4A - Thursday, Septemnber 13, 2007 4 Thq Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Unsignededitorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. A wish half granted Pell Grant increase only part of financial aid solution Tired of paying more for college every year? Congress feels your pain. Last week, lawmakers passed a newfinancial aid bill intended to increase the total funding to Pell Grants by cutting subsidies to private student lenders. The bill, which comes on the heels of legislation passed this summer to curb preferential treatment of lenders by universities, is proof that the Democrats may yet be capable of following through on their campaign prom- ises. However, this modest increase in aid for lower-income fami- lies doesn't go far enough to alleviate the burden of the increasing cost of going to college. The new legislation will cut subsidies to quate financial aid because of the dubious private lenders by $21 billion, while rout- "expected family contribution" listed on ing $11 billion to increase the maximum the Free Application for Federal Student amount of the Pell Grant from $4,310 to Aid. This EFC factors into the amount of $5,400 per year. With tuition at the Uni- aid the student qualifies for regardless of versity now at $5,149 for in-state students whether parents actually supply it. This and $15,556 for out-of-state students per is particularly relevant at the Universi- semester, most of those receiving the Pell ty, where students are suffering another Grant will also need additional grants and tuition hike this year. loans. Thus, their prospects of avoiding a Even the improvements expected to mountain of debt upon graduation are only come from the new legislation won't be mildly improved. fully phased in for five years. To truly ease The bill will also cut interest on need- the burden, we need an overhaul not only based federal loans in half, helping stu- of the grant system but also of federal loan dents repay their debt more quickly. While programs. In 1993, then-President Bill Clin- this is a major improvement, there is still a ton proposed the Student Loan Reform Act, significant difference between the amount which would have offered federal financial of financial aid awarded to students and aid with manageable interest rates. One of the amount most students need to cover its most attractive characteristics was that tuition, housing, textbooks and other it would have offered reasonable aid with- school expenses. out wasting money on subsidies to interme- Even with these gains, students will con- diary private lenders. But the Republican tinue to encounter obstacles within this Congress was unreceptive to the idea of a flawed system of financial aid, which hasn't program that would have handled almost been significantly amended since the High- 50 percent of all student loans and curtailed er Education Act of 1965. Bolstering Pell private loans in favor of federal ones. Grants is an admirable step, but the trite- While the increase for Pell Grant fund- ria for eligibility remain too strict to help ing shows that Congress is making an effort everyone. For example, last year, only 3,350 to ease the financial burden of students, out of the University's nearly 40,000 stu- more can be done. We need to reform the dents benefited from Pell Grants. Generally current system to focus on direct federal only those whose expected family contribu- loans and prevent more students from fall- tion to college costs is less than $4,000 are ing into unmanageable amounts of debt to eligible for the grant. private loan companies. So what's stopping Many students must pay their entire cost our Democratic Congress from revisiting of college while failing to qualify for ade- Clinton's idea? Editorial Board Members: Ben Caleca, Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Kellyn Jackson, Gavin Stern, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya. JACK DOEHRING 9 r 4/ Viewpoint Policy 'The Daily welcomes viewpoints from its readers Viewpoints have one or several authors, though preference will be given to pieces written on behalf of individuals rather than an organization. Editors will run viewpoints according to timeliness, order received and available space. Viewpoints should be no longer than 700 words. The Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Send viewpoint submissions to edilpage.editors a ,umich.edt, orcontacttheeditorsatthataddress to arrange one in advance. 'LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be under 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submissions become property of the Daily. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu. 4 Sir, I don't know, actually." - Gen. David Petraeus, commar ider of American forces in Iraq, when asked during his report to Congress about whether American actions in Ir aq have made our country safer, as reported yesterday by The New York Times. Eat like you vote A s young Ann Arbor collegians, we are part of a unique and to political activism as to the personal luxuries made possible by x a newfound free-! dom of living away from home. Thus, ? it is possible for the - very same students who have camped' out in shackles for' eight hours on the BRYAN Diag in protest KOLK of. world hunger to blow 50 bucks at the Brown Jug later that evening. Thus, the students passing out fliers for Oxfam can still enjoy meals at the Chop House. Thus, the hybrid SUV. My hat is off to those who are genu- inely dedicated enough to spend a day sitting in a cage for world hunger, and I am all for any attempt to help solve the problem. But I've also handed far more money to Zingerman's than to the World Health Organization. Is the desire for delicious sandwiches anti- activist? You can't donate your cake to the needy and eat it too. I like to comfort myself with the thought that eating itself is a politi- cal act. Of course, this is definitely a cop-out. If eating is a form of democ- racy, it is sort of despotically imposed on us (you don't have to vote, but try abstaining from the agricultural sys- tem). But seeing as we are doomed to live our lives eating anyway, we might as well try to affect what sort of votes our appetites are casting. What a great way to satiate those pangs of activism burning in our guts. The basic function ofan industrial- ized food system in a capitalist coun- try is to produce the cheapest calories, wrap them in the brightest colors and paste them on the largest billboards. America's brilliant solution was corn. Asking is fine, but incentives would help keep grads in-state TO THE DAILY: Although Neil Tambe's impas- sioned plea in his column this week (Ask, then ask again, 09/10/2007) was undoubtedly a genuine expression of allegiance and sympathy for a state that we call home for at least eight months every year, simply implor- ing Lansing to "ask us to stay" will not "allow us to be role-players in the rebuilding of our Michigan." Michigan needs jobs. Before it can justifiably "ask" graduates of its top academic institutions to stay, the state needs to abandon the misguid- ed and tremendously myopic notion that it can tax and spend its way back to the prosperity of the Motor City glory days. There are simply too many barriers to entry and too many disincentives to staying in Michigan. No amount of groveling for retention will trump the market for human capital in this state. Both empirically and anecdotally, anyone who has taken an introduc- tory economics course - or anyone exercising ten seconds of thoughtful common sense, for that matter - can tell you that a high-tax business cli- mate is a terrible idea for attracting investment and creating jobs. Those in Lansing, however, can't seem to understand this. The governor and the state legislature thought it pru- dent to cut funding to state universi- ties and increase taxes on businesses (the newest tax increase out of Lan- sing is actually called the Michigan Business Tax), while Detroitwallows hopelessly. Tambe implies that Michigan can rely on Model-T nostalgia and palm- geography pride to keep the talent that the University cultivates, but such optimism can only go so far in a state with the highest unemploy- ment rate in the nation. Such loyalty is laudable, but that dedication also requires reciprocation. Policymakers cannot simply "speak to us directly, instead of just presenting strategic plans and economic initiatives meant to snag college graduates," as Tambe suggests. In fact, the former requires the latter. Michigan must first com- Lt can grow in incredibly dense popu- lotions, is easy to harvest by machine a id because of its use of Ca carbon fix- ation, is able to produce more calories pvr acre than almost any other natural pl ant (just how natural modern corn is is dubious). Because of soaring commodity prices in the early 1970s, Earl "Rusty" B utz; President Nixon's secretary of agriculture, was given permission to do anything necessary to bring down pr ices, thereby preventing politi- ca1 turmoil for our nation's smartest president. His solution was to drasti- ca.[ly change the farm subsidy system, which until then had worked by lend- ig farmers money in order to keep their corn off the market, preventing farms from overproducing and going bro ke. Butz suggested the government simply hand out checks whenever prices went down. This seemingly innocuous swap effectively encour- aged as much overproduction as each farmer could manage and is still in place today. Commodity prices dropped quickly in t'he '70s, bringing this story to what would appear to be a happy ending. But who really benefited from this new formula? Farmers now have to compete to produce as much corn as humanly possible for prices that don't follow the curve of inflation. Brilliant scientific minds across the country continue to find new and ingenious uses for the still growing piles of corn we produce, but most of it continues to end up in our stomachs (in some very surprising ways), and it isn't all that healthy for us. The real winner is the man behind the curtain: Mr. Agri- business, Inc. So I say, down with the man. Get out your sandwich boards and let's march like good college students. Surely you are