4A - Monday, March 25, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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MELANIE KRUVELIS
ANDREW WEINER and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN
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.
FROM THIE DAIL
Politics over sound policy
School funding is once again at risk in the state of Michigan
A s Michigan begins its lengthy budgeting process, it appears
as though school funding is once again being put at risk.
Last week, a subcommittee in the Michigan legislature pro-
posed further potential cuts to Michigan universities. The Republi-
can-controlled subcommittee passed penalties in response to recent
contracts between universities and labor unions that aim to skirt
Michigan's new right-to-work law before it takes effect. If penalized,
the University could lose as much as $47 million between the cam-
puses. Despite general indignation against enormous education cuts
in the past, the Republican proposal plays petty politics with devas-
tating effects to education.
In December 2012, Michigan hurriedly people lined up outside of the Capitol in pro-
passed legislation that prohibits unions from test. Opponents of the bill argued that right-
forcing its members to pay union dues as a to-work would cripple the bargaining power of
condition of hiring. The law doesn't go into unions and stymie Michigan's economic recov-
effect until March 28. During this brief inter- ery. Snyder's endorsement of right to work was
mediate period, the University, Wayne State especially controversial after he ran and was
University and other public school districts elected as a candidate opposed to such legisla-
have or have already negotiated contracts that tion. In addition to discontent over the policy
would be unaffected by right-to-work laws. itself, many Michigan residents were upset at
To counter this, the Republican subcommit- the manner in which it was legalized. As Mich-
tee has proposed that unless state universities igan's lame duck legislature hastily pushed
show that these contracts achieve "10 percent through a number of controversial laws, critics
or greater savings,"they will lose 15 percent of pointed out that the Republican congress failed
their state funding. If penalized, the Universi- to include public discussion and awareness of
ty's Ann Arbor campus' $278 million state aid the legislation's passage. Experts are still at
will be cut by $47 million. Wayne State stands odds over the economic effects of the law.
to lose $27.5 million. While Michigan Republicans argue that
This proposal solidifies that the state leg- the signing of these union contracts is unprin-
islature is not committed to education, plain cipled, it's irrefutably legal. Furthermore,
and simple. In 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder made both the schools and their staffs have amica-
unprecedented double-digit. cuts to higher bly agreed to the terms of the contract. Bon-
education funding. The 2011 budget also cut nie Halloran, the president of the University's
community college funding by four percent Lecturers' Employee Organization, has said,
and cut K-12 state aid at a rate of $300 per "As far as I can see it's bullying from the leg-
student. Since then, Michigan legislature has islature. Nothing illegal is being done." Allan
failed to significantly replace these cuts. Now, Gilmour, Wayne State University president,
the Michigan subcommittee is irresponsibly has said the union contracts are a "result
looking to take a substantial sum for the sake of hard work towards an agreement that is
of frivolous political tactics. mutually satisfactory. " Ironically, the Repub-
The right-to-work law itself is a point of con- lican claim that these contracts are dishonest
tention and its logic is still being questioned. could be similarly applied to the manner in
The passage of the law in December of last which the right-to-work law itself was passed.
year was highly contested and was surrounded This new proposal to penalize these legal
by controversy. While Michigan legislation agreements is a strategy that prioritizes silly
processed the right-to-work bill, hundreds of politics over education.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION
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OLIVIA KUENZIV I
Immunity for the 'kings'
MAGGIE MILLER
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9HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M
DOING WITH MY LIFE.
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Embracing my inner feminist
ike many men, I've spent
most of my life confused
and frustrated by the term
"feminism."
The overarch-
ing theme of
feminism in
my privileged-
white-upper-
class-male
background has '
predominantly JAMES
been negative, BRENNAN
focusing on
activists burn-
ing their bras, reading "The vagina
Monologues" and demanding equal
treatment while still expecting
men to pay for dinner. The term
was never really defined for me,
and despite a liberal upbringing
that focused on equality, I quietly
held feelings of discontent for so
called "feminists."
Then I spent two months living
with a Women's Studies major.
I have a bad habit of making jokes
about women, one I never really
noticed until my time living with
Rachel. We would consistently be
talking and I would make a (seem-
ingly) harmless joke about women
in subservient roles or holding less
value than men, and I could see the
frustration in her eyes. Since my
hometown is relatively conserva-
tive and I joined a fraternity my first
semester in college, making sex-
ist jokes was just a normal part of
everyday conversation. I don't feel,
and have never felt, that women are
actually lesser than men or restrict-
ed to certain aspects of life - my
friends don't feel that way either.
The jokes we made weren't about
our actual beliefs, they were about
making fun of crazy ideas concern-
ing women that could never be con-
sidered true in modern day.
