4 - Tuesday, April 3, 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 rothedaily@umich.edu KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofntheir authors. Al ways in the limelight Student athletes are obligated to represent 'U' S tudent athletes travel thousands of miles every season to represent the University in athletic contests. Whether it be in the stadium, on the sports page or on television, peo- ple inside and outside the University community are watching. Because they are constantly in the public eye, student-athletes are viewed as role models and should be mindful of their conduct and represent the University and the student body in a positive light at all times, whether they like it or not. 4 Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic. A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheaper decks were lost:' - Henry Miller, a fellow at the Hoover Institution on the potential impact of global warming, as reported Sunday in The New York Times. ERIN RUSSELL Welcome to With wigs Inspired by American our wigs are so amazing they Sanlava Wigs.coml Idol's boy wonder, have caught the Interest of Tired of being called a Saniaya Malakar, youcan make Britney Spears and President failure or a tone deaf loserP your biggest flopsfabulousl Bush. Get yours todayi (Crying Gt:Cfan girl notincludedJ Establishment clause, enforced, I I All students have an obligation to rep- resent themselves and their university positively, but for athletes that obligation is inherently stronger. While everyone should strive to be upstanding members of the community, the truth is that if the average student were to get caught with marijuana, few would notice. For better or worse, the impact of a student athlete's actions is larger than that of other students, as shown by the ceaseless negative publicity the University has received in wake of the arrests of three football players last week. Student athletes represent the block M not just on the football field or the hard- wood. Their famous faces automatically carry that association into classrooms, dorms and bars. Student athletes attract attention of onlookers and fans wherever they go, so when they act up, people will know and associate their actions with the school they represent. Athletes should be cognizant of their off- the-field conduct and should always strive to demonstrate good character. Increased public exposure and scrutiny comes with being an athlete at a Division I school. It is not an additional burden that athletes sud- denly face when they arrive on campus or should be surprised about; it's something they should expect when they agree to par- ticipate in athletics at the university level. Any increased pressure of being role models is unavoidable and must be embraced. That is not to say that athletes should be held to an overly rigorous standard of con- duct. For example, athletes should not be prohibited from participating in the colle- giate social scene or have mandated commu- nity service activities solely to increase the reputation of University athletics. Athletes, and everyone else, should try to go above and beyond their obligations, but they should not be required to. Coaches have a crucial role to play in encouraging good conduct from their play- ers on and off the field. Coaches and the ath- letic department need to constantly remind athletes of their unique role representing the University and inform them of what types of conduct are unacceptable. Furthermore, they must communicate with their players to help them deal with the stresses of colle- giate athletics and should themselves be role models to their players. Student-athletes have a distinct role, opportunity and obligation to represent the University in a positive light. Coaches bear the burden of making sure their players fol- low through with that responsibility. MICHAEL EBER Privatization gone wild Privatization - it's a mouthful to say. The five-syllable word is also the federal govern- ment's solution to bureaucratic inefficiencies. After all, the theory assumes that the private sector is inherently more specialized and gen- erally more accountable because it answers to the bottom line. I can think of a more efficient term for this so-called solution: pork. We already know what happened to Walter Reed Medical Center when it subcontracted its maintenance services, but do we know what happens when the duties of Army Rangers are outsourced as well? The answer is dark, wet and eerily patriotic - Blackwater USA. This company doesn't just provide logistical sup- port, its also provides soldiers for securing key U.S. interests. Other companies like Hallibur- ton provide private services like catering and construction. But Blackwater is different in a way that fundamentally inverts the current standard for waging war. According to Blackwater, its mission is "to support national and international security policies that protect those who are defense- less and provide a free voice for all with a .dedication to providing ethical, efficient and effective turnkey solutions that positively impact the lives of those still caught in desper- ate times." That seems like a company run by freedom-loving responsible Americans, and it is. Founder Erik Prince is a former Navy SEAL and brother-in-law of Michigan's recent Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos. Prince's father even founded the Fam- ily Research Council, a lobbying group famous for outing Spongebob Squarepants as a devi- ously gay cartoon sponge. Sarcasm ceases to be funny when you real- ize that Blackwater makes Walter Reed look like the model for private sector account- ability. The families of Blackwater employees killed in action in Fallujah are in the process of suing the firm on the basis that it failed to prepare the mercenaries for combat. Suppos- edly, the men were to receive necessities like armor, maps and the assurance of a minimum of three combatants per vehicle. Because it's a private company and not the U.S. military, . there is no precedent to determine if firms like Blackwater should even be subject to federal or military court martial. Moreover, according to accounts from senior military officials, Blackwater does not follow the same rules of engagement and pre- emptively shoots at vehicles, and it does not assume liability for actions in Iraq. Whether or not Blackwater fulfilled its