Opiii ion

4A - Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com

BRUNO STORTINI

E-MAIL BRUNO AT BRUNORS@UMICH.EDU

STEPHANIE STEINBERG
EDITOR IN CHIEF

MICHELLE DEWITT
and EMILY ORLEY
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

"o )R6AK 0?
t\cy -~
~*
Don't compare 2011 to 1960

KYLE SWANSON
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.
FROM THE DAILY
Setting up to fail
DPS should throw out school consolidation plan
Education isn't child's play. It's not a matter that can or should
be taken lightly. Apparently, Detroit hasn't gotten that mes-
sage. In a desperate attempt to reduce the deficit, the city is
considering a plan that would close down 70 of its public schools. If
the plan is implemented, high school class sizes will, greatly increase.
This is a terrible proposal that won't achieve the city's goal of ame-
liorating its dire fiscal situation. The city of Detroit and the state
Legislature need to look for ways to eliminate the deficit that won't
mortgage the city's future and leave children behind.

According to a Feb. 22 article in the Wall
Street Journal, Detroit Public Schools finan-
cial manager Robert Bobb submitted a plan to
the state Legislature that would allow DPS to
close half its schools and increase the average
high school class size to 60 students over the
course of four years. The plan is a final effort
to close the district's $327 million budget def-
icit and was approved by the Legislature on
Feb.8. If the plan is implemented, the number
of schools in the district will fall from 142 to
72, and enrollment could decrease by about
15,000 students.
Detroit is being set up to fail. In a city
where educational achievement and literacy
are already low, this severe budget cut could
be a kiss of death. The quality of education
will be compromised - in classrooms brim-
ming with students, teachers won't be able to
give each student the individual attention he
or she needs. At a time when the city should
be investing in its youth to prepare them
for higher education and an evolving and
increasingly competitive global economy,
students can't bear the brunt of =draconian
austerity measures.
It's also troubling that the plan presumes
a mass exodus of about 15,000 students. As if

the brain drain in Detroit - and in Michigan
as a whole - wasn't bad enough. DPS shut-
ting down so many schools provides another
incentive for people to leave the city. In the
end, Detroit's enormous budget cuts are
going to diminish its tax revenue and educat-
ed human capital. Ironically, so-called fiscal
responsibility will empty the city's pockets.
But Detroit shouldn't shoulder all of the
blame for these measures. The state Legis-
lature - which is, using some twisted logic,
concurrently implementing higher education
standards - approved the plan. If education
is really a priority for Michigan, it's time for
the Legislature to take a firm stand against
the "emergency" plan and consider some
alternatives that will benefit the state as a
whole.
President Barack Obama made education
a theme in his State of the Union address,
even explicitly calling for more teachers and
a greater emphasis on learning. Michigan
would do well to listen to him - Bobb's plan
shouldn't even be a last resort. A city that
can raise more than $50,000 for a Robocop
statue should find a way to raise funds for its
schools. The Legislature literally can't afford
to have a myopic vision for the state's future.

Im sick of people bemoaning
student apathy. I'm also sick
of people invoking a roman-
ticized picture
of the 1960s to
promote a vision
of what today's
student activ-
ism should look
like. Whenever
we collectively
adapt a distorted
view of history, JEREMY
it impedes our LEVY
ability to under-
stand present
problems.
During my time at The Michigan
Daily, student apathy has come up
as a cause of concern from many
sources. When I was on the edito-
rial board, we frequently criticized
apathy in editorials regarding
government elections, the United
States Census or any issue where it
was remotely relevant. Not that stu-
dents shouldn't fill out their Census
or vote, but whenever such issues
came up, someone had to remind
us of the way the University was in
the 60s, back in the days when Stu-
dents for a Democratic Society was
prominent and the Daily was most
relevant. I recall a Daily alum tell-
ing the staff that reporters should
put more energy into reporting and
follow the lead of a Daily reporter
who, in the 60s, dug through trash
outside the Fleming Administra-
tion Building to see if he could find
any confidential papers from the
Office of the President.-
ADaily column by Matthew Green
(Bring activism back, 12/8/10) serves
as a good example of the way many
like to frame the 60s. Unlike today,
the 60s was the period of the Peace
Corps, the Great Society and protests
sparked by the SDS. But given that
our political problems today resem-
ble those of the 60s, Green's narra-

tive illustrates, it's only fitting that
student activism see a revival, even if,
in a less radical form.
But our typical view of how stu-
dent protests became so prominent
by 1969 is oversimplified and distort-
ed. First of all, the SDS didn't just rise
out of a fervor of pure idealism - it
was largely a response to the Cuban
Missile Crisis, an event that made
University students like SDS founder
Tom Hayden realize how close the
U.S. and Soviet Union came to start-
ing a nuclear war.
Next,acloserlookatthel1962"Port
Huron Statement" by Hayden shows
that the SDS didn't immediately have
the support of students nationwide
- the SDS criticized students of the
time for their apathy and consum-
erism. It wasn't until the draft, the
giant American death count that
dwarfed that of our current wars and
the U.S. brutality in Vietnam - as
depicted by the media - that student
protests really took off.
There's a consistent notion that
students today are underperforming
in comparison to their predecessors.
Whathistory can teachus inthis sce-
nario is thatthe tendencytoward low
student participation in civic activity
today is the norm, not the exception.
Furthermore, personal stake in an
issue is very important for the culti-
vation of social movements - people
tend to get involved in such move-
ments when the issue at hand affects
them in a clear and non-abstract
manner.
So where does a, more nuanced
understanding of history getus?,It's
hard to say Going, back to -Green's
piece, I agree with his fundamen-
tal point that our politics would be
more manageable if more people paid
attention, but perhaps for a different
reason. The late 60s was a time peri-
od when many social groups deter-
mined that traditional democratic
means of political participation were

inadequate to make their voices
heard. The only way they could influ-
ence national policy was by insti-
gating disorder. The optimist in me
hopes that by encouraging civic par-
ticipation, we can use the democratic
process to manage national problems
before they escalate toVietnam-level
chaos.
Student apathy
has come up as
cause for concern.
On the other hand, it's important
for community organizers, policy-
makers and op-ed contributors to
take into account that political apa-
thy exists for a reason. When people
choose not to vote, rather than scold-
ing them for giving up their civic
duty, we may be better off asking
ourselves why they felt their votes
didn't matter. If people are choos-
ing the sports page over coverage of
the demonstrations in Egypt, what
accounts for that?
Over the past week, Tea Party sup-
porters and Wisconsin public work-
ers and students have been rallying
for their respective causes regarding
the proposed state budget. Events
like this take place when most of the
people involved have something to
lose if the political process doesn't go
their way. So the incarnation of the
University in the 1960s doesn't serve
as the model of what today's student
body should look like. Maybe some
future event will be so egregious that
80 percent of the national student
body goes on strike, but I don't see
that happening any time soon.
-Jeremy Levy can be reached
at jeremlev@umich.edu.

0

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Aida Ali, Will Butler, Ellie Chessen, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer,
Melanie Kruvelis, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley,
Harsha Panduranga, Teddy Papes, Asa Smith, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@HMICHIGANDAILY.COM ALIX GOULD-WERTH, KATHRYN FRANK, ROB GILLEZEAU, CHELSEA DEL RIO I VIEWPOINT

Better equipment isn't
necessary for the CCRB

other gym, it's crc
p.m., but that doe
gym.
Personally, I fr
Recreational Buil

TO THE DAILY: plete freedom of c
In The Michigan Daily article (Working out around. If anythi
the kinks, 2/21/2011) you list a slew of propos- ings should invest
als that should be implemented to improve the that shows the ni
recreational buildings on campus, including "checked-in" at a,
more cardio and weight lifting equipment as most of the compl
well as more spacious cardio and weight lift- With that, I hop
ing areas. Are you serious? row.
I agree that the equipment may not be the
newest, but it sure beats the pay gyms around Marcial Lapp
town, both in size and selection. Like every Rackham student

owded between 5 p.m. and 7
sn't mean we need a bigger
equent the Central Campus
ding at 6 a.m. and have com-
hoice of all of the equipment
ing, the recreational build-
in a live-occupancy display
umber of patrons currently
gym. I can see this solving
aints.
pe to see you at 6 a.m. tomor-

Anti-Semitic label silences
a key voice in Israel debate
TO THE DAILY:
Ben Duchan's letter to the editor (Anti-Mus-
lim Sentiments in Israel is Exaggerated, 2/14/11)
labels University alum Hamdan Azhar (A Pal-
estinian-Israeli approach, 02/03/2011) a "cow-
ard" who refuses to admit his "anti-Semitism."
We openly reject such a label. This isn't a J
Street UMICH issue. This isn't a Jewish issue.
This is an issue of respect and civil discourse.
As an organization that is pro-Israel and pre-
dominantly Jewish, we have the responsibility
to raise our voices when such a charge is lev-
eled without merit. Duchan clearly falls into
the latter category.
This isn't to say that we agree with the
entirety of Azhar's viewpoint. While J Street
UMICH enthusiastically supports the Michi-
gan Student Assembly resolution for a joint
study abroad program in Israel and the West
Bank, we aren't in agreement with Azhar in
his opposition to study abroad programs in
Israel. We believe that providing a variety of
avenues for students to engage with the region

is important and appropriate for campus.
However, the issues raised by Azhar regard-
ing the conditions under which Palestinians
live in occupation and the discrimination they
face in Israel aren't only crucial to address and
recognize, but factually not up for debate.
Duchan dismisses these critical issues by
dismissing the messenger as "anti-Semitic." In
doing so, he and others like him only solidify
the opposing views on either side and make
the work of building a broad coalition for
peace all the more difficult.
Dismissing those who raise such criticisms,
however, doesn't serve Israel or the peace pro-
cess. Moreover, when charges of anti-Semi-
tism are leveled carelessly, the word is drained
of its power and meaning. We must challenge
anti-Semitism when it arises and where it
exists instead of using the accusation as a
tool with which to silence those with whom
we disagree. We must respect those with real
concerns if we're ever going to reach a com-
promise on important and difficult issues.
This letter was written on behalf of J Street
UMICH by LSA junior Dafna Eisbruch. J
Street UMICH is a pro-Israel, pro-Palesti-
nains, pro-Peace organization.

Recognize GSRAs' rights

While many members of the University community
are familiar with the work of graduate student instruc-
tors - who interact with undergraduates while stand-
ing in front of classrooms, holding office hours and
grading assignments - the work of graduate student
research assistants is less known. There are at least
2,000 GSRAs on the University's Ann Arbor campus,
and their work is the engine behind the research pro-
duced in each segment of campus.
Both GSIs and GSRAs do important work for the Uni-
versity, yet they currently have very different rights.
GSIs work under a contract which provides protection
for their positions as workers. GSRAs don't have these
same protections, and many are surprised to learn that
they aren't covered by the Graduate Employees' Orga-
nization contract. With a union, the University has a
legal obligation to negotiate changes in salaries, ben-
efits and other working conditions. Without a union,
benefits could be changed or taken away without notice.
Additionally, GSRAs don't have the right to a contract-
governed internal grievance procedure with a neutral
arbitrator, and they don't have a union to advocate on
behalf of the employee.
GSRAs were included in GEO's bargaining unit
when the union was initially recognized. However, a
legal decision made in 1981, prompted by a challenge by
the University, recognized GSIs and graduate student
staff assistants as employees but not GSRAs. But this
ruling contrasts with employment rules in other states
where research assistants are considered workers. The
University is a premier research institution, research
is an important function of its mission and GSRA
work enables its groundbreaking research. There are
research assistants who clean data sets, edit tables,
evaluate programs and administer experiments that
are ancillary to their own research interests but benefit
both their supervisors and the University. As workers,
GSRAs have the right to determine the conditions of
their employment.
The campaign to achieve bargaining rights for
GSRAs - should they elect to have them - began out
of the concerns of research assistants, and research
assistants are active members in orchestrating it. When
the campaign is identified as a "GEO" campaign, this
doesn't just refer to the graduate instructors and staff
assistants who are covered by GEO's contract. GSRAs
have joined together as associate members of GEO to
ask the University to recognize the right of GSRAs to
collectively bargain and to "accrete" GSRAs into the

GEO bargaining unit if a majority of GSRAs sign mem-
bership cards requesting representation. "Accretion"
means that research assistants will be represented by
GEO, but it does not mean that provisions of the cur-
rent GEO contract will automatically apply to research
assistants. Following a successful certification of the
GSRA membership cards, GEO - with the full input of
GSRAs - would negotiate with the administration over
which provisions of the current contract might apply
to GSRAs and would also negotiate over GSRA-specific
issues not currently addressed in the contract.
Some concerns have been raised about how GEO,
which is affiliated with the American Federation of
Teachers, would be a good fit for research assistants.
GEO already represents one group of non-teaching
employees: graduate student staff assistants. The GEO
contract is clearly laid out to address the needs of GSIs
and GSSAs. Adding GSRAs would require additional
considerations that could be addressed with negotia-
tions between research assistants and the University.
The AFT, which includes chapters in non-teaching pro-
fessions such as nursing and has other bargaining units
including research assistants, supports GEO - but
ultimately it's-GEO members who determine the condi-
tions of their work with the University.
Campaign staff workers and volunteers from GEO
have had hundreds of conversations with GSRAs
across departments. Organizers have been asking that
research assistants sign a representation card only
if they are very supportive of the campaign and feel
informed enough to make a decision. As of now, more
than 70 percent of research assistants who have been
informed about the campaign have chosen to sign cards
indicatingthat they are in favor ofbringingGSRAs into
the GEO bargaining unit. It's clear that there's great
support for this effort.
GEO simply asks that the University recognize that
graduate research assistants are workers. As workers,
they have the right to freely choose whether or not
to have union representation through GEO, without
interference from the administration. As a democratic
and open organization, we urge anyone with questions
about the campaign, union organizing or GSRA repre-
sentation to contact GEO - and, if you support these
rights for GSRAs, ask the University to recognize them.
Alix Gould-Werth is a GSRA. Kathryn Frank is a GS1.
Rob Gillezeau is a GSRA and the president of GEO. Chelsea
Del Rio is a GSI and GEO's interim vice president.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than
300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. We do
not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@michigandaily.com

0

A