4 - Friday, March 15, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. SOPHIA USOW E-MAIL SOPHIAAT SOPHIAUS@UMICH.EDU 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MELANIE KRUVELIS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors. Bad business Grading policies should be consistent across campus The University's Ross School of Business is consistently ranked as one of the top ten business schools in the country, but on campus it has a reputation as an exclusive community. While the Business School's private gym might earn some jealous eyerolls, the School's unique grading structure is a real cause for concern. Accord- ing to Lynn Wooten, the Business School's associate dean of under- graduate programs, the School has been assigning a grade point of 4.4 to Bachelor's of Business Administration undergraduate students who earn an A+ in any class since the 1950s. This grading policy, which will be reviewed next year, is different than the grading policies of other undergraduate programs at the University. In all other schools, a 4.0 is given for an A+. This policy creates inequities in the grade distributions of non-business classes taken by Ross students. The Business School should make its grading policy consistent with other undergraduate schools and programs within the University. 4E "CR0W ON THE CROUND KEVIN YOUNG Chivez's real Venezuela .I In an LSA class, a Business student can earn a 4.4 grade point, while at the same time, an LSA student who worked equally as hard can earn a maximum of 4.0. The Busi- ness School's current grading policy incen- tivizes taking classes perceived to be easier to boost GPAs, rather than selecting classes based on interest. This may inflate the grades of students who choose classes based on their expectations of receiving a high grade. The Business School's grade-inflating poli- cies are by and large unique to the University. In top business programs like those at Notre Dame University, University of Virginia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, any grade within the A range grade earns a 4.0 with no disparity between other colleges. The Business School's grading difference might give students a slight edge in employment opportunities, but also highlights a discrep- ancy among how the University prepares its Business undergraduates for post-graduation life. Grades are important, but inflating the grades in only one program suggests that the Business School is more focused on making its graduates appear attractive on paper than by merit. The fact that other top business schools refrain from such inflation suggests the Busi- ness School should change its policies. The Business School also has a number of unique policies outside of grading that contribute to the Bachelor in Business Administration program's high rankings in publications like U.S. News. For example, Business juniors and seniors have an extra week added to their winter break in order to seek out internships and job offers. In addition, Ross avoids scheduling Friday classes so that their students can compete in case competitions, attend special events at the Business School and work on group projects. It's not that Business students don't deserve these perks, but if they're offered to them, they should be offered to undergraduates across the University. This year, the University unveiled plans to allow LSA undergraduates to receive a Business minor. Slated to start in the fall of 2013, LSA students will take classes to learn business skills alongside their other studies. As the University moves toward integrating Ross into the rest of the campus community, it's essential that the administration change the inequities that exist between colleges. Gabriela Vasquez's opinion piece, ("Shake off Chavismo," 3/13/13), was a particularly crudeexample ofthe dis- tortions that have characterized U.S. press coverage of Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was first elected presi- dent in 1998. Since then, U.S. politi- cians and the press have portrayed Chavez as a tyrant who destroyed his country's democratic institutions and economy. As Vasquez argued, "Chavez had completely taken over Venezuela and turned it into a pov- erty-ridden, semi-military, semi-per- sonalistic dictatorship, disguised as a democracy." Unfortunately, Vasquez's col- umn suffers from a complete lack of empirical evidence. Rather than citing any data, she relies entirely on impressions gleaned from her time visiting Venezuela as a child and the comments of her right-wing family members, who are evidently wealthy enough to finance many family trips to Venezuela each year ("We were always there for our birthdays, our relatives' birthdays, holidays, etc."). Personal opinions and stories are important, but the views of a few affluent Venezuelans are a poor sub- stitute for polls and economic data. The evidence tells a very differ- ent story. Hugo Chavez was elected four times, beating the right-wing opposition candidate by a substan- tial margin each time. Annual opin- ion polls conducted by the Chilean organization Latinobardmetro have consistently found that Vene- zuelans are relatively satisfied with the state of their democracy. In the last poll in 2011, Venezuelans rated their country the third most demo- cratic in all of Latin America, and only 25 percent said "citizen partic- ipation" in politics and government "is lacking" - the best rating in the entire region. Close U.S. allies such as Columbia, Mexico and Honduras have fared far worse in the Latino- bardmetro polls. Vasquez's claim that "inde- pendent media virtually disap- peared" under Chavez is often heard in the U.S. media but is sim- ply false. According