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THE MICHIGAN REvIEW
December 6, 1995
o FROM SUITE ONE '.:
Open the Search to M.l
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EING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICIDGAN is a big responsibility. It is the duty of the president to establish directions and goals for the U-M. It is also the duty of the president to create cohesion among faculty and administration and to ensure that the University provides students with the dynamic, powerful education that they deserve and pay for. This is all above and beyond the most basic duties of preserving and increasing private financial support and improving the infrastructure of the University. There is an even bigger duty, however, that falls upon the shoulders of the regents. That is the duty they have to find the best person to replace President Duderstadt when he leaves office, the person most capable ofleadingthe U-M to its place among the greatest institutions of learning in the future. It is the gravity of this responsibility, the greatness of this task, which naturally leads to the conclusion that the regents must open their search process further, allowing outsiders, both among students, faculty, and even among the press and the citizens of Michigan, to observe the process and see that the regents do not fail the U- M in this matter. As students at the University, and in many of cases, as citizens of this state, we have the right to hold the regents accountable, not only for their eventual choice, but also for the very process by which they make this choice. The fiasco that brought about the placing ofDuderstadt in his current position, and later brought about scandalous investigations by the media, shows that the unthinkable can happen, and that, as good as their intentions seem, the regents might not choose the next president for the benefit oft~ students, the facultY, and the state. Furthermore, the recent allegations by Governor Engler, stating that several regents brought about the resignation ofPre~ident Duderstadt due to personal disagreements, show that the regents are clearly not objective messengers of the citizenry's wishes. If candidates are overlooked, when they are logically better' choices; because of a difference in politics or in opinion, we have a right to know. The regents comprise an elected body, and as such, they make all of their actions on behalfof the citizens of Michigan. Ifthey make unwise decisions to protect their political future or their party, the citizens have a right to know and a duty to see that they do not return to their offices after the next election. Furthermore, even an open search process, with open media access, but no input from those outside the circle of regents, gives the people an indirect voice in the matter. With the rapid spread of news, thanks to electronic media and other modern conveniences, an open search process would guarantee that the press - both the student press and the private press - would offer instant feedback to de~ions made by the regents, and because the regents are elected officials, hopes of re-election would then force them to heed the voice of the public during the search process, in order to avoid dealing with the public at election time. Because of this , not only does an open search process ensure that the regents are accountable for, their eventual selection - it also goes a considerable distance in making their eventual decision meet the needs of the public, and preventing them from damaging the University with a poor choice. Many students would like to believe that the choice of president does not concern them, but they are wrong. Many of the facilities students take for granted now, such 'as the new North Campus buildings and the renovated and expanded buildings on Central Campus, came to their current state through the work of the president. Admissions processes changed as a result of Duderstadt's Michigan Mandate. As many realize, even the ranking of the University is a very subjective matter that has little to do with the quality ofits education and yet is a strong influence upon many students who consider attending it. This ranking too, is highly influenced by the programs and initiatives ofthe president, much as sports rankings are affected by respect (or disrespect) for coaches. An active president is seen as an active university, and an active university is seen as a competitive one. In the end, the person who replaces Duderstadt will not change one's knowledge of calculus or of European History, but that person will have a profound effect upon the recognition of the name, "University of Michigan," upon the value of a U-M diploma, and upon the future atmosphere of this campus. If this effect is adverse, the regents must clearly be held accountable. If this effect is positive, it should be because the president of the University is the person who is deemed the best choice by the people of Michigan and the students of the U-M, and not by the regents in their closed-sessions. The regents of this University are public servants, elected for the purpose of representative democracy, and it is time thaUhey begin to.act in that way.Mt _
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"IRVING'S JOB IS CONSIDERED ESSENTlAL . • • HE WORKS AT THE BUREAU OF FlNGER· POltmNG AND SPIN-CONTROL·
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COMMENTARY
On Student Apathy
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RITING A COMMENTARY ON STUDENT APATHY CAN ONLY be matched in tediousness by reading one. There is very little that has not been said on this issue. This is precisely the problem: the trend of student apathy has been ~al~ extensively from En'ery,conceivable angle, and yet today's universities - once hotbeds ofideaa - continue to move more and more towards a state of complete apathy. Since the very words student apathy seem to have that effect on readers, let us focus on its opposite: student activism. Many people have come to the conclusion that student activism is not, in fact, dead, but has rather changed forms. Gone are the sit-ins, rallies, and other forms of activism associated with the turbulent 1960s. In their place, people claim, has slowly emerged a more intellectual form of activism, including student forums, meetings between students and administrations, and other "more civilized" means of protest. This type of activism, they maintain, is more successful because it stresses discussion rather than confrontation, and does not alienate those in power the way, for instance, taking over a building would. To be blunt, these people are wrong. Student activism today is either dead or comatose. This business-like armchair intellectualizing passed offas activism has simply not been successful. For instance, examine the Code. After much discussion and attempts to appeal to the administration, a group of students last year organized a march, rally, and sit-in at the Fleming Administration Building in opposition to this blatantly illegal policy. About 200 people attended. The U-M Board of Regents acted, although they ordered that the Code be rewritten rather than abolishing it entirely. What if 2000 showed up? This university has 36,000 students; if only two out of every thirty-six had cared enough to take a couple of hours out of their day and voice their opposition, we might not have had a Code at all. Instead, the "new and improved" Code is essentially the same as the first - and, say many experts, even worse. If more people showed up that day to protest, the Regents would have acted accordingly. Instead, their gesture for a new Code was nothing more than a smokescreen to keep the Code while appeasing what they saw as just a few troublemakers that interrupted their trains of thought. What ifthere was no protest at all? The answer to that is quite obvious. All the begging, debating, and editorializing - which, in fact, was going on for quite some time - amounted to nothing. It is clear that something drastic had to be done to wake up the administration. So, how bad do things have to get before students realize that our problems cannot be wished or ignored away? And yes, the Code, the still-effective Diag policy, just to name a few issues, are indeed problems. True, not very many people are affected directly, but how many have to be before students wake up and act - if not out of a desire to do for others, then at least to protect themselves? I am not calling for another Kent State tragedy or 1968 Democratic Convention, just a little more involvement. l\R -Gene Krass
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