40
4A - Monday, April 14, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
fy iiigan Bat*1
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
He is not the Jackson Pollock of the
ecclesiastical world:'
-Cardinal John Foley, comparing Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives to America tomorrow for a visit,
to expressist painter Jackson Pollack, as reported yesterday by The New York Times.
Remainders
I
ANDREW GROSSMAN
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GARY GRACA
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
GABE NELSON
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 critical look at
coverage and contentin every section oftthe paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor
with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu.
Neutralizing a problem
'U' should adopt gender-neutral housing, not fall behind
Beginning this year, several of the nation's top schools have
started offering gender-neutral housing options. But while
schools like Dartmouth College and Stanford University are
leading the way, the University of Michigan has remained passive
on this issue so far, attributing its inactivity to a lack of demand. But
the University must be proactive in creating a welcoming, progres-
sive environment for transgender students.
've run out of columns. Here's
what's left in my notebook:
1.The University adminis-
tration still hasn't
released admissions
data for next year's
entering class - the
first full class after
Proposal 2 passed, W
which means
admissions officers
can't use race- and
gender-based pref- K
erences to evaluate
applicants. Instead, STAMPFL
the administration
is pretending that
the admissions office is too busy to
compile statistics at least until May.
Apparently it's significantly busier
than last year, when it released four
sets of statistics to the media, the first
in February.
Here's my question: Is the admin-
istration making excuses to delay the
release of the information because
the minority admissions rate is too
low (a public relations disaster that
could prompt some admitted under-
represented minorities to pick another
school before the May 1 deadline), the
minority admissions rate is too high
(could invite dangerous legal scrutiny),
or is there another reason administra-
tors are lying?
2. Tony Vuljaj - who as a freshman
was blamed for a denial-of-service
attack on a rival student government
party's website during the conten-
tious 2006 election - has had quite
an undergraduate career. He's been
dragged through the mud in the Daily
and other local media and has pled
guilty to two felony charges all because
he took the fall for a scandal that was
clearlythe initiative of party elders.
"Just following orders" isn't always
a good explanation, but when you're
a freshman in college it sometimes
is. When you're an upperclassman,
though, and you convince some ambi-
tious underclassman to use his com-
puter to launch an illegal attack on a
website and then let said underclass-
man suffer the consequences while
you hide behind anonymity, there
aren't many good excuses for you.
3. Alum Arthur Miller once said
that what he learned at the University
of Michigan was how much he did not
know. Freshmen, most of you still have
three years left: Let's see if you can
learn that, too.
4. The collegiate kingmaker, U.S.
News and World Report, is consider-
ing changes to its college rankings
system. The proposed tweaks - most
notably, asking high school counselors
to evaluate colleges - are being billed
as responses to last year's avalanche
of complaints from college presidents.
But the problem with the rankings is
not that they're inaccurate. of course
they're inaccurate. How could anyone
possibly quantify the quality of such
goliath, complex institutions? The
problem is their influence.
I can say without a doubt that I
would not be at this university with-
out the power of those rankings (you
don't have to decide whether that's
a good or a bad thing until the end of
this column). Too often these rank-
ings are used as substitutes for real
research into a college choice, and it's
not enough to ask students and parents
to use them as a supplement, because
their indirect effect is stronger than
their direct effect. You don't have to
ever seea copy of the magazine to have
the idea that this university is ranked
about 25th in the nation. They shaped
public opinion long ago and then com-
menced an afterlife of issuing self-ful-
filling prophecies.
So the presidents can complain all
they want and the magazine can tweak
all it wants. Won't make a difference.
5. As I spend my last week at the
University, I can't help wondering
exactly how good, of an undergradu-
ate education this school offers. It's
hard to argue with the quality of the
University's professional programs
(the business, engineering, medical
and law schools). But is it too easy for
some undergrads to skate through
a liberal arts education without too
much academic effort while still com-
piling a grade point average above 3.0
and receiving a diploma with the Uni-
versity seal on it? Probably.
6. I've been critical of the University
in this space, but something needs to
be said about the wonder of what goes
on here.
