MIC

Wednesday, November 18, 2020 — 8 Opinion The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com DAVID LISBONNE | COLUMN

On compromise

Iimagine that for the political help restore our prosperity.” In 2016, regarding Judge aspirant, there’s a great deal As foreign as his words may Merrick Garland’s Supreme Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. to learn from this election sound today, they serve only as Court nomination, Sen. Mitch Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building regarding campaign strategy, conclusions, not solutions, to the McConnell, R-Ky., said, “One 420 Maynard St. polling accuracy, voting patterns question of compromise. So, what of my proudest moments was Ann Arbor, MI 48109 and a myriad of other facets of then is this fundamental essence when I looked Barack Obama in tothedaily@michigandaily.com electoral politics. As ever with of compromise? the eye and said, ‘Mr. President, an eye for history, I ignored It’s mutual respect for the you will not fill the Supreme ELIZABETH LAWRENCE BRITTANY BOWMAN AND ERIN WHITE this and went back to watch person on the other end of the Court vacancy.’” McConnell’s Editor in Chief EMILY CONSIDINE Managing Editor Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., table, and it’s an appreciation statement is far beyond a Editorial Page Editors concession speech from 2008. for a collective association refusal to compromise, and It demonstrated with startling greater than any political party. calling it indecent is a dramatic clarity and eloquence the aspect Critically, such respect does understatement.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Ray Ajemian Zack Blumberg Brittany Bowman Brandon Cowit Jess D’Agostino Jenny Gurung Zoe Phillips Mary Rolfes Gabrijela Skoko of today’s politics I find most despairing: The bygone virtues of mutual respect and agreement. not exist without integrity and decency. Reading and listening to Sen. President Trump has yet to formally concede and give a concession speech. He instead Emily Considine Krystal Hur Joel Weiner While a concession speech may McCain’s speech, it is remarkable took to Twitter, commenting, Elizabeth Cook Min Soo Kim Erin White seem entirely antithetical to the degree to which his character “this election is far from over.” Lizzy Peppercorn compromise, insofar as only shines. In commenting on his life When — or if — he gives a Unsigned editorials refect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. one candidate wins the race, as a public servant, McCain said, concession speech, I can only McCain’s speech conveys “I would not be an American imagine how it might differ from

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. the fundamental essence of worthy of the name, should I any such congratulatory speech compromise. regret a fate that has allowed we’ve seen before. Joe Biden FROM THE DAILY The very notion of compromise me the extraordinary privilege has run a campaign centered necessitates concession, as of serving this country for a half on unity and spoke further coincidental as that wording may a century.” Suchis reverence for about those ideals in his victory

Skepticism for winter 2021 be. But to reach an agreement in which both parties believe they’ve gained or lost does not his work makes clear that his words on compromise were said wholeheartedly. speech this past Saturday evening. I hope his drive to unify and heal American divisiveness O n Nov. 6, the University of Michigan announced a plan for the winter semester that included major changes to on-campus housing, class formats and testing protocols and accessibility. Most notably, the demand a weak will or loosely held convictions. In fact, it’s the opposite. Compromise is never easy, and surely not for those so stubborn to the point In congratulating his opponent, he said, “A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama — to congratulate him on being elected the next is genuine, such that we may rekindle the respect, integrity and decency for one another I fear we’ve lost. Compromise, as it exists in University will be converting on-campus housing into single-occupancy of absolute immobility. Change president of the country that the legislative process and in the units, with undergraduates required to provide a reason to stay in one. is incremental and cooperative; we both love.” When the crowd structure of our government, Additionally, COVID-19 testing will be made mandatory for all students such is the nature of our county, of our government and of people. in Arizona began to boo after hearing Obama’s name, McCain serves as a check on the majority and ensures the beliefs living in on-campus housing or participating in on-campus activities, and Thankfully, we live in a system held out his hands, imploring his of the minority are heard. At the an even larger proportion of classes will be moved online than were during that doesn’t enforce a universal supporters to refrain. Later, he Constitutional Convention in the fall semester. Upon releasing the plan, University President Mark belief set. We are free to pursue, maintain and change our own said, “I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for 1787, Benjamin Franklin spoke truths equally of woodworking Schlissel stated, “The changes we’ve made for winter semester reflect convictions however we see fit. all its citizens, whether they as of compromise: “When a what we’ve learned and what we must do to keep our community safe.” This invites discord and the idea supported me or Sen. Obama, I broad table is to be made, and of opposition, but disagreement wish Godspeed to the man who the edges of planks do not fit,

