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4A - Monday, October 29, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
c Mid t n Baly V
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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NOTABLE QUOTIA
He's sick - he's got an addiction. He
needs treatment."
- Former President Gerald Ford on former President Bill Clinton in a recently revealed interview with
New York Daily News Washington Bureau Chief Thomas DeFrank.
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KARL STAMPFL
EDITOR IN CHIEF
IMRAN SYED
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
JEFFREY BLOOMER
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflectthe officialposition nf the Daily's editorialboard.All othersigned articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative andtakes a critical look at
coverage and contentinevery section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor
with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu.
Dream on
Immigration reform bill had right idea but flawed method
T he U.S. Senate voted down the Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors Act last week. The Dream Act,
first introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) in 2005,
would offer permanent resident status to children of undocument-
ed immigrants provided they graduate from high school and com-
plete two years in college or the military. Despite the fact that the
act's passage would be a positive symbolic gesture, it was not the
ideal solution and could have easily turned into simply a backdoor
draft of immigrants into the military. Even aside from that issue,
Congress's decision to vote down the Dream Act for the third time
since 2005 raises serious concerns that the government is still not
ready to deal with the full issue of illegal immigration.'
A Fox in the Big House
hen I was a youngster liv-
ing in the suburbs of Wash-
ington, rivalry weekend
did not mean the
Michigan-Michi-
gan State rivalry,
but Florida-Florida
State. I could watch
Bobby Bowden's
Seminoles punish
the Gators without
purchasing a spe-
cial cable TV pack- MIKE
age. Such access
not only taught me EBER
to hate the Gators
but also connected me to the greater
Seminole nation. Eventually, similar
weekly access to Maize and Blue foot-
ball turned me into a Wolverine fan and
a Michigander. In light of the Big Ten
Network's de facto blackouts in Ann
Arbor and other parts of the country
this season, I wonder if our team's sig-
nificant community cultivating power
is in jeopardy.
Before I speculate if BTN will bring
Armageddon for Wolverine nation, we
must first address the reason millions
of Wolverine loyalists are blacked out
in the first place. Athletic Director
Bill Martin and Rupert Murdoch, the
man who unleashed Bill O'Reilly on
the world, can be blamed for putting
an invisibility cloak on Michigan's
prestige. Although BTN is billed as the
network of all 11 Big Ten schools, Mur-
doch's News Corp, the parent company
of Fox, owns 49 percent of it.
I concede that News Corp's stake in
BTN is a shrewd business decision, and
you cannot really blame Fox for taking
advantage of a lucrative opportunity.
However, Fox's willingness to use BTN
to boost its own hnarket share comes at
the expense of nationwide Michigan
football pride.
Let me explain what the Athletic
Department won't. We know Comcast
- the largest cable provider in the
country and the only one in Ann Arbor
- does not carry BTN. Neither, howev-
er, do other cable titans like Time War-
ner, Charter and Mediacom. Who does
carry BTN? Among others, DirecTV,
also owned by News Corp.
It's no coincidence that BTN could
not come to an agreement with the
likes of Comcast. BTN will tell football
starved Wolverine, Buckeye and Bad-
ger fans that all it wants is $1.10 per
subscriber on expanded basic cable.
Comcast's objections may sound irra-
tional because $1.10 seems like beans,
but to put it into perspective, the NFL
Network charges only 70 cents.
When was the last time two compa-
nies drummed such a direct publicity
campaign to justify their "expanded
basic cable" coverage policy? Martin
himself recently sent out a 2,151-word
e-mail to the University community
about'the perils of Comcast and why
we should all support BTN. Seem-
ingly oblivious to the outrage among
Michigan fans in Ann Arbor and else-
where, Martin took his lobbying one
step ftrther by trying to mobilize the
Michigan Student Assembly against
Comcast. In the most egregious dis-
play of his lack of respect for Michigan
students and fans, at a recent Michigan
Student Assembly meeting, Martin
openly appealed to MSA to motivate
students to switch their cable service
from Comcast.
