100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

June 03, 2002 - Image 24

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
Michigan Daily Summer Weekly, 2002-06-03

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

8 - The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2002

OP/ED

The University: Poised for greatness?
ZAC PESKOWITZ THE LOWER FREQUENCIES

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

TE h e
Tversity
is one of a
handful of
>'<_national uni-
versities in
this country.
It continuous-
ly draws stu-
dents from
throughout the United States and its
alumni can be found in every state.
The University's reputation is as
strong in San Francisco and Miami
as it is in Chicago or Detroit. The
University, while maintaining an
unparalleled reputation throughout
the Midwest, has not become a
regional university. This incredible
advantage over schools that have
lower student-to-faculty ratios and
better attention to the needs of stu-
dents, has propelled the University
into a position as the university with
the most research spending in the
country and created a school that is
wildly popular and well-known with
students throughout the nation.
Too often this national reputa-
tion and the job prospects that await
students after graduation allow the
University to ignore undergraduates
academic needs. Classes are too
large, office hours are too short,
GSIs are too busy with their disser-
tations and cross-disciplinary expe-
riences and independent studies are
too rare. Football Saturdays become

the defining and most significant
experiences for students at the Uni-
versity. These are the qualities that
shape our educational experience
here.
It is difficult to understand how
the selection of Mary Sue Cole-
man as the 13th president of the
University will fit into this prob-
lem. She attended Grinnell Col-
lege, a small liberal arts school
known for its dedication to teach-
ing and attention to students. At
Iowa, she championed undergradu-
ate education and attempted to
increase study abroad programs
and interdisciplinary offerings.
But Coleman is also a professor
of biochemistry, noted for her ability
to raise large donations and strongly
supported research. She earned a
reputation for her attention to the
University of Iowa Medical Center.
While the relationship between
research and undergraduate teaching
does not have to be a zero-sum
game, Coleman must recognize the
centrality of undergraduates to the
University. The University needs to
use its resources not as an excuse to
offer sub-par academics, but as a
supplement to improve the world-
view of its students.
That is what the President's
Commission on the Undergraduate
Experience failed to recognize. The
solution to these problems is not to
assume more control over students'
lives by requiring students to live in

the residence halls for longer exten-
sions of time. The University is not a
cloister, nor should it be. Students
live on their own and deal with the
pressures of adult life, experiences
that create students with a maturity
often absent in other schools.
The solution is to combine the
unique freedoms that education at a
large public university offer with
the educational ethic and life of the
mind that is synonymous with the
nation's best universities. Through
the University's national renown
and the unique culture that its stu-
dents have created, the University is
one of the most popular colleges.
The University now has an
unmatched ability to change its
direction and improve undergradu-
ates' academic experience.
With acceptance to colleges
and universities becoming more
difficult to achieve, a growing col-
lege-age population, increasing
access to financial aid and an
international body of applicants
that is continuously expanding, the
University can create a new model
for education. A model that neither
follows the cold and detached Ger-
man research university or the col-
legial and caring of British
undergraduate institutions. There
needs to be a synthesis between
the superior aspects of each sys-
tem. A system that provides all
undergraduates with a thorough
knowledge of the humanities,

while offering the possibility of
specialization and advanced work
in the sciences. Combined with a
deep respect for students' rights
and freedoms, the University can
produce students of intellectual
depth with the worldly experience
that is often neglected at the
nation's elite private universities.
To achieve this goal, Coleman
must devote her attention to under-
graduates and consider substantive
changes to the curriculum. The
implementation of a core curricu-
lum for all undergraduates should be
considered to correct the deficien-
cies and gaps in knowledge that the
present curriculum does not address.
Simultaneously, the University must
not capitulate to the desires to
increase in loco parentis or strengthen
control over non-academic aspects
of student life. Although the Univer-
sity of Iowa is known for its parental
role and control over students lives,
this history is much older than Cole-
man's tenure at the University of
Iowa. Coleman must do more to
fight against these incursions into
students' autonomy.
The University is in a position to
offer its students an education and
experience that is unique amongst
this nation's institutes of higher edu-
cation. The independence of stu-
dents' lives is central to this goal.
Zac Peskowitz can be reached at
zpeskowi@umich.edu.

