Public Policy professor Barry
Rabe touched on the unique
contours of the past decade of
Michigan economic history.
“This is a state that has
had good times and bad times
over the past half-century and
beyond,” Rabe said. “What an
interesting decade we have been
through, what an interesting
time the Snyder years have
been in the fiscal condition in
the state of Michigan.”
Khouri
began
his
talk
by calling attention to the
highlights
of
the
current
Michigan
economy.
As
of
January, state unemployment is
at 4.7 percent, down from 14.6
percent during the recession in
2009. Personal income growth
has outpaced the national rate,
and Michigan has successfully
diversified
its
employment
base away from manufacturing
and
into
sectors
such
as
professional
and
business
services. Khouri said now there
are jobs available, the task at
hand is adequately training
employees to be efficient in
those roles.
“It’s the real focus now
of everybody,” Khouri said.
“These jobs are available now,
at least during this part of
the cycle. How do we get the
employees trained and ready to
take the jobs that are available
right now?”
While the state has mostly
recovered to its position prior to
the recession, it is experiencing
a downward shift in its size and
relative wealth compared to the
rest of the nation.
“We’ve had to painfully,
slowly adjust our budget and
our fiscal policy towards this
change in relative deterioration
in the economy,” Khouri said.
Khouri gave an overview
of the tax revenue, with over
85 percent generated from the
property, income and state
taxes. He noted that the tax
burden on Michiganders has
decreased, as Michigan has
only the 30th highest taxes in
the nation.
Before the final part of his
talk in which he mentioned
policy focus areas for the
future,
Khouri
addressed
the
struggles
of
Michigan
local governments, of which
there are 1,800. He said both
rural and urban areas alike
are
encountering
economic
challenges.
“When
we
talk
about
the
fiscal
health
of
local
governments, the answer is
it depends,” Khouri said. “It
really does vary by geography,
by size, by function. It’s not
just urban areas. Some of the
districts that are struggling
the most are in the (Upper
Peninsula).”
Among the issues facing
local
governments,
Khouri
mentioned the lack of diversity
in
their
revenue
sources,
that they rely too heavily
on property taxes. Another
pressing issue is the unfunded
liabilities
of
pensions
and
healthcare.
“I know there’s this question
of justice, of what retirees need
and deserve, that’s not what
I’m talking about, although
it is what I’m talking about,”
Khouri said. “What I’m talking
about is the unfunded liabilities
continue to grow and (the local
government’s) ability to service
that is not growing at the same
pace.”
As Khouri turned toward
the future of the Michigan
economy,
he
showed
predictions
of
economic
expansion, with the treasury’s
general fund and school aid
revenues rising.
He outlined objectives of
sustaining current progress,
avoiding yo-yo fiscal policy and
preparing for next recession.
These objectives necessitate
addressing long-term spending
needs while the economy is
good, reforming the tax system
to match the evolving economy
and improving the fiscal health
of local governments across
Michigan.
He ended his talk with advice
to the public policy students in
the audience.
“You’re the next generation
of policymakers,” Khouri said.
“I think you’ll do fine. Just
focus on the basics. Focus on
the policy, not the politics.
Take a longer-term view of
what’s required and not just a
short-term view.”
LSA sophomore Johnny Luo,
who will be studying public
policy at the Gerald R. Ford
School of Public Policy next
year, said he was motivated
to come to the event for
professional
development,
as well as his coursework in
economic inequality. Luo said
he thought the new generation
of
policymakers
would
bring a fresh perspective to
solving Michigan’s economic
challenges.
“The thing (Khouri) talked
about so many times was that
we need new energy in our
state policies and our state
legislature,” Luo said. “I think
that’s the way — some new idea
or new ideologies.”
After his talk, Khouri fielded
specific questions from a panel
of graduate students enrolled
in a public budgeting course.
The students had collected
submissions from the audience
and via Twitter. When asked
what he most wished the public
understood about his domain,
Khouri said he wished people
understood the trade-offs that
come with policy.
“Like
life,
broad
public
policy issues are always trade-
offs,” Khouri said. “They’re
never black and white. I think,
without really thinking about
it, I wish people understood
that most of these typical
questions are balancing acts
between two goods, and it’s not
good and bad.”
candidates, MomentUM’s A.J.
Ashman and Charlie Bingham,
won 1,927 votes.
Some,
like
outgoing
representative Matt Thomas,
an LSA senior, commended the
representation of communities
in the assembly.
Outogoing
CSG
President
Anushka Sarkar, an LSA senior,
expressed her disappointment
with the significant amount of
voters who wrote in Reggie the
Campus Corgi. 1,403 students
wrote in Reggie, 63 votes shy
of the True Blue candidates,
Business junior Arathi Sabada
and LSA sophomore Marianne
Drysdale.
She
criticized
popular news outlets, such
as the Detroit Free Press and
BuzzFeed, for adding coverage
to Reggie’s “campaign” and
delegitimizing the work of
student candidates.
