4 - Tuesday, December 4, 2007 4 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com l e tic[ ig n wily Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR KARL STAMPFL EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solelytheviews of their authors. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at coverage andcontent in every section ofthe paper. Readers are encouraged to contactthe public editor with questions andcomments. He can be reached atpubhliceditor@umich.edu. MSAand you Students must play a role in turning around student gov't With all the controversy surrounding the Michigan Stu- dent Assembly, it's easy for students to just tune out and ignore the assembly completely. But aside from the $7.19 you contribute to it every semester, MSA should matter to stu- dents because it is their collective voice. MSA has worked on several issues that affect students directly, like the leasing ordinance and textbooks. Sure, progress has been slow, but students must share the blame. How many were even aware that there was an MSA election last week? How many of you voted? As deplorable as the assembly's recent scandals are, its problems go beyond that, and they will never be rectified if students don't get involved in their government. cc ~NOTABLE QUOTIABLE One has to realize ... that you don't get to decide how the news media is going to treat you." - Controversial radio talk show host Don Imus during his first show since being pulled off the air eight months ago for making racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Gotcha'journaism? D oes 20 people at a meeting when it comes to political debates. The The Daily typically provides more constitute a front-page story? ideais that "gotcha"journalism doesn't thorough coverage during the spring That's what some readers serve the public good and only encour- elections, when MSA executive board were asking in response to a story in ages candidates and politicians to be positions are up for grabs. It's cover- Monday's paper more concerned about how they pres- age includes endorsements by the edi- about a group of ent themselves to the public instead of torial page. students attempt- honestly airing their views. And the I would suggest in the future ing to launch an truth is, a lot of the trivial makes its though that the Daily run at least effort to force wayinto political coverage.While read- some short statements on each of the Michigan Student ers like to think they are high-minded candidates in the race with some basic Assembly Presi- and want only substantive news, often information about their positions for dent Zack Yost out what one person finds trivial, another the fall election. This is a way to give of office (Students finds vitally important. I think the let- candidates at least some voice in the launch effort to oust PAUL H. ters to the Daily over l'affaire Facebook paper in the upcoming elections, even Yost, 12/03/2007). demonstrate this divide. if their candidacy doesn't warrant a I don't think the JOHNSON The fear over this controversy is full-fledged news story. question really was that if all the Daily is doing is sham- about the story - considering the low ing Yost, then he'll know never to say turnout for the recent MSA election, anything controversial again, but he Coverage of M SA 20 people could almostbe seen as a sig- won't actually change his behavior. nificant part of the University's voting Also, there are concerns that the real * e *ai population. I think readers complained problems in MSA are getting lost in in the Daily: Unfair about the story as a way to criticize the shuffle of news coverage. what they perceived as a piling on by But I think the real lesson over the or incomplete. the Daily on Yost and his now-infa- Facebook controversy is this: Every- mous Facebook.com group. In the last thing is fair game in politics. The week alone, there have been three sto- Daily's responsibility isn't to restrain Another issue raised by the cover- ries about the controversy and an edi- itself from reporting controversial age of Yost and his Facebook group torial asking Yost to step down - not to facts that may or may not turn out was the use of profanity. In the article mention an opinion piece by Yost him- to be trivial in the long run. Its job is titled "MSA president under fire for self apologizing for his actions. to make sure the facts it does report Facebook group that mocked rep," How should a newspaper handle accurately represent the controversies appeared a quotation that read: "I'll this sort of controversy? Anyone who facing MSA and its responsibilities to give thatkidafucking disabilityhe can has followed the mainstream media its students. write home about if he keeps sending has been frustrated by the level of Which leads us to the student elec- these code amendments to everyone." political discourse, which can some- tion: Did the Daily do enough to publi- Daily Editor in Chief Karl Stampfl times seem like grade-school name- cize the election? The problem is that said that the quote was absolutely calling. Just look at the coverage of much of the Michigan Action Party necessary to provide context to the the presidential campaign: Articles faced slim opposition in the campaign story. Stampfl said the paper has a accused Barack Obama of being unpa- for the assembly, and a rather uncon- more tolerant attitude about the use triotic when he didn't hold his hand tested electiongenerally doesn'tresult of profanity than most mainstream over his heart during the pledge of in a high number of news stories. newspapers. allegiance, and there was another "It was borderline uncontested," "It's consistentwiththe spirit of the series of stories asking whether Hill- said David Mekelburg, the associate Daily and its openness," Stampfl said. ary Clinton wore a dress that was too news editor who coordinates MSA revealing during a Senate speech. coverage. Paul H. Johnson is the Daily's Often it might seem newspapers The fall elections are the equiva- public editor. He can be reached value the trivial over the substantive lent of midterm elections for MSA. at publiceditor@umich.edu. Out of those eligible to vote, only about one out of 20 students (5.3 percent) voted. Even that number is deceptively high in gauging meaningful turnout, because there were numerous joke write-in votes like "Santa Clause," "Mmm Chicken Nug- gets" and "My Dog's Bunghole." If our student government lacks organization, authority and accountability, it's entirely the fault of the students who either do not vote, or worse, contribute to making the whole process a joke. Democratic representatives at all lev- els have a strong incentive to only listen to those constituents who are most likely to speak up and raise hell. MSA, of course, is no different. It is a large group, and it deals with countless student groups about just about every activity and issue imaginable. Unless students make their presence felt in elections, during campaigns and at weekly MSA meetings, their interests will probably be ignored by their student representatives - out of sheer lack of knowledge about what students want, if nothing more destructive. Voting in MSA elections is incred- ibly easy. There is no registering, and you don't even have to leave your chair. Vot- ing via any computer takes 10 minutes at most, and that's if you decide to read over the candidates' platforms (conveniently included on the voting website). If students were to take the time to read over these -K ? .SEn Simply ousting Yostfails to address largerproblem TO THE DAILY: I am frustrated with the discourse that has transpired from the recent events regarding the University's student leaders. Based on the articles in The Michigan Daily and a letter by an associate dean (MSA leaders fail to live up to University values, 11/29/2007), one would think the best solution to the leadership prob- lem is to publicly shame the Michigan Student Assembly and its president, Zack Yost, and then fire him. The more important question here is: How can we engage in strategic action that uses this as an opportunity for all affected parties, including the University, to learn to prevent future reprehensible? The calls for Yost's resignation do not solve the problem of student leaders holding views antithetical to the mission of the University. If we just forced one person out of office, other representatives holding similar views - sev- eral of whom still occupy our student leader- ship - would simply take it asa lesson to not to write them down and get caught again. