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THE EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK with ANDREW GROSSMAN
t ab'lev ~ f co tents A look at the big news events this week and how important they really are. Conveniently ranked from one to10.
Wedesay Jnury24 .207 - e *ihianDil< 7
4B ACADEMIC BORROWING
Professors don't think plagiarism on cam-
pus is a pressing problem, but do they
really know what's going on?,
6B RUDE AWAKENINGS
Are early classes a hassle or an institution-
alized cruelty?
8B MY FIANCEE IN FALLUJA
Life as an LSA junior - who is engaged
to a Marine
Magazine Editor: James V. Dowd
Associate MagazineEditor:
Chris Gaerig
Cover Art: Peter Schottenfels
Photo Editor: Shubra Chri
Designers: BridgetO'Donnell,
the Shannon Qin
Editor in Chief: Donn M. Fresard
ManagingEditor:Jeffrey Bloomer
PF-UCKED
Ann Arbor's biggest taxpayer, pharma-
ceutical giant Pfizer Inc. announced that it
would close its 177-acre facility near North
10 Campus, moving or slashing 2,100 jobs.
Ann Arbor, welcome to Michigan.
2
02
2
HILLARY IN A HURRY
In perhaps the least surprising news of the
week, Sen. Hillary clinton announced plans
to run for president in 2008. Soon after,
she said she would forego public funding.
to It's easy when you've got the most prolific
fundraiser in the Democratic Party on your.
side.
A STATE OF DIS-UNION
Bush tried to make waves with his
announcement that he would cut gasoline
use by 20 percent, but it's still not clear
10 whether he believes in global warming, or
evolution, for that matter.
BLOODSHED IN IRAQ
On Saturday, U.S. troops saw their dead-
liest day in Iraq in two years. Twenty-five
troops were killed across the country.
Yesterday, 88 were killed and 160 were
10 injured when two car bombs exploded
near a crowded market in the center of
Baghdad.
NOW IT ONLY COSTSAN ARM
The Democratic-led House of Representa-
tives passed measure cutting interest rates
for need-based student loans in half. Don't
10 get too excited, though, it still has to be
approved by the Senate and president.
4
GOODBYE, BILL O'REILLY
The Chinese military shot down one of
its own satellites, sparking fears of a new
space arms race. Why couldn't they shoot
down Fox's satellite instead?
3
0
to
,vEnjoy the Summer...
& Earn Up to 10
Credits!
Not Just for Biology Majors! Details Online
UM BIOLOGICAL STATION
www.isa.umich.edu/umbs
rule 7: The word party
should not be used as a
verb. rule 8: In this city,
parking in a structure is a
lot like giving up. rule 9:
Question your manhood
if the barista at Starbucks
checks off two or more of
the variations listed on the
side of the cup.
E-mail rule submissions to
thestatement@umich.edu
PERSON OF THE WEEK
JOHN HIEFTJE
In the spirit of Michigan fans who
abstained from rioting after the loss to Ohio
State, Mayor John Hieftje represented -
Ann Arbor residents with dignity and
restraint this week by not verbally
- or physically - attacking Pfizer's
management on Monday. Providing
Hieftje with a few hours warning,
Pfizer announced that afternoon
that it would pull out of Ann Arbor
completely by 2008. The city will
lose its second largest employer and
single greatest source of tax revenue,
and Hieftje will get a taste of what's it's
really like to lead a Michigan city.
Third-year Law student Jeremy Heuer walks through the Law School yesterday, gazing at a row of files lining the hall. He may
become a lawyer and learn to love filing. Then again, he may not.
Majoring in poii sci'? Let
me guess: You're pre-Iaw
The herd mentality of undergraduates majoring in political science
and their default desire for jurisprudence
"At a minimum," he said in an e-
mail interview, "going to law school
helps someone develop a very use-
ful way of thinking about and ana-
lyzing problems."
But three years of contracts, torts
and property to develop a useful
way of thinking? Those who pursue
law for this reason must view hap-
piness as a secondary virtue. That's
not to say alaw career doesn't make
a hefty chunk of urban dwellers fat
and happy, but it's not for everyone.
Law School Prof. Phoebe Ells-
worth, who doesn't have a law
degree, knows students who've
thrown in the towel. She explained
why some don't make it through
the 3-year program.
"Law students have a change of
heart because they hate law school,"
Ellsworth said in an e-mail inter-
view. "It is not to everyone's taste."
Edie Goldenberg, professor of
political science and former LSA
dean, has known law students
"who drop out, law students who
grit their teeth and finish even
though they don't enjoy it, law stu-
dents who graduate and never want
to practice law and, of course, law
students who love it, thrive and
never look back."
It's hard to tell if you fit into one
of these groups before entering law
school, but professors like Golden-
berg and Ellsworth think it's impor-
tant to consider where your interests
are before jumping into law.
Ellsworth said she thinkcs it's
"silly" to apply to law school with-
out interest in a law career.
Scott Turow, the author of One
L, an account of his first year at
Harvard Law, was 26 before he
decided he was interested in law
school. Even after making the deci-
sion to switch careers, he still had
doubts when faced with the strenu-
ous curriculum.
In the first chapter, Turow
writes, "Doubt - about them-
selves, about what they are doing
- is a malady familiar to first-year
law students and I arrived already
afflicted. I was not sure that I was
up to that tradition of excellence."
Law school takes perseverance.
Even if you like it.
Goldenberg said she thinks
many political science majors, who
may not be truly interested in law,
default to law school. Goldenberg
said she has known students who
feel pressure from parents and oth-
ers who don't understand the pur-
pose of studying political science if
law school isn't on the horizon.
