4A -Monday, January 7, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com y Mdiian Ba1l Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. I 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR KARL STAMPFL EDITOR IN CHIEF I have ... concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president:' - George McGovern, Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, in a Washington Post editorial Sunday. WYMAN KHUU ^ 1:N 1)11 SoWatd o Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at coverage and content in every sectionof the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. Following the trend 'U' should find a way to compete with Harvard's largesse H arvard wants to be your state university. In a bold move to attract more middle-class applicants, Harvard Uni- versity announced an expansion of its financial aid program last month, allowing families earning up to $180,000 a year to receive grant-based aid. Always the trendsetter, the move makes Harvard as affordable as public universities like our own, potentially drawing qualified applicants away from state schools and states that need them. Realistically, the University can't hope to match this kind of grant-based financial aid, but the model is still one to mimic. Hey there! Im Pepper. What's your name? Chiyo Fong .A. What do you want me to call you? 2r St you don't have an English name I No. I1llstick should call you? wit Chiy t 4 - ,, We've been there all along Harvard's new financial aid program is essentially a progressive tuition model. While tuition is the same, the actual cost of attending the university is reduced for lower-income students by offering grants to almost all students based on need. Unlike debt-accruing loan programs, which just postpone the cost of college for students, grant-based financial aid is immediate relief. Students now pay what they can afford, making Harvard just as accessible no matter how much money students' parents make. Understandably, Harvard's new program is out of the University of Michigan's or the state of Michigan's reach. Only a few pri- vate universities like Harvard can make this generous of an offer. The University, with an endowment of $7.1 billion, is at a slight disadvantage. Nonetheless, Harvard has raised the ante, stretching its commit- ment to become as affordable and accessi- ble as possible, and our university and state shouldn't back down., The fact that states cannot compete financially with a private institution like Harvard is an embarrassment. In our own state it shows how poorly Michigan has done in ensuring the availability of quality education at a reasonable cost. Despite the state's dire economic situation, it should still be able to deliver its promise of mak- ing Michigan a haven of higher education. If it doesn't, the state will only fall farther behind the rest of the country. The University should be doing its part as well. At the top of its priority list should be offering more grant-based loan packages, instead of burdensome loan-based pack- ages, and utilizing the endowment to meet this goal. Private donations to the Univer- sity often have earmarks designating their use for specific programs. Such donations are allocated to buildings, technology or specialty scholarships for instance. The Universityshould require apercentage of all donations to go directly to a general fund, making them available for financial aid. Along the same lines, the expansion of Harvard's financial aid program is spe- cifically designed to draw in students who would otherwise have never considered Harvard. The University should have the same commitment to economic diversity and accessibility. While extending finan- cial aid to families earning up to $180,000 is unrealistic, the University must make efforts to increase financial aid for a larger income bracket. Maybe the University can't be a trendset- ter like Harvard in developing a progres- sive, new tuition model. But together with state legislators, this is the University's opportunity to be another kind of trend- setter: the kind that proves making college affordable doesn't cost $35 billion. ne of the biggest stories to come out of the aftermath of the Iowa caucuses was the huge turnout of young voters. The day after the caucuses, papers were littered with ' breathless head- lines about what Time magazine called Obama's _ "Youth Vote Tri-A umph." As a head- ANNE line in The Nation VANDERMEY put it, "Young Peo- ple Just Made His- tory." People wondered aloud if they misjudged the generation that seems to get more excited about Facebook than about the war in Iraq. But what's getting lost in all the talk about the unprecedented num- ber of youth voters is that, relatively speaking, turnout for the 17- to 29- year-olds bracket shouldn't have been so shocking. Data compiled by Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, a non-profit group focused on youth civic and political involvement, shows that while Democratic youth turnout was substantially higher than that of Republicans, the total percentage of caucus-goers under the age of 30 was 18 percent, up just one percentage point from 2004. What this means is that while the youth vote did go up dramatically, so did everyone else's vote. The real story is that turnout was up, not that youth turnout was up. Last weekend's narrative that young people have finally shaken off the stranglehold of apathy that had seemingly gripped our generation, while