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2 — Wednesday, February 12, 2020
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Feb. 12, 1967: Study guides for those who don’t like to read As far as her French 232 teacher is concerned Connie Brown, ‘70, knows “La Femme Savant” cold. Miss Brown came through with a flat A in a recent exam on the French novel. Only thing is Miss Brown never bothered to read the book in French. Instead she simply read an English “pony” version. Miss Brown reflects a long-standing college tradition that has suddenly come of age. At campuses across the country a growing number of students are plunking down $1 to $3 for study guides on everything from Falstaff to Symbolic Logic. While local book merchants are ecstatic about the trend, teachers here view the matter with alarm.
The study guide issue has generated so much campus controversy that the University Activities Center is sponsoring a faculty-student panel discussion of this issue Saturday, Feb. 18, at the League. Teachers fear student creativity is stifled by use of study guides. Prof. Bert Hornback of the English department says “the watered down masterplots are crutches, not study guides. They’re just things to learn facts from.” He thinks a better university atmosphere would be created if money spent on study guides are spent on “beer and pizza” for a bull session. Nonetheless bookstores here do a flourishing trade on the study guides. One stroe alone stocks 350 study guides
under eight major titles. The review notes are “continuous good sellers” says a spokesman for Wahr’s bookstore. One of the largest companies in the field, Monarch Press Inc, sold five million study guides and grossed over $3 million last year. To uphold their claim that “shakespeare was never easier,” Cliff’s Notes offers a $1 summary, text, glossary, and picture book of most of Shakespeare’s plays. New companies regularly join the field. Hornback recently received an offer for a new series “complete with display rack” that promised 50 percent profit to the retailer. Hornback says the study guides reflect “an absurd insistence on research” which “destroys the goal of
the university.” But a junior coed laments, “It’s the only way” to manage work. Linda Lot, ‘68, complains that in history “you don’t get an overview when you have to read ten paperbacks a semester,” without some outline to follow. One freshman honors student uses the notes exclusively in Great Books 192 and feels he is able to do at least as well, if not better than, the students who read the texts. However, many courses are being structured to decrease the possibility of this occurring. Prof. L. McNamara of the English department “unconsciously” constructs his exams so that a student cannot get a good mark if he relies solely on study aids.
Prof. Marvin Felheim of the English department realizes students can manage to get a ‘C’ by reading study guides, but he is confident that, by the nature of his assignments, he outsmarts the notes. History 101 and 102 teaching fellow Ronald Huch said essay exams limited the advantages that a purely factual study outline could provide. The reliability of factual material presented in study guides is also questioned. Since the notes are often written by grad students for small fees, the information is sometimes inadequate or inaccurate. Rather than see students use Study Masters or Cliff’s Notes, which he feels are inadequate, Hornabck recommends 15-cent Classics Illustrated comic books.
For a “quick, factual reference” for a student with a poor background in a subject, Huch often suggests use of Littlefield Notes, which he feels are written by “reputable scholars.” But Huch fears that about one-third of his class probably use notes in place of the text. McNamara “pities” students who spend money on courses and then buy notes to “do their thinking for them.” Of study guides he states simply, “I wish there weren’t any.” On the other hand, Asst. Prof. Walter CLark of the English department feels it is somewhat “comic” for a student to cheat himself by using a study guide independently of the text and pretend he is getting away with something.
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Editorial Staff ERIN WHITE MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Gavriel D. Rosenfeld of Fairfield University discusses alternative timelines in Jewish history at the What Ifs of Jewish History lecture at 202 S Thayer Tuesday afternoon.
