Summer 1998 Michigan Today---Letters

. . . Summer 1998

Michigan Today
412 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1399
email: johnwood@umich.edu
fax: ( 734 ) 764-7084

Keep Reference Letter Files Active
The Career Planning and Placement office is updating its reference letter files. Files that have been inactive since December 1987 will be destroyed by the Reference Letter Center (RLC).

To maintain an active file, a student or alumna/us must have conducted one or more of the following transactions since December 1987: transmitted (mailed) reference letters as part of an admission or employment process; added new letters to the file; submitted updated personal data (e.g. current address, telephone or newly acquired degree).

To reactivate a file that has not been used since 1987, contact the (RLC) by August 15, 1998. You will be asked to update information in your file. There is no charge. File deactivation affects only reference letters. Transcripts and other academic material are not affected.

Any U-M graduate or current student with at least 12 credits may start a new file by requesting the necessary information from the RLC. Last year, the center opened 3,000 new files, added 12,000 new letters to active files and mailed 30,000 reference letter packages to graduate and professional schools and employment settings across the country.

For further information contact the Reference Letter Center, 3200 Student Activities Building, 515 E. Jefferson St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316. Phone (734) 764-7459; fax (734) 763-4917; e-mail cp&p@umich.edu

The Subject Is Still Roses

"THE RETURN of 1947's Mad Magicians" in the Spring 1998 issue [Ed. note: This story was omitted from Michigan Today Online for legal and economic reasons.] reminded me that in the years I spent in Ann Arbor between the Fall of 1941 and the Winter of 1949 (interrupted by World War II), I saw every at home football game and never once saw the Wolverines lose. Your article and this undefeated 50th anniversary year of my graduation stirred happy memories.

The article also made me recognize that, for those of us celebrating the half-century since graduation, what others perceive as history we see as living memory. So, in that spirit, I offer a minor correction to the article. Bump and Pete Elliott must have been sent to college under the same U.S. Navy V-12 program that I was, not B12 as the article stated. One of the pleasant memories of that time is of marching smartly down State street with the V-12 contingent to the bounce of "Anchors Aweigh," pretty heady stuff for a 17-year-old recruit. Robert Leopold '48 BSEE, '49 MSEE Livingston, New Jersey

I RECENTLY read that, at least in the opinion of whoever wrote whatever it was I was reading, history is best written after time has passed. That may be true when it comes to interpretation, but it doesn't apply to the details. Two articles in the Spring 1998 issue brought that out clearly to me. Most of the items in question had to do with the return of the well-named "Mad Magicians."

They were the epitome of single-wing teams, and the single-wing offense was one which depended on finesse rather than raw power, but Bob Chappuis playing defensive left halfback?! It's odd that I remember watching him throw passes to Bob Mann all that season, and run with the ball, but defense? No. (I also remember him from Speech 101.) I think, too, that he was being modest in saying that they didn't have great players. True, he was not a passer of the NFL type, but the NFL didn't use finesse then, either. However, another member of that team and of that speech class has been in the pro football's Hall of Fame for some time, and Lenny Ford wasn't all that much better than the rest of them.

There are a couple of really wrong numbers, too. Out-of-state tuition was closer to $900 than $147. Not even the students who helped with registration knew it, but the GI bill paid the same for instate and out-of-state students. The smart-aleck who had the bad luck to register me wanted to argue about that. Our version of the GI bill did not give us $300 a month, either. Tuition and books were separated items with separate limits, and we got $96 a month. I think single veterans got only $75. The next year our stipend went to $102 and we felt rich. (The Navy didn't give their students vitamins, either. Their wartime program was V-12, not B12.)

That article was enjoyable, even with its errors, but "The Mosquito War" left me with a serious question. If current research "provides something to work from to develop a potential drug treatment and, perhaps, also a vaccine," what was the vaccine I and many others were administered on our way to the Pacific in WWII? We were told it was for dengue fever, and it was no more fun to have been shot with than any of the others. W. Keith Sloan '49 Franklin, Tennessee

Dr. Rory Marks replies: I doubt that it was a specific dengue vaccine, because work that fully characterized dengue virus was not completed until the 1940s. However, it is possible. A colleague interested in dengue vaccines provided me the following information: Albert Sabin and his colleagues did work on dengue virus during WWII, infecting humans with serum from patients with acute dengue infections. Another part of this work was to propagate dengue virus in the brains of mice. This mouse-adapted virus was administered to people and found to be attenuated and protective; i.e. a potentially effective vaccine. Although this work was published in the 1950s, it took place during the war. This work was dropped because of safety concerns about administering mouse brain-derived vaccines."

