4
OPINION
Wage 4 Thursday, September 19, 1985 The Michigan Daily
Tuit ion: Out-of-state, out of mind
4
When students from outside the holy con-
fines of Michigan learned that they faced a
tuition hike while students from in state did
not, they were, for the most part, a bit mif-
fed. "Those bastards!" they thought. My
reaction, since I carefully monitored the
University's decision, was considerably
Eric
Mattson
is outrageous. Usually, though, when the
regents stick it to the students, they stick it
to all of them. Not any more.
For the past two years, the administration
and the regents have caved in to pressure
from Governor Blanchard to freeze tuition
for Michigan residents. Here's what hap-
pened this year: Blanchard, after helping
push through an increase in state funding
for higher education, was eager to take
credit for holding down tuition. Naturally, he
couldn't do that if tuition went up, so he
threatened to veto the funding increases for
individual schools if they didn't go along
with his plan.
Not surprisingly, Blanchard didn't care a
whit whether tuition was raised for out-of-
state students, since their parents can't help
him get reelected. There's nothing wrong
with that: Blanchard is a politician, and
politicians depend on their images to get
reelected. But the regents' responsibility is
to the University, and they should have
stood up to the pressure from Lansing.
In the end, the regents and administrators'
sat around and acted concerned about
skyrocketing tuition, then raised it anyway.
There are several semi-legitimate
arguments for the regents' decision, but
most of them ring hollow:
" Screw the out-of-state students.
They're all from Long Island or the
North Shore of Chicago, so they can af-
ford it.
Wrong. Rough figures provided by the
financial aid office indicate that 42 percent
of out-of-state students receive some sort of
financial aid, compared to 51 percent of in-
state students.
" If the regents had stood up to Blan-
chard, they would have run the risk of
losing some funding and souring
relations with Lansing.
That's a tough one. I could say that the
regents should have taken a stand for
justice and equity,but they're generally not
given to martyrdom. At the very least, they
could have raised in-state tuition a few per-
centage points and raised out-of-state a little
less. That wouldn't have been quite as
galling, and they would have asserted their
independence from Lansing.
" Non-resident tuition should be
higher than tuition for Michiganders,
because their parents subsidize colleges
through taxes.
Sure. But like the old saying goes, "You
don't throw out the baby with the dish-
water." Or something like that. What I
mean is, in principle it's fine, but like any
principle, it can be taken too far. Consider
this: out-of-state students at the University
of California/Berkeley pay $1,100 per term
more than their California counterparts.
Here, non-resident tuition is nearly $2,700
more per term than tuition for Michigan
residents.
" OK, OK, maybe it's not really fair.
What can Ido about it?
Well, the way this University is set up,
students have about as much influence over
budget decisions as a White House janitor
has over the national deficit. The only thing
we can do is protest: A symbolic burning of
checkbooks in Regents' Plaza, perhaps, or a
symbolic tuition solidarity ribbon wrapped
around the Administration Building.
Somehow I don't think that would make
much of an impression on the regents.
The best thing to fight money is more
money. Unfortunately, most students aren't
exactly rolling in that commodity (and they
certainly won't be after Sept. 30, when the
first tuition check is due.)
We will someday, though. And when that
day comes, when we are alumni of this fine
institution, the regents will want us to give
them ... you guessed it, more money. Instead of
spitting in their regental faces, though, we
should try something constructive.
Instead of writing out a check for the I
University to use as it deems
necessary-sending the regents to the Rose
Bowl, for instance-send a note with your
check saying that you want your money
used to help destitute out-of-state students.
But for now, just send the money.
I
more sophisticated. "Those cowardly
bastards!" I thought.
Complaining about tuition at the Univer-
sity of Michigan is nothing original. Com-
pared with tuition at peer public univer-
sities, the amount we pay for our education
Mattson's column will appear every other
Thursday.
...... ....... . .
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Beer today, gone tomorrow
A
Vol. XCVI, NQ. 1
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
I
WSU'slinspiration
Wayne State University's student
newspaper editor, Patricia
Maceroni, 22, should be applauded
for her recent ban on military
recruitment advertising -from the
WSU South End. Alarmed by United
States policy in Central America,
Maceroni decided that, "If, by
refusing to publish recruitment sci-
hedules, we save one person from
being the few, the proud, the dead,
the campaign will be worth it."
Maceroni's action is an in-
dication that at campuses across
the country, students are becoming
increasingly aware that societal
responsibility rests in our hands.
The realization that people are
powerful and that we can affect the
world in which we live is a sign of
hope for the future.
Maceroni's decision was based
on a moral judgement that is the
necessity of editorial. Clearly,
military recruitment will not stop
simply because the South End no
longer carries the ads, but
Maceroni has taken an important
step to demonstrate her disap-
proval, with the support of the
representative body of the student
population, the WSU Student Coun-
cil.
The cancellation of military ad-
vertising has cost the paper $4,000
but Maceroni received a $3,700
grant from the Student Council
and set up a benefit to raise the
remaining $300.
Maceroni' ban is a strong, effec-
tive means of communicating her
position. She severed a $4,000
chunk of economic support, and
took the burden of substituting that
funding with other money.
But, Wayne's student
publications board told Maceroni to
drop the ban. They praise
Maceroni's talent and competence
yet they question the procedures
she used to make her point.
Certainly, awareness is a crucial
service of editorial writing, but
more than that, reading should be
an impetus to thoughtful behavior.
