Tonya Allen, president and CEO 
of the Skillman Foundation, 
John Rakolta Jr., CEO of Wal-
bridge and Sandy Baruah, presi-
dent and CEO of the Detroit 
Regional Chamber composed 
the panel “The Choice is Ours: 
Road to Fixing Detroit’s Strug-
gling Schools Begins in Detroit.” 
This panel discussed poten-
tial solutions to educational 
challenges in Michigan. On 
Wednesday May 27, this discus-
sion kicked off the first full day 
of the Mackinac Policy Confer-
ence on Mackinac Island. The 
panelists spoke bluntly and pas-
sionately about the current state 
of Detroit schools and Michigan 
schools as they outlined the rec-
ommendations that their group, 
the Coalition for the Future of 
Detroit 
Schoolchildren, 
pro-

posed for remedying Detroit’s 
educational 
problems.

At 
times, 

panelist Rakol-
ta’s voice shook 
with 
anger 

as 
he 
spoke 

about the lack 
of educational 
attainment 
in 
Detroit, 

declaring 
the 

situation to be 
a crisis.

“How much more proof do we 

need that we are failing our chil-
dren?” asked Rakolta.

The frankness of the panel 

came as a surprise and chal-
lenged my preconceived notions 
of the conference. It’s hard, after 
all, to take a policy conference 
seriously as a legitimate source 
of discussion, debate and prog-
ress when it feels so much like 
an elitist schmoozefest. Times 
between events and meals seem 
to be reserved for making con-
nections with other successful, 
wealthy people who can afford 
to spend the week on Macki-

nac Island. The hefty price tag 
(onsite prices for registration 
at the conference are $2,150 for 
Chamber members and $2,925 
for future members), means that 
there’s undoubtedly a lack of 
socioeconomic diversity repre-
sented at the conference. A quick 
scan of the guest list shows an 
abundance of politicians, law-
yers, businessmen and journal-
ists — other fields are clearly 
underrepresented. Furthermore, 
a multitude of corporate spon-
sors and thus intertwined politi-
cal and corporate agendas, made 
me question how deep these 
discussions and speeches would 
be allowed to go. How effective 
can a policy conference be when 
it only has certain perspectives 
and is limited in depth?

Yet, at the panel on educa-

tional issues in Michigan and 

Detroit, the 
panelists 
spoke genu-
inely, if not 
paternal-
istically, 
for 
strug-

gling people 
in 
Detroit 

and 
across 

Michigan. 
Rakol-
ta 
spoke 

frankly about his anger at leg-
islators in Lansing for failing to 
fund education for our children 
properly and then failing to take 
responsibility. The moderator, 
Mary Kramer, even encouraged 
attendees to look for the legisla-
tors at the conference and talk to 
them about the issue.

This goes to show the power of 

the conference to enact change 
by informing and educating citi-
zens about important issues and 
putting them in an environment 
where they can easily access 
their legislators and voice their 
concerns. Despite the fact that 
the panel was led by CEOs, I 

found its members spoke about 
these issues after having spent 
ample time discussing them 
with people directly affected by 
them. Furthermore, they didn’t 
shy away from controversial dis-
cussions, and they encouraged 
action from their audience. If the 
rest of the conference continues 
in this direction, it can be a pow-
erful force for change.

However, 
the 
conference 

is still cost-inhibitive. It can 
encourage dialogue and civic 
action, but only amongst those 
who can afford to attend. It con-
nects citizens with legislators 
but only those privileged enough 
to be able to shell out over two 
grand to simply attend the con-
ference. It can talk seriously and 
genuinely about problems facing 
certain communities and groups 
but without really including 
their voices in the discussion.

When asked by the Daily 

how he thought the conference 
was going, Sen. Gary Peters 
(D–Mich.) 
said, 
“We 
come 

together, share ideas and it’s 
very productive.”

