4 -Friday, April 3, 2009
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A poor policy for colleges
Schools should accept more disadvantaged students
T he University isn't the only college with money troubles.
Some universities, faced with shrinking budgets and an
increasing number of students in need of financial aid,
are even resorting to the poor practice of determining admissions
based on which students can better afford college. This means that
wealthier students who can pay for their education could be more
likely to gain admittance into college than a student who would
require financial aid. While certainly a cost-saving move, univer-
sities should steer away from this policy because it stands in the
way of providing the less advantaged with an equal opportunity
for education.
BELLA SHAH
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4
Dumping dating advice
According to an article in The New York
Times on March 30, some colleges are now
considering students' abilityto paytuition as
one of the deciding factors in the admissions
process. Among the colleges are Brandeis
University in Massachusetts and Bowdoin
College in Maine. One way these universi-
ties are implementing this new policy is by
increasing the admissions of students who
are more likely to pay the full cost - like
transfer, wait-listed and international stu-
dents. The article also clarified that finan-
cial ability becomes a factor for "students at
the margins, the ones who would probably
be 'maybes' when the admissions commit-
tee considered applications."
Though the colleges using this new
policy have admitted that it would hinder
socioeconomic diversity on their campus-
es, many argue that the current economic
crisis leaves them with few options. They
asser they will not be cutting down on
financial aid. Instead, accepting more stu-
dents at full cost allows them to afford the
higher number of students who need finan-
cial aid.
But admissions shouldn't ever favor stu-
dents merely because they are wealthy. In
fact, less financially advantaged students
are in greater need of college educations.
Higher education works to bridge socio-
economic gaps and stop cycles of poverty.
Quality education gives students, regard-
less of current economic standing, a chance
for better jobs and a better future.
And in times of economic crisis, the need
to make higher education available for every-
one is even more crucial. The only way to heal
the floundering economy is to give the least
advantaged members of society equal access
to opportunity. As the manufacturing-based
economy fails, is an economy based in new
industries like economic energy and research
is emerging. These industries require work-
ers with college degrees. And leaving disad-
vantaged students out of this trend will only
widen the destructive wealth inequality in
this country.
Policies that favor wealthy students are
also often blatantly shallow. In the Times
article, Steven Syverson, the dean of admis-
sions and financial aid at Lawrence Univer-
sity in Wisconsin, said, "We're only human,
they shine a little brighter." But students
from less advantaged backgrounds offer
unique outlooks and a diverse perspective
that benefit university communities.
Admittedly, universities struggling
to make ends meet are going to have to
cut costs somewhere. But increasing the
admission of students who can pay the
full price sacrifices the point of educa-
tion. Instead of taking the easy way out by
selecting financially stable students and
ignoring the plights of others, colleges
should not deviate from the very necessary
goal of accepting qualified students of all
economic backgrounds.
'11 be honest. I'm pretty bad at
dating - and by that, I mean get-
tingthe chutzpah to ask someone
out and have them
say yes. I struggle
with showing my
interestkin a girl
and picking up on
flirting. Texting
- a skill that can
ensure or push
away the affec-
tion of another - is
my Achilles' heel. NEIL
I certainly try to TAMBE
set up dinner, des-
sert or an evening
out with those that catch my eye but
things don't work out very often. And
I think there are many guys and girls
who feel this way about themselves.
Dating is hard.
So what do we unsuccessful dat-
ers do? We get advice about what to
do from friends. We try to compare
notes and benchmark our progress
against what we consider to be an
ideal courtship. We analyze every
moment of every interaction with
prospective significant others. We
send text messages by committee and
script phone conversations as a team.
Surely two heads must be better than
one, we think.
Well, we're wrong. I'm going to
avoid dating advice as much as I can
from now on. I've realized that almost
all of it is poorly informed, not appli-
cable or downright terrible.
In fact, most of the dating advice I
receive usually makes things worse. I
think it makes the process much more
stressful. Getting advice about dat-
ing can be paralyzing because it's so
easy to build anxiety by talking about
our relationships. Instead of reduc-
ing awkwardness, dating advice does
the opposite because it adds nervous
pressure to the mix and makes me
more awkward and self-conscious.
I polled several friends with one
question: Have you ever received any
good dating advice? They looked at
each other and thought about it for a
few moments. Then, with surprised
looks on their faces, they replied that
they hadn't. I haven't either, and I
don't think many have. Getting sound
dating advice is tremendously diffi-
cult because of the level of nuance in.
the interactions between two people.
