4A -Wednesday, January 30, 2008 The 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 EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR 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. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers'representative and takes a criticallook at coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. An earneuA~d degree Student victimized in Red Scare deserves honorary degree Persecuted because of his family's origins. Expelled from the armed forces for alleged political associations. Tried with evidence that was questionable at best. Prevented from earning his University degree. This is the story of Milo Radulovich, a student wronged by his university and his country for standing up against anti-communist fear-mongers in the federal government. 1Y I'm proud I ran a positive campaign. I ran a campaign that was uplifting." -Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, in his concession speech yesterday after placing third in Florida's primary. Giuliani is expected to drop out of the Republican presidential race today. 6 I A universal mandate On Sunday a memorial service was held in Detroit for Radulovich, who died in November, to honor his life and heroic struggle against McCarthyism. And now, half a century after his fight, it's time for the University to follow suit by award- ing him an honorary degree to rectify its failure to support him and its compliance with the government's excesses during the Red Scare. Radulovich attended the University under the GI bill in the early 1950s while serving as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant in the reserves. In 1953 he was accused of having communist connections through his father and sister, whose only crimes were political activism and a subscription to a Serbian newspaper. This flimsy alle- gation was enough to get him discharged from the U.S. Air Force, an action he fought in the media and in the courts. But the overwhelming stress of the case forced the devoted student to drop out of the Uni- versity during his final semester. Radulovich's case, which was featured in the 2005 Academy Award-nominated film "Good Night, and Good Luck," has become well known for its exemplifica- tion of the gross civil rights violations associated with the Red.Scare of the mid- 20th century. But the story seldom told is that of the University's role in this affair. Under the pressures of fighting his wrong- ful discharge against significant odds, his schoolwork suffered. But the University turned a blind eye to his troubles. When Radulovich expressed concerns about managing his case and his course load, a faculty member responded, "Why don't you find a new major?" This attitude echoes other stories of the University'spassive adherenceto McCarthy- ism, when it even failed to support accused faculty. What's worse is that Radulovich was later found innocent and reinstated into the armed services, but he never received simi- lar reparation from the University. Metro Times columnist and University alum Jack Lessenberry has suggested in the past that the University confer an honorary degree upon Radulovich, but he reports that he never received a response. When questioned, the University was unable to confirm or deny that it received Lessenberry's letters, nor could it offer an explanation as to what happened with his request. Meanwhile, it made Mos Def a "Visiting Professor" out of gratitude for his participation in this year's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day activities. One of the hopes the University should have for its graduates is that they use their education to make a difference. What Radulovich lacked in credits he com- pensated for in life experience, inspiring change in a way befitting of a University graduate. But the past is in the past. The cur- rent administration should not be held responsible for the mistakes of its prede- cessors. However, it should take the time to acknowledge those mistakes and honor Radulovich as an example of responsible citizenship. The University should rec- ognize his righteous struggle by granting him an honorary degree. This gesture, long overdue and, sadly, post-mortem, would be a step toward acknowledging the Universi- ty's failure to defend Radulovich and oth- ers like him against McCarthyism. University President Mary Sue Coleman and Hillary Clinton have a lot in common. Both are powerful female_ leaders in tradition-F ally male-domi- nated fields. Both have conveniently shifting principles. If Clinton becomes % our 44th president, both will have been the first female president of their GARY respective institu- GRACA tions. But they have another thing in common: Both are ardent supporters of universal health care. Clinton headed the disastrous Task Force on National Health Care Reform in 1994. Coleman co-chaired the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance. As a Democratic presidential candi- date, Clinton is practically required to be a voice for the uninsured. Coleman had her own moment in the national spotlight as a proponent of univer- sal health care when she presented a report to Congress on behalf of the Institute of Medicine in 2004. She said, "The committee believes this is an urgent problem - work mustbegin immediately. There is no justifiable excuse for delay." However, there's one big difference between Clinton and Coleman: Clin- ton can back up her rhetoric. Granted, one is a U.S. presidential frontrunner and the other is auniversity president. However, Clinton has used her politi- cal clout in a strong effort to cover the estimated 47-50 million uninsured Americans - an effort that was maybe a little too strong when she was First Lady - while Coleman just spit out a lofty public statement about how someone else should do something. Coleman is exactly right, though: There is no excuse for the federal gov- ernment to drag its feet in ensuring that every American is insured. But Coleman and the University have the power to start small in the meantime by mandating that students who want to attend the University have health insurance. An estimated one-third of Ameri- ca's uninsured is between the ages of 18 and 