4A - Monday, October 30, 2006 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890 413 E. Huron St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 tothedaily@michigandaily.com Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants." - MARGE BRADSHAW, a parent with four children in Godfrey-Lee Schools in Wyoming, Michigan, where an unannounced school safety drill included police officers in riot gear with weapons, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. The World Seres and Granhoim DONN M. FRESARD EDITOR IN CHIEF EMILY A. BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations representsolely the views ofttheir authors. No do ubts with Dingfell Incumbent is the right man for 15th district n the race for Michigan's 15th district for the U.S. House of Representatives, voting for incumbent Demo- crat John Dingell is a no-brainer. Unchallenged by any Republican candidate, Dingell faces only third-party oppo- nents, most notably Green Party candidate Aimee Smith. Smith very well may be a solid candi- date, but with Dingell's record and senior- ity in the House, there is little reason not to vote for him. Dingell has a solid record in the House. Usually voting with the Democratic Party, he has earned a laundry list of endorsements, from the Sierra Club and the AFL-CIO to Esquire magazine. Dingell's position gives him sway on issues affecting the Big Three automakers, but it is unfortunate that look- ing out for Motown can also mean opposing higher fuel economy standards, which Din- gell has done in the past. Though he may be more inclined to take a pro-gun rights stance than his Democratic peers, positions such as his opposition to the war in Iraq and cutting the estate tax, as well as his support for the environment and stem cell research, out- weigh his more questionable views. The issues aside, Dingell's seniority - with the longest tenure of any mem- ber in the House today - is more than enough reason to vote for him. Seniority carries a good deal of weight in Congress. The longest-serving members get the plum committee assignments, with the power to set agendas and hold significant leverage to make policies that benefit their con- stituents. Dingell is currently the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee and could very well become the committee's chair if the Democrats win control of the House on Nov. 7. Of the third-party candidates challeng- ing Dingell, Smith's platform certainly may appeal to voters turned off by both major parties. She stands firm on protecting civil liberties and has made priorities of fighting global warming and providing universal health care. And as a member of the under- dog Green Party, she would not be beholden to the party line in the same way Democrats often are. But Smith lacks experience on the national level and has never held public office, raising doubts that she would be able to represent the district as well as Dingell, who has decades of experience and seniori- ty that Smith does not. The candidates from the Libertarian and U.S. Taxpayers parties similarly have had no experience in elected office at any level. Because of the gerrymandering of con- gressional districts in Michigan, unseating Dingell would be just short of impossible, even for a Republican. Because of his solid record and high spot on the House totem pole, Dingell is the clear choice, and likely would be even if his challenger were more qualified. The Daily endorses JOHN DINGELL for Michigan's 15th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. As I sat in front of the TV on Friday educated out night, getting ready to watch the Tigers Michigan. Bot game, I couldn't Mormon, and help but think Catholic, had about how his- difficulties th tory repeats itself gious affiliati Sports commenta- ney, was opp tors were throwing was quickly re the word "destiny" purpose and t around like a well- culation. usedbaseball, and it Both gover wasn't hard to see SAM foreign comp why - not only tive industry, was the Tigers' BUTLER in degree mi 1968 World Series 1959 Time m victory won against the Cardinals, but Romney raise the Tigers had been down three games foreign cars h to one just as they were on Friday night. less than 1 p Because the Tigers had come back to win percent. The s everything in 1968, I was confident that saur Hunter" I was about to watch them do the same American Mo thing in 2006. wanted to dos More so than any other sport, a base- chromed and ball team becomes a symbol for its home dominated ou city and a palpable reflection of its cul- 1959, Romney tural context. With this in mind, I began a gas-guzzling ruminatingon other similarities between Think of the g today and the year the Tigers won the But most i World Series against the Cardinals. Granholm occ From Prague, to Paris, to RFK and political spect MLK assassinations, 1968 was ayearthat Republican an rocked the world and shook everyone's but both are social principles to the core, especially socially progr those associated with the Left. Upheaval times carries tc seemed rampant. In Detroit, however, lican. Howeve 1968 was a year of healing from past tur- easily pigeon moil. Many at the time commented that normal party l the Tigers' World Series victory helped a speechwrite