October Activist Newsletter Content

IRAQ

The current state of the economy has distracted the media from the ongoing war, but young people can’t afford to forget about the war’s role in worsening this crisis. 

In 2003, top Bush administration budget officials predicted that the war would cost anywhere between $50 billion and $60 billion. Five years later, estimates show that we’ve spent upwards of $560 Billion.

Despite all this spending, the federal government continues to overlook the mental and physical health of our veterans. Recently, the widow of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in outpatient care for depression at a Veterans Administration hospital sued the federal government for negligence. The V.A. is broken and underfunded, and the consequences are tragic.

If you are wondering where your representatives stand, check out this new report card from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American that grades every member of Congress on his or her voting record on the most critical issues facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. You might also be interested in this recent article on CampusProgress.org about the shortcomings of the GI bill from the perspective of an Iraq War veteran.

Despite constant conservative chatter about the unqualified success of the “surge,” no one is really convinced that Iraq is actually stable or secure at this point. The Iraqi embassy opened its doors for refugees to return from Syria, and no one has taken up the offer. Maybe it’s because of a recent spate of bombings.

Even Gen. David Petraeus, who recently handed over control of coalition forces in Iraq to Gen. Ray Odierno, continues to say that any recent gains in Iraq are "fragile and reversible.”

Given the uncertain future in Iraq, the Defense Department has recently paid private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million to “create news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to ‘engage and inspire’ the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.”  Maybe that will convince the population that things aren’t going so badly.

CLIMATE CHANGE 

Our current economic policy based on accumulating debt to be thrust on future generations to pay has finally collapsed, threatening to leave millions in poverty and without safe employment. The only solution that our government could come up with was to pay a random amount of money, ‘a large number’, to the same corporations that got us into this mess while doing nothing to help everyday Americans. Does this remind you of something? If you are thinking about the climate crisis, you are correct. As Van Jones says in his new book The Green Collar Economy, “today, the climate itself threatens to bring everything full circle: if we keep pulling death from the ground, we will reap death from the skies,” and we need to make sure that the solution to our planetary crisis won’t mirror that of our financial one. In his newly released book, Jones argues that by investing only half of the financial bailout sum ($350 billion) in climate mitigation (renewable energy and energy efficiency), we could get twice the economic boost.

On October first, conservatives quietly celebrated Energy Freedom Day in honor of the expiration of our long-standing moratorium on offshore oil drilling. After a long summer ‘debate’ over the benefits and ills of offshore oil drilling, Congress failed to renew the ban, opening up America’s coastlines to the drill. Despite the claims to the contrary, lines at gas stations are just as long and we are just as addicted to foreign oil as we were this summer. Admittedly, oil prices did go down significantly in the past two weeks, but most experts (those not funded by Big-Oil) attribute the falling prices to decreased demand and the economic recession.

If you’ve been watching the presidential debates you might have become less informed about energy issues. The only things that Joe Biden and Sarah Palin agreed on during their debate was that same-sex couples don’t deserve marriage, that Israel has to be protected at all costs, and that the fabled “clean-coal” will solve all our problems. Between the three presidential debates, almost 70% of the energy conversations referred to toxic forms of energy, including nuclear, oil, coal, and natural gas. Conservation, by far the cheapest, cleanest and most abundant form of energy, was mentioned only once in passing after a long argument in favor or ‘safe’ nuclear and ‘clean’ coal. Renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, tide, and geothermal, barely got the time of day they deserve, especially considering their potential to bring jobs to the United States. If you ever considered starting a PowerVote campaign on your campus, this might be the appropriate time since we need to counter this ridiculous conversation.

What is particularly galling about the way that the presidential candidates are talking about energy is that they are missing a great opportunity to convince swing voters and promote climate solutions at the same time. Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Colorado, Florida, and many of the other battleground states have some of the largest potential for green jobs creation and renewable energy resources in the nation. Four of these are also coal producing states which leads many to naively argue that it is necessary to talk about coal in order to appeal to voters there. That is a missed opportunity to expose King Coal’s environmental and humanitarian crime of mountaintop removal coal mining and the declining job market it leaves behind. As for nuclear, none of the candidates are using the most convenient argument against nuclear, that people fear nuclear when it is built close to their homes, to dismiss it as an alternative and shift the debate to more just forms of energy. It seems that, instead of competing for the presidency, they are going after this year’s Fossil Fool award by imprisoning the energy debate in the nuclear and “clean coal” arena.

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY 

The big news this month is, of course, the global economic crisis. Unsurprisingly, neither colleges nor students are immune. While low housing and stock prices present some long-term opportunities for young people, fewer families will be able to help their kids pay their tuition and textbook bills. More and more students are applying for federal student aid and even utilizing food assistance programs as tuition costs rise and the economy falters, and those who have or will soon leave school face a harsh, unforgiving job market. Increased demand for federal aid is one of the factors that led to a $6 billion Pell Grant budget deficit.

Congress has already begun addressing the Pell Grant shortfall by making a $2.5 billion “down payment,” and most experts believe that the political consequences of a failure to fund the nation’s premier need-based grant program would be far too dire for Congress to contemplate. There is some worry, however, about whether other important programs will see cuts to make up the difference, and about what Congress will do in 2013 when they will face another, large deficit of approximately $9 billion. To make a long story short, students and others who care about college affordability will have to work very hard in the coming years to make sure that Congress continues investing in the future.

