0 4A - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com E-MAIL ELAINE AT EMORTCa)UMICH.EDU C iic 19Da14 atli Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ELAINE MORTON AATA ~th -rW45sl eOUT WHAT UTsY 5INC wifl rsork& 'f'hG cG~ JAMM&1? UP ArAlNsT - rAes'pDUtyS STA1 1 Sti T G- FACT ThAT"1 4r Xr I1sRLL? rfur \ vi l jSEAT? 'EM I10 0! 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 representsolely the views of their authors. Giving it back Coleman should donate pay increase to the 'U' n 2009, The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Universi- ty President Mary Sue Coleman the sixth-highest paid public university president in the country. But last week, the Uni- versity Board of Regents decided that Coleman deserved an even larger paycheck. And while Coleman has done much for campus in the last year - she has a special talent for raising funds - the Uni- versity has more pressing needs than increasing her paycheck. As she has done in previous years, Coleman should donate the money back to the University for it to allocate for other uses. 0 501 (c) the source According to an Oct. 15 Daily article, the University Board of Regents voted at its Oct. 14 meeting to increase Coleman's salary by 3 percent, which will come to $16,605. The increase will bring Coleman's base salary to $570,105. In 2009, Coleman received $230,250 in various bonuses for retention, deferred compensation and retirement pay. As University president, Coleman also has an account for business- related travel expenses, a car and full use of the President's House. In previous years, Coleman has requested that she not receive a merit-based raise or donated her raises back to the University. She has not yet indicated that she will do so this year. The need to maintain competitive sala- ries to create appeal for excellent admin- istrators is understandable. But Coleman already receives a salary that exceeds nearly every other public University presi- dent in the country - it seems unlikely that money will drive her to another uni- versity, or that a similar salary would deter any potential administrators from the University. Other recent pay increases that University administrators - specifi- cally Philip Hanlon, the University's new provost, who received a 28-percent' pay increase over his predecessor Teresa Sulli- van this summer - have also far exceeded what's necessary to draw administrators to Ann Arbor. Coleman has been successful at raising private funds for the University. The Mich- igan Difference campaign that she spear- headed raised about $3 billion between 2000 and 2008. But despite her accomplish- ments, the regents shouldn't feel obligated to give Coleman yearly raises. For one, Coleman certainly isn't hurting for cash. Since the 2005-2006 academic year, Cole- man's salary has grown by about $60,000, including this year's 3-pecent raise. Her current University salary and other forms of compensation are still impressive and she makes additional income by serving on the board of directors for Johnson & John- son and Meredith Corporation. And Cole- man's salary comes from the general fund, which took a hit this year when the Michi- gan legislature decreased its funding to public universities - and one way that the University dealt with the cut was to raise tuition yet again. There are more important areas to which the University should direct its money - namely, financial aid. As tuition continues to inflate, a University education seems more unlikely for many students from low-income families. Instead of increas- ing administrator salaries, the University should apportion more funding for finan- cial aid. Coleman's $16,605 salary increase alone could fund a full tuition scholarship for an in-state undergraduate student with plenty left over. The University should be more con- cerned with helping students in need of aid than padding its top administrators' paychecks. Coleman should donate her sal- ary increase back to the University to set an example and use the money to deal with more pressing matters. hate to sound melodramatic, but our form of democracy in the United States has a serious prob- lem. That problem s has to do with how we fund campaigns - specifically, with loopholes regard- - ing the disclo- sure of the donors behind advertise- ments. Much recent PATRICK furor among jour- O'MAHEN nalists and activ- ists has focused on the lack of limitations on political spending - exemplified by the Supreme Court's January 2010 decision in Citizens United vs. FEC, which struck down spending limits of outside interest groups. I have problems with the sheer amount of money spent in. American political campaigns - I'd prefer pub- licly financed campaigns with strict spending limits. But the immediate problem is with disturbing develop- ments in campaign finance disclosure rules, which drastically hurt the abil- ity of the average voter to hold lead- ers accountable. American voters are generally ignorant, as 1950s scholars, led by the University's Philip Converse, dis- covered to their surprise. Americans generally can't even identify major political figures like Supreme Court justices or the Speaker of the House, let alone explain complicated policy ideas like health care reform. But if citizens can't understand public policy, how can they make intelligent electoral decisions? In the 1990s, another University scholar,. Arthur "Skip" Lupia, suggested that voters could read cues in the cam- paign environment to make decisions. In a pair of American Political Sci- ence Review articles published in 1992 and 1994, Lupia defended voter intelligence. He claimed it was highly unlikely for voters to have the time or inclination to understand the details of everything they might have to cast a ballot for. To prove his point, Lupia cited the example the several hundred pages of information that explained Calfornia's notoriously complex ballots. But he thought that if voters knew who backed the initiatives, they would have a good chance of making the "right" decision by using the iden- tity of sponsors asa cue to which way they should vote. To test his theory, Lupia used exit