4A - Monday, March 2, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com.
c l e c4Awigan ailm
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GARY GRACA ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
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.
FROMT E DAILY
Unreasonable costs
'U' must avoid burdening students with higher tuition
n Friday, presidents of Michigan universities lobbied before.
state legislators, asking for more funding from the state. The
response was less than promising, with Rep. Bob Genetski
(R-Saugatuck) wondering aloud if it's worth funding both Eastern
Michigan University and the University of Michigan's teaching pro-
grams if they're only a few miles away. This attitude from legislators
is troubling because funding decreases will force individual univer-
sities to pick up the slack - and the University, for its part, has grown
accustomed to passing these costs onto the students. At a time when
maintaining the quality and accessibility of a college education is
more important than ever, the state and the University must avoid
leaving students with the short end of the financial stick.
I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak.
My message to them is this: So am I."
- President Barack Obama, predicting opposition from insurance, oil and gas companies to his
plans for health care, energy and education, as reported yesterday by the New York Times.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI OUT T PASTURE E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU
Yeah Didne ego
Dd you hear President something Iikw 'Let me say Allthat was missing was the
Obama speak about his Iraq this as plainly as I can: by g suitWandthe "Mission
plan break? August 31, 201 en. our t Accomplshed" banner.
missionsin Iraq will esdr
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Michigan universities are facing a pro-
posed 3 percent cut in funding, as part of
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's recent higher
education budget proposal. Granholm also
called on state universities to freeze tuition,
with the hope that federal stimulus money
willhelp tomake up the difference.And with
the passage of President Barack Obama's
stimulus package, nearly $14 billion will be
added to the $16 billion already available in
the Federal Pell Grant program. .
But even though the federal government
has increased funding for Pell Grants, it
remains to be seen whether the increase will
make a significant difference for students.
The extra funds will increase the maximum
loan by about $700 and also will increase the
number of recipients, while the average allo-
cation of funds will increase by about $200
in 2009-10 and $400 by 2010-11. Additional
money for students is always welcome but
in the large scheme of things, this will only
impact a small number of students.
"The extra federal money will have lit-
tle impact in light of proposed significant
funding cuts at the state level. Granholm is
in an admittedly tough position, but reduc-
ing funding for higher education will be
bad for the state economy. Michigan needs
a college-educated workforce to carry its
economy and industries into the 21st cen-
tury. The state economy will never catch up
if Michigan students are kept out of college
because of escalating tuition.
In the past few years, the University's
answer to any budgetary issue has been to
raise tuition. Tuition has already gone up
a nauseating 34.6 percent in the past four
years, and it's long past time to stop that
trend. There are certainly other areas in
which the University can pinch pennies
without compromisingeducationalintegrity,
even if the state deals it a decrease in fund-
ing. Raising tuition should not be an option
for the University at this point - students
just can't afford it, and the cost of tuition is
becoming a barrier to attending college.
Provost Teresa Sullivan, foreseeing an
outcry from students, has again created a
committee with the goal of hearing a student
perspective on the issue. But the University
administration needs to actually listen to the
feedback it receives, and the message from
students couldn't be clearer - tuition must
not increase. The administration shouldn't
need a committee to realize this.
Bobby Jindal told a beautiful
story. Are we all terrible people
for ignoring it?
In his Republi-
can response fol-
lowing President
Barack Obama's
address to Con-
gress on Tuesday,
Louisiana's gov-
ernor was many
things. Chief
among them, as IMRAN
any number of
YouTube compila-
tions will attest,
was awkward.
Attempting to emulate the genial calm
and folksiness of Ronald Reagan, the
generally eloquent Jindal misfired
badly. From Mr. Rogers to "Sesame
Street" to Kenneth the Page from "30
Rock," Jindal's slow, halting over-
enunciations and his robotic Southern
drawl have drawn numerous unflatter-
ing (but painfully fair) comparisons.
But even aside from tone, the speech
was also errant in substance. Jin-
dal cited the response to Hurricane
Katrina as an example of how govern-
ment has failed us, but he failed to note
that the chief problem was the Repub-
lican administration and the corners it
had cut in terms of both preparedness
and response capability. Smugly, he
mocked plans for a light-rail line from
Las Vegas to Los Angeles as a wasteful,
exorbitant use of tax dollars - despite
the fact that Americans overwhelm-
ingly support expansion of regional
mass-transit systems.
