The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 17, 1992 - Page 3
I i
Williams
delivers
ideal 'las
lecture'
by Christopher Scherer
Daily Staff Reporter
University English professor
Ralph Williams received the
Golden Apple Award for outstand-
ing undergraduate teaching at
Rackham Auditorium last night,
after. a student poll which named
him the most outstanding professor.
The award -- presented by Stu-
dents Honoring Outstanding Un-
dergraduate Teaching (SHOUT), an
organization comprised of student
leaders - is given yearly to the
professor receiving the most votes
in the poll.
The award's winner is entitled
to give his or her ideal "last lec-
ture" in which the professor decides
what subject matter is most signifi-
cant to him or her. Williams, gave
his ideal "last lecture" titled -
"The Romance of the University"
- the importance of human action
to counter social ills.
Williams opened with a segment
from the play "Oedipus Rex."
Williams noted that Oedipus
had all the benefits life could offer,
but he said that "everyone knows
the story," and knew the "vileness"
that plagued Athens in the play.
Williams said, "We are all
Oedipus - forced with necessity to
act in such a way to impinge all
lives."
Williams concluded the first
section of the lecture by saying that
even without perfect knowledge
human action is a necessity to
change life.
Midway through the lecture,
Williams told the audience he
would address them personally. He
said he was not proud of "his cen-
tury" because of many wars, the
Faculty members bemoan -
image of 'U' as corporation
by David Wartowski said. "This no longer feels like a "I don't think (President James
Daily Faculty Reporter faculty-run University." Duderstadt) views us as employees
English Professor and 1992 Golden Apple award-winner Ralph Williams
gives his ideal last lecture last night at Rackham Auditorium.
The election of new members to
the Senate Assembly advisory
committee served as a sidebar to the
prolonged faculty debate about the
University as a corporation during
yesterday's Senate Assembly
meeting.
Faculty discussion led to a reso-
lution urging the assembly to evalu-
ate administrators "in view of the
lack of attention ... to the central
and academic affairs of the
University."
The prolonged deliberation was
spurred on by a series of faculty
speeches debating the
"appropriateness" of an image of the
University as a corporation.
"I think it's time ... that we take
a very good look at the way we're
going," said Academic Affairs Ad-
visory Chair Thomas Dunn, who or-
ganized the presentation of speakers.
The University is still a place
where "faculty and the students they
attract are the fundamental elements
of the University," Dunn said.
But Dunn's message met with
opposition from the faculty.
Law Professor Theodore Saint
Antoine said he sees a "profound
tension" mounting between the ad-
ministration and faculty due to a
difference in perspective.
"The administration is more con-
cerned with whether they are keep-
ing up with their schedule than the
quality of their decisions," he said.
Saint Antoine said the faculty
must make administrators under-
stand the faculty goals - for stu-
dents to "engage fully in the life of
the mind."
English Professor Dan Fader told
the assembly the faculty needs to re-
assert the same influence they once
had in University decision-making.
"When I came here from Stan-
ford ... I used to brag ... that this
was a faculty-run University," Fader
Saint Antoine said the University
is similar to a corporation because
there are communication gaps
between faculty as well.
"This University in reality is like
a great metropolitan center," he said,
'The administration is more concerned with
whether they are keeping up with their
schedule than the quality of their decisions.'
- Theodore Saint Antoin
Law professor
explaining that faculty correspon-
dence between departments is
difficult.
Some faculty members agreed
with Dunn that the University
should not be viewed as a corpora-
tion, but added that they did not see
the administration as the enemy.
School of Public Health Profes-
sor Roy Penchansky, a member of
the Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs (SACUA), said
he did not consider the administra-
tion an opponent of the faculty, but
that "they have a different role."
ing Award, said competition and up-
per-level ignorance in the University
sometimes parallels a corporate
system.
For example, Williams said com-
petition within and among Universi-
ties is spurred on by a corporate
attitude.
At the internal level of the Uni-
versity, Williams questioned
whether faculty pay raises, decided
on by administrators, instill coopera-
tion or competition among faculty
members.
as the president of GM views em-
ployees on the assembly line," he
said.
But English Professor Ralph
Williams, winner of the 1992
Golden Apple Undergraduate Teach-
Depression and the Holocaust.
Williams said, "We are capable
of the most profound and degrading
indecency to others."
In an interview after the lecture,
Williams said, "We have a moral
obligation to counter (violence)."
Williams concluded his speech
saying that the most magical aspect
of the University is students and
faculty coming together to share
ideas and resources.
University students said they
were able to learn about Williams'
personality through his lecture.
Daniel Bilmore said from the
lecture he was able to, "Learn to be
able to tell how (Williams) lived
through his life with an apprecia-
tion for beauty and an abhorrence
of violence."
