Opinion

JENNIFER CALFAS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

AARICA MARSH

and DEREK WOLFE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

LEV FACHER

MANAGING EDITOR

420 Maynard St.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

tothedaily@michigandaily.com

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the University of Michigan since 1890.

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, January 21, 2015

W

ith all the focus regarding
diversity around campus,
little attention has been

paid to what peo-
ple actually mean
when they say they
want
“increased

diversity.”
For

the most part, the
focus of the debate
has been on get-
ting more people
of color enrolled
at the University.
Unfortunately,
this narrow defini-
tion leaves out many other diversity
options, ones that are necessary for
today’s modern education.

As a 35-year-old undergrad, I am

no stranger to discrimination via lack
of diversity on campus. It’s mostly
benign things, like students sitting
next to the professor before they’ll sit
next to the “creepy old guy.” Some-
times, it’s that cute girl at Bert’s giving
me a weird look when I assure her, yes,
I am a student (or maybe it’s the creepy
old guy thing). Usually I just shrug it
off and continue, but occasionally I
recall that while we’re peers, I have
more in common with my professors
than I do other students.

I’m not the only student experi-

encing this. Before long, your parents
won’t just be your ride to school, but
your lab partners, too. With the con-
tinued shift from a labor economy to a
service economy, the average age of a
college undergrad should continue to
go up for the foreseeable future. With
the increased age comes increased
responsibilities, and the University
is not adequately equipped to handle
them.

Older-student support at the Uni-

versity is commendable in spirit and
condemnable in practice. In all fair-
ness, the University has traditionally
served a very young demographic. As
older students, we have responsibili-
ties far surpassing those of normal
undergrads — spouses, children,
houses and businesses, to name a
few. This is reflected in the wait list
at campus daycare facilities and the
lack of affordable married housing
options. This isn’t mere discomfort,
either. Housing scams are rampant in
the area (just call any realtor and ask

about local scams), and young parents
are being forced to choose between
putting their children or themselves
through school.

It’s past time for the University to

act. They should look no further than
our local community colleges for ideas
to help increase the range of services
available for older students. Instead
of focusing on finding “America’s
Next Top Football Coach,” the school
should have been looking into funding
for additional childcare services on
campus, increased flexibility in class
scheduling (including more evening
and online classes) and more married
housing options.

Unless we do something soon, we

are going to miss out on the unique
life knowledge that older students
bring with them. They will be forced
to go to campuses that recognize the
changing times
and are quicker
to adjust servic-
es. Indeed, one
could make the
argument
that

the reason for-
profit
colleges

are reeling in
huge numbers of
students is pre-
cisely
because

they cater their services toward non-
traditional students.

Campus diversity needs expansion

in more traditional areas. Another
example of this is the lack of inclusion
of “none” in discussions about reli-
gious diversity.

According to a Pew Research Cen-

ter poll from May 2014, more people
would be less likely to cast a presiden-
tial ballot for an atheist (53 percent)
than an adulterer (35 percent), a sep-
tuagenarian (36 percent) or someone
who has never held public office (52
percent).

Worldwide,
there
are
record

amounts of people who identify as
“non-theist” or “atheist.” In places
that used to be dominated by reli-
gion, old icons are being pushed away
and a wave of secularism is coursing
through the general public. As many
as 40 percent of the French do not
believe there is “any sort of spirit, God
or life force.” On campus, the numbers
tell a much different story.

A search on Maize Pages for the

word “atheist” in a club returns exact-
ly one group, the Secular Student
Alliance. A similar search for “Mus-
lim” returns 10 clubs while a search
for “Christian” returns 26. You know
who else only has one club on cam-
pus? Pokemon aficionados (Pokemon
Maize and Blue). Then again, I would
hate to cast Pokemon lovers in the
same light as atheists, because they
probably get enough flack as it is with-
out that additional baggage. Besides,
they probably poll better among future
presidential candidates.

All jokes aside, there’s no rational

explanation for this lack of non-
religious
students.
Atheists
and

agnostics bring a uniquely humanist
approach to the table, free from the
obligations of religion. Humanists
are a diverse group, with people

of
virtually
all

nationalities
and

sexual orientations
comprising
their

ranks.
I
would

love to see more
free-thought and
secular activities
on campus. It could
be something as
simple as a food
drive
for
the

homeless, or as complex as a support
system for helping people overcome
substance abuse without invoking the
name of God.