poll data to analyze how voters voted on five different highly technical initiatives reform- ing California's automotive insur- ance system in 1988. He figured that voters, as car owners, would want to vote against proposals backed by the automotive insurance provid- ers. His hunch held up - voters who knew about the automotive insurance industry's position tended to back the measures opposed by the automotive insurers and vote against measures supported by the insurers at higher levels than voters who didn't realize the insurance industry was backing certain reforms. In short, with just a bit of informa- tion, voters can vote for their person- al interests, which is a central part of making democracy work. Of course, many unpopular groups try to hide their identities by donat- ing to political action committees or advocacy organizations with generic name (think Americans for Prosper- ity) or ones that are flat-out mislead- ing (coal companies funding a group with an environmentally-friendly sounding name). That's where disclosure laws come in - as long as laws force advertise- ments to mention their sponsors and make shadowy advocacy groups dis- close their donors, voters can fairly easily get information about issue sponsorship and make their decisions accordingly. But now, corporations and other (usually conservative) groups have found a way to skirt the problem that stems from using the current law. Two sections of tax law - 501 (c) 4 and 501 (c) 6 - allow the formation of types of non-profit organizations to only report their donors to the IRS and not the public. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. There's really no compelling reason why the public needs to know who's funding a group that's trying to fix the park or sup- porting a battered women's shelter. Voters must know where information comes from. But the problem is that many of these groups are political. By law, they aren't supposed to engage pri- marily in political activity, but as Slate magazine's Richard Hasen has pointed out, the language defining "primary purpose" is vague, and it takes at least a calendar year to deter- mine whether spending patterns match a group's putatively non-polit- ical purpose. That gives groups like Karl Rove's American Crossroads GPS the ability to pour tens of millions of dollars into political advertising in this election cycle without disclosing big-pocketed donors. Even if the Federal Elections Commission cracks down, it will be after the November election. In the meantime, corporations shield their identities and voters lose sight of the most critical piece of information they use to make voting decisions - the knowledge of who is really behind a campaign. And with voters blinded, a cen- tral tenant of democracy collapses - which is a tragedy, not a melodrama. - Patrick O'Mahen can be reached at pomahen@umich.edu. Aself governance experiment --the podium Thoughts from the Daily: What took so long for the East Stadium Boulevard bridge to finally get the repairs it needs? Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium. ALYSE OPATOWSKI I Organically Ann Arbor The multitude of food options on campus can be overwhelming. Dorms and restaurants serve every cuisine imaginable. Visitors are blown away by the variety this campus offers. So how do we decide where and what to eat? Most of us decide based on proximity or a craving. Next time, though, I challenge you to choose your meal option from local sources. Locally grown food has countless benefits, including the satisfaction of your palate. Some- times, locally grown food can taste much bet- ter. This is an obvious conclusion, since freshly picked food is going to taste better than pro- cessed food that has been frozen or injected with chemicals. Do you think it's healthy that our food is sprayed with chemicals strong enough to keep bugs away and then we ingest it? Though some local farms use chemicals and fertilizers, they are less likely to do so than industrialized farms. Of course, it would be ideal just to eat organic foods that don't contain any chemi- cals. However, it's often hard to find "organic" foods. And local farms cannot always afford to be certified "organic." Many local farms have organic practices, such as Goetz Farm, which is one small supplier of food in the University's dining halls. Goetz Farm takes measures to help the environment by reusing rainwater and rotating the crops to prevent land deteriora- tion. Our local farms work harder to produce food of a higher quality than that which is mass-produced and chemically infused. The result of higher-quality soil and natural sea- sonal cycles is better-tasting food. In the long run, it's also cheaper to eat local and organic food. Though you think that cheap fast food is saving you money, it's going to cost you later. Large health care bills due to poor nutrition and/or obesity can be avoided if you just choose to eat healthy now. In eating at local and organic places, you are helping your wallet and body by avoiding future, serious ill- nesses, which result from the high-fat content and unnatural ingredients in foods. The money you eventually save by lowering your future health care costs, as well as the money currently spent to cultivate local farms and restaurants, will help Michigan's economy and employment now and in the future. During difficult times like these, it's especially impor- tant to keep our money in Michigan's local economy. The next step is figuring out how to eat local. First, if you live in the dorms or have meal plans, try to eat at least two meals at East Quad. Some of you might think that East Quad is a place only for hippies and RC students - and yes, its dining hall does serve a lot of veg- etarian and vegan food. But more importantly, it serves food that is from within a 150-mile radius of Ann Arbor or the state of Michigan. If we all just ate there more, we could support local farms and encourage these practices to be applied to other diningcenters on campus, also reaping the benefits of better-tasting and more economical food. At Yale University, there was once only one dining hall that served local, organic foods. Once this food became so popular that students start- ed to sneak in to eat at the specific dining hall, all dining halls started serving local and organic foods twice per day. If we students want more local and organic foods served here, we have to show it by supporting East Quad's practices. If you eat out a lot, there are local and organ- ic options for you as well. Restaurants in Ann Arbor that currently buy locally include Arbor Brewing Company, Blue Tractor BBQ & Brew- ery, Grizzly Peak, Seva Restaurant, Silvio's Organic Pizza and Zingerman's Delicatessen & Roadhouse, along with others. There is also the farmers market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., that sell seasonal food from local farms. Try these options instead of eating at fast food spots. We need to be aware of our food intake and help ourselves with local and organic food both for our personal health and for the health of our local economy. Alyse Opatowski is an LSA junior. t's always inspiring to witness fellow Wolverines taking own- ership of their communities. What's even bet- ter is when the University trusts students enough to encourage the pro- cess. Welcome to Stockwell Hall: a real-time experi- ment in self-gover- nance. TOMMASO When Stockwell Hall reopened last PAVONE year after under-_ _ going major reno- vations, all the talk revolved around how much money had been spent, how beautiful the building was and how, for the first time since the building's open- ing in 1940, men could join women in calling Stockwell home. But as a proud member of the Stockwell community, I submit that what's really worth talking about is the Second Year Experience program. SYE is a collaborative effort between residents and University Housing to create a self-governing community that addresses the needs of second-year residents, which make up approximately three quarters of Stockwell's population. The decisions regarding how these needs should be addressed, along with what types of programs should be put in place, are left completely to the residents. This stems from the common-sense phi- losophy that nobody knows second- year students better than - well - second-year students. But with such a strong focus on building inclu- sive communities, there was also a realization that the traditional hall- council model needed revisiting. Enter SYE. SYE's new model of self-gov- ernance, which began this year, includes five committees: a program- ming board, an outreach committee, an academic development committee, a civic engagement committee and MOSAIC, SYE's multicultural coun- cil. With the exception of the elected members of the programming board, involvement on all committees is vol- unteer-based. Each committee has its own mission and defines its own structure. For example, the academic development committee connects second-year students with academic resources to help them be success- ful, whereas the civic engagement committee provides an opportunity for community service and political activism. This allows residents to better match their interests with the goals of a specific committee. Committees often cooperate with one another on programs. The pro- gramming board helps to coordinate and improve these activities while simultaneously ensuring their success by connecting them with the neces- sary funds. So far, this more decentral- ized and cooperative structure seems to have induced greater participation among Stockwell's residents. It's too early to completely assess the merits of the new SYE model. Nevertheless, all signs seem to point in the right direction. The program- ming board just drafted and ratified a constitution and all five commit- tees will be putting on a diverse set of programs over the upcoming weeks. And, most importantly, SYE is help- ing the University better understand the needs of second-year students. Consider, for example, a recent survey conducted by SYE's academic development committee. The survey garnered approximately a 40-per- cent participation rate out of Stock- well's 400 residents - an impressive amount for any such endeavor. More importantly, it found that the needs of Stockwell's residents differ from those traditionally found in academic research concerning second-year stu- dents. Namely, Stockwell's residents seem most concerned about finding internships, compiling a resume and acquiring interview skills. Converse- ly, much of the academic literature suggests that selecting a major should be of highest salience - yet Stockwell residents seem relatively confident that they will be able to handle the task. These results are being com- bined with assessment reports for every SYE program and will likely prove to be an invaluable resource for years to come. SYE program benefits second- year students. 0 This is a clear example of how a student-run and self-governing com- munity is helping the University learn more about its students and their needs. While only time will tell if SYE is a model that deserves expan- sion, at least it's getting a chance to prove its value. For that, University Housing deserves much praise - it has taken a hands-off stance from the very beginning, conveyed a sense of trust in residents' abilities and active- ly encouraged self-authorship. It has recognized that our residence com- munities should be kept malleable so that residents can ultimately shape the environment in which they live and interact with one another. And, so far, it seems to be working. Perhaps a couple of years from now the SYE model will have become the new paradigm. I surely hope that's the case. In the meantime, as I return to my role as resident advisor in Stockwell, I'm very much enjoy- ing letting residents take the driver's seat. It certainly makes my job easier, and what's more, they seem a whole lot happier for it. - Tommaso Pavone can be reached at tpavone@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Jordan Birnholtz, Adrianna Bojrab, Will Butler, Eaghan Davis, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Will Grundler, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Tommaso Pavone, Leah Potkin, Asa Smith, Laura Veith .0