Next time you're standing on the
Diag, imagine what it would be like to
zoom out and see the University from
above. Think about the incredible
things happening on campus. In one
room of Angell Hall a class is study-
ing Shakespeare's "Henry IV" and in
the next a class is studying deleterious
recessive genes. Another class is dis-
cussingtheEdictofNantesindetail.On
Thoughts that
didn't fit into
previous columns
North Campus engineers are invent-
ing the next big thing. At the Medical
School someone is trying to figure out
how to distribute antiretroviral drugs
to developing countries. Someone is
thinking great thoughts in the Law
Library about the correct interpre-
tation of the Fourth Amendment. In
Espresso Royale on State Street people
are arguing about the U.S. Senate vot-
ing records of Barack Obama and John
McCain with astounding specific-
ity while someone else is still cham-
pioning Ron Paul. On South Campus
world-class athletes are preparing for
the Olympics. One of the world's great
pianists is performing in Hill Audito-
rium. In the hospital people are being
born and people are dying and people
are being saved.
All in all, it's a pretty good place.
Karl Stampfl was the Daily's fall/
winter editor in chief in 2007. He can
be reached at kstampfl@umich.edu.
4
The main goal of instituting gender-
neutral housing policies has been to foster
a more comfortable environment for stu-
dents who do not strongly identify with any
gender. In traditional residence hall set-
tings, situations many of us take for grant-
ed like choosing which bathroom to use
become difficult. The University currently
has options in place upon request for trans-
gender students, demonstrating its initial
commitment to the cause. But nine schools
across the country have decided that being
welcoming requires more than minimal
accommodations and are now offering gen-
der-neutral housing.
The University's justification for hold-
ing out is that there is not enough student
demand for gender-neutral housingto merit
a change in its policies. But it is likely that
incoming freshmen are not even aware that
there could be such an option, and older
students often opt to move out of the dorms
instead of trying to change the system. To
break out of this cycle, the University must
actively promote gender-neutral housing
to give incoming students more - and bet-
ter - options. The University already gives
students options with its learning commu-
nities like the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program,
and this would be a change in that spirit.
Naturally, taking gender out of the hous-
ing equation offers transgender students
an equal opportunity of finding a comfort-
able living situation. But the potential ben-
efits extend to the rest of the student body
as well. In addition to giving freshmen the
same housing freedom afforded to upper-
classmen outside the dorms, gender-neu-
tral housing presents a valuable learning
experience for students.
Admittedly, gender-neutral housing is
not without its concerns, at least for some
people. Gender-neutral housing could allow
unmarried students of opposite genders to
cohabitate, threatening traditional sexual
morality. But the University has no obliga-
tion to enforce antiquated norms. Gender-
neutral housing is a long-overdue change
that shouldn't be halted because some peo-
ple fear it could degrade an already chang-
ing social tradition. Besides, students can
live together in off-campus housing already,
so what's the difference?
Of possibly greater concern is the chance
that people won't understand what gen-
der-neutral housing is and won't be inter-
ested. There is one obvious solution to this
problem: education. Prospective students
aren't making their housing choices with-
out looking the different options. If the
University provides the necessary infor-
mation, it should go a long way to ease lin-
gering hesitations.
As a self-proclaimed progressive insti-
tution, the University should be one of the
first universities to offer gender-neutral
housing, instead of waiting until the issue
is safe. Holding back on facilitating a more
progressive, hospitable environment for its
students until it's pushed to do otherwise
is not the University of Michigan way. And
it's not a good example to set.
I
WANT TO BE AN OPINION COLUMNIST DURING THE SUMMER OR FALL?
E-MAIL GARY GRACA AT GMGRACA@UMICH.EDU
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Emad Ansari, Harun Buljina, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Milly Dick, Mike Eber,
Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Imran Syed,
Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa.
.-0
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Solving the "core issue"
without violent measures
TO THE DAILY:
As our university looks toward next
semester, we must seek new expecta-
tions for campus dialogue on contentious
issues. As progressive students eager
to live in a world of equality, we must
understand that violence against civil-
ians is never a legitimate method to attain
a goal. When the authors of Thursday's
viewpoint about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict wrote of the Palestinians' use of
terrorism to fight for a Palestinian state
as "not the cause, but the symptom of the
core issue," they sought to justify a means
that will never lead to a productive end
(Focusing on the core issue, 04/10/2008).
If the Palestinian goal is to achieve "free-
dom, equality, and self-determination,"
then Palestinians must recognize that
using violence is both irresponsible and
ineffective.