24. A 2005 survey of students at the University's Ann Arbor campus found that 5.6 percent of undergradu- ate and 10.5 percent of graduate stu- dents were uninsured. Considering that there were roughly25,500 under- graduate and 14,500graduatestudents enrolled in the fall 2005 semester, that means about 2,950 students were uninsured. While international students are requiredto either prove they have cov- erage during their time in the United States or buy a University-sponsored plan, the University doesn't require the same of domestic students. The University offers the Domestic Stu- dent Health Insurance Plan for Amer- ican students, but the premium starts at an overwhelming $2,183 a year, a figure that has more than tripled in actual-value cost since the plan began in 1997 at $678. According to Karen Klever, super- visor of the University Health Service Managed Care/Student Insurance Office, UHS notes "a direct cor- relation between the decrease in membership and increases in the insurance premiums." For many students, who are young and healthy, the choice is obvious: Avoid the exorbitant premiums by going without health insurance. But the costs could be enormous. Trips to the emergency room can cost thou- sands of dollars, money that has to come from somewhere. While the University doesn't charge University hospital bills to student accounts, if students are stuck with tuition and medical bills without the money to pay both, it's a tough choice to make. Many choose to drop out in order to pay the medical expenses. If the University wants a solution, mandatory health insurance is all the rage. Similar to laws that mandate car insurance for all drivers, by forc- ing everyone to have health insurance and subsidizing the insurance for low- income people, these requirements expand the pool of healthy contribu- tors, reducing average costs. Further, by encouraging primary care instead of emergency care, unpaid hospital expenses plummet. Make everyone pitch in and you insure everyone, while cutting average costs. While states like Massachusetts, California and even Michigan are just getting in the game, universities have been doing this for a while. In a 2003 New York Times article, a health care consultant estimated that 25 percent of public universities and 90 percent of private universities require proof of health insurance in order to enroll. Matthew Sullivan of The Chicker- ing Group Inc., the insurance com- pany running the University's policy, explained to me that while insurance rates vary depending on a number of factors, mandating insurance has cer- tainly reduced premiums for students. According to its website, Florida State University, which recently started requiring all incoming freshmen to show proof of health insurance, has a policy with a premium that starts at $1,440 a year. How covering the uninsured can start with the 'U' Seemingly, the added bonus of mandating health insurance for stu- dents is that it can be figured into college expenses, allowing financial aid to cover the costs. According to The Chickering Group's website, Title IV of the 2004 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act allows students to use financial aid to pay health insurance costs, an incentive for students to buy insurance. Not only would mandating health insur- ance reduce costs, it could help cover some of those costs too. According to Klever, "The issue of requiring health insurance for stu- dent's attending the Ann Arbor Cam- pus is currently being reviewed." As Coleman said four years ago, though, there is no justifiable excuse for delay. Gary Graca is an associate editorial page editor. He can be reached at gmgraca@umich.edu. 6 0 f SAAMIR RAHMAN V P Hoping student activism will return ADAM FINKEL AND HAYLEY KALLENBERG A Washington education Bruce Wasserstein, who graduated from the University in 1967, has spearheaded a thousand business deals collectively valued at a quarter of a trillion dollars during his career. The most recent issue of Portfolio Magazine described his key strength: He is a generalist. Wasserstein has a wide spectrum of contacts and knowledge across diverse industries, as opposed to investors with "an extensive web of connections" largely lim- ited to a single industry. In a nation where the majority of educa- tion is standardized, it is increasingly useful to become academic generalists like Wasser- stein, exploring and discovering ideas across fields rather than limiting our thinking to a single discipline. The University's Michigan in Washington program is a case study in the innovative intellectual experiences we need as students. Through this program, 20 to 25 students live and work in a world-class city for the fall or winter semester, encountering new points of view and their own hidden passions. Living in Washington D.C. provides a truly interdisciplinary experience. Our nation's capital is brimming with rare opportunities and cultural adventures. Students can attend a U.S. Senate hearing in the morning, study in the magnificent reading rooms of the Library of Congress in the afternoon and experience the youthful culture of the Adams Morgan area, as well as a midnight monument tour in the evening. They can wake up on the weekend to a postcard view of the Washington Monu- ment, jog to the new World War II Memorial, visit one of the many ethnic festivals through- out the year and enjoy the campus spirit at Georgetown and George Washington uni- versities. From the Smithsonian to the White House, real world experience complements semester-long research and academic pursuits in the program. It's important to explore ideas in new set- tings. One of the best ways to stay curious about our world is to move to new locations and engage with unique cultures. Uniformity is ancient. Because the 21st century provides infinite opportunities to listen, click, watch and explore, it is increasingly valuable to learn how different people do and see things differently. But most of all, uniformity is un- American. Schools, museums, public forums and kickball games are all outlets that allow us to get out into a world and increase our social capital. If we understand the ways that other people make