University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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s summer ' s fleeing warmth blends into fall ' s brisk awaken- ing, seasons come alive, uniting -i w eacA o ier in transitional v harmony, closely parallel to the academic climate at the Univer- sity of Michigan. Each year, formal study transpires with shifts arid transitions: trad- itional programs continue as new ones develop, changing academic curricula, adding new limits to knowledge. Michigan ' s autumn seasons flare-up in bright cloaks of color, heralding Spring ' s rebirth, before dying in the frozen winter earth. Like passing seasons, Michigan stu- dents spend part of their lifetime here and are gone. Just as one season causes certain occur- rences in another, each class of Michigan students effectuate change in the education of classes following. Student involvement in . the academic community leaves an indelible mark on the framework for future learning at the University. Family tradition has brought many stu- dents to Ann Arbor for a University educa- tion. Other students come as the first in their family ' s history to ever receive a College education. Like continual seasons, the ideal College experience is the beginning of a learning process that will continue after graduation: College years being only one phase or stepping stone in a student ' s lifetime. The diversity and multiplicity of nature ' s talents corresponds to the diverse elements of educational opportunity in each of Michi- gan ' s 17 separate schools. Believing that fields of learning are not autonomous, the University encourages performance in areas of study which not only subsume those needed by all educated men and women, but those as well that lead to effective integra- tion of human values, ethical commitment, and individual responsibilities. Faculty and students at Michigan integrate knowledge, exploration, and discovery into Ann Arbor and surrounding communities. Community interaction develops as a stu- dent ' s theoretical ideas become manifest in the world of practical reality. Ann Arbor provides a sounding board for ideas, a testing ground for research. Local, state, and national politics serve as a ' battering ram ' for initiating change: students organize strikes, speeches, and rallies, as they stand up for their rights as human beings. Each season is part of a necessary cycle; an orderly system partially dependent on in- fluence and links from seasons past. Pro- grams at Michigan offer practical and sys- tematic application of knowledge rather than discovery and transmission ajone. Students are encouraged to identify with the past; to learn and grow in understanding former gains and losses. From each semester ' s learn- ing, a student develops new skills and aware- ness: skills necessary for meeting needs of the future; awareness essential to the under- standing of civilization ' s problems. The end of each academic year at Michigan scatters students across our planet much as the springtime wind scatters seeds upon the ground: each with a separate fate, an indi- vidual direction. Ideally, students who leave Michigan do so with a greater sense of self- understanding and self-expression: concepts of self and society which will help serve the world they live in during a lifetime of seasons. r M?

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customary ' back-to-school ' blahs Autumn breezes of 1973 cooled the hot, moist heat which typified the summertime past. In Ann Arbor however, fall flurries were over-shadowed by the turbulence which characterized two days of fall semester regis- tration. Nearly 10,000 students comprised Michi- gan ' s seemingly interminable lines of regis- tration last September. As one bedazzled student put it, ' registration is for the dogs. Seth Comstock, representative for Student Counseling Services, explains that the most frustrating experience for a student occurs when he or she attempts electing a course which has been closed. A major pitfall potentially exists when the student closed out of a course is a junior or senior. Often, this student has elected the course for distribution or concentration requirements. The student ' s only option remains one of substituting a course for token fulfillment of the requirement. The lack of counselors on hand at Waterman poses yet another problem. Whereas juniors and seniors are usually accustomed to the hassles of registration, freshmen, sophomores and transfer students are baffled to the point of considering ' turning in their ID cards. ' Registration has always been one of those inherited necessities germane to a college student ' s experience. Twice yearly, the setting at Waterman patterns scenes from years past: scenes universal to American colleges east, west, north and south of Ann Arbor. At the beginning of any given semester, one finds new faces, fads and course offerings. Only the classic atmosphere of frustration, confusion, and commotion remain the same. 21