The key is taking the meaning

of diversity away from the narrow
definition groups like BAMN get us
to focus on. Diversity on campus isn’t
an issue going away anytime soon.
The quicker we go for true diversity
of thought and away from the notion
of diversity as skin color, the better
off we all are. The University has a
responsibility to its students outside
of the classroom to provide access
to cultures and ideas not found at
our local high schools. Increased
diversity, beyond just geography
and skin color, is one way to help
accomplish this. Until we focus on
a more broad definition of diversity,
we are forever going to be living in
the shadows of our own past.

— Eric Kukielka can be

reached at ekuk@umich.edu.

A more expansive diversity

Edvinas Berzanskis, Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Devin Eggert,

David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble,

Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm,

Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

O

n my way home to Florida
this past summer, while
stopped in Atlanta, I tried

to get ahold of


Mrs. B.

I had Mrs. B for

social studies in
eighth grade, and I somehow got her
to be my friend during high school
and college.

She was petite, and she kept her

gray hair short. She had light blue
eyes, which is where her smile
started. She was always very crisp:
bright but modest solids, cool flo-
ral patterns — a very classic sort of
South Florida prep that we’ll never
see again. Her voice was soft and
carried with it the slightest and
most dignified Southern drawl. In
conversation, she was curious, gen-
uinely. Nobody was more interest-
ed than Mrs. B. I thought of her as
my own personal Terry Gross. But
better dressed. (No offense to Ms.
Gross, who I love and who I’m sure
dresses quite wonderfully.)

I’d heard that maybe Mrs. B wasn’t

doing so well. I’ve visited her while
she was dealing with some sort of
cancer.

She hadn’t said a word beforehand,

when we made plans over the phone.
But once during one of our usu-
ally long summer talks, she casually
dropped it. (We of course covered the
basics first: “How are your grades?”
“How is your family?” “Don’t you just
love Jon Stewart?”) Then eventually,
“I’ve got cancer.”

And, “But Willie, I’m doing fine.”
Of course I believed her. Because it

was true. She licked it.

But after a while of being in the

clear, some blood came back and
announced a second round with
something more vicious.

In the airport, I folded up in

a corner near the outpost of The
Varsity, an Atlanta standby: the
“world’s largest drive-in” where a
No. 2 combo gets you a chili cheese
dog and a chili cheese burger, fries
or onion rings and a regular sized
drink for $9.44. They greet you at
the counter with a loud, “What’ll


ya have?”

I called Mrs. B to let her know I’d

be in town.

WHADDAYAHAVE?
“Oh, hello Willie,” Mr. B answers.
WHADDAYAHAVE?
“Is Mrs. B Around?”

WHADDAYAHAVE?
“I wanted to let her know I’m

headed home today.”

WHADDAYAHAVE?
“I’d love to see her.”
WHADDAYAHAVE?
“Well, Willie. She can’t come to

the phone right now.”

WHADDAYAHAVE?
“But I’ll let her know you called.”
WHADDAYAHAVE?
“Thanks. See you soon.”
Mrs. B helped civilize me.
In middle school I was a monster.
I had my ear pierced with a little

silver ball. I wore an Andy Warhol
messenger bag, so I knew a thing
or two about art. (But I had no idea
who the Velvet Underground was.)
Sometimes I would turn the lights off
in my room and listen to The Postal
Service and cry.

I think I called a girl fat on the

Internet once.

I got C’s and D’s and F’s. Because

of this, on the night of my best friend
Jack’s bar mitzvah, I brought my
dress pants to my mother and asked
her to iron them. But she had just
logged on to ParentLink to check my
grades and told me there was no way
in hell I was going to Jack’s bar mitz-
vah. I cried, I screamed, I cried more:
a
wide-mouth

weeping,
running-out-
of-breath, chub-
by-cheeked-me
pale and reddish
with baby fat and
a bad attitude, a
screaming, sob-
bing heap of ugly.

One day Mrs.

B started class
by handing out
information about a new school
policy. Because of severe budget
cuts, students now had to pay for
printing. The piece of paper that
Mrs. B handed out stated that from
now on, copies would cost each
of us 10 cents per page. This fee
applied to handouts, exercises and
even quizzes and tests.

Because we all sat in groups at

tables, it took a minute for it to catch
on. But someone finally asked, “We
have to pay you to take tests?!”

Mrs. B. told us, “I’m sorry, there’s

nothing I can do. I don’t think it’s fair
either.”

“But Mrs. Broughton, what about

students who might not be able to
afford this?”

A very mature question asked by

my friend Jack — someone who was
already a man by this time.

And then I had a quiet realization:

We’re about to learn about the Boston
Tea Party. She’s taxing us without
representation!

I gasped and put my hand straight

up in the air — ready to ruin the
whole lesson.

But when she looked over at me,

she grinned and then she winked,
acknowledging that I knew what
she knew.

Back then I was even more of a

shit-ass know-it-all than I am now.

But that smile, that wink.
Mrs. B silently kept my stupid, big

mouth closed — and she let me feel so
grown-up about it.

In that moment, I learned that you

don’t always have to know loudly.
Sometimes you can know quietly,
and you might even be doing all of us
a favor.

So I smiled back.
I put my hand down and decided,

instead, to help my class incite


a revolution.

Over the summer I got to see

Mrs. B just before she died. She

was there and
her
blue
eyes

were there and
her family was
there. We cov-
ered the bases
(grades are fine;
family is fine;
I still love Jon
Stewart). And I
re-told the sto-
ries like the Bos-
ton Tea Party,

and the History Fair (my friend
Madison and I wrote a play: we
were John Lennon and Yoko Ono in
a hotel bed. We went all the way to
Tallahassee in bathrobes, carrying
an inflatable mattress and a tam-
bourine), and we sort of smiled.

And then Mrs. B got tired and

wanted to rest.

So I let go of her hand and gave her

a kiss on the cheek.

And she said, “Willie, I am just so

tickled for you.”

And, “You keep me posted.”

— Willie Filkowski can be

reached at willjose@umich.edu.

A memorial for Mrs. B

R

epublican Gov. Rick Snyder gave his State of the State address
Tuesday evening, emphasizing state and local growth over
the past four years, community-based reforms and the “river

of opportunity.” While Snyder’s speech was commendable in its
recognition of previous achievements and idealistic goals, he neglected
to expand on the substantial steps needed to create a better future for
the state of Michigan.

During the past four years, the state has made

significant improvements as outlined by Snyder.
Housing values have increased by 25 percent
compared to the national average of 16 percent;
out-of-state tourism has increased by over $2
million in the past four years; the agricultural
industry has hit an unprecedented benchmark
of more than $100 billion in economic activity;
unemployment has decreased to 6.7 percent;
and over 300,000 private-sector jobs have been
created in the last four years.

Snyder similarly praised efforts to improve

transportation with a special focus on
Michigan’s roads, pointing out that many create
conditions that are hazardous for driving. Of
course, improvements to Michigan’s roads are
severely needed according to Snyder, with one
in nine bridges in the state being structurally
deficient. However, Snyder made no mention
of how the legislature would go about actually
making these improvements. Furthermore, the
governor neglected to address the controversial
M-1 rail, currently under construction in
Detroit, with an estimated cost of $137 million.

In his speech, Snyder also highlighted

that since 2010, there has been a 48 percent
increase in automotive production. While the
state is currently enjoying the benefits of the
revived industry, it is important to note that
it’s unreasonable to rely on the automotive
industry for economic prosperity. Michigan
saw the consequences of such dependence in
the 2008 automotive industry crisis. To pivot
itself for an economically successful future, the
state should look to invest in other industries,
such as science and technology fields.

Snyder’s State of the State included, in

a large part, the presentation of his “river
of opportunity” plan, intended to increase
the ability of Michigan residents to achieve
multi-faceted
opportunities,
including

educational
attainment
and
economic

stability. While laying out this plan for
the state, Snyder harped on increasing the
efficiency of government and its respective
programs, many of which he deemed to be
unnecessary, ineffective and not focusing on
the “real people” that they are targeting.

In addition to this critique of inefficiency,

Snyder stated that communities play a
much larger role in aiding the issues within
communities, forming a “village of support”
with
the
government
fading
into
the

background. Snyder stated that the creation
of 145 new programs since the 1940s has not
targeted “real people” and has simply created
inefficiencies within the government that
aren’t helping the citizens they intended to
serve. It’s improbable that the majority of
people would disagree with the statement
that the government is currently bloated, with

bureaucratic red tape serving as an impediment
to progress, but the government can do things
that a community simply cannot.

While governmental involvement is an issue

that should be dealt with, the government can’t
stick to the sidelines when dealing with issues
such as food availability and access to education,
especially in regions and communities where
resources are scarce. Detroit, for example, is
a food desert, with access to quality food just
now making its way into parts of the city with
the construction of new grocery stores. Public
subsidies and tax breaks were used to make
these stores, such as Whole Foods, viable,
bringing down the cost to build locations in
Detroit. Creating a “village of support” in a
community such as urban Detroit, one stricken
with poverty and violence, and expecting
government to fade into the background while
that community fixes its own food availability
crisis is a completely untenable plan. Increasing
government efficiency should not reduce the
ability of citizens to get the kind of assistance
and aid they so badly need in order to make it to
the “mainstream” of the “river of opportunity.”

Snyder’s only mention of higher education

was in his discussion on middle colleges — a
high-school program that allows for students
to affordably attain a high-school diploma
and community college degree from the
same school. His failure to discuss college
affordability as a whole is neglectful to a
significant issue facing the state of Michigan
and country. According to a study by youth
advocacy group Young Invincibles, Michigan
ranks as the third-worst state nationwide in
higher education investment. While Snyder’s
administration has slowly increased higher
education funding after it was cut by 15 percent
in 2011, this ranking reveals deep concerns
regarding his commitment to fostering an
educated citizenry. His no-comment during the
State of the State perpetuates this perception.

Similarly, Snyder’s discussion of energy

issues lacked the direction it required.
Snyder mentioned he wanted to eliminate
energy waste, exploit the state’s natural gas
resources and focus on renewable energy
solutions. To do this, he intends to create a
state energy agency in order to consolidate
the effort on creating viable energy policy
for the future. However, he failed to answer
key questions such as what his plans are for
natural gas. Whether the plan is to export
natural gas or invest the resources within the
state, it’s disappointing Snyder did not outline
the groundwork for Michigan’s energy future
appropriately. The lack of details in the State
of the State address only serve to heighten the
expectations for Snyder’s special message on
energy in March.

FROM THE DAILY

WILLIE
FILKOWSKI

ERIC
KUKIELKA

State of the State

Snyder addresses improvements and plans for Michigan’s future

The first time I saw my birth certificate it

said,

“Statistically Insignificant,”
When I asked the doctor why, he said it was

because I had a high likelihood of ending up
in a place like the hood, wearing a hoodie, fac-
ing a silver cocked barrel,

That is my burial,
He says my mind reacts to irrationality and

that I act explosively given a brain incapable
of flight

They call that a “land mine,”
Reasons to step over me,
Yes I was born a domestic terrorist, given a

knife instead of a brain that is sharp enough
to cut into society’s veins,

Yes I am that black sludge bloodshed that

shares the complexion of HIV,

Since you do not understand me, you label

me a disease,

So you are right Lil Wayne,
You are sick,
ill,
Another one of this nation’s many illegiti-

mate children,

Taught young to shoot for the stars only to

reach Jim Crow ceilings,

But I guess on the other side of town they

taught just to shoot,

Shoot for security,
Shoot for protection,
But now I hear ice cracking ‘cause ice tea

doesn’t seem so threatening,

But fuck it,
If we’re going to shoot let’s shoot for skit-

tles too because everyone knows…

The color black will never exist in the rain-

bow…

No black ain’t beautiful until it’s red,
Bloody,
Rename CNN, “Red is the new Black”
My 15 minutes of fame always seems to

end,

Too soon

Michigan in Color is the Daily’s opinion

section designated as a space for and by

students of color at the University of Michigan.

To contribute your voice or find out more about

MiC, e-mail michiganincolor@umich.edu.

WILLIAM ROYSTER | MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Black Hoodies
Sometimes you can
know quietly, and
you might even be

doing all of us a favor.

We are going to miss

out on the unique

life knowledge

older students bring

with them.