4A - Thursday, November 9, 2006
The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890
413 E. Huron St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
EMILY BEAM
DONN M. FRESARD CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK JEFFREY BLOOMER
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS 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.
Tuition woes
Financial aid fund is a good start, but not enough
n her annual speech before the Senate Assembly last
week, University President Mary Sue Coleman stated
her vision for the University at its 2017 bicentennial.
What she described was a university that is both world-class
and affordable - a 21st-century version of past University
President James Angell's vision of providing an "uncommon
education for the common man."
JACK DOEHRING
Every student at
Michigan is highly
qualified, and has
rightfully earned
his or her place
here."
- University President MARY SUE
COLEMAN in her speech yesterday
on the Diag, in response to the
passage of Proposal 2.
Evening i the Republican Party
Coleman affirmed the University's
commitment to increasing acces-
sibility by announcing the cre-
ation of the President's Challenge Fund.
The initiative alone may not be enough
to ensure no student is turned away for
lack of money, but it is a promising sign
that the University is working on solu-
tions to rising tuition costs.
Paying for a University education
without financial aid isn't just difficult,
it's downright impossible for many.
Students from middle-and low-income
families simply cannot afford soaring
tuition costs without substantial finan-
cial assistance. The University is com-
mitted to meeting the financial need
of all its in-state students, and it tries
to cover a good share for out-of-state
students. It has also increased finan-
cial aid to match tuition increases.
But the sticker price remains high and
financial aid packages are often heav-
ily composed of loans, which can deter
students from even applying and leave
those who rack up four years of loans
paying back debt for decades.
The initiative will use money out of
the University's discretionary fund to
match donations of up to one $1 million
for need-based scholarships. By dou-
bling the impact of donors' money, the
University hopes to encourage further
giving. Increasing need-based financial
aid will attract students from middle
-and lower-class backgrounds, giving
them the opportunity to afford a col-
lege education, something that may
University may need to
break free from state
TO THE DAILY:
With reduced funding and now the pas-
sage of Proposal 2, the state of Michigan has
made life difficult for the University. The
tangible results of Proposal 2 are unclear, but
again the state has harmed the University
against its will.
As in any tenuous partnership, the Uni-
versity must consider whether its relation-
ship with the state is worth maintaining. If
the state of Michigan continues to treat the
University poorly, then the University must
consider privatization. With Proposal 2,
Michigan may have voted to give away its top
public university.
Scott Schlimmer
LSA Class of '04; School ofPublic Policy
Class of '06
Ayes vote on Proposal 2
is not racist
have never been a financial possibil-
ity before. But the matching fund can
only do so much, and the University
must continue to develop more ways to
expand need-based financial aid.
Regent Kathy White has made one
suggestion that merits serious consider-
ation: The University could require that
a certain percentage of money donat-
ed for building projects is allocated to
need-based scholarships. Setting aside a
small percentage of such large donations
would barely affect the intended proj-
ect, but it would make a big difference to
needy students. White's idea also could
be revised to incentivize donations to
need-based aid by encouraging donors to
endow specific need-based scholarships.
With in-state tuition often topping
$10,000 a year and out-of-state tuition
three times that, reducing financial
barriers is no easy task. State sup-
port for the University is unlikely to
increase significantly any time soon,
and the question isn't whether tuition
will increase again, it's by how much.
In her speech last week, Coleman
said "Family finances should not keep
qualified students from enrolling and
contributing to our university." Indeed,
the University must strive to ensure that
financial concerns are never a reason to
keep a student from applying or enroll-
ing. Particularly in light of Proposal 2's
passage, the administration needs to
use all funds available to keep the Uni-
versity's doors open to every qualified
student.
affirmative action is the solution. I certainly
do not have all the answers, but I do believe
that the affirmative action system needs to
be tweaked. Helping those who need help is
always good for to the social climate in the
United States, but there are better ways to
decide who needs help than by looking at
their race.
