r 4A - Thursday, October 10, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4A - Thursday, October10, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom itM iigan rly Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com 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 THE DAILY Recalculating route *** New off-campus bus plan is a step in a safer direction n Tuesday, students received an e-mail with the subject line "BREAKING" from Central Student Government. It announced an off-campus bus route in partnership with the Interfraterni- ty Council. Starting in Winter 2014, the bus route will run from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This bus route addresses an under-discussed issue at the University: off-campus crime. It's certain- ly one step toward addressing the problem, but at this point, its success depends entirely on financial support from sponsors. Shedding light This Fall Break, I'm check- ing another activity off my college bucket list: RV-ing. to Happy Val- ley, Penn. for the Michigan- Pennsylvania State "University football game. Though the trip promises to be quite the adven- TIMOTHY ture, I can't help BURROUGHS but reflect on the condemning shadow that's still over Penn State, following the Jerry Sandusky scandal and its pub- licized fallout. Two years later, Penn State has made dramatic changes regarding child safety and has begun the long process of rebuilding its reputation. But on a national level, have we done enough to prevent these hei- nous crimes? In 2011, allegations of serial sexual abuse by former Penn State assis- tant football coach Jerry Sandusky rocked the world of college athletics. The abuse, followed by the institu- tional cover-up andnegligence, led to the firing of head coach Joe Paterno and multiple school administrators. The investigation grabbed national headlines, tarnished the reputation of the university and raised serious questions about minors' safety and institutional responsibility. As the dust begins to settle, the landscape around Penn State and attention to minors' safety across the nation has dramatically changed. Sandusky was convicted and sen- tenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. Administrators associated with the cover up are to stand trial for obstruction of justice next spring. Nineteen of the victims have reached settlements and received checks from the university. Penn State, which set aside $60 million to pay for the settlements,has removedstatues, endured rioting and mourned for the prolonged suffering of the victims and the negligence which allowed it. Perhaps the most promising effect of the scandal can be prominently or" situation, which the Depart- seen here in Ann Arbor. During a ment's operational budget of $137.5 forum discussion on minors' safety million simply does notsupport. on campus, Katie Miranto, the Mich- While the vetting processes isn't igan Athletic Camp administrator, and will never be perfect - Sandusky raised serious concerns about a dra- had no priors that would have been matic hole in the University's Athlet- flagged by such a background check it Department's background check before he was hired at Penn State in program. She noted that one of the 1969 - we can demand that the Ath- background checks used looks only letic Department actively evaluate at crimes committed in Michigan, and improve how they are providing meaning the same attention to detail a safe environment for minors. How- might not be applied to out-of-state ever, claiming an outsourced back- applicants, who account for 33 per- ground check, which represents one cent of the camp staff. mere aspect of the entire vetting pro- These concerns sparked immedi- cess, isn't thorough enough does not ate action and clarification by Michi- prove negligence or greed on the part gan's Athletic Department. David of the Athletic Department. Ablauf, associate athletic director of After the administrator of the media and public relations, outlined campsraised theseseriousissues,the the additional elements of the vetting department reacted by recognizing process, as well and addressing as ones it plansithem immedi-. on implementing, In a post-Sandusky ately and public- while clarify- era it's naive to think ly. If the Daily's ing, "background concern is that checks of all the 'U' isn't thinking the department kinds - whether is not doing its handled person- about abuse. due diligence, ally, by coaches or it's important through database to note it was. reviews - are important, but they are an Athletic Department employee just one way to keep kids safe." who pointed out this shortcoming Since the forum, The Michigan in the first place. This is an example Daily's editorial board has adamant- of a serious loophole being raised ly voiced its criticism of the Athletic transparently and the department Department's lack of initiative in responding by taking immediate these matters in addition to mak- action to close it. ing claims that attention to market- It's naive to believe in the post- ing campaigns has replaced efforts Sandusky era that an institution to provide a safe environment for doesn't realize the severity of abuse minors. Furthermore, Zach Helfand, crimes and the scaring effect they one of the Daily's sports editors, stat- can have on a university and com- ed that "the problem is that the Ath- munity. Our institutions cannot letic Department has chosen to fund become completely safe overnight, a skywriting campaign rather than but this process of open dialogue pay to protect vulnerable children." and publicly looking to improve These assertions present a false minors' safety is our best weapon dilemma by implying that the depart- against these criminals. Miranto's ment actively soughtto cut and direct fears and the Department's actions funding and energy away from back- show we have begun to adapt and ground checks in favor of -frivolous fight the terrifying world Sandusky marketing campaigns. But there's no and Penn State brought into the evidence that this is at all reality. By national