4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 28, 2003 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA JASON PESICK letters@michigandaily.com Editor in Chief Editorial Page Editor n iiEDITED AND MANAGED BY ---- U STUDENTS AT THE Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not SINCE 1890 necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. S tudent financial aid may be the latest lege education, leading to the great eco- addition to the casualty list attributed Ra e aiu nomic prosperity the country experienced to the country's economic troubles. A following the war. The country will only change in the Department of Education's nl 1 n 1n 1 pay down the road if it does not dedicate Expected Family Contribution formula 'eu g nts 1 more , "' -, e S itself more fully to the goal of allowing would reduce the nation's award programs - -every American who wants to attend col- beginning in 2004, thereby completely pre- versity contributions. change is the effect it will have on other lev- lege the opportunity to do so. venting many students from receiving mon- The modification to the EFC formula els of financial aid. The New York Times Because this policy seems so ill con- etary aid for college. came as a result of the Federal Need reports that its consequences will not only ceived and heartless, it may seem as if The amendment to the EFC formula has Analysis Methodology, which uses the most include the immense decline in the number Congress would strike down the changes. made obtaining grants more difficult for recent IRS data to decide on the equation of students who are eligible for federal Unfortunately, the Department of undergraduates. According to a new report representing a family's ability to pay for col- awards, but will also increase "the reliance Education's planned adjustment to the EFC by the Congressional Research Service, the lege. The difficulty is that the most recent on loans to pay for college." As a result of formula and ensuing aid reduction does not adjustment to the EFC formula will cause IRS data is three years old and would be bet- the requirement to apply for unappealing require Congressional approval. the primary source of student financial aid, ter fit for an economy that is not in such a loans, many students could become dissuad- Fortunately though, there is hope for the federal Pell grant, to be reduced by $270 meager state. Thus, the new formula cannot ed from entering college and might instead students. News of the alterations has million, meaning hundreds of thousands of accurately reflect the capability of an appli- attempt to enter a job market already caught the attention of Congress as a dis- students will receive smaller grants. This cant's family to pay for college. strained by a high unemployment rate. guise for cutting education spending. Many number does not take into account the Furthermore, at a time when students With the economy in such a fragile state, members of Congress are working to pre- reduction of approximately 84,000 college already cannot afford the costs of college, college is becoming unaffordable for many vent the changes from being implemented. students that will no longer be eligible for money is hard to come by and tuition is Americans. This is a shame. Creating a The financial devastation arising from the the federal Pell grants. The figure also does relentlessly on the rise, the loss of financial more educated population has proven to be new rule could be prevented if legislation is not consider the future curb in awards once aid for so many students is more than excellent economic policy. The passage of enacted to modify the changes. Congress the formula is applied to the rest of the bil- uncalled for - it is backbreaking. the G.I. Bill following World War II enabled should pass legislation preventing these lions of dollars set aside for state and uni- Another problem arising from this a generation of Americans to obtain a col- changes from taking place. Marquis Bush Bush is out of touch with the American people Hear the NFL roar League correct to fine Lions, but policy needs a second look 4 President George Bush made a visit to metro Detroit last Thursday for round of building political support in Livonia for his 2004 reelection cam- paign and a round of fundraising in Dearborn. At his speech to the workers of Beaver Aerospace and Defense Inc. in Livonia, Bush explained his tax plan and how it will supposedly boost the econo- my and create more jobs. Bush's decision to come to Michigan stemmed from the existence of the state's highest unemployment rate in ten years and Michigan's critical importance in the 2004 presidential elections. Despite Bush's intentions to appear receptive to Michigan residents' concerns about their jobs and the economy, he is clearly out of touch with the typical American. Mr. Bush explained his plan to cut taxes for small businesses and how he thinks that such cuts will help small businesses create more jobs by spending more money. But a report from Democrats on the House Small Business Committee states that "over half of small businesses would receive less than $500 under the presi- dent's jobs and growth package." Five hun- dred dollars is not a whole lot of money in the world of business and certainly not enough to expand demand for equipment in a manner that would create the number of jobs that Bush claims it will. Other aspects of the Bush economic plan raise concern. The checks for the child tax credit that were mailed out to house- holds across the country over the past weekend will not reach the homes that need the money the most. About 16.5 mil- lion low-income families will not receive the benefits because, with their earnings of between $10,500 and $26,625, they do not make enough to pay federal income taxes. And those who receive the checks are more likely to use the money - about $400 per child - to pay off existing debts rather than run to the nearest mall and splurge. At the evening gathering at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dearborn, Bush addressed a fundraising dinner of support- ers who had paid $2,000 a head to attend. Here, Bush again explained his tax cuts and spoke about the war in Iraq to cheers from a partisan crowd. Bush's stops in Livonia and Dearborn came on the same day that the Federal Election Commission issued an important ruling on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The FEC maintained the ban on direct soft money donations to parties and candidates but determined that corpo- rations and unions could still contribute, without limitation to party conventions and fundraisers. Bush raised over $2 mil- lion at the dinner in Dearborn, and while this is not illegal by an means, its coinci- dence with the FEC ruling only reinforces the key role that money plays in the U.S. political system and how the average American has too little influence over how his government functions. While the fate of McCain-Feingold has yet to be decided definitively - the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear argu- ments and rule on different aspects of the legislation this fall - the public can expect to see more of these types of extravagant dinners as the presidential pri- maries approach. Perhaps if Bush wants to build more credibility with most of the cit- izens, he can use the next few months cre- ating a set of policies that benefit all Americans, even those who cannot afford lavish dinners at the Ritz Carlton. ast Friday, the NFL fined Detroit Lions President Matt Millen $200,000. The NFL levied the fine against Millen for a failure to fol- low the newly enacted hiring policy that requires every team to make a concerted effort to interview and consider minori- ty applicants. In his rush to hire former San Francisco 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci, Millen did not interview a sin- gle minority candidate, violating the policy that he agreed to follow. While the league is correct to fine Millen, its policy is flawed and must be enforced in an equitable way. Lack of diversity is a significant prob- lem facing the NFL when it comes to posi- tions of management and power. In a league of 32 teams in which a majority of the play- ers are black, only 3 teams currently have black head coaches. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue warned teams that if they failed to comply with the new rules, they would face large fines. The issue, however, only came to the forefront after attorneys led by Johnnie Cochran put immense pres- sure on the league. The main complaint was that teams were simply recycling the league's white coaches and not giving black candidates opportunities to have any coach- ing experience or jobs. A special committee correctly sought a method to rectify this problem and its proposed solution is the current hiring policy, which states that when hiring new head coaches, teams must interview a minority candidate. Millen knew the rules when he tried to hire Mariucci after the firing of the often comically inept former coach and local window advertiser Marty Mornhinweg. While not an excuse for disobeying a known and important rule, Millen feared that if he waited too long, he might lose his candidate. Furthermore, it was well known within the league that Millen want- ed to hire Mariucci, so the five black can- didates that Millen sought to interview all declined the offer. They knew he was just trying to follow the league's policy. The NFL is right to fine Millen because he clearly violated an important rule, but it should be noted that Millen did try to com- ply. As Tagliabue pointed out in his letter to Millen however, Millen did not explain to the NFL that he faced difficulties in ful- filling his responsibilities. While Millen's failure to interview minority candidates is a shame and deserves to be punished, he should not stand alone in facing the burden of penalties from the NFL. San Francisco clearly just led on the black applicants it interviewed on its way to recy- cle longtime college and former Seattle Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson. Dallas only interviewed former Vikings head coach Denny Greene in order to follow the policy en route to appointing veteran coach Bill Parcells as their latest head coach. Millen did not follow the policy, but clearly the system remains faulted. It makes a mockery of the desire to create a truly diverse head coaching pool. Millen's fine will serve notice to the league that Tagliabue and the management of the NFL support the league's minority rules in hiring coaches, but merely requiring that an interview take place is no solution. The NFL and all professional sporting leagues need to take steps in order to ensure that people who better represent the country's diversity fill coaching, manage- ment and ownership positions. The nation's stadiums must no longer be filled to the brim with wealthy whites watching black athletes compete against one another. 4 I 4