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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle 1 17, 2003 Friday, January r THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW I Not Enough U to face it. The U is ceeding spring and summer Too crowded. Just try semesters. a parking spot at This is a good idea. a on a.m. It's An enrollment cap shouldn't Monday. practi9:30 Have ever be seen as a way to deny people a you cally impossible. been to an E lot? .college education. There are so are It's no surprise there many other schools in the state many people attending school that don't have enrollment caps, here right now. Whenever the and students who want to stay instate could always attend one of economy starts to sour, people head back to school to get that them. little extra bit of education that However, the enrollment cap will give them the edge in a would raise the bar for students tough job market. And who can admitted to the U. By improving the quality of the student body, blame them? The effects of a poor economy the U could make a degree from are felt on every level of our this school more meaningful. An enrollment cap would also procommunity and create an intervide relief to departments that esting problem for higher education. are underfunded and overcrowded. Maybe professors would even The problem is this: Students tuition only pay be able to start printing copies of paying d of the cost of their their syllabuses for students for education. The rest of the bill is again. The Board of Regents shouldpicked up by the state. What if the state doesn't have the money? n't make the enrollment cap a Today the Board of Regents is permanent policy at the U. When meeting to discuss that problem. the economy isn't in such dire One of the things they are conditions, the student population should be allowed to expand. expected to consider is an enrollment cap at the U For now, however, it would be The number of students that best to tighten admission stancan enter school each fall would dards so that departments don't be limited to the number of stuhave to tighten their belts quite as much. dents that graduate in the pro LETTER gender, appearance or sexual ori- fcMlSW I . HPajJi- C- i MEAn) y).S.ft. . 1 1 r TO THE EDITOR Diversity Goes Beyond Race in-sta- te defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, entation will be edited or will not be published. I'M rw m one-thir- Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page Is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material RsM MA "rv 11 G o m'oiin Let's vjEU. oF CaJRSE Editor: the Brown University professor who Evelyn at was simply wrong when she Union the Wednesday, spoke is a still for racial preferences. need that there argued is unfair to an it admit Assuming applicant like George W. Yale Bush into a school like because of his low grades and test scores, how is it suddenly fair to admit applicants whose grades and test scores are similarly low simply because they have the "right" skin color? The admissions statistics in the University of Michigan Supreme Court case are shocking. In one category, for example, 10 out of 12 minorities were admitted, while all 59 Caucasian applicants with the exact same grades and test scores were denied admission! I challenge anyone to find similar numbers cutting the other way anywhere in America Hu-DcHa- rt, today. Supporters of racial preferences find it convenient to equate racial minority status with "disadvantaged" status. Such thinking, however, perpetuates the unfortunate stigma that people of color arc automatically disadvantaged or that they cannot succeed on their own merits. Such ideas arc insulting to us all. Admissions committees could use other factors instead of race to achieve the goals of "diversity." While still less than ideal, perhaps socioeconomic status, or strong language abilities besides English could be considered. Or perhaps committees could actually READ personal statements to see what life challenges applicants have overcome. d There is no question that racial discrimination is part of our nation's history, but past injustices cannot properly be remedied by further injustices. As a society, we should follow Dr. King's admonition to not judge individuals by the color of their skin, even if it means that those judgments would favor them. PETER DONALDSON College of Law, Class of 2002 state-backe- Unemployed and Looking for u Solution 4. if CASEY s' JACKETTA Chronicle Opinion Columnist For the first time since I turned 16 years old, I am unemployed. It's hard to adjust to all the free time I have now. What's even harder is finding a job to replace the last one that I worked at for nearly two and a half years. The most disturbing part of my dilemma is that I am not the only one in this situation. According to the state Department of Workforce Services, the situation may even be worse than these figures make it seem. The unemployment rate in Utah increased from 5.4 percent in November to 5.6 percent in December. The Department of Workforce Services doesn't measure the underemployedpeople who would like to work full time, but can't find anything better than a part-tim- e job. The dismal economy and bleak job prospects are not unique to Utah. The situation is bad across the nation. The national statistics for unemployment rates have held steady at 6 percent for December and November. The bleak holiday season didn't help much, either. Undoubtedly, many families were like my own. I didn't give any presents, and received only books for Spring Semester from Santa Claus. With the nation's economic problems growing, what is President Bush doing to solve the problem? Very little. The President's new economic stimulus plan would cut taxes on stock dividends. Instead of lightening the burden of payroll taxes, which all employed Americans pay, the load is only getting lighter for the relatively small portion of families that have enough extra income to invest it. What will this do to stimulate the economy? Probably not much. In theory, the people who benefit from the tax cut will go out and spend the money they get, which will stimulate the economy and create more jobs. However, what looks good in theory rarely works in the real world, and Bush's plan is no exception. To begin with, the tax cut will mainly benefit the very wealthy. According to a Brookings Institution study released Jan. 7, the top 10 percent of wage earners in the United States would get 59 percent of the total tax breaks that come from Bush's plan. In stark contrast, the bottom 60 percent of American workers would be left with a mere 8 percent of the total! In the spirit of Reaganomics, the Bush admin- istration has been arguing that tax cuts for the rich will eventually trickle down to the poor. But in this case that's unlikely to occur. Most people with substantial stock holdings don't use their dividends for consumption the sort of spending that would stimulate the economy rather, they use it for investment. They just take their dividends and dump them back into the stock market. What does that do for growth? CHRONICLE OPINION EDITOR JOHN MORLEY If President's Bush's ultimate goal is to stimulate economic growth and by so doing improve the plight of the poorest people in America, why doesn't he come up with a plan that helps them directly? Instead of giving tax cuts to the rich on the assumption that the money will eventually work its way down to the poor, the government should cut payroll taxes for those who need their wages most; fact in economic literaIt's a ture that poor people spend a higher percentage of their income than wealthier people. People with lower incomes spend a larger chunk of their paychecks on basic necessities like housing, food, medical care and clothing. well-establish- ed What is President Bush doing to solve the problem? In other words, they're less likely to save their tax cuts or invest them in stocks than wealthy people. If the economy needs stimulus, why not give money to the people who will spend it? Additionally, the Bush plan will take money away from already ailing state budgets. Eliminating this tax on dividends would decrease tax revenues that Utah and 40 other states receive. The Salt Lake Tribune recently reported that state governments can look forward to a $4.5 billion cut in tax revenue per LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU year under the plan. Utah can expect to sec a $30 million less. The plan contains no provision for aid to the 45 states-tha- t have over spent their budgets. These struggling states will slump even further into the red. Alarmingly, President Bush wants to make the change permanent, which means less tax revenue for states for years to come. Bush's economic plan is more like "kick 'cm when their down" than "help 'em get up off the floor". What it comes down to is that our economy is slumping and millions of people arc either out of work or underpaid. While the majority of Americans will never sec the results of Bush's new economic plan, the wealthiest 10 percent definitely will. Will we be lucky enough that the richest 10 percent will create jobs for the rest of us. Not likely. Companies arc downsizing, tax revenues to states are decreasing and the American public (except for the wealthiest 10 percent) are going to be left high and dry. Bush's tax plan is grossly inadequate and leaves the majority of the American public without any hope of new job prospects. With college graduation on the horizon, many students arc scared stiff. The nation needs a new economic plan that benefits the majority of Americans, not just a mere 10 percent. Until then, I'll keep looking at the classifieds, and trying to get used to life as one of the 5.6 percent of Utahns who are unemployed. Casey welcomes feedback at cjackettachron-icle.utah.edSend letters to the editor to u. 581-639- 7 |