Perhaps most nauseating of all, Jin-
dal - governor of the state that nearly
saw its largest city wiped off the map
in a major natural disaster - actually
mocked funding "something called vol-
cano monitoring." As a friend of mine
commented during the speech, "the
cognitive dissonance: It is delicious."
But even if the 90 percent of Jindal's
speech that has been widely lambasted
was an utter miscalculation, that still
leaves the 10percent that was supposed
to be the main focus. Entitled "Ameri-
cans Can Do Anything," the speech
was supposed to highlight Jindal's
(parents') immigrant roots, and engen-
der those warm, fuzzy feelings Ameri-
cans tend to get from such stories.
As Jindal recounted his parents'
wonder at America's stocked shelves,
boundless opportunities and friendly
people, it should have been easy for all
of us, immigrant or not, to get caught
up in the moment (again, lethally sac-
charine tone aside). One assumes the
speech was meant to inspire us all in
our nation's dark hour by reminding
us of the high regard in which people
across the world hold America - or at
least once did.
This gets at the main point that Jin-
dal seems to have missed completely:
this isn't the nineteenth or twentieth
centuries. Long gone are the days when
bleary-eyed foreigners, exhausted
from a fruitless day of toil and hard-
ship, would look to the distant shores
of America for relief, redemption and
prosperity.
Today is far removed from 1959,
when my grandfather boarded ship,
plane, train and bus to get to college in
Carbondale, Ill. It's' also far removed
from 1971, when Jindal's own father
and mother settled in Baton Rouge,
also for an education. Today, illegal
immigrants are actually leaving this
country voluntarily because they can't
find jobs.
Consider the full sadness of Jindal's
errant perception of what America
needed to hear from the Republican
party: Jindal was selected to give the
Republican response because he was a
fresh, different face for the party that
has become known for its blandness
and whiteness. He was to inspire and
awe (like Obama at the 2004 Demo-
cratic National Convention) with his
colorful life story, one so uniquely
American that it has become a rarity in
the GOP
And he failed. Badly.
Not only did he fail, but in his failure
Jindal showed himself to be just as out
of touch and imperceptive to America's
role in the world today as anyone else
in his imploding party. It was quite the
death blow to a party that thought it
had found its own articulate savior of
color.
No, we are not terrible people, for d
completely discounting the story
Bobby Jindal told. Far from it, the
fact that viewers didn't get caught up
in the poetic beauty masking an all-
too-familiar (failed), anti-government
4
A speech painfully
lacking in both
tone and substance.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca,
Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke,
Sutha K Kanagasingam, Shannon Kellman, Edward McPhee, Matthew Shutler,
Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder
ideology shows that we've grown up
as a nation. Where it would have once
been taboo for compassionate people
to mock a man who told his immi-
grant story, our nation has emerged
to a point where we can ask "Okay and
so what?" without feeling the guilt of
ethnocentrism.
Perhaps this is the first sign of the
post-racial society we all believed
Obama's election had initiated. Obvi-
ously, this nation has a long way to go,
and it is unfortunate that Jindal had to
bethefirstcasualty,buthemayrecover.
As we approach the day when minori-
ties will collectively be the majority
in this country, our nation is better off
knowing that a bad policy is a bad pol-
icy, no matter how far away its espous-
er's parents may have been born.
- Imran Syed was the Daily's
editorial page editor in 2007. He can
be reached at galad@umich.edu.
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Early spring break
with many benefits
comes "familial obligations f
travel plans difficult.
As for minglingA
ing new ones during
communal break -
TO THE DAILY: their breaks differer
After reading the Daily's editorial (Breaking the University could
with tradition, 02/19/2009), I felt compelled to coincide with more t
defendthe University's springbreak scheduling schools.
practices. First,-to me, bisecting the semester Furthermore, sch
into two equal halves seems downright logical. spring break seasor
Having a weeklong hiatus in between two sev- that traveling is con
en-week sections of school seems pretty ideal. dents and their fami
Also, because the University's winter break ness substantial rate
is relatively short compared to many other times, of and traditio
schools, and Thanksgiving break is nearly non- included.
existent, it's nice to have a break with no other
commitments. Scheduling spring break dur- Xander Hargraves
ing, say, Easter would most likely have certain LSA senior
for many students, making
with old friends and mak-
some kind of inter-school
well, all schools schedule
atly, and there is no way
schedule spring break to
han just a handful of other
eduling the break before
n is in full swing means
siderably cheaper for stu-
lies. Any destinations wit-
hikes during peak season
'nal spring break times are
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must
include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Letters are edited for style, length, clarity and
accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters.