LSA sophomore Michael Kania
said one of the important aspects of
the lecture was Williams' ability to
motivate him.
Kaina said Williams helped him
"To take what is normally in lecture
out of literature and put it into the
realm of human action - more or
less showing his own life's philos-
ophy - rather than keep it in the
confines of literature."
LSA junior Steven Gottlieb said
he agreed with Williams' assess-
ment that one should not wait for
total enlightenment to fight a prob-
lem.
"(The most important part of his
speech was) the beginning state-
ment that one should act on what
they know and cannot wait for
complete enlightenment (perfect
knowledge or consciousness)."
SACUA elects new members
by Dave Wartowski
Daily Faculty Reporter
Faculty members on the Senate
Assembly elected three new repre-
sentatives to the Senate Advisory'
Committee on University Affairs
(SACUA) yesterday.
SACUA is a committee of Senate
Assembly members who meet
weekly to discuss matters of faculty
concern in order to advise the Senate
Assembly during their monthly'
meetings.
The newly elected members of
SACUA are Business Administra-
tion Professor Elaine Didier, Chem-
istry Professor Henry Griffin, and
Pharmacology Professor Charles
Smith.
The new members will replace
outgoing SACUA members Engi-
neering Professor Walter Debler,
Pharmacology Professor Peggie
Hollingsworth, and Natural Re-
sources Professor and SACUA chair
James Diana.
Last month, SACUA elected its
current vice-chair, English Professor
Ejner Jensen, to chair the committee
and Physics Professor Donald Bord
to act as vice chair.
All newly-elected positions on
SACUA will begin this May.
Success of CIS threatened by formation of defense ministry, republican guard
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian
President Boris Yeltsin yesterday
ordered the formation of a Russian
defense ministry and Kazakhstan's
president created a republican guard,
widening the military rift in the
former Soviet Union.
The moves greatly reduced the
chances that the Commonwealth of
Independent States can hold together
the powerful, far-flung and deeply
demoralized Soviet army.
Commonwealth leaders
repeatedly have pledged to maintain
strict, unified control over nuclear
weapons, and Yeltsin's decree does
not alter that agreement.
Russia and Kazakhstan, the two
largest former Soviet republics, had
been strong supporters of a united
military. They appear to have
decided that the breakup of
conventional armed forces, led by
Ukraine, is inevitable.
All 15 republics now are likely to
create their own armies. Ukraine,
Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belarus and
the three Baltic states already have
started doing so.
Yeltsin named himself Russia's
interim defense minister and ordered
his new ministry to prepare
proposals for a Russian army.
Kazakhstan's president,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, decreed the
of the guard was not disclosed.
The moves help clarify the future
of troops who have been in the
'The West should be concerned. We need to
avoid the creation of an arms race between the
republics.'
- Alexander Konovalov
defense specialist at Moscow's Institute of the USA
and Canada
formation of a republican guard, demoralizing position of serving a
which the Kaztag news agency country that no longer exists.
called "a special military force"D
under his personal control. The size Dividing up the 3 million-member
Soviet army also could worsen
conflicts among the republics,
experts in Moscow told The
Associated Press.
"The West should be concerned.
We need to avoid the creation of an
arms race between the republics,"
said Alexander Konovalov, a
defense specialist at Moscow's
prestigious Institute of the USA and
Canada.
Yeltsin's decree had no
immediate impact on the
commonwealth's armed forces.
Vice Premier Sergei Shakhrai,
one of Yeltsin's close advisers, said
the Russian president had assumed
"the temporary functions of minister
of defense" to quiet a debate about~
who would fill the post.
For the time being, he said,
Russian soldiers will stay under the
control of the commonwealth's
military commander, Marshal
Yevgeny Shaposhnikov.
The decrees by Yeltsin and
Nazarbayev came as the leaders of
the 11 commonwealth states
prepared to meet Friday in Kiev, the
Ukrainian capital, to discuss how to
divide up conventional troops, ships
and weapons.
Correction
aThe Daily incorrectly reported Friday that the Michigan Student
Assembly's judiciary body ruled that Rackham student Jeff Hinte could
remain on the assembly. The trial date is set for today.
THE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
Departments begin new seminars targeted for
underclass students to make science 'attractive'
* Meetings
Ann Arbor Committee to
defend Abortion and
Reproductive rights
(AACDARR) weekly mtg,
Michigan Union, Tap rm. 6:30 p.m.
MSA Weekly meeting 3 90 9
Michigan Union, 7:30 p.m.
Social Group for bisexual
Women, 9:30 p.m. call 763-4186
for location and more information
SSADD general meeting, 2nd
Prescott Lounge East Quad. 6:30 p.m.
IASA Board Meeting, Nikki
lounge, Mo-Jo, 9-11 p.m.
