Michigan ‘MCRI’ Would Hurt Women, Minorities, Poor

The University of Michigan-based Center for the Education of Women has released a major study examining what the impact of the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative MCRI would have on the state if it is passed in Michigan in November:

The [CEW] study also found that the California amendment led to significant decreases in government contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses, hiring of minority and female professors in the statewide University of California system, and enrollment of minority students in the University of California system. Programs challenged after the passage of Prop 209 included pre-college outreach and preparation for low-income and minority students; outreach and funding for women and minority math, science and technology teachers; programs helping minorities and women become apprentices in the skilled trades; and diversity efforts in appointments made by the governor to corrections and parole boards.

> U. Record: “CEW report examines potential impact of Affirmative Action ballot proposal”
> See the full report at the Center for the Education of Women

BAM-N Launches Organizing Drive in DC

Thought this was interesting. As usual, the issues they talk about are very important. Their usual tactics are another question; hopefully the DC organizers will be more democratic and civil than the Detroit group.

Dear DC Public School Advocates,

I’ve had the privilege of working with many of you in the DC Full Funding Campaign, Save Our Schools, YEA, etc. around the conditions of public schools in DC.

BAMN and our National Co-chair Shanta Driver will be having an organizing meeting *THIS SATURDAY (6/24, 2:00pm, Howard University, Douglass Hall)* about what we need to do here in DC to defend integration in public education and build for a national demonstration when the US Supreme Court hears the lawsuits against the Seattle and Louisville public school integration plans, sometime this fall. BAMN has filed to become co-defendents in these cases, but as we all know, this is a political fight that will be won in the streets.

What is at stake in these two lawsuits is literally the future of public education in this country. In both of these cases, the integration programs have widespread community support from students, teachers and parents of all races. The Louisville public school district is only 34% black but its integration plan is supported by 80% of the white parents whose children attend these public schools. If this nation outlaws the use of race to achieve integrated public education then Brown vs. Board of Education is a dead letter. Losing these cases means permanently relegating black and Latina/o youth to inferior, second-class citizenship with wholly separate and unequal
educational resources and opportunities.

BAMN expects to have a significantly increased presence in the DC area once school starts in late August/early September with our activists doing political organizing in the high schools and colleges in and around DC, building for the demonstration at the Supreme Court. We need to get the ball rolling now, lining up organizational, individual, and financial support. This needs to be an absolutely massive mobilization.

Please consider attending this extremely important meeting! We, as students, teachers, and parents need to be united and determined. This is the time to stand up and fight for our future and the future of public education.

Feel free to forward widely to anyone you think would be interested!

=====
Save Brown vs. Board of Education!
Fight for High Quality, Integrated Public Education!

Saturday 6/24, 2:00 pm.
Douglass Hall, Howard University
======

Contact Ben at xxx-xxx-xxxx for more information. Also see our youthcall-to-action at
http://www.bamn.com/doc/2006/060615-march-dc.asp

Sincerely,

Ben, Dara, and Michael

Yet Another Reason to Avoid Trotskyites

Affirmative Action “victim” from the Gratz v. Bollinger case, Jennifer Gratz is accusing BAMN/Revolutionary Works League organizer Luke Massie with threatening her with a knife. Having failed in the courts, Gratz is currently heading an effort to ban affirmative action through a ballot initiative. Whether or not there’s any truth to the story, it underscores the tendancy of RWL members to engage in tense, direct personal confrontation. Luke’s tried the same intimidation tactics on me and some of my friends, and it’s yet another reason no mainstream political organization should work with him or his organization – physical intimidation and confrontation are not acceptable organizing tactics.

DetNews: “Police investigate alleged threat to affirmative action foe“

Trotskyites On the March

According to media reports, leaders of the Trotskyite organization the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) have been active in Lansing, Michigan, organizing a counter-protest to a Nazi rally there over the weekend. The Lansing State Journal reported about 100 counter-protestors turned up at the peaceful April 22 rally. I found one local blogger, historymike, who posted some information about the event.

The RWL maintains a network of organization names to use for various purposes, recently most commonly representing themselves as members of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) or the National Women’s Rights Organizing Committee (NWROC). Regardless of the organizational name used, the leaders are consistent: Luke Massie is the vocal professional organizer and most likely to be quoted in the media, Shanta Driver is the attorney on the ground, while others remain in the background. The BAM-N speakers’ bureau webpage contains a photo and bios of some of the organization’s more active leaders, including the shadowy figure and alleged RWL founder George Washington.

