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Ann ArborMichigan
www.michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 25, 2007
N.0
Second in an occasional series about the
University's connection to the Iraq war
'U' gets low
marks on
prolific profs
Administrators blast
recently released
rankings system
By BRIAN TENGEL
Daily StaffReporter
There's a new player in the
rankings game, but University
administrators aren't paying much
attention.
Academic Analytics -a company
of faculty and researchers from the
State University of New York at
Stony Brook and Educational Direc-
tories Unlimited, Inc. - developed
a new ranking system for doctoral
programs that purports to mea-
sure universities purely based on
numerical data - ignoring factors
like reputation and prestige.
First released in 2004, the Fac-
ulty Scholarly Productivity Index
uses an algorithm to measure the
productivity of faculty by consider-
ing the number of books and jour-
nal articles they publish. Awards
and grants also factor into the equa-
tion.
So far, the company has only
released its rankings for 2004 and
2005. For years, they were private.
University of Michigan adminis-
trators said the University did not
actively participate in either study
but was still included in the rank-
ings.
In a portion of the 2005 index,
which appeared publicly in the
Chronicle of Higher Education for
the first time earlier this month, the
University placed 27th in a ranking
of 50 large research universities
See STUDY, page 7A
ROTC cadets (from left to right) Alex Tisdall, Steven Taylor, David Millikan, David Young and Patrick Doyle will be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S.
Army after graduating from the University.
BEINGALLTHEY CANBE
The University's rank among 50
large research universities in a
new study based on the amount ol
work published by faculty
Michigan State University's rank
University of Wisconsin at
Madison's rank
University of California at San
Francisco's rank
(Tied with the California Institute
of Technology)
ROTC members
grapple with likely
deployment after
graduation
By TARYN HARTMAN
Daily StaffReporter
They sit fully uniformed in
Thursday classes. In the warmer
months, they rappel down the
walls of the School of Dentistry. If
you're in the Central Campus Rec-
reation Building early enough - 7
a.m. early - you'll see them com-
pleting physical training.
These students, members of the
University's Army Reserve Officer
Training Corps, will likely face
one of the most dangerous post-
graduation job assignments of any:
a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Some cadets come from strong
military backgrounds. Others
have family members who have
served or serve now.
Most share the same fear -of
combat: not for their own lives,
but for the lives of the 18- and 19-
year-old enlisted privates who
will be placed in the care of these
new lieutenants.
WHAT'S NEXT
The immediate post-graduate
plans for a typical ROTC cadet
look like this: after receiving his
"There's no bullets around here.
There's no explosions. We don't have to
go to sleep in a hole in the ground. Can
you imagine bombs going off where you
live, 24 hours a day?"
- LSA senior David Young, an Army ROTC cadet who could
be deployed to Iraq as early as April 2008
or her degree, the cadet is com-
missioned as a second lieutenant
in the Army. After another year of
training, the newly commissioned
officer reportsto his or her respec-
tive unit and be placed in charge
of a platoon of 30 to 40 enlistees.
The unit typically deploys within
a year, LSA junior Alex Tisdall
said.
"It gets real real fast when
you've got 40 lives on your shoul-
ders," Tisdall, an ROTC cadet, said
of being thrust into the responsi-
bilities of a military officer almost
immediately after college.
This fate looms large for LSA
senior David Young, who said his
earliest possible date of deployment
to Iraqis sometime in April of 2008.
"There's close to a 100-percent
chance that I will be deployed
there," said Young, who holds the
rank of battalion commander, the
highest post a cadet can attain.
Young said cadets who graduat-
ed from the University as recently
as last April are already in Iraq.
The final decision about whether
a cadet's unit will be deployed to
the region depends on the unit's
deployment schedule and the
nature of its job.
Young, a future infantry officer,
said he hopes to be assigned to the
82nd Airborne division.
One of his high school class-
mates, who graduated with him
in 2005, is already member of the
82nd Airborne and is currently
preparing for his second tour in
Iraq, he said.
