4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 18, 1997 (The £(itigunt &lg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 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. R - ' budg ample =rfty v perce "ne-h -.tudei 4iable tn its Jrm Wiive none Uvas f balan said t savini mper 'sourc attrac city t to, pe ImpoE inclu sttdei -On discu appar ardly input. budge jr an year. Furth a cor offere Outs ovei major Th,''l OM THE DAILY Incomi e drain NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'Santa Claus and a sleigh have been running around (the Upper Peninsula) and the rest of Michigan. I hope no one goes buying champagne and caviar too soon.' - State Rep. Donald Gilmer (R-Augusta), in reference to the Michigan House of Representatives'proposed appropriations increases for higher education JiM LASSER SHARP AS TOAST WHAT DOES IT Do?! IT WIL RJN- CVLTVRE To PEoPLE! u --1 r, WHAT DOES r ?DO IT WILL. BgJN6 IFORMATION To PEOPLE' - i ETERT TE J s^w.4. t L rFRS TO THE EDITOR A2 tax policies should not hurt students niversity students' paychecks may financial aid tend to work the longest hours; soon feel a little lighter. To alleviate a therefore, with any income tax increase, et shortfall, Ann Arbor is considering they are the ones who would be most great- menting a citywide income tax. The ly affected. To pay such a tax, students Mould tax residents' incomes up to 1 might need to work even more, and time to nt and non-residents' income up to do schoolwork or participate in extracurric- alf percent - with no exemptions for ular activities may be diminished. nts. While an income tax may be a At its Tuesday night meeting, the way of adding funds to city coffers, Michigan Student Assembly addressed sev- current form, the proposal would eral more pressing concerns. Federal aid students who work to pay for a and grants, along with scholarship funds, .rsity education. might be taxed under the proposal; the an Arbor is currently spending more assembly recommended that these funds be y than it takes in. Last year, the city exempted. Rackham Rep. Ray Robb noted orced to tap into its savings account to the problems that additional taxes would ce the budget. Mayor Ingrid Sheldon pose to graduate students - many of whom hat the city cannot always deplete the must be financially independent while tak- gs account in this manner - it is ing a full course load. LSA Rep. Ed Wright rative for Ann Arbor to find additional expressed the concern that students, if they es of revenue. An income tax is an are out-of-state residents or are claimed on tive way of doing so. However, most their parents' income tax returns, might not ax revenue is used to provide services be able to deduct credit for paying a city 6rmanent residents of Ann Arbor. income tax. Sheldon and other council sing an income tax on non-residents, members should not ignore these important ding the vast majority of University student concerns - they must let MSA and nts, is inappropriate. student input play a large role in framing a Tuesday, speakers at a public forum their final income tax proposal. ssed a city income tax. 'It became Sheldon emphasizes that no formal deci- ent that the initial proposal is haphaz- sion has been made on a city income tax. constructed and fails to solicit student She said, "We are truly in an information- According to Alan Burns, the city's gathering mode." When searching for the t director, the tax would be imposed means to raise additional revenue, city y resident making more than $600 per administrators must take heed of an income The threshold is ridiculously low tax's potential effects on students. ermore, students will be ineligible for University students are not the primary ben- responding tax break that will be eficiaries of city services, and most are d to local property owners. If the city struggling financially; because of these cir- this income tax proposal on the cumstances, if a city income tax is imple- mber ballot, it must first undergo a mented, students with permanent residences overhaul. outside of Ann Arbor should be exempt ose students who are most in need of from payment. Money for merit Awards must not compromise need-based aid hanks to a current nationwide trend, excellent grades and high college entrance exam scores are now worth more than ever to high school students. Findings published in a new book, "The Student Aid Game," reveal that, at many institutions, Merit-based scholarship money has steadily increased in recent years. The extra merit dollars aid colleges in luring the nation's top students. The current trend greatly ben- efits universities: Recruitment of high- quality students increases an institution's prestige and improves the quality of its aca- demic community. However, institutions should not allow the rising number of merit scholarships to impede the growth of need-based awards. Colleges should remain more committed to providing needy students the opportunity for higher education than to recruiting the academic elite. Between 1983 and 1991, merit-based cholarships to first-year students at public institutions grew an average of 12 percent nnually, according to "The Student Aid Game." Though unsure of the exact rate of increase, University Assistant Director of Financial Aid Al Hersen said that the University, too, has augmented its merit- based scholarship provision since the mid- '80s. The increases constitute a positive trend. The higher availability of merit- based awards will encourage better scholas- tic performance among high school stu- dents, increase college options for the acad- emic elite, and will help institutions - including the University - increase the quality of their student populations. ': % ; -- e _ __ _ ..o.4-A rn._ m paced the growth of need-based funds. In fact, the annual growth rate of need-based