ann Arbor-based task force soon would be devoting a considerable amount of time to luring SEI to the city. LUKENS ALSO said the institute would have a tremendous impact on the amount of money the state receives from the federal government - an amount many consider far too small. "It will be a major contracting center which will give Michigan firms greater accessibility to federal money." That accessibility likely would include millions of dollars not going directly to SEI. The University also is fighting hard to get SEI, With fellow Big Ten Conferen- ce schools Ohio State University, Pur- due University, and the University of Illinois, it has formed a consortium designed to recruit the institute to Ann Arbor. College of Engineering Dean James Duderstadt said he would relish the idea of having SEI near campus. "Certainly a major fundamental research laboratory, which that will be in software engineering, will have an important impact on us because it will establish Ann Arbor as a center of ex- cellence," Duderstadt said. "It will at- tract a lot of very, very high quality scientists and engineers and will allow us to attract some high-level people." DUDERSTADT said the proposed center plans to carry out "fundamental and unclassified research," as opposed to applied weapons research. He said it is an appropriate project for the University to be involved in. Yet there are those who are not con- vinced .SEI should be located here. Among them is the Progressive Stud- ent Network. PSN, an activist anti- military group on campus, argues that both SEI and its research are inap- propriate for the University com- munity. Lee Winkleman, who is leading PSN's opposition to the institute, said the center should not be considered a healthy addition to the community. He also argues that SEI does not offer such great economic potential. "There is a real trend to try and link the solution to economic problems to military development," he said. "It is insane to think that in order to help ourselves economically we have to lead toward the destruction of the world." WINKELMAN said PSN's efforts to- dissuade the recruitment of SEI will in- clude investigating the exact nature of its proposed research and educating the community of the institute's evils. It also is organizing with anti-military groups at Ohio State, Purdue, and Illinois to form what he calls the "con- sortium against the consortium," ad- ding strength to the opposition efforts. PSN isn't alone in its fight. The Michigan Alliance for Disarmament also opposes SEI. MAD spokesman Justin Schwartz said the group is not opposed to all high technology development, only to that which is fun- ded specifically by the Department of Defense. "Dependence on military development is very unsound economically as for what it can do for our community," Schwartz said. "I am opposed to wasting, our technical resources on finding clever ways to kill people." He said that if what the country needs is automation of the computer industry with civilian application, it should hire civilian agencies to do so. "Why should we have to work through the defense department? Schwartz asked. BUT PSN'S and MAD's efforts may not have an impact on the eventual decision, according to Lukens. "One of the things the defense department requires for SEI is a close affiliation with a university," he said. "They probably understood what they would encounter when they made that decision." Ann Arbor Mayor Louis Belcher also questioned the chances of anti-military groups preventing the Pentagon from choosing the city. "With a protesting group you have to watch and make sure that you don't get the wrong idea that they support the majority of the people that live in Ann Arbor, because that is not the case," Belcher said. This story originally appeared in the Daily's summer edition. Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON A. Alfred Taubman, a University graduate and benefactor, delivers the commencement address at the medical school's .dune graduation in Hill Auditorium. Taubamun tells new dtors to hep'U' By PETE WILLIAMS "Make no mistake about it. This school and the community have sub- staiftial investments in each one of you. And now as you graduate I think it only fitting to consider how each of you will return that investment," A. Alfred Taubman told 210 Medical School graduates at Hill Auditorium. Taubman, a local businessman and philanthropist spoke of a "shared commitment of mutual reinvestment" tween the University and the com- unity. He cited financial support for the University's $285 million Replacem- ent Hospital Project as "a tangible commitment by the larger community to support the continued excellence of the school." "BY ITSELF, this building is only a mesure of quality," he said. "But even mod iiportantly, this kind of rein- vesment represents a clear signal to the entire country that Michigan inten- Sto-be the best." Taubman, who was originally op- posed to the idea of a new hospital for the Ufniversity, was recruited by for- mer University President Robben Fleming in 1977 to serve on the planning confmittee for the hospital. 'Tligured that if we couldn't convin- ce him that it was a good project, then we weren't going to convince anybody else' Fleming said at the time. TAUBMAN ALSO spoke of an in- vestment relationship between the school and this year's graduates. He suggested returning the investment the* school made in its graduates through individual excellence in the field of medicine, community leadership, and financial support. "There is one very direct way for you to reinvest in this community and this school and that is by your contributing financially to the school in years to come as an expression of your dedication," he said. "Very simply, your involvement with this school should not end today." As founder, chairman, and chief financial officer of the Taubman com- pany, Taubman has been the developer of several shopping centers nationwide including the Briarwood mall in Ann Arbor. He is the owner and chairman of the Michigan Panthers football tear in the United States Football League and is involved as a booster of several civic and cultural activities including Metropolitan Detroit Magazine, The Detroit Symphony, and the Detroit In- stitute of Art. The University's A. Alfred Taubman Medical Library was named after the Detroit-born businessman because of his involvement in the medical school-both financially and per- sonally-since 1977. The Ambulatory Care Facility, a four-story emergency treatment building which will be con- nected to the north side of the new hospital, will be named the Taubman Health Care Center. At the ceremony, Taubman spoke of the quality of education the Univer- sity Medical School provides. "It is a tradition of quality-practicing quality and producing quality," he said. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are the cream of the crop." This story originally appeared in the Daily 's summer edition. Women face tough climb through engineering ranks By THOMAS HRACH Although the job market looks roniising, a recently released article ay de bad news for aspiring female engm.eers. From the results of a study perfor- med several years ago, Naomi McAfee, a design manager with Westinghouse Electric, concluded that women engiieers with bachelor's degrees receive slightly higher starting salaries than their male counterparts. YET AFTER three years on the job, women end up earning less than men in the same positions. McAfee blames is on the typical "masculine mystique ich has developed from the time of Adam and Eve." MeAfee is one of many contributors to Women in Scientific and Engineering ProfEssions, a book recently published by the University Press. According to Carolyn Perrucci, an editor of the book, the collection of articles attempts to show "the continuing difficulties women face in the technical professions." An-example is the fact that female engineers constitute about 4 percent of all professional women in the country, yet women hold only one half of one percent of the engineering management position. "IT'S A SIMPLE case of supply and demand," said McAfee. "about ten years ago there were more engineering jobs to fill, but very few women to fill them." "Today the current backlash on af- firmative action programs has brought us back to the old ways. Now I see women still lacking in management positions but losing ground in their star- ting salaries," said McAfee. Despite having no recent statistical evidence, McAfee sees the oppor- tunities for women engineers on the decline. Engineering has long been considered one of the best fields for women to enter, but McAfee suc- cessfully points out the blatant inequalities in the field. McAfee is critical of engineering colleges around the country that ac- tively recruit female students because she says there are few good oppor- tunities for women who graduate from those programs. "Women should persist in their education perhaps even to the Ph.D. level," Perrucci said, advising women not to jump at the first job offer that comes along after undergraduate work. Students! Work Smart. Work Simply...With Hewlett-Packard. Take a good look at your class schedule. This story originally appeared in the Daily's summer edition. If you're in Science or Engineering, chances are your classes include Calculus, Physics, or Chemistry. Engineering Statics, or Dynamics. You're running up against some tough calculations, with statistics prob- lems, hyperbolics, and logs. 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