4 - The Michigan Daily -- Tuesday, November 23, 1999 be~ Lic~igrbin 3ailg We need grace to handle turkey with 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan HEATHER KAM1INS Editor in Chief JEFFREY KOSSEFF DAVID WALLACE Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority ofthe Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Sell the stok 'U' should divest tobacco companies W hen you're writing about Thanksgiving, you've got to have a balanced plate. You want to have enough meat to counterbalance the stuffing. And if something resonates, that's gravy. Like you. I'm ready to get out of Ann Arbor. The approaching end-of- semester demands heated the past few weeks like a turkey in the oven. Now, just when we're cooked, we get a reprieve. Thanksgiving pro- vides four days to hide out from loom- ing final papers and David projects. Then it's a Wallace sprint to the end of the semester with due dates filling in for4 hurdles. What are college students thankful for this time of year? Sometimes there's not enough time to remember. So not surpris- ingly, it's more time off. We're thankful for professors who can- cel classes the day before Thanksgiving so we get home while the turkey's still warm. These professors definitely earned them- selves a drumstick. Come Thursday, most of us will be home thinking about perhaps the best meal of the year - made all the better after three straight months of the toughest dining decision in Ann Arbor: Domino's thin-crust or Wendy's classic single combo? But the meal should make us consider our many blessings in the seconds before we devour it. We should say grace. We're thankful for our family's health and togetherness. We're thankful for the food we're about to receive and for Mom, who cooked it. And we're thankful for a Lions victory on Thanksgiving Day. (Perhaps not in that order.) But there's always a small hitch. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of hol- idav stress. We all know the pressure. It clings to us like green paint on dead pine needles in a disreputable Christmas tree lot. What makes up the bouillabaisse of hol- idav stress ? Dinner preparation. How will it turn out? Did we forget anything'? A missed jar of olives could defeat days of culinary engineering. Shopping. The morning after. Thanksgiving we fling ourselves into malls (mauls?) on the busiest shopping day of the year, battling for parking spots and elbow room. At least we don't have to stop for lunch after yesterday's meal. Exams. It's ironic that classes end but the semester gets tougher. Blue books make horrible stocking stuffers. Exam grades arrive. Do we want to look? Yes! No! Oh, the humanity! Three weeks off to despair or celebrate, hinging on a few letters. The Lions. Will they make the play- offs? Or will they fold like an amateur playing poker in Vegas? If they don't, I'll never root for them again. This time I mean it. All these stresses focus on us this time of year. Every year it builds until some- one threatens to eat a poinsettia and end it all. For me, holiday stress begins the instant on Thanksgiving my mom says, "David. all the stressing before we eat, why don't you say grace?" Always she says this as I put a heaping forkful in my mouth. Through a mouthful of mashed potatoes, I spit out the words. "Ma. I don't wanna.' Now, saving grace would be insane at this point. I've shoved in half my plate by the time everyone's got their food. I move faster than the older members of my family. "Say it. It's the least you can do. I like to hear it." I shoot a resistant look at my mom. "I've done it forever. Someone else do it." Of course, that's not an option. No one else will do it. It has to be me. I'm still the youngest in the family. But that doesn't mean I go quietly. As we break into negotiations, Grandma sides with my mom. "C'mon, David." My aunt wants to know why I don't want to say grace. Another aunt sits contentedly. enjoying the spectacle. My dad wants me to say grace so we can start eating. My uncle may side with me, the only other Sooner shoveling away before grace. "Let him go. He doesn't want to do it." Plus, all these folded hands block the game on TV I continue to hold out. At this point, nerves get frazzled. "The food's getting cold!" the ladies say. "The beer's getting warm!" add my dad and uncle. "Dammit," I say, giving in. "Don't start grace with 'Dammit!' What's wrong with you'?" Nothing that getting through the next month won't cure. So I end up saying grace. David W/llace can be reached over e-mail at davidmw( jumich.edit. 0 0 J oe Camel died an untimely death, the Marlboro Man cannot be displayed on billboards and Phillip Morris runs anti tobac- co campaigns on television. But despite the public outrage directed at big tobacco and stu- dent and faculty concerns, the University has not divested its shares of tobacco stock from its endowment. As a leader in social reform, the University has a responsibility to distance itself from damaging companies, especially those as reprehensible as big tobacco. More than two years ago, the faculty Senate Assembly urged the University to sell its more than $25 million in tobacco stocks. In response, the University formed a committee of students, faculty, alumni and administrators to address the issue last year. During the '99 winter term, the Michigan Student Assembly voted to support the committee's formation. Yet one year later, with new Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg and the committee to address the problem, the University's tobacco stock remains untouched. The committee must see the betrayal of student and faculty interests inherent in this investment and recti- fy the problem. The University should divest its tobacco stock. We all know the damaging effects tobacco companies wrought through