4A - Monday, September 24, 2007
The Michigan Daily -'michigandaily.cam
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Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
AB'A
If Hitler were in the United States and
wanted a platform from which to speak,
he would have plenty of platforms to
speak in the United States."
- John Coatsworth, dean of Columbia University's school of international and public affairs; defending Columbia's
decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an interview with Fox News.
Ask not what you can do
0
KARL STAMPFL
EDITOR IN CHIEF
IMRAN SYED
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
JEFFREY BLOOMER
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.
A shocking trend
Harm caused by Tasers is too high a price
The unlikely catchphrase "Don't Tase me, bro" has already
spawned bumper stickers and T-shirts. But that solemn
cry of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer dur-
ing a scuffle with police at a speech by Sen. John Kerry last week
also brings to the forefront once again the danger of Tasers. Within
the next six months, Ypsilanti police will join almost every police
department in the state - excluding only the University's Depart-
ment of Public Safety, Eastern Michigan University's campus police
and Saline Township police - in wielding these new age weapons.
While safer and easier to use for police officers than batons, Tas-
ers lessen the likelihood of deliberation that must come before any
use of force. They are a dangerous weapon for law enforcement to
embrace because they are more likely to be abused.
W hat angered me most
about Richard Stengel's
article "A Time to Serve"
in Time magazine _
earlier this month
was the two-page
photograph athat
accompanied it.
The photograph
depicted 11 volun-
teers who selflessly
serve their country
because they love ROBERT
America just that SOAVE
much and want to
make a difference.
They receive no recognition for their
efforts- except posing for Time's
cover story and sneering at readers
with condescending glares of false
moral superiority.
In the article, Stengel, the editor
of Time, demands that all Americans
heed a call to national public service.
He also recommends a government
take-over of the issue with the ridic-
ulous suggestion of a Cabinet-level
DepartmentofNationalService.While
Stengel insists that national public ser-
vice would never be mandatory, it will
become so if the government invades
the issue to the extent other govern-
ments have found necessary to make
such programs work.
Another article in the same issue
of Time, "How Others Serve," pro-
vides examples of seven countries
with invasive national service pro-
grams. All seven have mandatory
service requirements for certain seg-
ments of their populations, and three
of the seven have mandatory military
service. In Israel, "secular Jews are
drafted at age 18 - males for three
years, females for two - so military
service is a rite of passage." Compare
this assessment of Israel's program
with Stengel's description of the
"Summer of Service" idea for Ameri-
can teenagers entering high school,
which states that 100,000 students
would volunteer for this "rite of pas-
sage" that would include working at
summer school programs.
Even if the purported "rite of pas-
sage" managed to somehow function
while remaining voluntary, there is at
least one segment of the population
that would face a mandatory service
requirement: taxpayers. The Depart-
ment of National Service wouldn't
be run on donations, and I cannot
picture the secretary of national ser-
vice being an actual volunteer. The
government likes to pretend that it's
doing more and more for the people
- but that always comes at a cost.
Enabling (even if not enforcing)
young Americans to engage in vol-
unteerism through a government run
agency would entail similar - man-
datory - costs for all taxpayers.
Despite the astronomical cost to
taxpayers such a department would
bring, what makes mandated national
public service such a terrible idea is
that it destroys the essence of volun-
teerism, the very thing on which it
expects to capitalize. I suppose that I
have no problem with the government
asking me to serve the nation, but I
do have a problem with government
employees being paid to force me to
serve the nation.
Being a volunteer is more than
just helping others; the most impor-
tant part of it is actually wanting to
help others. Coercing Americans into
serving with their dollars or hours
completely shatters the all-important
voluntary nature of volunteerism. It's
a great idea for teenagers on their way
to high school to volunteer their time.
However, it's dangerous and dystopi-
an to compel them to volunteer their
time while hypocritical bureaucrats
in the "Summer of Service" program
collect their paychecks.
Save the spirit
of American
volunteerism
The University's campus is filled to
the brim with students who willingly
and lovingly volunteer their time for
causesthattheycare about. Howwould
we feel if others like us were trudging
on for similar causes simply to meet
some national service requirement?
Serving a cause because you want to is
similar in no way to doing so because
you have to: the former is noble while
the latter is demeaning and counter-
productive. We cannot let the govern-
ment take our volunteerism from us.
