4A - Monday, April 16, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com 4A -MonayApri 16 202 Th Mihign Daly mihigadaiyco Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ANDREW WEINER JOSH HEALY 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 of their authors. Imran Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com. Enact tuition equality Charge in-state rates for undocumented immigrants As the cost of obtaining a college degree increases each year, higher education becomes a less realistic goal for those from lower income families or families hesitant to accumulate debt. As a result, diversity at the University continues to exist increas- ingly only in rhetoric. While many steps must be taken to attract and retain students from all walks of life, the University is currently examining whether to charge in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants residing in Michigan. Charging the out-of-state tuition for undocumented Michigan public school graduates hinders stu- dents who worked hard to be accepted to the University. The Univer- sity's Board of Regents should make this issue a priority and enforce tuition equality to increase student diversity and maintain focus on SNEHA REDDY E-MAItL SNEHAAT SNEHAR@UMICH.EDU FROM THE PUBLIC EDITOR I The Daily's 'Order' dilemma education, not politics. At the request of Regent Julia Darlow (D-Ann Arbor), Provost Philip Hanlon is assembling a report on tuition equality for undocumented students for the board's con- sideration. Members of the Coalition for Tuition Equality, a student-led alliance aim- ing to bring students and student organiza- tions together in support of tuition equality, have spoken at the regents' monthly meet- ings about the circumstances undocumented students face at the University. The group hopes the University will change its policy and allow undocumented immigrants who have graduated from Michigan high schools to pay in-state tuition. The University should enact this change to open doors for a more racially and socio-eco- nomically diverse student body. The Univer- sity prides itself on its diversity - experience with diversity is raised as early the admis- sions application - but as demonstrated by recent incoming freshman classes, the Uni- versity can be doing much more, especially in terms of socio-economic diversity. Recent reports have shown that 79 percent of college enrolled students are in the highest income bracket, but only 34 percent are in the low- est. Lowering tuition would allow for more high-achieving undocumented immigrants to enroll in the University, and increase rep- resentation for a large but often ignored sec- tor of the population. Since CTE's founding this year by Public Policy junior Kevin Mersol-Barg, the orga- nization has made impressive progress, as evidence by Hanlon's upcoming report. CTE has successfully brought a wide array of stu- dent organizations into the conversation on tuition equality. It's apparent there is campus support for a policy change, and it's not dif- ficult to understand why. Many undocument- ed immigrants came to the U.S. by no fault of their own and face daily difficulties due to their immigration status. Barring those students from a more affordable education increases their hardship. Other Michigan universities, including Western Michigan University and Wayne State University, have policies that allow undocumented immi- grants to pay in-state rates. The University is in a clear position to be an advocate for edu- cation. Congress hasn't passed the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which would grant citizenship to undocu- mented minors after living in the country for five years, since its introduction in 2001. Because of this lack of federal action, the Uni- versity is obligated to support education and student diversity by enacting tuition equality. The fallout from last week's Statement cover story - "Order and chaos: Explor- ing the controversy surrounding a not-so-secret society" - was quite extraordinary for one reason: The most outspoken critics and defend- ers of the story are really pretty much the same people: Current or recently-departed editors of The Michigan Daily. This uniquely staffed controversy brought up two important issues that I want to address. First is the membership of Daily staffers inthe studentgroup known as Order of Angell. This controver- sy has confirmed my belief that it is inappropriate for editors who com- prise the Daily's leadership core to be affiliated with Order. I say this with no ill intent toward Order. Admittedly, I'm no expert on that group. I come to this conclusion solely based on the question of what is best for the Daily. I understand that there is a long tradition of Daily editors being involved with Order (and its prede- cessor, Michigamua). I also recog- nize that Order does some positive things on campus, and that mem- bership of a Daily editor in the group could have some potential benefit. All that said, I believe that the drawbacks of a Daily editor being involved in that group out- weigh the benefits. This opinion is informed by per- sonal experience of several recent debates at this paper about order membership - though I concede that many editors have joined with- out controversy. It's also informed by my knowledge of how this paper works, what its needs are, and what ultimately are the journalistic and practical life lessons students are supposed to learn at the Daily. The mere fact that joining Order is a contentious issue that causes immense friction among the Dai- ly's staff is reason enough to avoid it. This is not to say that editors don't have the right to join, but just that they should show good judg- ment about their responsibilities as leaders at the Daily and walk away from this unnecessary controversy. Just as importantly, consider why the Daily forbids its staffers from being involved in student gov- ernment: The perceived conflict of loyalties is too much to explain. The primary responsibility and allegiance of Daily editors should be to this newspaper and student government membership seems to undermine that ideal. Similarly, while I believe it is possible to be in Order and judi- ciously serve as a fair editor at this newspaper - and I take issue with any implication that recent editors who were members of the group committed breaches of journalistic ethics I think that it is simply too fine of a line to constantly walk. And even when walked appropriately, it causes editors to preclude them- selves from editing or writing cer- tain stories - which is a deviation from their job responsibilities, and causes more work for their peers. After all, we have a choice, and we should walk away from that line. Moving on to the second issue: The allegation that the story in question was ill-intentioned, and committed some breaches of jour- nalistic ethics itself. It has been alleged that some sources were mis- led about the content of the story, and that the story selectively picked from the information provided by sources to unfairly advocate an agenda. It is impossible for me to decide the truth of this issue: I have been told exactly opposite things by people I have no reason to distrust. I will stick, then, to the bits that I can objectively comment upon. First, the mere fact that editors who oversaw a story might have personal iews on-anissue does not constitute a confict of interest, and allegations along those lines are unfair. Second, it is routine prac- tice for many sources to be inter- viewed, and for only a few of them to be quoted. I am told that cumu- lative sources were paraphrased in this story, and I see nothing wrong with that. However, selective rep- resentation of viewpoints, under guise of telling the whole story, is never acceptable. I encourage writ- ers and editors to be especially cog- nizant of that issue. No one denies that sources were contacted at the last minute - via e-mail and Google Chat, no less. And yet, I was repeatedly told that this story was in planning and pro- duction for many months. So, there is a problem here. The Daily has a policy of strong- ly favoring in-person or phone interviews over e-mail (or modes even more fluid, such as instant messaging). This policy has been taken too lightly recently, and I think this story provides a good lesson on why it must once again be strongly emphasized. Yes, it is harder to get com- ments from people in person or on the phone, but that is precisely the point: Our focus asjournalists is not to do things the easy way,but rather to embrace the hard way if that is called for. The reason to avoid fall- ing back on methods like e-mail is made clear in this story: There is an incentive to wait till the last min- ute, to ask for "just a quick quote" as opposed to actually having a con- versation and getting full informa- tion. My point here should not be contested: Some of the very people who settled for e-mail comments in the Statement story asked me to contact them by phone as opposed to simply responding to my e-mail. Finally, given the subject of this story, andtheimmense disturbance it caused within this newspaper, I question what went into the deci- sion to do this story at all. The Dai- ly's bylaws state that "Management Desk will have final authority over all matters concerning the edito- rial side of The Michigan Daily." In practice, this has been taken to mean that controversial stories are run by M-Desk, especially stories that comment on the internal deal- ings of the Daily. It would have been beneficial, and arguably was required by the Daily' bylaws, to have run the Statement story in -question by M-Desk - something that was not done. When faced with the deci- sion about whether to run this story, M-Desk would have closely questioned its purpose, gauged its repercussions and then decided whether it was worth the trouble. Regardless of who made the deci- sion, part of the consideration should be how the story reflects on the pub- lic image of this newspaper. As the fallout from the story has shown, coverage in this paper of order has become more about the Daily than about Order. There has to be a seri- ous discussion about how healthy that is for the Daily as an institution. -The public editor is an 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. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Kaan Avdan, Eli Cahan, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Harsha Panduranga, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Seth Soderborg, Caroline Syms, Andrew Weiner LET TER TO HE EDITOR SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM 'Let's makehistory together' maintains the status quo just does not addt expect the reader t from someone who criminal and not as; TO THE DAILY:: The authors wan I write to address the misuse of the con- endorsing the same cept of "making history" by the authors of supposedly support the viewpoint, "Let's make historytogether." el's partner in pea The authors cite former Israeli Prime Min- corrupt leader notor ister Ehud Olmert's "passion and conviction" ignoring the rights as inspiration for their call to endorse a two- ity, signing on to th state settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli by the authors mai conflict. During his premiership, Olmert postpones peace ra oversaw the massacre of over 1,400 Pales- it. The statement rel tinians, overwhelmingly innocent civilians official U.S. policyI and more than 300 children, from Decem- ment aids and abets ber 2008 until January 2009 during a brutal and illegal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza. That period also and discrimination resulted in the killings of six Israeli attack- To actually make h ing soldiers - four from friendly fire - and peace and justice, three innocent Israeli civilians rights for all Pales Here the reader, as a person of conscience, We must call for a. must ask: Is the killing of more than 300 and to the apartheid children a criminal act, or are the children Israeli occupying p to be dismissed as "collateral damage," as an indigenous Pales dead colored bodies often are by imperialist powers? If it's criminal (as the killing of any Abbas Z. Alawieh innocent should be), then something here LSA senior up. Why do the authors o take pointers on peace has credibility as a war a peace proponent? nt to "make history" by unjust settlement that is ed by Olmert and "Isra- ce, Mahmoud Abbas," a rious for suppressing and of Palestinians. In real- he declaration purported ntains a status quo that ther than moves toward gurgitates what has been for years as our govern- the sustenance of racist occupation, segregation n against Palestinians. istory and move toward we must demand equal tinians and all Israelis. n end to the occupation d tactics employed by the ower in its dealings with tinian population. 0 ERIKA MAYER I The end result When I started looking at colleges, which seems like a million years ago now, my parents stressed the impor- tance of the "college experience." While it was obvi- ously importantto get a good education, they reminded me that the next four years of my life would involve a lot of learning and experiences that took place outside the classroom. And when I left for school, they told me again in fear that I would bury my nose in my books, never to be seen again. It turned out to not be a problem for me - I didn't let striving to get good grades get in the way of clubs I wanted to join, dinners I wanted to go to, or friends I wanted to make. I certainly didn't let a little thing like class stop me from going to the Sugar Bowl. And as a result, I think I had a pretty great college experience while maintaining a high standard of work. I don't look back on my time here and wish I had done X, Y and Z instead. (Though I do regret never sledding in the Arb - who knew we wouldn't get snow this winter?) As I move forward from this period, though, that seems to have changed. Not by any means from my parents, who think it's important to enjoy your life, but from others. The same people who stress the impor- tance of the "college experience" are now telling me to look toward the end goal as I consider different law schools. Suddenly all that matters is what school has the most internships, what school has the highest placement record and what school is ranked highest on reviews. No one has asked me where I think I'm going to be happy. It sounds stupid even when I say it. I mean, ask any- one. You don't go to law school to be happy, you go to become a lawyer. And that is absolutely true. (Serious- Explore off-campus cuisine If you want to have a competition for the best on-campus restaurants, go nuts. But I TO THE DAILY: love the food in my home town, and I'm not The recent "Best of Ann Arbor" section going to listen to you tell the entire student really hurt as an Ann Arbor-ite and student. body that the best coffee shop in Ann Arbor Chipotle is the best Mexican restaurant in is a nationwide chain! Students should stray Ann Arbor? No Thai! has the best Thai food? out of their comfort zones and see what Ann As a Jew, maybe I'm not the best authority Arbor actually has to offer. They might just on these types of cuisine, but I'm pretty sure find tastier, more authentic and, most impor- they're both just overpriced fast food joints. tantly, more affordable cuisine is just a few The best Mexican food in town is, without extra steps away. a question, Bandito's - I'd say Prickly Pear if you expanded the category to Southwest. Ephriam Love The best Thai would probably be at Tuptim. LSA senior ly, not worth the money if you aren't going to actually become a lawyer.) But unless I'm totally different from everyone else on the planet, which is not totally out of the realm of possibility, I don't do very good work when I'm miserable. Of course, I'm picking a law school based on employ- ment prospects, school reputation and specialization in my field of interest. But I'm also going to pick a school where I am going to get along with the other students, like the area around me and feel like I belong. Honestly, if I'm unhappy at my school, I'm hardly goingto do well enough to place in the rankings, even if I'm at the best law school I could get into. It sounds really simple when put like that, but I think it's a concept that too many people around me are for- getting, both with regard to my life and to theirs. There is more to life than grades; there is more to life than going to the best school in the country. If I don't take time outside of law school to do things that make me happy, whether it's going out with friends, going to the zoo or traveling to Michigan football games, what am I going to have when there is no more law school? If I make myself solely one thing, I'm not going to be very interesting. And if I make my choice about my future one thing - what is going to best get me to the end goal - with- out taking into account all the things that are going to happen along the way, my life isn't going to be very interesting either. I know where I want to be in five years, and I know the rough path I need to take to get there. But I'm going to have some fun along the way. Erika Mayer is an LSA senior.