The problem with these jokes,
as much as they may be facetious
in nature, is that they display the
nonchalant nature of lingering sex-
ism in society. I would be disgusted
with myself if I ever make jokes
about Latino or black stereotypes
the way I have about women. But
there should be no difference when
it comes to sex.
Living with Rachel taught me just
how bad these seemingly "harm-
less" jokes actually are. I would
make light of serious discrimina-
tion issues that still largely exist in
society, and not in a way that simply
made fun of them. Worse yet is that
I've noticed it's nearly impossible to
have a conversation with alot of my
friends about gender equality - it
just turns into jokes about women's
rights. No matter how serious or
reasonable I try to be, the concept of
feminism is simply no-go territory
for many conversations.
What I learned most from living
with Rachel is that when it comes
down to it, I would have to consider
myself a feminist. It's kind of an odd
thing to think of at first - a male
feminist - but my beliefs about gen-
der equality can't be described as
anything else. Plenty of other men
are probably feminists too, but, like
me, they have probably just never
explored the topic of women's rights.
Growing up, I was certainly
raised to believe in equality between
the sexes and respect for women.
This came from my parents. School
did very little to help my views on
gender. Feminism wasn't a topic we
discussed - ever. We weren't exact-
ly drilled on civil rights or equal-
ity in other respects, but at least we
addressed it. Gender equality was a
topic essentially never approached.
Not every young man was raised
the way I was. I had an incredibly
strong mother, a father who seri-
ously valued women's rights, and
my role model growing up was my
sister, who took on the best qualities
of both of my parents. College has
helped me to realize exactly how
rare my upbringing was.
Jokes about
women display
the nonchalant
nature of sexism.
The prevalence of sexual assault
on college campuses is hugely related
to men and our views ofwomenin the
big picture. I was lucky that my par-
ents fostered a great deal of respect
and empathy for women in me. As
I've made clear, this didn't mean I
turned out perfectly, but it certainly
helped. Ifayoungmanis raisedto see
women as objects - as inferiors that
are placed on earth for his and oth-
ers' use as they see fit - bad things
will happen. Most young men are
probably not from an overtly sexist
background, but as we all know, prej-
udice is a lot more complicated than
simple hatred or subjugation.
I've made a commitment to leave
anti-women jokes behind. It's hard
to break a lot of the bad habits I have
when it comes to women - hang-
ing out in a fraternity adds to that
challenge - but I couldn't live with
myself if I didn't try to overcome an
aspect of myself that has hurt oth-
ers. I'm a feminist, whether I like
it or not. It has nothing to do with
trying to be unique or radical. I'm
a feminist simply because I can't be
anythingless.
- Jawes Brennan can be
reached atjmbthree@umich.edu.
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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
DANIEL WANG I
The economics of diversity
As a former high-school student of a small
Ohio town, I know the draw of football games
on Friday nights and the feeling of complete
dedication to my team, my school and my
town. Yet, as a former high-school student of
a small Ohio town who did not play football,
I also know of the treatment these athletes
received. Everything seemed to work out for
those students in the classroom due to their
involvement in the school's best-earning pro-
gram. Luckily, in my town this hero worship
never resulted in the turning of a blind eye to
major crimes. Unfortunately, this is not the
universal case. Drive two and a half hours
southeast of my hometown and you will reach
Steubenville, Ohio.
Steubenville - a small, football-crazed,
Rust Belt town - recently held trial for two
high-school football players, ages 16 and 17,
who both raped a drunken 16-year-old girl
at an end-of-the-summer party in 2012. The
facts of the case are disturbing to say the least.
The girl, while blacked out, was stripped of
her clothing, fingered by both boys (which
is defined as rape by Ohio law) and urinated
on. This nightmare continued the next morn-
ing when she woke up naked and without any
idea where she was. The victim found a pic-
ture of herself on Instagram that showed her
being held at the hands and feet by the boys
while passed out. Next was a 12-minute video
of the boys joking about the sexual assault and
her "dead" appearance. When questioned her
about the night before, she responded saying
that she "wasn't being a slut" but that instead
"they were taking advantage" of her. The two
boys - each standout players on their football
team - both plead guilty to the charges and
now face juvenile detention and registration
as sex offenders.
Even with the verdict, this story doesn't end.
Though the town allegedly attempted to cover
up the assault, the case still gained nationwide
coverage. As sickening as rape itself may seem,
the media's response may actually be more
disturbing. When the media broke the news
of the guilty verdict, CNN's Candy Crowley
mourned on television about the "promising"
career and lives of the perpetrators. Her col-
league, reporter Poppy Harlow, sympathized
with the crying boys at their sentencing. USA
Today's report repeats that the victim was
drunk. NBC News laments the boy's "prom-
ising football careers." Fox News reportedly
names the survivor but not the rapists. The
survivor has received numerous death threats
including some from fellow teenage girls.
