4A - Wednesday, September 26-, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4A - Wednesday, September 2fi-~ 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom a 7 4 4 I thigan :atug Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com Identify consistent policy TIMOTHY RABB JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ADRIENNE ROBERTS EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS ANDREW WEINER MANAGING EDITOR AlUnsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. FR OM TH E DAi LY Stop the rain rain STEM Jobs Act is a step in the right direction ays before Congress prepares for recess, lawmakers failed to pass a bill for further immigration reform. Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Science, Technology, Engi- tleering, Math Jobs Act would increase green cards for highly skilled foreign nationals. While this bill begins the conversation on immigra- tion reform, it only scratches the surface of the comprehensive immi- gration reform that lawmakers should discuss. Congress should make immigration reform a top priority, and while the STEM Jobs Act is a step in the right direction, more provisions are needed so graduates of all subjects, and their respected families, are able to live in the United States. V oter identification laws are back in the news, and many of these laws directly affect college students. A new Tennessee law "explicitly excludes stu- dent IDs" as a valid photo ID to show at polls, and Wis- MICHAEL consin college SPAETH students can't use "university- provided hous- ing lists or corroboration from other students to verify their residence." Republicans in state legislatures around the country claim that the new voter ID laws are designed to combat voter fraud. Now, I could understand why we should have a national conversation about pre- venting voter fraud if it really was a widespread problem. However, one recent analysis of election fraud cases found that since 2000, there have only been 10 cases of voter impersonation - out of 146 million registered voters in the United States. Prof. David Schultz of the Hamline University School of Business concluded, "There is absolutely no evidence that (voter impersonation fraud) has affected the outcome of any election in the United States, at least any recent election in the United States." Democrats and other critics have been up in arms about the new voter ID laws, claiming that Repub- licans are trying to reduce voter turnout among groups that tend to vote for Democratic candidates, including minority groups and col- lege students. On Saturday, First Lady Michelle Obama went so far as to call the fight to ensure voting rights the "sit-in of our day." If some Republican legislatures are deliber- ately making voting more difficult for specific groups of people for purely political reasons - which seems likely in many states since there have been so few cases of voter fraud - then these actions are reprehensible and unacceptable. But while Democrats' claims might be true about some Republicans, we should be a little more cautious before we over-generalize. Some Republican students at the University fully support implement- ing the new voter ID laws but also believe that states and universities can do more to provide assistance to the groups of people that are being adversely affected by these laws. "I think that Michigan could pass a law that says the universities across the state need to help students navi- gate the process, help students know what the laws are, how they can reg- ister to vote, where they go to get their proper credentials," said Jared Boot, an LSA senior and a member of the College Republicans. The use of student IDs as photo identification at polls is another legitimate topic for consideration. Pulling out his MCard, LSA senior and College Republicans senior advi- sor Brian Koziara pointed out that there are "no security features to speak of." Therefore, the Tennessee law may have some validity if stu- dent ID's in Tennessee are similar to ours. At the same time, however, it's perfectly legitimate for students in Wisconsin to use official housing lists from universities as verifica- tions of their residences, since they live in these residence halls. "We need to establish these rig- orous (voter ID) laws and we need to make sure that we're protect- ing the integrity of the ballot box," Koziara sa4tl, "but if we're going to do that, we have to make sure that we're not preventing people who should be able to vote and who are eligible to vote from actually voting." It's as reasonable for poll workers to ask voters for their photo ID as it is for receptionists to ask people for their photo ID in all kinds of mun- dane situations. But all states have to strike a proper balance. If states are going to make voting slightly more inconvenient for groups of peo- ple that are legally allowed to vote but may not have the means to adapt to the new voting requirements, they need to provide extra assistance, such as transportation to places that provide the required ID or paper- work or more accessible information on the proper voting process. If states can't give these voters adequate assistance, they should make their voter ID laws less stringent or elimi- nate them altogether. Existing voter ID laws are unfair to college students. 4 4 The STEM Jobs Act was introduced this month after failing many times in many forms, and would allocate visas to interna- tional graduates of American universities with a master's or doctoral degrees in certain subjects. The recipients of these green cards would then be able to live in the United States for five years. This bill would replace the cur- rent immigration system, in which a lottery is used to award visas on a per-country basis. Opponents argue that Republicans are being too choosy in who they allow to live in the United States. The United States is experiencing a brain drain, and in 2018, is projected to be short 230,000 "qualified, advanced-degree workers in scientific and technical fields." A 2009 study found that U.S. students ranked 25th among 34 countries in math and science. To combat this problem, America should encourage the thou- sands of foreign students who come to study each year to remain in the country after gradu- ation. Countries such as GermanyandAustralia have already instituted successful immigration initiatives that have lured workers away from their homelands in order to work abroad. The United States needs a system of its own to com- pete with an increasingly globalized economy. But, while a bill like the STEM Jobs Act works to combat the lack of workers in sci- ence and math related subjects, it's restrictive and unfairly places emphasis on specific areas of study. Although the United States is falling behind in such fields, graduates of all subjects should have the chance to work in this country. Allowing graduates of American universities to stay in the United States is a start, but compre- hensive immigration reform is required for all, not just those who have a specialized degree. The Republicans' attempt to end the current lottery system is commendable, but a bipar- tisan compromise is needed. This bill should include revisions that allow family members of graduates to live in the United States. Such a provision may encourage graduates to settle in the United States and start businesses. We shouldn't educate people and then kick them out of the country. Although this bill failed to pass, it laid important groundwork for an investment in the future of the United States and immigra- tion reform. Allowing foreign graduates to stay in the country is a way to encourage job creation and economic growth. Immigration reform law has the potential to revamp the U.S. economy and significantly fill the void created by a decrease in STEM graduates, making the U.S. workforce globally competitive again. Eventually, however, we as a country must move past exclusionary bills and allow more than just graduates of American universities to live in our country. Until all states implement these voter ID reforms, we should still object to the existing voter ID laws that are genuinely unfair to college students and other minority groups because there isn't a proper bal- ance right now. Many states' voter ID laws are deterring citizens from voting without providing extra assistance to make up for these dif- ficulties. Right now, more people are being hurt than helped. No matter which state enacts unreasonable voter ID laws, all students should stand together in opposition until there is sufficient assistance to go along with these laws. - Michael Spaeth can be reached at micspa@umich.edu. INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? POLITICS? SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK'N'ROLL? Check out The Michigan Daily's editorial board meetings. Every Monday and Thursday at 6pm, the Daily's opinion staff meets to discuss both University and national affairs and write editorials. E-mail opinioneditors@michigandaily.com to join in the debate. Votes over apathy i EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Eli Cahan, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Patrick Maillet, Harsha Nahata, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Gus Turner ERIN PAVACIK| Mid-college crisis I'm having a mid-college crisis. This isn't the kind where I go out and buya bright yellow moped (the college kid's version of a muscled- ip sports car) or have a torrid, illicit affair with a coworker, but it's a real crisis nonetheless. As I enter my junior year, the impending con- sequences of my chosen majors are looming ... and that means I find myselfhaving to choose a career path within the next two years. Cue the panic attack. Engineers can skip this article. Future doctors, too. You won't have to worry about finding a job out of college - you're practi- cally biding your time until an international conglomerate or promising start-up snatches you straight from the graduation procession. But the rest of us, those who are pursuing lib- eral arts degrees, the ones who dreamed their whole lives of law school or pursuing further education in sociology or philosophy, we're the ones who will graduate thousands of dol- lars in debt with little to no job perspectives after months of fruitless searching. This news hits hard for me. Since I was a little girl, my parents have called me "the attorney." Law school wasn't so much a ques- tion of when and how, but rather, where - as if at 12 years old it was already decided that I would be taking the LSAT an entire decade in the future. I was always better with words than with numbers, devouring books and writing short stories at a young age, but scoff- ing at my finance-man father when he asked me about my multiplication tables. I wasn't math-illiterate; I just liked sentence struc- ture more than balancing fractions. Now, I'm tossing and turning through sleep- less nights with the realization thathumanities degree holders may be in serious trouble step- ping into the real world. The plan was always: graduate with a double major in Political Sci- ence and Women's Studies, minoring in Inter- national Studies. Write an honor's thesis, use it to get into a good law school and the rest will follow. But now, the work force is too full of wannabe lawyers swamped in student loans. Even professors, GSI's just out of law school and into another four-plus years of education, are advising to get out, now. That leaves me with two degrees and a botched plan for a whole lot of research. If I'm honest with myself, I never intended to prac- tice law for long - it was my jumping point for broadcast journalism. But you can't go straight from undergrad to the newsroom (of CNN, not Aaron Sorkin) so I devised another plan instead. A plan that, it would seem, will lead me straight into the jaws of joblessness and debt. Now that I'm in the very depths of my crisis, I've dropped Women's Studies as a concentra- tion. I'm considering picking up an Economics minor - never mind that I haven't yet taken a single credit in Economics or that I only have two years left to complete my degree. But if I refuse to adapt to the job market, I could be waitressing nights while continuing to pay off student loans for an education that, while enlightening, left me completely unprepared to face the real world - a fault that's completely my own. I need to start training myself to be technical, to face a future that might include an MBA (nothing bores me more than accounting and finance), and a nine-to-five job that means little more than a cubicle and a 45-minute lunch break. There's noeasy conclusion to this article, or to my crisis. It won't find resolution until I find a career in which I'm happy and stable, a wish that many haven't seen recognized in recent years. Maybe someday you'll turn on your tele- vision and you'll see me presenting the news that the unemployment rate is up .5 percent. Maybe you'll see me behind the stained apron of a waitress's indifferent glare. Who knows where any of us will end up? But one thing we must be sure of: the importance of higher edu- cation cannot be understated. And beyond even that, training students to land jobs in sectors that will be seeing growth in the next two or four or seven years (math, science, engineer- ing) is absolutely essential. So if my future employers want technical, then that's exactly what this liberal arts, words-only girl is going to give them. Erin Pavacik is an LSA junior. n Nov. 2008,Iwas a sophomore in high school. Even though my classmates and I couldn't vote, the election was a huge source of excitement for us, and everyday I'd hear people in the hallways and in classes discussing that after President MARY Barack Obama GALLAGHER was elected, everything was going to be different. Of course, there was the occasional Republi- can thrown in there, but even some of them were swept up with the rest of us in "Change We Can Believe In." When the election results came in, students and townies flooded the streets of Ann Arbor in celebration. Whether the memory is fond or painful, we all remember that presidential election. There was tangible excitement in the air: Sen. Obama was fresh-faced and char- ismatic and students from across the country flocked to his cam- paign. Many of us were inspired by his message of hope for the coun- try's future, and a large number of young people even became involved with his campaign in some way - whether through small donations, social networking or campaigning door-to-door. Four years later, however, the mood has shifted from excitement to a general feeling of frustration and apathy. We voted for Obama's optimistic message of change, and instead got what appears to be the same old slow, ineffective political process that we had before. Before, Obama's message excited us with the possibilities of political involve- ment. Today, his campaign is drier, less idealistic and, if we're going to be honest, more and more depen- dent on the mistakes of his opposi- tion. Aside from our daily dose of the oft-mismanaged Romney campaign, my friends and classmates have been relatively silent on the upcoming election. Romney's now-infamous speech regarding the 47 percent that went viral last week was the most excitement I've felt from my peers about the campaign. Even then, the general reaction on our consistently liberal campus was an incredulous "Who would vote for this guy?" This is understandable. We've become so numbed to political opti- mism that the only things that can provoke a reaction are the frustrat- ing, inspiring a sigh, aheadshake and a return to browsing Reddit. Many potential voters are unenthusiastic about the election as the incumbent, Obama, is no longer the exciting new face on the block. For many people on. this campus, his campaign strategy seems to be "Well, look at the alter- native." However, this lack of enthusi- asm is hardly reason to notuse your vote in the November election. The Michigan voter registration dead- line is fast approaching, so if you have any opinion at all regarding who you think will make the bet- ter leader of our country, now is the time to act. You can check your voter registration status right now at the Secretary of State website, and either register in person or send it by mail. We live in a sometimes crazy, often ineffective democracy, but it's your vote that puts the peo- ple in power whose craziness most lines up with your views. It's much harder to idolize some- one when we've seen his flaws as a leader over the last four years. However, maybe that's for the best. Politics is not a place for hero-worship. 4 As long as we can still muster the energy to find our way to a ballot on Nov. 6, perhaps dropping some of the excitement from the elections isn't entirely a bad thing. Politics is not the place for hero-worship - it's the place for serious, reason- able conversations about the issues that affect all of us in our day-to- day lives. That means that we have to trade in the image of our iconic presidential candidate for a more realistic, flawed presidential incum- bent who we hope is still doing his best to represent our interests. But if you're voting for Romney, you probably don't have to worry about having this problem. Whatever your opinion on his views, I think we can all agree that Romney is in very lit- tle danger of being idolized. The Secretary of State will be registering voters in front of the Michigan League Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Whatever opinions, make them heard this November and make sure to register by Oct. 9. - Mary Gallagher can be reached at mkgall@umich.edu. 4 4 FOLLOW CAMPAIGN EVENTS ONLINE Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Obama are speaking in Ohio today. Check out @michdailyoped to get real-time updates on both of their speeches. For the editorial's page coverage of the events, visit http://michigandaily.com/section/opinion for Vanessa Rychlinski's anaylsis of Romney's speech and Adrienne Roberts' thoughts on Obama's visit. 4 4 a &