4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 22, 2006

OPINION


The 9 Iir igttn Fril

DoNN M. FRESARD
Editor in Chief

EMILY BEAM
CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK
Editorial Page Editors

ASHLEY DINGES
Managing Editor

EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890
420 MAYNARD STREET
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com

HAVE YOU VOTED YET?
Student government elections
continue through midnight tonight.
Cast your ballot at
vote.www.umich.edu.
DAILY PINKON's ENDKRSE4ENTS
MSA president and vice president
Michigan Progressive Party
Rese Fox
Walter Nowinski
LSA-SG president and vice president
Students 4 Michigan
Joanna Slott
Justin Benson

z,,
z r


JEFF CRAVENS THE.l (. RAVE

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All
other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their author.

/' /

My campus legacy
DAVID BETTS PONTIFICATION

"
0

As I write this, it's
just another cold,
gray March day.
I just want to crawl back
into bed. I've felt like this
before. In fact, I've prob-
ably endured more cold,
gray days than I really
care to remember. I've
had my fill of walking
around campus in a per-
petual headwind - snowy days where I feel like
no matter what direction I turn, the snow will be
blowing directly in my face.
As you read this, there will be 38 days until
April 29,2006: Commencement Day. It's strange
that these four years have gone by so quickly.
I'm a bit sad that my career is coming to an end.
Well, sad about the social aspects ending. Classes
coming to an end, however, will not make me sad
- not even almost.
I was recently asked about my legacy on cam-
pus. I couldn't give a good answer on the spot. I'm
an English major with a mediocre (at best) grade
point average- not exactly the kind of person
who walks around receiving praise for his contri-
butions to campus life. I haven't won any awards,
and, unless someone starts an award for Excel-
lence in Unnecessarily Skipping Class, I won't
win any. So when it comes to my legacy, I'm at
somewhat of a loss.
I certainly hope I have made an impact in some
capacity during these past four years. I know I've

made numerous people angry with several of my
columns during this academic year, but that's not
why I write. I write to give people a little piece of
my brain. In my quest to influence society, I have
realized that, right now, all I can do is share my
story and hope that it somehow resonates with or
informs someone.
I hope my personal interactions are taken the
same way. I hope that someone I've talked to at
some time during my college career has benefited
from hanging around David Betts.
I hope that how I've lived my life in college has
allowed people to do just that - allowed them
to try to understand the perspective of how I live
my life. I'm tired of the shouting match that has
become what Americans call discourse. I've real-
ized that almost nothing productive can come
from two people arguing with the winner judged
by who yelled the loudest. I may be a bit of an
idealist, but I always thought that an exchange of
ideas should be more humble than that. I always
thought there should be an honest attempt to
understand the perspective of those whose opin-
ions differ.
Something I have realized relatively recently is
that the University is in the business of constant
re-education. I say that because every year there is
a new class of students fresh from high school, not
sure of what they want to do with their lives and
potentially ignorant about multiple facets of soci-
ety. And every year, different people within the
University try to express to youngsters the same
information they just got done trying to explain

to students who have moved on. I suppose the
University does change with the times, but every
year, the uppermost regions of the student section
at the Big House need several games to learn the
intricacies of the wave; every year Econ 101 stu-
dents will have to learn about demand curves and
marginal revenue; every year a new group of stu-
dents have to be told repeatedly that quiet hours in
the residence halls begin at 11 p.m. on weeknights
and midnight on weekends.
Given that the University will always have a
significant number of people who have yet to be
exposed to all kinds of things, it is unwise to assume
how much anyone knows. I can't expect that any-
one would know how it feels to be a black student
on campus just like I can't expect someone to know
where the Fleetwood is on his first day in Ann Arbor.
Conversely, I can't assume to know the experiences
of international students, transfer students or any stu-
dent that I haven't talked to specifically.
The University is a place where those experi-
ences should be shared and explained. I hope my
legacy has been and, for the next month or so, con-
tinues to be contributing to the exchange of expe-
riences. In several more weeks, I won't be around
to tell my story to the campus - someone else has
to pick up where I left off and tell his story. If I had
any wish as to what my legacy would be, it would
be to inspire a few storytellers, not yellers, to con-
tribute to the so-called marketplace of ideas.
Betts can be reached at
djmbetts@umich.edu

*

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VIEWPOINT
Vote: Your life may depend on it

BY GAVIN STERN
The exiles of North Campus, cut
off from the rest of society and left to
consume an ungodly amount of energy
drinks with God-knows-what in them,
have finally seceded from the Univer-
sity. Envious of their peaceful southern
neighbors, the new University of North
Campus declares war on Central Cam-
pus. The student body looks toward
the Michigan Student Assembly for
leadership in these turbulent times, but
because only 9 percent of students voted
in November 2005, the student govern-
ment is plagued with indolence to the
point of illegitimacy.
Their inept leaders botch the defen-
sive strategy by accidentally stepping
on the "M" on the Diag before taking
their first blue book exam, letting the
Northians succeed in their takeover of
Central Campus. The survivors retreat
into the University's secret underground
tunnel system, where the rancorous
conditions and a yearning for change
translate into a much higher voter turn-
out in the new Underground Michigan
Student Assembly.
All is still and quiet for some time.
Victorious, the Northians use their
engineering prowess to remake Cen-
tral Campus in their own image. They
erect tremendous statues in Pi's honor,
straighten the Diag, digitize the clock

tower and mathematically prove that
the rest of the world really is 10 minutes
behind. Sexual activity drops precipi-
tously.
Deep underground, the now politi-
cally invigorated student body over-
whelmingly supports the Students 4
Resistance party in UMSA elections.
With a sense of student involvement
and. activism never before witnessed
above ground, they organize a rebel-
lion: The humanities majors use their
superior diplomatic and linguistic
skills to forge strong alliances with
the graduate schools. Meanwhile, the
chemistry and biology majors prepare
chemical and biological weapons that
the law students find a way to legalize.
The Greeks, furious at the Northian
government's prohibition of alcohol,
demand that everyone fight in Pha-
lanx formation and worship their gods,
Beerpollo and Liquordite. The psy-
chology majors do their part by assur-
ing everyone that these feelings are all
perfectly natural and have something
to do with self-actualization. And
thanks to the LSA language require-
ment, the Northians have no idea what
the usurpers are saying. Nor are they
able to defend against such a united
student body.
Stern is an LSA sophomore and a member of
the Daily's editorial board.

Don't reward those who think
the 'S' in MSA stands for spam
To THE DAILY:
Two and a half years ago, the Daily printed
my letter (Students should boycott student gov't
spammers, 11/20/2003), but the spammers are at
it again. Yesterday morning, I received "person-
alized" spain e-mails from six MSA candidates
or party members, including Stephanie Moore,
Nate Fink, Eric Li, Jon Koller, Stella Binkev-
ich, Erin Anthony and Joshua Kersey, informing
me that the polls were open. The e-mails were
clearly spam because I did not solicit them, and
they even included the standard strange charac-
ters in the messages and a personalized greet-
ing. I wouldn't be surprised if these candidates
are using the same spamming software used by
Cialis and Viagra vendors.
I've reported the above candidates to the
University's IT User Advocate, and I encour-
age voters to abstain from voting for candidates
that abuse the University's information technol-
ogy resources. Every year candidates claim that
they're going to change the University for the
better, but spamming University students using
sophisticated software is simply more of the
same rhetoric.
Michael Roth
LSA senior
Daily didn't compare Levine,
Yahkind to toy dolls last year
To THE DAILY:
I must have been asleep when the Daily
made the decision to engage in blatant sex-
ism on its front page. Or I just may have
been seeing things Monday morning when I
read the profile of Students 4 Michigan MSA
presidential candidate Nicole Stallings (MSA
elections 2006: presidential candidate profiles,
03/20/2006). After all, I have been involved in
six student government elections on this cam-
pus, and I must admit that I have never seen
anything quite like this. In just a few short
paragraphs, the Daily managed to compare
Stallings to a "Barbie doll," mention that she
"looks like the perfect package," discuss her
"makeshift halter top ... coffee-colored eyes
and ... easy smile" and cite discussion of her
being "the prettiest face in S4M." In all hon-
estly, I am not terribly offended that I lost out
for the later title, but I am disturbed by what
appears to more of a fashion-show monologue
than a real discussion of the qualifications of
a capable candidate for the presidency of the

