Letters to the editor

Updated 10:00 AM February 18, 2005

Letters to the editor

To the editor:
The Feb.7 issue of the University Record noted that the administration's contract with GEO, which expired Feb. 1, was extended until Feb. 24. It is not accurate, however, to state that the University extended the contract, as both sides have to agree to the extension. As reported in the Feb. 1 Michigan Daily, GEO members voted overwhelmingly on Jan 31 to agree to the contract extension.

For a view of contract negotiations from the other side of the table, readers can visit http://umgeo.org/.

Thank you.
—Perry Silverschanz
Joint Program in Social Work

To the editor:
North Quadrangle, now planned to open in a year or two, will surely do a splendid job of integrating the intellectual lives of undergraduate students with their day-to-day living experiences: classrooms and student apartments, faculty offices and suites of student rooms, dining halls and seminar rooms—all will be in one great building.

There will be conference rooms, study halls, reading rooms and lounges. A café, a library, and an art gallery will enrich the environment. Foreign language instruction will be intensive—with language laboratories, language lunch tables, and even courses taught in those languages, insuring foreign language proficiency by the conclusion of the sophomore year. Activates in classes and laboratories will be much enhanced, deepened, when those who study together also live together.

Above all, the presence of faculty, young and old—their offices scattered throughout the building in close proximity to the recreational and residential activities of students—will foster a lively informal intellectual community, yielding the deepest satisfactions for all. It will be truly fine.

Of course it will not be unique. All these are exactly the features and characteristics of the Residential College (RC), now thriving in East Quadrangle, as it has been thriving since 1967. It was planned meticulously during the 1960s to achieve precisely those laudable objectives that North Quad also will now actively pursue. The planning committee of the RC (under the administrative direction of Dean Burton Thuma of happy memory, and the intellectual guidance of Prof. Theodore Newcomb of happy memory) defended the creation of our new college—not only for its own sake, but also because it could serve as a model to be replicated by University units later to be devised.

We are proud that this now proves true. My colleagues in the RC in East Quad, and my RC students over the recent decades also, I am certain, will join me in wishing all those associated with North Quad at least 38 years of satisfaction and delight.
—Carl Cohen
Professor of Philosophy
The Residential College

The University Record welcomes letters from members of the University community. Those on topics of broad University interest will be given preference for publication. Letters should be no more than 500 words and must be signed. The editorial staff reserves the right to reject any letter and to edit and/or condense letters for publication. The staff also reserves the right to limit the number of letters submitted by the same individual. Letters may appear in small type. Organizations submitting material must include the name and address of an appropriate officer. Letters must be received by noon Wednesday to receive consideration for publication in the next issue.

Letters to the editor

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