F

or the foreseeable future, 
The Daily does not plan 
to 
publish 
anonymous 
Op-Eds or Letters to the Editor, 
with a few clear-cut exceptions. 
In order for us to publish an 
anonymous Op-Ed or Letter to 
the Editor, three things must 
be true: The piece must be 
specifically relevant to those on 
campus, the story or argument 
can only be told or made by the 
writer requesting anonymity and 
there must be some reasonable 
expectation that publishing this 
piece with a name attached would 
directly endanger the writer. 
Anonymous commentary has 
a long and storied history within 
American news publishing. The 
United States very likely would 
not exist in its current form 
without the rhetorical exertions 
of Publius — the pseudonym 
adopted by Founding Father 
Alexander Hamilton as he tried 
to get New Yorkers of the 1780s to 
buy into the new federal system.
The 
Michigan 
Daily 
has 
hosted anonymous writers as 
well; they have written on a 
variety 
of 
important 
topics: 
Chinese students have criticized 
the Chinese government and 

survivors of sexual assault have 
told their stories with a frankness 
that would not have been feasible 
with their name attached.
The Daily receives a great 
number of Op-Eds and Letters 
to the Editor. Every morning, 
we, the editorial page editors, 
wake up to about 30 Daily-
related emails in our inboxes. 
Some of these are mass-emailed 
to every college newspaper in 
the country, unspecific, serving 
as a tirade on the topic of the 
day; some are from University 
of Michigan students wanting 
to write a restaurant review or 
opine on international politics; 
and some — the ones we tend to 
publish — are from community 
members wanting to write about 
tense issues closer to home. 
Some of those writing about 
U-M specific issues, such as 
antisemitism or Islamophobia on 
campus, request anonymity. 
Given that fairness in coverage 
is one of our primary goals as an 
organization, we have generally 
preferred to grant anonymity 
rather 
than 
potentially 
risk 
the perception of favoritism on 
crucial local issues. These are 
the issues for which it is most 
necessary that our coverage 
be perceived as balanced, as 
students do not have access to 
a robust network of competing 
media on local issues like they do 

for national issues. 
These 
decisions 
about 
anonymity are often difficult. 
While we do have a set process 
for deciding which submissions 
are selected for publication, The 
Daily does not have a robustly 
defined set of policies regarding 
granting anonymity to Letter 
writers and Op-Ed contributors 
who request it. Usually, it is at 
our discretion as the editorial 
page editors.
Our ability to utilize our 
discretion has, in the past, been 
affected by the decisions of 
previous editors who — in good 
judgment and in line with our 
practices at that time — decided 
to grant anonymity when we 
might not have. When we as 
editors have declined to publish 
a 
given 
piece 
anonymously, 
a 
common 
complaint 
is 
that 
previous 
writers, 
often 
arguing the opposite position 
of the prospective anonymous 
writer, have been afforded the 
opportunity to write within our 
pages without having their name 
published.
We are publishing this letter 
to fix this problem of competing 
precedents 
and 
define 
our 
institutional 
goals 
regarding 
anonymity. 
If you are interested in writing 
a piece about an issue, and are not 
interested in being identified, we 
would encourage you to connect 
and collaborate with those on 
campus who are comfortable 
being named.
There is value to being named 
as an author of a piece — it 
encourages writers to be more 
honest and thoughtful when 
writing on contentious topics by 
adding accountability. We are 
hopeful that making this change 
publicly will only strengthen 
the quality of content being 
published from guest writers 
while helping to defuse tension 
on campus between nameless 
and faceless adversaries striking 
at each other through the curtain 
of anonymity. 

Opinion

From the Editors: How do we decide 
whether to publish anonymous Letters 
to the Editor and Op-Eds?

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
8 — Wednesday, April 12, 2023 

QUIN ZAPOLI & 
JULIAN C. BARNARD
Editorial Page Editors

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St. 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

SHANNON STOCKING 
AND KATE WEILAND
Co-Editors in Chief

QUIN ZAPOLI AND 
JULIAN BARNARD
Editorial Page Editors

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.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Ammar Ahmad

Julian Barnard

Brandon Cowit

Jess D’Agostino

Ben Davis

Shubhum Giroti

Devon Hesano

Jack Kapcar

Sophia Lehrbaum

Olivia Mouradian

Siddharth Parmar

Rushabh Shah

Zhane Yamin

Nikhil Sharma

Lindsey Spencer

Evan Stern

Anna Trupiano

Jack Tumpowsky

Alex Yee

Quin Zapoli

JULIA VERKLAN AND 
ZOE STORER 
Managing Editors

Debates 
on the 
Diag

O

n Wednesday morning, 
members 
of 
the 
Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization and their allies 
gathered on the Diag in support 
of GEO’s demands for a fair 
contract and a living wage 
for all. The air was brimming 
with energy, and I felt proud 
to be joined by many other 
impassioned 
undergraduate 
students who showed up in 
solidarity with GEO. Alongside 
current and former Graduate 
Student Instructors, we marched 
and chanted for a more livable 
University of Michigan — it was a 
powerful and historical moment. 
Hundreds 
of 
undergraduate 
students were there in support 
because every single one of us 
has a stake in this fight. Here is 
why you should sign up to join us 
on the picket lines.
Why should the GEO strike 
matter 
to 
undergraduate 
students? Simply put, graduate 
student working conditions are 
our learning conditions and 
their demands are in our best 
interest. Graduate workers are 
an essential part of our campus 
community, and without them, 
the University would not be able 
to provide such a high-quality 
and 
sought-after 
education. 
Graduate workers not only do 
the academic labor of grading 
papers, guiding class discussions 
and helping students with course 
material, but also the emotional 
labor of providing support when 
students are struggling in their 
personal lives. Think about the 
positive difference that GSIs 
have made in your lives. They 
work far more than the 20 hours 
stipulated in their contract, but 
they are treated like part-time 
workers for full-time work. We 
all deserve a campus that fosters 
a healthy quality of life for those 
who live and work on it.
GEO graduate workers are 
demanding a living wage of 
$38,500. 
The 
current 
wage 
of $24,000 is not enough to 
meet 
the 
rapidly 
increasing 
cost of living in Ann Arbor. In 
fact, 80% of graduate workers 
are rent-burdened, and many 
of them are forced to live in 
neighboring cities like Ypsilanti. 
They live paycheck to paycheck, 
struggling to afford groceries, 
child care and medical bills. 
They resort to rationing their 
medications, skipping meals and 
selling their plasma to keep their 
heads above water. These living 