KAREN BACK'S article stirred many memories of those who attained the 1948 Rose Bowl game. The cheerleaders were also entertained by Hollywood celebrities. Donald O'Connor and Olga San Juan. Years later as a Pasadena resident I enjoyed our 1964 (not '66) team's victory over Oregon State. An amusing interlude was provided by someone who tossed a small, greased pig onto the playing field. Piglet had been dyed yellow, and a dark blue M had been painted on each side. Play was halted as piglet ran circles around all who tried to catch him, much to the crowd's amusement. Finally, a farm boy from Oregon State walked casually up behind without startling him, dove, grabbed the piglet's hind legs and twisted him over. The crowd roared, then applauded, as the young man walked off the field cradling his prize. William MacGowan '49, '50M Music Gainesville, Florida

AS A veteran to Ann Arbor in 1946, I saw all the home games of the great 1947 football team. Consequently the article brought back many memories. However, I believe that a few statements in the article may be in error. In reference to Bob Chappuis, of Toledo, the out-of-state tuition is said to have been $147. The G I Bill permitted the university to be reimbursed at out-of-state rates for all veterans, regardless of their domicile. Tuition varied among the different colleges of the University as it does now. The veterans did not receive $300 a month (a very large sum at the time) for room, books and tuition. Tuition was paid directly by the federal government to the university, books authorized by the veterans instructor were obtained from the bookstores which received reimbursement directly from the government. A veteran, if single, received $65 a month, later raised to $75. This was good money and it is in line with the 52/20 payments to veterans who were out of work and were not students. W. Van Wicklin '48E Gainesville, Florida

AT LAST Michigan had been selected to play USC in the Rose Bowl on 1 January 1948. They had been edged out the year before by Illinois with nearly identical records. Now was the time for fulfillment as in the glory days of 1932 and 1933 when Michigan won back-to-back the Williamson Trophy as the national champions.

It was while I was in a barber shop near Pasadena that I overheard a customer say he was a game official for the forthcoming bowl. He had refereed a game during the fall when Michigan's spinning fullback Jack Weisenberger even had the field officials wondering who would get the ball. USC better prepare for a bewildering offense.

The game itself was beyond belief! Michigan scored at will, and USC simply couldn't get going against a powerful defense. As one disappointed USC fan observed, "In 40 years they (Michigan) haven't improved a bit!" referring to the original Tournament of Roses game before the Rose Bowl was built when Michigan defeated Stanford by an identical score, 49 to 0.

Michigan got its comeuppance in subsequent years, but the win 50 years later in 1998 more than made up for the dry years. Norman Williamson Jr. '36 Claremont The Dewey Center

YOUR ARTICLES about John Dewey [ed. note: "John Dewey at Michigan (Part I)," Summer 1997; "John Dewey at Michigan (Part II)," Fall 1997] were quite interesting and amusing. As a librarian retired from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, I gave the issues containing the John Dewey articles to the Center for (John) Dewey Studies. They will also receive the Spring 1998 issue containing a variety of letters regarding John Dewey, but first I plan to show your corrected credit to Karen Drickamer who supplied the lead photograph of John Dewey in the fall issue. She should also find your article titled "Wiring History" of interest. E-mail has certainly presented a problem to many Archivists.

The same article raised some personal goose bumps with your mention of LBJ's original note card from his "Great Society" speech at the 1964 commencement. I left my children with a babysitter that morning in order to hear President Johnson's speech, not having any idea I would witness such a landmark event.

I have also enjoyed the discussion of your address labels in the past few years. I was quite amused to suddenly find my husband's name added to the address from my Alma Mater. George had a unique relationship to the U of M, not as a student but as the investigator in charge of the US Civil Service Commission Investigations Office, which conducted security clearances in the 1960s for prospective government employees, including astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers and many, many other individuals who spent time in the Ann Arbor area. Lilly Crane '67 MALS Makanda, Illinois

I NOTE the information on 815 Packard Ave. (not 315 as printed in MT spring '98). In 1948-1950 I lived at that house along with Jay J. Pease Jr., Carl Lentz, Jr., Bruce Clark(?) two Malani Brothers, Ed--from Far Rockaway, NY,--Fleming from Chicago, and a fellow from New Orleans. The owner was Larry Birch, a med student with a family. We never knew that John Dewey lived there once. We called it the Packard Athletic Club. Down the street lived the brother of the shah of Iran. Arthur Schwartz '50E Newtown Square, Pennsylvania The Campus Plan

I WAS delighted to learn that the University has embarked upon a comprehensive planning study of the entire campus and adjacent area. I was equally pleased to learn that the planning process is just beginning, which hopefully means that there is still an opportunity for input from interested parties.