to a 2010 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, state TV chan- nels account for about 6 percent of audience share. Most Venezu- elan media sources are still owned and controlled by wealthy private interests. Most of these sources not only oppose ChAvez's party, but some even openly supported a 2002 military coup against him - a coup backed by the United States. Imag- ine what would happen to CNN or The New York Times if they advo- cated the military overthrow the U.S. government. The implication that Chavez has further militarized Venezu- ela is also, disingenuous. In 2011, Venezuela spent $3.1 billion on its military, according to the Stock- holm International Peace Research Institute. By comparison, the Unit- ed States spent about $700 billion - roughly as much as the rest of the world combined. Venezuelan cities do have a problem with vio- lent crime, which may explain the armed guards that Vasquez saw in the streets, but in that respect, Ven- ezuela isn't dramatically different from many other Latin American countries. And that problem exists despite, not because of, the govern- ment's policies. Contrary to Vasquez's imagery of vast slums created by the Chavez government's failed economic policies, since 2003, Venezuela has maintained strong economic growth while cutting poverty in half and reducing extreme poverty by 70 percent. As economist Mark Weisbrot notes, "Millions of people also got access to health care for the first time, and access to educa- tion also increased sharply, with college enrollment doubling and free tuition for many. Eligibility for public pensions tripled." Vasquez expresses thinly veiled contempt for the millions of poor and working-class Venezuelans who support Chavez's political project. The only explanation for his popu- larity, she implies, is "the ignorance of the population," who "blindly acceptedeverywordhespoke"while remaining oblivious to the reality around them. But the real problem - at least for the traditional Venezu- elan elite and the U.S. government - is that most Venezuelans are acutely aware of reality. They understand, based on their own experiences, the problems caused by two centuries of oligarchic rule, particularly the neoliberal period of the 1980s and 1990s when public services were privatized, social spending slashed and foreign oil corporations made out like bandits while the major- ity of the population languished in dismal poverty. Despite the conventional depic- tion in the U.S. media, the changes in Venezuela since 1998 haven't simply been the result of Hugo Chavez imposing his personal will on the country. Millions of Venezu- elans have played an active part in promoting - and radicalizing - the transformation associated with Chavez. Workers have occupied fac- tories and have taken to the streets to defend against right-wing coup attempts and U.S. meddling. Hun- dreds of thousands of citizens have participated in community-run media .outlets, democratic worker cooperatives, community gover- nance structures called communal councils and other institutions of participatory democracy. Whatev- er his flaws - and he certainly did have some - Chavez opened a space for the poor majority to make them- selves heard. Though Chavez is gone, it's unlikely that Venezuelans will allow the clock to be turned back anytime soon. Kevin Young is an academic affiliate with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. VIVIAN BURGETT I Read this, I'm Irish The other day I was lamenting the fact that I have to work on St. Patrick's Day even though I'm Irish. Other people couldn't believe that I was going to work on March 17 because some- how being Irish has become such an identify- ing feature for me. But then I started thinking - does St.Patrick'sDay really mean more to me because I'm Irish? Does this holiday that was once a celebration of Irish-American culture really mean anything to me aside from the fact that suddenly everyone thinks it's really cool that I'm Irish? After all, isn't Everyone Irish on St. Patrick's Day?' I hear people complain all the time that America takes religious or cultural holidays and injects them with consumerism. Mardi Gras is now "Paczki Day" - let's be honest, Fat Tuesday isn't really a better name - and St. Valentine's Day has turned into "the day of buying chocolate and going out to dinner/ staying in with a pint of ice cream." I'm not really bothered by the fact that these holidays have come to represent American consumer- ism. I've accepted that that's just something we do. After all, St. Patrick's Day celebrations in America started as a way to show solidarity for Ireland when it was trying to gain inde- pendence from Britain. But now that Ireland is independent, what significance does St. Patrick's Day hold any- more? It's hard to say that the holiday is a cel- ebration of Irish-American culture when Irish blood is so ubiquitous that there's hardly a spe- cific culture anymore. So now the holiday is an excuse for drinking. And that's fine - but it would be nice if we could distance it a bit more from Irish culture. Unlike all those other holidays that became excuses for consumerism, St. Patrick's Day projects a negative stereotype. There's this idea that 'everybody's Irish' and thus celebrating like the Irish by getting drunker than all of the Real Housewives of New York combined. To be fair, this stereotype of the Irish being heavy drinkers has a basis in reality: Drinking is socially acceptable in Irish culture. Beer was brewed in monasteries for hundreds of years - St. Patrick himself is said to have had his own brewer. I've come to realize that drinking is not so acceptable in other cultures, and maybe that's