funds has fallen 3 percent behind that of merit-based funds at private institutions. At public institutions, need-based funds have grown at only half the rate of merit-based funds. Given current statistics about the rising cost of college, this disparity warrants con- cern. Nearly 60 percent of United States voters polled by The Washington Post in 1996 said college costs are putting higher education out of the reach of most Americans. A congressional record report from the same year revealed that as a per- centage of median household income, tuition has nearly doubled over the past 15 years. Clearly, colleges have priced educa- tion out of many students' reach. Therefore, colleges must assure that ample funds exist to extend the opportunity for higher educa- tion to qualified students who demonstrate financial need. Merit-based scholarships must not cut into funding for need-based ones. To ensure that need-based funds remain unscathed by the growth of merit-based awards, colleges should, if necessary, exam- ine alternative options. Institutions might consider offering prestige-based scholar- ships, whose distinction outweighs monetary value instead of merit-based scholarships. They might also explore the option of revamping merit-based scholarships into hybrid merit- and need-based awards. No matter the avenue institutions decide to take, they must not allow the desire to recruit top students to overshadow the :- - -rn - ^rm - i o r -t a -: f --nanra Dogs, bikes do more harm to Arb TO THE DAILY: I happened to be in the Arb on the day Ron Holzhacker ("Get ROTC out of the Nichols Arb," 4/17/97) noticed the ROTC groups training. It is interesting to note that the Army ROf was training there under an agreement with the University to do so. I hap- pened to notice, on the same day, about a dozen dogs run- ning unleashed and at least half a dozen bicycles, both of which are prohibited activi- ties in the Arb. How come Holzhacker has not mentioned any of these violations in his numer- ous reports and press releas- es? It would appear to me he is picking and choosing the activities which he feels are appropriate in the Arb or that will give him the most expo- sure and publicity as an attor- ney pursuing an advanced degree in political science. I am just grateful that most people appear to be support- ive of the use of the Arb by a legitimate campus group. LARRY AMMERMAN NAVAL OFFICER EDUCATION PROGRAM Culture is not emphasis of 'U' language classes To THE DAILY: I agreed with many of the points in the editorial "Language lessons" (4/10/97). However, I was somewhat surprised to see that the University's goal for the language requirement is to expose students to differ- ent cultures and expand their minds. All along I thought I was supposed to learn a lan- guage. Frankly, this is ludicrous. Although I did learn a little about Spain and other Spanish-speaking cultures as I took 231, 232, 358 and 361, I learned far more about how to use the Spanish language. Furthermore, an anthro- pology or history course would do a far better job of teaching about a culture than a foreign language class. Finally, much of what they taught us about Spanish speaking cultures seemed rather stereotypical. One other aspect of the University's foreign language program that bothered me was that Conversational Spanish 358 was excluded, and therefore worthless for ity to speak and understand Spanish more than all the other classes I took com- bined. I think that the University should rethink the "excluded" status of conversational class- es, as they are an invaluable tool in foreign language edu- cation. JEREMY MIRAL LSA JUNIOR Lipschutz helped shape 'U' religious conflict code TO THE DAILY: The untimely death of University Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Susan Lipschutz was marked by an excellent tribute to her life and accomplishments ("Associate provost dies of cancer," 4/15/97) but it left out one important contribu- tion Dr. Lipschutz recently made to student life. Last summer, I worked with Dr. Lipschutz on draft- ing the new University policy on religious-academic con- flicts. Through her efforts, Dr. Lipschutz helped improve the University climate for students of all religious fla- vors. After the policy was adopted, Dr. Lipschutz went above and beyond her stated commitment to implement the policy and publicize it to students. It is sadly ironic the benefits of this policy will begin to become visible in the coming weeks when final exams coincide with the Jewish holiday of Passover. In all my work experience with Dr. Lipschutz, I found that she was a person of utmost integrity. She was honest, fair and treated others with compassion. For all the contributions Dr. Lipschutz made to the University, and for the extraordinary person she was, her memory deserves our respect. She will be dearly missed. ANTHONY SCAGLIONE LSA SENIOR GSIs look to teach fewer courses TO THE DAILY: We, the members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Teaching Load in Romance Languages, would like to express our gratitude for the support conveyed to our cause in the editorial "Overload" (4/15/97). At this time, we are seek- ing a reduction in teaching also necessary in order to guarantee students a positive foreign language experience. Teaching only one course per semester would enable romance language GSIs to rethink and revise current practices within our program so that student needs will be better met. Since we are currently negotiating this matter with the administration, we encourage students to share their concerns and sugges- tions regarding this issue. Please contact AHCTL care of hcashman@umich.edu. If we work together, we will create a program that will be satisfying to all. AD HOc COMMITTEE ON TEACHING LOAD Registry wiI not control gun trafficking TO THE DAILY: I'm