ann arbor is overrated.

We’ve probably belabored the GEO/grad student researchers thing enough, but today’s deluge of pro-GEO letters alerted us to perhaps the most egregious line in the column that started it all, which we somehow missed - the part about graduate students receiving a “living stipend large enough that GSIs can live comfortably even in the outrageously overpriced realm of Ann Arbor apartments.”

Since when are salaries that reflect the cost of living in an area a luxury? All right, except for all of the Ann Arbor workers who can’t afford to live in Ann Arbor. But for the U of M not to offer such salaries to grad students - who are often willing to move anywhere for their graduate education, have to go between home and campus more times per day than a 9-5 worker, and are often young and single, making it cheaper to live wherever they choose - would be incredibly shortsighted. Fortunately, the university realizes this.