July Activist Newsletter Content

IRAQ

Good news: the media is covering Iraq again. We recapped the last few weeks of updates in this blog post.  Basically Der Spiegel, a German magazine, ran an interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In various quotes, Maliki expressed his hopes that U.S. troops would leave Iraq “as soon as possible” and added an implicit endorsement of Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw in 16 months. Woah.

The frightened Bush administration immediately contacted Maliki’s office "to express concern” over the statements and pressure him to imply they were mistranslated.  Maliki “clarified” his statements, saying that he meant "timeline horizons, not specific dates” for withdrawl, but Der Spiegel insists that Maliki verified and approved the quotes before they were printed.  It’s pretty obvious that the quotes were accurate, and the administration is just scared that the public will finally get a glimpse of the growing Iraqi consensus pressing for the withdrawal of American forces.

Bad news: the American military admitted that it made false statements in a news release about a platoon of soldiers that shot at a car full of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire. The release held that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops. This enraged Iraqi officials, who called the act “cold blooded murder.”

The already pissed-off Iraqi political leaders met to try to move forward with the ever-delayed provincial elections, but again failed to make progress on this important benchmark. American conservatives have touted the surge in Iraq as evidence of political progress, but the majority of Iraqi lawmakers continue to miss important deadlines in negotiations.

Not only are important deadlines being missed, but we keep pumping money into American operations in Iraq.  A recently released report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction revealed that the U.S. government paid $142 million for prison and infrastructure projects in Iraq to a contractor who only completed a third of the work and left many other projects as “incomplete, terminated and abandoned.” Check out this calculator that shows you how much you have paid for the ongoing war and how your money could have been better spent.

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY

After a decade-long wait, Congress has finally reauthorized the Higher Education Act, which determines most federal policies in regards to financial aid and higher education, by passing the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Among other things, the bill will: help stop conflicts of interest between college financial aid offices and student loan companies; allow students to receive Pell Grants year-round; simplify the federal financial aid application; encourage states and schools to invest in higher education and limit tuition increases; help veterans, active duty military personnel, and their families to afford college; expand programs for graduate students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority serving institutions; and help lower textbook costs.

While there is certainly more good than bad in this legislation, such a large bill cannot be passed without some legitimate criticism about some of its provisions. The Quick and the Ed complained that the bill may actually have been a step backwards when it comes to the accountability of colleges for education outcomes of their students, for example. They argue that the current way that colleges gain prestige is deeply flawed, one of the principle causes of many of the problems in the higher education system, and it needs to be fixed by government action.

Some are also disappointed that Congress weakened the “90-10 rule,” which was enacted to protect students against trade schools more interested in collecting federal financial aid dollars that providing an education. Congress also dashed hopes of repealing what many call the “Aid Elimination Penalty,” despite a strong campaign from the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). The penalty limits the ability of those convicted of drug crimes, but not assault or other serious crimes, to receive federal financial aid.  SSDP is asking people to register their displeasure with congress about this particular policy – click here to take action.

Finally, Higher Ed Watch has a nice round up of the good and the bad in the Higher Education Opportunity Act, but as far as ugly goes, the issue brought up in a recent New York Times article makes Fair Isaac, the company that calculates FICO Scores, look like Medusa. Apparently, comparison shopping for private student loans can sometimes damage your credit score, unlike comparison shopping for other kinds of loans. While it is still a good idea to look before you leap when it comes to student loans, there is really no excuse for treating people trying to finance a higher education worse than people trying to buy a Ferrari.

CREDIT CARDS

Despite heavy lobbying by the credit card industry, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights survived its first major hurdle as it was passed by the House Financial Services Committee. The bill would reign in the worst abuses of the credit card industry, which include going out of their way to make late payments (and thus, large fees and penalty interest rates) more likely, changing interest rates retroactively “at any time, for any reason,” and “double cycle billing.” With all of the current economic troubles, and the possibility that large budget cuts to public colleges could mean large tuition hikes, regulating these and other abusive credit card company practices couldn’t be more urgent.

