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
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, February 18, 2015
A
ccording to a study conducted by The Ann Arbor News, the
University’s non-resident freshman enrollment has increased
11.3 percent while resident freshmen enrollment has decreased
by 8.3 percent since 2010. Similarly, students from California and New
York make up roughly 5.6 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of the
undergraduate and graduate populations combined. Illinois is not far
behind at 4.5 percent of the total student population. The majority of
international students come from China and India, combining to make
up 7.7 percent of students. Several in-state residents have expressed
concern that the increase in out-of-state application acceptances will
leave Michigan students behind. However, many of the theories about
out-of-state students seem to be exaggerated myths.
I
t’s another Sunday night in Ann
Arbor so cold it gives a body the
flesh-creep.
The hairs in my
nostrils have been
replaced
with
broken shards of
stained glass from
Satan’s cathedral.
I stumble down
into my low-light
winter basement.
I dislodge the
icicle buried in my
skull.
I peel off my
frozen, crusty eyelids.
I wring the wind chill out of my
coat.
I try to resist the temptation to ask
my iPhone what it feels like outside.
(Because we already know: it feels
really fucking awful.)
I think of a warmer place.
I think of home.
I think of sunny, stupid Florida.
And then I realize: I have become
my own worst enemy.
Home isn’t home anymore, it’s a
destination. I’m not a local. I’m just
like everyone else: a slow-moving
target with Michigan plates, looking
for a good place to wear my socks on
the beach.
I have become a snowbird.
I am the ruby-crowned kinglet,
except I’m enrolled in 18 credits.
When the rest of the snowbirds chirp
their ways south, I’m here, studying
for finals.
But don’t worry, I’ll catch up with
the rest!
I just have to spend a little more
time working through exhaustion
in a fluorescent studio or library.
Cramming,
cramming.
Waiting
until a paper’s morning deadline
has its white, xeroxy hand around
my throat. The word count ticks up
along with my feelings of self-doubt
and fraudulence. I’m groping toward
a thesis, but in its absence I hope I
will be redeemed by innovation with
adjectives and my ability to make a
summary sound like analysis.
I don’t want to be here.
I can think only of the ruby-
crowned kinglet. He’s free of these
human distractions, this oppressive
arctic air.
What do you think the ruby-
crowned kinglet is doing right now?
He’s strutting his stuff for all the
other pretty little birdies in the
J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wild-
life Refuge. He’s probably getting
laid in broad daylight. Some kind
aunt from Toledo looks on reverently.
She decides that, after all, the $6 toll
for the Sanibel Causeway was worth
it. “That ruby-crowned kinglet has
game. They don’t do it like that back
in Ohio,” she says (ever-so-quietly so
as not to disturb the great blue heron
to her left).
And I am here. Drinking very sorry
brown water from an on-campus cof-
fee shop. I have been laid low by the
analysis of biblical themes in the film
“The Road” adapted from Cormac
McCarthy’s novel of the same name.
I come up with two thousand words
about the color gray.
I wouldn’t mind getting on the
Road myself right now. I’ll take my
chances with the cannibals.
Anything to be warm. Anything to
spread my wings.
Anything to make that aunt from
Toledo blush.
But the cold draft dripping down
my back from a bad window brings
another realization.
I have become a snowbird in
reverse. I’m the worst, most busted
snowbird you could imagine.
I don’t spend all my spring breaks
in Florida. The big stretch of time I
get to be home is the summer.
I am not the ruby-crowned king-
let. I don’t leave for the winter.
I haven’t learned my lesson yet. I
stay!
I am still the same brown pelican
I have always been. Except now it’s
perpetually February and I’m sitting
on the bank of the Huron River hold-
ing a margarita in my mittened hand
wondering, on repeat — muttering to
myself:
What for? What for? What for?
— Willie Filkowski can be
reached at willjose@umich.edu
The weather
The general concern about the increase in
out-of-state students is that the tax dollars
Michigan residents have been paying to the
University for years, by way of state taxes,
have been wasted due to the decrease of in-
state students. However, state funding to the
University has not been consistent throughout
the past decade. University Provost Martha
Pollack expressed the University’s struggle
with state divestment from higher education,
explaining that the state’s per-student fund-
ing is 60 percent of what it was just 10 years
ago. Though, in 2013, Pollack said the increase
was due to a dwindling state population, rath-
er than a need for more financial resources.
Taking a closer look at the school’s budget, we
see that $295 million per year comes from the
state. This is a large number, but not necessar-
ily a large portion of what goes into running
such a renowned and large university. Fifty-
five years ago, state support accounted for 78
percent of the University’s general funding.
With such a drastic decrease in support to the
University’s General Fund — which pays for
teaching, service and administrative support
costs — by the state, it’s understandable that
the University would accept more out-of-state
students, who pay tuition rates nearly triple
that of in-state students.
The University’s attempt to combat the dis-
crepancy with state funding speaks for itself.
When one looks at the $178 million it invests
toward financial aid for in-state undergradu-
ates and $147.5 million for out-of-staters, it’s
easy to see the University’s focus. Given the
discrepancy in the number of in-state students,
of which there are 11,666 undergraduates, ver-
sus the 5,698 out-of-stater undergraduates,
the scales are weighted heavily on the side of
in-state residents. Additionally, the revenue
generated by the noticeable difference between
in-state and out-of-state tuition students is vast.
More specifically, in 2014, out-of-state students
paid a $41,578 per-year bill with a 3.4 percent
tuition increase compared to an in-state cost
of $13,158 and a 1.6 percent increase. This will
result in $150 million more in funds coming
from out-of-state residents, despite out-of-state
undergraduates being significantly outnum-
bered in the overall student population. The
University seems to be doing its best to look out
for the costs of its in-state residents.
The real issue in funding stems from more
systemic issues in the state’s legislature and
its monetary support to schools. The problem
isn’t the increasing desire for out-of-state resi-
dents to attend such a great school, but rather
where the state of Michigan chooses to allocate
its resources — more specifically, the state’s
investment of an unprecedented $1 billion a
year toward in-state charter schools. Char-
ter schools take needed attention away from a
focus on public high schools in Michigan. State
graduation rates peaked in 2008 (also unprec-
edented by any other state) and have been drop-
ping since, though they did improve slightly
last year. Funding charter schools takes money
from the state and gives it to privately run insti-
tutions that have been described by The Detroit
Free Press as having a lack of transparency
with their spending habits. This begs the ques-
tion: why is all of this state money going toward
privately run institutions instead of our public
schools? The idea seems to benefit a select few
in-state residents while leaving out those most
subject to the public school system.
If the state keeps treating the University
as if it’s a private school, then it will have
to change its business practices in order to
remain the competitive institution where
parents want to send their kids. Out-of-state
students bring diversity to the student popu-
lation, they bring money that lightens the
load for in-state students and apparently for
the state government, which is now choosing
to send more of its funds elsewhere. While
increasing out-of-state enrollment may seem
controversial, in reality, it is one of the few
options the University has to keep its budget
balanced and remain a top-tier institution.
“Life.” This is my tired answer to the
question of what I am studying, the first
question people ask of me, the question that
has apparently become the new version of the
90s pick-up line, “Hey baby, what’s your sign?”
I answer wearily because I am undecided;
I have apparently lost my enthusiasm for
creativity, and kind of want to answer that I’m
a Gemini. I used to answer that I wanted to
learn to breed rare birds or do research on how
singing affects plant growth, but humor lost
its appeal during my first week in Ann Arbor.
Every other person, it seemed, wanted to
be a doctor or engineer or at least had a slight
direction. I still don’t. Being undecided means
being unique, I read online. For me, it means
I can turn any conversation into an awkward
halt with my quasi-answer of “the question.”
I used to think I needed to print a list of LSA
majors and use the lines of a blue pen to pick
by process of elimination (so far, I know I will
not be a computer scientist nor a student of
the German language). This is not an entirely
bad idea, but decisions need to have the right
motivation behind them. The decision of what
to do with your life shouldn’t be chosen by
forced self-pressure.
National statistics, though inconclusive,
say that around 20 to 50 percent of freshmen
enter college undecided about their major, so
the pressure I feel is totally self-made. But I am
still nervous.
Statistics also say that many change
their majors at least three times before they
graduate. I’m still not feeling great, because
this is the University of Michigan. Surely
general statistics don’t apply to us, right? But
maybe they do.
My favorite reassurance about being
undecided is that many of the future
jobs have not even been created, yet this
seemingly helpful point really stresses me out.
Uncertainty always does. I don’t know how to
prepare for something that doesn’t exist yet.
I’ve heard people say that students in
college without a specific goal tend to do
worse in school. However, we, the undecided,
do have a goal: to figure out a specific goal!
We are racing against time and distributions
and the limits of our confidence. So are we not
more impressive?
Without a doubt, there are some perks
of being undecided. Because of the many
distribution credits the University demands of
us, we get to explore. Like mothers everywhere
say, how do you know you don’t like something
if you have never tried it?
By introducing yourself to many fields early
on, you can conduct the process of elimination
with some experience under your belt. Many
people do not figure out who they are until
college — you shouldn’t have to predict what
future you will enjoy without experiencing
it first.
I understand; I’m not helping. But I have
observed and questioned this phenomenon of
treating the undecided like pariahs. Though
I have come to terms with the awesome
expedition that is being undecided, I have
looked into a few tips that might help those
with less confidence come to terms with what
they are.
Explore different kinds of classes (spending
all of your time in the Chemistry building isn’t
healthy). Try out the Career Center (it probably
exists for a good reason). Talk to people, but
do not feel compelled to listen. Just because
a friend says that professor was a hippie (and
makes it sound like that is a bad thing) or that
writers cannot find jobs or your mother is afraid
that if you go to Africa you will get Ebola, that
does not mean you are obliged to listen.
There is one thing everyone should be able
to agree on about us undecided — we are brave.
Payton Luokkala is an LSA freshman.
The perks of being undecided
PAYTON LUOKKALA | VIEWPOINT
A necessary reality
Funding issues necessitate increase in rate of out-of-state students
WILLIE
FILKOWSKI
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, 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
When you’re a part of the Michi-
gan community, you’re part of a
team. Like any team, we care for
and listen to our peers’ thoughts and
concerns. We inspire and motivate
those around us, and they recipro-
cate this encouragement. We always
have each other’s backs. But most
of all, we always collectively strive
to find new and innovative ways to
improve our campus.
Central Student Government was
created to serve as the platform for
students to voice concerns, com-
plaints and ideas about how to better
the Michigan experience. However,
year after year, communities on
campus feel that their voices are not
being heard, and most have turned to
other means to develop their ideas.
The Team was created to change
this. CSG should embrace every voice
and perspective on campus and pro-
vide the resources they need to turn
their ideas into realities.
The Team draws its strength
from our diverse group of student
leaders who each represent differ-
ent communities and are passion-
ate about particular campus issues.
Our main objective is to give all of
these communities and individu-
als a chance to discuss these issues
with one another and to unify these
viewpoints into a single vision for
our campus community.
The Team is running LSA junior
Will Royster for President and LSA
sophomore Matt Fidel for Vice
President of the University’s Cen-
tral Student Government. Will and
Matt exemplify what it means to
be a student leader on this campus
and share our emphasis on inclu-
sivity and collaboration. They are
both leaders that don’t pretend to
have all of the answers. Rather,
they know their strengths as lead-
ers and leverage those to work on
the issues they are individually pas-
sionate about. When they do deal
with issues on campus that they
have less experience with, they seek
the guidance and advice of other
equally enthusiastic student leaders
who have fervently advocated for
those issues throughout their col-
lege careers. They actively listen to
these individuals and will use CSG’s
broad resources and connections to
empower them to bring their visions
to fruition. Will and Matt assist in
uplifting student voices, recognizing
that in their place of power they can
be the agents to facilitate communica-
tion and change between the students
and administrators.
The Team will prioritize our cam-
pus, our community, our commit-
ment in order to make it your CSG.
Our Campus: There are many
different tangible issues CSG can
work on to improve the day-to-day
experience for students on this
campus. Athletics and its traditions
unify the student body, and we are
dedicated to working with the new
Athletic Director to expand the
Maize Rage and to further promote
non-revenue generating sports. As
part of a team, we must support all
of our student-athletes. Moreover,
many students who are not part of
a specific sub-school do not have
access to many career services. At
a University with one of the world’s
largest alumni networks, we want
to work with the Career Center to
create an all-inclusive alumni men-
torship program. This program will
match students with alumni based
on their interest area, major and
gender. They can assist in navigat-
ing campus life as well as the post-
graduation job market and beyond.
Our Community: CSG has the
potential to drive meaningful social
change on campus. Will is cur-
rently working with the Black Stu-
dent Union to start a new initiative
called the Michigan Institute for the
Improvement of African American
Representation. MIIAAR is work-
ing to bring 30 to 40 ninth and tenth
grade African American students
to Michigan and assist in the pro-
gram, increasing and understanding
more about minority enrollment.
The Team will expand this pro-
gram to more high-school students
from underrepresented communi-
ties and help facilitate their transi-
tion to Michigan. In addition, The
Team will immediately ally with
other organizations to tackle sexual
assault on our campus. Currently,
faculty members at the University
do not have to participate in any
formal sexual assault prevention
training. We want to work with the
administration to ensure that every
faculty member at the University
is receiving comprehensive sexual
assault prevention training as well
as empower ongoing initiatives to
prevent sexual assault.
Our Commitment: The Team is
dedicated to ensuring every student
voice is heard. In order to achieve
this objective, we will start a new
CSG text-message hotline. If you
have any complaints or just want
to voice your opinion, you will be
able to text a number and receive
a response directly from Will,
Matt or a member of the CSG staff
addressing your concerns. Fur-
thermore, we will revamp the cur-
rent UPetition system, allowing for
further explanation and comments
for students to express the reasons
for signing the petition. In addi-
tion, after a certain number of sig-
natures, we will mandate that Will
and Matt provide a response to the
petition. An evolving dialogue will
help us adjust our priorities based
on the campus climate.
Each of these separate pillars con-
tributes to our singular vision for
CSG: making your CSG an effective,
collaborative and inclusive organi-
zation. Our name speaks to the idea
that CSG works best when we are
supporting and empowering one
another.
***
If you want to get involved with
The Team in any capacity please
check out our mass meeting on Feb.
23 at 9 p.m. in Weill Hall Room
1110. Our application is linked to
our online article. Check us out on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.
com/JoinTheTeamMichigan or on
Twitter @vote_TheTeam.
Laurel Ruza is a Public Policy senior
and Vice Speaker of the CSG Assembly.
Bardia Vaseghi is an LSA senior and an
LSA representative for CSG. Ruza and
LAUREL RUZA AND BARDIA VASEGHI | VIEWPOINT
The Team
— Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an interview with MSNBC,
discussing laws being passed in conservative state legislatures surrounding the issue of abortion.
“
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
All the restrictions, they operate against the
woman who doesn’t have freedom to move,
to go where she is able to get safely what
she wants.”