The University clearly has a vested
interest in the success of BTN, but as it
is Michigan fans stand to lose the most.
Being trapped in the crossfire of multi-
media brinksmanship may even threat-
en our program's recruiting power in
parts of the country where Comcast
or other non-BTN cable providers are
dominant. Does Martin understand
the vital role constant coverage played
in building a Wolverine nation?
Not everyone can attend a game at
the Big House, but anyone with access
to a TV can become a fan by watching
a game. Political philosopher Benedict
Anderson describes this homogenizing
How News Corp
is destroying
Wolverine nation
effectasthesame phenomenonthatstirs
nationalistic feelings. The shared act of
watching Mike Hart on Saturdays con-
tributes to a "collective consciousness
of Wolverines fans. We may not be able
to meet the millions of other citizens of
Wolverine Nation, but the "complete
confidence" in their simultaneous act
of watching the game unites the janitor
and the MBA in a single cause. Recruits
and prospective students can feel this
aura, and it often plays a role in their
choosing Michigan.
Firstluxuryboxes andnowthe BTN.
Martin's decisions to ignore tradition
and run Michigan like a telecom giant
truly tarnish the University's legacy.
Worse yet, they could jeopardize the
unquestioned national prominence of
our athletic programs.
Mike Eber can be reached
at mieber@umich.edu.
I
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Because talk of increasing security at
American borders and removing undocu-
mented residents from workplaces and
schools has heightened in recent years,
there have periodically been moves coun-
tering this talk to ensure the freedoms and
opportunities of undocumented immigrants
and their children. For immigrant children
who want to serve in the military, the Dream
Act is a win-win situation. But for others, it
could be something more sinister.
Financing a college education is a major
hurdle for anyone, but especially so for
undocumentedimmigrants,because some of
the usual sources of financial aid are not an
option. Thus when the reward of legalstatus
is dangled before illegal immigrants, most
of them will see the military as the default
option. It should be no surprise that several
officials at the Department of Defense have
spoken in favor of the Dream Act.
The most important potential benefit of
the Dream Act - providing undocument-
ed immigrants a path to education, self-
improvement and integration - may be lost
because it does not include a way to finance
a college education for those who choose
that option. To avoid simply becoming a
recruitment tool for the military, the act
must entail ways to make college as viable
an option for these students as the military.
College should not be out of reach for any-
one because of financial barriers, the chil-
dren of illegal immigrants included.
Undocumented immigrants who have
graduated high school and wish to go on to
college have met every requirement of the
ideal of American immigration. Many of
these immigrants came to this country to
escape strife as young children with their
families and worked their way through the
system, learned the language and culture
and got an education. The contribution
that such students can make to our society
if given the chance is significant. Consid-
er, for example, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, an
undocumented immigrant who excelled at
Princeton University and became a Sachs
Scholar. Peralta then went through a year-
long battle to obtain legal status when he
realized that his research trip to Oxford
University would mean that he would be
barred from re-entry into America.
Undocumented immigrants' contribu-
tion our society is not limited to the low-
skill labor industry, as is often stereotyped.
Can we really afford to turn people like
Peralta away and have them take their sig-
nificant intellectual potential with them?
Giving immigrants and their children
more resources and opportunities would
open up new avenues for them and only
serve to enhance our country.
Even an improved version of the Dream
Act, however, wouldn't be a complete solu-
tion. The act would cater to only a small per-
centage of illegal immigrants in the country,
because only an estimated 65,000 people
would be eligible. Broader moves that do not
restrict the people covered under the law
need tobe passed in Congress. The Compre-
hensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007,
for instance, could have provided legal sta-
tus to the approximately 12 million undocu-
mented immigrants in the country if it had
not failed in the Senate.
The government's antipathetic atti-
tude toward undocumented immigrants
is unhealthy for our country because that'
group is undeniably an integral part of the
American society. They cannot be ignored
any longer.