writing in response to the editorial insisting we need a national gun registry ("Across state lines" 4/15/97). I am not a gun owner and have no reason at present to own one. However, why is it that no one ever bothers to consider the full implications of recommenda- tions such as this? First of all, the Daily doesn't even use sound rea- soning that reflects the reality of gun control. Guns are and will always be brought from out of state into those states with tough gun control laws. Even if all 50 states banned possession of any kind of firearms, there would still be plenty of weapons available for those with criminal inten- tions. Nations like China and North Korea would be more than happy to provide them. In addition, in both The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, it was reported on 4/14/97 that violent crimes have decreased over most of this decade, which is when Florida, Georgia and Texas loosened their gun restric- tions. Finally, there are serious privacy and Second Amendment issues here. A national registry not only gives the federal government an additional means of track- ing people, it automatically places any law-abiding citi- zens who own firearms onto a list of possible "trouble- makers:' If history tells us anything, it is that the first thing a potential totalitarian government will do is disarm its people. This registry will make it that much easier should someone with those intentions make it into office. Then what will the Daily do when it loses its "One hun- dred six years of editorial n inner battle: Can she bare all? T o run or not to run, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of cheer- ing onlookers gaping at your naked white butt (among other things), or to be part of the cowardly crowd. As these last few days speed to their inevitable end here for me in An Arbor, I am faced with possibly t most pivotal ques- tion of my life - whether or not I should, in fact, run in the Naked Mile. For many, I am sure, this is hardly an issue - when faced with the ^a;:« option of getting butt-ass stanky wasted and then running buck HEATHER nekkid through GORDON campus with the RIE WITH better part of the ME University com- munity rooting you on, the answers "Do cows have butts?" Indeed, it is'4 veritable exhibitionist's wet dream; instead of slinking around with that suspicious trench coat, he can j4 whip it out and revel in his glory, lea. ing free through the streetswhile applaud. But for an ultra-neurotic like me (just think Woody Allen without the incest tendencies), it has to become some silly cerebral issue to be debated over coffee, between the wax' ring factions in my splitting psyche. Personality A (Zelda) thinks that it is an awful idea for so many reasons, namely involving me being, witho even a wedgie to shield me, in front friends and foes alike, not to mention the fact that it is usually rather cold out there, or the potential pain of a mile of unsupported breast bobbage. Personality B (Frank) counters with the standard attack of, "Oh, get over it. It is only a body. It is a once in a life- time chance. Grab some Saran Wrap and pretend you are on the treadmill. Yadda yadda yadda." And so on and forth, until the thorazine kicks in. So, the thing is, now I am torn. I have witnessed three Naked Miles in my time, so 1 knowewhat they are all about. The night I came out to visit this campus, when I was a mere senior in high school deciding on my college career, just so happened to be the last day of classes, so there I was, a naive little 17-year-old from Boston (where we stay clothed under all circum stances - it is a fact), watching bunch of naked college hooligans bounding through the snow on an April night. My parents managed to accidentally get hold of my pictures from the event (yes, I am a pervert; sue me) and like to joke that that is why I selected this school. Since then, I have seen a whole host of delightful spectacles on this nude night, including, but not ited to, a lovely gent riding a motorc cle with a face painted on his chestal region and a fat dude pushing a dog in a wheelchair. But never have I ever been able to conceive of one of the runners as me. But now I am a senior and the fever is catching on. The major part of me is still not into displaying my wares in front of people who I have been watch- ing "ER" with and bitching about boyfriends to for these past four year because you know I will be damnediT I run alone. Besides, if I am going to be skivvy-less that near to perfect strangers, I had better have a contract and be getting paid extra for lap dances. Yet, it is not like anyone will really see anything, right? Cuz' you are run- ning by so fast that people have a choice to look at either your face or other more southerly parts, but o* must have terribly deft eyes to catch sight of both. And what if they do catch a glimpse of the sacred Heather-ness? It is not like I am disfigured and . am revealing my true-all hermaphroditism to anyone with the misfortune to glance waistwards. I mean, no one has turned to stone yet (except that one guy, but I snuck up on him). Not to mention the courageous men who go out there on the nippliest of evenings, and submit t public shrinkage scrutiny. And to add fuel to the fire, I am starting to get some serious peer pres- sure to take the plunge, in the form of statements reminding me of my hypocrisy (in that I am the type of per- son to air my dirty laundry for the whole school, but not my clean breasts), that I will regret missing this opportunity, and that I am just plain old chicken. I have never been oneI* back down from a dare, and in theory it looks so tempting, but I mean Jesus G-d, do I really want to run down South U. in the buff? So, now I have got myself all worked up into a tizzy. I cannot work, I cannot sleep. The opening Hamlet metaphor I