4A - Monday, September 24, 2007 The Michigan Daily -'michigandaily.cam 74C CIWC4*gan 43at*lv Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. 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 , . 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