It's hard for the periled dater to artic-
ulate the proper contextual details,
and for the well-intentioned adviser
to have enough information to give
relevant advice. Intensive conversa-
tions don't happen in everyday dat-
ing strategy discussions between
friends.
You'd think that if anyone would be
able to deliver good dating advice, it
would be successful couples. But two
friends of mine who are engaged and
have a strong relationship noted that
people in healthy relationships don't
often know how they got into them in
the first place.
Relationships rarely are forced or
contrived. Rather, they spontaneous-
ly emerge within mostly uncontrol-
lable circumstances. If so, how would
anyone, regardless of how much of a
dating expert they are, be able to give
good dating advice?
Take the example of writing to a
dating advice columnist. A reader
submits a brief letter about their
troubles. Then the advice columnist
delivers a response which tries to
solve what might be a deeply compli-
cated relationship problem - in 750
words or less. Reducing the complex-
ity of human relationships to easily
dispensable sound bytes is as point-
less in an advice column as it is in a
simple conversation.
There are some bits of advice that
Friends probably
aren't so lucky
in love, either.
I consider to be important, like being
yourself, not trying too hard, being
open to meeting people and being
faithful, for example. It doesn't take
a long conversation to discover these
truths. They are truisms about dat-
ing that are conveyed to people at a
young age.
That isn't to say that abstaining
from discussions about dating is the
right idea either, even if most dating
advice is ill-conceived. Talking about
dating brings people closer together
and can help build the confidence to
keep on trying. Sometimes we need
a reminder of dating truisms, and
there's nothing wrong with venting.
For every nine pieces of bad advice,
there might beone good piece.
When it comes to dating advice,
one thing is true - buyer beware.
How you act on the advice you get
might determine whether or not you
have dinner plans next Friday.
-Neil Tambe can be reached
at ntambe@umich.edu.
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, Jeremy Levy,
Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Matthew Shutler, Neil Tambe,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Laura Veith
CHRIS CHILES| fiings
The fail ingWar on Drugs
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Doing somethingfor Detroit
Most people would agree that the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan are causing great stress
on our country, whether or not they believe
those wars are necessary. But there is another
war that America is fighting that is not merely
difficult but actually impossible to win - the
War on Drugs.
The War on Drugs is now entering its 40th
year in U.S. policy, making it our nation's lon-
gest-running war. And though extravagant
efforts have been made to eliminate the supply
of certain drugs, we have not seen great reduc-
tion in their availability. Drug enforcement
teams may occasionally catch a large supplier
but another criminal entrepreneur always fills
the position.
So what can we do when efforts to eliminate
drugs appear futile? First, the war's goal must
be clarified. Is our goal to simply reduce drug
use to an absolute minimum, even if that leads
to increases in violence and crime?
All aspects considered, the goal should be
to reduce overall harm to society, taking into
account the harms caused by drug abuse and by
enforcement of drug laws. I say "harms caused
by enforcement" because many drug-related
problems in our society are not a result of drug
use itself but rather of the surrounding poli-
cies - namely, prohibition. Prohibition creates
the black market that funds gangs and cartels.
This has led to massive amounts of violence in
the U.S. and other countries. In Mexico, the
drug war is escalating, and prohibition-related
deaths last year numbered in the thousands.
This violence happened during the prohibi-
tion of alcohol and it's happening again with
the prohibition of other drugs. So how is this
current situation different? Unfortunately, the
Drug War has been going on for so long in our
society that people lack the imagination of a
society where drugs are legal. This was not the
case when alcohol prohibition was repealed.
This is one of the main reasons people cur-
rently fear the legalization of drugs. It seems as
though talking about drugs is also taboo, and
this certainly hinders any productive discus-
sion on how they should be treated in society.
Fortunately, the topic of legalization, par-
ticularly with regard to marijuana, is begin-
ning to be discussed in a much more open and
honest manner. As the executive director of the
University's Students for Sensible Drug Policy
chapter, I couldn't be happier. The drug policy
reform movement is growing extraordinarily
fast, and SSDP is experiencing outstanding
development and growth. We now have over
150 chapters at universities across the U.S.,
with a network building in Canada, as well as
parts of Europe and Africa. Our chapters often
work on local initiatives and campaigns as well
as organize educational events.
The SSDP chapter at the University is host-
ing the regional conference for all Midwestern
chapters this Sunday. The event is open to the
public and will be a great opportunity for edu-
cation as well as networking. More information
on the conference and registration is available
at our website, ww.umdrugpolicy.org.
