4A- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 12, 2006 OPINION ie £itf~rn ali 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 NOTABLE QUOTABLE Health benefits are simply not a benefit of marriage." - ACLU attorney Deborah LaBelle, who is representing same-sex couples seeking health benefits before the Michigan Court of Appeals, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. WANT A SURMM COLUMN? TicataG AOUT JOBtIG DAIa OPaON? E-mAi, GAL4@ummCHJu ALEXANDER HONKALA Ff-rI C(Mii'BUCKE T 9I 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. That which makes us great is under attack JASON Z. PESICK ONE SMA \I IVOICE As the editor in chief and before that the editorial page editor of this paper, my job was to help hold the people who work for the Uni- versity accountable. Despite these efforts to sharpen the Daily's teeth, I developed a great deal of admiration for this university, its mission and the people who lead it. At the same time, I developed similar admiration for newspapers. I wish I had more company. While I was learning to appreciate great newspapers and great universities, opportun- ists made political attacks against both types of institutions. The state's largest paper, the Detroit Free Press, ran - above coverage of the governor's State of the State Address - a sensationalis- tic story in January about "waste" at 11 state universities. (The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor was not one of them.) The Detroit News wrote an article headlined "Professors paid not to teach," which informed readers that - horror of horrors - profes- sors do research. That story and another one about university construction projects were both accompanied by ads for Dick DeVos (a Republican running for governor) ads on the paper's website. To mock universities asking for more state funding, state Rep. Leon Drolet (R-Clinton Twp.) held a food drive for "starving" uni- versity presidents and faculty. He suggested donating pork. These political attacks have weakened uni- versities in the eye of the public. On the News's website, one reader posted a comment saying the state Legislature "should begin an inde- pendent investigation into our universities to expose the fraud and waste going on there." At a time when our state needs the Univer- sity most, elected officials have been cutting tens of millions of dollars from its budget to pay for lower and lower tax rates. Newspapers face similar attacks. Like uni- versities, they face serious funding challenges that dampen their quality. The large corpora- tions that own papers have begun starving them in search of higher and higher profit margins. On the political front, they are under attack as well. The good newspapers have been deemed liberal rags. The president says they jeopardize national security when they write something that could make his poll numbers go down. In "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America," Bernard Goldberg puts the New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger at number 2. With a daily circulation of a little more than 1 million in a country of 300 million people (albeit fewer households), Sulzberger's Times is more a niche publication than the nation's newspaper. What a commentary on our society that it's possible to make a politi- cal career for yourself by attack- ing a great university, and it's possible to make a living attacking the media. It says even more when University alums mobilize to have an ugly halo around Mich- igan Stadium removed but remain silent as the state cuts tens of millions of dollars from the University's academic budget. How long can a country that does not value higher education or good newspapers remain an effective democracy? How long can it lead the rest of the world? Even many students at this supposedly dynamic and socially aware university don't think the issues of the day affect them. If uni- versity students can't look outside of them- selves, then I wonder if there is anyone to whom we can trust our shared future. We do a dismal job teaching citizenship in this country. Do business, engineering - even LSA - students ever learn about the impor- tance of the First Amendment? Are they ever seriously encouraged to vote or to pick up a newspaper? Does any professor or administra- tor ever dare instill his students with a sense of responsibility? In the last few years, I've written and thought a little about the role of the University in teach- ing its students citizenship and ethics the way the same institution used to mold the next gen- eration of civic-minded leaders. At first, I wrote that the University's grand moral mission to educate the masses, to include people of all walks of life in its student body and to dis- seminate knowledge for the public good trumped old-fashioned civics and morality lessons. But maybe this modern form of social responsibility is not enough. Not enough for the University's own sake, and not enough for the future stewards of a great nation. CORRECTION: In a column that ran Feb. 12, 2004,1 referred to Electrolux as a Michigan company. In fact, it is headquartered in Sweden. I regret the error and the delay in correcting it. Pesick can be reached at jzpesick@umich.edu. 0 0 0 Life after graduation JEFF CRAVENS JAYHAWK BLUES t was with bit- College graduation is a kind of freedom of others. In both cases, the editors voiced tersweet feelings I have never experienced before. For the concern that what I wanted to say would that I told the men last two years, I have been learning about violate the paper's conflict of interest poli- in my prison creative- serious flaws in our education system, our cy. Strict enforcement of such a policy at a writing workshop last justice system and other social and eco- college newspaper, however, interferes with week that I would be nomic structures. Now, as I begin finding a columnists who want to inspire action. leaving in a month so career, I have the ability to start attacking Don't get me wrong - I have enjoyed my that I could go home some of these problems. I am tired of mak- column for the last year and a half - but to get ready to teach ing tiny contributions in groups like Dance I think it's important to put these articles English in New York Marathon and Alternative Spring Break. into perspective. With a Daily column, you City next year. These organizations do good work and have may open minds and encourage dialogue on I was sad because this workshop has inspired me, but they are insufficient. campus, but you are probably not going to been an incredible experience in all the I feel the same way about these columns. change the world. participants' lives. I have never felt more I've liked having my soapbox every other The real work comes after graduation appreciated than when I drove once a week week, and I think journalism plays an in what we choose to do with the rest of to Coldwater, Mich. with my partner Matt important role in raising social awareness, our lives. And so, if you really believe in for the workshop. Every week when we but that's only the beginning. a cause, don't just dedicate your weekends arrived, the guys waited for us with their Myles Horton, the activist in the labor or one night a week to a relevant "commu- weekly writing assignments. We stayed and civil rights movements, said that trying nity service" opportunity; instead, choose a until we absolutely had to leave, and then to argue someone into changing their posi- career that embraces that cause and spend the guys sincerely thanked us for coming. tion usually just strengthens their position. your life working toward it. As we walked through the yard, a few of "What you need to do is get them into a But if you haven't found a cause, an aca- the guys continued talking to us about their situation where they'll have to act on ideas, demic field or an activity that you're pas- writing. not argue about them," he said. sionate about, don't worry. Ralph Waldo One of them has been working diligently That's where these columns fail. Last Emerson said, "The voyage of the best ship on a collection of personal essays by pris- fall, when I tried to inform readers at the is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks." After oners who made irrevocable decisions and end of a column about how to get to a Bat- receiving a world-class education at this are now paying the price - for some, life tered Women's Clemency Project rally, the university, you can be confident that you sentences. When I leave to begin a new Daily's editors deleted that section. This have- some of the strongest ships around. life, they will remain behind razor wire semester, when I tried to recommend that All you can do now is head out in some and locked doors. Spending time with these readers take English classes focusing on the direction, and if you keep adjusting your men has shown me how lucky I am to be workshops I have written so much about, sails, you will reach amazing and unfore- free. I go into the real world knowing how the editors told me I couldn't advocate for a seen destinations. precious it is and knowing, as Nelson Man- specific teacher I'd had - nevermind that dela wrote in his autobiography, "with free- this teacher and his classes have changed my Cravens an be reached at dom come responsibilities." life and could potentially change the lives jjcrave@umich.edu. Send all letters to the editor to LETTER TO THE EDITOR tothedailygmichigandaily.com. VIEWPOINT My cartoon manifesto BY ALEXANDER HONKALA I am often a cynical, arrogant and mis- anthropic bastard. That, in my opinion, is part of what makes me a good cartoonist. When the cartoonist emeritus of the Daily's opinion page, Sam Butler, told me "keep it simple, stupid," I couldn't help but resent it. How could people be so stupid as to mis- interpret or not understand my more com- plex cartoons? And even when I did "dumb it down," they were still misinterpreted, so what was the point anyway? But this attitude has crumbled into joy over the last semester. Sure, I have been smeared all over the Opinion page. I have been accused of being a racist. And now that one cartoon (Fetid Chumbucket, 12/08/2005), among all the others I've drawn, has become known - along with Michelle Bien's most famous work (The Bean Archives, 11/28/2005), as "certain cartoons," almost a curse. Yes, at times these developments only made me despise the "stupid masses" all the more. But ulti- mately, there is only joy. I have accom- plished my goal. I have helped to provoke a meaningful debate on this campus. And for that, I am happy. My goal as a cartoonist has never until now been concrete. Sometimes I sought merely to ape current events. Sometimes I have tried to carefully portray my opin- ions. But it wasn't until now that I real- ized that I have always sought to be your devil's advocate. I strive to poke the status quo, inflame it, offend it, provoke it into action. And now I have done that. In doing so, my decaying faith in humanity has, in large part, been restored: People actually do care. So thank you all very much; now, let's see if I can do it again. Honkala is a LSA junior and a Daily cartoonist. Distinct lack of a Buddha mars the Buddha Machine TO THE DAILY: In an unfortunate misplacement of my better judgment, I recently decided to trust the claims made by Michigan Daily col- umnist and self-proclaimed "audiophile" Upon opening the small box with a screwdriver, however, I was disappointed to find that this machine is utterly Bud- dha-less. A quick Google search brought up an interview with one of the Buddha Machine's creators, Christiaan . Virant, who made this relatively imbecilic reply to a question about whether there really is a Buddha inside the machine: "That would be Letters Policy All readers are encouraged to submit letters to the Daily. Letters should include the writer's name, college and class standing or other Uni- versity affiliation. Editorial Board Members: Amy Anspach, Andrew Bielak, Kevin Bunkley, Gabrielle D'Angelo, Whitney Dibo, Milly Dick, Sara Eber, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Mark Kuehn, I