4A - Monday March 7, 2011
The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
4A - Monday, March 7, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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DANIEL GOLD E-MAIL DANIEL AT DWGOLD@UMICH.EDU
Crazy Spring Break! Involved prostitutes, drugs, and sleepless nights!
9 minutes ago - Like - Comment
159 people like this.
You went to Mexico?
6 minutes ago - Like
No, I followed the Charlie Sheen saga.
4 minutes ago Like
GSI salary misconceptions
STEPHANIE STEINBERG
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MICHELLE DEWITT
and EMILY ORLEY
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
KYLE SWANSON
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solelythe views ofttheir authors.
FROM THE DAILY
Not qiuite open enough
'U' must allow gender-neutral housing for all
Before students left for Spring Break, progress was made
toward enacting Open Housing at the University. The Michi-
gan Student Assembly and supporters of the Open Housing
Initiative have worked hard to motivate the University to implement
this policy. And the University has worked hard to compromise on,
rather than completely enact, this initiative. At a Feb. 23 round table,
the University announced its plans to allow students who openly
identify themselves as transgender to have roommates of their iden-
tified gender. While this proposed plan is progressive, it is far from
complete. The University needs to allow gender-neutral housing for
all University students, not just transgender students.
According to a Feb. 24 Michigan Daily
article, the proposed policy is currently being
drafted and is expected to take effect this fall.
This decision represents progress. Members of
the LGBTQ community need to feel comfort-
able and safe in their living environments, and
the quicker this plan is put into place, the bet-
ter. But this policy only protects a portion of
the student community. And as MSA President
Chris Armstrong said in the article, the plan is
"a departure" from "the comprehensive gen-
der-neutral housing policy the Open Housing
Initiative requested."
Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clement
wasn't a transgender student, but he took his
life last September as a result of being victim-
ized by his roommate because of his sexual ori-
entation. As a response to this event, Rutgers
University announced last week that it's going
to allow gender-neutral housing in some of its
dormitories, according to aMarch 1 USAToday.
com article. Beginning this fall, three dormito-
ries on Rutgers' campus will allow students of
any identified gender to livetogether in gender-
neutral rooms.
According to an article in the Daily Targum
- Rutgers University's student newspaper -
the oly concernthe university expressed with
the new program is that ifa student moves out
of his orher room, it maybe more difficult to fill
that space. The university needs to realize that
while this could be a problem, students who
switch dorm rooms is an issue in university
housing regardless of the gender of the room-
mates. And Rutgers' policy was created so that
both students have to agree to live together in
gender-neutral housing, which would decrease
the instances of students moving rooms.
It's important the University of Michigan
ensures that all students feel comfortable
in their housing - including students in the
LGBTQ community. The University, including
students and faculty, took a strong stance when
former assistant attorney general Andrew
Shirvell accused Armstrong of promoting a
"radical homosexual agenda" on his blog this
fall. While support from campus was positive,
the University needs to ensure that it's not just
protecting the needs of LGBTQ students after
they've been victimized, but also working to
prevent problems before they arise.
No student should be forced into a living
situation that they're uncomfortable with
because of their identified gender or sexual
orientation. The University has made progress
in a policy for open housing for transgender
students. But it needs to make sure that all stu-
dents' needs are being considered as adminis-
trators move forward with the implementation
of this policy.
'm a graduate student at the
University. Quick, how much
money did I make last year?
That doesn't
sound like a
hard question.
Especially dur-
ing tax season
- the University
actually fills out
a form for me e
saying what my
total earnings NEILL
as an employee MOHAMMAD
were. Accord-
ing to my W-2,
I earned a little more than $24,000
for the entire year. This sounds
about right. I worked as a graduate
student research assistant for the
entire calendar year and was paid as
if I were a graduate student instruc-
tor with astandard.50 appointment.
Of course, nothing is so straight-
forward. Not in a Graduate Employ-
ees' Organization contract . year.
A new contract will be signed in a
month or so, in which the adminis-
tration will concede on no-brainer
issues like improving accommoda-
tions for disabled GSIs - which was
finally accepted in principle just two
weeks ago - and with any luck will
agree to a small pay increase that
just barely keeps pace with inflation.
Wages are usually the most contro-
versial topic among the wider Uni-
versity community. Judging from
some of the remarks that readers
have left in the comment sections
for The Michigan Daily's coverage
of the negotiations, asking for a raise
is an act of unmitigated gall, par-
ticularly in the prevailing economic
climate.
That's an odd position to take
when you consider what the Univer-
sity budget actually looks like. The
campus employs about 1,800 GSIs
a semester. GSIs received about
$8,500 per semester in the 2009-
2010 academic year that comes out
to a total of $28 million in GSI sal-
ary. That probably sounds like a lot
of money until you consider that
the University's total revenue from
tuition and state support alone,
which over the same period of time
was $1.2 billion. GSIs, who are
responsible for about 25 percent of
in-class instruction and a still larger
share of grading, represent only 2
percent of the operating budget. It's
an incredibly modest amount to put
toward the core educational mission
of the University.
Of course, GSIs' actual take-
home pay is only one piece of the
puzzle. They also get tuition waiv-
ers, which are nominally valued at
$36,000 per year. This allows some
to claim that my annual income
is actually $60,000. The median
household in the United States, by
comparison, makes about $50,000
per year. From the perspective of
undergraduates who are paying
their own way through school, that
looks like an embarrassment of
riches. But the truth is a little more
complicated.
Unlike medical or law students,
doctoral students aren't likely to see
their tuition payments turn into a
high-paying job when they finish
their program. Starting salaries as
an assistant professor in many fields
are on the order of $50,000 a year.
That, needless to say, is still a lot of
money, but it would pale in compari-
son to five (or six, or seven) years of
tuition incurred in the process. I
don'tibrng-this up in order to cry
poverty - no one goes into academic
work strictly for the money, so it's
not like any of this is a surprise per
se - but rather to point out that the
labor economics of this trade-off are
pretty simple: If GSIs weren't grant-
ed a tuition waiver, it wouldn't make
sense for anyone tobe a GSI. This is
especially true at a leading institu-
tion like the University, whose grad-
uate students are even more likely
than most to have more lucrative
career options.
Nothing is
straight-forward
in a contract year.
And the other implications are
straightforward: In the absence
of tuition waivers, the University
would either have to deal with a
dramatic decline in graduate stu-
dent quality - and along with it a
corresponding collapse in the qual-
ity of undergraduate education - or
spend even more money on hiring
lecturers and professors to make
up the difference. Neither of those
are attractive alternatives from the
point of view of the undergraduate
students whose tuition payments
are footing such a large share of the
bill for the University's operation in
the first place, which is why it's so
mystifying that the opinions of stu-
dents (and alumni) on the GEO are
commonly so split. Whether or not
you think GSIs are overpaidby some
other measure, the GEO contract
structure is a pretty good bargain
for students and Michigan taxpay-
ers when you consider the alterna-
tive of hiring anyone else to do the
same work.
-Which is all just to establish that
graduate student salaries are exact-
ly what our W-2s say they are. No
more, no less. And I can't sayl'll feel
guilty if GSI salaries climb from 2.2
percent to 2.3 percent of the Univer-
sity's total outlay either.
-Neill Mohammad can be
reached at neilla@umich.edu.
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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
HARSHA NAHATA W
An opportunity for alliances
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
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CASSIE BALFOUR |
Don't be afraid to be a feminist
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Amid all the recent noise and chaos in
the Middle East, one crucial voice seems to
be missing - Al-Qaeda. What's perhaps the
most notoriously linked group to that region
has been absent from the picture altogether.
Throughout protests in more than 10 Arab
nations - and regime change in at least two
- there has been no word of involvement by
Al-Qaeda. Onlytime will tellif this silence will
be the fall of Al-Qaeda's regime. But, for the
time being, it provides the United States with
a great opportunity - an opportunity to make
allies in a region where it needs them most.
If the terrorist network is aiming to seize
the moment, it has failed miserably thus far.
Osama bin Laden has said nothing on the issue
of the revolutions, and his right-hand man
Ayman al-Zawahiri - an Egyptian, at that -
released three statements, none of which so
much as mentioned former Egyptian Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak. The lack of involvement
by Al-Qaeda in what is perhaps the biggest
populist Arab movement the region has ever
seen will, undoubtedly, weaken the terrorist
network in the future.
Not only was Al-Qaeda uninvolved, but in
some ways it was defied. Accordingto a Feb. 27
New York Times article, the protest movement
in Egypt gained power by shunning the "mur-
derous violence and religious fanaticism" of
Al-Qaeda. It's one thing to overthrow the dic-
tatorial regimes of the Arab world that neither
Zawahiri nor bin Laden were particularly fond
of; it's another to do so through nonviolent,
secular, peaceful, pro-democracy protests.
Many experts on the Middle East have
claimed that the recent events are spelling
out disaster for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist
groups around the world. Paul Pillar, a CIA
researcher on the Middle East said in a Feb. 27
New York Times article, "so far the score card
looks pretty terrible for Al Qaeda." In the same
article, Brian Fishman, a terrorism expert at
the New America Foundation said, "knocking
off Mubarak has been Zawahiri's goal for more
than 20 years, and he was unable to achieve it.
Now a nonviolent, nonreligious, pro-democ-
racy movement got rid of him in a matter of
weeks. It's a major problem for Al Qaeda."
What's a problem for Al-Qaeda may be an
opportunity for the United States. Where Al-
Qaeda is losing influence, the United States
has a chance to step in and gain allies. The
revolutions are giving a political voice to a
new generation - a younger more active gen-
eration. A generation that has grown up see-
ing the world of Twitter, Facebook and Google
and doesn't want to be left behind. A genera-
tion that might just bend the legacy of autoc-
racy in these nations toward democracy.
These nations aren't under the control of
bin Laden and they house a majority of the
world's Muslim population. Fostering good
relations with the new governments that
emerge is a beneficial course of action for the
United States. These are nations that arose out
of a desire for democracy - now that democ-
racy may not be the American brand, but it's
democracy nonetheless. Not only is this an
opportunity for the United States to make
friends in a strategically important area, but
it's an opportunity to champion liberty aswell.
Now, there's no guarantee the revolutions
will quell religious extremism once and for
all. In fact, social unrest, lack of structured
government, and lessened domestic security
are all conducive to the rise of militant groups.
But there still is a chance that these revolu-
tions might give way to democratic regimes in
the Middle East - regimes that shun the ide-
als of extremist terrorist groups. And, in these
nations, the United States may find its most
valuable allies in the War on Terror.
Harsha Nahata is an assistant
editorial page editor.
On any given day, many men open doors for me, and I
make ita point to smile and say thank you. I'm a woman
who identifies as afeminist. Contraryto what Anny Fang
claimed in her blog post (There are bigger issues than
holding doors, 2/17/11) these are not mutually exclusive.
Fang's article was riddled with tired cliches that only
perpetuate stereotypes about a heterogeneous group of
people (yes, there are plenty of men who embrace femi-
nism). It was disheartening, but not surprising.
I'm a feminist because I'm committed to equality and
making sure that women's rights are protected. How-
ever, I know that proudly asserting my feminism will
elicit eye-rolls and groans from the uninitiated, and I'm
expecting at least one comment claiming that I'm a fem-
inist because I'm probably incapable of snagging aboy-
friend. But I have bigger things to worry about like the
fact that the GOP recently attempted to redefine rape or
one in six women in the United States will be sexually
assaulted in her lifetime. Those are feminist issues. I've
taken a number of women's studies classes, and I've yet
to read any feminist theory that rallies against men for
monopolizing door-opening duties.
In her blog post Fang calls feminism "futile." I found
this baffling considering we have feminism to thank for
securing women's suffrage and fighting for sexual agen-
cy. Modern feminism is concerned with fighting for the
rights of all women - including women of color, queer
women and women of lower-socioeconomic class. Femi-
nism is about recognizing disparities and attempting to
rectify them. I may be a privileged woman by virtue of
my education, but this doesn't apply to all women.
It would be impossible for me to try and comprehen-
sively define feminism - the University has deemed the
topic important enough to dedicate a department to the
subject. In the United States feminism came in three
waves, and each wave of feminism had different ideas
and beliefs. It would be narrow-minded to say all Chris-
tians are against gay marriage when in reality there's
an immense amount of Christians with diverse beliefs.
Feminism is the same way. Maybe there are feminists
who think all men are chauvinistic, but I know plenty
of men - gay and straight - who are strong feminists.
Unfortunately, the stereotypes persist.
If, for some reason, my feminist beliefs come up in
casual conversation, someone will inevitably ask if I
shave my legs. And if one more guy tells me he is a bra-
burning supporter, I may lose faith in humanity. What
hurts the most is when fellow women are proudly anti-
feminist - usually in an attempt to win the affections of
some guy. I remember when one friend gleefullyousted
me as feminist to a bunch of guys at a party. "Cassie's
a feminist," she sneered, not even bothering to modify
the word feminist - the implied adjectives might as well
have been scrawled across my face: ballbreaker, femin-
azi and that one word used to knock a woman down to
size-Bitch. By invoking the F-word, she established her-
self as the universally revered "Guy's Girl," and I was
cast off as a militant man-hater. Yes, these are stereo-
types feminists have to contend with and probably have
stopped many would-be feminists from identifying as
one. You don't have to be a women's studies major to be a
feminist - I'm not. I don't even belong to any explicitly
feminist groups on campus. Feminism is multifaceted,
but it ultimately teaches people to be critical of power
- not men.
If rights for women around the world are important
to you, you're probably a feminist. If your heart soared
when you saw Egyptian women standing shoulder to
shoulder with men in Tahrir Square, you might be a fem-
inist. If you think all women should have access to birth
control and family planning services, you're probably
a feminist. If you're a woman who likes sex, you might
be a feminist. If you see that Republicans tried to pass
the (laughably named) Protect Life Act - which would
allow anti-abortion doctors to let a pregnant woman die
rather than perform an abortion - as a brazen attack on
women, you might be a feminist. Don't be afraid to iden-
tify as one just because of how someone will react. The
movement needs your voice, and now that it's faltering,
maybe now more than ever.
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Cassie Balfour is an LSA sophomore.
I