0 0 " 0 0 0 0 0 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.