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Monday, June 9, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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Voiceless votes
Solution for state delegates still disaster
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EMMARIE HUETTEMAN
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GARY GRACA
MANAGING EDITOR
KATE TRUESDELL
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorialboard. All other signed articles and illustrations
represent solelythe viewsofntheir authors.
FROM T AIY
Fuibright fauxpas
Dealings with Gaza Fulbright scholars a study in poor planning
he Fulbright Program may tout its international scholarship program
as a "mainstay of America's public-diplomacy efforts," but the recent
revocation of the program's aid from seven students living on the Gaza
strip has featured less diplomacy and more disaster. The program's decision
to pull the students' funding was the result of inadequate research, poor plan-
ning and insufficient effort on the part of the U.S. State Department. Now
scrabbling to rectify a public relations nightmare, the program should pause to
understand just where exactly it went wrong.
B y now Michigan voters
should be sick of party
leaders arguing about
how the state's delegates should
be seated at the Democratic
National Convention in August.
Though the DNC initially prom-
ised that none of the state's dele-
gates would be seated, it has now
decided to include them but give
each delegate only half a vote.
This decision might seem like an
honest peace offering, but it still
fails because Michigan's del-
egates aren't being apportioned
according to the results of a fair
election.
When Michigan moved its
primary up to January 15, the
DNC promised notto seat Mich-
igan's delegates at the conven-
tion, instantly ending any hopes
of a valid election. There was
nothing fair about this deci-
sion - Michigan's delegates are
just as deserving of a role in.the
convention as any other state's.
Thankfully, the DNC's Rules
and Bylaws Committee decided
on May 31 to seat them anyway.
This is commendable because it
recognizes Michigan's right to
be a part of the convention, but
merely seating the state's dele-
gates is by no means an adequate
solution when they have been
given only half a vote.
And even these half-votes still
won't truly reflect the citizen's
intentions. The DNC's flawed
solution allowed backroom
bargaining to become the final
arbiter. Barack Obama, who did
not appear on the ballot at all, is
receiving 59 delegates due to the
large percentage of votes for the
"uncommitted" choice, while
Hillary Clinton is receiving 69
delegates. Deciding how to split
these delegates was solely a
committee decision. This com-
promise was reached in order
to certify Clinton's Michigan
win without damaging Obama's
national lead. It is unacceptable
for Michigan's delegates at the
convention to be chosen in this
manner-the selection process
should directly represent the
will of primary voters, rather
than the outcome of a commit-
tee's deliberations.
All and all, it's too little too
late. The DNC already dealt the
validity of Michigan's primary
a fatal blow back in January.
Threatening to take away the
delegates clouded the election
in doubt and confusion, skew-
ing the results. The pre-elec-
tion chaos, coupled with the
undemocratic manner in which
post-election delegate decisions
have been reached, rendered
any result unfair.
It is a shame that Michigan's
issues with the DNC are receiv-
ing the national attention that
should go to the state's unfor-
tunate economic situation. The
delegates were doomed from
the moment the DNC told them
that they would not be seated.
The DNC has failed to represent
the wishes of Michigan's prima-
ry voters, regardless of whether
the delegates get a full vote, half
a vote or no vote at all.
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Israel has imposed a closed-
border policy in Gaza, prohib-
iting Palestinians from exiting
except for medical emergen-
cies. This tactic is an attempt
weaken the strength of Hamas
within the region.
It was the assumption of the
Fulbright Program, funded
by the U.S. State Department,
that this policy would prohibit
the seven students from being
allowed to travel abroad to
study. Because of this, it chose
to "redirect" grant funding to
other candidates last month.
But evidence suggests this
assumption may have been built
on shaky ground. It's true that
the Isralei government was ini-
tially sending mixed messages,
first claiming that higher edu-
cation was not a "humanitarian
concern" worthy of exclusion
from this travel ban and then
later contradicting this message.
But this discrepancy should
have been cause enough for the
State Department to investigate
the legitimacy of the informa-
tion on which it based its deci-
sion to revoke the grants.
Either way, the decision to
pull the scholarships from the
students was wrong. Instead of
choosing to employ the "public-
diplomacy" allegedly so impor-
tant to the program, the State
Department chose to take the
easy way out. That was never the
right decision. What it should
have done was work with the
government and students to find
a way around these regulations.
Because he students of Gaza
certainly didn't choose to live
under such restrictive policy.
In fact, several have spoken out
against the Hamas occupation
in the area. In reality, they had
little control over the fact that
they got caught up in political
power games, but were essen-
tially punished as such. Would
you want to be held personally
responsible for the decisions
your government has made?
Tactics designed to send a
message between goverment
factions shouldn't impede stu-
dents' abilities to educate them-
selves. Both of these points
should have been recognized by
the State Department and they
should have taken steps, as they
are finally doing now, to help
students in this tight spot.
The department now admits
that its decision was the result
of a "faulty decision-making
process". But in this situation,
providing financial backing for
these students was too impor-
tant to become the causality of
an administrative slip-up.
In creating a long-term plan
for stability in the region inter-
nal localized organization nec-
essary, and education is a key
part of that strategy. Making
it harder for smart, motivated
individuals to get that education
does little to fuel this effort.
Last week, amidst heavy crit-
icism, the Fulbright Program
finally corrected its error, giv-
ing the students their scholar-
ships back. The local American
Consulate also transported four
of the seven to Jerusalem to
help them get their visas. Con-
sidering the State Department's
initial apathy in this matter,
this new-found energy and ded-
ication - even if it has directly
correlated to media frenzy - is
commendable. Ignoring the
fact that it showed up late to the
party, the Fulbright Program
should get a pat on the back -
albeit a small one - for showing
up at all.
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ARIELA STEIF
E-MAIL STEIF AT ASTEIF@UMICH.EDU
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