4A - Monday March 7, 2011 The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com 4A - Monday, March 7, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 0 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com 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. 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 HARSHA NAHATA W An opportunity for alliances 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 CASSIE BALFOUR | Don't be afraid to be a feminist 0 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. 0 Cassie Balfour is an LSA sophomore. I