1973-02-02; Central Michigan Life

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Friday, February 2, 1973
Due £o /a£& of interest
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Free University program slowly
By Pattie Klein
LIFE Staff Writer
Free University (FU),, a
Irogram to provide alternative
jucation in an informal, relaxed.
Jmovative manner, has virtually
[issolved from lack of interest and
|»rticipation.
Mike Wright, FU spokesman cites
[ew enrollment, high drop-out rate,
jBiJ lack of commitment of people
Involved as reesbns for its demise.
FU began in January, 1972 as a
jervice of the Center for Educational
Reform of Student Government. The
Li behind FU was to foster the
exchange of knowledge and connect
people who wanted to  share  a
learning experience,
Class At Home
In contrast to the stifling
subject matter and rigid student-
teacher relationships of most
university classrooms, classes were
taught in private homes, dorms.
University rooms and even bars,
Wright says.
Teachers were recruited by
word of mouth and through "friends
of friends of friends." At one point,
according to Wright, a third of the
instructors were on the. university
staff.     .   ' * '
Sometimes a person would sign up'
to teach a class and then Jose interest; other times someone would
be really anxious to teach * class, hut
then only a few people, would enroll
in it, Wright explains.
FU had no formalized lectures,
no required attendance, ho. lengthy
reading assignments, no tests and no
grades. ;
Lack Of Incentive
Ironically, this may have' accounted for lack* of participation.
According, to Wright, the high drop-
■' out rate was in part due to students
having no incentive to come to class
] because no credit was offered.
-' Offering   credit   was   discussed
. Wright says, "but although credit
would attract more people to free U,
it would also draw away from the
concept of community education.
The whole idea of Free U is «
counter-university outside the
University. If we could preserve that
with credit..."
. Steve Bison, Manistee graduate
student, who tought a FU class says,
"in - some . schools,- people with
practical experience have the op
portunity to teach and express this
practical experience to classes.
They're not qualified as teachers but _
they have practical experience in the
course.''-
t ".The University should give
more support to the establishment of
courses that have a practical, immediate benefit to students-, based
not on whether or not they fit into
the programs,.- but on their immediate importance and benefit,"
Rison says.
Loose Organization
Rison feels that FU was a
sincere attempt, but that some of the
classes were too loosely organized.
"There wasn't enough confidence by
the students in Free U's ability to
establish a strong alternative
educational program," he says.
In Ann Arbor, the Program for
Educational Social Change offers
nominal credit from the College of
Literature, Sciences and the Arts for
JFU-type programs. John Sinclair
taught a successful prison class
through this program, Wright says.
At CMU, some classes were
reported successful and gratifying
both to teachers ana" students.,What
makes for success?
Successful Classes
Albert Culver, Economics, had
such success in teaching Radical
Economics for two sessions.
■ "Many of the people who attended the first time attended the
second," he says. r
"Lots of people want to be in a
learning situation where there isn't
the conventional' social distance
between student and teacher,-where
the teacher is seen as a human
being." . •-      .
Culver's ~ class was small,
averaging eight or nine students.
more .taught a FU cIsbs in Spinning
which is now being offered through
the Center for Cultural and National
History in the Old Library. Smith
says she is enthusiastic about
continuing the class. "It's great! It's
really nice to share something you
enjoy."
' She describes her class as free-'/
flowing. "People come when they can*
and, want to. They aren't all',
university people. Some are com-*1
m unity people."
Relaxed Atmosphere
Rison, who taught a class in
European Vagabonding, says the
nature of his class was conducive to
success because it was not academic
and it provided an alternative
learning situation, in a loose,
pressure-free and relaxed atmosphere. N
vThe students realized they can
do it themselves," he says* "In fact,
that was one of'the demands~of the
class - to go to Europe."  •
"I was able to maintain excitement. There's a little adventure
in everyone and I was able to draw it
out and reinforce it," Risen continues. "The use of slides as pictorial
representation was extremely
helpful and effective.1*
No definite plans for getting FU
back on it's feet have yet been made
but people interested in reviwing FU
may contact Mike Wright at 778'
3866.
