Page 4 - Tuesday, November 11, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Page 4 - Tuesday, November 11, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom - 1w, Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MEGAN MCDONALD PETER SHAHIN and DANIEL WANG KATIE BURKE EDITOR IN CHEF 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. find a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if we cannot speak openly about it in Jew- ish institutions? It is in Hillel - "The Center For Jewish Life" - where it makes the most sense for these conversations to happen amongst Jews. The shirking of Jewish institu- tions from hard conversations only entrenches the occupation. Passive support for the status quo enables the violation of Palestinians' human and civil rights to continue and worsen. And so, today we declare a cam- paign for an Open Hillel. We are not alone. Open Hillel is a nationwide stu- dent-led movement to change Hillel's policies to better reflect the Jewish community's values of pluralism and inclusivity.Themovementseeksto end the "Standards of Partnership" which arbitrarily draw red lines around stu- dents whose political beliefs about the occupation are unsavory to Hillel's donor base. Across the country, Jewish stu- dents are saying "no more" and "not in myname"to occupation inthe West Bank and to the massacres in Gaza. These growing numbers of students should not be ostracized from the community, but valued as Jews who are inspired by our history of fighting for justice. We demand that we be able to speak openly without fear or vilifi- cation. Open Hillels are being declared on campuses across the country and the University can be at the vanguard. To the Hillel staff that say this challenges them, we ask you to sit with that discomfort. The discom- fort of diaspora Jews should not trump Palestinian human rights. Vigorousdebate and discussion isthe driving force of Judaism's holy texts for a reason. Open conversation is the basis of democracy, any healthy community and a more just world. A commitment to tolerance of various political identities should be a prin- ciple of our community. The one per- cent of wealthy donors should not be allowed to stifle the urgent conver- sations that the 99 percent of young Jews need to have. Even without Hillel's support, the Palestinian Solidarity Shabbat will go on.It'sthis Friday, Nov. 14 at7 p.m. in East Quad's Benzinger Library (Room 1423). We welcome anyone who wants to join in this informal setting, where no views will be cen- sored, restricted or stigmatized. Come share in a meal with Jews and people of all faiths who are against the occupation and are inspired by Jewish tradition to fight together for equality and human rights. As we light Shabbat candles together we will kindle our ancestors' tradition of radicalism and justice. In the words of Hillel the Sage for whom the Hil- lel Houses are named: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, whatam I? And if not now, when?" Sarah Blume is an LSA junior. Sam Molnar is an SNRE graduate student. Talya Nakash and Alyssa Tender are LSA seniors. To teach or not to teach :E Ioverheard a conversation on the bus the other day that didn't sit well with me. A guy was talking to his friend about his exam score - a 30 percent. He told the kid that he didn't know one thing that was going on in his class and spent most of his time making intelligent guesses on test material that should have been checking his retained knowledge and skills he learned throughout DEVIN the semester. The guy was EGGERT thankful he got a 30 percent though. In the world of edu- cation, a 30 percent translates into a B. Now, people have their own opinions on curved exams. However, as a senior, I've taken a diverse set of classes at the University. SoI think that my observations of some of the teaching methods here have bearing. I am a double major in English and Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. I have a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. I am also a student note- taker for Students with Disabilities. I have been assigned to classes varying from computer science to music theory to calculus. Each class and subject has its own thinking skills associated with it. But overall they share some common themes, styles and flaws. When I stepped into my first class at the University of Michigan (Chemistry 130), I was extremely grateful. I came from a small town where I had neighbors who used cardboard to separate their walls. I did my homework by a space heater with my sisters. I had never heard of ACT prep. And thank God I was an obedient student who listened to my teachers. Otherwise I would have completely screwed myself and not taken the ACT seriously - like half of my friends back home. I was lucky. Hardworking, sure. But lucky. Unfortunately, the barrier of getting into the University of Michigan was not the tallest in terms of my education. Day one, thy chemistry, professor told us that about 30 percent of our class would drop and that we should as soon as possible, so that way we weren't wasting our time. Chemistry 130 is a weeder class. We've all heard this term before. A "weeder" class refers to an extremely challenging class put in place to weed out the dumb students, the ones who give up. But what exactly are these freshmen (mostly from a lower-SES and/or underrepresented racial/ethnic group) giving up on? Are they giving up banging their head