Editorials should prompt valuable
action. Universities are filled with
philosophers and leaders, intellec-
tuals and teachers, but if these
people and their ideas stay within
the confines of University walls,
nothing will change.
It is easy to fight remote battles
without becoming involved with
more than rhetoric. Maceroni' s
defiance of the norm, and her
determination to stick to her
decision is a celebration of courage
and spirit for us all.
By Joshua Bilmes
As housing debates the alcohol
policy in the wake of Couzens
Building Director Jerral Jackson's
decision to ban kegs, a few obser-
vations and suggestions seem to be
in order. The main one is the simple
fact that banning kegs does not go
far enough to protect the safety and
well-being of dormitory residents
and physical property.
Frankly, a can of beer operates
under the same conditions as a keg.
once a can of beer is opened up, it
will go flat if not used. This en-
courages the consumption of an en-
tire can of beer, some twelve whop-
ping ounces. Sorry, no cans of beer
in the dorm room, kiddies.
That would seem to leave bottles,
but bottles are dangerous. You
break a bottle, and you have all of
those shards and splinters of glass.
Someone could get hurt-the
Bilmes is an LSA senior.
Wasserman
housing security officer running
along the halls to investigate the
rumor of a keg or your best friend
returning from Village Corner with
a fresh six-pack. Sorry, no bottles of
beer.
But, oh no, that leaves the equally
dangerous bottles of soda pop.
Sorry, but I really just do not see
how bottles of pop can be allowed in
dorm rooms. And the same goes for
bottles of fruit juice. And in fact, all
glassware should be taken out of
dorm cafeterias, too. Dixie cups
from now on.
So, then cans of pop and fruit juice
would seem to be legitimate to drink
in dorms. But, let's face it, soda pop
has either too much sugar and em-
pty calories or aspertame, and some
people say aspertame can cause
brain damage. It might be best to
keep all varieties of soda pop out of
dorm rooms, too.
And so, I am pleased to present the
obvious alcohol policy for the
University of Michigan Housing
Division. No nothing to drink except
for fruit juices in a plastic bottle or
one of the cute new paper bottles
with the safe plastic straw. All dorm
residents will be obligated to pay the
costs of putting a camera in their
refrigerators which will be
monitored by members of resident
staff to insure obedience to this new
alcohol policy. Violators will be for-
ced to read every: pamphlet put out
by Housing on the wonderful En-
tree/Entree Plus system; Rhap-
sheet; every table tent put out for
the past decade; every issue of Just
For U, and; every Leased Wise, and
will be made to memorize their
housing lease.
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? The
problem with things like the keg
policy instituted in Couzens is trying
to figure out where to stop. Housing
might stop at kegs this year, but
sooner or later someone is going to
realize that people are still drinking
in dorm rooms, and that someone
will want to go a mile further down
the road. Before going out of the
driveway, it might be wise for
Housing to think about the entirety
of the journey that might lie ahead.
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LETTERS
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To the Daily:
In your editorial of September
17, "Price of the press," you
criticized the New York Times
for eliminating Sidney Schan-
berg's biweekly column. While I
agree that this was a regrettable
action and probably does reflect
some internal politics involving
the Times' senior editorial staff,
your argument that this is an
example of "the limits of the
America 'free press"', is nothing
short of ridiculous. You state
that: "The first Amendment in
the Bill of Rights guarantees
each citizen that the government
will not restrict his right to print
whatever he feels. That freedom
is meaningless to nearly
everybody in the country,
however, because only those who
can afford to purchase or con-
tract with expensive printing
firms have the de facto right to
publish their opinions. Free press
is not free, on the contrary, it has
a very high price.
The first Amendment does
state that government shall not
restrict a citizen's right to free
speech, press, or assembly;
American citizens possess.
Everyone cannot publish with
regularity or in such a
prestigious place as the New lost.
York Times, but the opportunity
to make oneself heard is never
Study inconsistencies
To the Daily:
Your September 9 article
("Less Studying Can Improve
Grades") concerning my resear-
ch has just caught up with me in
Stanford, California. Although
the Daily article itself is
reasonably accurate, the
headline is certainly not.
Our research found a slight
positive relation between
studying and grade point
average, though the relation was
surprisingly small. The Daily
headline, "Less Studying Can
Improve Grades," is inconsistent
with your own article, as well as
with our research report.
I hope that those seriously in-
terested in this issue will read the
original report (published
several months ago in the journal
Social Forces). It contains many
further tests of the relationship,
BLOOM COUNTY
some necessary qualifications,
and efforts at interpretation. One
important qualification is that
the research focused mainly on
grade point average (GPA) and
therefore does not necessarily
apply to grading in any par-
ticular course.
The connection of study to
grades is socially important
because it concerns the fun-
damental issue of how effort and
reward are related in our univer-
sity (and elsewhere). For this
reason I sent the original resear-
ch report to the Chair of the LS&A
Curriculum Committee, but do
not know if it was ever read
considered.
Of course, I do not assume that
obtaining a high GPA is the only
or best reason to study. I am
spending my sabbatical year
"studying," with no grades in-
volved at all.
-Howard Schuman
September 12
e
-Victoria Green
Letters to the Daily should by typed, triple-
spaced, and signed by the individual authors.
Names will be withheld only in unusual circum-
,,.
stances. Letters may be edited for clarity, gram-
mar, and spelling.
by Berke Breathed