4 - Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
fl1E i*Icdtigan ,3a4''l
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the University of Michigan since 1890.
413 E. Huron St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
tothedaily@umich.edu
KIM LEUNG
A TDoAS'T 7
V-'r
C P A
DONN M. FRESARD
EDITOR IN CHIEF
EMILY BEAM
CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
JEFFREY BLOOMER
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Rethinking Iraq
Advice from study group could help stabilize civil war
W ith Iraq in the midst of civil war, or something even
worse, the bipartisan committee headed by former
Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee
Hamilton (D-Ind.) last week released its long-awaited plan for
the future of Iraq, the Iraq Study Group Report.
Don't
forget us."
-VILLAGERS OF YAGLOO, SOMALIA,
speaking to reporters from the banks of
the swollen Shabelle River, as reported
yesterday by The New York Times.
Somalia is on the brink of war and
severe famine as it endures the worst
flood in East Africa in 50 years.
4
_No TH'
The other campuses
Among its 79 policy recommendations,
the most controversial are its calls for nego-
tiations with neighboring Syria and Iran
and gradual troop reductions beginning in
early 2008. Since its release, the report has
come under fire for its vague suggestions
and emphasis on handing more power over
to the weak, divided Iraqi government that
many think is incapable of ensuring its citi-
zens' security.
But the significance of the report is its
acknowledgment that the current policy
is ineffective. The situation in Iraq is bad
- very bad - and there are no clear policy
options that can instantly resolve the con-
flict. Nevertheless, the Democratic Con-
gress, the new secretary of defense and the
Baker group's recommendations all offer
opportunities that President Bush must
heed to protect Iraqi civilians and American
soldiers alike.
Three years after the 2003 invasion of
Iraq; few still contend that the war was a
good idea. After ignoring the international
community and failing to create a military
plan to bring security to the country, the
U.S.-led coalition's invasion sparked a chain
of events that has since devolved into a sec-
tarian struggle that U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan contends is "much worse" than
a civil war and has destabilized the region.
While there is plenty of room for I-told-
you-so's and bitterness at the arrogance
and neglect that went into starting such
an ill-founded war, the present situation
is a humanitarian crisis that needs to be
addressed. Statistics by the Brookings Insti-
tution estimate that civilian deaths total
more. than 62,000 deaths since 2003. An
estimate published in The Lancet, a respect-
ed British medical journal, that attempted
to factor in unreported deaths put the num-
ber closer to 655,000. There's no good way
to resolve such varied casualty estimates
because the security situation is too danger-
ous to permit extensive field research.
Violence has turned daily life in Iraq
into social chaos. Each month, more than
100,000 Iraqi civilians flee to neighboring
Jordan and Syria. The United Nations esti-
mates that almost 500,000 Iraqis have been
internally displaced since February. Across
the country, schools have been shut down
and transformed into makeshift shelters.
Wounded civilians fear goingto increasingly
dangerous hospitals - if hospitals even exist
in their area. Violence continues to prevail.
Just yesterday, at least 70 civilians were
killed and an estimated 230 were wounded
in a central Baghdad suicide bombing.
In response to this situation and to the
study group's report, the Bush Administra-
tion so far has been unreceptive and uncom-
promising. With civilian causalities rising
each day, the president continues stalling
the formulation of the new policy he has
promised. At first the president contend-
ed that the recommendations of the Iraq
Study Group could only be considered after
reports from the Pentagon and the National
Security Council. After promising a report
before Christmas, White House spokesman
Tony Snow said yesterday it will be January
at the earliest.
Unfortunately, the administration's
unwillingness to compromise is exactly
whatbroughtabout this situation. The pres-
ence of the United States in Iraq continues
to compromise security, and the president
needs to use the fresh perspectives of the
report, the Democratic Congress and
incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates
to formulate a responsible withdrawal pol-
icy. If the administration cannot learn from
its mistakes, the situation could evolve into
a decades-long civil war that ravaged Leba-
non - a frightening prospect for both the
region and the world.
Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu
When it comes to boosting our
state's embarrassingly low
number of college gradu-
ates - fewer than a fourth of Michigan
adults hold a bachelor's degree - the
University isn't going to make much
of a difference. There's been a lot of
talk recently about the University's
role in creating -
a magical 21st-
century knowl-
edge economy
that will save the
state. But there's
one problem: The
University can't
do much about
doubling the
state's number EMILY
of college gradu-
ates as Gov. Jen- BEAM
nifer Granholm
has advocated - at least the Ann Arbor
campus can't.
Although we rarely notice, the reach
of the University of Michigan system
extends well beyond State Street. Head
east - or north - and keep going, and
you'll hit two other versions of the
University of Michigan: the Dearborn
and Flint campuses. With about half
of their student bodies composed of
non-traditional students, classes on
both campuses offer a different sort
of diversity than you will find in Ann
Arbor. There, tuition is cheaper, and
students drive home to their families
each night after classes end.
These two institutions may not offer
the same quality of education that
we pay dearly for - I'd argue that at
times, its better. When I took classes at
Dearborn, I found that my classmates
were on the whole more motivated and
interested in their coursework than
many students here. (Or at least they
were better at pretending.) Of course,
I'd bet a lot more Dearborn students
are payingtheir own way to be there.
Among masters-level schools, Dear-
born ranks sixth in the Midwest and its
engineering program20th nationwide.
Not the best, but not bad either, espe-
cially considering that Ann Arbor has
about three times more resources per
student than Dearborn. That compari-
son is skewed - we pay our professors
a whole lot more to stop them from
running off to Harvard, among other
things - but it's revealing neverthe-
less.
The University's Flint and Dearborn
campuses were founded in the 1950s,
at a time when demand for higher
education was soaring. With the GI
Bill and Sputnik's launch, previously
half-empty campuses were not just full
again, but bursting. Administrators
discussed scenarios in which the Uni-
versity would expand to 100,000 stu-
dents by building additional campuses
in northeast Ann Arbor.
Flint and Dearborn were not part of
this grand expansion, which never took
place anyway, but they were certainly a
consequence of the era's democratiza-
tion of education. Flint opened in 1956
as a two-year college for students look-
ing to complete their bachelor's degrees
after graduating from the local junior
college. Dearborn followed a few years
later, built on a portion of the Ford fam-
ily estate donated by Ford Motor Com-
pany along with $6.5 million to start a
two-year senior college specializing in
engineering and business.
Today, these two schools are four-
year universities with a combined
enrollmentofnearly 15,000. Butwhere-
as the University in Ann Arbor is full to
capacity andthen some, Flint and Dear-
born could be expanded. With a few
dorms, they also could offer the student
life their campuses now lack.
TheUniversityhasanumberofother
options to expand its reach as well,
like a fourth school or a less expensive
community college. that feeds into its
four-year institutions. It could build
in northern Michigan and revitalize
a community or two, probably even
luring a few more students from Wis-
consin and Minnesota into our state.
It could offer more classes in Detroit:
The evening MBA program would be
a lot more convenient for many of its
students in downtown Detroit than in
Ann Arbor.
These sorts of projects aren't easy,
or cheap. But these little sisters of the
Ann Arbor campus are a bargain for
the state, and they could make the dif-
ference in turning around our state's
economy. Unlike in the 1950s, when the
state Legislature doubled its appropria-
tions as the University doubled the size
of its studentbody, the University won't
have that sort of support should it look
to expand. Still, there already are good
signs - the UniversityBoard of Regents
approved the construction of Flint's
first residence hall in October.
The University can do a lot for the
Flint and Dearborn
can offer the state
things A2 can't.
state as a research university. But it
can do a lot more to serve the state by
fulfilling its original role: offering an
affordable education to all the state's
residents. Expanding access to an elite
public university means making the
University more affordable, particu-
larly though heavy doses of need-based
financial aid. But expanding access to
higher education overall also requires
expanding the schools themselves.
