4A - Monday, December 5, 2011 0 The Michigan Daily -michigandaily.com 4A - Monday, December 5, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MICHELLE DEWITT STEPHANIE STEINBERG and EMILY ORLEY NICK SPAR EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors. Imran Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com. F ROM T HE DAB'LY (AID)i ngrecovery Federal funds will benefit AIDS research Jn honor of World AIDS Day last Thursday, President Barack Obama announced a plan that seeks to put a serious dent in the transmission of HIV, and he declared that our generation "can beat this disease." Obama pledged $50 million toward AIDS treatment centers and research throughout the United States. This statement is a huge commitment to a serious disease that has killed more than 30 million people since it was first diagnosed in 1982. With technologi- cal and medical advances in this field occurring at a rapid pace, it's important that Obama continues to reaffirm his promise to help fund FROM THE PUBLIC EDITOR I|MRA SED Benign bias n my time as editorial page editor of The Michigan Daily, there was no more consis- tent criticism of our page than the constant cries of "bias." We would try to explain to critics that bias is kind of a necessity on opinion pages - without it there wouldn't be too many opinions to speak of. But the epithet of bias is much harder to shake when leveled at facially objective news organiza- tions, or divisions of a newspa- per that are supposed to be about "just-the-facts" - like the Daily's news section. Having considered the question for a longtime, I continue to believe that most news stories mean well. Even in the age of Fox News and the cable news infotainment explosion, it's important to remember that most news outlets that purport to be unbiased really do try to live up to that billing. For example, when NBC was owned by General Electric, and the latter was building planes for the American war effort, NBC's news division faced criticism for its apparent pulling of punches when it came to reporting the true disaster of the war in Iraq. It made for an intriguing story, but it's sim- ply not sensible to believe that an organization that employed Keith Olbermann for all those years was somehow not critical enough of the Bush administration's failure in Iraq. Commenting on a story in the Daily last week, however, a reader reminded me of a significant addi- tional nuance to the bias-in-news argument: There is some degree of advocacy in every news story, whether it's explicit enough to annoy the average reader or not. Even a simple decision on what to deem newsworthy enough to publish is a biased decision driven by, and reinforcing, a particular worldview. And with that contention (which I think rings true), I turn my atten- tion to a story that appeared in this paper last week: "To professors' dismay, students still use RateMy- Professors.com," 11/28/2011. The focus of the story was a website that we're all familiar with - and the potential problems students and professors face when students rely on that website for informa- tion about courses. While the story did disclose that the Daily operates a competing website (maizeand- bluereview.com), several people expressed to me some discomfort with the story. The main point I think the aver- age reader would take away from that news story is that RateMyPro- fessors is often inaccurate (given its penchant for extremist reviews by outlying students), and students would be better informed about the suitability of classes if they could look at the University's own course evaluations, which are more detailed, though not always eas- ily available. The Daily's compet- ing website makes those University course evaluations more accessible to students, thereby seemingly being the solution to the problem the story points out. Perhaps some readers will find that to be a convenient enough out- come to indicate somethingsinister, but I disagree. The actual answer is simple: The thesis of the story (that RateMyProfessors is bad) is obvious and widely known. And the Daily provides course evaluations on Maize & Blue Review not because there is some gold mine there to be tapped, but rather because it is a simple and obvious student service, the likes of which this paper should engage in. But that's not to say that no issue remains. Ultimately it cannot be denied that the Daily wrote a news story that pushed readers into a view that reinforces a competing service provided by this news- paper. What I want to suggest, however, is that isn't always a bad thing. The only alternatives the Daily would have had are to: 1) not create a website like Maize & Blue Review, which would mean there is less information out there for stu- dents - an undesirable outcome, or 2) not write about the significant shortcomings of the most popu- lar professor and course review website - another undesirable outcome, given that students care about such issues. The Daily in this case avoided both of those silly alternatives and picked what I think is the most sen- sible course: Write the story, have it say what needs to be said, and pro- vide full disclosure. Sarcastically extrapolating a common conservative complaint, Stephen Colbert famously said, "Reality has a liberal bias." That comedic observation hits home because it hints just enough truth. Some stories need to be written, even if writing them pushes read- ers toward a certain viewpoint. This isn't egregiously biased jour- nalism, rather, it's an inevitability for a paper trying to do its job. And there's no use denying it or hiding it - all we can do is explain it. -The public editor is on independent critic of the Daily, and neither the editorial board nor the editor in chief exercise control over the contents of his columns. The opinions expressed do not necessarily constitute the opinion of the Daily. Imran Syed can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com 6 6 research for a cure for AIDS. About 1.2 million people live with HIV in the U.S. Each year, nearly 50,000 people are infected with the disease, according to a White House statement. In Obama's address, he stated that over the last three years, it's estimated that the disease has increased in young, gay, black men by 50 percent. In 2003, former President George W. Bush launched the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - a program that provides treat- ment and support for the 15 countries that are most affected by the disease. The plan cur- rently has a budget of $48 billion, and a major benefit of Obama's pledge is that the major- ity of the money will be reallocated from this existing resource, rather than taking addition- al funds out of the government's budget. The money will be put toward the govern- ment's plan for expanding research, funding medical facilities and digging deeper in pur- suit of an eventual cure. But the funding will not just be limited to helping to decrease AIDS and HIV transmission. Money will also be put toward providing antiretroviral drugs to HIV- positive pregnant women in order to prevent them from passing the disease along to their unborn child. It will also fund the distribution of more than 1 billion condoms in developing countries around the world. These are impor- tant measures that can help prevent HIV from continuing to spread while people work on finding a permanent cure. In 2009, the International AIDS Society announced that it will be holding the 2012 International AIDS Conference, a biannual conference for HIV and AIDS professionals, in Washington, D.C. Coinciding with this news, Obama lifted a 20-year ban prohibit- ing people from entering the country if they were infected with the HIV virus. This event should unite leaders and innovators from various countries all over the world in hopes of working together to improve global health and medicine. Paul De Lay, deputy director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids, said in a Dec. 1 CNN article that, "2011 has been a game-changing year, with new sci- ence, unprecedented political leadership and continued progress in the AIDS response." He stressed that countries around the world must utilize these resources and use them to end this disease. Obama's plan is a tremendous financial backbone that can help scientists and doctors work toward this goal. The AIDS epidemic is a serious public health issue in this country and around the world. Proper funding must be assigned to research so that a cure can be discovered. Obama's plan to allocate $50 million toward AIDS research and medical treatment across the countrywill move us even closer to this goal. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Teddy Papes, Timothy Rabb, Vanessa Rychlinski, Caroline Syms, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner LOU WANG I The economics of immigration 0 ERIKA MAYER I V EWP NT As State will e I took to cal Earlie was n the 5 and tr took t my fr would Hous team year I the Bi A travel mate versit by the by m3 looker dium rooms and t] the cr const: We w 10 rul ments for us watch a criti Thi Big House, big memories I stood in the endzone after the Ohio football game in East Lansing. While it was football game this year, the last game I eye-opening in more ways than one, we were ver attend as a student at the University, again surprised by the stadium. Spartan Sta- a moment to reflect on how lucky I am dium looks like a college stadium, which was . the Big House my college football home. more than we could say for Purdue, but we r this year on a tour of the stadium, I still suffered some culture shock (beyond the early in tears as I sat on the block 'M' at sea of green and taunts that assaulted our eyes 0-yard line, overwhelmed by the history and ears). To be fair, our scoreboards are now radition of the stadium. For three years I the size of a blue whale, so it's not really fair to he Big House for granted - laughing at compare them to other stadiums' scoreboards. lends from the University of Illinois who But even our old scoreboards could have eaten ln't miss their chance to come to the Big these scoreboards as an afternoon snack. Once e,eventhough they don'twatchtheir own again, comparisons to our high school were playgames intheir own stadium. Butthis running through our heads. It was nearly realized just how lucky we truly are - impossible to watch a replay - something g House is one of a kind, which became very frustrating at that game huge part of my realization came from in particular - and there was only one score- ing to away games. Last year, my room- board, so if you were sitting on the far side of and I road tripped down to Purdue Uni- the stadium like us, good lucktrying to read the y in West Lafayette. We were amazed yardage and down. And Spartan Stadium plays e stadium. At the risk of being disowned advertisements too. y Boilermaker relatives - the stadium Michigan Stadium has clearly spoiled me. d more similar to our high school sta- With history and tradition backing us up, I've than the Big House. The away locker become really proud to walk to the stadium s weren't even attached to the stadium, every Football Saturday. I'm thankful that he players had to walk outside through the Athletic Department doesn't need to sell owd to get onto the field. And there were advertisements during the game soI can watch antly ads playing throughout the game. replays and awesome sports montages on ere astonished - we thought it was a Big screens the size of a whale. I'm proud that our le that schools couldn't have advertise- stadium is admired country-wide and that fans splaying at the game. It didn't take long from other schools are excited to visit. Most of to wish we were at the Big House after all, I'm happy that I will always be able to call ing the 27th Pepsi commercial instead of the Big House my home. Attempts at immigration reform have been undistin- guished at the federal level. The last serious bipartisan effort - the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 - failed. Since then, states have enacted their own legislation, which go to great extents to deter ille- gal immigration. For example, in one of the most extreme provisions - that was struck down inArizona, but upheld in Alabama - officers must check the immigration sta- tuses of individuals who they stop or arrest when they suspect them to be in the country illegally. Severe immigration laws like these at the state level appear to differ drastically and unprecedentedly from legislation previously debated at the federal level and are gaining momentum in at least six states. These laws are noteworthy because they come at a time when illegal immigration to the United States is declining dramatically. According to Marcelo Suirez-Orozco, a professor of globalization and education at New York University and co-founder of the Harvard Immigration Project, since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, illegal immigration has significantly decreased while lawful immigration has remained steady. But if illegal immigration is declining, why is legislation that drastically deters it becoming more prevalent, and what will it achieve? There's probably no single or simple answer, but much could be understood by considering the history of Mexican immigration tothe U.S. As early as the 1850s, and well into the 1920s, Mexi- cans filled labor shortages created by the U.S.'s expand- ing agricultural and railroad industries. Mexicans were crucial to the American economy. Moreover, central Mexico in the 1920s was essentially a backwater of Mex- ico's faltering economy. As agricultural economist Paul Taylor documented in his pioneering work, jobs there were scarce, and those employed in agriculture could likely earn five times more building railroads in America. Since Mexicans could easily cross the border at this time, many migrated. This trend reversed when the stock market crashed in 1929. As unemployment escalated during the Great Depression, so did opposition to Mexicans and beliefs that Mexicans drain the country's welfare. For several reasons the federal government and Legislatures nation- wide passed laws that restricted Mexican immigration. These laws also restricted Mexicans from getting jobs, denied them welfare when they became unemployed and, eventually, encouraged their deportation from the country. In cities as north as Dearborn, police were known to coerce Mexicans to prove their legal residence to immigration authorities - something alarmingly close to what the current Alabama legislation requires. Byl1937, approximately 453,000 Mexicans were deported. Then during World War II, this trend reversed. In response to labor shortages, Mexicans were once again recruited to the farms and factories they left just 10 years prior. In hindsight, the essence of pre-Depression Mexi- can immigration policies resonated in immigration legislation debated by Congress before the 2008 reces- sion. The 2007 legislation, for example, would have introduced a guest worker program and given many illegal immigrants paths toward citizenship. The Depression-era anti-Mexican policies were somewhat extreme manifestations of immigration legislation that's emerged during our recession. Though immi- gration regulations have evolved since the Depression, two things remain clear: when the economy roared, policies were more lax toward illegal immigrants, even though they came illegally. When the economy crashed, policies became harsher toward illegal immi- grants because they came illegally. Considering this history, it's troubling that the emerging harsher immigration laws come at a time when illegal immigration is dramatically declining, ille- gal immigrants fill a labor shortage in unskilled farm jobs that more Americans avoid today than during the Depression and a significant number of illegal immi- grants come from rapidly industrializing nations that provide far more economic opportunities for its citizens - and therefore far less push for them to leave - than Mexico did from 1850 to 1940. This raises two questions. If illegal immigration is declining as a result of the recession, to what extent will drastic measures at the state level further this decrease? When the economy recovers, our labor short- age for unskilled farm jobs will rise. We will require more migrant workers. But if the new fences staked by emerging harsher legislation significantly curtails ille- gal immigration, will enough migrant workers climb the extra fences to come to the U.S., legally or illegally, when the economy recovers? Unlike deported Mexicans who rushed back during WWII, 21st century migrants come from countries far wealthier than 1940s Mexico. States that now wish to enact even harsher legislation to deter illegal immigration need to understand that ille- gal immigration is now both informed and complicated by our history and our current and future economy. Per- haps this change in complexity is the only thing that is drastic and unprecedented about illegal immigration reform today. Lou Wang is an SSA senior. cal replay. is year we went to the Michigan State Erika Mayer is an LSA senior JEFF ZUSCHLAG E-MAIL.JEFFAT JEFFl)Z@IUMICI.EDU Ok so maybe scutny th ing tr...u... $1.8milio trom Int such a uh... Freddie Mac? good iaea WHAT $1.8 milliun? for me D on't break, I'm a Mitt, dont candidate sreak yarp yarpl The Line- is The Lineup FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. 0