4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 11, 2005 OPINION eI~ £hdiptt &itilg JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE Their message to us is that we're not citizens, we're not worthy, that we don't exist." - Historian and activist Hatoon Fassi, commenting on Saudi Arabia's prohibition of women's suffrage in its recent municipal elections, as reported yesterday by Reuters. SAM BUTLER T'E S5APBOX lotaL . ,.,, .,...-.,.. . mow.,,' 6 It M1 11y~' N YAMM Mrs I I Ir I ,..._ Danger of the status quo SOWMYA KRISNAMURTHY AU.Di ALTERAM PARTEM 4 mployees at Weyco, an insur- ance benefits administrator in Okemos, Michigan are knee-deep in a corporate controversy that enables their boss to terminate them if they smoke. Health aficionado and company president Howard Weyers initiated a plan last year to keep his employees from smoking by initially fining offenders and requiring their attendance at a smoking cessation class in which a smok- ing counselor was brought in to help moderate. In January, Weyers tightened his policy, requir- ing that his 200 employees undergo mandatory testing for smoking and random breathalyzers. Those who fail will be fired. As usual, the American Civil Liberties Union and others attempted, to no avail, to halt the testing by arguing that employees' personal lives are meant to remain just that - personal. Honestly, I doubt that Weyers has inten- tionally made invidious distinctions between smokers and non-smokers. To Weyers, a healthy worker is more apt to be produc- tive, and in many regards this is probably true. From a cost perspective, non-smok- ers are also less of a financial burden on a firm. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2002, annual productivity losses and health care costs were over $3,000 per smoker. With already-rising health care fees, Wey- ers has stated that he, as a small business owner, simply cannot afford to insure smok- ing employees. Furthermore, Weyer's actions are completely legal in the state of Michigan. This state is one of 20 with no legislation pre- venting employers from banning smoking at or away from the workplace. And this is by no means the first form of so-called "lifestyle discrimination." Until the mid-1990s, several airlines enforced poli- cies that limited how much a flight attendant could weigh. The Boy Scouts of America have vehemently enacted an anti-gay hiring policy. And just last year, Lynne Gobbell was fired from her job at a conservative insulation firm in Alabama for driving to work with a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker in the rear windshield of her Chevy Lumina. Fairness dictates that only those traits that hinder one's ability to successfully perform in a job should be grounds for termination. Yet the division between property creates a mala- dy, in that courts are hindered from enforcing such a regulation in the private sphere. But we, as employees, are also at fault. Guised under the fallacy of free will, many of us surrender jurisdiction over our lives to employers without even realizing it. One of the highlights of my semester at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business is undergoing the internship acquisition process. Per- fecting resumes, ironing my business suit, schmoozing with recruiters, remembering to maintain good posture and exude viva- ciousness - the painstaking lengths we go to keep up appearances is largely a charade. But deceit is the name of the game - it's not so much what you know, but what you can make other people think you know. Compa- nies hire those candidates who embody - or at least can feign in a 30-minute interview - certain corporate tenets. No one would employ me if he knew that money is perhaps the largest impetus driving Business School students, or that despite the bullet points on my resume, I am completely disorganized with no perception of punctuality. Even after getting a foot in the door, the sham persists. A common business confession is that those most apt to receive promotions or bonuses are employees who "fit" into some nebulous managerial mold versus straight competency. In other words, those extra min- utes spent playing the lickspittle at the water cooler or throwing back a few brews with the boss after work do pay off. Those who invest time in "fitting in" get rewarded, while their rebellious counterparts are sent packing. This is synonymous in many regards to Weyco - the only distinction is the grounds for firing. Whether it is for smoking or for not being a "team player," the end-result is the same: Employees are judged based upon subjective criteria and the discretion of their employers, and we as employees aggravate the situation by participating in this status quo. Forcing employees to surrender personal autonomy definitely treads the dangerous line of legalizing discrimination. Let Weyco serve as the caveat and not the catalyst: What begins today as an impediment to smoking or a mandatory uniform could quite conceivably legitimize homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. within the workplace down the line, under the innocuous pretext of increasing productivity. Krisnamurthy can be reached at sowmyak@umich.edu. Reinventing the wheel ... JASMINE CLAIR THE MEANING OF PROGRESS T'~ his campus epito- in proving to everyone else that we know it all. couches in student ghettos when we could eas- mizes arrogance. And we do know it all ... ily read them for free in the comforts of