soothe some of the leftover tension felt tor - and Grai from the riots in the previous year. 1968 Upon first bet' was also the last year that George Rom- worked for t ney served as Michigan's governor. tial campaign A comparison between Gov. Jenni- described Ro fer Granholm and Romney offers many had a Democr fun historical coincidences. Both were I am not im born outside the United States and were model Granho M ichigan will win on a weekly b with Granholm crowded, the s books are ofte tion and in s TO THE DAILY: with the thoug It is clear that Michigan is facing chal- an undergrad lenges. Our economy is evolving, and sity. I drove p businesses are trying to find their place. thought, "Wh Jobs are harder to find, and families are shopping mall struggling. These difficult times call for 5Smiles from h charismatic leadership, strong values out it was a ne and - most importantly - a real plan If you wan for Michigan. Gov. Jennifer Granholm is lege admission the only candidate for governor who has affirmative ac them all. poverty needs Economists and newspapers are in resources, teas near-unanimous agreement that no gov- all the crap I n ernor could have avoided the problems suburban midt that are facing our state. Michigan was action isn't th reliant on manufacturing, and in a new it now will not global market, those jobs are being lost. that supporter Granholm is fighting hard to save our We have a manufacturing sector, while also diversi- ity in the U.S fying our economy to prepare us for the we don't yet h future. Granholm has created a real plan Each of us has to keep Michigan working. maybe, but un After three debates, millions of dollars a band-aid on from his personal fortune, and countless with the situat television, radio and Internet ads, I still mative action, have no idea what Dick DeVos will do if the long run,: elected. He clearly knows Michigan is all. MCRI is ns struggling, but he has never told Michi- heal right now. gan voters what he will do to fix the prob- lems. He has spent millions attacking Elisa Collins Granholm, he has run a successful smear Education campaign and developed a lot of sloganst - but that is not the type of leadership Prop. Michigan needs. We need positive action . and a plan to strengthen our economy. property DeVos has already failed to provide us with the one thing we need most - lead- ership. He has avoided our questions and TO THE DAIL failed to provide a strategy for Michigan. Sam Butler i Meanwhile, Granholm is going anywhere viewpoint on t and doing anythingto bring jobs to Mich- 4 (Unnecessary igan, and she has a plan to turn our state renewal, 10/26 around. Michigan doesn't need more slo- and half-truth gans - it needs solutions. Granholm is the by saying the only candidate providing us with solu- anything beca tions. Please join me in voting to re-elect Court changed Granholm on Nov. 7. determined th west before coming to th Romney, an unwavering Granholm, a pro-choice to overcome the political at resulted from their reli- ons. Granholm, like Rom- osed to a foreign war that vealing itself to be without the result of gross miscal- nors also worried about etition in the automo- although the difference ght be laughable today. A agazine cover story about d the concern that smaller sad boosted imports from ercent of the market to 8 tory dubs him "The Dino- because as head of the tors Corporation, Romney away with the large, overly finned American cars that r highways. Way back in asked, "Who wants to have dinosaur in his garage?... as bills!" Sound familiar? mportantly, Romney and upy similar spaces on the rum. True, Romney was a d Granholm a Democrat, fiscally conservative yet essive - a mix that some- he label Rockefeller Repub- r, such politicians are not holed and often straddle ines. Both Romney - once r for a Democratic sena- nholm exemplify this trait. oming a citizen, Granholm he independent presiden- of John Anderson, a self- ckefeller Republican who atic running mate. plying that Romney is the lm should try to emulate, asis. Classrooms are over- chools are in disrepair and n outdated, in poor condi- hort supply. Contrast this lht I had a few years ago as at Michigan State Univer- ast a construction site and y are they putting another in when a huge mall is only ere?" A monthlater, I found w suburban high school. t real equality in the col- .s process, then it's not just tion that needs to go. The to go too, and the lack of chers and opportunities - ever had to experience as a dle-class child. Affirmative e right remedy, but ending create the instant equality s of MCRI think it will. gaping wound of inequal- . educational system, and ave the tools to stitch it up. an idea of what those tools til we find them, we throw the wound and try to cope ion. That band-aid is affir- and as ineffective as it is in it's better than nothing at ot what Michigan needs to would preserve rights Y s living in fantasyland. His he problems with Proposal amendment hinders urban /2006) is misinformation s at their finest. He opens proposal wouldn't affect use the Michigan Supreme I its mind a while back and at taking private property was illegal. He follows by should determine what is use. forting. In 1981, the courts ral Motors could raze hun- s and