6 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - 7
Proposal would mandate
2 3 approval for new taxes
Proposal 5 the functionality of the state
government.
faces bipartisan "Proposal 5 is a wolf in
sheep's clothing," Snyder wrote.
opposition "Supporters market it in a way
that appeals to the anti-tax sen-
By KATIE BURKE timent in all of us. But look closer
Daily News Reporter and you'll see it isn't right for
Michigan."
A group of Michiganders is Snyder explained the proposal
trying to make it more difficult to shifts "political clout" from the
raise taxes in Michigan despite average person and could allow
the objections of Democrats and 13 senators to "block tax legis-
most mainstream Republicans. lation" supported by the rest of
The proposal, sponsored by legislators, making supermajori-
Michigan Alliance for Pros- ties difficult to achieve in order
perity, would require either a to pass tax reductions.
two-thirds majority of the State Snyder added the measure
House or Senate, or a citizen could prevent important reforms
vote during a November elec- that have proved beneficial to the
tion, to pass new tax laws. Any state in the past.
legislation proposing additional "If the two-thirds amendment
taxes, tax base expansion or had been in place a few years
changes to tax rates would need ago, we couldn't have repealed
a super majority to be imple- the job-killing Michigan Busi-
mented. ness Tax," Snyder said in the
About 26 percent of Michi- release. "We couldn't have taken
gan voters said they-would vote the steps we did to improve
yes on the proposal in a poll Michigan's business climate to
conducted by Fox 2 News this bring more and better jobs toour
month, making it the ballot pro- state."
posal with the least amount of State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
voter support. About 44 percent Arbor) said the proposal has pri-
of voters said they would vote no, marily received support from
while 31 percent were undecided. individuals who strongly oppose
According to the Michigan increases in taxes. .
Alliance for Prosperity's web- "I think that a lot of the vehe-
site, the proposal is crucial in ment anti-tax individuals, such
improving the state's economic as the folks who organize the
prosperity. - Tea Party, are probably more
"We believe bringing back supportive of (Proposal 5) than
Michigan's leading edge means your average citizen," Irwin
changing the dialogue in Lan- said.
sing to make tax increases on He added that there has been
our citizens the last resort and heavy resistance to the super
real reform the first resort," the majority measure from politi-
website reads. cians and business networks.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder "(The proposal has) been
said in an article he authored roundly panned by Republi-
in the Lansing State Journal on cans as well as Democrats; the
Oct. 13 that the passing of the Chamber of Commerce opposes
proposal would completely alter it, most traditional Republican
sources oppose it," Irwin said.
"It's pretty roundly opposed by
people who are involved in the
system or people who depend
upon government."
State Rep. Mark Ouimet (R-
Scio Twp.) said he is concerned
that the proposal gives ultimate
control of tax legislation to a
small group of legislators. He
noted that though Republicans
have tended to support the pro-
posal more than Democrats, he
is not in favor of it.
"If the state wanted to move to
a different type of taxing system
or a funding source, (Proposal5)
would hold that up and (the leg-
islation) would be held hostage
by 13 people," Ouimet said. "I
don't think that's healthy."
LSA senior Lauren Coffman,
the communications director
for the University's chapter of
College Democrats, wrote in
an e-mail interview that pas-
sage of Proposal 5 would inhibit
the necessary flexibility of the
Michigan lawmaking process.
"Lawmakers should have the
opportunity to legislate in the
way they believe best serves
the needs of their constituents,"
Coffman wrote. "By adding this
restriction to their powers, we
risk further legislative stale-
mates and roadblocks."
Coffman added that the
measure could have larger
implications on funding of infra-
structure throughout the state.
"A cap on tax dollars could
also mean budget cuts to insti-
tutions of higher learning, such
as the University of Michigan, as
other items become budget pri-
orities," Coffman wrote.