misinformation tied with extensive and deceptive promotional campaigns. Their efforts paid off in the short run, but according to the CDC, tobacco caus- es more than 400,000 deaths and $50 billion in medical costs each year. Cigarette makers target teenagers' insecurities with broad mar- keting campaigns. According to Monitoring the Future, a division of the University's Institute for Social Research, two thirds of all high school smokers in 1998 used one brand: Phillip Morris. This is not a coincidence, but the result of targeted advertising to teens. In addition to the ethical aspects of the investment, consider the financial argu- ments. Joe Camel cannot even get gigs on billboards and he has not been a TV star for more than three decades. In short, tobacco campaigns are losing their fizzle. The ability to promote the smoker's lifestyle to youngsters is eroding and older smokers are dying. With some studies reporting decreased tobacco use among teenagers, and the increasing societal pres- sure to curb smoking, the tobacco industry looks at potentially fewer American smok- ers each year. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. recently announced it was getting out of the carcino- gen manufacturing business in an attempt to isolate its profitable food enterprises, like Kraft and Nabisco. Even after dumping tobacco on its own, RJR will have to pay its share of the $208 billion state lawsuit settle- ment. With many loyal stockholders distanc- ing themselves from cancer stick makers, the University should too. There are many stable industries the University could invest in. The committee must make the rational decision to get far away from tobacco and the negative effects it has on public health. With such a crackdown on tobacco by the government in the form of lawsuits, restrictive advertising rules and youth smoking prevention, the University should follow the trend to distance itself from this harmful industry. Unfortunately, this is a trend the University could have led. But if the committee sells the tobacco stock now, it can still send a message. CHIP CULLEN IE, IN I B Help snuff out smoking UHS should distribute free nicotine patches O n a typical day on the University cam- pus, one can see large numbers of stu- dents inhaling potent carcinogenic agents which eventually will cause various dis- eases and death in many of them. The American Lung Association (ALA) says an estimated one person out of every five in the United States will die from this "relax- ing" habit. Even Phillip Morris is willing to admit it: Smoking causes cancer, along with a number of other diseases. With new information like this coming out all the time, and with more social estab- lishments, workplaces and restaurants ban- ning smoking, many people are trying to kick the habit. The ALA reports that "Of the current 47 million smokers, more than 31 million persons reported they wanted to quit smoking completely." But, with many smokers starting as young as age 11, this is not always easy by the time students reach college. But this desire to quit applies to college students as well; in a recent project, a nico- tine patch company donated nicotine patch- es for free distribution at the University of Minnesota. Nicotine patches "release a con- stant amount of nicotine into the body; the nicotine dissolves right through the skin and enters the body. The patches are similar to adhesive bandages and are available in different shapes and sizes. A larger patch delivers more nicotine through the skin" (www.lungusa. org/tobacco/index. html). The patches were highly sought after by students, and all 12,000 were distributed within 2 months. Students obviously want and need assistance in quitting, and help from universities is an effective way to alle- viate this problem. offers counselling and free pamphlets to those who wish to quit smoking. Nicotine patches are available at the UHS pharmacy, and are partially subsidized, but one box still runs about $25. The University should con- sider embarking on a program of free distri- bution of nicotine patches or should further subsidize such products, as well as making students aware of this opportunity. Nicotine replacement companies would be likely to sell at bulk prices if they knew they were reaching a large potential customer area. This would be beneficial both for the indi- vidual health of students and for the University environment. Smoking is still allowed in certain parts of University build- ings (such as "smoking" residence hall rooms). This contributes to secondhand smoke, which is a potent cancer-causing agent. Also, it is not difficult to see the effects on University aesthetics. Right now, cigarette butts litter every sidewalk and courtyard on campus. Imagine the time the University could save in cleaning and grounds mainte- nance. It would also be more welcoming to the countless students who abhor smoking, and to tuition-paying parents. On top of this, the University should be concerned with the simple factor of how many premature deaths it could prevent. The earlier a person quits, the less the chances are of getting a disease. Recently, there have been many devices created to help people wanting to quit. While no one is forcing students to give up cigarettes, nicotine patches and other products help people who want to quit find success. With such large benefits to both students and the University envi- ronment, UHS should consider larger sub- Letter about prof. misrepresented his views TO THE DAILY: Peter Romer-Friedman's letter of Nov. 15 ("Facts support labor activists' argu- ment") gives a rather misleading impression of Prof. Richard Vedder's Nov. I I speech. Though there is substantial agreement between Vedder and some members of SOLE, the nature of the agreement is not as Romer-Friedman