substance as opposed to the more
personality contrast between the
different candidates,” he said.
Public
Policy
senior
Max
Lerner, chair of the University’s
chapter of College Democrats, said
the Democratic debate was more
productive compared with the
Republican debate because of the
smaller number of people on stage.
“I think not having a clown show
of 10 or 11 different candidates
actually allows us to dive deeper
into the issues, and I think we’re
going to have a stronger nominee
because of it,” he said.
Public
Policy
senior
Cody
Giddings, chair of the College
Republicans, wrote in an e-mail
interview
that
the
smaller
Democratic field allowed the
moderator to address a more
diverse array of topics compared
to the previous two Republican
debates, but felt foreign policy
should
have
received
more
attention.
“The debate was somewhat
interesting to watch and covered
a few important issues,” he said.
“I look forward to seeing the rest
of the debates throughout the
campaign season and I hope that
republicans and democrats can
come together to address some the
very hard issues we will all face
moving forward.”
College tuition
Sanders
and
Clinton
both
stressed the importance of an
affordable college degree, but
they disagreed on how much of a
student’s tuition should be funded
through taxes.
Sanders said a college degree
today is equivalent to what a high
school degree was 50 years ago,
and therefore should be available
for every student regardless of his
or her family’s income.
“What we said 50 years ago and
100 years ago is that every kid in
this country should be able to get
a high school education regardless
of their income,” Sanders said. “I
think we have to say that is true for
everybody going to college.”
Students
applauded
when
Sanders added that taxes on “Wall
Street speculation” — or risky
financial transactions — would
fund those degrees.
Clinton supports tuition-free
public colleges. However, her plan
would require students with aid
to work at least 10 hours a week
to help fund their education.
Clinton’s plan would also allow all
students with debt to refinance in
order to lower interest rates.
“My
plan
would
enable
anyone to go to a public college or
university tuition-free,” she said.
Kall said the discussion on
college affordability failed to
elaborate on funding mechanisms
and the feasibility of the proposed
education policy reforms and said
he expected more discussion about
the likelihood of such a bill passing
through a Republican-controlled
Congress.
“I thought there would be
some
more
discussion
about
the affordability of it,” Kall said.
“Exactly how it’s going to be paid
for, if there are going to be other
programs that were cut to pay for it.”
Last
July,
the
University’s
Board of Regents increased tuition
by 2.7 percent for in-state students
and 3.7 percent for out-of-state
students. Overall, base tuition for
LSA students has increased 60
percent for in-state students and
55 percent for out-of-state students
from 2005 to 2014.
Rackham
student
Shawn
Danino, an organizer of the
Students for Sanders watch party
held on campus, said Sanders’
positions on higher education have
been more aggressive compared to
other candidates. He said Sanders’
desire to make college free for
all students is a reason for his
strong support from the college
demographic.
“The reason there’s so much
momentum with Bernie across
millennials is largely because of
his stances on student loans and
his stances on debt,” Danino said.
Lerner said positions on higher
education held by Democratic
candidates were better than those
held by Republican candidates. He
said Republican budget positions
on education do not reflect the
values of students. He pointed
to the House Budget Committee
chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R–
Wis.), whose 2016 fiscal budget
would cut funding for education
by $145 billion over 10 years.
“Democrats
are
really
the
only party out there fighting for
students on the issue of education,”
Lerner said. “I think regardless of
who the nominee is, we’re going
to have a party that represents the
interests of students.”
Giddings,
the
College
Republicans
chair,
said
he
disagreed with the candidates’
plans
to
increase
college
affordability.
“I think Bernie Sanders’ goal of
providing a college level education
to every American that wants
one is noble, but in my mind
his proposals to simply make
college tuition free are rooted in
a fundamental misunderstanding
of basic economic principles,” he
said. “Contrary to what was said
for the majority of the democratic
presidential debate, implementing
higher taxes is not the answer to
every problem America faces and
rising college tuition costs is no
exception.”
Undocumented students
The
candidates
were
also
asked about their positions on
allowing universities to grant
in-state tuition for undocumented
immigrant students, a measure
which the University’s Board of
Regents passed in 2013.
Martin
O’Malley
took
the
strongest stance in favor of
undocumented students gaining
in-state tuition.