Let's keep our dollars and time and use
both toward our own causes.
Robert Soave can be reached
at rsoave@umich.edu.
The use of the Tasers takes far less
thought and effort than batons; pressing a
button to release an electric shock is much
easier than having to hold a person down
and strike him repeatedly. While Tasers
are generally an improvement over the
baton for those on the receiving end, they
are still a weapon of physical force - and
one that makes such a level of force more
likely because of their ease of use. They
make the use of force - which police should
only employ in exceptional circumstances
- more convenient.
Meyer, for example, was Tasered while
incessantly questioning Kerry during a
speech at the school. Being obnoxious is
a bad thing, but it certainly isn't cause
enough for police to employ a Taser. Meyer
posed no physical threat to anyone in the
room. There were already a handful of
police officers around him and there was
no chance of him overpowering them. Any-
one who has seen the video of the event can
attest that even though Meyer resisted, he
did not do so violently and should not have
been incapacitated, even momentarily. Yet
the five officers, having pinned him to the
ground, still chose to use the Taser.
In a similar incident last year, Univer-
sity of California at Los Angeles student.
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was Tasered
multiple times after refusing to leave the
campus library and declining to show his
student ID. The incident was captured by
another student using a camera-phone and
has been widely circulated on the inter-
net. The six-minute recording shows little
proof that Tabatabainejad posed any real
danger. Although he was squirming out
of the hands of officers, the student was
also making his way to the exit before offi-
cers physically stepped in. Tabatabainejad
even warned officers that he had a medi-
cal condition, later disclosed to be bipolar
disorder.
Serious health complications can result
from the use of Tasers and there have been
several documented deaths related to the
devices. In April of 2006, a schizophrenic
wheelchair-bound Florida woman died
after being Tasered 10 times within the
span of a few minutes by police. Individu-
als with various health problems, especial-
ly those involving the heart, are more likely
to suffer additional adverse effects from a
Taser stun. Officers have no way of know-
ing such details before using force.
The ease with which tasers may be used
is quite alarming. Physical force should
never be a simple knee-jerk response, espe-
cially for police officers. Police departments
- especially campus police at places like
Wayne State and Michigan State Univer-
sities - must reevaluate their policies and
procedures for Taser use. More than that,
the harm that Tasers can cause should be
considered at the state level. As numerous
cases have shown, these are not harmless,
simple weapons of temporary incapaci-
tation. Police officers may find Tasers
safer and easier to use, but the disconnect
between the physical act and the mental
process of such a dangerous device is wor-
risome, to say the least.
BIG TEN NETWORK
Comcast is the problem
I amwriting in response to the editorial about the dis-
pute between the Big Ten Network and Comcast in the
Sept. 18 edition of The Michigan Daily (Big Ten Blackout,
09/18/2007). I want to clarify that our cost to Comcast
has always been well under $1 per subscriber in the eight
states of the Big Ten conference and less than a dime in all
other states - not the $1.10 that has been widely report-
ed. With a total of 24 million subscribers nationwide, the
cost to Comcast would be less than 30 cents per subscrib-
er. In fact, as reported Aug. 23 in the Detroit Free Press,
Bob Thompson, president of Fox Sports National Cable
Networks, stated that Comcast never received a proposal
with the higher figure.
The true sticking point is level of service. The Big
Ten Network strongly believes that our programming
- about 65 Wolverine events this year, including about
20 men's basketball and football games - is far more
relevant to Michigan residents than many of the other
channels they get. Therefore, if ybu receive 70 channels
on your expanded basic cable package, the Big Ten Net-
work should be one of them. We're merely asking Com-
cast to treat us as it treats the sports networks it owns
- including the Golf Channel and Versus - which are
available on the expanded basic package. Comcast even
puts CSS Sports, a channelithat airs replays of SEC games
and some limited live events, on expanded basic.
Comcast is attempting to launch Comcast SportsNet
Northwest on expanded basic cable systems in Port-
land, Ore., next month. Comcast spokesperson Tim
Fitzpatrick was quoted in The Oregonian as saying:
"We aim to have the programming widely distributed.
What the consumer can do is call their provider and let
them know they want to see this. Consumers need to
know that it's certainly our intention to have wide dis-
tribution." But at the same time, Comcast wants to place
the Big Ten Network ion a sports 'tier. Why is Comcast
making one argument in Oregon, but the exact opposite
argument in Michigan?