Which it is. The conference 

might be elitist, but it’s pro-
ductive. The event is going to 
tackle major issues in the next 
few days, such as diversity and 
equity. These are important 
topics to discuss and having 
these discussions can bring 
about real, positive change. If 
the panel on education set the 
tone for the rest of the confer-
ence, it will be an informational 
and powerful week of policy 
discussions. However, it would 
be an altogether more produc-
tive, democratic, informative 
and change-inducing confer-
ence if there were more people 
of different backgrounds com-
ing together and more ideas 
being shared.

Mary Kate Winn is the 

Senior Editorial Page Editor.

5

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com OPINION

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION

Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. 
Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should 
be 550-850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University 

affiliation to melikaye@umich.edu.

aren’t too cool for helmets. I won-
der if they ever were.

About half of the time the dock 

is unusable because it’s already 
occupied by the rowing team. 
They are also adorned in less 
than — perhaps the word is com-
fortable — apparel. I roll the toes 
of my bare feet. We are trekking 
across the grass now to the wood-
en bench just behind the rower’s 
dock. I step on a rock, and the pain 
feels right.

Here, I have front row seats to 

the object of 
my desire: the 
Huron 
River. 

I 
feel 
every 

ripple pull at 
the strings of 
my heart. The 
light from the 
sun bounces off 
of its surface 
and spins into 
my eyes, like 
a ping-pong serve from your best 
friend. It would be offensive to 
wear sunglasses in front of a beam 
like this.

I pull out the notebook I bought 

from Walgreens for $1.50. I have 
a brief moment of contemplation 
over whether or not I should feel 
guilty for shopping there. I’m not 
sure what kind of behavior I’m 
above. I move on. The thought 
feels like a loose end.

I want to become a better writ-

er. I’m not really sure how one 
does so, but I assume that if I keep 
trying new exercises and tech-
niques then something will hap-
pen sooner or later.

Today I start a list. At the top I 

write, “100 ways to describe the 
Huron River.”

The first five are: 1) It’s like 

when you’re at the Big House, and 
they put a giant American flag over 
an entire section. Thousands of 
people push their hands and fin-

gers up against the bottom of it. 
These are those ripples. 2) It flows 
like the treadmill at your parent’s 
house that your dad’s trying to get 
in shape on. 3) It — like anyone else 
— has obstacles: rocks, branches 
and rapids. 4) In the beginning God 
made the Huron, and it was good. 
5) At the bottom of the Huron is 
the Devil’s treasure. Let’s stay here 
and float — me and you.

It can be discouraging when 

your descriptions always turn into 
bad, semi-romantic song lyrics. I 

figure I’ve got 
to write it out 
of me: let it 
flow like the 
Huron.

We 
do 

timed 
free 

writes. 
That 

is, 
ask 
a 

stranger for a 
random word, 
throw 
the 

timer on somebody’s iPhone for 
however many minutes you want 
to go — be it five, seven or 10 min-
utes — and then write continu-
ously for the duration. It makes 
you write. So often it’s easy to 
pretend you’re working on a col-
umn in your head. Put it down 
on paper. Read it out loud to your 
friends. Know yourself.

The most recent free write 

we did was based on the word 
“grumpy.” A very close friend of 
mine wrote how she was lying in 
bed this morning feeling irritable, 
feeling grumpy. That is, until she 
received a text from us asking 
if she felt like hanging out at the 
Huron. Five hours later it was 
another perfect Ann Arbor day.

It’s summertime in A2. Where’s 

your hangout spot? What are you 
up to?

— Elijah Sparkman can be 

reached at esspa@umich.edu.

MARY KATE WINN | VIEWPOINT
A schmoozefest for change

E-mail RachEl at Rdawson@umich.Edu
RACHEL DAWSON

“How much more 

proof do we need that 

we are failing our 

children?”

It can be discouraging 

when your 

descriptions always 
turn into bad, semi-
romantic song lyrics.