Granted, the writers of the viewpoint
acknowledged the necessity for co-exis-
tence, and the significance of this dec-
laration should not go unrecognized.
However, the plea is delegitimized when
they write, "Until there is equality, we
can only expect more vengeful violence."
Since when, in modern society, is violence
expected? And worse, accepted?
No country in the world other than
Israel would ever be asked to sacrifice the
security of its citizens to assist a commu-
nity that denies its existential rights. The
Israeli government must protect its peo-
ple (a diverse populace which includes
many Muslims, Christians, atheists,
Bahai, Druze, Arabs, Africans, Europe-
ans, Asians and Americans, among oth-
ers), and has every right to defend itself
against acts of terror. Israel does not have
the right to inflict human rights violations
on innocent people, but its ability to deal
with security threats is often jeopardized
by the fact that Hamas (an integral part
of the Palestinian governing coalition
and, as far as America and many Euro-
pean countries are concerned, a terrorist
organization) uses innocent Palestinians
as "human shields" by sheltering their
rocket launchers and militants among
civilians. Were Hamas to undertake non-
violent resistance instead of endangering
thelives of Israelis and Palestinians,there
is no doubt a Palestinian state would be
created quickly.
Mahatma Gandhi may have been
opposed to the creation of Israel, as the
viewpoint quoted him as writing, but
he would undeniably be dismayed at the
methods used by the Palestinian leader-
ship to reverse whathas been established. who place America's military at risk to
The "core issue" is not the establishment further their own self-interests, all the
of the State of Israel, but rather a question while advocating others to fight and die
of how the Palestinian people can gain in their places.
autonomy in a productive way, given the
current realities on the ground. Terror- Aaron Bailey
ism has only accomplished a stalemate of Business School
bloodshed on both sides. New, more rea- The letter writerservedasan infantry officer with
sonable tactics are in order. a Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan
from May to November 2007 He is the Michigan
Rachel Goldstein state captain of VoteVets.org an organization
LSA sophomore representingIraq and Afghanistan veterans.
The letter writer isan executive board member of
theAmerican MovementforIsrael
If YAF wants to help
Americajoin theArmy
A new rac
long-need
TO THE DAILY:
After readin
Thursday abot
TO THE DAILY: can/Middle Ea
I read Wednesday's viewpoint by the ethnicity sectio
University's chapter of Young Americans tions (Students
for Freedom with both surprise and dis- 04/10/2008), I'
gust (The war at home, 04/09/2008). The ect: Check It ai
one clear idea that resonated through- Assembly for pa
out the viewpoint was YAF's gung-ho, this new check
pro-war, chicken-hawk agenda and tative Muhamn
its contempt for the soldiers who are news story abo
actually fighting the wars in Iraq and (Tuition allocati
Afghanistan. While YAF used the typical 04/09/2008), s1
neo-conservative tactics of mentioning aren't white.
the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (which As an Arab,l
our own government has determined that I'm not wh
had no links to Iraq), discussing the sup- orthink I'm joki
pression of minority rights (although the and half Polish.
Bush administration continues to support sions of Eastern
the Saudi Royal Family's despotic regime) tury, some Mon,
and continually using words like "free- genome, leavin
dom" to describe its agenda, this group mark for many:
did not speak for me as a veteran. thal eye fold, a s
War, unfortunately, is a complex and inner corner of t
occasionally necessary way to confront makes me part
the greed, corruption and evil in our me less than 50
world. But chastising an entire region by Many Arabs
calling mainstream Middle Easterners like having to i
"jihadists," many of whom I served with, cial documents
only serves to unnecessarily enflame the should be awai
disaffected population I worked to assist. racial identity.
If YAF really wants to help our country,
I encourage its members to visit www. AdamAjlouni
goarmy.com and join the "brothers and LSA junior
sisters" the group claims to support. In
lieu of that, perhaps YAF will advocate Graduati
deploying troops with proper equipment,
a clear mission and veteran's benefits survey to
when they return from war, something
the group's fellow neo-cons forgot.