College budgets are also facing deficits since the economic crisis is affecting the 4 major sources of funds for American higher education: endowments, which are invested in an angry bear of a market; bonds, which have become more scarce and expensive; donations, which decrease in tough economic times; and state appropriations, which are expected to decrease along with state tax revenue. While higher education will fare better than other sectors, students can probably expect painful tuition hikes.

In order to revitalize the debt-overdosed American economic system, the government passed a $700 billion dollar bailout for financial institutions. Despite the earlier student loan company rescue package that Congress recently passed, the bailout bill included language that would allow the federal government to purchase unwanted student loan debt from lenders. Unfortunately, they didn’t accompany this provision with common sense bankruptcy protections for borrowers or regulations against predatory student lending.

Before the bailout bill passed, it was discovered that student loan companies had gotten much more money - $1.2 billion – than originally thought by improperly exploiting loopholes in student loan policies. The Department of Education did not force loan companies to return their ill-gotten gains.

Enough with the doom and gloom; a few good things actually did happen since our last activist newsletter reached your inbox.

For one, the House of Representatives passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights by a wide margin. The bill represents the first time that a chamber of Congress has restricted the practices of credit card companies, and would create several important protections for young credit card borrowers.

There have also been a few interesting policy proposals in the past month. The Department of Education is working on a plan to drastically shorten and simplify the application for federal aid, although many are skeptical that it will happen any time soon. College Board also came out with some interesting ideas about how to overhaul the financial aid system, including one proposal that would move federal support for student loans from interest rate caps to assistance with repayment based on income.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 

With less than a month left until the election, tension is high in states with anti-affirmative action initiatives on their ballots. In Denver, the Coloradans for Equal Opportunity filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. The suit claims that over 5,000 signatures were rejected unreasonably and thwarted the group’s goal of getting Initiative 82 on the ballot this November.  The initiative would have provided a counterpoint to Amendment 46 would which eliminate all of the state’s equal opportunity programs in higher education and employment. According to the Secretary of State’s office, the group was 7,852 valid signatures short of the requirement, so the 5,300 rejected signatures would still not have qualified the bill to be added to the ballot. However, the group is going ahead with the law suit, so stay tuned for updates.

In Nebraska, another signature fraud trial is trying to remove an anti-affirmative action bill from its ballot. Although the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, the anti-affirmative action group supporting the ban, gained enough signatures for the initiative to be included on the ballot, two University of Nebraska-Lincoln students have filed a lawsuit against the Nebraska Secretary of State. The students question the validity of 40,000 of the 136,589 signatures obtained and accuse the group of fraudulent means of obtaining them.

Days ago, the American Council on Education, released data showing the huge gaps between the amount of white and Asian-American citizens with college degrees versus African Americans. Our generation may be the first since World War II, and possibly before that, not to overall attain higher levels of education than the previous generations. While white and Asian American young people outpace previous generations, the gaps for other minority groups are large enough that the current generation is, on average, heading toward being less educated than its predecessor.

According to the data, 41.2% of white Americans age 25-29 have an associate degree or higher compared to only 23.8% of blacks and 16% of Latinos in the same age bracket. While more whites are obtaining degrees, the percentages for Latinos and blacks have decreased in recent years Although these statistics are discouraging, some progress was also shown in the study. For instance, the total minority enrollment has increased by 50 percent between 1995 and 2005 and minorities make up 29% of all students.

There is still time to join the fight to protect equal opportunity programming to bring justice to college admissions. Email Erica now if you want to join the hundreds of students phonebanking to preserve affirmative action before the election!

STUDENT PROFILE

Artair Rogers
University of Mississippi
Biology Senior

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

I’m politicized because I want to make an impact. I am so driven to improve situations around me that it sometimes consumes me. Also, the classes that I have taken at the university have caused me to really study political issues and determine how they affect me.

How were you involved in the first presidential debate at Ole Miss? 

I was involved with the Presidential Debate Student Steering Committee. We helped promote and create some debate-related events. We worked directly with the administration with ticket distribution and the debate festival our school hosted. As a cabinet member on student government, I helped organize the Campus Progress Action I'm Voting For campaign and the Young, Black, and Ready to Vote Panel at our school. The I'm Voting For campaign included filming video testimonials about issues driving young people to the polls this November.  These testimonials were shown at the Rock the Debate Festival. The Young, Black, and Ready to Vote Panel allowed our campus’s largest minority group to express their feelings about politics. With the assistance of the panel, this group was able to learn about voters' rights, the power of mobilization, and the power of the young African-American vote.   

Of course we were absolutely shocked to hear that the debate was almost postponed. The students were looking forward to the debate, and the administration had worked so hard for that day to be a success. Every student and administrator was glued to television sets trying to see if all of our hard work would be for nothing.  I believe everyone on our campus had a little selfish moment when we heard the news. We were a little relieved when Senator Obama wanted to continue with the debate. However, we were most elated when both presidential candidates confirmed. Seeing the debate in person is an experience that Ole Miss students will never forget. 

Now, I am working with the Associated Student Body to launch ag new project entitled USpeak. This initiative is sponsored by the Mississippi Student Body President's Council. Essentially, this project was created to provide an outlet for Mississippi collegians to have their voices heard on the issues that they feel impact them the most. With this initiative, we hope to host programs that deal with college affordability, green initiatives, and health care for the college student.   Also, I am currently working to sponsor a community health fair in late October or early November. We want to promote preventive healthcare in the state of Mississippi. 

Any words of advice for young progressives?

Be persistent, stay focused, and research your issue. Also, never coordinate a campaign for selfish motives. The biggest reward from creating change is seeing how it impacts others.