Funeral services
for Nolde
at Sacred Heart
Funeral services for Lt. Col.
William B, Nolde, the last official
American casualty in Vietnam, will
be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Mt.
Pleasant Sacred Heart Catholic
Church, the family &nnou»c^4
Water	
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A wake service is planned for
Friday at 8 p.m. at the J.J. Rush
Funeral Home. 503, E. Broadway,
Burial .will be in Arlington
National Cemetery following a
chapel service at 9:45 a.m. Monday.
THE SECOND PERFORMANCE-ot Orchesis' show "Illusions"
will be tonight in Warriner Auditorium at 8:15 p.m. The two
members; of the modern dance club, above, perform one of the
several numbers that make up the production.
Boyd favors naming hall for Nolde
By Loretta Pizzo
LIFE Staff Writer
President William B, Boyd said
bat he was in favor of naming a
jniversity hall in honor of Lt. Col.
jilliam B. Nolde, former CMU
JBsistant professor of military
pence and the last official U.S.
path before the Vietnam cease-fire.
Boyd made the announcement
faring a late afternoon press conference Wednesday,
.Boyd commented he was in
favor of naming a hall after Nolde,
but that Central Hall, which houses
the Military Science Department is
scheduled for demolition by fall. He
feels such an honor would be shortlived.
Senate petition
deadline delayed
ES
w
With seats still open on Student
pate, due to lack of student
Nponse petition deadlines have
pn postponed for a full week. The
P petition deadline is Feb. 7 and •
|ections will be Feb. 14.
"We are postponing the election
|f a week because we want to
double our efforts. There aren't
liny people filing petitions because'
|ey don't know about, the elections,
fee media has not been used to the -
Pest extent," said Student Body
psident Tim Horan, South Haven
pnior.
"Of the 24 available positions,
ply 15 petitions have, been filed.
Jsere are 13 openings in the at-Iarge
Itegory and nine have been Applied
I?; nine dorm openings, 6 have been
PPjied for;^ and two positions
jailable in married housing. Only in
|errig is the Senate race contested,
1 "There was a low interest in the
1" elections, but >this time it is
l^se," said Brad Wick, Student
"4y Vice President. "I don't think
I* reason is because of lack Of invest specifically, but I am of firm
f«ef that there was a definite
Fjmunications - gap between CM
^E and the Student Government
this failed to let the students*
f°* what was going on,"
Qualifications for becoming *
pttw include being * full-time
student, being a constituent of the
area of representation, having a 2.0
or better average and having
Monday nights free after 8:00.
Petitions must have 50
signatures of the candidate's constituents.
Petitions are available, in. Room
1 of the Student Government offices
in the lower level of the U.C. , ,
"I think that after people Saw
the problems that the Senate had
with the union last semester, a lot of
people are disillusioned with the
apparent lack of progress and clear
cut direction of the Senate," Horan
said.
"We've learned from the
failures of Senate the first semester
that imperative changes must be
made in order to attract people to
Senate and provide it with
meaningful and productive direction.
. "We want to capture and retain
the essence of the student union
concept even though the concept was
not met with complete success.
Many creative and useful ideas were,
r*ised that Student Senate,could
expand upon," Horan said.
Wick said, "I hope that people
will run who will be definitely interested and involved in Senate
activities. I would hope that we will
have responsible senators this
semester."
If the ROTC department moves to
a new location of it's own, he thinks
it would be appropriate to name that
building for Nolde. . ,
. Other issues raised at the
conference were the status of next
year's operating budget, progress of
the new Health, Physical Education
and Recreation building, cease-fire
after effects, guidelines for .'closing
the University during epidemics and
the possibility of requiring
sophomores to live in dorms next
fall.
Also discussed were the
proposed Student I.D. credit card
system, graduate study at CMU,
"instant fresh," traffic flow studies
and the lowering of mandatory
retirement ages for faculty and staff
members. ^
More Land For Mall
Boyd hopes that when Central
Hall is torn down, the area will be
landscaped and. added to the mall
between Warriner Hall and Bellows
Street.
