4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 1, 2005 OPINION tb 4Pu JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE Kudos to them." - University President Mary Sue Cole- man, congratulating the Michigan State University men's and women's basketball teams for reaching the Final Four, during an interview yesterday with the Daily. ALEXANDER HONKALA l.E4MMNU PRADE V 0 « : A ..s. n Politics embitters personal tragedy SOWMYA KRISHNAMURTHY AuD)i A LTER AM PARTEM erri Schiavo died W. Bush and his governor brother Jeb. For the to undertake the exhaustive journey of Terri yesterday, ending past few years, Jeb has tried numerous times Schiavo's parents. If the government desires 15 years of litiga- to keep Terri alive, and his efforts culminated to save lives, then these lives must be treated tion, family heartache and in the audacious and unconstitutional piece of with respect and attention too. a national debate over the legislation dubbed "Terri's Law" in 2003. I, like most people, am not sure whether right to life. His brother proved even worse. George W. justice was served in this case. On the books, In 1990, Schiavo suf- left his vacation conspicuously just in time to it was - Terri's legal guardian ordered out the fered brain damage after intervene and pass a law that allowed Schiavo's death wish that she supposedly requested. As her heart briefly stopped parents to take their case to federal court. The I say this though, I cannot ignore the nagging beating, which was caused president explained his decision by stating that part of my conscience. The verbal instructions by complications related to an eating disor- it is "wisest to always err on the side of life." Terri gave to her husband were given under a der. Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Err on the side of life? That sounds a bit odd hypothetical context - who knows what she Schiavo, requested to have her feeding tube coming from the same man who, as governor might have desired knowing her true fate? removed - as per Terri's alleged requests to of Texas, led his state in the executions of 152 But law dictates that she die of a cruel, gov- him - when she did not recover from a veg- prison inmates. And let's not forget the com- ernment-mandated starvation. What type of etative state. Being that Terri's wishes were pletely anti-life Futile Care Law he enacted civilized society sentences people to death, never put into writing and could therefore be in 1999 - legislation that allows hospitals to especially when family members exist that misconstrued, her parents fought every level discontinue life-sustaining care if they deem it are emotionally and financially willing to take of the judicial system in a vain attempt to pro- "futile," even if family members object. care of them? Miracles may not be common, long her life. Just a few weeks ago, Sun Hudson, a 6- but they do happen. Should we create a prec- What should have remained a family dilem- month old with a fatal form of dwarfism, was edent that quashes hope? ma quickly escalated into a national melee. allowed to die in Texas because of this legisla- I do not know. From the heart-wrenching photos of Terri tion. Despite his mother's objections, Sun was And perhaps that's the most unnerving degenerating in her finals days on the nightly taken off his feeding tube at doctors' behest. aspect of the Schiavo case - the uncertainty news, to the two-cent commentaries by every- Interestingly, the Bushes, expensive doc- that surrounds the government's jurisdiction, one from religious pundits to right-to-life inter- tors, experts and news media hoopla were or lack thereof, over life and death. People est groups, a complete media circus ensued. absent. Perhaps this case just wasn't ratings may be clamoring to create iron-clad living It is no surprise that politicos realized the worthy? wills, but the grim reality is that nothing is marketability of such an incendiary case and There are tens of thousands of people in ever predictable or promised. they latched onto it like mosquitoes hungry for America living in a persistent vegetative state, constituent ratings. The most obvious pro-lif- and most of their families will never have Krishnamurthy can be reached ers were also the most vocal: President George the political muscle or financial resources at sowmyak@umich.edu. Baiting diversity to switch the University's image JASMINE CLAIR PTIE NEAN ING OF PROGRESS ctions speak louder than words, except in a country like America where success is measured in dollars, titles and initials. Our elitist cul- ture contributes to height- ened egos for those with prestige and wealth. How- ever, those without such pleasures are encouraged to drown themselves with personal guilt for their apparent failures. This is what makes meritocracy great. We're all competing against one another in a race toward a finish line where wealth and prestige awaits us. But in America, the winners don't have to be the most hardworking, talented or ethical. Especially when making a set of rules eliminating other competitors yields the same outcome. These rules would obviously be unfair and dis- criminatory. But that would be cheating. However, by labeling these rules "democracy," the cheaters go unnoticed for a while. And when the other groups finally do notice, they're so far behind that they can't catch up at a reasonable pace. But "democracy" makes this acceptable. The University participates in such acts today. Activism and diversity are two very important issues