It’s no secret that both the are necessary. While students recruitment events. As a result, should not premise a refusal to was my former opponent and will the artist takes a little from administration and the students do have agency of their own, by FSL has experienced COVID-19 compromise. In his concession, be my president.” both, and makes a good joint.” made mistakes this semester. relying on students to socially outbreaks. Students also continue Sen. McCain said just that: All of this brings me to As a nation and as We’ve recorded thousands of distance on a campus designed to gather in large numbers in and “Sen. Obama and I have had and where we stand today. In the 12 individuals, we are the sum cases of COVID-19, which resulted to promote socialization, the around bars and restaurants near argued our differences, and he years since McCain’s speech, of innumerable influences. In in a countywide shutdown of University is at fault for the rise campus, including the Brown has prevailed.” we seem to have forgotten the same way, two halves of an undergraduate activity. Now is in cases we have experienced this Jug, which became a COVID-19 He also said, “I urge all how to compromise. Divided arch cannot stand without its the time to prove we can do better. semester. Earlier, the Graduate hotspot earlier this semester. And Americans who supported government has become a keystone. A citizenry of split The University needs to expand Employees’ Organization strike as Michigan football began its me to join me in not just byword for stagnation when, ideas cannot stand without housing to accommodate students campaigned for the Division of delayed season, the “Overheard congratulating him, but offering instead, it should foster embracing compromise and the with special cases and make their Public Safety and Security funds to at umich” Facebook page featured our next president our goodwill compromise. Speaker of the respect, civility and decency it so criteria to stay on campus more be relocated to the implementation several images documenting large and earnest effort to find ways House Nancy Pelosi refused to commands. widely known and accessible for of COVID-19 protections and for and unmasked tailgate events. to come together, to find the move on stimulus negotiations those not able to move home. The mandatory testing. Instead of While the University has failed us necessary compromises, to this past October, leaving David Lisbonne can be reached at University also needs to release blaming freshmen, the University with an insufficient plan for fall bridge our differences and talks at a complete impasse. lisbonne@umich.edu. a clear and comprehensive plan should have listened more to the semester, we have also failed each to actually implement effective COVID-19 testing, which did demands of the GEO strike, or at least have credited them in the other. Many students have expressed LYDIA STORELLA | COLUMN not happen this fall. Students need to take this opportunity to plan for the winter semester. The University’s announcement frustration that administration is shifting blame onto Joe Biden won, but America lost make responsible decisions going for the upcoming semester uncooperative undergraduates, forward. The looming uncertainty of housing security haunts freshmen, contains plans for more robust testing, including testing all on-campus residents and but we need to stop giving them this option in the first place. Though administration bears T he last American president to lose a reelection campaign senators, are allowing people to continue believing it. Belief in the electoral system is key an election claimed they won, people would have no faith in the electoral system and causing them to seek off-campus attendees of in-person classes or the ultimate responsibility, we was President George H.W. to American democracy, and would not trust any election. alternatives instead of re-applying research. However, the breakage should engage on an individual Bush in 1992. On election two senators are participating As Americans, we should be for residence halls where they of all residence hall leases that level — the same way many night, Bush conceded to then- in accusations that reject that appalled and concerned that will also avoid mandatory testing has pushed on-campus students environmental activists view Governor Bill Clinton and belief with no evidence. our president, along with by the University. While the new to scramble for sublets and winter individual climate action. Just as gave a speech thanking his Regardless of what you the many who support him, plan was implemented in hopes leases decreases the number of no one person can stop climate supporters and wishing the might think of Biden or Trump refuse to participate in a of reducing off-campus social students the University would change, no one student can future president well in the and who you think should be peaceful transition of power gatherings — citing that there is be responsible for testing. control the COVID-19 pandemic. White House. Bush spoke of the president, it has become and instead deny this pillar of “little evidence” that on-campus While the increased availability But the combination of individual ensuring a smooth transition clear that America lost this American democracy. activities largely contribute to of asymptomatic testing will efforts sends a collective message of power and asked Americans election. Regardless of I am worried about the the spread of the virus — it seems increase overall testing, students to the University that we are to “stand behind our new partisanship and who would future of America. As the that the new plan is doing just the off-campus are unlikely to make willing to make sacrifices and president regardless of our perform better as president, country becomes more opposite. the effort to get tested often concessions for our community, differences.” when a candidate announces entrenched in our political