A careful reading of "Master Architects/Master Plan" (Winter '98 issue) clearly indicates that one of the core issues to be addressed is the transportation system proposed to link the parts into a cohesive whole. As a student of Prof. John Kohl, who later became the first administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, I was encouraged to consider options for linking the Stadium area/Central Campus/Medical Center North Campus/Ann Arbor CBD and have continued to evaluate options for nearly five decades.

The technology to provide such linkages is available and should be carefully considered as the University Master Plan evoves. Robert S. Vogt BSCE Cincinnati

HOW DOES one respond to the article "Master Architects/Master Plan" without sounding jaundiced? First, let me start by saying that I have the highest regard for the talents of Venturi, Scott Brown Associates. They have done more than almost any other architectural firm to drag us back from the edge of sterility and blandness that the International Style had imposed on architecture for a quarter century. Almost to a building, I enjoy the sensitivity and delight they bring to their designs.

On the other hand, I know little of their master planning abilities either because they are not publicized that much or what they have done is not truly classified as master planning. The examples listed in the article (Dartmouth and Penn) don't appear to be large-scale master planning. Site planning on a large scale is not the same thing as doing a comprehensive master plan.

I've come to feel that great architects, down through history, have been less than great master planners. One need not look any further than LeCorbusier and Mies van der Rohe. For some reason the mind-set which can create beautiful, detailed buildings doesn't seem to transfer into large scale thinking.

Now to expose the reason for my prejudices. In U-M's landscape architecture MA program, I had the pleasure of working for and being taught by two of the best large-scale planners I have encountered in my 35 years of professional practice: Prof. William J. Johnson (I am no relation) and Clarence Roy. It was Johnson and Roy then (1961) and became Johnson, Johnson and Roy just before I left for the American Academy in Rome. What was once a six-person office on the second floor of Hutzels in Ann Arbor has now grown to probably 150 people in five offices all over the US. And what was and is probably still their strongest suit? Master planning, more specifically, campus master planning.

So my question is this: Are we witnessing an example of "bringing coals to Newcastle" or of the axiom known to most design professionals, that one becomes a more highly regarded professional and expert in direct proportion to the distance from the source of work?

I just have the feeling that that is what is going on here. For my money, I think that JJ&R are probably the finest campus planners in the country, if not the world, today. And I would hire VSBA for most buildings in an instant. But it seems rather insulting to head back to the East Coast and the Ivy League when you've got one of the best practically "on campus." Dean A. Johnson '63 MLA Simsbury, Connecticut

WHATEVER other merits Venturi, Scott Brown Assoc. may earn in developing a "master plan" for the University, their stadium concept is not one of them. It is too cutsie-poo for words. Many in my day at Michigan resented having to include football tickets in their tuition payments and would rather have had that money applied to the May Festival concert tickets. I enjoyed the games for what they were, in a great perfect oval impressive for the experience of just "being" there.

Enough already of big-time stadium competition. We do not have to prove a thing. Leave the classical stadium as it is with minor and real improvements. Spend the money instead on scholarships and other student aid. Universities have been front-loading tuition hikes to make ends meet. Remember, it is education that we are all about. Thomas J. Michalski '56 Arch, '59 MCP Melbourne, Florida Is 'Go Blue' Intellectual Property

WHERE WERE you the first time "Go Blue!" was shouted to exhort the Wolverines to greater effort? I was halfway up the stands, somewhere around the 40-yard line, when Paul Fromm, '51E, yelled out the now famous cheer during the Wolverines' first home game of the season in September 1950. At subsequent games he kept using the cheer to encourage the team, each time gaining a few more voices from the surrounding fans.

Fromm and I were members of Gamma Delta, the student organization of the University Lutheran Chapel, and had joined with other members in getting a block of tickets so we could attend games together. We sat in the same seats each time Michigan played at home that year, so I became accustomed to hearing "Go Blue!" become more popular as the football season wore on that year.

