I The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 15, 1986 -Page 5 Gov't policy must change to help industry, expert says DETROIT (AP)-The nation's businesses are making progress toward regaining their competitive edge in world markets but can't succeed without changes in public policy, the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said yesterday. AFTER YEARS of prosperous complacency, "American industry is charging back with great vigor," said Edward Donley, chairman of the business organization and of Air Products and, Chemicals Inc., based in Allentown, Pa. The government, however, must do more to encourage creation of jobs, Donley said at a news conference before addressing the Economic Club of Detroit. "Since America, through its whole history, has not been an exporting nation, we've never had to concern ourselves with whether public policy produced a level playing field" in domestic industries' competition with foreign countries, he said. THE CHAMBER is lobbying hard for passage by Congress next year of a law that would require the nation's trading partners to match the United States in allowing passage of foreign goods, Donley said. The government also should adopt policies that foster capital investment, research and development and entrepreneurship, activities that allow U.S. companies to compete more effectively with foreign countries, he said. "The American wages...are substantially higher than wages in the rest of the world," he said. "The only way to be competitive with countries where wage rates are lower is to have more efficient use of technology." HE CITED the federal tax- reform bill awaiting President Reagan's signature as an example of the nation's lack of sophistication in public policies to encourage growth. The chamber supports the bill because it will on balance leave more money in private hands but finds in the proposed law provisions that discourage capital investment, research and development and entrepreneurship, he said. "It is a clear example that we Americans-individual citizens have not come forward in our economic education to the degree of realizing that the tax bill affects job formation," Donley said. "It doesn't make sense to us for Americans to shoot themselves in the foot, even if it is only one foot." Associated Press Great pumpkin Robert Gancarz, left, and his brother Edward, of Jacobstown, N.J., proudly display their 671-pound pumpkin. The pumpkin set a new world record at the World Pumpkin Weigh-Off, Monday in Collins, N.Y. The Gancarz's earned a $4,000 prize for the pumpkin, which measured 12 feet and 11 inches around. f Overcrowding hurl (Continued from Pagel1) student demand, he suggested, is "I feel that I can convince people that "economics has a way of f certain ways of thinking if I'm thinking about social problems-an tore familiar with them," he important way." xplained. "I don't communicate Most large schools have 1y ideas as well when I'm in front economics class sizes in the 20-30 f 70 people. It's a matter of range, said Porter. "But Michigan is amiliarity and trust. You never one of the worst in faculty-student now if they believe you." ratio. We have handled it less well," (4 'We can't expand and contract the faculty of a department as fast as student demand rises and falls.' Jack Meiland. LSA dean for long range planning and curriculum He said the content of his course and his teaching style differ in front of large groups: he asks fewer questions for debate and might spend less time preparing for lectures because he knows there won't be a discussion. TEACHING such a large course can involve less work, the professor said, because courses with more than 50 students employ graders and courses with more than 70 students use teaching assistants. Economics courses have become overcrowded, in part, because the field itself has become so popular in recent years. "Undergraduates think that economics is necessary for law or business," Porter said. "I don't know if that's true or not, but for a lawyer, sociology or history might be more valuable. " "We also get business school rejects," he said. "That's wrong, too." ANOTHER reason for the he said. The problem dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when state support for the University was cut back. Due to the budget cuts, LSA in 1980 designed a plan to reduce overall faculty size by approximately 50. "Almost every department lost positions," said Jack Meiland, LSA dean for curriculum and long range planning. WHILE FACULTY size was falling, student interest in economics was rising. Throughout thel960s, approximately 100 students majored in economics each year, said Porter, who was on the faculty then. Last year, the department had 415 concentrators while the faculty remained the same size as in the 1960s. "And the enrollment. keeps going up," he said. Porter predicted that the problem will not go away for at least a few teaching years. Recruiting new economics faculty is difficult, he said, because the University has to compete with other universities, the government, and private business for a limited number of candidates. IN ADDITION, "Ann Arbor is not everybody's idea of the greatest place to live, and Michigan is not everybody's idea of a great economics department," Porter said. The recruiting process, as Porter describes it, "is very labor intensive. It's a big job." While the department has recruited, it has also faced the retirement of its senior faculty. This problem should ease, Porter said, because "we've just had a rash of retirements, and now there is nobody over 60." Porter is hopeful about increasing the size of his department when the Executive Committee takes up the issue in the next few weeks. Although he thinks it is unlikely that he will be granted all nine positions he is requesting, he hopes to add at least three professors this year. "IN THE LAST few years the College has been much more sympathetic (to the overcrowding problem)," he said. But overcrowding is just one of the factors that the Executive Committee considers when it decides to authorize new faculty positions, according to Meiland. It also considers how many positions a department can effectively fill in a year. Committee members may fear that if too many positions are authorized and the department spreads itself thin, "candidates who in econ. aren't necessarily the best can slip through." Other factors are departments' research needs and the long-term prospects for student demand. The last consideration is an important one. Student demand for courses fluctuates, but when a new professor is signed on, "it is a potential 40-year appointment," according to Jack Walker, LSA dean for academic appointments. "Economics is hot now, but it wasn't a few years ago," he said. Meiland concurred. "We can't expand and contract the faculty of a department as fast as student demand rises and falls," he said. I U City tells frats to BAIN & COMPANY, INC. Management Consultants cordially invites The University of Michigan Class of 1987 toa presentation on Associate Consultant Career Opportunities .n Corporate Strategy Consulting --r 2 1 #% j% quell noise (Continued from Page 1) to every Tom, Dick and Harry in Ann Arbor, if we see a 15-year-old getting hammered and we don't do anything about it, then we deserve the repercussions." "I KNOW the police have to do a job and it's a hard job when * you're dealing with drunk college students," Page said. "It's against the law to drink when you're under 21. It's hard when you want to drink with your frat buddies." Councilmember Jeff Epton (D- Third Ward) said the situation in the North Burns Park area has become increasingly difficult for people with families-"to the point where .these people feel victimized by Y actions that some people consider