against a brick wall or from climbing a set of stairs providedby the University's education system? The order of skills taught through each major and class needs to be seriously reconsidered. I shouldn't be learning how to read and write a basic research paper in a 300-level psychology class. That should have been extensively taught in a lower-level class - that way, we could all understand the many readings we are handed. I shouldn't walk away from a Stats 250 class feeling like I got nothing out of it except feeling like I worked hard. Each subject teaches a skillset that the University is not capitalizing on in terms of the job market. These skills should be made clear at the beginning of the term. I will never be a famous calculus genius. But, if I can take a class in calculus and feel like I've gained analytical skills instead of pounding my head against a wall - then I have been taught something. That is a more important lesson as a freshman, facing the adversity that I did and getting the door slammed in my face when I already felt like I didn't belong. There is a general theme in some classes that it is simply survival of the fittest. My question is what are the students actually getting outof the class - are they getting fit? If a curve is being set by someone who gets a 100 percent on every exam, do you really think that the professor/that class is necessary for them to learn the material? The professor might as well'give everyone a book and say sayonara for the next four months and see who survives. If that is the principle we are operating on, that is not a $50,000 education. There isahugebarrierthatenteringfreshmen coming from more disadvantaged backgrounds face. Most of their classmates have learned the material that is being taught in 100-level classes through high school AP courses. This increases the speed that most weeder courses are taught at and warps the perception of the lessons' effectiveness. These disadvantaged freshmen usually lack the study skills that are primed by family influence and a well-funded school. Generally,they are also (like I was), dealingwith trying to keep their confidence up and paying for their own school bill. I can't tell you the number of hardworking students I have worked with as an RA who are fighting a language barrier. I don't think that it is just the professor's responsibility to fix everything. I think our services need to step up. The amount of time students put into getting help for a resource or direction to the right office is ridiculous. There are people, like my friends and me, who are workingtwoor more jobson campus. Efficiency and effectiveness should always be a goal for this community. That being said, I don't think programs such as the Comprehensive Studies Program - which oversees the Bridge Program - are the solutions to this gap. I consider those programs Band-Aids to what is really going on here, protecting enough kids for the University to use on advertisements. We are playing a losing game. Just like the diversity ofclasses and thought at this University, people designing the classes and educationalsystemshouldkeepinmindthatthere are students from different backgrounds as well. If the University of Michigan wants to advance, we shouldn't be mindlessly disadvantaging our lower portion of the bell curve. By setting aside a little time for academic strategy when the students are young, the University can help disadvantaged freshmen and give advanced students more learning opportunities. We need to be preventative and proactive instead of reactive. If the goal is to get us to the top, stairs are more helpful than walls. Let's get a B back to retaining 80 percent of a lesson, please. - Devin Eggert can be reached at deeggert@umich.edu. An open letter to poorly dressed men on campus earest Bro-thren, It has come to my attention that this campus has been plagued with an ailment. I've stood by watching helplessly as this pandemic has spread from the frat houses to the freshman dorms to the classrooms, the very classrooms in which I must HAYA ALFHARAN study and learn. Though I've not been personally infected with it, I've been afflicted by nausea at the sight of those stricken. I've seen it, ravage the majority of the campus's male population and turn them into a gruesome sight - a sight so despicable it plagues my mind and conversations every day. Today, I take a stand so that we can finally recognize this epidemic and take action before this contagion claims every last man on campus. The ailment I'm addressing, of course, is the rapid increase of sloppiness in dress among the male population, also known as Gross Aesthetic Syndrome. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps this is a movement toward a society that places less value on appearance, a society geared toward focusing on what is within." No, gentlemen, I'm afraid I must disagree. This epidemic is threatening to the very fabric of this University. Nay, this great nation. I'm here to tell you that I see you. In fact, everybody sees you. It is with the utmost concern that I write this letter. I only hope that the issues I address will lead to quick and effective action to rectify this and you cleanse your wardrobes of this affliction. Stop dressing like every week is finals week. It takes approximately 45 seconds to take off your pajama pants and put on a pair of jeans. I understand that you're probably running on three hours of sleep, but there are other ways to make' that known. Wearing your pajamas in public won't compensate for the missed hours of sleep. This is not a build-it-and-they-will-come situation. Sleep doesn't work that way. I know what you're thinking: "But they have Michigan on them!" No. Pajama pants are pajama pants, regardless of how many block 'M's are printed on them. Fellas, size matters. Which is to say, if you're going to go for the business casual look, buy blazers that actually fit you. Maybe you're not ready for adulthood. Maybe you're crippled by the very notion and dread your future beyond graduation. That's quite alright, but dressing like you're a teenager borrowing a blazer from your father to look spiffy for a Model U.N. conference should not be the look you're going for. There's nothing business or casual about it. Of course, we can't forget our frat brethren. Gentlemen, salmon is not a flattering shade on anyone. I must admit I don't know how a shade can be so white and colorful at the same time. I don't know how a color can scream "bougie." I do not know the ways of the salmon pants, but I'm warning you against it. Enough with the salmon-colored pants. Enough with the salmon-colored shorts. This is the official call for you to denounce your salmon shackles. Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? Yes, you can. Except for salmon. Basketball shorts with knee- length socks. I'm just going to leave that one there for you to reflect upon. And yes, this letter extends to male professors.WhileI respect your degrees, dear sirs, I strongly urge you to abandon the sad dad pants, the academic sweater vest, and most definitely the ever-troubling fedora. It's OK to be hip. Try it. Maybe your Rate My Professors rating will even go up. A general note to every guy who I've sat next to in a lecture on Monday morning: I can detect your NYPD pizza stain from last night. I can also detect the pungent B.O. When faced with a decision between grabbing a coffee before class or taking a shower, take the shower. Your body and living creatures that occupy space within your general vicinity will thank you. I must admit, this letter may not address the many factors that have led us to this point. It does not offer any solutions besides asking you to dress more sharply and take more showers. Gross Aesthetic Syndrome is real, and it's sweeping our campus. I strongly urge you to take precautions - I'd hate to lose more of our mento it. Sincerely, A concerned campus dweller - Haya Alfharan can be reached at hfs@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Edvinas Berzanskis, Devin Eggert, David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe Democratic disillusionment SARAH BLUME ET AL. I For an Open Hillel Hillel is known as the "Center forlJewish Life" expression of Jewish identity. on hundreds of campuses all over the world, Days after we signed up to join ShabUM we including at the University of Michigan. In 1948, were summoned to the Hillel offices for a meet- upon the establishment of the State of Israel, ing, under the pretense of Hillel staff members Hillel directors across the country sought guid- wanting to learn about the "visions and goals" of ante from the national office on if the then-anti- our dinner in order for them to know how they Zionist American Council for Judaism should could best support us. We were asked what we be allowed to form chapters within the Hillel planned for this Shabbat dinner, to which we umbrella. The answer from Hillel International honestly explained the Shabbat dinner would be was clear: "Hillel represents the total Jewish nothingmorethan lightingcandles and breaking community on each campus which it serves, it bread amongst friends, old and new, who wish to excludes no student activity which legitimately stand in solidarity with Palestinians. For the next represents the interests of a group of students, so 90 minutes we had our identities disparaged and long as they accept the principle of community were told that the words "Palestinian Solidarity" responsibility. Just as there are Orthodox, Con- were aggressive, scary and not welcome on the servative and Reform outlooks represented in Hillel website. The staff couldn't specify what the Hillel program, so there can be both Zionist it was about these words that was "aggressive." and anti-Zionist outlooks." On the contrary, we contend that there are few As it was in 1948, so should it be in 2014. things more Jewish than standing in solidarity At the beginning of this year Hillel staff invit- with the oppressed. What is "aggressive" is the ed a number of anti-occupation Jewish students way in which Hillel fosters a culture of fear for to be a part of the Shabbat Across Campus initia- Jewish students who want to speak out against tive. The dinner form askedus to name our Shab- the occupation and stand with the nonviolent bat around which theme brought our community grassroots movements for Palestinian rights. together and so we chose the theme "Palestinian To be clear, this censorship was never about Solidarity Shabbat." We chose the name for our the interests ofstudents. In fact, during the meet- event at an informal Shabbat dinner attended ing we had to ask the director to stop bullying us by Jews of all stripes: white Jews, Latino Jews so that we could hear what the student represen- and Arab Jews; supporters and detractors of the tative from Hillel had to say. The student