“The more children learn, the
more they earn,” O’Malley said.
Though Clinton agreed with
O’Malley, she said states should
drive those policies.
LSA
sophomore
Nicholas
Kolenda, president of Students
for Sanders, said he supports the
Democratic candidates’ positions
on granted the same tuition fees
to undocumented students as
citizens.
“I do completely agree with
Sanders and O’Malley on the
position that if they are working
to become naturalized citizens,
then, yes, they should receive free
education,” Kolenda said.
Gun control
The candidates also touched
on gun control when asked about
the recent shooting at Umpqua
Community College in Oregon,
which left nine people dead.
Ann Arbor open carry advocate
Joshua Wade is currently suing the
University for violating Michigan’s
open carry law when it denied
his right to carry his firearm
on campus. Because Michigan
allows people with concealed
carry permits to carry guns in
public areas, such as schools and
churches, Wade and his lawyer say
the University should allow him
the right to carry his weapon.
Debate moderator Anderson
Cooper asked Sanders about his
voting history on gun control,
pointing out that he opposed the
Brady Bill, which established
background checks on firearms.
Sanders said he voted the way he
did because Vermont is a rural
state where guns are used for
recreation.
LSA
senior
Stephen
Culbertson,
communications
chair of College Democrats,
said he believes gun control
is an important issue and one
that
Democrats
offer
better
legislation on than the majority
of Republicans.
“Republicans shied away from
gun control policies because
most of the candidates, if not all
of them, on that stage are very at
odds with what the vast majority
of voters in America believe
about gun control,” Culbertson
said.
Giddings said he doesn’t think
proposals raised by Democratic
candidates would prove effective
or legal.
“Gun control is a very salient
and complex issue,” he said.
“Although we need to do more to
ensure that background checks,
gun
registries,
and
mental
health care prevent the types of
gun-related violence that have
become much too commonplace
in America, the simple blanket
bans proposed in tonight’s debate
are not only unconstitutional
but ineffective at addressing the
roots of the problem.”
and exclusion are challenges that
affect Greek life on campus and
nationwide, working with the new
members of Greek life can help
curb these issues in the future.
“The reason behind working
with new members was they had
just joined and we saw this as an
opportunity in this challenging
time for Greek life to work with
the new face of Greek life, this
next generation, and send them
into their experience with this
knowledge so that they would be
able to gradually influence their
chapters,” Espinosa said.
SAPAC representatives gave
the longest and most intensive
presentation.
LSA senior Alison Bowman, a
SAPAC student volunteer, helped
lead the presentation. SAPAC
outlined definitions of sexual
misconduct and assault, defined
explicit consent and introduced
them to the concept of bystander
intervention.
Bowman said SAPAC showed
members the statistics of the
University’s
campus
climate
survey on sexual assault released
in June which found sexual assault
was 2.5 times more likely to impact
Greek life members than other
community
members.
SAPAC
also noted how verbal pressure
and intoxication were the biggest
factors leading to sexual assault,
according to the survey.
“We really wanted to make
sure that the incoming IFC
members were aware that sexual
misconduct is a pervasive issue
on our campus and to empower
them to help prevent it,” she
said. “We acknowledged that as
incoming members to IFC, they
are in a special position to take a
stand against sexual misconduct
that is occurring within their
community, as well as our campus
as a whole, and to continue to
drive its prevalence down moving
forward.”
LSA
senior
Scott
Gillespie
co-facilitated the dialogue on
sexual misconduct. He said while
speaking to these new pledges
on the importance of consent, he
tried to break the stereotypes of
masculinity and sexual drive.
He said stepping into a harmful
situation does not make a brother
“less of a man,” and instead had
the pledges list different values of
being a man, which do not include
sex drive or the ability to drink.
“Myself
and
the
other
co-facilitator
gave
no
input,
whatever they thought being a man
was, we listed those on the board,”
Gillespie said. “(It was about)
taking those values that they
described to us and what it means
to be a man and implementing
those into how would you deal
with these situations as a man.”
CSG Vice President Steven
Halperin, an LSA junior, also
helped
facilitate
the
SAPAC
discussion, and used anecdotes to
convey the importance of pledges
stepping in to prevent sexual
assault.