Furthermore, the University’s without enforcement, especially as and we expect nothing less from The American people have he won when he didn’t and dichotomy and aggressively plan could encourage those who the weather becomes colder. Many them. Finally, we need to hold not yet heard such a speech accuses states of voter fraud stereotypes people on have neglected social distancing other universities across the nation one another accountable with from President Donald Trump, with no evidence, and people either side of the political guidelines to push parties further have managed to increase testing student-led initiatives, similar and it is unlikely that we ever believe him, that country’s spectrum, it becomes more underground, while those who numbers through penalizing to the “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” will. Instead, the president of democracy is in trouble. likely that our democracy have honored the University’s students for not getting tested or campaign spearheaded by Boston the United States has recklessly American democracy is in will be in trouble. As long as policies are left in the dust. even offering prizes and rewards University undergraduates. tweeted, retweeted and trouble. there continue to be political And while the University is for getting tested. The University Wolverines should collectively spoken of baseless accusations figures who encourage this allowing select students to should consider implementing encourage one another to stay of voter fraud and claims to type of thinking and cast return to campus housing if their similar systems to encourage more COVID-conscious this winter — have won the election. While doubt about the integrity of circumstances qualify them for need-based on-campus housing widespread testing. The University witnessed and should productively call one another out when we don’t. many individuals may likely understand that there is no Elections only our elections, we will remain on a dangerous path both in and they applied by Nov. 11, the requirements appear muddy. The a spike in third-party testing this semester. Many students The winter 2021 plan presents significant changes to life at the evidence to back up these false accusations, it remains work if everyone terms of our democracy and in terms of what it means to qualifications for need-based housing include students who are have voiced concerns over being forced into the infamous isolation University next semester. In many ways, this plan has been the true that a large portion of the country believes Trump involved be an American. A Biden presidency taking a necessary in-person class, housing and difficulties in getting one the community demanded when he says that he won the respects the could help to heal some of who have financial needs, who have wellness or safety concerns, tested through the University Health Service. The winter 2021 for fall — limited on-campus housing, widespread testing and election. Though Joe Biden has won outcome. the damage that has been done to the U.S. due to rifts international students and testing plan does guarantee courses held remotely whenever the requisite 270 electoral between identities like race, ResStaff. However, the University “weekly asymptomatic testing possible. But transitioning to this votes to declare victory and gender, geography and neglects to precisely define available for all students … who plan in the middle of the school will become the president political affiliation. But if the “wellness or safety concerns,” are not otherwise covered by a year will cause disruption for on Jan. 20, 2021, it is unclear Republicans who refuse to which could potentially exclude mandatory program.” For this many students. Moreover, the how many Trump supporters We shouldn’t really be condemn Trump’s efforts to students with mental health policy to be effective, however, fumbling of the fall semester will view Biden as a legitimate surprised that Trump has remain in power continue to concerns if they aren’t prioritized. the University must make it easy by administration has created president. Some of these refused to concede. He’s said do so, the healing of our nation In addition, the closing of for students to sign up for testing, skepticism toward the University’s supporters are high-profile repeatedly that he wouldn’t will be an extremely difficult residence halls disproportionately offer different testing locations ability to pull off the revamped elected officials, who have not necessarily accept the results job, if not an impossible one. affects marginalized students who for accessibility to off-campus winter plan. Ultimately, next only refused to congratulate of the election if he lost, and If the Democratic Party don’t have the privilege of signing students and encourage all semester will be an exercise in President-elect Biden, but he’s said in the past that he continues to ignore the a lease with five days of notice, students to get tested routinely. trust-building for students, both also repeat Trump’s rhetoric might try to run for a third thoughts of the white working as well as students who cannot The success of the University’s with administration and with about the illegitimacy of this term in 2024. On the other class, especially those in rural afford to take a gap year or gap plan to control COVID-19 each other. Will the University election. Sen. Lindsey Graham, hand, it’s almost surprising America, people will continue semester due to financial aid that during the winter 2021 semester prioritize students over profits to R-S.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, that prominent Republicans, to want what Trump brought requires them to enroll as a full- cannot rely upon administrative keep us safe? Will they take full R-Texas, have both appeared including former president to the White House in our time student. efforts alone. We, as students, responsibility for their missteps on Fox News since Biden was George W. Bush and Sen. government.