con- tracts, it asserts immunity under the same laws that protect the U.S. Military from wrongful death suits. It even went far enough to employ Kenneth Starr as counsel for defense (only after its previous lead attorney, Fred Fielding, took the job as White House Counsel). Black- water reeks of neoconservative influence. With at least $750 million in contracts, Black- water tells Congress that documents detailing its work are conveniently classified. How can America trust a military force with no political accountability? Journalist Jeremy Scahill refers to this shadow army as the "Praetorian Guard," the Roman private army accountable only to politi- cal elite. While associating private contractors in this way is powerful, it is just as alarming to realize that unaccountable soldiers serve side- by-side with the U.S. military: They all look the same to the enemy. If mercenaries are to be part of the "coalition of willing," they need to hold to the same standards of transparency and morality. We cannot allow a private corporation to supersede the political accountability that the U.S. military is obligated to honor. This is a case in which the gold standard theory of privatiza- tion falls morally unequal to the services pro- vided by the government. It seems like a cruel nightmare that an unaccountable executive hires unaccountable mercenaries to wage a war based on equally unaccountable intelligence sources. Instances like these prove commonly held notions that corporations are indeed more powerful than the governments they serve. I cannot stomach the reality that the gov- ernment even feels the need to hire mercenar- ies to carry out its foreign policy. If you feel equally responsible in supporting Blackwa- ter's agents, please support your mercenaries by patronizing their store. Forget war bonds, Blackwater Gift Bears start at $9.95 at proshop. blackwaterusa.com. Let the free market decide, right? Michael Eber is an LSA junior and a member of the Daily's editorial board. R eaders of majorenational papers like The New York Times or The Washington Post might have spilled their coffee as they scanned the paper on the morning of Jan. 16, 1967. Nestled amongst news of turmoil in Algeria and China's maneu- verings on the -- Vietnam War was a small headline of three simple words: Legalizing Mari- juana Urged. It referred to the infamous Michi- gan Daily editorial that this page has IMRAN trumpeted enough SYED over the years. It -- - pioneered a position that the Yale Daily News would take 10 days later, The Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin a month later and that a good part of the Left would one day advocate: Criminalizing marijuana makes it easier to manipulate for profit and therefore more of a threat to soci- ety than it ever wouldbe if legal. Maybe that makes sense, or maybe it doesn't. What's interesting is that this page and the decided Left don't advocate such pragmatism on other issues. The latest in Time magazine's recent anything-but-war cover stories reawakened one such issue: teaching the Bible in public schools. of course, this debate is invariably clogged up by demagoguery on either side, each as disingenuous in its rheto- ric as the other. The religious Right will rail all day about how the definite majority of Americans profess belief in God, but easily overlooks the fact that millions of those people are Jews, Muslims, Hindus and of other religions who believe the modern Bible to be a perversion of God's word at best. No better are those who advo- cate a completely secular education. They'll keep a straight face as they A governmental waste of time TO THE DAILY: On March 6, a major leather man- ufacturer in New Bedford, Mass. was raided, and 361 of its employees were arrested due to their illegal immigrant status. As a result of these arrests of employees and owners, the manufacturer, Michael Bianco Inc., is struggling to maintain its con- tract obligations. The backpacks and vests that Michael Bianco makes go almost entirely to our fighting men and women on the battlefield in Iraq. While not as essential as body armor or weapons, backpacks and vests still serve essential functions in keeping our soldiers alive. Although I do not support illegal immigration, the time of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment would be better spent guard- ing the border and not endangering American soldiers in the midst of a war. Our government needs to decide if it is more important to arrest peo- ple trying to make a living and harm- ing nobody or properly protecting our soldiers from very real harm. Aaron Willis LSA sophomore Religion's got nothing on an open mind TO THE DAILY: Toby Mitchell's column on reli- gion and college life brought up the large contrasts between university education and previously held reli- gious ideals (Sex, God and terrorism, 03/28/2007). It also pointed out the difficulties in dealing with emo- tional problems - such as depres- sion, stress, love, birth and -death - which many college students have. These problems are huge and intrac- table, making it beyond difficult for most people to convey them. The dogmatic structure of religion takes these mental and emotional states tell you creationism doesn't belong in the science classroom because it isn't science, and you'll believe them. They'll advocate teaching that side of the story in theology class, and you'll think that sounds about right. But consider the fact that only a miniscule percentage of American schools offer theology, and you might understand the real motive at work: "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of reli- gion." So according to Madison, Con- gress can't mandate prayer in school or profess a preference in religion. For a nation as disparate as ours, that makes perfect sense. But consider for a moment the dangers of treating reli- gion like a controlled substance. As with marijuana, banning some- thing doesn't make it go away. Instead, it creates a proverbial black market of religion in schools. Laws are made, challenged, overturned or upheld by the gross every year. It seems like at any given time, some .school district on some edge of our vaunted shores thinks it has the magic bullet to pacify the establishment clause. What it really has is another not-so- nuanced plan to offend the spiritual sensibilities of a sizable number of people - the founding fathers