4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 21, 2003 kill able andu 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA Editor in Chief JASON PESICK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. overnor Jennifer Granholm announced a successful budget deal last Tuesday, saying, "We have emerged with what I think is the moat educa- tion-friendly budget insthe history of Michigan." College students should disagree. Most state universities face substantial cuts in state appropriations under the new budget. Giving higher education the short end of the funding stick is sure to make life more difficult for the state's coveted and dwindling college-age demo- graphic. What happened to the governor's quest to make Michigan a center of opportunity for the young and hip? The University, which will endure an effective 10 percent decrease in state appro- priations under the new budget, has already raised tuition accordingly. University stu- dents will have to bear a 6.5 percent increase in tuition on top of the 7.9 percent increase the University Board of Regents instituted in 2002. The planned revamp of the state's financial aid distribution system, which over- whelmingly benefits students attending pri- Budget crunch Large funding cuts will hurt students and the state vate schools, was dropped as well. This means that students and their families will not receive assistance from the governor in order to pay the higher tuition rates. Even considering that students at private schools generally need more financial aid because of high attendance costs, it is the government's responsibility to make public colleges afford- able to its citizens, not private institutions. It is bad enough that cuts in appropriations burden students, but they also amount to poor investment strategy. The University returns every cent that the state invests and more because of the tremendous ways in which it benefits the state, so pulling funds away from that investment seems counterproductive. While these cuts will prove damaging to the state in both the short and long runs, Granholm and the Legislature did need to make some cuts in the budget to avoid a mas- sive deficit. The way the remaining appropri- ations have been distributed among the state's universities, however, has a strong flavor of politics rather than one of prudent public pol- icy planning. For example, Grand Valley State University, located in a primarily Republican area of the state, received an increase in state appropriations, while the budget cuts almost all other universities' funding. The good news for future college students is that the Merit Award Scholarship for col- lege-bound high school students will remain intact at $2,500. Even so, the scholarship could be made more effective in assisting those who need it most if it were not based solely on the MEAP, the state's standardized academic achievement test. To some degree, the students who score well on the test are not those most reliant on government assistance to attend college. Also good news, Granholm's proposal to start a new "rainy day" fund for state schools was approved, and a $75 million deposit has already been autho- rized by the state Legislature. Hopefully, the savings fund will cushion education against further budget pinches in the future. And even though state universities are forced to buckle down, the new budget promises to keep the important task of elementary educa- tion relatively well financed. Preschool and early childhood education funding has been restored to $78.8 million. Despite some of these positive nuggets, such large cuts hinder universities' ability to create jobs, fund research and spend. The Life Sciences Corridor, for example, will receive $5 million in extra funds, but even with this, it is not receiving anywhere near the $50 million a year originally promised. The work that universities do to improve society, of which their contribution to the Life Sciences Corridor is just one example, is too important to shortchange in this way. Happy birthday, Mr. President Gerald Ford tums 90 VIEWPOINT Open season on Iraq's non-Christians ver thirty years removed from office and the Watergate scandal that placed him there, the 38th pres- ident of the United States, Gerald R. Ford Jr., is celebrating his 90th birthday. He remains the only president from the state of Michigan and the only one who attended the University. Though history may remem- ber him as the first vice president to assume the role of commander in chief without election, and subsequently as the only pres- ident to garner the prestigious position as the result of his predecessor's resignation, the University community should view him as a friend and a supporter. Throughout the course of his life, Ford has been a man of incredible hon- esty and integrity. Despite the fact that he lost his bid for a second term in office, he left the White House having earned a reputation for being passionate and truthful. He has been a man who cer- tainly stands up for what he believes in and passionately defends his convictions. Well before there was affirmative action and decades prior to the civil rights movement, Ford was a believer in equal opportunity. Born Leslie King Jr. in Nebraska and raised in Grand Rapids, Ford (whose name was changed after his moth- er remarried), gained a system of values that allowed him to see people for who they are as opposed to judging them on a preconceived notion. When the all-state football player entered college at the University on a football scholarship, he quickly befriended a very talented team- mate, Willis Ward. Ward played right end and both of the half back positions and was extremely valuable to the team. In a 1934 game against the southern school Georgia Tech, Ward became the center of concern. Georgia Tech ardently opposed playing the Wolverines if Ward were to play because Ward was the only black member on the team. Ford quickly, with the rest of the team, supported Ward and adamantly fought to keep Ward in the game and on the field. Ultimately, Ward himself decided not to play, but happily, Georgia Tech turned out to be the only team that Michigan beat that year. After President Richard Nixon resigned following the Watergate scandal, Ford was sworn in as President. He inherited the presidency at a time when the country was full of anguish and turmoil. The Vietnam War was still being waged, the economy needed a boost after a recession and the American public didn't know whom they could trust. While this page has often dis- agreed with many of Ford's policies, he has received credit for helping to speed eco- nomic growth shortly after taking office, and the Vietnam War finally came to an end in 1975 under his leadership. He lost the presidential election to Jimmy Carter, but his ability to become friends with Carter says a great deal about Ford's character. Fast-forward to the 1990s, and we again see Ford defending those things that he believes in. When rejected applicants chal- lenged the constitutionality of the University's admissions policies, Ford came to the University's defense. His posi- tion diverged from a strong number of his party's members' and firmly stated that diversity was necessary in order "to create the finest educational environment." Ford is one of the University's most well known alumni. He led the country through one of the past half centry's extremely dif- ficult eras. He is a model American citizen. Happy birthday President Ford.. BY ARI PAUL NEW YORK - It seems too good to be true. The Kurds are free of a tyrannical butcher, the Shiites are free to practice their long-suppressed sect of Islam and the Iraqi border is open to America's inter- ests. While corporations are salivating over the thought of juicy development contacts, what is going through the minds of America's Christian missionaries? "So many non-believ- ers," they observe, "yet so little time." With the watchful eye of Saddam's thought police out of the way, and with Protestants and Catholics alike having success recruiting new Christians in the Third World, the freshly opened borders to millions of unsaved souls looks to mission- aries like cookies to a toddler. Will Iraqis welcome missionaries with open arms? If there is a conversion drive any- time soon, there will initially be some resis- tance, but if it is true that large sections of the Iraqi population view American troops as lib- erators, then it is very conceivable that they will believe the word of American missionar- ies. Yet even if discontent with the occupation increases, given the amount of success Christian missionaries have had with popula- tions in underdeveloped countries, social instability among Iraqis could make conver- sion relatively simple. Will the American government recognize the separation of church and state and not grant missionaries any special privileges in Iraq? It's still unclear, but the government has incentive to let Islam in Iraq dwindle, espe- cially among the Shiites, who have protested the American occupation much more than any- one else. The less Islam in Iraq, the less fun- damentalism there is, and in turn, America can boast that it eradicated the terrorist threat in Iraq. Therefore, protecting and even encourag- ing Christian missionaries in Iraq may be in the government's best interests. With the failure of the United States to show that Iraq had WMDs or link Saddam to either Sept. 11 or al-Qaida, the Bush adminis- tration could tout a decline in fundamentalist Islam in Iraq as a victory in the War on Terror. But is sending Christian missionaries to Iraq a legitimate means of warfare? Is it at all main- steam?4 To put in bluntly, it is very much not a mainstream tactic. In fact, after Sept. 11, the Right's blonde bombshell columnist Ann Coulter suggested the new policy towards the Arab world be to, "bomb their leaders and con- vert them to Christianity." Such a comment - even while the dust had yet to settle at Ground Zero - was considered so extreme it got Coulter booted from the roster of the hard-line conservative weekly National Review. 4 There is certainly no international law against missionary activity, but when the waves of men and women preaching the good news come through the borders, the charges of cultural imperialism will fly like F-15s over the floor of the U.N. General Assembly. Will that matter to Bush? He has made it clear that he doesn't need the international community's blessing to do anything; all that concerns him is what the voters will think next year. And given his current popularity and ability to spin the truth to the press, a decrease in Islam, fundamentalist or mainstream, in the 4 Middle East will bring joy to most Americans' hearts. Coulter's prophesy may have been extreme two years ago, but the power of American Christianity and the fear the current adminis- tration manufactures have created conditions where a drive to convert the so-called heathens will actually be popular among mainstream America. Things change, and now it's open season in Iraq for missionaries. Paul is an LSA senior and a member of the Daily's editorial board