The RWL subscribes to an unorthodox position on free speech, freely engaging in a variety of tactics not generally used by mainstream political organizations. These include co-opting public comment periods, shouting or otherwise disturbing formal meetings, and encouraging confrontational exchanges designed to radicalize protestors and intimidate opponents. RWL members have also been closely connected to at least several protests which turned violent, including incidents during the Detroit Newspaper Strike of the 1990s and a 1997 Klan Rally in Ann Arbor. Less clear is their relation to the violence which occured in Toledo, Ohio last fall connected to a white supremacist rally there, however an earlier news report about the Lansing rally quotes Massie praising the violence which broke out, declaring, “We’re gonna say to our people, to the young people of the City of Lansing, to the people in the immense majority of black and Latino communities of this city, who do not want the KKK and the Nazis rallying here, we’re gonna say you have the right to defend yourself, you have the right to shut down rallies that push to murder your neighbors and your friends. We don’t accept that.”

Recently I was contacted by an activist in Olympia, Washington who is preparing for a white supremacist rally planned there by the National Socialist Movement for July. (According to this recent news article, a smaller rally held earlier this month ended after officials escorted the neo-Nazis away when the tense but peaceful rally seemed to be getting “out of hand.” ) Although I have heard nothing about RWL members planning to go to Washington, the local activist was troubled by some footage of Massie and wrote seeking more information should they decide to attend:

He first caught my attention as I was watching video about the National Socialist Movement rally in Lansing Michigan. Something about him really bugged me, he seemed to be escalating the possibility of violence, agitating. A little web research shows me that I’m not the only one who sees this. … My main focus in everything is safety and someone like Luke Massie concerns me, my guess is that he doesn’t believe safety for all is important.

I am encouraged that activists are starting their planning now and hope their careful preparations will result in a peaceful counter-protest, regardless of any potential RWL involvement.

A Note

According to friends, University of Michigan graduate Ellen Kolasky passed away late Friday due to a recently diagnosed illness. Ellen graduated from the university in 2005 and was heavily involved in the student organization Students for PIRGIM as well as the Residential College, where she was a student. Her family will be holding a memorial service in Toledo, Ohio on Monday.

Update: The family has requested friends donate to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio, the Nature Conservancy, or the League of Conservation Voters in her memory. Friends are welcome to attend the memorial service which will be held on Monday, April 17 at 2:00 p.m. at Temple Shomer Emunim, 6453 Sylvania Ave, Sylvania, OH 43560.

All are invited to leave their thoughts in the comment space below. Ellen was a remarkable person who will be missed. I’ll add links to any obituaries here when I find them.

Update, 4/17: The Toledo Blade published this obituary today:

Ellen Kolasky

Ellen Kolasky, age 24, passed away on Friday, April 14, 2006, at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg. Ellen was born in Philadelphia on December 11, 1981, and moved to Toledo a year later. She is a graduate of Westside Montessori School, Maumee Valley Country Day, and the University of Michigan.

Ellen had an interesting and varied life. Her early passion was fossil collecting, and she and her family spent many hours during family vacations on the beaches of Brighton, Ontario, searching for fossils. Later she became an avid bird watcher. She and her mother, Betsy, were devoted “birders,” together managing bluebird boxes and spending time at Crane Creek and other venues. She even dragged her father to Jackson, MI, to watch the cranes migrating.
A gifted musician, Ellen played viola in various orchestras and ensembles. She also spent hours at the piano, and sat in on gigs at Murphy’s in Toledo. Ellen played tennis at Maumee Valley and later became an enthusiastic rock climber.

After graduating from Maumee Valley, Ellen spent almost two years in South Africa, working in the “bush” at a camp for young children combining her love of nature with her love of travel. Upon her return to the States, she enrolled at the University of Michigan, earning a degree in environmental studies and music in May, 2005. She was environmentally and politically active on campus, nationally, and interned at the League of Conservation Voters in Washington, DC. After graduation, she worked at Zingerman’s Deli. She loved her cat, Anya, and the many other dogs and cats her family had during her life.

Ellen will be lovingly remembered by her parents, David and Betsy Kolasky of Toledo; her sister, Becca Spain (John), of Philadelphia, Maggie Kolasky (Martin Whitby) of London, England, and her niece, Elsie Anne Whitby. She will also be loved and remembered by her aunts, uncles, and cousins, and countless caring and wonderful friends from Toledo, Ann Arbor and elsewhere.
A funeral service will take place at Temple Shomer Emunim, 6453 Sylvania Avenue on Monday, April 17 at 2 p.m., followed by interment at Eagle’s Point Cemetery in Rossford, Ohio.

A special thanks to the warm and caring staff of Hospice of Northwest Ohio for their support. Contributions in her memory may be made to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, The Nature Conservancy, or the League of Conservation Voters, Washington, DC.