I know Fromm originated the cheer because I grew up in Ann Arbor and started going to the football games in 1934, when friendly guards turned a blind eye to us children when we went through the gates at the start of the third quarter. We of course joined in the cheers, and "Go Blue!" was definitely not one of them. I think it's high time that Fromm was given recognition for originating "Go Blue!" Margaret (Peg) Detlor Dungan '48, '51 MA Clio, Iowa

P.S. Fromm says he used the cheer once before September of 1950 at a hockey game. Avery Hopwood

THANK YOU for the informative article about Avery Hopwood and his exploits. In 1980, I received a Hopwood Award for an essay I wrote as a freshman, and proudly noted this accomplishment on my job resume, grad school applications, etc. Little did I know I was among such a fun-loving crowd, although I must admit my life to date has not been so colorful. Shame on you for not mentioning Avery's presumably long-suffering wife Jule. As I recall, the awards also bear her name. You might also mention how Jule's name is pronounced. Most folks assume it is "Jewel." (Maybe it is.) Mary Ellen Lemieux '83 Menlo Park, California Jule (pronounced as you assumed) Hopwood was Avery's mother--Ed. Admission Policy

PROF. THOMAS Weisskopf, writing in his capacity as director of the Residential College (Spring 1998), reassures us that he welcomes the intellectual diversity provided by Prof. Carl Cohen's views on U-M affirmative action policies. But Weisskopf then goes on to make the pronouncement that Cohen's views "do not reflect the policy of the Residential College." This statement is immediately followed by a lengthy discourse, leaving the reader confused, at best, regarding the dividing line between [Weisskopf's] official pronouncements and his personal views.

I have seen the racially coded admissions grid, which Professor Cohen obtained from U-M under FOIA, and it shows unequivocally that this lawsuit is a no-brainer; U-M has clearly violated the Bakke standard, never mind the more rigorous standards for the use of race set by subsequent Supreme Court decisions. It may well be that "the policy of the Residential College" is to defy the highest law of the land, as Director Weisskopf's pronouncement implies, but if so, it is hardly a source of pride. Robert M. Costrell '72 Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts See the "Washington Post" story for information about the grids--Ed. Housing Co-ops

A STORY on the Housing Co-ops item would probably be of interest to your readers. The Co-op was started in the 1930s. It was a male group by circumstance rather than design. Women students lived in residences with meals provided, men students lived in rooming houses supplying living quarters only. In the '38/'39 school year with nearly 900 members, the Co-op represented about 10% of the men students. About 10% of the members exchanged work effort for their meals. The others purchased their meals, 20 each week for $4.20. The Co-op was a product of difficult economic times, student operated with no outside support helping many to stay in school and graduate debt free. Robert Candlish Livonia, Michigan The ISR

YOUR COVER story for the Fall '97 edition excited me; I got my MA in 1953 with the help of an assistantship at the Institute for Social Research (ISR). However, there was a glaring error of omission in your brief history. When I was there, ISR consisted of two parts, the Survey Research Center (SRC) and the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD). I worked at the latter and my wife was a secretary at the former (yes, I got my degree by the sweat of my frau!). Your article speaks only of SRC's work, ignoring the RCGD completely! My work with Hal Gerard and his study of group cohesiveness as related to air crew selection for the U.S. Air Force, led to my research on "germ warfare" confessions among USAF prisoners-of-war in North Korea. This Ultimately led to my co-authoring Coercive Persuasion: A Socio-Psychological Analysis of the Brianwashing of American Civilian Prisoners by the Chinese Communists (Schein, Schneier & Barker; W.W. Norton, 1961). While my work at the RCGD was hardly a drop in the bucket, the body of work produced under the direction of Dorwin Cartwright, his predecessors and successor added more to the world's understanding of group behavior than any other institution in its time. Other than that, I feel that MT is among the best of my several alumni publications (Syracuse and MIT as well). I hope it continues in its present form. Curtis H. Barker '53 MA Cape Coral, Florida The ISR in Russia

I WAS delighted to see in the Fall 1997 issue an article on the Institute for Social Research (ISR) and its international work. I write to describe an important component of that work absent from the article.

The US Treasury Department Office of Technical Assistance places resident advisors in selected finance ministries and central banks to assist those countries develop modern fiscal and financial structures. One of our more successful areas of technical cooperation has been in Russia, where Treasury advisors have assisted Deputy Finance Minister Oleg Vyugin in upgrading the Ministry's macroeconomic forecasting models and strengthening statistical sources feeding those models. Advisor Albina Birman, formerly of the US Census Bureau, has over the past year worked with Ministry and private sector experts to develop a Russian Consumer Sentiment Index to be used as a leading indicator.