on campus, which explains why the Uni- versity has adamantly fought to protect its affir- mative action polices. Such practices repair and attempt to reverse the disparities caused from the members-only democracy (that still exists, though to a lesser extent than before). Affirmative action also brings diversity, which is important because it allows for the exchange of ideas. Not to mention that it adds color to the room, a sight that many experience for the first time here on campus. So every year the University works to recruit as many qualified students of color and from low- income areas (including whites) as possible, espe- cially from areas with notoriously high poverty rates and low-quality public schools. However, this presents problems. Even the highest achiev- ers attending an underfunded urban public school will lack the same level of preparedness as some- one from a wealthy suburban public school. But more importantly, how can a student from a poor family afford to attend one of the most expensive public universities in the nation? Considering this, the University devised a seemingly great solution. But I refer to it as the bait-and-switch approach. In reafizing the difficulty in convincing someone to spend nearly half of his annual household income on college tuition - call them selfish, but sometimes food, clothing and shelter take priority - the University simply baits students with incredible financial aid packages for their first year.. Filled with scholarships, grants and work study, a prospective student's financial worries seem to disappear. Combine this with a sum- mer enrichment program designed to make up 12 years of low-quality education in an eight- week program, and we've got a future Wolver- ine in the making. This brings many bright and ambitious young students to campus to finally experience what our parents were denied for so long. However, for many, the college experience serves as a rude awakening explaining why minority retention rates are so low. First, it's just ridiculous to think that a summer program will make up for years worth of untaught information. Yet, such enrichment efforts seem to disappear after freshman year. While many stu- dents persevere, many do not. But that doesn't mean that they weren't smart enough or didn't deserve to be here. It simply means that the Uni- versity cut off the academic support at a time when students needed it the most. However the financial situation is worse. Col- lege costs frequently extend beyond what's writ- ten on paper, especially when the average meal plan only covers 13 meals a week, forcing stu- dents to either upgrade their plans or pay for the rest of the meals out of pocket. Either way means more money spent. But this is trivial when compared to what happens during sophomore year. That beautiful financial aid package becomes a thing of the past because debt will undoubtedly be the future. The loans that were missing from the baiting aid pack- age appear with full force, displayed right below the total aid amount, which is interestingly a cou- ple thousand less than the last year. Needless to say, a lot of us don't come back for the third and fourth years. But those that do will carry the added stress of having debt, making them much poorer than they were upon entering here. These all factor into the low retention rates among minority students and those from less than privileged backgrounds. Such obstacles are quite similar to those from my race analogy. Yet affirmative action opponents ignore this in their discussions. But even worse, the University appar- ently does too. Affirmative action is needed and benefits the entire campus community. However, present policies only give ammunition to its critics. The current bait-and-switch policies must end now. Financial aid and academic programs must be tailored to fit the needs of students beyond their first year. If the University is truly concerned with fighting inequality and discrimination, it will give the retention rates of such students the attention they deserve. Clair can be reached at jclair@umich.edu. 0 LETTER TO THE EDITOR a Professor desemes freedom, not ad hominem attacks To THE DAmY: , As faculty who are deeply invested in main- taining free and open discourse on all uni- versity campuses, we support our colleague Nadine Naber and her right to speak on the issue of human rights in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. By accusing the University of promot- ing "ignorance, prejudice and anti-Semi- tism," Or Shotan presented a one-sided anyone voicing these concerns is promot- ing "anti-Semitism" is a blatant smear campaign. Those who want to take issue with the overwhelming majority of inter- national observers who believe an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories is critical to peace in the Middle East are entitled to express their dissent. However, ad hominem attacks are antithetical to the spirit of mutual respect and free exchange of ideas that is essential to the academic enterprise. Vast numbers of Jews and Israelis oppose the assumption behind the argument of Shotan and those who share his position. Phillip Akutsu, Paul Anderson, Catherine L. Benamou, Maria E. Cotera, Vicente M. Diaz, Joseph Gone, Nesha Z. Haniff, Jarrod Hayes, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Scott Kurashige, Lawrence La Fountain- Stokes, Jayati Lai, Emily Lawsin, Susan Najita, Sarita See, Andrea Smith, Miriam Ticktin, Gustavo Verdesio, Penny Von Eschen, Alan Wald and Stephen Ward