RACHEL WAGNER , A A
A new breed of activism
New York Times columnist Thom-
as Friedman calls us "Generation Q"
- the "Quiet Americans." Facing
important issues like global warm-
ing and
the war This viewpoint
in Iraq, isthefirstina
we rarely
protest, series about the
rarely present state of
marchand
we gener- student activism.
ally don't
make enough noise. Instead, we con-
tent ourselves with passive, symbolic
efforts like joining political Facebook
groups and wearing ribbons to raise
awareness about breast cancer.
Or at least that is the common
perception.
Friedman was right to point out
our generation's idealism. Accord-,
ing to an online study conducted by
Cone Inc and AMP Insights pub-
lished in USA Today, 61 percent of
young adults ages 13 to 25 "feel per-
sonally responsible for making a dif-
ference in the world," and 81 percent
have volunteered in the previous
year alone. A 2005 report published
by the Higher Education Research
Institute at the University of Cali-
fornia at Los Angeles cites that
about 66 percent of college freshmen
"believe it's essential or very impor-
tant to help others in difficulty," and
among incoming freshmen, feelings
of civic duty and social conscious-
ness are higher than they've been at
any time in the past 25 years.
This generation of college students
may not organize mass marches or
stage sit-ins reminiscent of the 1960s,
yet these poll numbers show that stu-
dents have not fallen prey to apathy.
We are not lazy, but the traditional
methods of student activism have
changed. Student activism has not
disappeared - it is being redefined.
Clearly, protests and marches are
not working for this generation. The
organizers have good intentions, but
protests usually fall victim to the
same recurring problems. In many
cases the numbers are disappoint-
ing, such as the recent student rally
for increased funding to higher edu-
cation at the Michigan statehouse in
Lansing. Between all of Michigan's
state universities, only 300 students
showed up.
Other times the protesters are
uninformed about the issue at hand.
Take, for example, the hundreds of
middle school and high school stu-
dents bused to the Diag last year by
By Any Means Necessary to show
opposition to Proposal 2. By most
accounts, the protest was more cha-
otic than productive.
Finally, sometimes the protest
simply doesn't have enough stu-
dent support to succeed, as with the
University's temporary ban on Coca-
Cola products in2005. Students have
become jaded with these methods
and instead have started to channel
their efforts into different actions.
The newstudent activism is based
on knowledge and -small change
enacted from the bottom up. Our
generation finds it more effective to
be informed on an issue and then go
out into the world to try and change
it rather than protesting en masse.
It's no less activist for The Roosevelt
Institution to publish a paper cri-
tiquing a facet of educational policy
than it is for Students Organizing
for Labor and Economic Equality to
stage a sit-in at University President
Mary Sue Coleman's office. Both
groups are demonstrating two valu-
able types of activism; the only dif-
ference is the use of traditional and
non-traditional methods.
Teach For America is perhaps the
perfect embodiment of our gener-
ation's new definition of effecting
change. In the program, college grad-
uates are placed in different urban
and rural areas across the country
to teach in low-income, under-privi-
leged school districts for two years.
While Teach For America doesn't
fall under the traditional activist
framework of protests and marches,
it does encapsulate our unique brand
of activismby combining our genera-
tion's desire to change the world with
our tendency to strive for progress
by making small changes at ground
level. Teach For America is not a
perfect program, and neither does
it present a magical cure-all of prob-
lems of educational inequality, but it
allows young adults to take a stand
in their communities in more engag-
ing, meaningful ways than, holding
another disappointing protest.
Those who say that student activ-
ism is dead are not looking in the
right places. Students may not be
marching on Washington or protest-
ing in the Diag as much, but we are
working for the causes we care about
in clubs and volunteer organizations
at both a local and national level. We
may not gather together to yell and
picket, but we do gather together to
inform ourselves and make a differ-
ence in our communities.
. Future viewpoints in this series
by campus activists will help show
that although the old form of student
activism may be dead, student activ-
ism'itself is most certainly still alive.