The University is scapegoating must be willing to follow public rather than shifting blame onto announced the winner to call Mitt Romney, R-Utah, You can either celebrate freshmen as the culprits of health guidelines, including students? And will students into question the legitimacy have come out against this or mourn the end of the the “unacceptable” levels of the sacrifices that entails. be willing to make personal of the election and to argue rhetoric and congratulated Trump presidency. But you COVID-19 cases this fall rather While many students have been sacrifices to demonstrate that that Trump still has a path to Biden, considering that many must accept the results of than admitting to their own staying socially distanced, a they take this crisis seriously? reelection. Republicans have spent much this election and all other wrongdoings. As predicted by the large portion of undergraduates The failures of this fall have sown It is bad enough that so of the last four years only elections if you want the U.S. graduate student employees in the have continued to engage in animosity and distrust within many people believe that condemning the president to continue to be a functioning beginning of this semester, the unsafe activities. Fraternity & our community. The winter plan Biden stole this election from when absolutely necessary. democracy. University’s plan for the fall was Sorority Life members continue may be the first step toward Trump, but even worse is But elections only work if insufficient to prevent the spread to host and attend large indoor improvement — but it could also that people such as Graham everyone involved respects the Lydia Storella can be reached at of COVID-19 and strict changes gatherings and hold in-person make things even worse. and Cruz, two well-known outcome. If everyone who lost storella@umich.edu.

MARGARET RUDNICK | COLUMN The terrifying world of ants puts humans in perspective

Ants are small, numerous and have taken over the surface of the world. These seemingly innocuous, tiny creatures are deadly in their world of thievery, conquest and warfare. In a way that corresponds to human nature, some species of ants beg, borrow and steal from neighboring colonies to survive. Argentine ants, in particular, have spread throughout the world to every continent except Antarctica in a global imperialistic invasion. Many parallels can be drawn between the behaviors of ants and humans that can allow us to examine our own behavior in a new light. We can and should learn from the inner workings of ant society.

Animals in nature often commit what we today would view as war acts without remorse, tearing other animals limb from limb and eradicating neighboring tribes or nations; ants are no exception. They pillage rival anthills, killing millions of their kind almost every day. Some ant species resort to downright exploding themselves to take down foes. This kills not only the larger attacking ant but the attacker themselves. This ant’s only purpose at this moment is to die for its tribe, despite its lifelong work of collecting food, sustaining itself and being useful to its colony. The ant’s sacrifice will benefit the colony but at the extreme expense of taking its own life.

Ants commit the ultimate individual sacrifice for the sake of the colony without hesitating or knowing the enormity of their actions to their community. We like to think that humans are strong and brave for rising above our built-in selfish natures by committing small acts of altruism, but this perception needs reconsideration. The average human isn’t selfless when compared to almost any ant in existence. action remains ongoing. Despite the fact that lawsuits against universities for their admissions policies have been largely unsuccessful, both the Department of Justice and private conservative activist groups continue to file them. In early October, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Yale for race-based discrimination, adding another high profile affirmative action case to the mix. Though the Supreme Court has ruled four times in the last forty years that affirmative action is constitutional, Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are all fighting similar suits.

The fight for schools to remain race-conscious in an effort to maintain diversity and reach their educational goals has been fought and won many times in the nation’s highest courts. While every new lawsuit alleges that taking race into account is discriminatory and ruinous to the meritocratic principles of this nation, time and time again, the data does not bear this out. It makes me wonder if Students for Fair Admissions, one of the primary groups bringing these lawsuits, has heard of legacy preference.

A lawsuit, brought by Students for Fair Admissions against UNC’s admission criteria, is continuing to a federal trial this week. The suit alleges that race is used “at every stage” of determining the admission decisions of Black and Hispanic students. However, statistical analyses of the admissions decisions differ substantially, showing that race accounts for under 1% of decisions to up to 42% of in-state Black applicants. UNC denies that race is more than one of a multitude of factors used in admissions.

