4 - Tuesday, January 26, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com !' IBC igan 4:aI*g Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu A not-so -Sweetland S JACOB SMILOVITZ EDITOR IN CHIEF RACHEL VAN GILDER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MATT AARONSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely theviews of their authors. Airing another grievance Oversight committee should handle all DPS complaints T he concerns about the Department of Public Safety and its oversight committee just seem to keep on coming. A report by the Daily yesterday revealed that citizens' problems with DPS rarely go before the oversight committee. Instead, most citizens file a complaint with the department itself. Complaints don't reach the oversight committee until after the matter has been handled by DPS. Instead, the oversight committee hears only those cases filed as grievances, not complaints. The distinction means that the oversight committee only sees complaints once a year, after they have been handled by the department. The system must be reformed so that all cases of suspected misconduct, regardless of terminology, are reviewed by the oversight committee. I'm convinced that the most valu- able academic skill that students should learn from their time in college is how to write well. In vir- tually every career path, the ability to express oneself through writing will be tested in one way or anoth- er. From, a job application letterA to a simple office CHRIS e-mail, writing is KOSLOWSKI ubiquitous in the workplace. The University realizes term papers aren't just a way for professors and GSIs to measure what a student knows. They are part of a vital process through which stu- dents learn to master the difficult task of articulating their ideas and communicating through print. Com- ing out of high school, many students simply aren't prepared to write on a level the University and most employ- ers deem appropriate. Luckily, the University works hard to ensure students receive the writing instruction they need. Most colleges - including the College of Literature, Science, & the Arts, the University's largest school - require students to fulfill first-year and upper-level writ- ing requirements. These checkpoints ensure students' writing abilities meet certain standards before they can con- tinue earning their degrees. For those seeking help outside the classroom, the University offers the services of the Sweetland Writing Center. This tireless group of faculty and peer tutors does a superb job helping stu- dents become better writers. Last semester, I decided to enroll in the prerequisite training course for future Sweetland peer tutors. Not only did I want to help others improve their writing, but I also hoped that learning how to speak intelligently about writ- ing could help me enrich my own. The experience was marvelous. I gained a newfound respect for both writing instructors as well as students who struggle with academic English yet refuse to quit trying to learn more. But I also learned something about Sweet- land's status within the University's academic culture that made me ques- tion the college's commitment to the improvement of student writing. Before enrolling in the Sweet- land class, I had never visited the center's faculty or peer tutors. I had always been told that Sweetland was a resource you used if you were strug- gling with writing. I saw it as a kind of fix-it shop, separate from LSA's academic departments, where I could take a paper to have its problems diag- nosed, edited and remedied. I didn't know that Sweetland was designed for all students, regardless of ability, as a place to discuss writing and improve themselves. Sweetland isn't just a grammar fix-it-shop - it's a com- munity of writers working together. In Sweetland's peer-tutoring center, with writers and tutors so close in age and ability, the effects of this com- munity dynamic are evident. Tutors become better writers through tutor- ing, and visitors improve by working with their tutors. In my time around Sweetland's faculty and peer tutors, I learned that many professors and administrators see the writing center as I once did. Sweetland, despite all its incred- ible work, is still on the fringe of the University's academic culture, strug- gling to earn the respect it deserves. Some just can't shake their view of Sweetland as an editing service or a substitute for remedial education. Nowhere is Sweetland's separation more evident than the placement of the flagship peer-tutoring center in the basement of Angell Hall. While Sweetland has two other peer tutoring centers in the Under- graduate Library and Alice Lloyd, the Angell Hall center is the most visited. It's a cramped, windowless, loud and bare space where tutors constantly battle to shout over four or more other groups in the same room. It's so hidden that without the sign in the' main hallway, most could probably never find it. The tutors try to make their space as inviting as possible, but no amount of sprucing can change the fact that the G219 Angell inter- feres with the tutoring process itself. This needs to change. U must show its 0 commitment to teaching writing. Relocation of the Angell Hall peer tutoring center is long overdue. The University missed a great opportu- nity to free it from the basement when Haven and Mason Halls were reno- vated in 2002-2003. The peer tutoring center should be located in a friendly, spacious, accessible room like the Perl- man Honors Commons in Mason Hall or the Science Learning Center in the Chemistry Building. Anything less is a slight of an essential component of the University's writing instruction. If