4 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 0 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