businesses. Then, 23 fter there was absolutely no or evensemi-improvement the courts essentially said, people make the laws and erpret them. This proposal king a law so that the courts heir mind. If the legislature r calls for an amendment, things mustbe. viewpoint, it would have include something about v. New London case, which amendment, was not try- but merely that display a politic gan needs at t economy is nec' tant issue in the election. Even si have to admit1 economic crisis sympathetic to I does not have tc compassionate s Neither gube offered a satin how they are go the dialogue ha seeing the exter conservatism. I is able to retool will leave thet workers to the s Free Press aptly of Granholm f must balance " economic mode sands of peoplel the old one." But 1968 and year's Tigers ol World Series. L was strong, yet: had taken a ma riots. Today we sis, yet recent ev and the Tigers': the nation's per tory is full of especially in o political, racial ties. Michigan, other state, is a: exactly why itm well-rounded le holm to get us b S Romney and Granholm cal ideology that Michi- he moment. Michigan's essarily the most impor- upcoming gubernatorial taunch leftists like myself that Michigan's current necessitates a governor business owners, but this o come at the expense of ocial policies. rnatorial candidate has sfactory explanation of ing fix our economy, but s distracted voters from nt of Dick DeVos's social worry that even if Devos Michigan's economy, he old-style manufacturing crap heap. As the Detroit put it in its endorsement or governor, Michigan between building a new l and helping the thou- hurt in the crumbling of today are different; this bviously didn't win the Back then the economy Detroit's national image jor blow due to the '67 are in an economic cri- vents like the Super Bowl season have ameliorated ception of Detroit. His- conflicting narratives, ur state with its stark and economic dispari- perhaps more than any place of contrast. This is will take a balanced and ader like Jennifer Gran- ack to the World Series. Sam Butler can be reached at butlers@umich.edu. I PATRICIA GURIN The real cost of Prop. 2 Proposal 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot concerns much more than the University's admis- sion procedures. Passage of Proposal 2 threatens equality for women in a state that already ranks 49th out of 50 in the size of pay disparities between women and men. It threatens our capacity to provide opportu- nities for girls in math and science. It is bad for business at a time when our state needs more education for all citizens so itccan move aggressively into a knowledge economy. The group that supports Proposal 2 wants Michigan residents to ignore the likely effects of the proposal on opportunities for women and its broad implications for our state far beyond admissions to the Univer- sity. In these last weeks before the election, they are attempting to put the University and the issue of race front and-center of its rhetoric. Their claims have to be answere . They charge that the University's admis' sion policies produce a huge disadvantage for white applicants. They claim that white students' chances for admission are worse today than when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the affirmative action cases in 2003. These charges are false. The acceptance rate for white appli- cants who apply to the University has varied through the years. Looking at 1999 to 2005, it has been in the range of 50 to 66 percent. In these seven years, the acceptance rate for applications from black students has been between 55 and 63 percent. Those are not large differences in admission rates, particu- larly considering the very small number of black applicants compared to the large pool of white students applying. There is no evidence that the difference is greater now than eight years ago. In fact, enrollment of black freshmen at the Univer- sity has declined in recent years. Supporters of Proposal 2 want Michigan residents to believe that affirmative action greatly reduces the chances of white appli- cants to the University. In fact, it does not affect the chances for whites very much at all. Evidence presented to the Supreme Court showed that without affirmative action, white applicants would have had at most a 2-percent increase in their chances of admis- sion to the University. In 2002, Goodwin Liu analyzed data from a national sample of selec- tive institutions and showed that eliminating affirmative action would have increased the likelihood of admission for white undergrad- uate applicants from 25 to 26.5 percent. How can procedures that advantage one group have so little effect on another? It is a simple matter of math. There are so many white students competing for spots at colleges and universities - especially at selective ones - and relatively so few students of color that affirmative action simply cannot reduce the chances of white applicants very much. In her majority opinion for the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the Law School's admissions policy "does not unduly harm non-minority candidates." The small impact on white applicants is more than compen- sated by the benefits that all students receive from being educated with