inspirational, rings a little hollow. We were never that detached to begin with. Sure, there aren't protests on the Diag like there used to be. But even in 1972, the general election voter turn- out for people under age 30 was only about 55 percent - not that much higher than it is now. The worst years for youth voter turnout since then were also the lowest for the rest of the population: 1996 and 2000. Even in those two years, the rates hovered around 40 percent. Once our genera- tion reached the voting age in 2004, turnout again jumped to almost 50 percent. The truth is, kids these days aren't as apathetic as the pundits think we are. What does this mean for the Demo- cratic victor in Iowa, Barack Obama? First, as far as the primaries go, his emphasis on the youth vote was well placed. With 57 percent caucusing for him, young voters gave a more resounding endorsement to Obama than evangelical Christians did to Mike Huckabee, and that's saying something. Young voters did make the difference Friday, but not because of some miracle of turnout - more likely it was because they voted as more of a block. Second,becausethehighvoterturn- outwas the continuationofatrend, not a statistical blip, Obama need not fret about youth in the general election. Young voters will turn out, just like they always have. Plus, youth turnout is on a clear upswing, so there's no real reason to think it won't continue rising even above 2004 numbers. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean Obama would have an easy ride in the general election. As John Kerry could tell you, the youth vote isn't every- thing. In 2004, Kerry owed his loss largely to social conservatives voting for the controversial constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage that also appeared on many ballots, not because youth voters abandoned him. A lot has changed since 1972. Now that Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality isn't stripping down rugby players outside the Flem- ing Administration Building anymore, compelling student protest has all but disappeared. The only Diag gathering of any real significance this year was the Go Blue, Beat OSU Pep Rally, and a lot of good it did us. Still, weighted for population, young people made up a larger percent of the electorate in the 2004 presidential election than they ever have before - more than even in 1972, when 18-year-olds got the vote. That's impressive, especially consider- ing we didn't even live through a draft. Our generation wasn't apathetic in the first place. Still, it's probably wise for the Obama campaign to keep thinking about young voters the way it has in the past, as "icing on the cake." Obama can't rock the student vote all the way to the White House any more than Clinton could rely on her stron- gest demographic of older, married women to take her all the way - and they account for more of the popula- tion than the 17-29 year old bracket. Obama will get a boost if he can ride the already upward trend of youth turnout without making it a compre- hensive strategy, and it's possible that it could make the difference. After all, who wants to eat a cake without icing? Anne VanderMey is the Daily's magazine editor. She can be reached at vandermy@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Jon Cohen, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. STUDENTS FOR BIDEN, EDWARDS AND OBAMA r' For change, vote uncommited We're not quite there yet When voters cast their ballots, they deserve the opportunity to choose between all of the candidates. Due to the recent controversy about the Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, one week from tomorrow Michigan voters will not be allowed to directly cast votes for Demo- cratic presidential candidates Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden or Bill Richardson. It is around this common dilemma that Stu- dents for Obama, Students for Edwards and Students for Biden have united. We encourage voters to cast a vote that will allow them to support not one, but all four of the candidates who will not appear on the Michigan ballot. This year, the primary election is going to work a little differently than it has in the past. When you enter a polling location you will be asked whether you would prefer a Democratic or Republican ballot. The Democratic ballot will have alistoffour candidates: Hillary Clin- ton, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. The ballot will also have an option to write-in a candidate ortto vote uncommitted. We encourage students to vote Democrat- ic. We also encourage all voters supporting Barack Obama, John Edwards or Bill Rich- ardson to vote uncommitted. Joe Biden has withdrawn from the race, and students sup- porting his campaign are encouraged to make a decision about the remaining candidates and vote accordingly. By voting uncommitted you will elect delegates who have the option to cast a vote for anyone at the Democratic National Convention. Michigan rules permit local party conventions to select these del- egates, allowing the Obama, Edwards and Richardson campaigns to organize their sup- porters to elect delegates who would support them at the national convention. It is important to note that you cannot write in a vote for any of these four candi- dates because they have not requested to be considered write-in candidates. All write-in votes for Obama, Edwards, Biden or Richard- son will be disregarded. As the leaders of our