Whether or not our efforts are as
effective as those of previous genera-
tions, though, is the real question.
Rachel Wagner is an assistant
editorial page editor. She can be
reached at rachwag@umich.edu.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Emad Ansari Kevin Bunkley. Ben Caleca, Milly Dick Mike Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie
Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Robert Soave, Gavin Stern, Jennifer
Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa
I
I
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
U' must better protect
studentsfrom RIAA
the RIAA to obtain identifying data
without the subject ever knowing about
it or being able to question the RIAA's
tactics in court.
The University of Wisconsin real-
TO THE DAILY: izes this problem:
The new BAYU, or Be-Aware-You're- the pressure. Why
Uploading, automated system ('U' to sity of Michigan ta
warn uploaders, 10/26/2007) is a smart receives these subp
idea that makes students aware of the
dangerous and illegal activities they may Michael Roberto
be participating in. I applaud the Univer- LSA junior
sity's recent efforts to keep the Record-
ing Industry Association of America's
subpoenas at bay for students. Cornerback
However, our peers at the University
of Wisconsin at Madison have taken ofso muchc
a different approach to the bullying of
the RIAA. Wisconsin administrators TO THE DAILY:
informed the record labels that they I couldn't helpt
will not pass on individual settlement up inside me whip
letters without a subpoena. The RIAA's article about M
bullying tactic of using John Doe sub- Morgan Trent (SI
poenas, an attempt to short-circuit the 10/26/2007). I don
legal system by relying on universities was watching the
to do their dirty work by identifying as I was last year,
users, is under much scrutiny. It allows struggle in every
and does not bow to
'doesn't the Univer-
ke this stance when it
oenas?
undeserving
coverage
the laughter building
le reading the recent
ichigan cornerback
lipping the Spotlight,
't know if the writer
same Michigan team
because I saw Trent
game, not just the
Ohio State and USC games. His season respectively in passing yards per game.
was riddled with blown coverage and I won't even mention his play against
missed tackles. It may not have been as Appalachian State.
noticeable because last year's veteran I support Trent and the Michigan
defense was better able to cover up his football team. I just think that two pages
mistakes. of newspaper space should have gone to
I watched Trent play high school foot- one of many other deserving Wolverine
ball at Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep, and players.
I could tell that he was a decent receiver
but not good enough to achieve stardom Ian Murray
in the collegiate ranks. He is obviously LSA freshman
playing out of position at cornerback,
and his transition will never be effec-
tive at the collegiate level. His instincts United Way not worthy
are not adjusted for the defensive side of . u p r
football. of University support
He is better suited to play like the
very receivers that constantly torch him TO THE DAILY: t
in coverage. The article tries to justify I am writing about the United Way
Trent's play by speaking of his improve- campaign that is being forced upon the
ment this season. Sure, Trent played University community once again this
well against Penn State, Eastern Michi- year. The United Way has had one scan-
gan, Notre Dame and Illinois, but these dal after another for the past 15 to 20
teams are ranked 78, 99, 113 and 115 years locally, not to mention the trouble
respectively in passing yards per-game. the agency has caused nationally. The
Trent struggled against Oregon, Purdue long list of violations includes double-
and Northwestern, ranked 45, 15 and 8 counting money, double-dipping pay-
ments and overpaying employees.
Last year, the state of Michigan
closed down an agency funded by the
United Way in Detroit for its connec-
tion to the murder of a foster child. The
state granted immunity to at least one
employee of the center in exchange for
testifying against the foster mother
who went to prison for beating a toddler
to death. These people watched as a 2-
year-old boy with black eyes, bruises
and burns met with social workers over
the course of several months. Why does
such an agency still receive United Way
funding?
It greatly offends me that University
President Mary Sue Coleman tries to
manipulate the University community
into giving money to the United Way.
This is a common practice among many
institutions and corporations, but who is
profiting? Certainly not the needy.
Christine Moellering
The letter writer is a student adminidtra-
Five assistant in the Chemical Engineer-
ingDepartment.
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