Another perception that needs changing: Humans are the ultimate social creature on Earth, collaborating to erect massive works of architecture and complex intellectual theories. You guessed it. Ants are one of the most social creatures on Earth — more so than humans. In fact, they’re hive creatures (the scientific term for this is eusociality). They do things for their colonies that most humans wouldn’t dream of doing for their own countries without major consideration.

There are more than 16,000 different ant species on the planet today. In fact, scientists estimate a total of 20,000 species of ants in existence on Earth, which means about 4,000 species have yet to be discovered. Behavior varies between the different species (e.g. some ant species focus on foraging for plants while others almost exclusively raid other nests and insects). Despite great physiological diversity among species, almost all individual ants exhibit a willingness to sacrifice for the entire nest more than an individual human would for a town or country, bringing us back to the point that human selflessness as a construct lags behind that of ants.

As well as being more selfless and more social than humans, ants do war better than we do. Among the 16,000 total ant species discovered, there is an “army ant” sect that consists of 200 ant species. These aggressive species raid other animals to obtain food, attacking prey with enormous numbers. Warrior ants such as the Argentine ant and the red imported fire ant are waging wars daily, killing and consuming hundreds of thousands of prey animals per day. Humans have taken over the world in the sense that we have conquered most of the available land on Earth, and it’s interesting to think that ants have already done this; after all, they’ve had 160 million years of existence to

Though the Supreme Court has held that racial quotas are unconstitutional, affirmative action and admissions or hiring practices that consider race as one of many factors were deemed permissible.

Students for Fair Admissions argue that diversity could be achieved by concentrating admissions decisions around geography or socioeconomics instead of race — a “race-neutral” approach. UNC and Harvard, who has also dealt with recent challenges to its consideration of race in admissions, both claim this proposed change would only serve to reduce diversity.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that UNC and Harvard are correct. Chicago Public Schools used racebased admissions as a way to diversify its test-in high schools until 2009, when it turned to socioeconomicbased admissions after a court mandate to integrate students based on race, defining them as either “‘white’ or ‘minority,’” was lifted. Socioeconomic status as a factor for admissions to these selective high schools was intended to help maintain the racial diversity of the schools.

Socioeconomic factors are applied to census tracts in the city, designating each census tract tier 1-4. Schools then take a certain percentage of their student populations from each tier, with 30% of the seats going to the top scorers, regardless of their tier. From 2009 to 2019, the percentage of white students at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, one of the city’s top public high schools, has increased from 36% to 44%, while the percentage of Black students has decreased from 26% to 11%. For context, the district was about 11% white in 2019, compared to almost 36% Black. spread themselves around the world. This is the consequence of perfectly synchronized sociality and sacrifice.

We praise the qualities of social achievement and altruistic behavior, but from ants we have learned that these qualities are not good for an animal in the extreme. If groups of humans were fully social or completely altruistic, we could have mass war on our hands — and everyone can agree that that is not a good thing.

Army ants have very few means of communication relative to humans. Visually, they can tell night from day and distinguish almost nothing more than that. They can’t even form an image of the world around them, relying on their senses of smell and touch for detecting vibrations. Their only tool for communication is the use of pheromones. However, warrior ants are still capable of amassing huge groups for raids, sometimes even more than 100,000 individuals — amazing given how difficult it is for humans to organize ourselves with all five of our senses. Their behavior can even inform how computers should be organized, because it’s miraculous that they can successfully function socially given their limited forms of communication.

The world of army ants and their ant neighbors is vicious. We should care about ants because their behavior so closely mirrors our own. War, cooperation, sacrifice: Ants do each of these things better than humans ever have. Ants are the meta-social epitome of what we don’t want human society to become. Every day, thousands of ants die as their colonies bring chaos and violence upon other unassuming prey. Their environmental niche drives them to kill millions of other animals weekly. This is the terrifying world that exists under the feet of our civilization.

Margaret Rudnick can be reached

JESSIE MITCHELL | COLUMN Afrmative action is here to stay

Donald Trump may be on his way out, but the war on affirmative

at rudnickm@umich.edu.

Not only are “race-neutral” approaches to achieving racial diversity in schools ineffective, they are also nonsensical. As argued in the “Journal of Law Reform” at the University of Michigan, “a ‘race neutral alternative’ only makes sense when the goal itself is race neutral.” For as long as schools hold racial diversity as important to their educational mission, it makes sense to be race conscious during the admissions process.