describes. Vedder's central argument is that poor, agricultural nations need to industrialize to become prosperous and that the process of industrialization necessarily involves facto- ries with low wages and long hours. Hence, sweatshops are a good thing, and corporate leaders such as Frank Knight and Kathie Lee Gifford deserve our gratitude and admiration. If the members of SOLE agree with this claim, they should make their agreement public. Romer-Friedman and other audience members at Vedder's talk gave an argument for the claim that, as good as sweatshops are, actions by the University could make them even better. Some of the empirical assumptions of this argument are pretty clearly true, such as the low substitutability of capital for labor. Other assumptions might be true, but neither Vedder nor any. one else possesses all the data necessary to be sure. Others are probably empirically false, such as the claim that Nike currently makes a particularly large return on equity. Still others are not clearly even coherent, such as the claim that Nike, a profit-maxi- mizing firm, is operating in an inelastic region of its demand curve. If any of these assumptions fail, there is a strong chance that sweatshop codes will hurt the workers they're intended to help. Those members of SOLE who hate cor- porations, oppose sweatshops and want to overthrow capitalism found little to agree with in Vedder's talk. Intelligent and rea- sonable members of SOLE, such as Romer- Friedman, should ask themselves: If sweat- shop codes will certainly hurt the Universitydand Michigan consumers, and may perhaps also hurt poor workers, can't we find some better way - such as free trade - to help the world's poor? CHARLES GOODMAN RACKHAM STUDENT Drug testing welfare recipients poses problems TO THE DAILY: This letter is in response to Chris Coronado's letter on drug testing welfare recipients ("Welfare recipients should be tested for drug use" 11/19199). I think there has been a side left out of this debate. Chris himself thinks that people that really need welfare should get it, for short periods of .ims seems cost effective. The other fact that must be considered is the extra time it would take to get benefits. A person does not go on welfare if she has extra cash just laying around. Chances are the person is in dire need of help. If the true goal is to ensure that needy people get help, I don't think this plan works. I would also like to address one final issue. Do you think that if all these black people are shouting racism, they could be telling the truth? Do you honestly feel it is some sort of black phenomenon to cry racism all the time? Lets just all be honest here. Racism happens still. It happens all the time. We as white people are not in any position to judge: We have never been sub- jected to it. AIMEE BINGHAM LSA SENIOR Economic boom does not extend to everyone To THE DAILY: I am writing in response to Anand Giridharadas's article regarding economic prosperity ("Economic boom resonates in excessive student spending" 11/19/99), The article makesuthe point that our economy is booming to a high level of prosperity that has not been evident in the past. "From California to Kalamazoo, the U.S. economy is booming. The signs are clear: A soaring stock market,trace unemployment and a trillion dollar federal surplus." I am from Kalamazoo, and I will present statistics that reject this statement as one of truth in Kalamazoo and beyond. In the city of Kalamazoo, more than one out of three chil- dren live in poverty. Impoverished families are obviously not feeling that effects of a sup- posed booming economy. When the Dow Jones industrial average reached 11,000, this did not mean much to those who cannot afford stock. Although unemployment is at a low level, the number of working poor families in Michigan is not. Between 1977 and 1995, this number increased 48 percent nationally and 155 percent in Michigan. Nearly one out of .hri famil;cth. r. _; p. r nvmt ArJ wvretk~anl 4 or And3okr Cooper.' t "-49 1 KIN 0 9 Hate mail shows immaturity and ignorance TO THE DAILY: Well, here goes. I'm writing this letter to express my views on what's been going on over the whole Egypt-Air situation. Why I'm writing is because when I checked my e-mail Friday, I got a pretty harsh letter that totally ripped on my faith and culture. A certain indi- vidual was quick to point her finger at Islam, and she blames the pilots for purposely crash- ing the plane. Along with her accusations, she threw in a few choice words in an attempt to rip apart all Muslims and Arabs.. At first, I was really pissed off and angered. Then, after a while, all I thought was that someone really has to calm down. I'll be honest. Yeah, I make fun of my friends every once in a while. I may even cross the line at times. But when someone I don't even know graciously tells me to leave America and to go to hell, then I have a problem. I'm just here minding my own business, trying to pass my classes and move on in life, just like everyone else. What have I done to deserve hate mail degrading Arabs and Muslims? Honestly, people have to calm down, No one really knows what happened in that plane. Currently, the media is giving a million differ- ent stories over the "latest evidence." The so- called experts are still arguing over what hap- pened. God only knows their true intentions. Even if they did do it, I mean, does that lead to the conclusion that all Arabs are terrorists? Wonderful logic. Please, grow up. You're in college now. You should have left your stereo- types back in high school. So, if something like this ever happens again (God unwilling), do me and everyone a big favor and just leave us alone. Thanks. MOHSEN NASIR LSA SOPHOMORE Student protesters provided inspiration with their actions I