Central Student Government proposes resolution to end Delta Airlines contract Assembly talks terminating partnership with international flight company following ICE deportations JULIA RUBIN
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The University of Michigan Central Student Government convened Tuesday night in the Michigan Union to discuss asking the University to end their contract with Delta Air Lines and to revise CSG procedures in light of upcoming elections. Medical student Whit Froehlich ran the meeting in the absence of CSG president Ben Gerstein, Public Policy junior. Delta Air Lines made hundreds of deportation f lights for ICE in 2019. The resolution sponsors recommend University staff f ly with airlines that have refused to participate in deportation f lights, including American, Southwest and United. Delta provides discounted rates for University staff. Rackham student Siddharth Singh Chaudhari raised
financial and convenience concerns about eliminating the contract. He noted Delta f lights are the primary way to get to Europe and Asia from Michigan. “In proposing to suspend the contract with Delta, I wonder if, given the reality of Delta’s relationship with DTW actually, would it allow University employees to continue to purchase Delta tickets paying full price, actually give them more money in the long-run instead of taking the discount we have as a result of the contract,” Chaudhari said. Social Work student Cecelela Tomi pointed out the greatest discount for University employees is about 10 percent. She suggested including rate information in the resolution. “It might help to say that we don’t have that much of a financial stake in this, anyways,” Tomi said. Later in the meeting, Rackham student Hayden
Jackson raised concerns about campaign finance and procedures ahead of the upcoming March elections. Assembly members proposed raising finance caps — the maximum amount candidates for CSG can spend on their own campaigns — from $50 to $150 and removing the limit on CSG candidates from emailing listservs they do not control. “A number of the members of the committee expressed hesitation in (lifting the listserv ban), in particular because of the impact we worry it will have on the quality of CSG elections, the engagement that students show in CSG elections if one CSG candidate can simply win elections by emailing as many listservs as they have access to,” Jackson said. “So, we worry about the effects of that on CSG’s reputation on campus and the good future of the organization on campus.” Hayden also proposed changing rules surrounding
campaign speech. He noted past CSG rules restricting speech have been declared unconstitutional, citing Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court striking down the rule barring candidates from declaring false incumbency. “We have a responsibility as a public institution of higher learning to keep restrictions on speech at a bare minimum,” Jackson said. “I don’t believe the rules on campaigning as they stand are compatible with this principle.” All resolutions were returned to the Rules Committee after discussion. The Assembly also confirmed Law student Meghan Patero as Student General Counsel. Additionally, the CSG Executive Nominations Committee reported that she desires to stay apolitical as Student General Counsel and believes in interpreting governing documents regardless of her personal opinions.
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ORDER From Page 1 “Uncertainty is what makes intellectual life exciting,” Lieberman wrote. “Unfortunately the tolerance that was on display on November 14 is part of the growing climate of intolerance that has led to the shutting down of speakers on college campuses across the country. Irony of ironies: while student representatives spoke in favor of silencing me, UMDivest supporters in the audience waved signs that read ‘Do Not Silence Me.’” People have previously accused faculty members claiming academic freedom in their criticism of Israel
of anti-Semitism. In 2018, American Culture Professor John Cheney-Lippold and Graduate Student Instructor Lucy Peterson refused to write letters of recommendation for students studying abroad in Israel as part of a boycott against the alleged human rights abuses occurring in Palestine. The move garnered national attention, including accusations of anti-Semitism and multiple death threats against Cheney-Lippold. The University issued disciplinary action, withholding his sabbatical eligibility and credits until the Fall 2020 semester. In an email to The Daily, Cheney-Lippold stressed the importance of viewing the order in its geopolitical
context, citing the Trump administration’s relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognition of the Golan Heights as a part of Israel. He also described the order as a push to silence pro-BDS conversations. “Trump is using this re-definition of anti-Semitism, fairly explicitly, as a means to silence political speech that seeks to draw attention to human rights violations in Israel,” Cheney-Lippold wrote. “Critique of a state — indeed, any state — must be protected and not be seen as a critique of the people of that state.” New definition elicits national response, criticism The executive order sparked outcry from professors at higher education institutions across the country. The Jewish
Studies Activist Network, an organization that speaks out against policies that run counter to its members’ values as Jewish studies scholars, issued a letter on Dec. 19 detailing the concerns surrounding Trump’s executive order. The letter explained the dangers of adopting a definition that includes all “targeting” of Israel as anti-Semitic. The executive order codifies the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, but JSAN’s letter points out that the lead author of the definition, Kenneth Stern, publicly declared that the government should not adopt it, as using such definitions as a matter of U.S. policy was not the original intention. See ORDER, Page 3
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