But what about the poor victims of affirmative action? Depending on where you are and who you ask, these are usually either white or Asian American students. At Harvard, where the affirmative action suit hinges around admissions policies that are allegedly unfair to Asian American students, even if all Black and Latinx applicants were eliminated, the percentage of Asian American students admitted would rise by only about 1%. In California — where affirmative action has been banned in the University of California university system since 1998 — the share of Asian students has declined, suggesting that they were beneficiaries of affirmative action.

In the case of UT-Austin, the white plaintiff in Fisher v. The University of Texas was denied admission, but so were 168 Black or Latinx students with grades as good or better than hers. Affirmative action has been a huge boost to white women specifically, and it is also worth noting that at elite colleges, preference for legacy admits plays a far larger role than race and disproportionately favors white students. In other words, if you didn’t get into your dream school, it’s far more likely that a white kid took “your” spot. T he Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923 by suffragists Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. In 1972, it passed in Congress, but the necessary number of states failed to ratify it by the 1982 deadline. Since then, it has incited a great deal of debate on both sides of the aisle. In the revolutionary and arguably electric atmosphere we’re living in, the Equal Rights Amendment should finally be ratified and added to the Constitution.

The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment broken down into three sections. The sections read as follows: “Section 1: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3: This amendment shall take effect 2 years after the date of ratification.” Supporters of the ERA argue its necessity is borne out of a lack of Constitutional interpretation of the rights of women as an identity deserving of equality even within the 14th Amendment.

Further, the ERA is meant to clearly codify women and men as of equal class — guaranteeing “equal justice under law” on the basis of sex. Section 1 of the ERA would be the first explicit mention of “women” in the Constitution. Many who disagree with the ERA use the 14th Amendment and the Equal Pay Act to argue that it would be a superfluous, even redundant, amendment.

Design courtesy of Yassmine El-Rewini

This is not the case. The 14th Amendment was ratified after the Civil War and was meant to specifically address the immense racial injustice in 1868. If it had effectively acknowledged women as an equal sex, women (at least white women, considering that most women of color were not granted suffrage until decades later) would have been granted suffrage then as opposed to 52 years later with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Without the Equal Rights Amendment, current legal protections, like that of the Equal Pay Act, can theoretically be removed by a single vote. Delving even deeper, ratification of the ERA would emphasize the consideration and protection against sex-based discrimination legally. We must secure a better foundation of constitutional equality through explicitly stating the necessity of legal equity; without the ERA, this cannot happen.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice was met with unease and apprehension from many pro-choice women (and men). In the already turbulent, near-apocalyptic atmosphere, the possibility that the progress made by determined feminists — such as the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — could potentially be undone is enough to pass an amendment that will protect the major advances in women’s rights.

Despite having received ratification by the required 38 states, the ERA has been met with many legal challenges that have prevented its certification as an official part of the United States Constitution. While it gets a bit complicated the more that you attempt to untangle this political and legal conundrum, it gets boiled down to this: there are two strategies for the ratification of the ERA. The first is through the Constitutional Ratification Process in Article V of the Constitution; a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate and the House of Representatives is required before it is sent for three-fourths of state legislatures to ratify. The second mode is known as the “Three-State Strategy” which emphasizes that only three more states were needed in addition to the 35 existing ratifications that supporters argue should be deemed legally viable.

It is imperative that we ratify this amendment. By declaring a “zero tolerance” message, the Equal Rights Amendment gives a megaphone to the millions of activists who have fought for and passed the legislation that has continued to work toward equality for all people.

Since its inception in 1923, the ERA has remained an active component in the political conversations of equality and feminism. Presidentelect Joe Biden — an avid supporter of the ERA — has personally co-sponsored the ERA ratification nine times. Directly on his campaign’s website, Biden includes extensive information about his agenda for women; within this agenda, it explicitly states: “as President he will work with advocates across the country to enshrine gender equality in our Constitution” in reference to passage of the ERA. With our first female Vice President-elect Kamala Harris alongside Biden, it is time to learn more about the ERA and finally see it in our Constitution.

Jess D’Agostino can be reached at jessdag@umich.edu.

MADELYN VERVAECKE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT MIVERVAE@UMICH.EDU