ABSTRACT
Sociologists have scrutinized fights in business, on the factory floor, in labor unions, government bureaus, and political parties, but they hesitate to write about the politics of their own shops, the departments. Charlie Loomis played a part in John Holt's taking a position in Michigan State's Justin Morrill College to teach international relations. In the decade after World War II, organized labor had become a growing political force in Michigan, which the universities recognized. President John Hanna, who had been using Michigan State's Agricultural Extension Service network to generate support for the university's agricultural programs, envisioned building a parallel network in urban areas. The Center's autonomy was short lived; the Detroit Free Press exposed a labor extension specialist at the University of Michigan's Industrial Relations Institute who was advocating a Marxist line in his classes. Philip Marcus at the University of Michigan, adroitly manoeuvered the faculty member into areas where he had little substantive knowledge.