LSA senior Nicole Miller,
a member of the University's
chapter of College Republicans,
said changing the state constitu-
tion for tax legislation should be
considered more caretully. ness of tce proposal would make "It you lock the state into its
"People in general are a little emergency government respons- current tax structure and make
bit hesitant to amend the Consti- es to economic crises much more it too difficult to adjust, if there
tution - their instinct would be complicated to implement, cre- are serious financial issues it
to vote no," Miller said. ating even greater problems for makes it difficult to deal with
Miller said the restrictive- the state. those," Miller said.
PROTEST
From Page 1
only further creates tension and
division."
Fellow members of the Univer-
sity's chapter of College Republi-
cans mobilized in opposition to
the event and organized aprotest
on the steps of the library before
the meeting, carrying signs and
airing their grievances with
passersby.
LSA senior Brian Koziara, a
senior adviser to the University's
chapter of College Republicans,
said he felt the nature of the
event was oppressive to conser-
vative students.
"The title of this event really
seems to be laying blame on
Republicans, and since it's an
officially University sponsored
event, it seems like the Univer-
sity is taking sides on the issue,"
he said.
LSA senior Arielle Zupmore
echoed Koziara, saying she felt
the University was infringing
upon her rights to attend an
unbiased institution of higher
education.
"I was really upset, because
as a women who is a Republican
and very involved with the party,
I found it really, really embar-
rassing that I also have to call
myself a Wolverine at a school
that is sponsoring a partisan
event," she said.
Despite claims that the Uni-
versity breached state policy,
University spokeswoman, Kelly
Cunningham wrote in a state-
ment that the event was not in
violation of the Michigan Cam-
paign Finance Act because it was
purely informational and not
promotional.
"It was our understanding
that the event was never intend-
ed to endorse a political posi-
tion," Cunningham wrote. "It
was a thoughtful, critical analy-
sis of how the media has covered
the issues around gender in poli-
tics and the historical place of
women in the electorate. It was
very much an educational forum.
She added that holding events
that promote discourse among
diverse perspectives is one of the
University's primary objectives.
"This type of intelligent,
thoughtful and respectful dia-
logue among people of diverse
views makes the University of
Michigan such a special place,"
she wrote.
Susan Douglas, chair of
the Communications Studies
department and moderator of
the event, sought to dispel con-
cern over implications of the title
of the event, explaining that the
term "Republican War Against
Women" derives from a book
published in 1996 by Tanya
Melich that detailed the ideolog-
ical shifts of the GOP on women's
rights throughout history.
During the panel discussion,
Katha Pollitt, a writer for the
magazine The Nation said she
believes the Republican party
"sends out complicated vibes"
and conflicting messages, not-
ing an incident in which Repub-
lican presidential nominee Mitt
Romney told an Iowa newspaper
that he had no plansto enact anti-
abortion policies. His campaign
promptly rescinded the statement
Pollitt said.
"I think that he was sending
a message to say to pro-choice
moderate.Republicans -'It's OK
to vote for me. I'm still moder-
ate Mitt, the former governor of
Massachusetts, who was pro-
choice, who did Romneycare,"'
she said.
Rebecca Traister, a writer for
the online news site Salon.com
discussed the transformation of
the American political system
as women and minorities have
made increasing gains and taken
on leadership roles.
"Throughout history, we have
been run by one kind of person -
a white male person," she said.
"That's what the presidents have
looked like, a white guy. It's what
people with economic power
have looked like; it's what peo-
ple with academic power have
looked like. It's what power has
looked like in this country."
Anna Holmes, the founder of
the feminist blog Jezebel and a
columnist for The Washington
Post, spoke about an incident
last spring in which conserva-
tive pundit Rush Limbaugh
called Sandra Fluke, a student
at a Georgetown University who
advocated contraceptive rights,
a slut.
"I think that (women) saw in
Sandra a kindred spirit and they
were outraged that she was being
lambasted publicly," she said. "I
think a lot of younger women,
and older women, are tired of
having their sexuality called
into question when they actually
have somethingto say about any-
thing uncomfortable."
The room quickly grew heated
during a question-and-answer
session in which attendees
expressed concern over the lack
of Republican considerations on
the panel.
Cynthia Kallgren, the Repub-
lican running against U.S. Rep.
John Dingell (D-Mich.) in the
newly drawn fifteenth congres-
sional district, told the panel
she feels the Democratic Party
has failed to focus on issues
like unemployment and the
struggling economy, and she
challenged their protection of
women's rights.
"Unemployment ... is affect-
ing every woman in the state; it's
affecting these college students
here who want to go out and
get jobs," Kallgren said. "You
say that your party cares about
women, but your party doesn't
give a crap about women, or
they would be worried about the
economy, about paying the debt
and not leaving it on these young
people."
Traister countered, stating
that the panel was not advocat-
ing for Obama or Democratic
ideals, just considering varying
viewpoints, which was received
by cheers from the audience.
"I don't think anyone on the
panel has said Democrats are per-
fect for women," she said.
In an interview after the event,
LSA sophomore Emma Maniere
said though she identifies asa lib-
eral feminist, hearing opposing
viewpoints was helpful in under-
standing important issues in this
election cycle.
"Hearing what (conservatives)
have to say before the election,
it helps me cement my beliefs,
and hearing the opposition that
was so prevalent in the questions
afterwards, helps me recognize
that there is another side and
helps me balance that out and be
informed," she said.
In an interview after the event,
Douglas said while she is glad to
see that students are politically
active and motivated to stand
up for their beliefs, she felt the
claims by groups such as the.Col-
lege Republicans were unfound-
ed.
"As far as trying to challenge
the University's nonprofit sta-
tus, or suggest that it violated it
in some way, is just completely
ridiculous, grasping at straws,
and actually is very counter-
productive for students to try to
revoke the non-profit status of the
own university that they go to,"
she said.
APPLICANTS
From Page 1
sity's associate vice provost and
executive director of under-
graduate admissions, said in a
press release that the University
strives to stabilize enrollment
each year in order to maximize
resource use.
"This is the second consecu-
tive year that we have intention-
ally admitted fewer students
to our entering class," Spencer
said. "Our goal is to maintain
fairly stable enrollment num-
bers overall: This ensures that
enrollment is scaled to resourc-
es, which optimizes the educa-
tional environment for all our
students."
The entering class is almost
identical in gender breakdown
to last year's demographics,
with 49.96 percent of the stu-
dents identifying as female and
50.04 percent of the students
identifying as male.
The number of underrepre-
sented minority students fell
in this year's freshman class
by half a percentage point from
the previous entering class,
with 10 percent of the class
identifying as an underrepre-
sented minority student.
However, the number of stu-
dents who identify as African
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American on campus increased
this year in both undergradu-
ate and graduate enrollment, at
more than a percentage point
for a total of 5.9 percent.
Hanlon explained the Uni-
versity's goals for size of the
student body are not based
solely on the incoming class,
but attempt to account for the
number of continuing students
and transfers as well.
Using the number of student-
earned credit hours, the Uni-
versity estimates the number
that will graduate in Decem-
ber, and models enrollment in
the spring to reassess its goals.
Over time, Hanlon said the Uni-
versity aims to decrease the
number of students from more
than 27,000to about 26,500.
"Ultimately I think it will
help with some of the conges-
tion in some of the concentra-
tions," Hanlon said. "If we
ratchet down the overall num-
ber of undergrads some, there
will be less congestion, less
instances when a student can't
get into a class they want to get
into and the bus system will be
less crowded."
Hanlon said that though the
College of Engineering and the
School of Kinesiology saw the
greatest increase in applica-
tions , the number of students
admitted to those colleges was
not altered.
"Applicant numbers have
gone up, selectivity has
improved and the yields have
gone up," Hanlon said.
He attributed growth in the
University's size to an unex-
pected growth in the yield
- the number of students
accepting admission out of the
acceptances extended. Since
the target number is based off
the previous year's yield, the
data compounds and contin-
ues to increase; generating an
unexpected increase in admis-
sions numbers.
"We've grown by accident,"
Hanlon explained.