Wait a minute - am I the only person sitting
here completely disgusted while reading the
coverage because I remembered that this girl
was raped? Does it need to be reiterated that
she was taken advantage of, against her will,
for two boys' entertainment? Is it fair to say
that the only people who ruined these boys' so-
calledpromisingcareerswerethemselveswhen
they decided to commit rape? Doesn't "no" still
mean "no" while unconscious? When I think
about Steubenville, the small, football-crazed
town, I can't help but equate it to the University
of Michigan, where football is king and where
we have experienced our own cover-ups, such
as the 2009 rape of a girl at an off-campus party
by a promising player of our football team that
seeningly evaporated as soon as the police
reports were filed.
That concerns me.
Regardless of how open-minded Ann Arbor
may seem, rape culture is evident here just like
anywhere else. I'm beginning to believe that
education is irrelevant to the cause - how do
you teach compassion? How do you take back
decades of blaming the victim for something
they in no way caused? How do you give survi-
vors of rape and sexual assault closure from the
guilt society has placed on them?
I don't know those answers and I'm start-
ing to be unsure that anyone does - and that
scares me.s
Olivia Kuenziv is an LSA fresh man.
The misplaced pride that the
University takes in the diversity
of its campus has begun to irk me.
The University's website gleefully
proclaims, "Diversity is integral to
Michigan's academic excellence."
Cool. The problem is recent data
contradicts Michigan's self-pro-
claimed role as a model of diversity.
The percentage of African-Amer-
ican students has dropped by five
percent since 2007, and the number
of Latino students has remained
stagnant despite being a fast grow-
ing percentage of the American
population. These percentages are
well below the national average of
13 percent blacks and 16 percent
Hispanics. In addition to these
shortcomings, the University has
further developed a sense of exclu-
sivity in a much less visible man-
ner: socioeconomic selectivity.
While racial diversity has been a
topic of public controversy with the
University's involvement in land-
mark legal cases regarding affirma-
tive action, financial diversity has
been relatively overlooked. In 2004,
more University freshmen came
from families making $200,000
or more than from families in the
whole lower half of the income dis-
tribution. This marked the crossing
of a significant financial threshold
at the University and was indica-
tive of an emergent trend. Over the
next four years, there was a 13-per-
cent drop in the number of students
coming from middle- to low-income
families - those that make $40,000
to $100,000. Aside from the usual
worrying of tuition increases,
there's an equally troubling concern
about the potential effects on stu-
dent and school achievement.
It can be argued that a university's
success is founded on its acceptance
of the most academically competi-
tive students while building a diverse
student body. And yet, the data has
continually shown that universi-
ties - including Michigan - have
been unfairly admitting a dispropor-
tional number of well-to-do kids. In
December of last year, The New York
Times reported on the growing dis-
parities between the rich and poor
in colleges across the country. Sev-
enty percent of students with high
standardized-test scores who came
from financially well-off families
were accepted to college and gradu-
ated. Only 26 percent of low-income
students with the same test scores
attended and graduated college.
Similar results have been found in
multiple studies.
What's more is that these reports
have shown this is a rapidly grow-
ing trend. By limiting the pool from
which the University draws its stu-
dents from, we're limiting the height
of our potential. The student body is
slowly becoming the best of the rich,
rather than the best of the best. With
the recent drops in low-income stu-
dents, the University's admissions
office isn't only failing to maintain a
financially diverse student body; it's
failingto uphold a meritocracy at an
institution based on the ideology of
merit-based achievement.
My biggest concern is the effect
of this on the culture on campus.
A diverse student body cultivates
open minds. The University itself
suggests that a "diverse cohort
of people and perspectives is key
to catalyzing such excellence."
Bringing together a wide range of
experiences exposes students to
rationales of thought alternative to
their own. Diversity breaks down
previously prejudiced and overly
simplistic understandings of dif-
ferent backgrounds. Expanding
one's perspective isn't only impor-
tant for a good education, it's cru-
cial to becoming an understanding
and compassionate person. Yet, as
the student body becomes increas-
ingly homogenous, I fear that we'll
begin to lose this quality.
While I occasionally find myself
annoyed with the indifference with
which some of my fellow class-
mates will drop $100 in a night
at the bar, sign $1,000 per month
away on leases or pay thousands of
dollars in fraternity and sorority
dues, these are only trivialities. I'm
truly worried that the University
is trending towards a day where it
will be so full of similarly-minded
students that not only will we not
be understanding of different peo-
ple, but we won't want to be.
Daniel Wang is an LSA junior.
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