peers from many countries and from many racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Research submitted to the Supreme Court attested to the positive educational impact of diversity for both white students and students of color. Nearly all of the research produced since the Supreme Court decision confirms the educational value of diversity. All students gain from the University's diversity. Students themselves know this. Most impressively, our graduates know it. A recentsurvey of University alumni of the class of 1994 asked about the impact of their col- lege diversity experiences on their lives nine years after leaving college. The overwhelm- ing majority, regardless of their own racial or ethnic background, said the impact was posi- tive. Among white alumni, excluding the 20 percent who had no opinion, 93 percent said that their college diversity experiences had a positive impact ontheir post-college lives. Diversity in educational institutions also has societal benefits recognized and empha- sized by the hundreds of organizations, insti- tutions and individuals who submitted legal briefs supporting the University in the affir- mative action cases. They stressed the importance for their organizational missions and for society at large of diverse students learning from each other and gaining the skills they will need to be culturally competent leaders in business, government, the military and other institu- tions both at home and abroad. The elimination of affirmative action in California, Washington and Texas led to rapid declines in minority student enrollment at the flagship universities in those states. If our Michigan universities become less diverse as a result of Proposal 2, all students will lose out, regardless of their skin color. And those who depend upon the graduates we produce will be the losers as well. Patricia Gurin is a professor emeritus of psychology and women's studies. She was an expert witness on diversity for the University in Grutterv. Bollingerand Gratzv.Bollinger. ing to remove blight. The entire neigh- borhood that city wanted to destroy was made up of humble, well-kept homes. However, Pfizer wanted that land, and by God, the peasantry wasn't going to stand in its way. Who do you think spent more money on lawyers in that legal battle? If you asked the framers of the U.S. Constitution, they would tell you the principle of eminent domain was never intended to remove blight. Eminent domain was intended to build public roads, schools, etc. These will all still be permitted. Restore your rights. Vote yes on Pro- posal 4. Adam Wilson Rackham Look beyond the chalked-up slogans TO THE DAILY: As Michigan Student Assembly elec- tions approach and candidates begin chalking the Diag, knocking on doors and posting flyers all over campus, you will see a number of so-called "parties" pop up offering a slew of promises. While they may seem attractive, it is important when consideringwho to vote forto look beyond the catchy slogans. I knowmany involved in MSA, includ- ing many people who are leading parties in this election. From what I have wit- nessed, all these parties exist for one main reason - to get elected. Parties don't exist to improve MSA, to elect the most qualified individuals or to serve students. They simply exist to get a spe- cific group of people elected, whatever that group may be. Because of this, parties are basically useless when determining who to vote for in MSA, and work to the detriment to the system. While they do undeniably add an interesting element to elections, I'm frankly not sure if it's worth the chaos, division and win-at-all-costs atti- tude they bringto MSA. When voting in November's MSA elections, I hope that students look beyond all the parties and vote for indi- vidual candidates who are committed to improving MSA and rejecting the status quo as opposed to candidates that are merely pieces of an election machine. MSA needs to serve the needs of stu- dents, not just specific groups, and this can only happen if voters seek out the most qualified individuals for the posi- tion. Tim Hull The letter writer is an LSA senior and an independent candidate for MSA-LSA representative. OH SONAVABlTCHIdI 1AS Travis Radina LSA junior Inequality demands affirmative action TO THE DAILY: I was undecided for a long time about Michigan Civil Rights Initiative but made up my mind last week. I disagree with affirmative action for the very reasons stated in the wording of MCRI. Despite this, I amvoting no on Proposal 2. Disparity in K-12 education in the United States is rampant, and I see it clearlywhen I visitDetroitPublic Schools ilNN nAII KT i for private use saying courts deemed public That's comf first said Gene dreds of home years later - af urbanrenewal to the area -t "My bad." The the courts int is all about ma can't change t won't heed ou this is the way In Butler's been nice to how the Kelov spawned this 4 I Editorial Board Members: Reggie Brown, Kevin Bunkley, Amanda Burns, Sam Butler, Ben Caleca, Devika Daga, Milly Dick, James David Dickson, Jesse Forester, Gary Graca, Jared Goldberg, Jessi Holler, Rafi Martina, Toby Mitchell, Rajiv Prabhakar, David Russell, Katherine Seid, Elizabeth Stanley, John Stiglich, Neil Tambe, Rachel Wagner.