Incoming 'U'
president will be
very pro-student
To THE DAILY:
I was a little surprised at
the article on the University
of Iowa response to Mary
Sue Coleman's departure,
"Iowans say Coleman had
challenging presidency"
(05/30/02). I find it incom-
plete and cast negatively.
While I am not familiar
with Students Organizing
for Labor and Economic
Equality in Ann Arbor,
United Students Against
Sweatshops did get their
way. Coleman did agree to
the policies that SAS
inquired about in the end.
SAS demanded that a dele-
gation be sent to the Worker
Rights Consortium found-
ing meeting on April 7 in
New York. Coleman and the
University named Ned
Bertz, a member of SAS
and the rights committee,
Laraine Carmichael Nelson,
the Nursing School student
services director and the
chairwoman of the rights
committee and Marcella
David, a UI professor of
law, would represent UI.
SAS found this unsatis-
factory, claiming that the UI
needed to ioin. The Univer-

sity would like to find out
about the consortium before
making a decision.
Furthermore, the Daily
Iowan reported on May 2,
2000, UI officials agreed
with the rights committee's
recommendation in that
they will establish a code of
conduct for companies
licensed to make UI appar-
el. Coleman will appoint
members of an advisory
committee to draft the code.
Dean Rhodes said the code
would force the companies
to disclose information
about the conditions under
which the apparel is manu-
factured before the UI
would license its logo. SAS
protested anyway.
I am not claiming that
SAS's claims were not legit-
imate. Conversely, I think 4
they informedtthe public and
were mildly successful in
their efforts. However, I
think the argument that
Coleman was naive and
non-responsive to SAS's
needs is a misperception that
needs to be cleared up.
Coleman is a great
leader, politician and some-
one that will be missed by 4
Iowa. I want to let those at
the University know that she
does work well with student
groups.
JASON GARDNER
Student Universit ofiowa

Welcome
New Students!

Totally FREE Meard Checkin -7
Just For Mcard holders!
* No monthly service charges
* No minimumf balance requirement
* First box of 20( standard checks printed for free
" Unlimited check writing privileges
" Free TCF Check Card* - Use it anywhere Visa is accepted
" Totallv Free Online banking at www.tcfexpress.com*
* Free 24-Hour automated banking by phone at 1-866-TCF-BANK
* Free Notary Service
* Free Michigan sweatshirt with your first deposit of $25 or more
TCF Bank offers Totally Free Mcard Checking and the convenience of using
your Mcard as an ATM/Debit card for your bank. account. Banking couldn't
any easier. TCF Bank has many convenient branches and ATM locations on
campus. Most TCF Bank branches have evening and weekend hours and some
branches are open seven days a week.

4

4

So stop by your nearest TCF Bank location and o.en
your Tthtally Free Mcard Checking account today.
Or call us at 1-866-TCF-BANK (823-2265)
if yost hae any qiestions. TheC

Offlci, 14

I
I

From TCF BANK
The Official Mcard Bank

Bank

Member FDiC

Mos anniai e. 'n perca-trsaion ,i s ji r u-VISA -sstew Check Card pwrhases or.fir ATNMtransactions at TCF
E E ES! T ER ATs. 0 sc TCF XPRESS I 11L is identiied by the name CF on it. )Trnscaction fees ma
appay in ofsrii (cTmstanes- re erxto C Serices and Prices Brochure.
**No e f'PToCstai Frie O n' 'di imna5l'ees appy fJar bil. pa ,em ,iand ait'ersr'r i ncstwit TC Preferred
Oline. Fees subject to ciltge.

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan