I

’m sure that many of you have read the 
recent column published in The Michi-
gan Daily titled, “Relative wealth.”

If you’ve read my previ-

ous columns, then you prob-
ably know how deeply I care 
about socioeconomic issues.

You might think I read 

the article and came away 
shocked and horrified by 
what was described as 
middle class. To an extent, I 
was. However, my eyes also 
glazed over the words.

The author clarifies that 

she’s “privileged” in a way 
that she can afford more 
than necessities; however, the way in which 
she describes her finances makes me feel 
like she believes she doesn’t benefit from 
the privilege of a high-SES status — much 
like many people do on this campus. When I 
read someone arguing they’re middle class 
because their $2 million house only has three 
bedrooms and two baths, I can’t help but feel 
frustrated. It’s the same type of complaint 
that I hear all the time on campus. Someone 
complains because they can’t afford another 
Ralph Lauren Polo, or they’re angry that their 
parents won’t pay for them to go on spring 
break this year.

Typically, I would overlook these com-

ments, but they’re problematic because they 
overshadow real financial problems experi-
enced by people on this campus. Real financial 
problems are not being able to pay your rent.

They’re canceling dinner plans because you 

don’t have the money in your bank account. 

They’re the twinge in your gut when your 
friends talk about past vacations because you 
know that your family could never afford one. 
Upper-class financial “problems,” perpetu-
ated by not just the author but many others 
on this campus as well create a climate where 
people with genuine financial difficulties 
hide their struggle. Who wants to blow away 
their friend group with their tale of poverty? 
I know I don’t.

According to the Office of Registrar, 

in 2011, 63 percent of incoming freshmen 
reported coming from families earning over 
$100,000, yet the median family income in 
the United States is slightly over $50,000. 
Earning over $100,000 constitutes a person 
as upper-middle class, so this is indicative of 
the fact that a majority of students on campus 
come from upper-middle class families.

Though this climate makes low-SES stories 

difficult to tell, this only makes them more 
important. Within these narratives lie stories 
of strife, heart, overcoming and oppression 
that deserve a platform. They create a way for 
people to empathize with genuine financial 
issues, and this empathy is the start to social 
change that this campus so obviously needs.

So, no matter how much I hate it, it’s time 

for my story, and then it’s time for yours.

Until college, I lived with a single parent 

and another relative. Both worked low-income 
restaurant jobs, and one ended up with medical 
conditions that left her unable to work. This 
equated to serious financial issues. I never 
owned a real winter coat until college. I looked 
up in the shower every day to see plastic 
covering the roof of our bathroom. I remember 
the day our auto company foreclosed on our car.

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
4 — Friday, February 20, 2015

Using “Relative wealth” as a 
launching point for change

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Payton Luokkala, 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

PAYTON LUOKKALA | VIEWPOINT

A poet factory

It is well known that Ann Arbor is 

popular for our world-renowned Uni-
versity, sports teams and traditions, 
our first-class medical facilities, an 
abundance of great restaurants, lib-
eral politics and our art. Is everyone 
fully aware of the ART? It is a rather 
ambiguous term, but what my focus 
is and what I have come to know Ann 
Arbor for is the poetry.

The city is basically a poet-grow-

ing factory. Although American clas-
sics like Robert Frost lived in Ann 
Arbor for only a short time, we share 
so many writers with the Detroit 
area, and we have so many others 
who visit our city. I am speaking of 
the poets that are growing here now 
— from seeds, the very beginning.

It is all relative to when you start, 

of course, so I consider myself a seed. 
I am 18 years old. There are so many 
events that are always happening, 
through the University and outside 
of it, to help develop young poets.

The University’s Zell Visiting 

Writers Series, in partnership with 
UMMA, hosts free events, inviting 
speakers (poets and other writers 
too) to both read and have Q&A 
sessions, allowing young writers-
to-be to pick the brains of those 
more experienced.

Beyond the teachers in the Eng-

lish department — who are great 

— there is the Lloyd Hall Scholars 
Program, a Michigan Learning 
Community focusing on writing 
and the arts, where the teachers are 
awesome in their own right. They 
help us learn not only in the class-
room, but in the world that is the 
Ann Arbor poetry scene. (Note to 
others and myself: Write details of 
the events down, because as much 
as I would like to hope, we will 
not remember them, and these are 
events you do not want to miss!)

Educators are a great way of 

tying together what is happening 
within the University and what’s 
occurring outside of it, because 
although we may like to think we 
are aware of both, we often don’t 
attend these events as much as 
we could.

Local bookstores frequently par-

ticipate in shaping young poets. Lite-
rati Bookstore often has writers read 
their work. (I know this may sound 
like a lot of listening, but there is so 
much to be learned from listening 
alone.) To see how your poems play 
against an audience, Crazy Wisdom 
Bookstore and Tea Room on Main 
Street hosts a poetry open mic every 
second and fourth Wednesday of 
the month from 7-9 p.m. Sweetwa-
ters Coffee & Tea on Washington 
presents the Skazat Poetry Series on 

the third Tuesday of each month, 
which includes an open mic to start 
the night, and ends with a featured 
regional reader (so it’s the best of 
both worlds).

An event that I have attended 

repeatedly is the Ann Arbor Poetry 
Slam (which happens at 8 p.m. every 
Sunday at Silvio’s Organic Pizza). 
There is a suggested $5 donation, but 
they are extremely understanding of 
us poor college kids, and I just give 
whatever change I have in my pock-
et at the time. The night starts with 
an open mic for those who want to 
share, but not compete. The compe-
tition, the main event, is next. Each 
time I have been there, it has consist-
ed of six or seven people performing. 
Some are more practiced than the 
others, some clearly beginners. It is 
apparent that it is a learning experi-
ence (I have not tried it yet, because I 
am a chicken), but it is also just plain 
fun: great pizza, snapping, clapping 
and appreciation fill the air.

Although you might learn tech-

nique or emotion elsewhere, an 
event like this one is where a poet 
learns to be confident. So come on 
down — maybe by then I will have 
convinced myself to participate.

Payton Luokkala is 

an LSA freshman.

MICHAEL 
SCHRAMM

F

rom 2007-2011, I was kind of 
a vegetarian. What I mean 
is that I wanted to be a full-

on 
vegetarian, 

but since I was a 
middle-schooler 
who 
couldn’t 

make these sort 
of 
life-changing 

decisions without 
consulting 
her 

parents (and if I’m 
being completely 
honest, because I 
had a deep passion 
for my omnivo-
rous lifestyle), I just didn’t eat red 
meat. My decision to become a non-
red meat eater was based on the fact 
that I thought animals were cute 
and the thought of eating dead pigs, 
cows, etc. — regardless of how deli-
cious they are — filled my 11-year-
old heart with terror.

I’m not sure what shocked my 

parents more: the fact that I even 
wanted to give up my diet of ribs 
and burgers and brisket (let me 
reiterate, I loved eating meat), or 
the fact that I kept up my red meat-
free diet for four years. What sur-
prised me the most was that once 
I got accustomed to this pattern, it 
was very easy to keep up. And even 
though I started eating red meat 

again in the summer of 2011, I defi-
nitely do not eat as much red meat 
as I did before 2007. The reason I 
started eating red meat again was 
not because I gave into temptation 
— honestly the burger I ate at camp 
was probably one of the worst burg-
ers I’ve ever had (and it wasn’t even 
a cheeseburger… the Jewish camp 
struggle). I ate that subpar burger 
because the image of a dead baby 
animal was no longer as graphic for 
me. My initial reason for taking up 
pseudo-vegetarianism felt far away 
and disconnected from my life as 
well as from the overcooked burg-
ers that all my friends were eating.

And yet, in the last couple weeks 

I’ve started thinking about veg-
etarianism again. And this time 
it’s about more than just some cute 
animals. After reading “The Omni-
vore’s Dilemma: A Natural History 
of Four Meals” by Michael Pollan 
and “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food 
Giants Hooked Us” by Michael 
Moss, I learned that eating meat is 
doing more damage than just kill-
ing innocent animals (although 
this is a convincing argument on its 
own). While a double bacon cheese-
burger sounds wholesome and deli-
cious, in reality, the system that 
produces this delicacy goes against 
the natural food system, releases 

huge amounts of carbon dioxide 
and other emissions into our atmo-
sphere and destroys the ecosystems 
where grazing animals like cows 
are mass-produced and slaugh-
tered. If all that isn’t enough, this 
type of eating is killing us as well: 
clogging our arteries, causing dia-
betes and numerous other health 
problems that come from lack of 
regulation and sanitation. Okay, 
I’m done with my tirade for now, 
but if you’re interested in learning 
more about this broken system, I 
thoroughly recommend the afore-
mentioned books, which are full of 
information that is simultaneously 
interesting and horrifying.

Having said all that, I would be 

lying if I said I have taken up veg-
etarianism again — I’m still in the 
early stages of contemplating this 
life change and forgetting that I 
want to make this change and eat-
ing a ham-and-cheese sandwich. 
But I think I will do it, because 
while it is horrifying to think that 
eating meat can cause so many envi-
ronmental and health problems, it 
is kind of amazing what a positive 
impact cutting out or just eating less 
meat can have on the world.

 
— Eliana Herman can be reached 

at erherman@umich.edu.

Revisiting vegetarianism

ELIANA 
HERMAN

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My childhood was spent in a 

constant string of financial panic, 
as I hid behind the rail of our 
staircase to hear the next saga of 
financial ruin. My heart raced with 
anxiety that electrified my body 
in horrifying ways. I overthought, 
freaked out, cried. Poverty was the 
scorching-hot glue that held my 
childhood together. And it sucked.

There’s no silver lining in being 

of a lower socioeconomic status. 
It’s not some character-building 
wonder to those struck by it. It’s a 
terrifying roller-coaster ride.

That’s my condensed story, and 

like I said, it’s time for yours.

We 
can’t 
spend 
any 
more 

time bashing “Relative wealth.” 
That’s not an effective use of this 
notoriety. The reality is that many 
high-SES people are more ignorant 
than hateful or judgmental. We 
need to use this energy proactively 
to share the stories that need 

to be shared.

If you are lower SES, I implore 

you speak up the next time these 
conversations surface. If you’re in 
a group setting where this becomes 
a topic, don’t shy away from your 
story because it’s shameful at this 
University. Be bold. If people don’t 
speak up, upper-class perceptions 
of financial strife maintain their 
status as actual problems.

Additionally, 
if 
you 
believe 

your story needs to be shared in a 
setting bigger than a conversational 
context, I would highly encourage 
you to seek out a publication or 
speaking opportunity. From my 
experiences, writing a column has 
been crucial in helping me navigate 
my experiences with low-SES.

Oh, and one more thing. I hope 

— no, expect — that articles like 
this get just as many reads and 
shares as “Relative wealth.” If you 
complained about that article and 

give it more attention than ones like 
this, you are just as problematic as 
you believe the author’s viewpoint 
is. It shows that you’re willing 
to give more time, energy and 
attention to the problem than to 
the solution. It also shows that 
you’re willing to elevate stories of 
privilege over those of raw pain.

I don’t want this conversation to 

end with a hateful flicker into the 
wind. Let’s take this energy and turn 
it into an opportunity to educate 
and change our campus’ culture. 
Read 
Jenny 
Wang’s 
powerful, 

candid, 
poignant 
response 
to 

“Relative wealth.” Listen up for 
what your low-SES friends have to 
say. Challenge yourself. And most 
importantly, don’t allow yourself 
to be part of the problem that 
 

you hate.

 
— Michael Schramm can be 

reached at mschramm@umich.edu.
I

n the past week, the Fall 2015 academic calendar has caused 
uproar within the University’s student body. A petition created 
by LSA freshman Lauren Siegel for her Organizational Studies 

class, Activism, calls for the University to change the exam schedule. 
As it stands, the last day for professors to give exams would be Dec. 
23, and classes are set to begin Jan. 6, allowing only one day for 
students with exams on Dec. 23 to travel home for Christmas Eve, 
and shortening an already short break. As of 12:22 a.m. on Friday, the 
petition has 5,443 signatures. While it is not feasible for the Fall 2015 
calendar to change with such short notice, the late exam schedule 
is expected to recur every time Labor Day falls in the second week 
of September. Therefore, the University must reconsider the fall 
schedule in future years to begin prior to Labor day resulting in 
final exams ending earlier.

According to University spokesman Rick 

Fitzgerald, classes traditionally start after 
Labor Day due to previous faculty and student 
preference. In 2002, students requested the 
fall break, pushing the exam schedule later. 
Both of these factors have led to a later end 
of the semester. This issue arose in 2004 and 
2010, and is expected to arise again in 2020 
as the result of a 2013 action request written 
by University Provost Martha Pollack. The 
request reads, “There are no conflicts with 
religious holidays contained in this calendar.”

However, while exams may not end on 

Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, there are 
conflicts in this calendar. Ending exams 
on the Dec. 23 prevents many students, 
professors and GSIs from making it home in 
time to celebrate the holidays and potentially 
conflicts with religious obligations. The 
late exam dates add stress and difficulties 
for travel plans. December is often a time 
of heavy snowstorms and weather-related 
delays. If airline delays occur, or roads are 
unsafe for travel, members of the University 
community may not be able to get home safely 
and in time for Christmas Eve.

Additionally, faculty are required to 

complete all grades 72 hours after the final 
exam is given. Therefore, if a final is given on 
Dec. 23 and the faculty wants to avoid grading 
on the holiday, there is effectively less than 
24 hours to complete grading. Public Policy 
Prof. Paul Courant, who was Provost of the 
University from 2002 to 2005, agreed, saying, 
“For many of my colleagues it’s really hard. 
Not only is it that they have three days but 
you know one of those days is Christmas Eve 
and one of those days is Christmas and that 
matters to a lot of people.” Put simply, the 
University should be more understanding 
of this concern as it directly conflicts with 
academics and faculty well-being.

Despite the University being a non-

religious 
institution, 
University 
Provost 

Martha Pollack wrote in an action request, 
“…we have made it a practice to make every 
reasonable effort to help students avoid 
negative 
academic 
consequences 
when 

their religious obligations conflict with 
academic requirements.” In this situation, 
this is clearly not the case. Due to strict exam 
policy, students will not receive flexibility 
from their professors to take the exam on a 
different date unless approved by the Final 
Examination Committee. In cases when the 
exam schedule does end as late as Dec. 23, the 
University should relax this exam policy to 
accommodate student travel within two days 
of Christmas Eve.

There are also glaring inconsistencies in 

University scheduling decisions. Pollack’s 
action request for change of the winter term 
proposed that classes end April 18 instead of 
April 20 to avoid overlapping with Passover. 
Therefore, it is questionable as to why the 
University wouldn’t recognize the same 
concern with ending exams close to Christmas.

A change in the academic calendar with 

such short notice would affect programs that 
are already planned, such as new student 
orientation, and therefore should not be 
changed for the coming fall. At Thursday’s 
meeting, the Board of Regents acknowledged 
the options to amending the calendar are 
shortening fall break or starting classes earlier 
in the year. Since fall break gives a much-
needed respite to students and was highly 
demanded in 2002 by the student population, 
it should not be eliminated. Therefore, the 
University should consider starting classes 
a week earlier, before Labor Day. While 
there would certainly be opposition to this 
proposal, it is the best solution to fixing this 
problem. 
Scheduling 
around 
Christmas 

should be of higher priority than beginning 
school after Labor Day.

Change the schedule

University must fix policy to avoid late Fall final exam schedule

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