The Michigan Daily-Thursday, June 11, 1981-Page 3

'U' attracts Chinese prof

By JOHN ADAM
Daily research reporter
In March, a group of psychologists
from the People's Republic of China
toured the United States, visiting such
universities as Harvard, Yale, Stan-
ford, U Cal-Berkley, Massachusetts of
Institute of Technology, and Carnegie-
Mellon. At the end of their tour all the
psychologists returned home to China
- except for two, who stayed on here at,
the University.
One, Prof. Fan Liu, stayed on to study
and work at the University's Center of
Human Growth and Development. The
other, Prof. Xu Lian-cang stayed at the
invitation of the University's Institute
for Social Research.
XU SAID studying at ISR offered
many research opportunities that are
not possible in China. "Some of the
most powerful software for social
research in the world" is at the Univer-
sity, said Xu, adding that in China most
computers are working with the
physical or natural sciences and are not
available for social research.
Prof. Xu is currently studying com-
puter techniques for survey research at
ISR. "I would like to import this (com-
puter) package for research in China,"
commented Xu, who is the vice
secretary-general of the Chinese
Psychological Society.
At present, Xu's interest is focused on
management problems in industry and,
paying more attention "to the human
factors in the quality control problem"
for the factory workers.
HE RECOUNTED his days in the
Soviet Union where he received an ad-
vanced degree in work which included

the monitoring of assembly line produc-
tion of television sets. There was no
feedback from the inspectors to the
workers on what they were doing
wrong, said Xu, and this posed a
problem.
Now in every Chinese factory they
have a quality control group. The
Chinese call them "QCs" since the
technique is American, though the
Japanese extended the idea further,
said Xu, and taught even the workers
the method.
In the QCs, workers themselves try to
find out where the problems are in
production and how to make im-
provements, Xu said, adding that it was
to their benefit to improve the com-
pany.
"IF THE company gets (extra)
profits, then the workers make more,"
said Xu. In Peking, factories produce
tape-recorders in cooperation with
Sony and Panasonic, and Japanese ex-
perts are also working in an engine fac-
tory there, he said. In addition, said Xu,
General Motors is currently negotiating
with the Chinese government to work
out cooperative agreements.
More and more, American com-
panies are investigating the possibility
of industrial cooperation with China.
Last week, several U.S. companies
signed agreements with China to open
up the South China Sea for American
exploration for oil and gas, according to
wire service reports. The pacts
represented the first time since
diplomatic and trade ties between the-
United States and China dissolved in
1949 that American drilling operations
- See 'U', Page 4

Doily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM
VISITING PROF. XU LIAN-CANG, from the People's Republic of China,
talks about his reasons for coming to the University's Institute for Social
Research and his ideas on the development of mainland China. Xu will be at
the University until the end of August when he will return to China after a -
brief tour of Japan.

IRKED BY SENATE ASSEMBLY POSTPONEMENT:
Faculty criticizes cancellation

By ANDREW CHAPMAN
Daily faculty reporter
Some faculty members, claiming the faculty is
shirking its responsibility to address important
problems facing the University, have sharply
criticized a decision to cancel this month's Senate
Assembly meeting.
Morton Drown, chairman of the Senate Assembly
Committee on University Affairs, said that the June
Senate Assembly meeting had been cancelled
because "there were very few specific issues to be
discussed at this meeting."
"THERE ARE A lot of things happening at the
University, but there are few specific issues forth-
coming for the Senate Assembly to act upon," he
said.
Some faculty members, however, disputeDrown's

assessment. "I think it's extremely disappointing
that SACUA has cancelled the Senate Assembly
(meeting)," mathematics Prof. Wilfred Kaplan, who
is the former chairman of the state chapter of the
American Association of University Professors.
"There are enormous problems facing the University
... I don't know of a time when there have been more
problems facing the University." .
KAPLAN, WHO was reached at a Washington, D.C.
meeting of the AAUP, said "there is state finance and
tax legislation that should be dealt with (by the
faculty). The geography problem is still up in the air:
Right now in Washington they're talking about cut-
ting back postal subsidies which could hurt the
University tremendously . . . all of this should be
discussed."
University Prof. Charles Lehmann of the Univer-

sity's School of Education said "I think it's scan-
dalous that SACUA has cancelled the Senate Assem-
bly. It's stupid for the faculty not to take some
inlitiative on University affairs ... when Rome is bur-
ning you don't say let's all go out on vacation."
But SACUA Chairman Brown explained that "at-
tendance during the summer is always bad," and
that some faculty members might be upset if they
were absent when pressing items were considered by
the Assembly.
PROF. NORMAN Weiner, of the College of Phar-
macy, agreed with Brown that there was little
business that the Assembly could consider this mon-
th. "As far as I can tell the Senate Assembly business
was pretty well completed (last month)," Weiner
said. "The subcommittees are still carrying their
See CANCELLATION, Page 9


City not
eligible for
special
e ontracts

By GEOFF CAMPBELL
Daily staff writer
Only five of Michigan's 83 counties
and the city of Ann Arbor are ineligible
for privileged consideration in com-
petition for Defense Department-
related contracts under a new ex-
perimental federal program, Sen.
Donald Riegle (D-Flint) announced
earlier this week.
The counties of Alcona, Alger,
Dickinson, Kalkaska, and Ottawa and
the city of Ann Arbor are the only areas
of the state which do not have severe
enough unemployment to qualify for
the new program, Defense Manpower.
Policy Number Four. The policy, which
affects $3.4 billion in Defense Depar-
tment contracts for the 1981 fiscalyear,
targets defense-related contracts to

businesses in areas of severe unem-
ployment.
ACCORDING TO Riegle's office, the
contracts will not include bids for
building weapons systems, but only
such auxiliary items as shoes and
sunglasses.
Jim Ferenza, supervisor of the Ann
Arbor Chamber of Commerce, was
relieved by the city's exclusion from
the new policy. "I feel relief that we
have the kind of employment that ex-
cludes us from the program," Ferenza
said. "We can't be greedy. I just hope
that some good will come to areas af-
fected by the program."
Meanwhile, the state's unem-
ployment rate dropped for the third
straight month - falling from 12.2 per-
cent in April to 11.5 percent in May, ac-
cording to the Michigan Employment

Security Commission. Translated into
numbers, 24,000 unemployed workers
found jobs last month. The Ann Arbor-
Ypsilanti unemployment rate fell from
8.2 percent to 7.8 percent from March to
April.
ACCORDING TO Mike Smith, an
economic development specialist in
Riegle's office, Detroit Michigan's
declining unemployment rate will not
affect its status under Defense Man-
power Policy Number Four.
"Michigan's unemployment rate is still
very high compared to the national
average.
"There's usually a national "trigger'
point - something like six percent,
with any area over that being labelled
an 'area of high unemployment',"
Smith said.
SeeCITY, Page 10