FRIDAYMAY 17, 1957 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Flint enior Gollee rogram Nears Com
PAGE THREE
ple tion
C.)
(Continued frorn Page 1)
Dean French estimates enrollment
will be between 350 and 400 stu-
dents. An upper division program
offering third and fourth years
only, the Flint college of the Uni-
versity has a status similar to
those on the Ann Arbor campus.
"Our program now is entirel3
liberal arts, business administra-
tion and education, all leading to
a Bachelor of Arts degree. Dis-
tribution requirements, b e c a u s e
every program goes to a general
BA degree, require a little more
breadth than at Ann Arbor," Dean
French said.
Discussing the educational phil-
osophy of the newly developing
school, the Dean said "it doesn't
seem feasible or necessary to be-
come a carbon copy of Ann Arbor,
offering a wide number of spe-
cialized courses.
Presents Broad Program
"We look at our program as
more of a middle size liberal arts
college where students are en-
couraged to get a broad program."
Refering to'. the industrialized
nature of automobile producing in
Flint, he said "our plans are very
flexible as far as services and
courses of particular interest to
the community." There are no
t,
'S
0
y
e
.1
e
i
r
t
s
.
r ._
r
-Daily-David Tarr
OPEN STACKS-Students browse through the open stacks of the Flint Senior College collection. The
books are still housed in a section of Flint Junior College library. The volumes were catalogued at
the University General Library arid transported to Flint.
I
'I
limited," the Director of Student
Affairs said.
"Most of them find they have to
study pretty hard and during this
first year of school's existence,
there has not been much~participa-
tion in extra curricular activities,"
Prof. Plummer said.
The student body falls into two
groups, those coming directly from
Flint Junior College and "the
backlog of stu'dents who waited
for an upper level college to open
up so they could finish their de-
grees," Prof. Plummer said.
Age Shows
About half of the students grad-
uated high school before 1950 and
the group includes a large number7
of veterans and a couple of grand-
mothers.
The effect of the older students3
is that the student body is "some-]
what more sure of what they'reI
preparing for and most of themI
had some previous work experi-
ence," Dean French pointed out.
"Yet, the groups mix very well
and even the grandmothers attend
the social events," Prof. Plummer
said.
Student leaders agreed, estimat-
ing that as yet only about 15 per
cent of the students have taken
a part in activities.
"More important," Tom Malin
'58 pointed out, "is that student
faculty relations are very good."
Knows Students
In describing the school and itst
students, Dean French and Prof.
Plummer could both refer to most
of their students by their first
hame and knew" the backgrounds
of nearly the entire enrollment.
"During this first year, the stu-
dents have come to us often with
advice and suggestions, and the
cooperation has been very hearten-
ing," Dean French said.
Besides the size of the Flint
College, comparisons were made
with the Ann Arbor campus in
faculty and student quality.
Describes Faculty
A student who went to Ann
Arbor for two years, Jim Callahan,
'57, said "the faculty is very well
balanced but student competition
is not as keen."
"There is a tremendous differ-
ence between the Junior College,
and some students have trouble
adjusting their work loads," Don
Youmans, '58, a Flint resident ob-
served.
Class sizes tend to be small, the
students said. Callahan added that
the professors having to teach all
the courses in one department,
were not specialists.
Dean Surprised
Of the 15 faculty memebers, 13
have PhD's and the other two are
completing their work, D e a n
French said.
"We've been pleasantly surprised
at the amount of interest 1st class
scholars have shown in staff open-
ings here. The people have to be
interested in a new school and
enjoy working things out and in-
venting solutions," Dean French
said.
Because of the upper level of the
Flint Sepior College program,
which does not offer any fresh-
man or sophomore courses, there is
not much place for teaching fel-
lows." He said that the faculty
members have the same full rights
as those appointed to Ann Arbor.
Anticipates Growth
"But what we have here and
what we look for is a nucleus .. .
key persone lwho are capable of
growth. It is this type of person
who wil lhelp Flint Senior College
grow," Dean French said.
Asked hew large the University's
Flint Branch will become, Dean
French estimated the immediate
size goal as around 1,000 students.
"But please don't refer to us as a
branch . . . we're the Flint College
of the University of Michigan," he
declared.
- - - -
Car Carries
First Books
"The first batch of books for the
Flint Senior College was placed in
a cardboard box and transported
from Ann Arbor to Flint in the
back seat of my car," Dean David
M. French recalled.
The books will be housed in a
two-story library section of the
Senior College Building when it
opens next fall.
Eventually,, an all-campus li-
brary, combining the volumes of
both the Flint Junior College and
the Flint Senior College will be
built.
CASH I N the
I
i
7
--Daily-David Tarr
DEAN FRENCH
checks building progress
immediate plans for beginning an
engineering school, he said, men-
tioning that engineering courses
have been offered for years by
General Motors Institute.
The program is being expanded
in business administration and the
school expects a good many stu-
dents to take courses in the area,
Dean French said.
Students Married
"In many ways we have a rather
unusual student body," D e an
French said. "About 45 percent of
them are married and the average
age runs about 24 years old. Prac-
tically all of them live at home,"
mostly in Genessee and neighbor-
ing counties," he added.
"Student life is still somewhat
ClUSTO HGestH prtble
CUISTOM HIGH FIDELITY
ENSIAN and RECORD
you can take with you
on your vacation
with the
New
A
" 1015
t
r.in ae ~ n n m
r
t
to the
Iii! " " 1 MI!!/E!Q'!!l I9wiilii;!!! N M
$16950
PORTABLE-CHAIRSIDE black table stand ... 7.85
HIGH FIDELITY PHONOGRAPH
I
11