spotlight. creating this connection, the Daily has presented an oversimplification -Timothy Burroughs can be by offering only a dramatic "either- reached at timburr@umich.edu. According to CSG President Michael Proppe, "84 percent of reported crimes took place after 10 p.m., 67 percent took place off- campus and 64 percent occurred in scenarios in which the victim was walking." Introduc- ing the new bus route is one step to potential- ly reducing off-campus crime, but it will take more effort on the University's part to make sure students who live off-campus are safe. CSG, however, should be commended for tak- ing the initiative in finding and implementing a way to protect students. The University will be one of the first schools to start an off-cam- pus bus route, and the student government deserves the credit for finding new and inno- vative ways to address crime. Though the route is in itsbeginningstages, it should be improved by adding additional stops. The majority of the stops under the current plan are concentrated in the Hill area, leaving out a large number of students living in South Campus and Kerrytown. Moreover, the current bus route is only scheduled to run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. That leaves four nights for students to find alternative routes back home. To extend late-night, off-campus bus routes to cover the entire week and more areas of campus, the administration should fund the estimated $40,000 needed to expand service. CSG and the IFC are taking proactive steps to ensure campus safety, and now it's time for the administration to match that effort., CSG should be commended for address- ing issues that concern the safety of the stu- dent body. With the relative prevalence of off-campus crime, university administration should've already initiated practical preven- tion programs like the new bus route instead of waiting for student leadership to take action. It's not perfect - its limited route and scope should be addressed, but now it's up to the University to support the 30,000 students that live off-campus. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS. Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, James Brennan, Eli Cahan, Eric Ferguson, Jordyn Kay, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe DANIELLE DEVESON 5 (Un)equal opportunity NOTABLE QUOTABLE I've never done twerking in my life, and I don't intend to take it up." - U.S. House Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Wednesday in response to Miley Cyrus' government shutdown parody on Saturday Night Live. AIMAN FARUQI j EJWPOIN Government taken hostage "All men are created equal" - and even today are still worth more than women. The Declaration of Independence and subsequent ideological foundations of Amer- ica aided in forming our patriarchal society where women are still systemically depreci- ated. This is perhaps best exemplified in the workplace. We have to work extra hard to overturn antiquated gender notions. What's our reward? Equal work for unequal pay. Sound like the American Dream? Not quite. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 helped amelio- rate some of the discrimination women faced by making it illegal to use gender as a basis for higher salary. From the 1960s to 2011, women have gone from earning on average less than 60 percent (58 cents per dollar) of what men were making to roughly 77 percent (77 cents per dollar, for full-time, white women) for the same work. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 amended this original act by allowing' women to file lawsuits against unequal pay up to 180 days after their most recent paycheck, instead upon first recognition of the injustice - as was previously held by law. Despite the progression, Lilly Ledbetter, the woman for whom the law was named, admits that women are still pushed into the gender gap. Why? For starters, there are several loopholes in our current legislation regarding working women. Currently, if I have an inclination that my male counterpart is earning more than Iam for analogous work, what can I do about it? In this uncertain economy, should I risk my job in attempt to find out the truth? That's an option, but not a very fair or logical one. Secondly, there's a mass infiltration of fabricated explanations regarding the truth behind why women are making less than men. These notions are nothing new and much of what the feminist movement sought 'to reform. Still, there's a widely held belief, even among women, that our pay gap is a result of our choices - choices like working less and seeking more pink-collar jobs. While some women may in fact clock in fewer hours than men and pursue lower- paying jobs, it's undeniable that these factors inaccurately account for the entirety of wage discrimination. Even CONSAD, a consulting company contracted by the Department of Labor, admitted a S to 7 percent difference in men's salaries after controlling for those extraneous variables. In the land of equal opportunity,'the findings don't look so egali- tarian to me. What we need is a more robust solution. And that could be The Paycheck Fairness Act. Self-proclaimed "equity feminist," Christina Hoff Sommers hits on these interrelated points in many of her published works, namely her bluntly titled piece, "The Case Against the Pay- check Fairness Act." Here, she claims the bill as something for "aggrieved" women and justifies higher salaries for typically male-dominated fields. She goes on to remark that business school professors should earn more than those in social work due to market demand. Besides sounding like many males that benefit from this current system, I don't think she fully understands what she fights against. In fact, research now suggests that within universities, mission drift and permeating implicit sexism account for some of the wage gap. Within similar academic titles, women are generally rewarded less for research outcomes, spend more time on teaching and have larger workloads than men, in addition to greater service expectations. What