troubled by what I have perceived to be face-
value treatment of student government by the
Daily. It appears that this time, my concerns
have seen a more literal manifestation than I
ever imagined.
Andrew Yahkind
LSA junior
The letter writer is a member of Students 4
Michigan and is the president of LSA-SG.
Candidate profiles read more
like Cosmo than newspaper
To THE DAILY:
Monday's Daily article on MSA presidential
candidates Nicole Stalling and Rese Fox (MSA
elections 2006: presidential candidate profiles,
03/20/2006) did an insulting disservice to the
few students who actually care about student
body politics. Rather than supply us with useful
information about where the candidates stand on
relevant issues, the Daily padded the article with
comments about Stalling's Facebook profile and
Fox's similarities to Brittany Spears. While these
types of comments are almost cute and almost
interesting, they are completely inappropriate for
front-page coverage on a serious issue.
For the first time in a long time, student elec-
tions are heated and competitive. As the campus
newspaper, it is the Daily's responsibility to edu-
cate us about relevant platforms and issues and
to give us some insight into the legitimacy of the
trash-talking between the parties. Instead, all we
read was the trash talk itself, interspersed with
references to Barbie dolls.
Nobody can expect the students to take these
elections seriously if the Daily treats it as a light
hearted article in Cosmo, filled with fashion and
gossip. Tell us the important issues! Tell us the
stances! Give us something to vote for or against!
Don't deprive us of being educated voters.
Some of us want to care. Don't make it
hard on us.
Josh Berman
LSA junior
Profiles buried the real info
about candidates on page 7A
To THE DAILY:
I was initially'pleased to see profiles of MSA
presidential candidates Nicole Stallings and Rese
Fox in Monday's Daily (MSA elections 2006:
presidential candidate profiles, 03/20/2006). With
no prior knowledge of the candidates, I expected
a helpful summary detailing their qualifications
and political views.
T...,__ +1 4 ~o ---, 1;1:.o---1

Readers who persisted in reading the profiles
learned similar details about Fox, such as the
fact that "her high, clear voice is imbued with
exploding champagne-cork enthusiasm." Won-
derful, but why not instead let some of Fox's
actual accomplishments as an MSA representa-
tive speak to her enthusiasm for student govern-
ment?
In both articles, it seemed that nearly all of the
actual information about the candidates was rel-
egated to page 7A, while glowing physical and
personality descriptions were featured promi-
nently on the front page. With reporting like this,
it is no wonder that student election turnout is
strikingly low. Perhaps in the future the Daily
can provide a more relevant, rigorous piece of
commentary for its readers.
Whitney Carlson
LSA junior
Unbalanced profiles of MSA
candidates try to rig election
To THE DAILY:
No need to vote! The Daily has anointed the
MSA president.
Would you rather have a pretty black girl
or an intelligent, experienced white woman as
your MSA president, the figurehead of the stu-
dent body?
One might detect many racist, sexist and age-
ist overtones in that question, but that is the way
our campus newspaper cast the election Monday
(MSA elections 2006: presidential candidate pro-
files, 03/20/2006). I have read the Daily for four
years and have seen a number of biased debates,
but the latest profiles are so skewed that they are
fit more for The Onion than a supposedly prag-
matic view at two candidates.
I am not close friends with Stallings or Fox. I
am in Phi Alpha Delta with the former, who has
always struck me as charismatic, involved and
down-to-earth. Meanwhile, I have heard solid
feedback about Fox's persistence and efficiency
in lobbying for her causes on MSA.
But I am shocked that a newspaper that por-
trays itself as the egalitarian, liberal (in the
broad sense) forum of the community would
dare describe one ambitious young individ-
ual as a "Barbie doll," while specifying that
her rival has worked hard to cast off just that
image. You might as well have called Stallings
a sorostitute.
Anyone who has advanced as far as these two
in campus politics is smart, driven and skillful.
Whether these traits are best demonstrated by the
length of these people's resumes or by their num-
ber of solid working relationships is for the par-

0

LIVE ON YOUR FEET .JOHN OyQUST
'" " 9/U PT.i 2 -.:- ASOF YETUNNAMED
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 (WORKING TITLES 9/11SEQUEL
SADDAM HUSSEIN'S
CAPTURE
ARA
OPERATION IRANIAN INTO
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM CAM
rFREEDOM DRAFT -
EL£CTION F

I