respective groups on campus, we also feel that it is our duty to encourage students to vote. Young voters had a major impact on Thursday's Iowa cau- cuses and delivered a tremendous victory to candidates who want change. Their votes propelled Obama to victory in Iowa and gave Edwards a stunning second-place finish over Clinton. Both Obama and Edwards symbolize a break from the business-as-usual approach in politics by refusing to accept money from lobbyists and opposing the status quo. After a principled run, Biden withdrew from the presidential race after the Iowa caucuses, but continues to fight for the American people in the U.S. Senate. Bill Richardson finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses and is continuing his campaign in New Hampshire. This election is one of the most important in our history. After eight years of President Bush, voters must ask themselves whether they want more of the same or if they would like a new and refreshing approach to poli- tics. In this election, student voters have the potential to be a catalyst for change. Student voters also have the opportunity to deliver a break from the past and send the Democratic Party into a new and better future. Please remember to vote uncommitted on Tuesday, Jan. 15. This viewpoint was written by Travis Radina. Radina is chair of the University's chapter of Students for Edwards. Tom Duvall and Justin Schon co-signed it. Duvall is chair of the University's chapter of Students for Obama. Schon is chair of the University's chapter of Students for Biden. OnThursday afternoon it wasn't looking good for Barack Obama. The pun- dits were fore- casting that his chances of win- ning Iowa hinged on young caucus-j goers, mostly col- 3 lege students. He - was begging young people to come out, KARL asking out-of-state STAMPFL students to return from their breaks early to caucus for him, to sleep in college gymnasiums and to bring their friends. To a person who has seen stu- dents' half-hearted attempts at activ- ism firsthand, that sounded like a naive strategy. Young people gener- ally don't vote. Sometimes they get together on the Diag and shout about something until they have homework to do. Sometimes they join Facebook groups. Sometimes they write col- umns in their campus newspapers. Then on Thursday night students did a peculiar thing. They logged off of Facebook. They put their summer internship searches on hold. They bundled up. They got into cars and buses, a small group of people repre- senting a generation of people, trav- eling through the cornfields and the cold, on their way to farmhouses and high school gyms. They caucused. Some in the news media have cel- ebrated this as a generational upris- ing fit for Hollywood. By listening to them, you might believe the nation's youth have come out of the Iowa corn like the long-dead baseball players in "Field of Dreams." It's hard not to be romantic aboutthis, but it's important to be a little skeptical. According to some reports, youth turnout at the caucuses increased dramatically from 2004, tripling to 65,000 among 17- to 29-year-olds. Obama commanded more than 50 percent of those voters on the Demo- cratic side, propelling him to an eight- point victory over John Edwards and a nine-point triumph (there's really no other word) over Hillary Clinton. Turnout among people of all ages was up from 124,000 in 2004to about 240,000 this year among Democrats and from 87,666 in 2000 to about 116,000 this year among Republicans. The increases were products of the wide-open, emotional race, but also of the roughly 44,000 extra young people. In student-dominated areas the turnout was especially dramatic, boosting Obama. A precinct in Des Moines near Drake University with 279 caucus-goers four years ago had 444 this year. In Ward One, which includes Grinnell College, Obama won 21 of 37 delegates. But is the surprising turnout of young voters a new trend or a fluke? We'llfind out more during the spring Michigan Student Assembly election, in this fall's state Senate elections and in the next Ann Arbor mayoral elec- tion - and during the general election, especiallyif Obama isn't nominated. Obama drew many of those young voters. In a lot of ways, he's the ideal candidate for students. He's 46 years old. He's attractive. He's biracial. His selling point .is hope, something we still have alotof.HillaryClinton's sell- ing point is the fear of change, some- thing we don't have a lot of. In short, he's the best of us. He's the America we're not yet too jaded to believe in. The real test for student turnout is yet to come. When the options aren't as stark - or as emotional - as Obama (the new guard) and Clinton (the old guard), will young people still come out to vote? One thing that is clear: If young people want to have the power to change things - things as global as America's strategy in a volatile Paki- stan or as local as an Ann Arbor City Council decision to ban couches from porches - they have to vote. There's nothing Hollywood about that. Karl Stampfl is the Daily's editor in chief. He can be reached at kstampfl@umich.edu. A 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 righttto edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Send viewpoint submissions to editpage.editors aunich.edu, or contact the editors at that address to arrange one in advance. A LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should rE be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.