does Sommers have to say about that? The Paycheck Fairness Act could require companies to be more public with adminis- tered wages, thus increasing awareness to any inequality among employees. The act has been so close, yet so far, from passing the Senate. Could it be because female senatorial presence is scarce? Perhaps. But like Sommers, many women actu- ally believe this act isn't necessary, and even further, not progressive. The majority of the Democratic Party is in support of the act, but there are Republicans that are pulling back. Female Republican legislators and female Republican voters are allowing political affil- iation to trump gender empowerment. Is this the price we want to pay? It's time that we women band together to advocate for the American Dream - and the Paycheck Fairness, Act. We're worth fighting for. Danielle Deveson is a Master of Social Work candidate. With impasse in Congress lead- ing to a governnient shutdown, the American people are asking whether their representatives are capable of fulfilling their public obligation. Conventional wisdom in American politics has attributed the blame equally to both parties in times of political divide. But is this actually a fair assessment? An honest look at the situation at hand shows that this is not the case. The Republicans in Congress have shown a level of intransigence that is unparalleled in the Democratic Party's stratagem. This intransigence can be rooted back to the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. After the Republicans suffered devastat- ing losses in the elections - losing control of the presidency and both houses of Congress - key figures in the party regrouped to formulate a strategy to maintain their political influence and regain control in 2012. Among the 15 interlocutors were representatives Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor and senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, along with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They met before the president's inaugura- tion for one purpose only: to scheme against Obama's policy initiatives. Gingrich's final words to his fellow Republicans were: "You will remem- ber this day. You'll remember this as the day the seeds of2012 were sown." Later, in 2010, Sen. Mitch McCo- nnell of Kentucky reaffirmed the true purpose of Congressional Republicans in one of the most can- did political statements of the past few years: "The single most impor- tant thing we (Republicans) want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." This goal - to hurt the president - played itself out over the course of the next few years: The Republicans blocked the president's executive appointments, most recently seen with the Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Susan Rice, and unani- mously rejected proposed legislation, the earliest example being the stimu- lus package. Of course, resistance from the opposition party along ideologi- cal divides is completely expected; it's quite believable that Democrats held similar meetings after the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. But the level of obstructionism demon- strated by the Republicans over the past few years simply cannot be com- pared to dissent by the Democrats during the Bush presidency. The Iraq War, for instance, was supported by some liberals, and Democrats in Congress. This isn't to say that Democrats have a spotless track record of governance; their party's issues are numerous and large, but they aren't the same as those the Republican Party exhibits. When we consider all of this evidence, it's hard to say that the Republicans have any intention of "compromising" with the president. They had no intention of compro- mising when key figures from their party conspired against progress, and they certainly don't have the intention of compromising now. But that begs the question: What is the track record of Democrats on com- promising to the Republicans? Actually, it's quite good - so good that it has become one of the biggest weaknesses of the Democratic Party. In2009,theDemocratscavedintothe Republican demand to leave out the public option in Obama's health-care bill, despite the fact that Obama's bill with a public option would have been the compromise. The current state of the Affordable Care Act is not what liberals desired; that's a single-payer health-care system. The Affordable Care Act in its current form is a bill most Republicans supported just two decades ago. By giving into the Republican's unreasonable demands time and time again, the president and his party have set a dangerous prec- edent of negotiations - a precedent that Republicans have completely incorporated into their political strategy. Their version of a compro- mise now is 90 percent of what they want and 10 percent of what every- one else wants. And now, when we assess our current situation with the govern- ment shutdown, the Republicans' demands seem even more absurd. They want to defund a healthcare law that Republicans once favored. Add to this the reaffirmation of the Affordable Care Act in the 2012 elections and the adjudication of the law by the U.S. Supreme Court, and you have a Republican party that has completely lost its mind. They don't want to negotiate: They want to take the government hos- tage. They have decided that if they cannot change policy by winning elections, then they will change policy by throwing tantrums. The sooner the American elec- torate realizes that the bulk our political standstills have stemmed from an opposition party that's more concerned with beating the president than making progress, the sooner we can restore the our democracy's integrity. Aiman Faruqi is an LSA freshman. CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words. Viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Send the writer's full name and University affiliation to opinion@michigandaily.com. FOLLOW THE DAILY ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michigandaily to get updates on Daily content throughout the day.