If the Big Ten Network was on a sports tier, Michi-
gan fans would be forced to upgrade to digital service
($24.95 per month) and then to a sports tier ($4.95 extra
per month). We don't think Michigan fans should have
to pay $360 per year to watch the Wolverines from their
own livingroom. In fact, Wolverine fans shouldn't have
to pay extra at all.
As of today, we have 140 agreements with cable
operators across the Midwest, plus national deals with
DISH Network, DirecTV and AT&T. All of those agree-
ments call for the Big Ten Network to be placed on basic
packages. Nearly 30 million viewers across the coun-
try, and more than 6 million within the Big Ten's eight
states, are receiving the Big Ten Network and enjoying
unprecedented coverage of the conference's teams. We
hope that Comcast will soon join the growing list of
cable companies that have responded to their custom-
ers and made the Big Ten Network available to them in
their basic package of channels.
Mike Vest is the media relations
manager for the Big Ten Network.
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
PAGE REDFORD
,
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V W
nt
The alternative to
mainstream Greeks
TO THE DAILY:
When I came to the University,
I wanted nothing to do with the
Greek system. I pictured the fra-
ternities as primarily social orga-
nizations that were only sometimes
philanthropic. I believed that mem-
bers would have a hard time getting
to know everyone else, let alone
become brothers. I had no idea
there existed an alternative.
The minority Greek system is
that alternative. It's an organiza-
tion where intimate friendships are
formed, new and innovative ways
to give back to the community are
constantly sought and student lead-
ers educate the campus on political
and social issues that directly and
indirectly affect every student.
As a whole, historically black and
Latino Greeks put on countless edu-
cational, cultural and community
service events. The Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity has a pageant to raise
money for college scholarships. The
Delta Tau Lambda sorority has a
Salute to Latinas program that hon-
ors local Latina women who have
impacted the community. Lambda
Theta Phi visits high schools in
southwest Detroit to motivate stu-
dents to go to. college. The minority
Greeks have been at the forefront of
many political and social issues: We
have hosted events to raise aware-
ness of domestic violence, global
warming and Proposal 2.
If you want true brotherhood or
sisterhood, if you desire to deeply
impact communities that need our
assistance, if you desire to raise
awareness on social injustices or if
you want an organization that will
make you grow as a person, consider
the minority Greek system.
Brian Garcia
LSA senior
The letter writer is a member
ofLambda Theta Phi.
Sha key Jake's death
brings back memories
My friends and I, now scattered all
over the world, exchanged dozens of
e-mails sharing memories, laughing
over our favorite Shakey Jake stories
and reminiscing. Jake taught us so
much: To put ourselves "out there"
everyday, to love everyone, to be our-
selves, to sing our own unique song
and to follow our hearts.
Being away from Ann Arbor is
suddenly really tough. I wish I could
be there with all of you to remem-
ber, to share, to laugh and to honor
the homeless prophet so many of us
loved. I will light a colorful candle,
listen to the blues and honor the leg-
end of Shakey Jake Woods.
Nancy Cronk
Alum
r I
TO THE DAILY: 4
Since graduating from the Uni- - .
versity more than 20 years ago, I An eco-faSCiSt
have rarely lookedback. I have never
watched a single football game, and comes to campus
I never joined the Alumni Asso-
ciation. I don't understand the tail- TO THE DAILY:
gaters, the people whose doorbells Another eco-fascist is coming to
play "Hail to the Victors" or the campus.WillTuttle - an aginghippy
people who paint their faces maize with an anti-meat agenda - is speak-
and blue. There are starving people ing on campus Tuesday. Although
in the world, and there are so many Tuttle's degree is in the field of
better things to do. education, he professes to have the
Recently, though, a friend in authority to tell us what we should
Ann Arbor sent me an e-mail that eat and why. Those of us on campus
informed me of the death of Shakey who still cherish our freedoms to
Jake (Remembering a legend, think for ourselves and to eat what
09/20/2007). Tears filled my eyes, we choose should go to his talk and
and I had to tell everyone I ever knew let him know how we feel.
from Ann Arbor about it. It felt like
a relative had died, someone I loved, Kevin Eding
cared about and will miss greatly. Alum
Editorial Board Members: Ben Caleca, Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty, Kellyn
Jackson, Gavin Stern, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya