4 -The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 25, 1997 Ue Bit man3tj &IU 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, M1 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. FROM THE DAILY nPlans h Nagrant and Savic hen the unofficial results of the Michigan Student Assembly elec- tions were tallied and announced last Friday, the Students' Party broke the Michigan Party's five-year, near-death grip on the :MSA elections. Undoubtedly, one of the rea- sons that the Students' Party was victorious - in both the top executive positions and teneral representative seats - can be cred- ited to the strength of its platform. The Students' Party platform included several concrete plans for cutting student costs and trimming MSA fat. As the power passes from one administration to the next, the new leaders will certainly face new responsibilities and challenges, including planning the budget for student-group allo- cations, which should remain MSA's prima- ry purpose. However, MSA president and vice-pres- ident elects Michael Nagrant and Olga Savic must not lose sight of the platform on which students elected them; likewise, the rest of the assembly must be willing to work toward common goals. MSA, like most stu- dent governments, cannot accomplish any- thing on its own - its most significant actions must be ratified by the University Board of Regents. The Students' Party's well-thought-out plans could help change MSA's reputation of inaction. But change can only come by building with the regents and administration a relationship that firm- ly represents the student voice. One of the Students' Party's best plans is to cut $2,000 from the MSA's internal oper- to action must tackle platform ations budget. By recent MSA actions, it has become evident that operations budgets include sufficient funds for questionable purchases. If the budget is large enough to allow for expensive perks for officers, a new budget should certainly divert funds to student groups. Nagrant's itemized budget for operations budget fat-trimming displays frugality, a concern for students and good sense. The Students' Party demonstrates a desire to be financially responsible - a pit- fall of some past MSA administrations. Creating a student-run coursepack store is an original idea that the new officers should devote time and effort to developing. Most students face semesterly textbook costs that creep into the hundreds; coursep- acks often add to the bill, without the com- mon textbook option of purchasing used copies at a discount. The Students' Party goal to create a student-run coursepack store - with plans to include coursepack swaps and used coursepack sales - is an innovative idea that could save students money in an important place. Despite the strength of ideas, even the best officers can accomplish little if assem- bly representatives bicker amongst them- selves. The new assembly will be strikingly different than before, with a composition now evenly dispersed between the Michigan Party and the Students' Party. Nagrant and Savic should be especially careful to foster healthy assembly relations so that needless squabbling will not hinder the goals that stu- dents mandated with their votes. "NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'If we are going to meet the needs of our city, we have an obligation to ask the community what It thinks and even greater obligation to listen to what people have to say.' -Ann Arbor Police Chief Carl Ent YUK KUNYYUUKKROU DERO AcADEMY AwA s I WO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Aid on the 'Net Electronic FAFSA can save students time Students seeking financial aid opportu- nities could have the results of their request sooner than ever before. The Free Application for Student Aid is now avail- able to students over the Internet. In addi- tion to this new development, students at the University wishing to submit a Request for Funds renewal will be able to do so through Wolverine Access. These Internet developments will eventually speed up request processing as well as considerably reduce paperwork. Students should take advantage of the opportunity to submit forms over the Internet for faster results. FAFSA - the starting point for federal -student loans, grants and work study pro- grams - can take months to process when students submit the traditional paper forms. Many students determine which school they will attend by the amount of federal financial aid they receive. Students cannot afford to wait months to notify the schools of their choice. However, if stu- -dents choose to forgo paper and electroni- cally submit their applications, the length of their wait will decrease. The optimal turnaround rate for an electronically filed Student Aid Report is three to-six days. Once the form is processed, colleges that the student lists will receive the results }within 72 hours. Constantly rising tuition costs force stu- dents to look to avenues other than their parents to help fund their educations. With faster results, students can figure out the difference between federal aid packages gand the expected family contribution, and have much more time to determine their financial situation before they head off to school in the fall. More time allows stu- OW TO CONTACT TI dents to better plan their summer job situa- tion and fall course load to allow for a part- time job if one is necessary. Internet security becomes an issue when personal and detailed financial information - required by FAFSA or the RFF - is transmitted electronically. The U.S. Department of Education, which provides the software to submit FAFSA, and the University's Office of Financial Aid, which collects University students' RFF forms, must insure privacy of students' financial information. Without the proper security measures, personal information will have a better chance of running into Internet traf- fic and being accessed by outside parties. Students who do not feel that their informa- tion is secure may hesitate to submit their forms electronically. Another potential system problem is server overload, which may impede form delivery. There are certain times of day when the server is busier than others. It is also common for servers to break down completely, halting all service and delivery. The U.S. Department of Education should practice good maintenance to avoid system crashes. The new electronic filing system for financial aid promises to speed up the process for students requesting funds. Using the form requires Windows 3.1 or better; the FAFSA is found at: www.ed.govloffices//OPE/express.html. Easy instructions on how to download and submit the form accompany FAFSA soft- ware. The difficult, long and bureaucratic process of collecting financial aid should now be more efficient and allow students to breathe a little easier. Michigan Party remains optimistic TO THE DAILY: We would like to thank everyone who supported us the past few weeks. The out- pouring of support from the student body has been grati- fying. Our campaign was about ideas and their imple- mentation, and in defeat we are still optimistic about the potential of student govern- ment. We leave executive office with a sunny disposition. The future holds much promise if we base it on the achievements of the past. If we changed the life of only one student, then we have succeeded in our motivation for student government. Consider the accomplish- ments that the Michigan Party has achieved in the past few years. We are glad stu- dents passed our three ballot jinitiatives: ex-officio mem- bership, community service and an opposition to the LSA 10-term rule. We are com- fortable in the knowledge that they will change student government for the better. We believe we set MSA on the right track. But MSA has not reached its potential yet. We leave an MSA that is more efficient and student- friendly - and this is just the beginning. We hope to see MSA take its next steps in the same direction. We will continue to work on what we will feel directly affects stu- dents' lives: a student ward in Ann Arbor, preventing a 1- percent tax from being laid on students and reducing the costs of education through initiatives like the online text- book reporting system. An author whose name we forget once said: " Two roads diverged into the woods, and I took my weedwacker and made my own path" We followed those words through the forest, and now face another fork in our paths. We congratulate our opponents on the their victo- ry and hope to work with them to form a unified stu- dent voice and we will con- tinue the improvements we have made in reforming stu- dent government. Let us roll up our sleeves and get start- ed. PROBIR MEHTA LSA JUNIOR, MSA VICE PRESIDENT DAN SEROTA LSA JUNIOR, MSA GENERAL COUNCIL YEJIDE PETERS LSA SOPHOMORE, CHAIR, ACADEMIC AFFAIRS tells more about yourself then it does about the candidates you list. Making assumptions is extremely dangerous and she makes many in her letter. For instance, she states that the 34 other candidates did not respond because it is "an election issue.' What right does she have to say we did not respond because it was an election issue? Did we ever give her any indication that we did not respond because of that? Does she even know us? Has she ever talked to us? Also, she should never state that we are unresponsive to constituent inquiry. Just because we did not respond to her equivocal letter does not mean that we are unre- sponsive. She bases her alle- gations not on fact but rather on complete speculation. She only sent one single e- mail two days before the election to ask us if we would support her cause. Has she ever heard of the phone? We are all listed in the campus directory. We had a question about an ambiguous part of her letter that could easily have been answered over the phone. Despite that, if she had sent the e-mail a week earlier we would have had time to inquire about our question. She did not; therefore, how does she expect us to fit time into our schedule during the three or four busiest days of our year when we are work- ing 19 hours a day? Her irresponsibility in this matter is disappointing and we recommend that before she accuses 34 people in front of more than 50,000 people she sends out more than just an e-mail. We hope that shesruns her organization more effectively then the way she conducted her research. JASON KORB LSA SOPHOMORE VAMSI BONTHALA LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT NEEL CHOKSHI ENGINEERING SOPHOMORE Mandatory spending cap would level the field TO THE DAIY: I am writing in response to the editorial regarding the proposed mandatory cam- paign spending cap for future MSA candidates ("Spending for seats," 3/24/97). 1 am glad to see that the Daily agrees that MSA campaign spending is out of hand and needs to be controlled. I would also aeree that vour solution of a input from even more. It is truly a cooperative effort, and thus is well thought-out and practical. A similar spending limit is in place in many other schools around the country, and it works. Further, this legislation allows improved enforcement of other elections rules. Under the current code, can- didates may be "fined" by the Elections Court for cam- paign rules violations (such as postering illegally or improperly labeling cam- paign materials), but - short of legal action - there is no way for the Elections Court to get thismoney. Is it worth it to bring suits against peo- ple for $5 here and $10 there? Currently, there really is no enforcement of cam- paign rules short of disquali- fying a candidate. The pro- posed code changes turn these fines into deductions off a candidate's allowed bud- get. This effectively encour- ages candidates to obey cam- paign rules -- since the more rules they break, the less they may spend. Many people object to spending limits on the grounds that it violates First Amendment rights. Without getting into the details of the debate, suffice it to say that a spending cap only limits quantity, not quality or con- tent. If a candidate wanted to make $500 worth of posters, and each said something dif- ferent, we might have a First Amendment problem. But we all know that candidates instead make hundreds or thousands of identical posters and plaster the campus with them. Spending limits would simply serve to limit the amount of times candidates can say the same thing. In addition, spending limits most certainly do not apply to other aspects of campaign- ing that are free, such as putting materials on the "inform" web-site or just plain old going out there and meeting people. Spending limits do not give anyone the advantage because not only is everyone allowed to spend the same amount of money, but let's face it, $500 (the proposed limit) is an awful lot of money to spend any- way. Does anyone really need to spend more than this? Further, the proposed code changes include an option for candidates that would make them immune to the spending limit if they agree to run as a write-in ... thus no one can argue they are being denied their "right" to spend ludicrous amounts of money. Campaign finance reform is an issue on many people's minds these days. If this leg- islation passes tonight, it will be a good example of that 'Indie' book 9 publishers fight for survival Fact of life in American culture: Big companies - be it a movie studio, record company or publisher - dictate what the vast majority of consumers watch, listen to and read. This is fine and even if it were not fine it is 4 unchangeable truism. That said, small independent artists and artistic compa- nies have an, importantvrole in our culture: To pro- mote artistic diver- sity, to give non- mainstream artists a chance to reach a wider audience and to promote the arts in general. Today - with the SAMUEL growing popularity GOODSTEIN of indie-rock and GRAND independent films ILUSION - independent art is arguably stronger than ever. Unfortunately, small independent pub- lishers have not fared as well as their indie brethren in the music and fa9 industries; small presses are fighting for their lives. The outcome of this fight will have important implications for American writers, readers and support- ers of artistic diversity. Thanks to an insightful article in The Village Voice, I have learned that this is Small Press Week. I have also learned a few other things that are worth sharing. Three trends are dramatically chang- ing the American book industry a creating a situation wherein behemW bookstores and publishing houses thrive, while small presses go the way of the Beta-Max. First, of course, is the exploding popularity of superstores such as Borders. These superstores are not bad. In fact, these stores bring books to smaller markets - such as my hometown, Flint - that previously were unavailable; furthermore, what better way to spend one's time th browsing in Borders? However, maintain their store size and high num- ber of stores, the Behemoths must make best-sellers their top priority. Of course they stock Nietzche, but they exist to sell John Grisham. Because the publishing business is exploding, and best-sellers are best-selling like never before, marketing has become almost as important in the book world as it is in other entertainment genres. The inevitable result: Publishers must spe* big bucks to promote their books so that they can pay million-dollar advances to authors and reap profits. One interesting wrinkle in the new Book Economics is that most book- stores now charge publishers to place their books on display in the store; meaning, those books tbat you see spread out on display at most book- stores are there because the publish paid "rent" to put it there. If you wa your book to sell, you had better pay the rent or else it will be relegated to the shelves, stuck somewhere between Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolfe. The result: Small publishers cannot afford to pay the rent, let alone pay for big marketing campaigns, and their books are usually relegated to the shelves - where sales are considerably lower. Another wrinkle is the fact that bookstores return un-sold books to t publisher, and recover part of the pu - chasing cost - the Behemoths are increasing efficiency by turning books over at a faster rate, a fact that hurts slow-selling independent books. Because small publishers cannot pay to market books, cannot rent high profile spots in big stores and have many of their books returned (some are experi- encing return rates as high as 60. per- cent) they are being swamped. TO result: A small group of large publish- ing companies are becoming even larg- er, at the expense of the little ones. The second trend is that funding sources for small presses are drying up. This is because private foundations are pulling out and because the NEA - under Republican assault - has elimi- nated its literature division and is being forced to cut funding for small presses from $1 million to zero. Furthermor libraries -which were long a source revenue for small presses - have not escaped the Republican blitz and are cutting backon purchases. Between Behemoth stores and less support for non-profit publishers, the little fish are drowning in the big ocean. The final trend is that independent bookstores - long a key market for independent publishers in part because they often gave small presses cheap free display spaces -are going out business. This only deepens the crisis. To the credit of the large bookstores, they often try to promote small press- es - Borders here in Ann Arbor is a great, and welcome, example. Unfortunatelv this is usually not UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF FINANCIAL AID