The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 20, 1986- Page 5

Proposal may set new
language requirements
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skills.
The primary goal would be, to
meet the original intent of the
foreign language requirement.
Mersereau said, "A liberal arts
education should provide a student
with -access to other cultures. Many
believe that learning the language is
,the only reliable way into a foreign
culture."
T H E foreign language
committee's report went to the
LSA curriculum committee and
then on to the executive committee.
LSA Dean Peter Steiner said of the
proposed change: "I think it's
sensible. I don't know if it will
happen. I don't predict how the
governing faculty will vote on an
issue like this."
Any change would be a
'modification of the college's
graduation requirement and only the
LSA faculty has the power to .make
such a move.
The executive committee
bounced the idea back to the
curriculum committee, which is
currently working on a proposal for
the faculty, according to Jack
Meiland, LSA dean for curriculum
6 and long range planning and co-
chairperson of the curriculum
committee.
"I HOPE a proposal will be
ready for the curriculum committee

to take up between Thanksgiving
and the end of the term," said
Meiland, who is drawing up a draft
of the proposal.
Steiner said a proposal will be
discussed at the January faculty
meeting and then voted on at the
February meeting. Mersereau
expects a change in the requirement
to be in place by next fall or by the
fall of 1988 at the latest. "The
administrative gears grind slowly
on these things," he said.
Mersereau said his committee
found that only a quarter of the
students with four years of high
school study could actually place
out of their language. "In some
cases, people with four years
couldn't place out of the first term,"
Mersereau said. "Four years of high
school is a time requirement, rather
than an achievement requirement."
MERSEREAU said the
present system is "inequitable"
because it requires different levels of
skill from different students.
Students with four years of high
school study do not have to reach
the same ability level that other
students must meet.
In this year's freshman class, 43
percent of the incoming students
met the foreign language
requirement with high school work,
according to the minutes of the
curriculum committee.


A new requirement could mean a
larger number of students entering
the University's language program.
Steiner said the college is prepared
to hire new teaching assistants and
faculty members if they are
necessitated by a change.
MERSEREAU said LSA used
to require all students to pass a
foreign language test as a
graduation requirement, but then
about twenty years ago, "the LSA
faculty decided to put the burden on
the high schools, hoping they
would improve their language
instruction."
They didn't. The LSA change
was followed by a nationwide drop
in the quality of high school
language teaching.
Mersereau said one goal in
changing the college's requirements
would be to prompt high schools to
improve their programs.
Steiner said high schools that
supply large numbers of students to
the University might "beef up"
their language programs in response
to a more stringent language
requirement. But there is the
possibility that fewer students
would apply to the University with
such a change. "If we make this
change, we'll have to face the
consequences," Steiner said. "I'm
not afraid of the consequences," he
added.

U' wants more s ta te funds
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Schaefer also pointed to history, which she said
indicates that the University will probably not get the
full amount it requests.
THE appropriation requests are divided up among
several areas. The largest chunk of the request, $16.4
million, is earmarked for faculty salary increases,
which Kennedy said are necessary to keep the
University competitive with other peer institutions.
Another $2 million would be used to continue a special
faculty salary program begun last year.
Another portion of the appropriations, $8.1 million,
will be used to keep up with the rise in fixed costs, of
this $400,000 will go for the maintenance of busses
and the new emergency telephone system.
Kennedy said this would include some of the costs
of moving the College of Engineering to North
Campus and to support the Nite Owl service.
THE UNIVERSITY is also asking for a $1
million increase for the Research Excellence Fund.
That fund, which has provided the University with $9.9
million for the past two years, primarily helps fund
research projects in the College of Engineering. The
budget request says that because the award amount has
remained the same, the University has actually lost
'money because of inflation. An increase in funding
would also help supplement more research projects in
other schools of the University.

Because of a serious shortage of funding in the
1970s and early 80s, the proposal says, equipment at
the University has deteriorated to the point that some
of it is now obsolete. The proposal asks for an initial
$5 million for improvements in equipment, and states
that it would like to reach the $12 million per year
goal that The Governor's Commission on Higher
Education report recommended for updating research
facilities.
The proposed budget also asks for $4 million to
fund graduate fellowships and research assistantships
for graduate students. According to the proposal, higher
education reports say the University needs at least $10
million more for these programs. The University has
tried to compensate through internal reallocation, but
that effort has not been adequate, the report says.
Five hundred thousand dollars, if received, would be
allocated to the Martin Luther King/Rosa Parks
Program, which would attract more minority visiting
professors to the University. It would also supplement
a fellowship program to aid minority students and
would create a College Day to introduce high school
students to the University.
Other areas that would benefit by an increase are the
University library system, a proposed information
technology system, and improvements of the
biological and physical sciences, statistics, and
mathematics programs of LSA.

Brewers hope to sell homemade beer

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Michigan liquor laws, dating
back to 1933 during the prohibition
era, prohibit brewery owners from
operating a retail beer store.
Badgerow and Shaver, however,
hope to create a "brew-pub," similar
to an English beer garden, seating
approximately 50 people.
"We're looking for an historic
location, possibly a building that
was previously used as a brewery,"
said Shaver.
BREW-PUBS, common in
.England and Germany, are small
pubs and restaurants which make
their own house-brews and sell it to
customers by the glass. Currently
eight states allow brew-pubs

including California, Oregon, and
New York.
The owners of Fermentations
currently are lobbying state
legislators to introduce legislation
modelled after the California law,
' permitting the establishment of
brew-pubs.
They asked state Attorney
General Frank Kelley for a
reinterpretation of the present law
which allows Michigan's breweries
to give factory tours and serve
visitors only free samples of their
product. The Attorney General
upheld the law however, saying that
establishing a brew-pub is not
legal, Schaver said.
The brew-pub, being formed
under the name of the Ann Arbor

Brewing Company, would operate
as a "microbrewery."
Microbreweries or boutique
breweries are small businesses
which keg and bottle beer for local
distribution. These breweries are
licensed to produce a maximum of
10,000 barrels of beer per year, the
equivalent of 140,000 cases.
Badgerow said that initially they
would concentrate on draft beer only
and wait to see if a demand for
bottled beer materializes.
Microbreweries were extremely
common at one time with hundreds
of them scattered across the state.
Right now there is only one micro-
brewery in Michigan, operating in
Kalamazoo.


Students join Oxfam hunger fast

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getting them involved."
Students fasting pledge not to
eat tonight's dinner. University
food services will give Oxfam
money that would have been used
to pay for the meals. Organizers
cannot say how much this will be.
Siri Striar, WHEAC co-
coordinator, said half the money
raised will go to Oxfam and half to

Oxfam official Sylvia Sukop.
Sukop said society seem less
concerned about the issue. The
money Oxfam does receive is used
to fund relief work in Africa,
Central America, and Asia.
Oxfam members say it is
different than other relief
organizations.
"We are distinguished from other

are will be presented in several
residence halls. Oxfam's director,
John Hammock, is speaking at 8
pm tonight about hunger,
technology, and change in the
Michigan Union's Pond Room.
"Fasts like this one are a fairly
easy way for people to make
contributions. Next year, we hope
to make this a monthly thing so
that we can raise more money for
world hunger. To do this, however,
we ne to he hetter r rpnnizea nd