conditions are indefensible. Yet, 
the University is only offering a 
raise of around $100 per month 
in the first year and even less 
in the next two years, which is 
not enough to cover the yearly 
6% inflation rate. In other 
words, this “raise” is actually a 
significant pay cut. 
GEO’s demands also directly 
benefit undergraduate students 
on 
campus. 
For 
example, 
GEO is fighting for increased 
disability 
accommodations 
and the creation of a Disability 
Cultural Center. By providing 
basic 
training 
on 
disability 
accommodations, GSIs can better 
support undergraduate students 
with disabilities. Another key 
demand 
includes 
improving 
access 
to 
gender-affirming 
health care services. In the past, 
GEO’s wins on gender-affirming 
health care have led to better 
coverage for everyone across our 
campus community. At a time 
when transgender people are 
under assault across the country, 
every person on campus has a 
stake in GEO’s fight for trans 
rights. For both undergraduate 
and 
graduate 
students 
who 
are parents, GEO also hopes 
to abolish the discriminatory 
eligibility requirements for the 
child care subsidy and increase 
the subsidy to cover 75% of the 
cost of U-M child care centers.
Another 
central 
aim 
of 
their platform is public safety 
— something that will have 
a big impact on the entire 
campus 
community. 
Many 
students of Color, graduates 
and 
undergraduates 
alike, 
have experienced traumatizing 
encounters with campus police, 
making 
them 
feel 
alienated 
and unsafe. GEO is asking 
the University to fund the 
Coalition 
for 
Re-Envisioning 
Our Safety, which is developing 
a 
community-led 
non-police 
response program in Washtenaw 
County. An unarmed program 
was 
voted 
on 
unanimously 
by Ann Arbor City Council 
and received 93% support in a 
recent city of Ann Arbor poll. 
GEO’s proposal to codify the 
University’s sanctuary campus 
policy, which would limit the 
University’s cooperation with 
immigration 
enforcement 
authorities except as required 
by law, would also protect 
undocumented students at all 
levels of study. These common-
sense proposals would make the 
University safer for everyone 
and should be supported by the 
entire campus community.
Last Thursday, the University 

filed 
an 
injunction 
against 
GEO and is suing the union for 
damages. The University claims 
that GEO is causing “irreparable 
injury” 
to 
undergraduates 
by going on strike. However, 
the 
University 
conveniently 
ignores the fact that Central 
Student Government, the largest 
organization 
that 
represents 
undergrads, 
endorsed 
GEO’s 
demands last fall. Furthermore, 
many of us will actually be 
graduate workers ourselves one 
day, meaning that the success of 
GEO’s demands would directly 
improve our lives in the near 
future. In reality, it is the 
University’s Board of Regents 
and University President Santa 
Ono who are responsible for 
the disruption of GEO’s strike, 
as they have permitted U-M 
representatives 
to 
refuse 
to 
negotiate in good faith.
The punitive course of action 
marked 
by 
the 
University’s 
injunction 
is 
an 
aggressive 
affront to the values that the 
university claims to champion: 
diversity, equity and inclusion. 
The 
University’s 
commitment 
to DEI seems hollow when U-M 
administration is refusing to give 
graduate workers a contract that 
protects their most marginalized 
members. 
The 
University 
of 
Michigan is one of the wealthiest 
public institutions in the world. 
Ono will receive $6 million in 
salaries and bonuses over the next 
five years. U-M administration 
has 
no 
trouble 
finding 
the 
money for multi-million dollar 
renovations of the President’s 
Mansion or millions of dollars 
for former University President 
Mark 
Schlissel’s 
retirement 
package. Yet, when it comes to the 
economic well-being of its grad 
workers, the money seems to run 
dry. The University needs to get 
its priorities straight and spend 
money on its students – not just 
vanity projects and exorbitant 
salaries for bosses.
I 
ask 
all 
undergraduate 
students to show some courage 
and join graduate workers on the 
picket lines. I ask them to not be 
complicit in or support scab labor 
— that is, labor that substitutes 
that of striking workers. Don’t 
attend your GSI sections if they 
are being replaced by scabs and 
don’t cross the picket line if 
there is one in front of your class 
building. Ask your professors to 
commit to not using scab labor, 
talk to your friends and classmates 
about GEO’s fight, and sign up 
for a picketing shift. If you are 
financially able, donate to GEO’s 
strike fund and share it widely. 

Op-Ed: Why undergraduates 
should be on the picket line

Wrong party

MAHNOOR IMRAN
Opinion Columnist 

Design by Edith Hanlon

HELMUT PUFF

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein 
Collegiate Professor of History 
and Germanic Languages 
and Literatures

Toward 
a History 
of Waiting:

Time, Space, and 

the Social Hierarchy

A public lecture and reception; you may attend in person or virtually. For more information, 

including the Zoom link, visit events.umich.edu/event/103674 or call 734.615.6667.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. | Weiser Hall, 10th Floor 

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