The House of Representatives is not the only place where new protections are being debated. The Federal Reserve Board and Senate are also considering new protections for borrowers. More than 12,000 people have already commented on the Federal Reserve Board’s proposals.

Campus Progress recently sent out an action alert urging Congress to pass protections for Credit Cardholders, and we got a great response. We need to make sure that Congress gets the message, however, so take action now (and tell your friends)!

CLIMATE CHANGE

For years progressives have been calling for the federal government to drastically increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, fully fund public transportation and encourage urban smart growth programs to help consumers deal with rising oil prices and to diminish our dependence on oil. The conservatives in power rejected these proposals claiming that these preventative steps would destroy the economy and kill jobs. In an ironic twist worthy of a Shakespearean play, after seven and a half years of conservative energy policy, we are facing the highest unemployment rates in years and our economy is in shambles.

You feel the craving, it’s been eating you up all day long, but it’s getting harder and harder to sustain the habit as prices just keep on going up. There are too many people doing that nasty black drug called “oil,” and it’s getting harder and harder to find. To make the matter worse, people in Wall Street are starting to hoard the drug in fear, while we are running out of money to pay for it as we keep on losing jobs overseas. How are we going to get out of this nightmarish ordeal?

Fear no more, the same conservatives that brought us into this mess have a solution! “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, off to drill we go” is their new motto, sang loud and proud by former Speaker of the House and We Campaign standard bearer Newt Gingrich, Presidential candidate and driver of the derailed-talk-express John McCain, and ”World’s Biggest Polluter” President Bush. In pure conservative ideology, when you most want something, why not go and take it? Who cares how long it takes, how many people and ecosystems you pollute, how many planets you burn, if we have a couple of drops of oil offshore, let’s go grab it! Progressive legislators have been fighting valiantly throughout the month to resist this conservative onslaught, but many claim they can’t hold on much longer. During their 4^th of July recess they received many visits from angry constituents buying into the republican ”Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” propaganda and feel they can’t win elections without changing their views on opening up the American offshore. The situation is getting dire in the house. If you recognize your addiction to oil and are determined to do something about it, walk to your representative’s office this August (need help? Here is how) and tell them what you really think about oil drilling (some pointers here).

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Ward Connerly has found an ally in John McCain…at least for now. Despite prior statements of support for equal opportunity programming, when asked whether or not he supports the proposed affirmative action ban in Arizona, his home state, McCain said: “Yes, I do. I do not believe in quotas.” Clearly McCain is a bit confused since he’s contradicting himself and has also fallen prey to Connerly’s deceptive (and ignorant) practice of making affirmative action synonymous with quotas.

Meanwhile, the fight to defend affirmative action and equal opportunity continues in Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska. In Colorado, affirmative action supporters have proposed an alternative amendment for the ballot in November that does the exact opposite of Connerly’s: It confirms the state’s authority to use affirmative action and protects the state-funded programs for women and minorities that are being targeted by Connerly’s initiative. Connerly supporters are now accusing the pro-affirmative action side of using deceptive practices to get their initiative on the ballot. Sound familiar? Its about to get ugly.

Chenwei Zhang
Political Science Senior
University of South Carolina

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How did you become politicized? What got you to where you are today?

For a long time, I was apathetic about politics.  In 11th grade, however, my AP European History teacher, Dr. Bob Veto, taught us the in's and out's of how American politics worked, and would always find creative ways of tying in European history to today's politics.  It was the first time I truly understood all the political jargon that I often heard being tossed around on the political talk shows.  Armed with a new understanding that made me feel not so marginalized about our political landscape, and with the debilitating effects of the post-9/11 world starting to show for itself, I finally educated myself about the problems our country faced.  My political activism has been developing since.

Tell us a little bit about your accomplishments over the last two years.  

During my sophomore year of college, I helped organize a voter registration drive on our campus as part of a larger state-wide effort.  We registered 700 students to vote at USC, and 2,000 students across the state, making it the largest youth voter registration drive in the history of South Carolina.  I also worked with Student Government to help develop and formulate a textbooks campaign to be fully implemented this fall.

Who are the main "bad guys" in your  fight for textbook affordability?

The basic "bad guys" are the textbook companies.  They know that they can overcharge us because no one is keeping a particularly close eye on them.  It can actually be cheaper to order a Calculus book through international sellers like say, Amazon.com Great Britain, despite the costs of overseas shipping, because this issue has received more attention in Europe and there is more regulation to protect consumers.  That's why it is so important to educate yourself and make your voice heard on this issue. Aside from that, there aren't very many "bad guys."  Textbook prices are something that almost all students complain about and something that almost everybody working within a university wants to do something to help with.  It's just a matter of finding the best way to approach it.

Have you made any untraditional allies in the fight for college and textbook affordability?

For anyone who believes that college and textbook affordability is something that only progressives care about, you couldn't be further from the truth.  We've found that this is an issue that crosses all ideological and socioeconomic lines.  At the end of the day, the one thing we all have in common is that we are students.  We talk to each other, we understand each other, and we care about each other.  Additionally, many students assume that their university administration does not care.  This is also far from the truth.  As Secretary of Education, I have been able to meet with members of our administration to express our concerns about college affordability, high textbook prices, and more.  The University has taken a proactive step towards all of these issues, with the students' well-being as number one on their mind.  I have also been able to present these issues in front of our Faculty Senate, University President, and more, and have received fantastic feedback from them.

What other related issues are impacted by the skyrocketing prices of school materials/textbooks?

This issue obviously has a huge impact on college affordability in general.  In South Carolina, the bottom 40th percentile of the population with the lowest income need to set aside 54% of their yearly salary in order to finance college tuition for a four-year in-state public university.  Students pay an average of $900 on textbooks every year, and textbook prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation.  You do the math.  I have also personally known some students who are simply unwilling to purchase textbooks for their classes because of their high costs, and as a result, do not do the readings for their classes.  Obviously, this issue has wide-ranging consequences, and they will only become exacerbated if we don't do anything about it.

What are your next steps? What’s next for you on campus in terms of activism or personal goals?

This summer, I created a flyer that educates freshman on the basics of textbook prices and what they can do. We have printed 6,000 copies of this flyer and have delivered it to every freshman or transfer student at our summer orientation.  This fall, I will be launching a textbooks initiative.  We will draft disclosure legislation that we will lobby for in the State House.  This includes requiring textbook companies to a) disclose the prices of their books when presenting their catalogs to professors and b) give the option of purchasing textbooks "à la carte," meaning, without all of the accompanying workbooks, CD-ROMs, etc.

I am meeting with professors to educate them on how they can help students and university administrators to brainstorm ideas that can help alleviate the textbooks issue for students, such as posting required books in the online course catalog before students register for classes.  I also plan on continuing to promote the programs that the University has already established to help students, such as our online book exchange and our Textbook Turnstile Program.  Our website, SCBookExchange.com, allows students a safe and secure way of selling/purchasing textbooks among other USC students online.  Our Textbook Turnstile Program purchases books that cost $100+ and are used in classes with over 100 students and puts them on reserve at our library, so that students do not necessarily have to purchase the books if they choose not to.

We will be meeting with the deans of the various colleges within our university to enhance and expand this valuable program.  In addition to textbooks, I will also be working with our Study Abroad program and internship-for-school credit program to figure out ways of making them more affordable and accessible to students. 

Additionally, I will work with the university to enhance our Gamecock Guarantee Program (http://www.sc.edu/guarantee/), which helps alleviate the financial burdens of college for low-income families.

Any words of advice for young progressives?

-         Be open-minded about who you work with on your issues campaign--you'd be surprised at the unlikely supporters that you will gain.

-         Educate yourself thoroughly and talk to people who have criticisms on what you're doing in order to form a strong and comprehensive opinion on your issue that is indestructible.

-         And be patient!  In executing a successful campaign, you will inevitably reach many roadblocks and failures and have to wait for a long time before you see the fruits of your labor.  Remember to always keep your eyes on the prize, and be persistent.