Turning around the state's economy
doesn't require a handful more Uni-
versity grads still grumbling that they
didn't get into Harvard - Michigan
just needs college-educated workers,
and the University can provide them if
it looks farther than Ann Arbor.
Emily Beam is a Daily editorial
page editor. She can be reached
at ebeam@umich.edu.
It's fair to delay Prop. 2,
but follow it next year
notes and paper
ing nearly impos
them in a tangib
sentations and p
out and turnedi
TO THE DAILY: penalize student
The University's motion to delay Proposal the pages theyr
2's application to its admissions process until and papers.
finishing its annual cycle is not only appropri- In fact, not a
ate but is in the very spirit of Proposal 2. By held to such stir
outlawing affirmative action policies, Propos- students in the1
al 2 strives to eliminate double standards. The been limited to 2
University and University President Mary Sue year,'when they
Coleman are absolutely correct that evaluat- of my engineeri
ing individuals applying for spots in the same comparatively la
incoming class under separate sets of criteria I understand
is unfair. can be troubleso
What they have failed to do is see past their privilege and u
rhetoric of diversity to the fact that they have tional purposes.
been applying a double standard all along with University want
their affirmative action policies. While it is their learning e:
inappropriate to "flip the switch" mid-year, the the basic necessi
change should be made this summer. more), free print
If the University then contends that making educational supp
the transition will be a difficult process, it will
have revealed its inherent bias. How hard can Eric Portenga
it be to ignore a single, optional question on LSA junior
the application? If it is that difficult, the ques-
tion should be stricken from the application r
altogether. Should the University claim that .rintersJ
it needs to collect demographic information,w
it can collect that data after students enroll or whenprin
on a separate, anonymous form. At that point I
could praise the University for being truly col- TO THE DAILY:
orblind and choosing the "leaders and best" on In response t:
their merits. taining to polici
rs being posted, it is becom-
ssible for LSA students to use
le form and keep up with pre-
apers that need to be printed
in. The University should not
ts monetarily for printing out
need for class notes, projects
ll students are penalized or
ngy page limits. For example,
College of Engineering have
,500 pages in CAEN labs this
previously had no limit. Some
ng friends say that even this
arge number is not enough.
that giving unlimited pages
me when students abuse the
se the pages for noneduca-
I believe, though, that if the
s all its students to maximize
xperiences, it should provide
ties, like unlimited (or at least
able pages, especially with an
plement like CTools.
am more often
ting on both sides
o Stuart Wagner's letter per-
es to encourage double-sided
MARY SUE COLEMAN
An open letter to campus
4
The University of Michigan (includ-
ing the Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn
campuses), Michigan State and Wayne
State universities have filed a motion
in federal court seeking a short-term
delay in the implementation of Pro-
posal 2 with respect to admissions
and financial aid. We are asking for
an injunction to permit us to complete
this year's admissions and financial
aid cycles using the same standards
in place when the process began ear-
lier this year. This motion was filed
in response to a lawsuit against our
three universities by the group By Any
Means Necessary and others.
It would be extremely difficult
- and unfair to prospective students
- to change our admissions and finan-
cial aid processes in mid-stream. Stu-
dents have relied on the information
they were given months ago about
this year's admissions process, and we
have already accepted applications and
notified many students of our admis-
sions decision.
We want to ensure that our pro-
cess is consistent and fair throughout
the entire admissions cycle. We owe
this to prospective students and their
families.
In the weeks since the election, I
have been troubled by the assumption
by some that the pursuit of diversity is
no longer a valued goal. As president, I
am more committed to diversity than
ever. The passage of Proposal 2 does
not prohibit public institutions from
seeking diversity in our student body,
staff and faculty. We remain fully com-
JOHN OQUIST|
mitted to keeping the doors of oppor-
tunity open for all.
The University strives first and
foremost to be academically excel-
lent. Diversity is an essential compo-
nent of our excellence. The quality of
our academic programs is enhanced
by the rich and varied contributions
of students and faculty who approach
problems from different perspectives.