In order to combat the lack
of
informed
voting
among
students, Sarkar outlined the
importance of the Big Ten
Voting Challengeas a way in
which students can learn the
importance of civic engagement
and understand how voting
processes take place.
“Fostering a commitment to
voting and civic engagement
at a young age is incredibly
important,” Sarkar wrote in
an email interview. “It’s not
because people don’t understand
CSG that people voted for
a dog. It’s not because CSG
doesn’t do anything that people
are
disengaged
with
their
representative body and resort
to memes and throwaway votes.
It’s because of a larger problem
of insufficient education around
civic engagement. It’s because
proving to people that their
representative body truly does
work in their best interests is
an age-old battle with which
governments
have
been
struggling.”
Sarkar
pushed
the
importance
of
INNOVATE,
CSG’s public service pitch
competition, and the Diag
events as avenues through
which CSG can interact with
students on campus and show
the type of work happening
within
CSG,
as
well
as
legitimizing CSG positions to
students unfamiliar with their
efforts.
Though Sarkar supported
the
True
Blue
campaign
during
this
election,
she
voiced her admiration for all
those who ran as candidates
and her hopes for the future.
“I have faith in Daniel Greene
and Izzy Baer to lead this
organization and student body
with integrity, with emphasis
on
empowering
marginalized
students, and maintaining the
momentum of this year,” Sarkar
wrote. “I have faith in the elected
Assembly Representatives to give
voice to their communities and
schools. And I have faith that
the values Arathi and Marianne
represented in leadership of True
Blue will be embodied in this next
year of CSG,” Sarkar wrote.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 — 3A
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
CSG President Anushka Sarkar hugs engineering senior Chloe Henderson after announcing she was the winner of the Resiliency Award at the
Michigan Difference Student Leadership Awards Tuesday.
RESILIE NCY
the case is a fight for the lives of
Iraqi refugees that is personal to
many members of the group.
Later in the meeting, Social
Work student Lawrielle West
spoke again about inequality
among
graduating
students,
as she proposed a resolution
to make graduation a more
equitable
experience
for
all
students.
This
includes
providing regalia and headshot
photos for students who can’t
afford it. The resolution to
fund West’s initative passed
unanimously.
West
emphasized
the
importance of students of all
incomes being able to share the
same memories.
“We have to make sure we
maintain the dignity and also
pride of those who are able to
persevere across barriers here,”
West said.
Finally,
the
meeting
adjourned with many heartfelt
goodbyes and “thank yous”
to the other members. Many
representatives
shared
their
own personal sentiments of
gratitude for their experiences
with CSG.
CSG Vice President Nadine
Jawad, a Public Policy senior,
emphasized
the
immense
impact CSG had on her college
experience and said she was
so grateful to have been able
to leave her own mark on the
campus community.
“I think the thing we revisit
year and year, and every time
we have elections, is ‘what does
CSG do?’ and ‘what has CSG
done for me?’” Jawad said. “It
has to be your mission to leave
this place better than you found
it. I can honestly say that I have
given everything I could to this
organization, to this campus
in my four years. While I made
mistakes and all, I can truly feel
that I left something here that I
love so much and it will hurt a lot
to leave it.”
FINAL
From Page 1A
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
POST-ELECTION
From Page 1A
“How do we get
the employees
trained and ready
to take the jobs
that are available
right now?”
“We’re hoping to have a
really lively conversation with
the audience and the panelists,”
Sánchez said. “It often feels like
a lack of a voice for women of
color, so it’s important to see
those voices at the table.”
The panelists included Ashley
Tuomi, the executive director
of American Indian Health and
Family Services of Southeastern
Michigan;
Desiree
Cooper,
a
former
attorney,
Pulitzer
Prize-nominated journalist and
reproductive
rights
activist;
Mahima Mahadevan, a New
American
Leaders
Michigan
program
coordinator;
and
Sandra O’Brien, the chair of
Wayne State University’s Board
of Governors.
After
introductions
of
each of the panelists by SCPP
President Gabrielle Horton, a
Ford graduate student, Alcaraz
presented questions for each of
the panelists.
Alcaraz first asked the panel
about what it means for a woman
of color to be at the table.
“There are so many white
norms determining that space
before we came in,” Mahadevan
said. “Even though there are
women that are there, there
are so many norms that we are
struggling to push against.”
Tuomi commented on what
she has witnessed in her career
so far.
“There’s
almost
this
competition among women to
be at the table,” Tuomi said.
“We fall into the trap of tearing
each other down rather than
bringing each other up, so find
a way that we make comprises
and help each other.”
Cooper also mentioned the
workplace
discrimination
women often face for having or
wanting to have children.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of
audiences and always ask this
question,” Cooper said. “How
many
women
have
hidden
the fact that they are having
children, or are pregnant, or are
planning to be?”
The
answer
was
many.