where this idea of 'everybody's Irish' comes in. People hide behind another culture to justify binge drinking. St. Patrick's Day has become some sort of excuse for debauchery. That's all right, but let's at least recognize that this element of St. Patrick's Day - going to the bar at 7 a.m. - is decidedly un-Irish. After all, anyone who's truly hardcore Irish would only be getting up that early to go to church. Someone recently asked me if my mom was going to the bar all day for St. Patrick's Day since she's Irish. That was a little embarrass- ing for me. Do people really think that all Irish people embrace such intense binge drinking? My mother may be Irish, but she's much too old to drink for eight hours straight - and perfectly horrified at the prospect of me doing the same. This is something that college kids do, not the Irish. And this is where the stereotypes get per- sonal: The British used the stereotype of the Irish as drunken savages to justify their coloni- zation of Ireland. Now, the fact that St. Patrick's Day contin- ues to reinforce those stereotypes that made life so much harder for my ancestors is pretty frustrating. We may use cultural holidays as an excuse for consumerism, butI can't think of any other consumerist version of a culture that upholds a stereotype like this one. "Paczki Day" doesn't portray Poles as fatsoes. Cinco de Mayo, now also an excuse to drink, doesn't project the same image of alcoholism on Mexicans. To my knowledge, St. Patrick's Day is the only holiday that embraces a derogatory stereotype. So, yes, I'll be drinking on St. Patrick's Day, but I'll be sober in time to go to work - though given my Irish pride and the stereotypes, I bet my boss will doubt my sobriety. My mother will also probably have a beer or two and most definitely will make corned beef for dinner. As an American college student, St. Patrick's Day to me means drinking Irish beer and wearing green. As an Irish-American, St. Patrick's Day is the one day where it's coolto be pale and where I'm not ashamed to blast "The Rocky Road to Dublin" from my porch, car and workplace. I have no qualms with people drinking from dawn 'til dusk, but for the love of God, do you have to deck yourselves with tacky cloverleaves and Irish flags? Vivian Burgett is an LSA senior. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman,Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Luchen Wang, Derek Wolfe ELIZABETH BROUWER V A love letter to Amy Poehler a I've been really grateful for all of the smart women in movies and on television lately: Kristen Wiig is makingbox-office hits, MindyKaling has her own TV show and Tina Fey seems to have the Midas touch. The leading lady that captured my heart, however, is Amy Poehler. Like a breath of fresh air in a stale, male-dominated media, Poehler is hilarious, opinionated and sup- portive of her gal pals. Her televi- sion show can give women hope because, while plenty of shows have amazing character actor ensembles or witty writing, "Parks and Recre- ation" has realistic female friend- ships, namely that of Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins. The relationship between these two women is loving and support- ive. They have tons of fun together. They aren't catty, manipulative or competitive like the "Real House- wives" women. They work hard at their friendship. They set aside time for each other and help each other achieve their life goals. And their friendship is independent of any man - "Uteruses before Duderuses!" Even better is that this show isn't primarily targeted toward women - it's full of humor that appeals to both genders. This is a noteworthy feat, especially considering most exemplary female friendships in the media are exclusively relegated to female-targeted media. Lifetime movies, romantic comedies and "Sex and the City" immediately come to mind. It's easy to overlook the rarity of strong female friendships on televi- sion. Many shows suffer from the "Smurfette Principle," which states that unless a show is purposefully aimed at a female viewing audi- ence, the characters will tend to be disproportionately male. This often manifests itself as a group of guys with one girl in the main cast. Obvi- ous illustrations of this include "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Seinfeld," "The New Girl," "'The Big Bang Theory" and of course, "The Smurfs." I love you Miss Piggy, but are you really content as the only female Muppet? Other movies or shows have female characters, but their main purpose is to enhance the male cast members. Don't believe me? The Bechdel test was designed to measure this exact phenomenon. A movie or an episode passes the Bechdel test if it has three elements: at least two female characters who speak, those female characters speak to each other and when they speak to each other, they're talking about something other than a man. Sounds easy enough? At least half of all films and TV episodes fail. Don't get me wrong. I love the media despite misogyny. "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is my favorite set of films, even though Middle Earth is mostly devoid of females. I own all the seasons of "It's Always Sunny on DVD, and Sweet Dee is her own awesome flavor of a-hole. But as a smart female, I want to see females on TV that I can relate to, maybe even admire. And I want to see those females in healthy, sup- portive friendships with each other. How can we achieve this change? By demanding it! By watching shows like "Parks and Rec", and appreciating it as the rare, beautiful musk ox that it is. And I'm sure my weekly love letters to Amy Poehler don't hurt either. Elizabeth Brouwer is a Public Heath student.