Yvan Boucher
LSA junior
School oftheAmericas
only breeds terror
TO THE DAILY:
In less than two weeks, thousands of
activists will converge on Fort Benning,
Georgia to protest the School of the Ameri-
cas, where the United States has trained
Latin American armies and death squads
for decades.
Renamed the Western Hemisphere Insti-
tute for Security Cooperation, the school
has a long list of graduates with credentials
in brutal interrogation techniques and state-
sponsored terrorism.
While the Reagan years of covert support
for death squads in Central America have
passed and progressive leaders have come to
power across the region in countries like Bra-
zil,Venezuelaand Bolivia, our legacyofimpe-
rialism is far from over. The OAS still pours
our tax dollars into training foreign militar-
ies to hold up U.S. interests in their countries.
Guantanamo Bay remains open, an island of
lawlessness in the Caribbean, and the drug
war carries on to the detriment of poor farm-
ers. Just to our south, Mexican forces have
begun brutally repressing the popular non-
violent movement in Oaxaca, which opposes
the state's autocratic governor.
In a recent vote in the House, a bill to
cut the School's funding lost despite broad
bipartisan support from 188 representatives.
Our own Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) voted
to continue funding the school. This month,
we have an opportunity to make our voices
heard at the school's front gates. In solidar-
ity with all the civilians of Latin America,
Students Organizing for Labor and Econom-
ic Equality demands an end to this appalling
institution.
Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich
came to Washington more than
two decades ago with a vision
for how to make the
Republican Party the
permanent majority.
They stressed recruit-
ing candidates for
Congress who would
lower taxes, reduce
government regula-
tions and practice
good ethics. The Gip- JOHN
per and Gingrich did
not see the fruition of STIGLICH
their vision until the
1994 Republican Revolution, but it was
well worth the wait. On Tuesday night,
the revolution came to an end.
President Bush changed the govern-
ing philosophy of the Republican Party
from small government Reaganism to
big-government "compassionate conser-
vatism." In concert with disgraced Rep.
Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Bush sought to
expand the federal government's reach in
order to solve America's problems. They
promoted the growth of the K Street
lobbying sector and became beholden to
special interests. Appropriately enough,
the corruptioncaused byRepublican par-
ticipation in lobbyist driven scandals was
one of the top reasons why voters kicked
the Republicans out of Congress.
Thefactsdonotlie-Bushisthebiggest
spender since President Johnson, local
school districts have lost most of their
autonomy due to No Child Left Behind,
the U.S. military is stretched dangerous-
ly thin and our ability to convince allies
of the threat posed by worldwide terror-
ism is weakened by our tenuous relation-
ships with foreign governments. These
realities do not sit well with the Reagan
wing of the Republican Party.
Ronald Reagan used to explain his
defection from the Democratic Party by
saying, "I didn't leave the party - it left
me." If the Republicans do not reclaim
their Reaganianprinciples, amassexodus
of libertarian Republicans will occur.
Looking at the regions where Republi-
cans lost power Tuesday night - Indiana,
Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North
Carolina and Arizona - it's evident
Regan's former stronghold has reverted
back to the Democratic Party. Most of
the Democrats elected from these states
do not fit the profile of the current liberal
Democratic leadership - the incoming
freshmen are largely pro-gun, pro-life
and anti-tax. This reality shows that the
best way to gain power in Washington
is to tow a moderately conservative line.
Republicans used to know this.
I commend the Democratic leader-
ship - particularly Rep. Rahm Emanuel
(D-Ill.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-
N.Y.) - for their successes on Tuesday
night. Emanuel and Schumer looked
at the election map some time ago and
hypothesized Democrats could not
retake the Congress if they ran garden-
variety liberals in red states. They also
knew that a Democratic "Contract with
America" would shift attention away
from an unpopular president and an
unpopular war, so they avoided a debate
over ideas. In the end, their strategy
of recruiting moderate Democrats and
focusing on Republican incompetence
worked. If Democrats in Congress are
smart, they will elevate both men to
leadership positions.
On the other side of the aisle, it is time
for Republicans to go back to the draw-
ing board and think about how they will
emerge from this ass-whooping. One
idea is to dismiss the current leadership
and bring in young, conservative blood.
Representatives Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) are two ris-
ing stars in the Republican House caucus
who challenged the Bush party establish-
ment in 2005 on pork-barrel spending
and ethical lapses.
Political movements start when lead-
ers adhere to their principles in the face
of adversity, and if there is a way for the
Reagan wing of the Republican Party to
rebuke the big-government conservatism
of the Bush presidency, Pence and Sha-
degg are the men to lead the charge. The
problem with these two men is only polit-
ical junkies knowwho theyare. However,
history tells us that name recognition is
a moot point if the political philosophy
sells. After all, who had heard of Newt
Gingrich prior to the 1990s?
If the Republican Party wishes to
retain the presidency and win back Con-
gress in2008, it will have to find someone
to lead a movement. Frankly, when I look
across the party I do not see anyone capa-
ble of such a feat. The conservative estab-
lishment favorite - Sen. George Allen
(R-Va.) - was humiliated Tuesday night.
Former Massachusetts Gov. MittRomney
will have some major ass-kissing to do in
the South if he is to win the nomination.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is the media
darling - which is a kiss of death in the
Republican Party. As for Sen. Bill Frist
(R-Tenn.), two words :TerrySchiavo.
Night has fallen on the Bush presiden-
cy and the dream of a permanent Repub-
lican majority. It'is time for the party
elders to pull an all-nighter and recon-
sider some of their policy decisions of
the last six years. Otherwise, the scari-
est alarm will sound in 2008-President
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
CORRECTION: I erred in my column
on Nov. 2 when I called Maryland a com-
monwealth - it is a state. I also erred
when I wrote that if elected, Maryland
Lt. Gov. Michael Steele would be the first
black Republican senator since Recon-
struction ended. Edward Brooke was a
black Republican elected from Massa-
chussetts in 1964.
John Stiglich can be reached
at jcgolf@umich.edu.
MONICA WOLL
The danger of bias
TO THE DAILY:
I voted yes on Proposal 2. However, I found
that being open about my opinion on the ballot
issue pushed me into the category of a racist
or bigot, which is a misunderstanding of my
reasoning.
Like many others who voted to ban affir-
mative action, I am not stating that I believe
privilege is not a problem in our country or
state. In Michigan and in many other places,
there are millions of underprivileged indi-
viduals struggling for a place at a university
or workplace. However, race should not be
the deciding factor in which underprivileged
individual gets help. Why should a black stu-
dent who was not be given the opportunity
to succeed given a leg up over a white student
with the same background? There are many
poor white families throughout the country
who face the same socioeconomic disadvan-
tages as the black and Hispanic families seek-
inghelp from affirmative action.
But what does affirmative action bring
them? To these poor white families, affirma-
tive action simply pushes ahead people who
have similar disadvantages but are of a race
that was discriminated against in the past.
This puts these individuals and families fur-
ther behind in the competition for jobs and
college admission.
Along the same lines, how would affirma-
tive action affect those blacks and Hispan-
ics who are already privileged? If they have
become privileged due to their parent's hard
work, do they still need a leg up from affirma-
tive action?
These questions - and the answers to them
- do not lead me to believe that race-based
Last Thursday evening, I attended a
lecture/workshop titled "Palestine 101"
- a seminar to inform the University
population of the "human rights viola-
tions" currently occurring in Israel.
The organizer of the event was a young
Israeli-born woman in her twenties, Ora
Wise, a rabbi's daughter and a master's
student in Jewish education at the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary.
As I entered the seminar in the
Michigan League, I was immediately
handed a flyer that outlined why Israel
lends itself to institutionalized racism.