Asian American Student
Association, weekly meeting,
Nikki lounge, Mo-Jo, 7:30 p.m.
Recycle UM 2520 School of
Natural Resources weekly meeting,
6:30 p.m.
SPARK Revolutionary Series:
"Revolution in China - 1925-1927"
7-8:00 p.m. MLB Room B122
Anthropology Club, meeting
Dominick's, 7 p.m.
Speakers
"The Polish Economy,"
Wolverine Rm School of Business
Administration, 4-6 p.m.
"Physics: Colloq, Binary Star
Formation," 807 Dennison 4 p.m.
"English Reading: Poetry of
English Poet William Butler
Yeats," 8-11 p.m. Univ Club
V Michigan Union-
T' -.d u~ q
Placement, E m p 1 o y e e
Presentation: PIRG 1-8 p.m.
Michigan Union Crofoot/Anderson
D, Deciding your Career 5:10 p.m.-
7:00 p.m.
"The Milagro Beanfield
Wars," SALSA, Trotter House, 7:00
p.m.
Safewalk, night-time safety walk-
ing service. Sun-Thurs 8 p.m.-1:30
a.m., Fri-Sat 8 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Stop
by 102 UGLi or call 936-1000. Also,
extended hours: Sun-Thurs 1-3 a.in.
Stop by Angell Hall Computing
Center or call 763-4246
Northwalk, North Campus night-
time team walking service. Sun-Thurs
8 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Stop by 2333
Bursley or call 763-WALK.
Stress and Time Management,
Consultations with peer counselors
available, 3100 Michigan Union,
11-1 p.m.
Discussion of Objectivisim:
The Philosophy of Ayn Rand,
Chapter 4, 2212 MLB 8:00 p.m.
Undergraduate Psychology
Department, Undergraduate
psychology advising, walk-in or
appointment, K-108 West Quad, 9
a.m-4 p.m.
Kaffeestunde, weekly German
coffee and conversation, 3rd floor
Commons Rm., MLB, all welcome,
4:30-6 p.m.
ECB Peer Writing Tutors,
Angell/Mason Hall Computing
Center, 7-11 p.m.
by Alan Susser
Daily Staff Reporter
In an attempt to foster greater ap-
preciation of the sciences, the De-
partments of Geological Sciences
and Astronomy are introducing new
seminars for first-year students and
sophomores.
The classes - limited to an en-
rollment of 20 - are intended to
give students "a better chance at in-
teraction," said Prof. Rob Van der
Voo, chair of Geological Sciences.
Van der Voo, who requested a
National Science Foundation (NSF)
grant in July, said 25 new seminars
are being planned during the next
five years from the $418,000
allotment.
Seminars will cover areas within
astronomy, geology, paleontology,
and oceanography. The grant money
is used for faculty and teaching as-
sistant (TA) salaries, laboratory and
teaching supplies, library costs and
field trip expenses.
The three seminars currently of-
fered to students require $58,000 of
the grant.
The University, in its proposal to
NSF, said they were concerned with
the declining number of physical
and natural science majors in the last
two decades.
By initiating the new classes,
Van der Voo said he hopes to re-
verse the trend and improve the
lower-level undergraduate selection
of science courses. "For people in
small classes, science becomes more
attractive," Van der Voo said.
Tracey Harris, a Natural Re-
sources sophomore, is enrolled in
"Earthlike Planets," one of three
new seminars, and said small-class
settings are more conducive to rais-
ing questions. She said, "You feel
more comfortable asking questions
whereas in a large class you don't
get that chance."
Van der Voo explained the new
seminars are necessary because
small science classes have not pre-
viously existed at the first- and
second-year undergraduate level.
He added most of the introduc-
tory-level science courses have hun-
dreds of people, making the class
seem impersonal - especially to
newcomers at the University.
"I think the first two years are
hardest. (Students) need the small
classes early and there are plenty
around later on when they're in their
concentration," he said.
Van der Voo said the seminars
provide both a smaller atmosphere
for learning and structural
differences.
In his own seminar, "Continental
Drift," Van der Voo said he gener-
ally had about 25 minutes of mate-
rial to present for a 50 minute class.
"The intent is to have just that much
amount of material so that there is
time to interrupt and ask questions,"
he said.
Van der Voo said the seminar
professors and TA's meet bi-i
monthly to exchange ideas, a prac-
tice that does not occur in larger
lecture classes.
"When I teach my seminar, I
want to have students acquire ap-
preciation for science just like they
acquire appreciation for art, like a
painting by Rembrandt," Van der
Voo said.
3 1
Michigan
Student
Assembly
campus wide student government
Call for Candidates
for the
Campus Police Oversight Board
Two Positions Open
SMr HE
March 19, 20, 21 at the Power Center
Elections Monday, March
and Tuesday, March 31
30
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