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OPINION

Page 4-A

Thursday, September 8, 1983

The Michigan Daily


- V...


Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Vol. XCIV - No. 1
Thursday, September 8, 1983

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

Elitism follows tuition hikes

A NOTHER SCHOOL year is at
hand, and with it comes another
large tuition increase, This year's 9.5
tuition jump, coupled with even larger
hikes in the past few years, has made
the cost of attending the University a
major threat to the diversity of the
student population on campus.
Every year tuition costs go up and
up: last year-15 percent; the year
before that-l8 percent; and the year
before that-13 percent. Since 1980 the
price of a University of Michigan
undergraduate education has risen 82
percent. 82 percent. And that percen-
tage increase has been tacked on to a
base tuition rate which was already
that highest among the nation's public
institutions.
- Needy students simply have not been
able to keep up; they have been forced
to look elsewhere for an education.
Even top administrators concede
that the University is moving "toward
a more wealthy community and
discriminating against lower income
students," as Vice President Billy
Frye told the University Regents this
summer.
In his next breath, however, Frye
went ahead and asked for the tuition
increase anyway, which the, Regents
then dutifully approved. In defense of
the hike, Frye said the problem was
just beginning to surface and the
results "were not striking yet."
What are administrators waiting
for? It is ludicrous to not face this
discrimination by saying the problem
has yet to fully develop.
The University has a responsibility
to educate poor as well as wealthy
students. Yet, with every tuition in-
crease above the inflation rate, it is
shirking more of that responsibility.
The University has so far failed to
arrest a precipitous decline in black
enrollment. Exorbitant tuition in-
creases are the best way to continue
ailing and to keep blacks a long way
from Ann Arbor.
But it is not just the students who
cannot afford to come here that lose
out. Students who can pay the high
price of a Michigan education also
lose. Part of the University's quality is
its diverse student body. New ideas,
profound insight, and change of pace
all spawn from the mixing of diverse
lifestyles.

striking. Once it does, the problem will
be difficuU to shore up and reverse.
When the Regents voted on this
year's 9.5 percent hike, Deane Baker
(R-Ann Arbor) made a nice, but rather
insignificant gesture. He proposed that
the increase be reduced to 8.5 percent.
His problem was that he waited too
long. The time to manipulate the
budget is not three weeks into the
University's fiscal year. His proposal
would have left administrators with $1
million to cut from this year's budget.
As they are every year, the Regents
were forced to adopt a large tuition
hike because there was anot time to
change the budget.
If the Regents and administrators
seriously want to address this
problem, they need to do it now. Ad-
ministrators have ten months before
the next tuition hike rolls
around-plenty of time to come up with
a plan to contain tuition increases with
the least cost to University programs.
Despite hard ecomonic times, there
is money moving around the Univer-
sity. Some of it should find its way to
students who currently cannot afford
to come here.
Administrators are directing a five-
year plan to cut the size of the Univer-
sity and transfer the money saved into
areas deemed "high priority." We
believe containing tuition increases
should be one of the highest priorities.
The University is conducting a
major fund-raising campaign to raise
$160 million. Could a portion of that be
used to replace tuition dollars in the
general fund? Or must the money be
used to fund another building?
While student fees continue to rise,
the University always seems to be able
to scrape up the money to fund new
construction projects. These include a
$285 million hospital, a $60 million
chemistry building, and $15 million in
improvements for the business school.
We wonder if administrators are
balancing the advantages of these
facilities against the price of raising
tuition, and if they are not underesti-
mating the value of campus diversity.
The tuition increases in the past have
been necessary. We have endorsed
each one. But collectively they have
started to undermine a fundamental
strength of the University.
This month, not next July, is when
the priorities need to change.
Y's policy
Because the Daily is financially in-
dependent and student managed, no
publisher dictates its thoughts or
philosophies. Not even the editor-in-
chief may negate a vote or overrule the
editorial board's decisions. This in-
dependence carries with it an added

responsibility which Daily staff mem-
bers take very seriously.
The right side of the page is open to
any of our readers of staff members
for comment on a myriad of topics not
limited to University events. These
signed colums and letters do not
necessarily represent the opinions of

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Portable urinals bad coffee,,
and the market of"'Truth'
the most educationally important! tally, it's ironic, but the bunch of lads skinned a cat and
By Bill Hanson years of one's life. Republicans could learn some then hung the (still-living)


BUTl

They told me it was like a film pen you
out here have to
but it's a real harder show, differe
boys you ha
They told me that it was all school
black and white limits fr
but there's so many shades I yoursel
can't see, boys. banal o
-Graham Parker has spe
here knc
("Back to School Days") Parti
Most of us are taught in high of years
school that the world is like one an inc
great big jigsaw puzzle - try segrega
hard enough and the pieces will in part,
someday fit nicely together. the number
world has in it good and evil, Univers
right and wrong, and a certain schools.
natural order that says we all are aboutt
linked, we are told, flocks o
After a few months at this dorm or
University, however, most of us or soror
learn* to throw that sort of sity's cu
reasoning out the window. That's what g
the beauty of going to college at a the va
place like Michigan. While here, themsel
you are bombarded with hun- Once
dreds of different points of view, barrier:
or versions of the "Truth." Ann ts from
Arbor and the University are can lea
cultural mixing bowls for people variatio
year after year. Even today, with FORl
minority and low- to middle-in- through
come students feeling the pinch ness a d
of ever-increasing tuition costs,. militar3
the University is still much more you mil
culturally diverse than most bowl ai
colleges. under a
The University's cultural mix, pamphl
in fact, is just as important as its Or yo
curriculum and academic' the Spa
reputation. Combined, the two day and
can make a person's years here Republi
Wasserman

IN order for that to hap-
u have to work at it. You
be willing to meet people
ay come from completely
nt backgrounds. In short,
ve to abandon the high
clique mentality which
riends to cultural clones of
f. While that may sound
r simplistic, a person who
ent any amount of time
ows it is neither.
cularly in the last couple
s there seems to have been
rease in self-imposed
ition on campus. This is,
due to the increase in the
of students coming to the
sity from the same high
. There is nothing bad
that in itself, but when
of them live in the same
r join the same fraternity
rity they sour the Ujiiver-
ultural richness. After all,
ood is cultural diversity if
rious groups segregate
lves from one another?
you get beyond the
s that can separte studen-
n each other, though, you
rn a lot and hear several
ons of the "Truth."
INSTANCE, you can walk
hthe diag one day and wit-
demonstration against U.S.
y aid to Israel. The next
ght pass through the fish-
ind see students standing
an Israeli flag handing out
lets on PLO terrorism.
ou could buy coffee from
rtacus Youth League one
d a donut from the College
icans the next. (Inciden-

valuable lessons on capitalism
frm the young Marxists, who
make their coffee - exploited
from poor Columbian and
Brazilian coffee growers, of
course - so terribly weak and
sell it at prices much higher than
the average rate. Demand, as
any good capitalist knows, allows
the retailer to charge outrageous
prices. TJie world is not black and
white at all.)
So pay attention to the en-
vironment, the people who
inhabit this grand old town, and
the things those people say. If you
do, you can learn a hell of a lot -
even from the groups that, as an
English professor of mine used to
say, think they've cornered the
market on Truth. There's a lot to
be said for being able to drop
your guard from time to time and
listen to what someone else says,
even if you know you don't
agree with them. Buy many
people at the University are too
rigid to do this. These "Idealist"
types, who claim to be "them-
selves" and are always com-
pletely honest with others, are
boring. Try to avoid them.
FINALLY, since this is The
Michigan Daily and since this ar-
ticle has been a pontificating one,
people probably expect some sort
of attack on the University's
Greek system. But -I won't lower
myself to taking a cheap shot at
Greeks. For it would be grossly
unfair for me to knock the whole
system just because of some of
the rather crude Greek .activities
I've witnessed during my four
years here. Like the time a fine

ferocious beast to a tree before
setting it afire. Or I could mention
the time when at a Michigan
football game a clever group of
Greeks tired of fighting the lines
in the men's room came up with
the brilliant idea of using their
empty Stroh's cans as portable
urinals. Only trouble was they
though 72 ounces of recycled beer
could fit into a 12-ounce container
- I guess they weren't math
majors. But as I said, it would be
unfair to mention these events, so
I won't. Besides, contrary to the
anti-Greek sentiments on cam-
pus, I'm very much in favor of the
Greek system. Imagine what it
would be like if the Greeks didn't
live in their own houses, didn't
socialize only with themselves,
and didn't have their own bars.
It's a horrible thought.
'College journalists tend to fit
into the group that believes
they've cornered the market on
Truth, and as my professor used
to say, we never leave a stone
unhurled. Keep that in mind
when you are reading this paper.
The world, you see, is not black
and white.
If I seem just a might confused
don't give me all of the blame,
boys
24 years just to break the rules
no wonder I'm half insane,
boys
-Graham Parker

Hanson
editor.

is a former Daily

The University cannot
rosion of' its diversty

wait for the
to becomne

The Dail:
T HE DAILY'S Opinion Page, we
believe, fills an important role in
the exchange of ideas both at this
newspaper and in this University
community. The Opinion Page, though
it carries our official policies, is not
limited to views with which we agree.
Editorials appearing on the left side
of this page represent the majority
opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board.
Unlike the majority of other
newspapers, our board is made up en-
tirely of Daily staff members, all of
whom are students, and each member
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