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4A - Wednesday, March 7, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
413 E. Huron St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
tothedaily@umich.edu
KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Facing the music
RIAA threatens downloaders; University can help
M any file-sharers could be in for a nasty surprise this
year with the Recording Industry Association of Amer-
ica increasing the scope of its intimidation campaign
to eliminate illegal downloading. While the University lacks the
legal grounds to shield its students from litigation, administrators
can and should provide students with inexpensive means to obtain
music legally.
We have every confidence that ultimately, Mr. Libby
will be vindicated."
- Defense attorney Theodore Wells Jr. after his client, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was found guilty of lying about
compromising the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, as reported yesterday by nytimes.com.
KIM LEUNG
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4
As much as everyone would like to down-
load music for free, it is illegal in most cases.
File sharing generally falls in the same
realm. Before copyrighted materials hit the
Internet, copying material for personal use
was usually understood to be acceptable, but
even that is now under attack. The RIAA
even wants copying music from your own
CDs to be considered an enforceable viola-
tion. When a person cannot legally listen to
legally purchased music on his iPod there
is clearly a serious conflict between the
reasonable demands of consumers and the
wishes of the RIAA.
Right or wrong, file sharing and illegal
music downloading are common on college
campuses throughout the country. Thus,
we cannot blame the RIAA for making
students the primary targets of its fight to
stamp out copyright infringement -even
if its time would be better spent tracking
down the more blatant violators of copy-
right law.
As it begins sending out letters to col-
lege students - 400 per month - the RIAA
is threatening legal action against alleged
violators unless they choose to settle. Even
those who have only engaged in file sharing
afewtimes have become targets. It is making
SE
Donations to university are
at an all-time high
TO THE DAILY:
The article Giving to colleges up, but not at
'U' (02/23/2007) may have left the mistaken
impression that charitable giving to our uni-
versity is decreasing. In fact, giving to the Uni-
versity is at an all-time high.
The report from the Council for Aid to
Education cited in the article only includes
information on cash gifts, not pledges. So,
for example, school of business alum Steven
Ross's record $100-million pledge would not
be included. The report also compares only
two years of donations. In each of the last five
fiscal years, the University has set records for
cash gifts, going from about $168 million in fis-
cal year 2002 to more than $275 million in fis-
cal year 2006.
The report also indicates that the University
is the highest-ranking public university in gifts
from individuals. Gifts and pledgesto the $2.5-
billion Michigan Difference Campaign demon-
strate this increased giving even more clearly.
As of January 2006, gifts, pledges and bequest
intentions totaled $2.024 billion. By January
2007, they had grown to $2.410 billion.
The University is fortunate to have many
generous donors willing to step forward and
provide support for student financial aid, facul-
ty teaching and research, academic programs
and the world-class facilities we enjoy. Their
support provides the margin of excellence that
makes ours a truly great university.
Robert Groves
University associate vice president fordevelopment
Maybe it's time to move the
Big House to the Diag
TO THE DAILY:
After reading Theresa Kennelly's column
arguing that city planners should blindly
accept any proposal that increases density
around campus (The fate of Melrose Place,
03/05/2007), I thought I would apply her logic
to campus itself.
The Diag, for example, is a complete waste
of space and would be much better utilized as
a 10-story mass of offices, labs and classrooms.
examples of college students. The message is
clear: Download and you could be next.
The University can do little to protect its
students from the coming storm, because
the law is clearly on the side of the recording
companies. But as students come to univer-
sities, they will inevitably come in contact
with new people, music and bands, so it is
only natural that they will want to down-
load music. The University has done little to
address this obvious reality. It should follow
in the footsteps of colleges across the coun-
try and provide students with a legal means
of downloading music.
Some of this has already been done. Uni-
versity students are currently eligible to use
legal free alternatives like Ruckus.com to
download their music. However, the limi-
tations involved with that service (music
downloaded for free cannot be moved to an
iPod) make it an inadequate alternative.
Ruckus is a good start and the University
is one of about 100 across the country to use
it. But the University could use its consid-
erable size and influence to negotiate for a
more complete free download alternative.
With the RIAA's army of lawyers looming
on the horizon, now is just the right time for
the University to change its tune.
ND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Then engineers, architects and music students
wouldn't have to ride the bus everyday. Or,
since we're spending half a billion dollars on a
new football stadium, why not put it in a more
central location?
I would certainly like to see housing density
increase around campus, but there is no rea-
son to tear down Melrose Place. Why replace
student housing with slightly more student
housing? Why demolish an architectural gem
whenthere are vacant and blighted buildings a
stones throw away?
Why not encourage these well-intentioned
developers to snatch up the decaying building
that houses Good Time Charley's? That build-
ing currently has a grand total of zero occu-
pants, and its peeling paint and broken fence
are an eyesore. Not only would the demolition
of Charley's allow the current residents of Mel-
rose Place to remain put, but, replacing it with
a multiuse high-rise would make a good trade
for the city and students.
Jon Koller
Engineeringsenior
Viewpoint writer has no
handle on rape or feminism
TO THE DAILY:
I am appalled at James Dickson's viewpoint
about feminism and the campus group called
the F-Word (Don't be afraid to challenge femi-
nism, 03/06/2007). I thought the viewpoint
was poorly researched and based on assump-
tions. Does Dickson know anything about rape
and how it's processed in court? Has he ever
attended an F-Word meeting?
I am not an F-Word member but I do know
members. The solutions Dickson proposes
are quick fixes that do not address the issue
of sexism or why women are victimized. Yes,
more lighting around campus would be great,
but why should women be scared to walk out-
side at night at all?
It is clear to me that Dickson has never
seen sexism, even though it stares him in the
face everyday. As someone who has experi-
enced sexism and knows people who have
been sexually assaulted, it hurts me to see
such ignorance.
Allison Leung
Medical School student
Newtfor president?
0
While the media was obsess-
ing about the latest Hill-
ary-Obama feud, the 34th
annual Conservative Political Action
Conference was taking place in Wash-
ington D.C. this past weekend. Every
declared Republican presidential
candidate, except
Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.), was pres-
ent at the event to
woo the conserva-
tive base.
while I was not1
able to attend this .
year, bloggers who
did attend the event JOHN
were unanimous on
one observation - STIGLICH
Rudy Giuliani, Newt - -
Gingrich and Mitt Romney separated
themselves from the field. Unfortu-
nately, only one of these men can earn
the Republican Party's nomination.
The fact that America's mayor, Rudy
Giuliani, has survived this long and
is rated the highest in national polls
is surprising. Giuliani is an inspiring
leader who demonstrated his executive
abilities by cleaning up a decrepit New
York City in the 1990s and handling the
aftermath of Sept.11 with class.
But Giuliani is a pro-choice, pro-gun
control, pro-gay rights, twice divorced
NewYork Catholicin apartyfullofpro-
life, pro-gun, pro-marriage, southern
Protestants. If he can convince the pro-
life wing of the Republican Party that
his promise to nominate judges in the
mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas is sincere, he will have a real
shot at winning the nomination. Short
of that, Giuliani will have to settle for a
cabinet post.
Most polls have former Massachu-
setts Gov. Mitt Romney ranked fourth
behind Giuliani, McCain and Gingrich,
but Romney had to be encouraged by
his first place finish in the CPAC straw
poll. The way I see it, Romney has two
salient problems: He was the governor
of "Taxachusetts" and he is Mormon. -
Normally, being a Republican gov-
ernor in a blue state is something of a
badge of honor, but there is no state in
the union that conservatives hate more
than Massachusetts. Furthermore,
Romney's religion presents a unique
problem. While there isn't a religion
test in the Constitution, there certain-
ly is one in the Republican Party, and
many partisans are concerned about
the tenets of Mormonism. With Rom-
ney out of contention, there is only one
policy innovator left.
Although he has not declared his
candidacy, former Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich is in a delicious
position to enter the 2008 race as the
Republican Party's savior. Given the
state of our Bush-whacked country
and the sorry showing by Republicans
in the 2006 midterms, Republicans are
going to have to remake their image
through another revolution. Gingrich
would be the only candidate in the
field at the forefront of two major con-
servative revolutions - Reagan's in
1980 and the Republican Revolution in
1994. If Republicans are serious about
returning to core principles, there is
no better candidate.
Since he left the House in the late
1990s, Gingrich has devoted himself
to doing what he does best - crafting
conservative policies. His fellowship at
the American Enterprise Institute has
given him access to the best conser-
vative thinktank in Washington and
allowed him to build his 2008 platform
from the ground up.
In 2005, Newt released some of his
platform in his book "Winning the
Future: A 21st Century Contract with
America." Unlike the literary works
of Barack Obama, the book provided
detailed descriptions of policies that
would secure the homeland, keep our
economy thriving and educate future
generations of leaders. Book signings,
college circuit tours and appearances
on Fox News have given Gingrich
opportunities to spread his message
while reminding conservatives exact-
ly how brilliant he is. More impor-
tantly, Newt's rising poll numbers
We could see
Clinton vs.
Gingrich 2.0.
within the conservative base indicate
that the statute of limitations on his
mishandling of the Clinton impeach-
ment and his own marital infidelity
has expired.
Newt has repeatedly said he will
not decide on his candidacy until Sep-
tember, which leaves Giuliani, McCain
and Romney plenty of time"to waste
their money on convincing the base
that they really believe in conservative
principles. By then, I expect wealthy
conservative donors to be so turned
off by the candidate courting process
that they will turn to Gingrich with
war chests open, begging him to lead
one last revolution. Then, it will be
up to him to convince Americans that
electing a competent executive is more
important than electing a saint.