The survey supporting the Index has been developed with the informal support of ISR's Survey Research Center (SRC). SRC Director Richard Curtin has been generous with both his time and expertise in collaborating with Dr. Birman. In truth, the concept of producing such a survey probably can be traced to one of the Summer ISR Institutes attended by a Russian statistician. The quality of those Institutes and their staff in imparting applied knowledge to persons from dramatically different cultural backgrounds is impressive.

The Treasury is proud of having provided initial support to the development of the Index, just as it provided some of the initial support to the development of the US survey 50 years ago. The University of Michigan should be proud of its role in the production of a Russian national institution and of having as dedicated and competent an individual as Dr. Curtin on its faculty. As a Treasury official, and also a Michigan graduate, I am proud of both. Vic Miller Washington, DC Gentlemen and Scholars

IN EARLIER years, the University of Michigan graduated students who were both professionally competent and socially adept. Any organization who hired a Michigan graduate was assured of getting a well-qualified worker and a person who would be familiar with and at ease in any social situation.

How was this accomplished? The academic training by the faculty and facilities of the University has always been, and continues to be, legend in the world of academia. However, the social skills of some recent graduates are either nonexistent or seriously lacking.

In the 1940s-50s, then-president Alexander Ruthven established the Michigan House Plan, which was designed to develop a young person socially, along with his academic training. All freshmen and sophomore students were required to live in dormitories on campus. These dorms were subdivided into smaller units (called Houses) of approximately 25-30 students each. Each House had a counseling staff consisting of a Resident Advisor, a Counselor on each floor and an Associated Advisor (Housemother). Students were required to dress (coat and tie) for the evening meal, which was served in the formal dining room with nice china, tablecloths, napkins and silverware. This meal was the opportunity to practice the social graces under the guidance of the above-mentioned staff. Weekly meetings (attendance required) were held for small groups of students in each House, where the social graces were taught. Not only meal manners, but the whole gamut of social amenities was covered at these meetings. The result was that after two years a student knew and practiced those social graces that labeled him a "gentleman."

For whatever reason, this plan slowly deteriorated until today a dorm is merely a rented room with fast food type meals. The facilities are badly in need of maintenance, repair and redecorating. Gone are the formal lounges, the social events and, especially, the Housemothers, who were the social trainers and developers.

While the return to the "golden era" may not be possible today, I feel that the University has some responsibility for developing "the whole person" in its graduates. I would like to see a program developed and activated that would truly produce alumni who are both gentlemen and scholars. H.G. Phillips '56 Ed. Mesa, Arizona Miscellaneous

SUGGESTIONS to Michigan Today: 1. Combine with the slick-paper alumni magazine. 2. Include a classified section and other advertising to increase revenue. 3. Emulate Harvard Magazine--it combines general interest and university/alumni news. W. K. Davenport '53 Law Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

COMPLIMENTS on your varied and learned publication. (I'm happy to be in a footnote even--Edgar McCormick's editing of Emily Wolcott's letters recently appearing.) [Ed. note: the most recent in the Summer 1997 edition.] It's worthwhile to have history tales of Michigan as well as the most recent research. Alumni are avid readers. "Letters" from them show continued interest. I hate to mention the fact that distribution is uneven--for the first time I did not receive an issue, Summer 1997. Good luck on your new ventures. Georgia C. Haugh Ann Arbor You probably did not miss an issue. Budgetary realities forced us to reduce to three times a year. But we now publish 24 pages compared with 20 pages in our quarterly form--Ed

I RECEIVE no fewer than 25 publications from various units of the University. They arrive, variously, weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, trimesterally, semiannually and annually. None is more informative, more educational and, indeed, more entertaining than Michigan Today. I particularly appreciate its eclectic context, with its balance of historical and contemporary themes. I welcome the incremental improvements in reproduction quality, although photographs continue to reproduce poorly on the new stock. Perhaps someday the exchequer will support a coated paper and sharper pictures. Marvin Epstein '51 University Heights, Ohio Oversight of Physics Department

YOUR PIECE on U-M's involvement with the ATLAS detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider was nicely done and an important recognition of Michigan's contributions to the frontiers of particle physics. The piece might also have mentioned that Dr. Homer Neal is (probably first and foremost, to his view) a professor of physics. This project, which occupies a significant number of our 60 physics faculty, was covered in a U-M publication without once making mention of or linking to the Department of Physics. For interested parties, there's an article detailing UM's involvement with ATLAS at http://www.physics.lsa.umich.edu/news/9802/ Frank DeSanto Editor, U-M Department of Physics This issue's index | This Issue's Front Page