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.