just waiting for the inspiration to shake your fist at something. Not a bad idea, I'll be the first to admit. But why not go in a more delectable direction? This year, I'm casting my vote with my stomach. I checked out some Ital- ian cookbooks, replaced the Pop Tarts in my cupboard with fresh tomatoes and have been eating like a king. My ingredients are 100-percent organic and - not in the Whole Foods-com- mercialized sense of the word. My produce and meats come straight from the inviting and conveniently located farmer's market in Kerrytown. I'm not joking when I say that the tomatoes actually taste sunny. Sure, they're more expensive, but I kind of like throwing cash around anyway. Taking activism to -the kitchen yields delicious results. And throwing it in this direction is a step toward changing more than just my own life for the better. These are dollars going back into the local com- munity instead of off into the vacuum of Agribusiness, USA. These dollars help keep Ann Arbor the vibrant and unique place it is, and I hope in the grand scheme of things it also means one less box of Pop Tarts in the world. It's a luxurious brand of activism, to be sure, but itfits Ann Arbor just about as well as the hybrid SUV. For further reading on the history and science behind the industrializa- tion of our food system, I recommend the first quarter of Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" as a very engaging and concise overview. Bryan Kolk can be reached at beakerk@umich.edu. SEND LETTERS '(): TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU mit to lowering taxes and loosen- ing regulation before graduates can commit to staying. I may lack perspective as a non- resident, but it seems all-too ironic and all-too telling that this state's beloved Tigers now play in a ballpark named a fter a company that just left Detroit for Dallas. Before we "ask, then ask again," let's create the jobs we hope to fill. Franklin Shaddy Business junior Boycotting won't help the boys on the field TO THE DAILY: In response to the recent letter tellingstudents not to go to any more football games (Fans need to teach University a lesson, 09/10/2007), boycotting the football games is not only the worst idea ever imagined, but it is also appalling. We need to remember tliat this is just a game, and the players are students just like us. A true fan doesn'tboycott a game or call for the coach's head at every bump in the road. Bumps are to be expected. Instead, we should stick by our team and fellow students, and cheer like we've never cheered before this weekend against Notre Dame. Supporting our team right now is the best thing we can do, and I expect to see a packed stadium full of maize and l-blue on Saturday. Megan Kern LSA senior Michigan fan ashamed ofllow f wVolverines TO THE DAILY: I'm going to just come out and .say it: Michigan fans suck. We've been spoiled for so many years that the first year we have a bad start (a horrible start), half the school turns on the team. It htirt a lot losing to Appalachian State - almost as much as getting blown out by Oregon. But since when did we start booing the Maize and Blue? Since when do we turn on the quarterback who led us to two Rose Bowls? Listening to half of the student section chant "Ryan Mallett" was almost as frustrating as seeing many of our so-called fans leaving at halftime. It shouldn't matter if the team is down by 3 or by 42, a real fan doesn't bail halfway through the game. A real fan sits through the whole thing, no matter how painful it is. A lot of us grew up as Lions fans anyway, so we should be used to hard times. Mike Sanderson LSAjunior Oregon fan impressed by Michigan fans TO THE DAILY: This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Michigan vs. Oregon football game. I am a senior atOregon, and as a 21st birth- day gift from my father (a Michigan alum), I got to fly out from Port- land to share this game with him. Coming to the Big House was truly intimidating not just because of its breathtakingsize, but also the sheer number of opposing fans I saw in a, sea of maize. I was a little afraid of how these intenseMichiganfanswouldrespond to my display of green and yellow pride. To my pleasant surprise, not one person made me feel uncomfort- able for being there. Walking around the stadium to where the visiting Oregon fans were sitting, fans wel- comed me and seemed truly excited to have so many Oregon fans there. As the game went on, I was even jok- ingly asked by employees if we could trade hats-or jerseys. I wanted to congratulate you, Michigan, for having such friend- ly fans. I was impressed with the maturity and positive competition that we don't necessarily see as often on the west coast, especially amongst the younger fans. The game ended surprisingly, and I wish you luck with the rest of the season. It was a treat to come out and show my pride with my dad, getting just a taste of what his college experience was like. Meredith Bedrick The letter writer isa senior at the University ofOregon. KEVIN DEKIMPE I fatpig. ,go tr5 "in "' s aono, 4 tolrgseywand....'KF j. 0 'I