“It is your responsibility as a
man to take care of the people
around you, and that is what we
were trying to explain to these
guys,” Halperin said.
The pledges were given a brief
presentation on alcohol abuse
in fraternities, which debunked
stereotypes of “party culture”
within Greek life. Joy Pehlke,
health educator at Wolverine
Wellness at UHS, said many
new fraternity members come
into Greek life with the idea that
party culture is solely about binge
drinking. In her presentation, she
stressed that these students can
be in a safe environment and still
have fun.
Lastly, pledges learned about
cultural
appropriation
and
respecting
different
identities
through a discussion led by LSA
senior Kidada Malloy, a program
assistant with the Expect Respect
campaign.
With
Halloween
coming up, she focused on treating
different identities and racial
groups with respect to make for an
inclusive environment.
Comparing
this
educational
presentation
to
University
President
Mark
Schlissel’s
community
meeting
earlier
in
September,
Halperin
said
Sunday’s program was much
more successful. Though both
were mandatory, Halperin said,
he found students on Sunday
much more responsive because
they were able to give their own
input and not be talked down to by
administrators.
“I feel like this is a step in the
right direction; everyone is coming
in to help, not to judge, not to talk
down to,” Halperin said. “Greek
life obviously has its issues and we
are trying very hard to revamp it
to make a culture of accountability
and responsibility.”
Gillespie said the small group
discussions made it easy to single
out students who were not paying
attention or being disrespectful,
unlike the large assembly in
September. Gillespie said he paid
particular attention to making
sure each student was attentive to
the discussion because it is every
single student’s responsibility to
prevent harmful situations from
occurring.
“It’s the people who are sitting
by in corner not doing anything
that’s really important and why
these meetings are being held,”
Gillespie said. “It is the same way
that sexual assault does happen:
by being passive, by not doing
anything about it.”
Halperin
admitted
that
SAPAC leaders who previously
did
not
believe
fraternity
members
could
change
their potentially destructive
behavior told him they “had
hope” after listening in to the
meeting.
Halperin
said
though
there are certainly problems
associated with Greek life, he
believes change will happen
soon on campus within the
community.
“We need to bring Greek life
to the forefront of these issues,
because that’s where most of
these issues are from,” Halperin
said. “If we do that successfully
this year, I think we can have a
special campus.”
GREEK LIFE
From Page 1A
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 — 3A
University centers
support struggling
democracies
For the first time, The Weiser
Center for Europe and Eurasia
and
the
William
Davidson
Institute are co-sponsoring an
NGO Leadership Bootcamp, a
program dedicated to making
organizations more sustainable
for the leaders of 20 non-
governmental
organizations
from
countries
that
have
recently undergone transitions to
democracy.
The program is scheduled
to take place October 20-23 in
Bratislava, Slovakia. The Pontis
Foundation,
a
Slovak-based
NGO, is collaborating with the
University in the planning of the
event.
In a press release, Amy Gillett,
vice president of education at the
William Davidson Institute, said
the WDI’s partnership with the
Weiser Center is natural. The
Weiser Center is dedicated to the
enhancement of knowledge and
engagement with European and
Eurasian history, institutions and
culture.
New technology to
aid Solar Car Team
in Australia race
The University’s Solar Car
Team is set to compete this
weekend in an 18,000-mile
race through the Australian
Outback. Their
vehicle, Aurum, is a one-seater
completely designed by the
student team.
This year marks the the 25th
anniversary of the University’s
Solar Car Team and the first
year the team will use unique
solar
energy
forecasting
technology,
courtesy
of
a
partnership between Michigan
Solar Car and IBM Research.
The new technology is expected
to improve weather predictions
and give team members a better
idea of how much energy they
can expect to receive from the
sun.
NEWS BRIEFS
about criminal system injustices.
“Inequality is a huge driver of
all of the things that contribute
to people being in prison and the
American criminal justice system
is ironically sort of a crucible of
American
inequality,”
Kerman
said. “We have this expectation that
everyone will be treated equally in
the court of law, but we know that —
particularly when we expand that
into the criminal justice system as a
whole not just the courts — you see
quite the opposite.”
Women have been the fastest
growing
demographic
in
the
criminal justice system, Kerman
said, and 200,000 are currently
imprisoned, of which two-thirds
are incarcerated for nonviolent
crimes.