I would like to point out one last thing - I
often get asked if the SSDP organizes Hash
Bash. The answer is, simply, no. Actually, it's
more like, "No!" (for the hundredth time).
Hash Bash is mainly a cultural event, and SSDP
is strictly a political organization. Our concern
is drug policy, not drug use. It's important to
understand that although marijuana smokers
are a part of the drug policy reform movement,
we are much more than that.
I would rather see people going to the Mich-
igan Social Justice Conference on Saturday
instead, which will actually includea workshop
with SSDP. Making a difference and changing
the world for the better gives me the best high
there is. Attend the conference on Saturday or
our Midwest SSDP Conference on Sunday, and
you may just experience that yourself.
Chris Chiles is an LSA junior.
Growing up in Ann Arbor,
I've always experienced the
state's steady decline into
recession at arm's
length. The Uni-
versity has in many
ways buffered this
city economically.
Althougheachbusi-
ness and individual O
is under increasing
fiscal pressure, the
fabric of the city is
strong. MEG
Despite Michi- YOUNG
gan's renowned
woes, the Univer-
sity has been setting
records for fundraising, creating the
nation's fastest-growing endowment
over the last 20 years. The amoung of
money spent is tangible - construction
on campus has reached a fever pitch.
Students usually don't have means
of transportation outside of campus,
let alone Ann Arbor. This insulates
us from the rest of the state at a time
when we need to be aware of what
we'll return to when we leave our
ivory tower.
Don't let me generalize about your
experience. Students are finding it
more difficult to find jobs and to pay
for rent, food and tuition. We don't
need to go to Detroit to find problems.
But you can't deny the stark contrast
between these two cities, even though
Detroit is a mere 40 minutes away.
Michigan was in recession long
before the rest of the country. At
the moment, Detroit is synonymous
with the failing auto industry and
the ripple effect those lost jobs have
on Michigan communities. In fact,
Detroit's hardships can be traced to
more than a recession or lost auto
jobs.
But thankfully, people at the Uni-
versity are beginning to forge oppor-
tunities to volunteer or do social
justice work, especially in Detroit.
The work is certainly only symbolic if
it's not directed by or in collaboration
with Detroit residents. When Ann
Arbor students get involved on their
own, they are showing their com-
mitment to Detroit because they are
understand its importance.
The Detroit Partnership creates
opportunities for service learning
in the city. Its website speaks to the
value it places in long-term insti-
tutional relationships, reciprocity
and reflective self-awareness. Other
campus student groups are getting
involved, from the labor activist
group Students Organizing for Labor
and Economic Equality's poll-watch-
ing in the presidential election to the
Ross School of Business's Net Impact
group planting trees with Greening
of Detroit this Saturday.
Increasingly, classes have been
offered exclusively in Detroit. Some
have become a "study abroad" expe-
rience. Semester in Detroit brings
Wayne State's campus and Residen-
tial College professors together. Each
student takes a job in a city commu-
nity or cultural organization.
Some classes aren't focused specif-
ically on Detroit, but the city is inevi-
tably brought to the forefront. Last
semester, four people in Prof. Rebec-
ca Hardin's corporate ethnography
seminar wrote research-intensive
papers on environmental justice in
Detroit. In the Global Change class,
Prof. Tom Gladwin of the Business
School wrapped up his final lecture
with a discussion of global inequality
and how it is reflected in Ann Arbor
and Detroit. He called on us all to do
something.
"Givingback" hasn'tbeen apriority
for most students for various reasons.
We're all very busy. No doubt, stu-
dents have more power after getting
their degrees, but gaining communi-
ty service experience while we are in
school can actually help to shape our
goals. It's also a place where problems
are abstract or analyzed statistically,
or felt to be too complex to be able
to change. It's amazing to me to see
people at the University recognize a
responsibility, or at least an ability, to
act.
What those inside
the bubble can do
for those outside.
Others see the quality of a Univer-
sity degree as the only reimbursement
Michigan needs. Higher education
creates human capital that has the
potential to attract high-paying sci-
ence-based technologies back to the
state.
It would be nice to be able to say
that we owe something to the state,
because we go to such a phenomenal,
tax-supported public University. But
our tuition is rising, as is corporate
research funding, and private donors
are dealing out luxury facilities with
their name attached. Public funding
is in long-term decline.
Regardless of your reasons, try
to find a way out of the Ann Arbor
bubble - and especially into service
work in Detroit. Professors aren't the
only people we should learn from in
this time.
- Meg Young can be reached
at megyoung@umich.edu.