John Stiglich is can be reached
at jcsgolf@umich.edu.
6
I
NEIL TAMBE
Getting out of the icebox
Pretend for a moment that you are
handcuffed inside an icebox and you
can't get out. You start yelling for
help. Finally, someone comes to save
you; he throws you a couple of blan-
kets and continues on his way. Is this
a useless solution to your trouble? Of
course it is. It obviously would make
much more sense for the savior to
have help you out of the icebox.
This logic can be analogized to
service-oriented student groups on
campus. Many of these organiza-
tions focus on ameliorating the side
effects of a socially unjust plight,
leaving the policies and institutions
that create the injustice in the first
place unchallenged. In other words,
these organizations spend virtually
all their efforts giving metaphorical
icebox-prisoners blankets, instead
of helping them out.
Helping groups of people escape
their iceboxes is necessary to allevi-
ate society's social problems - par-
ticipatingin political activity is agood
example. The way public schools are
funded strongly influences students'
success rates. Health care poli-
cies affect what people will receive
health insurance and what people
will not. Fuel mileage standards and
emissions requirements affect the
amount we pollute and in turn affect
global warming. Tax policies affect
how business is conducted and what
types of businesses will thrive.
Political policies and socialinstitu-
tions matter. To change these struc-
tures it takes political activity, so we
must take action to change political
institutions and policies if they are
not ideal. Raising money and volun-
teering is an essential step, but defi-
nitely not an adequate solution.
Political action doesn't need to be
revolutionary. Campus-based ser-
vice groups don't have to organize a
rally condemning the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency for its
response to Hurricane Katrina or
endorse political candidates accord-
ing to their platform on global
humanitarian aid - and they prob-
ably shouldn't. However, there is
still room for campus organizations
to become more politically minded.
Organizations rarely spread sig-
nificant amounts of knowledge
about the broader issues affect-
ing their areas of concern or even
demonstrate that big-picture issues
exist, let alone fry to change them.
For example, when was the last time
Dance Marathon hosted an event
regarding the millions of children in
this country without health insur-
ance? Buffalo Wild Wings fund-
raisers and Facebook groups aren't
enough to make a significant impact
for any organization.
It's a shame that politics aren't
brought up more often in service
circles because service groups have
the fantastic potential to foster
political activity. They are extreme-
ly approachable, can raise large
amounts of money and tend to have
efficient organizational processes.
Moreover, service-oriented orga-
nizations can draw large audiences
with their issues.
Who would be more likely to rab-
ble-rouse in favor of more federal
funding for cancer research than
students involved in Relay for Life?
These types of organizations are
among the most respectable on cam-
pus, but its nonsensical that they
don't try to help their members get
more politically active. They might
be the organizations best equipped
to do so.
Getting political doesn't have to
beunsexy;itcaninvolveparticipants
outside of the College Republicans,
College Democrats, Young Ameri-
cans for Freedom and Students for
a Democratic Society. Politics can
enhance service models just as ser-
vice experiences could make politi-
cally-based organizations more
sincere. Service activities and politi-
cal activities are both essential for
creating a more socially-just society,
but both can fare better when com-
bined with the other. Organizations
on campus should strive to be politi-
cally and altruistically minded.
Not many people doubtthat social
iceboxes exist or that there are peo-
ple metaphorically trapped inside
of them. Many students have spent
many hours trying to reverse this
uncomfortable truth by raising lots
of money. Others have held numer-
ous protests or spread petitions. It's
time for these camps to combine tac-
tics and create more social change
than they already have.
Neil Tambe is an LSA sophomore and
a member of the Daily's editorial board.
JOHN OQUIST I
GENERAL PACE, DID THE MILITARY
EVER PUT IN PLACE A "PLAN-s8
FOR THE SITUATION IRAQ?
PLAN-B? LOOK, I'M A MARINE,
WE DONT LIKE TO TALK ABOuT
FAILURE. Oat PLAN-B S To MAKE
PLAN-A WORK. -
WELL so YOU HAVE A PLAN-C?)
PLAN-C K TO MAiE
PLAN-A WORK, TOO,
------
CLAN-D _--
~ 5EE PLANA)
II
'
OK, HOLD IT RIGHT THERE
GENERAL. DO YOU GUYS
EVEN HAVE A PLAN-A?
.. PLAN-A ... 1S TO MAKE
PLAN-A WORK?Y
H FOR GOD'S
'r" ..SAKE... l
k f A
Editorial Board Members: Emily Beam, Kevin Bunkley, Amanda Burns, Sam Butler,
Ben Caleca, Brian Flaherty, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Emmarie Huetteman, Toby Mitchell,
Rajiv Prabhakar, David Russell, Gavin Stern, John Stiglich, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner, Christopher Zbrozek
It 'if I is I% r t - -" It r. 'a a r