'.'I  wish, it  were  feasible  to
renovate Central Hall. It's not a
beautiful building, but at least it's'
quaint" Boyd remarked.      i
Possibilities for the future of Finch
Fieldhouse include turning it over to
the School of Education, or using it',
for recreation and intramurals.
Boyd termed use of Finch by the
School of Education "unrealistic."
Optomistic About Budget     .,
After recently attending a
conference with the Governor's7staff,
Boyd is optimistic about next year's
operating budget. "My impressions
were favorable," he said. Central
asked for approximately 2.5 million
of new money. \
Boyd's comments en the cease-fire -
were, "I'm hoping the cease-fire jgill
work* I hope it wiil lead to a peace."
Responsibility for deciding to
close the University due to an
epidemic rests with Health Services
director, John ""A. Vandrick, Boyd
revealed, It is unBkely that the
campus would shut down now that
Health Services has expanded, he
explained.
Boyd also said there is a strong
possibility sophomores will be
required to live in dorms next fall.
He added he doesn't like to require
anyone to live in a dorm but it may
be neccessary,
"If we • have to require they
(sophomores) live in dorms.'we will
simply start looking for all the legal
ways to make dorms seem the best
place to live," he said.
I.D. Credit Cards
Boyd feels "it's just & matter of
time" before the proposed student
I.D. credit card system of accounting
is adopted.
Under the policy, all students
would have an "account" with the
University and would pay all fees,
room and board, tuition, and bills
into their account. Any extra money
paid would show as credit for the
student.
Graduate studies at CMU are
expected to remain at the same-level
with only minor expansion in fields
where Central could offer a "unique"
program Boyd remarked.
Planning continues for adopting a
program whereby high school
juniors could be placed in college as
freshmen, or seniors could go
straight into the sophomore year of
college.
"I'm terribly anxious that it not
be, or appear to be, a raiding of the
high schools," Boyd remarked.
Traffic Planning
Also discussed were plans to
eventually close, off Washington,
Franklin and Preston streets.
The University, along with the
city, is presently working on an
agreement which would call for the
building of new roads and improvement of existing ones during
the next.ten years. "
Possibly mandatory
Sophs in dorm?
-1
An open hearing to examine a possible sophomore
requirement to live in the dorms will be Feb* 5 at 4:30-
p.m. in the University Center announced Albert Miles,
vice-president of Student Affairs Thursday.
' "We want to lay out .the facts and get some
reaction," Miles said. *
This idea is just one alternative being discussed in
the administration's attempt to fill the dorms to their
total capacity of 6,000 residents.
The dorms presently hold 5200 students, 800 short
of capacity.
The final decision, to be made sometime during the'
next two weeks, rests with President Boyd, said Miles.
According to Susan Repp, assistant director of
Housing Programs, decrease in student enrollment
naturally has a negative impact on the resident has,
since the majority of occupants, are freshmen.
Problem is Fewer Enrollees
Miles agreed the problem stems from the decline in
the number of freshmen enrollees, explaining that it
leaves a gap that must be filled, It is not a result of too
few upperclassmen signing up for dorms, he pointed
dut.
Incoming freshmen in Fall 1971 totaled 3,400, but
the number dwindled to 2,900 a year later,.
Many courses of action are being considered.
Keeping the cost of dorm life at its present state, expanding .coeducational living, letting students decide
their dorm's policies, adding meal options and installing'
cable TV are a few ideas.
Survey Taken
Student   Affairs   and   Housing   Operations   aref
studying the situation. They randomly sent a survey tot
one out of every ten dorm-dwellers. Results, if accurate, indicate there will be 3,699 students returning?
to residence halls next semester. -»
"We're determined to .give on-campus students
educational advantages," Miles sayed.
Working toward this goal, administrators have,,
innovated such things as tutoring programs, •
newspapers, credit for recreational planning and'more,
liberal lifestyles.
Decision Soon
"We want to finalize the decision early enough so
students won't already have signed off-campus housing
contract," Repp said. "Eastern Michigan University
announced identical action during the summer and was '
forced io dematriculate about 30 sophomores who had
off-campus obligations," she added.
CMU aftd the University of Michigan are the only
schools in the state without a sophomore residence
requirement, v.
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