In the March 18 viewpoint entitled, “Pragmatic Goals for CSG”, Michael Budros — vice chair of CSG’s Student Organization Funding Commission — made the case for why youMICH should be elected as the representatives and leaders of our student body while simultaneously offending an important part of that community. He wrote: “Nor should we expect our student leaders to be able to overturn decades of legal and legislative precedents to offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition.”
As formerly undocumented immigrants and student activists, we were personally offended by his use of the “I” word, a racially charged slur used to dehumanize an entire population in our country, and by his undermining of the work accomplished by the Coalition for Tuition Equality.
We have both spoken on behalf of the coalition, personally addressing the University’s Board of Regents at its past two meetings. And the regents were receptive to our message. Regent Julia Darlow (D–Ann Arbor) additionally asked Provost Philip Hanlon to provide them with more information regarding our issue.
We recognize that as individual students we have a powerful voice and that we can initiate change on this campus. Our university has a long and vibrant legacy of social change and activism, and we seek to continue it. We believe that tuition equality can and will happen at the University, and we know that the support offered by the current CSG administration has been instrumental to the success of our movement. Conscious of his agency as a CSG representative, the coalition’s founder and OurMichigan presidential candidate, Kevin Mersol-Barg strategically utilized the resources available to him through such position in order to bring this issue to the eyes of administration.
It is obvious to us and students on this campus that this is the kind of change we need in Central Student Government. As candidates with OurMichigan, if elected, we pledge to continue advocating for meaningful change.
Luz Meza is an LSA junior and Daniel Morales is an LSA freshman. Both are CSG Representative candidates running with OurMichigan.