our lav- A University But before I go overboard with my sarcasm, ish homes. Education is a means to an end, and degree inflates our egos to let me pose a more serious question. What is along the way, we enhance our analytical and the point where others can the purpose of our education here? Do we come trade skills. sense our presence before here simply to appease our parents? Or to sat- Is there anything wrong with using education our arrival. If you don't isfy society's standards of success? for the convenience of egos or to satisfy a pre- believe me, take a campus Unfortunately, some find the University a scribed requisite for success? Well, it depends poll. The people here know place to showcase what they already know on who you are. I once read about a man who how true this is better than rather than to learn what they don't. Rather idolized America's system of meritocracy anyone else. And make sure to consult our Uni- than searching for fresh new perspectives, we because it allowed him to work his way out of versity "servants" on the issue. I know that you instead look for evidence to build stronger cases poverty, and now he's a very successful lawyer know what I mean, but we'll pretend that you for our own personal biases. Too afraid of dam- living out in the suburbs. He was very proud, don't for the sake of entertainment. aging our delicate egos, we learn new things almost to the point of arrogance. His story was Here are a couple examples of the people that to justify old ways. Therefore, we don't have new to me, but it was the same old story used to we treat like servants. First, we have the Uni- people studying issues to find out if they are argue that racial and socioeconomic barriers no versity janitors and technicians who go unno- more liberal or conservative. We instead have longer exist - the same old romantic American ticed until we need something. Responsible bright young minds staunchly declaring their tale that's been told for centuries. for cleaning sinks decorated with toothpaste- allegiance to a party and using coursework to However, the ghetto, which he left his rela- covered ramen noodles and repairing urinals reinforce these ideas. tives living in, still exists. His success brought clogged with dried vomit - always happy to Rather than seeking objective truth, we sub- nothing new, his people were still poor, and clean up after us, but never performing up to the ject and limit ourselves to the thoughts of past their schools still produced a handful of suc- standards set by mom and dad. thinkers. We supplement our readings of Marx, cessful students. Then we have those pesky security servants Locke, and Plato with our own agendas. Often We study history because it tends to repeat - a.k.a. rent-a-cops. Because our parents feel misconstruing their arguments so that we can itself. Unfortunately, there are too many disad- more comfortable knowing we have our own formulate ideas of our own, we fail to realize vantaged people here to let this cycle continue personal police force, we reluctantly agree to that our "new" ideas about why going to Iraq is in America. If we are truly the best of the best, spare them their jobs. But every now and then, wrong are the same old ideas that were used for we should be shaping fresh new perspectives, they get out of line and we have to put them the Gulf War and Vietnam. The same new ideas not finding support for the arguments that our back in their place. How often have policemen that we use to justify banning gay marriage are parents have already made many times before. heard, "My parents pay your salary asshole!" the same old arguments used to support slavery As the future comes, we can't continue to from a drunken co-ed? The same one crying in and racism. Hence, we find ourselves reinvent- follow the footsteps left to us because this will their faces a week later when someone "breaks" ing wheels. only produce another broken-down, squeaky into his house because he was too careless to So once again, why are we here? Well, wheel. So what are you going to do? Pretend lock the door behind him. because we're pragmatists. Many are not as like the wheel ain't broke? Do an oil-and-duct If you won't admit that we're arrogant interested in learning new things as they are tape job? Or scrap the wheel for some custom- despite the survey results, then I will. It's noth- in using this world-class degree to prove our designed low profiles on spinning 22s. ing to be ashamed of. The University goes out greatness to future employers. Let's be hon- of its way to provide us with the largest librar- est. We aren't spending tens of thousands of Clair can be reached ies filled with books and technology to assist us dollars to read books while sitting on broken atjclair@umich.edu. LETTER TO THE EDITOR There is no moral victory in a loss TO THE DAILY: I cannot tell you how sick and tired I am of reading crap like this (What does a moral vic- tory look like?, 02/09/2005). A moral victory? victory? How is the word "victory" in this say- ing when Michigan lost? Moral victory? This team is way over ever deserving a moral victory. These players have been in the system now for one or two years. I have yet to see one person improve. Coach Tommy Amaker, who I think is a great person ries." Because just as the basketball team, you will be going nowhere! Michael Patton Alum OPINIONATED I .. ra r r ' i a :: apt ' ,' t 't't ' rtr .~ a. ..: .{ o I -t*-'n titi twn i * itle !,--