the University really wantsto demonstrate their commitment to writing, they will upgrade the peer tutoring center to a more inviting facility. Surely, with a soaring construction budget, it can spare just a little change. - Chris Koslowski can be reached at cskoslow@umich.edu. The Department of Public Safety was formed in 1992 after a 1990 state law allowed four-year universities to create their own police force on the condition that an over- sight committee of faculty, students, and staff exist to check its power. In accordance, the University created the DPS Oversight Committee. A special investigation by the Daily in November revealed that the over- sight committee's members were being improperly - and in some cases illegally - chosen. The committee's stated purpose is to review grievances against DPS filed with the committee, of which there have only been five over the last six years, according to yes- terday's Daily repqrt. But according to that report by the Daily, the oversight committee isn't hearing most citizens' concerns. There are two ways to bring forth an objection with DPS. The first is to file a complaint with DPS, which are dealt with internally. The second option is to file a grievance directly with the oversight committee. Complaints and grievances are indistinguishable in terms of subject matter. Disturbingly, it seems most of those who approach DPS end up opting for a route that doesn't bring their concern before the over- sight committee. Individuals are, in effect, filing their complaints with the very orga- nization they accuse of wrongdoing. At best, this is a conflict of interest. DPS has argued that, though the commit- tee doesn't receive all complaints directly, it is made aware of all complaints filed inter- nally through the annual report DPS sub- mits to the committee. But DPS has failed to provide a report to the Oversight Committee every year since 2006, according the Daily's November investigation. If DPS is going to use the report as a substitute for the over- sight committee, it at least has an obligation to present the report each year without fail. Despite differences in terminology, complaints and grievances are the same thing. It's redundant that two options even exist. The process could - and should - be streamlined into a single route. There's no reason for DPS to handle complaints at all, since the purpose of the oversight com- mittee is to provide a fair third party to make sure that DPS is acting properly and within its boundaries. And with only about a dozen complaints filed a year, the com- mittee wouldn't be overburdened. It would be wrong to imply that DPS suf- fers from egregious corruption. Complaints are often filed by people unhappy with their treatment at a traffic stop or after being ejected from a football game for intoxica- tion. But there are serious complaints that warrant the review of a third party. And the committee, not DPS, should decide which complaints deserve to come before it. The oversight committee must be estab- lished as the only judge of DPS complaints. Issues, not terminology, should warrant oversight committee attention. Know your own genius n a viewpoint I wrote for the Daily last semester (My black experience at the U, 12/14/2009), I called out the University for its sub- tle racist culture and called for an honest discourse on campus diver- sity. What I failed to address was how I manage to cope in the University's hostile environ- ment. Though instances of racial BRITTANY polarization can SMITH be hard to navi- gate as a person of color, I have iden- tified resources that have allowed to me understand that my experience at this University isn't a handicap, but instead perhaps a blessing in dis- guise. Initially, my experience at the University was thatIt isn't inclusive. I experience a segregationist norm that is apparent in student social groups, voiced by students in the classroom and reinforced by some University departments. The climate on this campus is so strongthat I once began to think that something was wrong with me because I wasn't able to rationalize campus discrimination. In reality, there is no rational expla- nation for any sort of discrimination. There was a point where I began to believe that the culture of entitle- ment to which I was not privileged made it acceptable for me to believe that my power was limited. What I failed to realize - but now acknowl- edge - is that while my threshold for preconceived judgments regarding who I am and what I am capable of is low, my willpower is much greater. Women like my mother and sur- rogate mothers, who I affectionately call Momma Lewis and Momma. Brooks, have validated my individu- ality when those within the class- room struggle to notice. While there are many women who I have met on campus, I have personally con- nected with a few. I am encouraged by women like University Vice Presi- dent E. Royster Harper, Professor Patricia Coleman-Burns, and Ph.D. student Tayana Hardin whose posi- tions in the University have inspired me. These women have enlivened my spirit and helped to change the direc- tion of my internal conversation from "Do I deserve to be here?" to "Do I want to be here?" Academic women like Professors Lisa Disch, Janet Ger- son and Denise Lee have gone above and beyond their job descriptions. These women have encouraged my academic performance in their class- room, and they asked for only one thing asked in return: that I tune out the labels that have been placed on me and define my own identity. While women of color often receive little attention in the media for their contributions to research and edu- cation, it is people like my academic advisor Dr. Jennifer Myers who have supported my ambitions and dis- pelled a sense of detachment that I sometimes feel at the University. It is because of student leaders like my Leaders and Best mentor Beatrice Elizabeth-Ann Hinton that I feel socially connected to campus life in an environment where I felt isolated from the campus community. If there was any self-doubt that I would be unable to combat ignorance in a place where I feel like prejudice is pre- served, Assistant Dean of Students Monita Thompson has been my back- bone and strategist. She has helped me to identify opportunities for growth amidst situations where I feel like I am fighting against a current. The list of people who have moti- vated me doesn't end there. From the very beginning that I set foot on this campus, Comprehensive Studies Pro- gram Academic Advisor Dr. Dwight Fontenot believed in my potential and supported my interests when I felt like other academics at the Uni- versity simply didn't. The people at the office of Multi-ethnic Student Affairs have held me up when I felt let down by the "Diversity Matters" mantra at the University. Campus mentors helped me find my inner strength. While there is doubt that the racial climate will get less tense, it helps to know that people like Director of Multicultural Affairs Program Rob- bie Townsel-Dye is willing to extend a helping hand and walk that road with me and find solutions to the 0 conflicts that I have. Now, when I am told "no," I am equally motivated by people like Honors College Academic Advisor Maria Gonzalez and Assis- tant Dean of the Office of Student Academic Affairs Esrold Nurse who tell me "yes." And the list goes on. All of these people have helped 0 me see that it's not a matter of "Can you do the work that is asked of you as a University student?" but instead "Will you do the work?" So, to students beginning to feel that self-doubt, I advise you to iden- tify people on campus who are will- ing to affirm your struggles and your greatness. This person should be able to acknowledge your flaws, work with you towards strengthening your weakness and see that you are capable of more than you imagine. You may doubt your hidden talents because your greatness hasn't been recognized, but mentors will help you to identify them. Lastly, I ask that you work on get- ting the confidence to walk and talk as if you deserve to be here. After all, as the saying goes, "It's not where you're from, it's where you're at." - Brittany Smith can be reached at smitbrit@umich.edu. 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 tothedaily@umich.edu. BRUNO STORTINI E-MAIL BRUNO AT BRUNORS@UMICH.EDU How YOv [LF/ LI CAN 4HELP LJI $I ~ s~.5 o, ts~c.5') t . N i 9 .; 'DOA t~ 'heSY Ot tf t t to Prnes lj. 'l + 17- - 5 z University works to find funding for students with financial need TO THE DAILY: A recent editorial on financial aid overlooks the Univer- sity's long-standing promise to all undergraduates from Michigan (From the Daily: Aiding Diversity, 1/24/2010). The promise: Your full demonstrated financial need will be met. Unfortunately, relatively few students from lower- income families apply to the University because they assume the University is academically or financially out of reach. Yet, the reality is, when they do apply, they are admitted at approximately the same rates as all other applicants. The University encourages outstanding students from economically disadvantaged families to apply. "Opportunity Adrift," a recent report from The Educa- tion Trust group examining financial aid accessibility for minorities and low-income students, fails to distinguish between institutional support, which goes primarily to need-based awards, and financial aid provided by gift and endowment funds, which are privately supported. In 2007-2008, the final year reported on in "Oppor- SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU I tunity Adrift," of the $28.1 million in centrally awarded need-based financial aid for Michigan residents attend- ing the University, $23.6 million was allocated for students with family incomes below $60,000. No need- based grants were awarded to families with incomes of more than $70,000. The University worked very hard during the last capi- tal campaign to increase funding for student aid. Some of this fundraising, like the President's Challenge, specifi- cally was directed to need-based awards. The report also failed to mention that the six-year graduation rate among the University's underrepresent- ed minority students is the best in the state and one of the best in the country. In 2007-2008, that rate was 73.4 percent (compared to 88 percent overall, a "gap" of 14.6 percentage points). Just one year later, the underrepresented minority graduation rate rose to 79.9 (compared to 89.5 percent overall and a 9.6 percent gap). The five percentage point decrease in the graduation gap in only one year reflects redoubled efforts across the board among faculty, staff and students to ensure the suc- cess of all our students. Lester Monts Senior ViceProvost forAcademicAffairs EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, William Butler, Nicholas Clift, Michelle DeWitt, Brian Flaherty, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Alex Schiff, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Radhika Upadhyaya, Laura Veith The Daily is looking for a diverse, passionate, strong group of student writers to join the Editorial Board. Editorial Board members are responsible for formulating and writing the editorials that appear on the left side of the page. E-MAIL RACHEL VAN GILDER AT RACHELVG@UMICH.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION. 0