Kerman
credits
the
Netflix series for fostering greater
conversation about those women.
“Anything that reminds us
that all these people we’ve chosen
to lock away are, in fact, people
and not felons and convicts and
all these other labeling terms,”
she said. “We’re much less likely
to allow folks to continue to be
dehumanized in the system. I’m
very glad that there’s much more
attention
on
criminal
justice
reform. I think that’s a long time
coming.”
The United States has the
highest prison population in the
world. For every 100,000 people,
724 are incarcerated, BBC News
reported.
“I’ve
never
met
a
single
American who is proud that we
have the biggest prison population
in human history, that we lock
up more citizens than society has
ever done,” Kerman said. “I think
definitely that there’s an increasing
consensus that that’s not we want
to be.”
Kerman
discussed
three
main points for reform: jail and
court reform, reducing youths in
juvenile prison and common sense
sentencing.
“One of the things we have
a lot of work to do on still is the
sense that harsh punishment is
something that works well for us
as a culture,” she said. “A huge
percentage of those people are
mentally ill and the idea that we
can confront problems in our
society like substance abuse and
addiction and mental illness with
harsh punishment … is really
questionable.”
Kerman said society’s reliance
on prisons to root out violent crime
is not an adequate solution to
stifling those types of crimes from
being committed.
“The idea that we rely on
prisons, which tend to be very
violent places, to fix that is just
very dubious,” she said. “But, that’s
a more substantive and cultural
discussion above and beyond the
tinkering with policy.”
Kerman, who teaches writing
class at two different prisons
in Ohio, noted the privilege
University students have because
of their access to libraries, art and
public health centers.
“When we see communities that
have those kinds of institutions
… those communities tend to
be vibrant and they are often
prosperous,” she said. “And guess
what? They also tend to be safe.
When we see communities that
lack those things and quite frankly
have been deprived of those
institutions, that’s where we see
incredible over-reliance on prisons
and on jails. So that’s something for
you all to think about as you enjoy
this amazing institution is to make
sure that everybody gets access to
a place like this who needs it.”
Rackham
student
Riya
Seybrook said she was interested
in Kerman’s emphasis on how race
and class affects an individual’s
likelihood of incarceration.
“She is a middle-class white
women, so I think it would have
been really easy for her to come
in and not talk about that at all so
I was really pleasantly surprised,”
Seybrook said.
Eastern Michigan University
student Elaine Barker said she was
surprised by the number of women
currently incarcerated and those
who are on parole.
“That’s such a large number
of women that are in prison, like
why is the number going up?”
Barker said. “Why is the number
rising? I think that’s something
that stood out to me the most. And
the fact that half the women in jail
are mothers, that’s something else
that’s super horrible.”
OITNB
From Page 1A
DEBATE
From Page 1A
they’re in college with us.”
Manneh said higher education is
a path for undocumented students
to become full-fledged citizens.
“This is about the fact that we
have a certain number of students
on our campus and because of the
ways laws are set up, they have
certain barriers to become full
citizens,” Manneh said. “One of
these barriers is higher education.”
Additional questions were raised
about how the University would
fund a sanctuary student center and
whether the proposals have been
discussed with Schlissel and the
University’s Board of Regents.
Dining hall pilot program funded
CSG also passed a resolution
to fund the dining hall game
day pilot program. The program
aims to open dining halls early
in an effort to curb the impacts
of risky drinking behavior on
game days. CSG voted to allocate
$10,000 from the Legislative
Discretionary fund and $5,000
from the Executive Discretionary
fund for the program.
CSG treasurer Kevin Ziegler,
an
LSA
senior,
drafted
the
proposal.
Ziegler said CSG hopes to assist
Michigan Dining with covering
the cost of food consumed by
students during the early hours
and the cost of labor for opening
the dining halls early.
Ziegler said Dining director
Steve Mangan said in a meeting
that
the
dining
halls
are
supportive of the program.
“They want to help out in any
way and serve the students,”
Ziegler said. “That’s what they’re
here for, to help the University in
any capacity possible.”
Costs for early dining vary
between game days depending
the kick off time. Noon game days
cost more than 3:30 p.m. games
because they require dining halls
to open even earlier.
CSG
From Page 2A