prob- ably included. The Time article rattles off several examples: Georgia now provides state funding for classes that teach the Bible, several states are con- sidering following suite and at least a couple of publishers are busy at work designing Biblical texts to confound current case law on the subject. Ploys, dodging and disagreement all around. Is this really how we want to deal with one of the most pervasive issues in our nation's history? We can no longer ignore the fact that there are differing opinions on this issue. In the American system, most of them cannot be constitution- ally suppressed. It's time for atheists to realize that the majority of this coun- try believes in God, and has the right to. Equally, it's time for the majority of this country to realize that atheist views are to be equally protected as their own. We can no longer ignore the fact that making religion a controlled substance is actually what makes it a threat. Liberals know that enforce- ment-centered policies make the drug war a lost cause. Now apply that logic a little more broadly. The thriving black market of religion in public schools. The idea of religion is a fact of life in our society, even for those who choose not to practice one. It is important that it be addressed openly in our schools. Not only would that minimize conniving attempts to skirt the law, it would also ensure that all sides are heard fairly. A specifically defined curriculum in the various forms of theology and atheism is the only way to mollify this unnecessarily inflamed debate. By trying to create a vacuum completely devoid of religion in schools, what we have created instead is a largely neu- tral system all-too-prone to decidedly unconstitutional infiltrations. Odd though it may sound, the only way for the government to truly pre- vent the establishment of any one reli- gion is not by banning everything but by ensuring all views on the subject are openly heard. lmran Syed is the editorial page editor. He can be reached at galad@umich.edu. 4 4 4 SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU and attempts to condense them to "the modern world is hardly suffer- Cliff's Notes. What is truly needed in ing from an overabundance of faith, these instances is a clear and honest hope, love and tolerance." That is medium through which they can be true, but this statement goes for all of explored. Only reasonable thought us, religious or not. Calling each other offers such a medium. Most problems names and bringing to light stinging today are tough and should be faced stereotypes isn't going to help as we with rationality and an open mind. all try to make the world a better place. Columns like this that advance Ian Robinson Christian stereotypes with scant LSA sophomore proof just show that maybe the "anti- gay bigots" aren't the only ones who d a o rnin huot tho hrnr Religious people are not naive or irrational TO THE DAILY: Iwas appalled readingToby Mitch- ell's column Sex, God, and Terrorism (03/28/2007) that started with the comment that college students must make a choice between the irratio- nal comfort of religion and rational knowledge. He called rational think- ers with religious beliefs "naive at best." I beg to differ. As a devout Christian and an aspiring intellec- tual, I don't think that "intellectual refinement and faith are opposed" at all. These blanket statements clearly reveal persistent stereotypes about those of religious faith. Mitchell brings up several argu- ments related to bombings in Rwan- da and other horrendous disasters that apply to probably less than 5 percent of the religious population worldwide. Using extreme examples to state the irrationality of religion is not accurate or fair. Simplifying Christianity to isolated examples creates a muddled picture of the essence of the religion. The rest of the column is rampant with other generalizations about "anti-gay big- ots" and a comment equating terror- ists to a combination of religion and modernity, when in fact many other cultural, political, economical and social factors culminate to make ter- rorism an issue today. Religion is different from person to person, and while it can be used as a negative force, more often than not, the examples of religion's nega- tive side are magnified to an untrue proportion. Even Mitchell writes that neea to practice wnat tney preacn. Charlotte Sandy LSA freshman MSA on snow removal inequity TO THE DAILY: Hopefully we've reached the end of another Michigan winter,butI'dliketo add something in response to a recent discussion in the Daily's editorial page about Ann Arbor's snow removal pol- icy (The snow doesn't lie, 02/19/07). I recently had the opportunity to clear up the details with Mike Bergen and Kirk Pennington of the city's Field Operations unit. In response to nor- mal snowfall, the city first prioritizes major artery roads (those used for fire, police and ambulance services) and then clears all residential areas on the day before that area's regularly sched- uled trash pick-up. In response to major snowfalls (4 inches or more), the city mobilizes all 15 of its salt trucks and tries to plow all neighborhoods in the city within a 24-hour timeframe. As far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no distinction drawn between student and non-student neighborhoods in regards to snow removal. If anyone has any further questions or con- cerns regarding student/city rela- tions, please contact the Michigan StudentAssembly External Relations Committee at msaerc@umich.edu. Matthew Stoker LSA junior. The letter writer is a member of the City Council-MSA committee. 4 4 CHRIS KOSLOWSKI s Did youcatcht hat full-f ontal hy' We've bee naked:Ince e ll certainly has nothing nuditymithe Dal brtbBeuy one' to do wt A wskm s lack of samyButlerBenCalea, Mi ya, brut wan e disety , I did. It was appaling! about it Why do you Aslueynothing l cw r+ ° think this fence is here? .+++. e 6 U °0 D °ba Editorial Board Members: Emily Beam, Kevin Bunkley, Amanda Burns, Sam Butler, Ben Caleca, Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Emmarie Huetteman, Toby Mitchell, David Russell, John Stiglich, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner, Christopher Zbrozek I I Write for Daily Opinion this summer. Columnist spots available. (You don't even have to be in Ann Arbor.) Email editpage.editors@umich.edu for more information.