Published in the Toledo Blade from 4/16/2006 – 4/17/2006.

Luxury Boxes at the Big House?

My father pointed me to this article in the New York Times from a couple weeks back (I found a free copy on a blog here, but with editorializing) about a controversy over a proposal to add luxury boxes to Michigan Stadium. The idea has been floated as a means to produce additional revenue for the athletic department, but no concrete proposal has been made before the Regents yet. New York City resident John Pollack, who is the son of a U-M professor and season ticket holder, has organized opposition to the plan and launched a website savethebighouse.com. On the website he argues “The very idea of private luxury boxes in Michigan Stadium runs contrary to the egalitarian ideals to which the U-M is dedicated,” and likens the proposed boxes to the much-hated “halo” which was removed from the stadium shortly after it was added in the 1990s as a response to fan complaints.

Michigamua Publishes Names, Commits to Reforms

The Michigan Daily published yesterday the names of the 2006 and 2007 Michigamua classes, and reported that the organization would be abandoning their name.

The list includes several members which will no doubt provoke some controversy: MSA President Nicole Stallings and LSA Student Government President Andrew Yahkind. Missing from the list was Michigan Daily Editor-In-Chief Donn Fresard, who had been widely rumored to be a member. From the Daily’s story, here’s the list:

List of members

Pride of 2006: Katie Banas, Nick Benson, Michael Caplan, Jenny Deiley, Chris DeJong, Andrew Ebbett, Tyler Ecker, Andrew Ellerton, Lori Hillman, Brian Hull, Jenny Knoester, Dennis Lee, Neal Pancholi, A.J. Scheidt, Gerry Signorelli, Kelene Soltesz, Davis Tarwater, Peter Vanderkaay, Greg Wagner, Sam Woll

Pride of 2007: Sirene Abou-Chakra, Lindsey Bruck, Josh Churella, Tim Cook, Matt Hunwick, Brian Ignaut, Jon Krasnov, Adam Kraus, Lauren Kraus, Jake Long, Christina Macholan, Leif Mahler, Matt McLaughlin, Gopal Pai, Eric Rose, Ashish Shah, Katelin Spencer, Nicole Stallings, Katie Tamarelli, Eric Tannenbaum, Andrew Yahkind, Dave Young

Their coverage of the news:

>> Michigan Daily: “Michigamua commits to reforms” (4/12)
>> Michigan Daily: “Reactions to Michigamua Reforms Mixed” (4/13)
>> Daily Viewpoint by Sam Woll: “Moving on from Michigamua”

Also, the Daily printed this letter to the editor today:

To the Daily:
I find it absurd that the University would consider recognizing Michigamua as an official student group (Michigamua commits to reforms, 04/12/2006). Any group that has a history of mocking my people and culture, such as this group, does not have a place in the University. Racism is racism, no matter what the name. I also find it absurd that the members of Michigamua would willingly make their names public. I guess it is good for all of us to know the names of racists on campus.

Wyaudtnoong Adams
LSA junior

The Daily’s arts section also profiled the short documentary produced by M-Agination Films which will premier at 7 p.m. tonight that I have mentioned here before. I was interviewed for the film in December, and their story about the film opens with this hilarious passage:

His solemnity bordering on pomp, his curly brown hair rippling in the wind and with the Washington Monument looming just over his shoulder, blogger Rob Goodspeed of goodspeedupdate.com simply declares “Secrecy is sexy and exciting.” The fewer the words, the more daunting their power, and Goodspeed’s five in the new M-agination made documentary “Fight Like Hell” certainly make that point. Michigamua, the University’s traditionally secretive, selective and at times racist senior honor society, has remained so closed over the years because, without secrecy, its mystique is lost.

Finally, with this post, I’m announcing my semi-retirement from the Michigamua beat. I originally posted information about the organization’s members on this domain because I believed the University community had a right to know the membership of an elite organization that claimed to be “fighting for Michigan” from the shadows. I also thought the claims of the Student of Color Coalition deserved to be discussed in an open forum. With the publication of the members’ names this week — and a broader, public discussion about the organization’s history spearheaded by young activists taking place on campus — the role this website has played in the debate is no longer needed. I added the “semi” because although I’ll refrain from most posting, I cannot promise no additional Michigamua content (I’ve got to digitize my member directory going back to 1902 at some point).

I suppose that leaves me with one last item to take care of: the naming competition. Unfortunately, the pool of submissions wasn’t as broad as I had hoped. Although containing some clever entries, the jury really didn’t see anything that jumped out at us. I suppose that’s something for the campus community to decide.

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