Many top scholars are attracted to our
community because they can study
and conduct research with others who
challenge their ways of looking at the
world. The University's academic qual-
ity will suffer if we cannot recruit and
retain faculty, staff and students from
a wide range of backgrounds.
I have been clear in my statements
over the past few weeks that we will
obey the law and comply with the
requirements of Proposal 2. However,
precisely what that means for our core
operations is uncertain. This uncer-
tainty is underscored by the executive
order issued by Gov. Jennifer Gran-
holm, who has instructed the Michigan
Civil Rights Commission to investigate
the potential impact of Proposal 2 and
issue a report by February. We want to
understand the outcome of that review
as we consider what changes need to
be made to our policies and programs.
We can expect these uncertainties
to be clarified by the courts and by our
experiences over time, as occurred in
California after the passage of Propo-
sition 209. BAMN has already filed a
lawsuit against the University, and the
Pacific Legal Foundation has said it is
also considering a lawsuit.
In the meantime, we will make our
best attempt to interpret the language
of Proposal 2 and continue our pro-
grams in a manner that both complies
with the law and protects our diversity
and our academic excellence. If chal-
lenged, we are prepared to defend our
programs and our interpretation of the
law.
Let me explain our interpretation of
Proposal 2, because it affects so many
people on campus. We are continuing
our outreach to prospective students,
including those who are underrepre-
sented in our programs. We are fol-
lowing through on our financial aid
commitments to current students. We
are assuring our employees that their
jobs are not at risk. We are restating
our commitment to affirmative action
in employment as required by fed-
eral law. And we are reviewing our
programs to see if any changes, are
required to be in compliance.
As Ihave noted, our efforts to defend
diversity cannot be limited to the legal
arena. An important part of our work
in the months ahead will be to pursue
every possible innovative means of
building a broadly diverse community
within the boundaries of the law. We
must marshal all the energy and cre-
ative force of our community to tackle
this challenge, because diversity is
critical to our mission, to our excel-
lence and to our future.
Mary Sue Coleman is the president
. of the University of Michigan.
Ed Cormany
LSA senior
As online material expands,
so should page limits
TO THE DAILY:
I was sitting in the Fishbowl the other day
trying to put the final touches on a term paper
when I ran across one small problem: I had
just used up my allotted 400 free pages of
printing.
More and more professors and graduate
student instructors are using the capabilities
of CTools to post lecture notes, required read-
ings and practice exams for their classes or
labs. This is no problem at all. In fact, CTools
is a great supplementary learning tool that can
only benefit any student who wishes to use it.
However, with the increasing number of
printing in Campus Computing Sites (Policies
to encourage double-sided printing would save
innocent trees, 12/11/2006): At Sites, we con-
duct duplex versus simplex testing. Students
frequently ask why we don't just default all
printingto duplex. Our full reportcanbe found
at www.umich.edu/-sites/printing/duplex.html.
In short, we have found that duplex print-
ing takes more than twice as long to process
and increases the jam rate by 200 to 500 per-
cent. Users are much more likely to abandon
printouts when waiting in long lines at the
print queue. These jams are the leading rea-
son why system-wide duplex printing is not
a viable model for our current environment.
Duplex printing actually consumes more
resources in terms of paper usage, dollars
required to repair printers and staff labor
time to and from our near-80 locations.
Robert Jones
The letter writer is the Campus Computing
Sites printing coordinator.
HEY, CHECK IT OUT. I FINISHED MY THAT'S THE DUMBEST THING I'VE EVER
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONSI HEARD. WHY WOULD I WANT TO CHANGE
YOU'RE GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT MYSELF?
THAT MUCH STUFF ABOUT THAT'S WHAT A NEW YEAR'S
YOURSELF? RESOLUTION IS.
+c
" r
DO YOU EVEN KNOW THIS MANY PEOPLE?
YOU DONT HAVE TO KNOW
THEM TO POINT OUT WHAT'S
WRONG WITH THEM.