Alcaraz also posed the question
of
what
mentorship
from
women of color has meant to
the panelists through their
experiences.
Cooper responded to this
question first, bringing in her
experience
working
at
the
Detroit Free Press, where she
said she was initially underpaid
for the work that she did. Cooper
said only after an older woman
of color made Cooper aware of
it, did she stand up for herself.
“There is still a taboo that
(women) don’t talk about and
that is money,” Cooper said.
“Let’s talk about that and that is
a huge validation of our power.”
O’Brien, who is the only
person of Latinx descent to
serve in her position at the
University,
spoke
from
her
experiences working in the
judicial system.
“Without
somebody
that
looks like you, whether it’s a
female or a person of color,
there’s a higher probability that
your interests won’t get served,”
O’Brien said.
For the final question, the
panelists gave advice to their
younger selves at the beginning
of their careers.
“You can do it all,” O’Brien
said. “I grew up with modest
means on a farm, and I’m the
first in college of my family.
Women can have it all, if you
want to have a family and a
career, then you can.”
After the questions were
over, the panelists interacted
with the audience to discuss
issues with representation and
employment.
Rackham
student
Save
Gasaiwai said he came to the
event because he heard from
Mahadevan earlier this year
and her ideas had resonated
with him as a Pacific Islander
student.
“I’ve been doing a lot of soul-
searching about what I want to
do after I graduate,” Gasaiwai
said. “They (the panel) really
clarified some issues that I have
myself have been struggling
with like discussing my pay,
saying if I’m good enough for a
position, because of my position
in society.”
was crucial to her steps towards
assistance.
“I know people say, ‘I’m a
person in recovery,’ just so people
don’t get scared by the word
alcoholic, but I’m an alcoholic,”
Julia said.
According to Julia, one the
largest
obstacles
CRP
faces
in attracting members is the
stigmatization
of
addiction
and recovery. CRP’s biweekly
meetings
average
“around
20
members”
with
total
membership consisting of 30 to
40 undergraduate and graduate
students. However, with over
46,000 students at the University,
she believes a lack of awareness
about the program and its utility
to those in recovery, along with
the stigmatization of addiction,
prevent students from joining.
“(The
University
tries)
to push their mental health
resources, but I think what is
preventing more people from
utilizing those resources is the
nature
of
American
college
culture of heavy drinking and
also the stigma associated with
addiction,” Julia said. “(It’s)
the idea that you can’t be an
addict while you’re in college,
or alcoholics are the homeless
people who live on the streets in
downtown Ann Arbor when in
reality, it has so many more faces
than we care to acknowledge.”
David
echoed
Julia’s
sentiments and said he thinks the
University should be more open
to talking about recovery.
“Recovery needs to be more
talked about at the University
of Michigan because a lot of
students don’t know what it is and
have biases or stigmas against
being in recovery or having an
addiction problem,” David said.
A 2012 study conducted by the
National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia
University found that 40 million
Americans over the age of 12
suffer from addiction to alcohol,
nicotine or other drugs. The
student also found only one in 10
of Americans who are addicted
to alcohol or drugs, excluding
nicotine, receive any form of
treatment.
According
to
Wolverine
Wellness
Director
Mary
Jo
Desprez, part of the problem may
be that only certain kind of drugs
are stigmatized.
“The words we say matter, and
when you say, ‘I use a hard drug,’
that’s a stigmatizing category
where, let’s just say somebody
lives in an off-campus house who
drinks a lot, they don’t get that
same (stigmatization),” Desprez
said.
Though
the
Collegiate
Recovery
Program
serves
people like David, who suffer
from
opioid
addiction,
the
most common addiction that
students
struggle
with
in
college is alcohol. According
to the National College Health
Assessment
study
conducted
at the University in 2016, 46
percent
of
undergraduates
exhibited
high-risk
drinking
(defined as four drinks or more
for females and five drinks or
more for males), while only 9
percent of undergraduates used
prescription
drugs
for
non-
medical purposes.
Desprez said while an opiate
crisis can be mirrored at the
University,
students
are
far
likelier to be addicted to alcohol
or other drugs such as marijuana
and
Adderall
that
are
less
stigmatized.
“If you’re seeing an opiate
epidemic in society, it doesn’t
show up the exact same way,
but we’re not impervious to it,”
Desprez said. “But on a college
campus, the data has always
really been clear that the number
one drug of choice is alcohol, and
not very far behind is marijuana,
and then you have some of the
study
aid
drugs,
stimulant,
misuse and things like that.”
The
Collegiate
Recovery
Program
does
not
provide
treatment to those in recovery.
Instead, it recommends that
its
members
attend
12-step
programs, programs pioneered
by
Alcoholics
Anonymous
designed to help people through
a
therapeutic
medium,
and
focuses on providing additional
resources and support to students
in recovery at the University.
SERVICE
From Page 1A
RECOVERY
From Page 1A
TREASURY
From Page 1A
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com