4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 14, 2004 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com h UmbEDITEDAND MANAGED BY 4 , STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 NIAMH SLEVIN Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion IT the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. The state of Michigan is experiencing a disconcerting "brain drain;" numerous educated young people are fleeing the state for more cosmopolitan urban centers such as New York or San Francisco. Governor Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cities initiative is meant to prevent this flight of young professionals by fos- tering a more youth-friendly environment in our state's cities. The initiative recently crossed a major milestone when it issued its first round of grants: $100,000 to 17 Michigan communities. These grants will focus on such projects as the renovation of dilapidated buildings and the creation of mixed-use loft apartments in order to revi- talize the state's urban centers and attract young professionals. The flight of the edu- cated is a serious concern, and the Cool Cities grants are an important first step towards reversing the frightening trend. One of the biggest advantages of this initiative is its focus on improving urban centers instead of expanding suburban development. Projects like the renovation Making Michigan cool ranholin kicks off plan to revee the "brain drain" of Detroit's Eastern Market and improving Ypsilanti's Riverside Arts Center will help to attract people to the cities themselves, reviving Michigan's ailing downtowns. Downtowns, which maximize interperson- al interaction by placing a diverse range of social activities in close proximity, foster nightlife and other cultural activities more than the sprawling residential complexes of suburbia ever could. Significant nightlife - markedly absent from suburbs with their tight noise regulations - is a sure way to attract fresh college graduates to an area. One needs only to walk through the more urbane Ann Arbor in order to realize how necessary an active downtown is if young people are to flourish. Yet the list of the grant recipients has a noticeable lack of seemingly urban cities and a surprising number of moderately rural ones. The 17 cities received their grants after submitting proposals for spe- cific projects fashioned by community leaders and private investors. Although Lansing is to be commended for their astonishing commitment to encouraging cultural magnets, if its wish is to truly combat the brain drain, then it must work to reinforce the already existing cultural hot-spots rather then floundering funds across the state. Although the projects being pursued in such cities as Alpena and Sault St. Marie are worthwhile, they will, by no means, be on a par to compete with such cities as Boston or Chicago. Michigan cities are not competing amongst themselves for human resources, but with other cities across the country; therefore Lansing must concentrate its efforts on nourishing already culturally robust cities such as Royal Oak, Ferndale and Ann Arbor. The state should take advantage of these already cool cities a make them truly attractive enough to detract from other cultural meccas nation- wide. Michigan must adopt the mindset that what is good for these few cities is good for the entire state as a whole. The growth of these urban centers benefits the entire state by ameliorating the dearth of central cities in Michigan and stemming the decay of the few already existing ones, most notably Detroit. If these "cool" cities can become epicenters for young professio als and obtain some gravity of thei own, that will work to impede sprawl and inherently benefit Detroit. The cre- ation of these cool cities will ultimately reverse the brain drain, keep young, col- lege-educated professionals within the state and undoubtedly pay great eco- nomic dividends for the state at large. Forced service Pentagon policy does away with volunteer military Our nation has relied upon a volunteer military since the end of the Vietnam War, and the men and women who are willing to accept the dangers inherent to the military deserve praise for their com- mendable service in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Indeed, a volunteer army of highly motivated, highly trained sol- diers is almost certainly more efficient and better suited to defend our country than an army of disheartened conscripts. Yet the Bush Administration, seeking desperately to main- tain a force sufficient to meet our foreign pol- icy commitments without instituting a draft, has thanked our soldiers for their dedication to our nation's security by invoking dishonest policies that result in soldiers performing involuntary tours of duty overseas. It is not surprising that the Pentagon has called up Army Reserve and National Guard units for overseas duty. Certainly, many of the men and women in these insti- tutions enlisted expecting to serve one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer and have had to set aside career and family. National Guard troops in par- ticular, who may have envisioned them- selves performing flood relief at home, may be shocked to find themselves assigned to Iraq. There is, however, prece- dent for these deployments: Reserve and National Guard units were deployed in the first Gulf War. The Bush Admiinistration, however, has instituted particularly underhanded policies to maintain troop strength. The Pentagon has issued what is known as a "stop-loss" order under which soldiers whose units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan must serve the entire 12 months overseas, plus an addi- tional 90 days, regardless of when their term of enlistment ends. In some cases, soldiers have been notified of their new deployments as little as two days before they were to have left the military. This is conscription without a draft; soldiers are performing active duty they never volunteered to serve. The Pentagon has also begun calling up soldiers from the Individual Ready Reserve. This reserve, originally institut- ed in case of catastrophic national emer- gency, is composed primarily of soldiers who have recently left active duty but are subject to call-up for a period of four years. These men and women do not drill, are not paid and have re-entered civilian life - only to find themselves forcibly re- enlisted in the military. Recently, the Pentagon has enlisted the Internal Revenue Service to help track down for- mer soldiers for return to active duty. These measures have still not been suf- ficient and the Pentagon continues to search for new soldiers. Some have been re-deployed from South Korea. In other cases, military functions have been turned over to private contractors who, dangerous- ly, are not subject to the military chain of command; some of these contractors were involved in the recent prison abuse scan- dal. As these unconscionable policies con- tinue, potential and future soldiers learn that the military is liable to abuse their trust and forcibly assign them to active duty beyond the four years for which they orig- inally volunteered. Should these dishonest policies continue indefinitely, fewer men and women will volunteer to defend our country, and our nation will be confronted with a difficult choice we should not have to face: Either reduce our military to a size incompatible with the extent of our securi- ty needs or abandon the principles of an all-volunteer army. Ready tf Immediate challenges to a This past week saw many surprising and troubling developments in the battle over race-conscious admissions. On June 12, the state Court of Appeals reinstated the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative petition, breathing new life into the abandoned ballot initiative. A few days earlier, on June 9, rep- resentatives in the state House amended an education appropriations bill to include a clause denying state funding to any public institution that uses racial, religious, creed or national origin as a admission factor. Of course, the amended spending bill is not automatically put into effect - it must not only pass the state Senate, but also get signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm. Thus, the amendment should not be seen as a threat to affirmative action policies: Even if it were to pass the Senate, it is assured that ie troops ffirmative action lay ahead Gov. Granholm would veto it. The reinstatement of the MCRI petition, however, is deeply troubling. Before the rul- ing, MCRI officials had declared the 2004 movement dead; the focus was shifted onto the 2006 election. Now, armed with this deci- sion, MCRI leaders could very well bri back the ballot proposal for this year. If suc- cessfully placed onto the 2004 ballot, the MCRI amendment will pose the largest sin- gle threat to affirmative action policies since the Supreme Court decision one year ago. While MCRI leaders have not announced their intent, those in favor of race-conscious admissions should not wait for a cue to act. Advocates of affirmative action should begin immediate political mobilization - the t' year reprieve that many had been cherishing is gone, the battle has begun anew.