choices, the social fabric of this country will strengthen. For example, Wash- ington, D.C. is home to a great 'variety of people, including world-renowned scholars, celebrated political leaders, passionate artists and performers and, of course, the hundreds of interns who are the backbone of many busi- nesses and bureaucracies. Students come to learn and intern in the nation's capital from many universities throughout the country, participating in programs like Michigan in Washington. One of the greatest benefits of participating in such programs is getting the chance to meet other college students from around the country who share the desire to make an impact on our generation. Learning in Washington D.C. also immers- es students in the diverse heritage of Ameri- ca. It is one of the best places to study who we are as Americans, how we enact change as a society and where our nation is heading. Textbooks can only teach so much about the complexity of our government and the depth of our democracy; a true personal experi- ence is needed to grasp what it means to be an American. The World Economic Forum posed a question Thursday: "What Job Should My Child Take in a Globalizing Economy?" The responses collected by The New York Times included offering children a more flexible education to be adaptable and open to all cultures. Participating in a program like Michigan in Washington and the unique per- spectives that can be gained from it might offer not only a highly enjoyable semester, but also a payoff in life. Adam Finkel is an LSA senior. Hayley Kallenberg is an LSA junior. They were participants in the Michigan in Washington program in fall 2007. The deadline for applications is Friday, Feb. 1. Recently, several news items caused me to reflect on my four years at the University and won- der whether my glowing memories are truly representative of my time here or simply gilded by time and distance. I consider myself fortu- nate to have participated in many different aspects of the Univer- sity, engaging in tons of activities that had me organizing events and quarter-sheetingthe Diag with fer- vor, all because I believed the Uni- versity was a great place to engage and interact with other students. There were also downsides to my involvement. I watched divi- sion and discord entrench itself among the myriad, self-obsessed factions within student ranks. I bemoaned our fate as our admin- istration exploited the isolation of each of these interests so that it could more effectively marginalize the whole. But, like a ray of light shining through the clouds, I also saw the number of students dis- satisfied with these policies grow, spurred by an administration that purportedly represents them. Students are realizing that the status quo represents a truly bro- ken system. This alone gave me hope until April 2007, when mem- bers of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality were arrested in the president's office. I felt that, through my personal affil- iation with SOLE, I could aid mil- lions of workers worldwide in their struggle to empower themselves. We continuously fought an indif- ferent administration that seemed more preoccupied with inventing bureaucratic roadblocks to student participation in governance than leveraging its billions of dollars of potential to solve dire, real-world problems. Things came to a head when 12 fearless students, backed by a coalition of student groups, staged a sit-in within the confines of Uni- versity President Mary Sue Cole- man's office, demanding an end to the University's constant refusal to adopt a policy that would make apparel bearing the Block M logo sweat-free. Sit-ins became com- mon at the University in the 1960s, and as recently as 1999, students effectively used this tactic to com- pel the administration to listen. This was the "nuke" in our arsenal, the final means by which we could force them to acknowledge us not in loco parentis, but as equals. Rather than listen to her down- trodden constituents or respect their right to occupy a space of their choosing within the Uni- versity, a space with powerfully symbolic significance, Coleman enabled their arrest, citing post- Sept. 11 security regulations as the prima facia cause and cementing her fearsome reputation as the ava- tar of the Michigan Difference's corporate donors. I write this not to wax nostalgic but because within a year's time history is repeating itself. When I arrived at the Univer- sity in 2003, I remember Coleman delivered a convocation speech that claimed, "Your ultimate desti- nation at the University of Michi- gan is located about 100 yards from here, in Michigan Stadium, where we hold Commencement each spring." I guess my class should consider itself lucky for this boon, because while she kept her word to us, she failed our successors, the class of 2008. Once again, our administra- tion has betrayed our hopes and dreams, naive in its eyes, to better serve its corporate donors. This act is not aberrant but instead emblematic of what the University has become. Independent of the callous dis- regard for the faculty, the fans and the handicapped when pursuing luxury skyboxes at the Big House, the writing has been on the wall since before I enrolled. After so much idle time, the silently com- placent majority feels left with little to do but blame itself. Still, I cannot help but feel hope. It is a hope that students are not just placidly entering an abyss from which they can be neither seen nor heard, that this is a turning point for the University and that enough students are affected that change will start here. It is a hope that they will band together in unprec- edented numbers to demand that they no longer be silenced, that the series of disenfranchising injustic- es perpetuated against the student body be rectified and that this new coalition of students will never for- get this travesty and never again allow themselves to have their voices diminished and dispersed. Unfortunately, as an alum, all I have is hope. Students alone have the power to shape the University. Saamir Rahman is a University alum. 0 ROSE JAFFE .. . + + -4 0 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. A A