Although not part of the program, two
pro-divestment supporters, with their
"If you are a Zionist then you are a rac-
ist murderer" and "Divest from I-(swas-
tika)-rael" posters held high, entered
soon after, adding to the purportedly
peaceful environment. I found it pecu-
liar that while the program preached
putting an end to racism, I sat face to
face with a swastika. While this extrem-
ism is not wholly representative of the
pro-Palestinian movement, it is fright-
ening to know there are people on our
campus with such intense hatred.
When the program began, I cringed
in my seat as Wise sketched a general
history of Israel. This history was so
general, in fact, that it mysteriously
neglected to mention three major wars.
As I sat at the workshop, it became clear
the supposedly unifying Israel/Pales-
tine seminar I thought I was attending
was actually a cover for pro-divestment,
anti-Israel propaganda.
After the event, I had a conversa-
tion with a pro-Palestinian girl that
ERIN RUSSELL |
CPrFAALE0 ANOTHEf?
TrMT! MY CPA 1$ P09ASL-YI
Al' ZEPO YNOW!
t f
illustrated to me an underlying rea-
son for this hatred against Israel. This
conversation helped me to learn that
many pro-Palestinian advocates do not
understand that Israel has and con-
tinues to make solid efforts to aid the
"oppressed," yet their aid (including
help in the form of land) is constantly
refused.
One example was seen following the
Six Day War in 1967 when Israel offered
its Arab citizens and neighbors a state of
their own. The offer was refused. It was
seemingly not enough as long as Israel
continued to exist at all. As recently as
the summer of 2005, Israel pulled out
of the Gaza Strip and territories in the
West Bank to offer more land to Pal-
estinians, but this effort too was only
met with violence. While it is true that
Arab-Israelis often suffer in the fields
of employment, education and social
services compared to Jewish-Israelis,
as stated in the Or Commission Report,
the Israeli government recognizes
this and has increasingly allocated aid
and offered support to eradicate this
inequality.
It is important to remember that Isra-
el has a democratic government where
Arab-Israelis are full citizens with
equal rights to Jewish-Israelis. While
they have and continue to endure job
and educational discrimination, it must
be recognized that Israel desires to and
has taken legal steps toward ensuring
and enforcing Arab-Israeli equality.
This information, which was cleverly
skipped over in Ms. Wise's account of
the ensuing conflict, continues to be left
WHAT G V10 0 HAEN
TOMe N .HOW WIL
eVEJ9 Ger INT O CULLeGe?
I C
si
out of pro-Palestinian info sessions. It is
easy to see why - in my friend's mind,
she being someone who rarely hears the
pro-Israel side, Israel's goal is to be as
discriminatory and as neglectful as pos-
sible to its Arab citizens. To my friend,
Israel is the oppressor and the master-
mind of an apartheid state.
After the program and the conversa-
tion with my friend, I began to think
about what could be done to ease this
tension and inform students of what
they may not know involving Israel's
attempts to aid Arab-Israeli citizens.
This past summer I worked on a task
force whose aim was to bring to light
these issues of inequality faced by the
Arab-Israeli community and to gain
support from the American Jewish
community to press the Israeli govern-
ment to extend even more help. In my
opinion, the way to reduce the hostility
is to bring both pro-Israel and pro-Pal-
estinian people together in order to find
ways to educate others about the status
of the Arab-Israeli citizens, what Israel
is currently doing to help, and what is
not being done but should be done to aid
the Arab-Israeli situation.
Those who view Israel as an apart-
heid state would benefit a great deal
from learning the facts about Israel's
history and policies. Many would agree
that peace and equality are goals for
which Israel strives. I'm convinced a fair
and balanced discussion on Israel would
prove to many people that this is true.
Monica Woll is an RC senior and
former chair of Hillel's governing board.
GET YOUR PCH, ALWI PAPENTS
0PULL OM, ST 1 A
L ONArE MONEY 1TOT#C- SCH00-
09 YOU COULO ALWAYS JOIN A
SPOPTS TEAM. YOU'LE FINE,
NOT'AM Y
4
Noah Link
LSA senior
The letter writer is a member ofStudents
Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality.
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.