Young said the roadside bombs,
suicide bombers and improvised
explosive devices worry him more
than direct fire.
"A lot of people that I've talked
to (who have been in Iraq) have
been blown up," he said.
RETAINING THE
RECRUITS
The recruitment numbers for
the University's ROTC program
haven't changed significantly
since the United States first
attacked Iraq in early 2003, said
Lt. Col. Wayne Doyle, an assistant
professor of military science.
"I always thought (enrollment)
would have (declined)," he said.
"But it hasn't seemed to matter
that much."
The number of recruits has
even gone up slightly over the
past two years.
About 75 cadets are enrolled in
the ROTC program, according to
Master Sgt. Karol Clampitt, the
recruiting operations officer. This
is a slight increase from the 62
cadets enrolled last semester and
the 54 during the 2005-2006 aca-
demic year.
"They have a high probability
of ending up in Iraq or Afghani-
stan or Kuwait," Doyle said. "They
pretty much know what they're
getting themselves into."
Talyor said the Army is making
packages of retention incentives
that cover a cadet's tuition and
fees, as well as an allowance for
bookseachsemesterand amonthly
stipend, more lucrative to students
who need financial assistance.
While these benefit packages
draw some students - Young
included - to the ROTC program,
other cadets seem genetically des-
tined for a military career.
THE FAMILY FACTOR
The United States had been in
Iraq for a year when LSA junior
See RECRUITS, page 3A
REMEMBERING A DREAM
In last 10 years, tuition in mren MichiganNewsService
3000
state up nearly 39 percent "
c25000
While median family of-state student in Virginia. 20000
"It's a large chunk of change," Fletcher r 15000-
income rose only said. V)
At schools across the country, the cost
22 percent statewide of tuition has been rising steadily for 5000
years. The University hasn't escaped this 0 0 M
By JAKE HOLMES trend.M
Daily StaffReporter The National Center for Public Policy ~ 0 f- 0 v Oq
and Higher Education found that between LE
No one knows the cost of college like 1994 and 2004, tuition at four-year col-
LSA sophomore Charlie Fletcher. He's leges increased by 39 percent. During that IS
pursuing a triple major in Spanish, lin- time, median family income rose just 22
guistics as well as anthropology, taking 18 percent in the state. 2
LSA freshman Colleen Long walks through the exhibit "Gandhi, King, Ikeda: A Leg-
acy of Building Peace" in Palmer Commons on Tuesday. The exhibit was sponsored
hy the Unrvesity's Value Creation Society, a Buddhist organization.
State deficit
threatens 'U'
0
State could face $800
million shortfall
Fromstaffand wire reports
About a dozen mayors, police
chiefs, university presidents
and hospital representatives on
Wednesday said the state's budget
problems must be solved without
more cuts.
Sam Singh, East Lansing mayor
pro-tem and president and CEO
of the Michigan Nonprofit Asso-
ciation, said citizens need to realize
that tax cuts and the state's eco-
nomic slowdown have forced less
spending in areas that affect their
quality of life.
Since 2003, the state has been
trying to cut its way out of a budget
deficit. The budget shortfalls hit
the University particularly hard:
the state slashed the University's
funding by 13.7 percent between
2003 and 2006.
In response to the cuts, the Uni-
versity suspended hiring in many
departments, cut some courses,
increased class sizes and short-
ened the hours of the library system
among other measures.
Last summer, the state increased
the University's funding by 3 per-
See CUTS, page 7A
credits every single semester and working
as a technician to pay for tuition.
Fletcher came to Ann Arbor instead of
his first choice, the University of Virginia,
because as a Michigan resident his tuition
was inexpensive. He would have paid
upwards of $35,000 in tuition as an out-
Though tuition is rising, the University
hasn't let tuition hikes outpace financial
aid. Associate Provost Phil Hanlon said
that while tuition increased 5.5 percent
this school year, the University gave out
7.7 percent more financial aid. Because it's
See TUITION, page 7A
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