repre- Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; sentative made it clear during the meeting that one-staters, two-staters and no-staters; Zionist, the major donors of Hillel and the "Standards of post-Zionist, anti-Zionist, non-Zionist and just- Partnership" put forth by Hillel International are fed-up-Zionist; undergraduates, graduate stu- the main roadblocksto the Palestinian Solidarity dents, staff and community members. For us, as Shabbat being included among the others. much as we disagree with one another, a central Hillel cannot censor the Jewish students on part of our community and identity is our con- this campus any longer. Indeed it's dangerous viction that standing in solidarity with Palestin- to stifle conversation about the occupation of ians against occupation is a beautiful and vital Palestine. How is our generation supposed to As the 2012 election season was heating up, sophomoric me urged students in Ann Arbor to vote. This idealistic, inexpe- rienced and not unintelligent per- son expounded on thegreatprivilege we as Americans . have to choose who our repre- sentatives are in ERIC government - FERGUSON blowing it more than slightly out of proportion in the process. Predictably, this column didn't achieve its goal of capturing the zeitgeist of what felt like the most significant election in history. But I stand by its message: young people traditionally lack political power in our democratic society, and the out- comes of general elections are one of the primary fronts of that power. Lawmakers and elected officials have a broad and exclusive mandate to make decisions that affect people's lives. More generally, the best-qual- ified (and sometimes the least-bad) candidate is not guaranteed to win unless people actually turn out - no matter what Nate Silver predicts on FiveThirtyEight. Therefore, students can gain considerable power through the vote and should capitalize on that opportunity. This notion was as true last week as it was two years ago. At the same time, the final vote count doesn't come close to telling the full story of a democratic election. Names on ballots end up there through a com- bination of political party power and institutional phenomena that present a hefty and arguably over- whelming counterweight to the democratic will. From its utility as a means for consolidation of personal networks into a candidate support structure, to its status in the public arena to its effectiveness as an infrastruc- ture for raising disgustingly large sums of money, the support of the Democratic or Republican Parties offers candidates, a nearly peerless electoral edge. Moreover, the depth of prior connections to these parties itself has a massive role in determin- ing who will benefit from the party apparatus. The race for Michigan's own 12th District starkly illus- trates this fact through the absolute steamrolling that the Democratic candidate and representative-elect, Debbie Dingell, inflicted upon not just her Republican counterpart in the general election, but her chal- lengers in the Democratic primary. The party's support for Dingell's candidacy over every other Demo- crat in the district was not inevita- ble. However, it would be ludicrous to suggest her longtime integra- tion into state Democratic circles through prior experience in elect- ed office and personal connection with a successful and well-reputed House Democrat had nothing to do with that outcome. Very few people have partisan connections of that quality, and this situation likely deterred similarly well-qualified Democrats who might have contest- ed her nomination. These factors added up to a formidable electoral edge for Dingell before a single bal- lot had been cast in her favor. Factoring in institutional and positional power alongside party power, the power of the vote shrinks even further. Besides his partisan affiliation as a Democrat, outgoing U.S. Senator Carl Levin possessed the electoral advantage of chairing the Senate Armed Ser- vices Committee since 2007. That position inevitably lends a mega- phone to the one who possesses it - and even more importantly for Michigan voters in 2008 and 2002, Levin was the only person who could offer such deep influence over this country's armed forces as their representative. This was the result of years of work within the idiosyncratic structure of the Sen- ate, honing Levin's edge as a can- didate with effects similar to those benefiting Dingell. These two general phenomena aren't insurmountable. However, they set the groundwork for who can run for political office in a non- democratic fashion. They do this to such an extent that the vote this year felt like merely a mechanism for expressing general preference, devoid of the personal and symbol- ic importance I so proudly attrib- uted to it two years ago. Even as the candidates I voted for head off to Washington, D.C. to represent me, incumbents on the whole continue to overwhelmingly keep their seats, and gridlock in Congress seems destined to graduate to a new level of divisiveness. Topping it all off, the Democratic nomination for 2016 has for two years looked like a lock for Hillary Clinton - a candi- date whose presence on the scene is likelyto drive away the overwhelm- ing majority of others who might have otherwise considered seeking that nomination. This is, apparently, what Ameri- can democracy looks like. It's no longer an inspiring view. - Eric Ferguson can be reached at ericff@umich.edu.