Make no mistake, the people who TO THE DAILY:
attacked us were, and still are, in the Overthe next
mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. will receive an
But for reasons unclear to me, my com- of the Provosti
mander in chief has decided to ignore Senior Survey.'
these threats. YAF's members continue the survey's pu
to cover for our incompetent leaders, to the online su
e box is a
led option
g the front-page article
ut adding "North Afri-
stern" to the race and
an of admissions applica-
push for new race option,
would like to thank Proj-
nd the Michigan Student
assing a resolution to add
box. As MSA represen-
mad Alghanem said in a
ut the topic Wednesday
ons to shift for undergrads,
tudents from that region
I tell people all the time
ite, but people often scoff
0ng. I'm actually half Arab
During the Mongol inva-
n Europe in the 13th cen-
gols mixed into the Polish
g at least one indelible
Polish people: the epican-
mall flap of skin along the
he eye, which I have. This
Mongolian too and makes
percent white.
myself included, don't
dentify as white on offi-
. I think the University
re of and recognize our
ng seniors, take
improve 'U'
tweek, graduatingseniors
e-mail from the Office
inviting them to fill out a
The message will explain
rpose and provide a link
rvey. Participation is vol-
untary, but as the co-directors of this country until las
survey project we encourage everyone rest of this unit
to take part. The Class of 2008 is the first oblivious. Furt
complete graduating class in more than a that because stu
decade to be surveyed in this way. We are this universityv
hoping to hear from students enrolled in most likelyto ho
every undergraduate school and college. policies, and be
The survey will ask about your future change," Surles
plans and key aspects of your under- supposedly chal
graduate experience. What are we hoping In the future,
to get out of this survey? The University a bit more timet
will use the results to learn more about through before
undergraduate education from the stu- and arrange st
dent point of view, and target improve- own arbitrary st
ment areas for future students. This can
only happen, however, if students take Jacob Nathan
the time to share their perspectives. LSA senior
We hope that when the invitation
arrives, you will give it your consider- Standard
ation. It can be taken at your convenience
over the Internet and should take less hut not m
than 20 minutes. Please know that your
responses will be kept confidential. As
a further incentive and a token of our TO THE DAILY:
appreciation, we will randomly select I find it hard
seven participants to win either one of umn last Mond
four $50 gift certificates or one of three notice the obv
$100 gift certificates redeemable atAma- his point about
zon.com. standards for at
st week does not mean the
versity is as frighteningly
hermore, by suggesting
dents who have attended
will be "the ones who are
ld the Senate seats, shape
in positions that affect
plays into elitism that she
lenges.
I hope that Surles spends
hinking these large issues
attempting to pigeonhole
udents according to her
tandards.
Is for athletes,
inorities?
to believe that in his col-
lay Karl Stampfl did not
vious parallels between
t not lowering academic
thletes and the argument
tive action (The scandal
/07/2008). While I agree
es admitted to the Univer-
n't keep up academically,"
hat some under-qualified
ed because of affirmative
erform at a level neces-
he University.
mpfl support affirmative
e same time label the low-
ion standards for athletes
Ben van der Pluijm and Karen Zaruba
van der Pluijm is a professor ofgeology and is the
director of the Global Change Program. Zaruba
is the senior counselor to the provost and a senior
institutional research analyst.
Students are more aware
than often given credit
against affirma
that wasn't, 04,
that someathlet
sity "simply can
it is also true tl
students admitt
action cannot p
sary to attendt
How can Sta
action and at thi
ering of admissi
as a problem?
TO THE DAILY:
In response to Ashlea Surles's column Zack Divozzo
Friday about the prevalence of illiteracy LSAfreshman
and poverty in America (America's other
reality, 04/11/2008), I would like to state
my disdain for the piece's condescend-
ing, pedantic tone and lack of meaning-
ful sentiment.
Like several of Surles's previous
columns, the article was full of gross
oversimplifications and suggested that
individuals from "society's middle and LETTERS
upper crust" are blissfully unaware of Readers are:
problems plaguing this nation like pov- letters to the e
erty, illiteracy and educational discrepan- less than 300'
cies. I find this line of reasoning offensive, the writer's fu
narrow-minded and reductive. affiliation. Al
To suggest that students from the
middle and upper class arrive at this property of thf
university as mindless drones, gleefully anonymous I
skipping through life without a care in tothed,
the world, belies the diverse student body
and the work being done to make college
more inclusive. Just because Surles was
unaware of illiteracy's prominence in this
TO THE EDITOR:
encouraged to submit
ditor. Letters should be
words and must include
ill name and University
1 submissions become
e Daily. We do not print
etters. Send letters to
aily@umich.edu.
I 4
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