"This is narrow thinking," she
said.
Although a law degree is cer-
tainly useful, Goldenberg said, it's
not necessary for those hoping for
jobs in politics or government.
"I hate to see students pursue
law when they don't really have any
interest in it," she said.
There are plenty of other
options.
Polisci isn't a dead-end street
Among the options for political
science majors Goldenberg listed
were careers in government, non-
profit organizations, business,
international relations, consulting,
intelligence, teaching, research,
journalism, politics and polling.
Or soccer. Mia Hamm, the famed
women's soccer player, was a politi-
cal science major at University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After obtaining a political sci-
ence degree, students should look
to "graduate school in political sci-
ence or public policy or journalism
or business or education or social
work or public health or urban
planning- as well as law," Golden-
berg said,
She said she thinks undergradu-
ates know little about the fruits of
graduate school. Only some are
fortunate enough to benefit from
"unusual mentoring," she said.
Just how unusual is it? How
many students are getting out of
the more mainstream mindset and
into graduate school?
The answer is probably close to
none.
Hutchings has been at the Uni-
versity for 10 years and he said he
has only met with three or four
political science students who went
on to graduate school.
Nearly all the recommendation
letters he writes, of course, are for
law school. 4:
4w,
CONT'd: From.Iraq,'with love
FALLUJA
From page 8B
describe all of this. More than
scary or lonely or difficult, this
experience is incredibly strange.
This was actually Daniel's reve-
lation about a month after he got
there, and I couldn't agree more.
"This place is very strange,
hon," told me once. The stores
on the base seemed normal, he
said, until he noticed that every-
one in them was walking around
wearing rifles, the guy buying
DVDs from the Iraqi who regu-
larly comes around to sell them
always has a grenade strapped to
his vest, and they sell Holy Water
from the Eurphrates in plastic
bottles in the store.
One day he was fixing a
Sergeant's computer when he
realized the cafeteria (he calls
it the chow hall) would close in
under an hour. He borrowed the
officer's bike and tried to race
to the chow hall. He had trouble
riding it, he said, and at first he
couldn't figure out why. Then
it dawned on him that he had a
20-pound rifle strapped to his
back, which was throwing off
the balance. The story seemed
funny at the time. There's a cer-
tain absurdity to trying to do
something as simple as ride a
bike and not being able to do it
because you're hauling around
the baggage of war. The story
resonated with me. I can almost
identify, at least in the sense that
talking about my friends' rela-
tionships or writing term papers
seems harder with Daniel gone.
It's sort of like an unexpected
weight is added to typically easy
interactions, and it disrupts my
balance.
Shortly before he left, we were
reading an article on a soldier
who had died. He looked at me
and said, "If I die, don't let any-
one say I died for my country."
He doesn't feel that any Ameri-
can who has died in Iraq has died
for America. He told me to say he
died for his fellow Marines and
for the people of Iraq whose lives
will be worst if the country isn't
stable. Then he said something
that I hope I'll be able to forget
once he comes home safely.
"I died for the people, not the
country."
-Megan Polich is an LSA
junior and an Ann Arbor native.
n the jumbled minds of many
students, political science
equals pre-law. Defaulting to
law school, though, can be a mis-
take.
Political science as a synonym
for pre-law is a dirty societal con-
struct. It's fine time this construct
is disposed of.
Students go to law school for
understandable reasons, some
more noble than others. Law draws
students because of its prestige. It
draws those who have a passion
for order, for organized, challeng-
ing debate. It draws those who
have penchants for summer houses
on Martha's Vineyard and winter
houses in Aspen.
Lawyers have a prominent place
in our culture. We've seen what
Denny Crane on "Boston Legal"
and "Jack McCoy" on Law and
Order do from day to day.
"One thinks one knows what
lawyers do," said Political Science
Prof. Vincent Hutchings.
A career in law might seem more
stable than say, a career in aca-
demia, he said - not to mention
more glamorous.
Some students may feel the tug
ofjurisprudence because they want
to get away from Detroit and work
in Washington or New York. That
motivation is a little more legiti-
mate.
According to the National Asso-
ciation for Law Placement, there
were 2,255 New York law firm job
openings in 2005 - up from 1,893
in 2000 and 1,491 in 1995.
It's slightly less promising in
Washington. There were 880 job
opportunities in 2005, down from
the 945 openings in 2000.
Detroit only had 70 job openings
in 2005, seven less than in 2000
and 23 less than in 1995. Of the 41
cities included in the NALP data,
Detroit - along with Jacksonville
- offered the fewest law firm jobs
in comparison to its population in
2005. No wonder we're leaving in
droves.
But that dream job in Boston or
Chicago might not turn out to be
anything like what many students
were dreaming about. Disillusion-
ment is an often an unpleasant
reality for both students with TV-
lawyer aspirations and those with
something else in mind.
'I want to go to law school, but I
don't want to be a lawyer.'
There are a number of under-
graduate political science con-
centrators who are guilty of it.
Vindicating themselves from the
nasty stereotype attorneys have in
many circles, some students aiming
for law school say it's only the legal
education they're after.
Some say this is silly. Some say
it's fine. But will law school really
take you where you want to go if it's
not an office decorated with towers
of papers about tort reform?
Law School Prof. Gavin Clarkson,
who wentto lawschoolnever intend-
ing to practice law, said having a law
degree is never a bad thing.
Study abroad during the fall, spring, or
summer in the following locations:
Beijing -Berlin - Bourbonnais
Kyoto - Paris - Shanghai - Venice
www.ce.columbia.edu/ogp
The corridors in the Law Quad are a dead end for some.