Send letters to tothedoily@umich.edu.
JANE COASTON W T
MSA needs to be worth our money
4
As the Michigan Student Assembly examines its future on campus,
the Daily would like students to voice their opinions
on what should be a part of its agenda.
E-MAIL YOUR IDEAS TO ROBERT SOAVE AT RSOAVE@UMICH.EDU.
JASON MAHAKIAN E-MAIL JASON AT MAHAKIAJ@UMICH.EDU
-.
10
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,es i
It's been a tough few weeks for the Michigan Student
Assembly. From the Gaza resolution debacle to the hub-
bub over party structure, it's clear that whatever MSA is
doing isn't working. Though we at the Michigan Review
generally choose to completely ignore MSA, I think it's
time to step in and give my thoughts on the matter.
The problem is that MSA, for whatever reason, thinks
that the student body cares about what it does. But look
at the facts - fewer than ten percent of the student body
votes in MSA elections. Granted, that's our fault. This
lack of voter turnout means the tiny group of people who
are actually interested in sitting in MSA chambers and
voting on whether or not to have a Homecoming parade
basically elect themselves. But let's be honest here: just
because we don't care about who's elected doesn't mean
that we aren't ticked off by the rampant disregard for
actual student issues. There are a multitude of concerns
that MSA might attempt to answer, from the mundane -
why does it take the length of the third Godfather movie
to catch a Michigan bus on a weekend? - to the vital -
how much does this University expect my family to pay
for tuition? But apparently, MSA's time is better spent
organizing events (that no one attends) and issuing state-
ments on world affairs (because Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert obviously cares what MSA thinks). So here's
what its new plan should be: do its job.
The true purpose of the student government is to bring
the concerns of students to the administrative wing of the
University. In the era of the "research university" this
means reminding those who hold the Uniyersity's purse
strings who they're really here to serve: students. During
an economic downturn, the University must realize that
without providing greater help to the students, it will lose
its only paying customers. MSA should push the Univer-
sity to allocate funding for projects that benefit as many
undergraduate and graduate students as possible. Here's
a hint: maybe tearing down buildings and then building
new buildings in the exact same place isn't the best idea.
MSA needs to be a steward of student funds. Every
year, we give MSA about eight dollars. Does anyone
know where it goes? Nope. Think of how much money
that is: eight dollars for 26,000 undergraduates comes
out to about $208,000. One would think MSA's website
would have a great list of things that it does for students,
considering the large amount of money it gets from the
students. But their website's most recent project is from
2004, affectionately labeled "this year." Yes, they provide
funding for student organizations, but let's not forget
the Ludacris debacle from 2005 (we wonder where that
$20,000 went). We need the money to go to things useful
for students - an updated website, buses to the airport,
book lists and prices from professors and a meal plan that
makes sense.
Ideological bias in MSA's practices needs to be reduced.
Going to Michigan doesn't imply that you've signed on to
any ideological or political platform. There's no liberal lit-
mus test to go here. So MSA should remember that as our
representativebody, it represents all Michigan students, not
just the ones with which it agrees. MSA should think twice
about who it invites to campus and the events it sponsors.
MSA representatives should carefully consider why
they even do it. Why did they run? Is ita kick-ass addition
to a resuma? A fantastic supplement to a graduate school
application?. That's completely understandable. But now 4
you are all elected officials, and it's time to stop thinking
about your personal futures. It sounds cool that you can
put that Divest from Whomever petition you co-wrote
on your JP Morgan Chase internship form, but it does
absolutely nothing for Michigan students who can barely
afford to take classes.
I know we probably don't notice the positive things
MSA has accomplished, but we also believe that MSA's
job is to stay out of the news for the wrong reasons. So go 4
get things done.
Jane Coaston is an LSA senior.
/1 $ A.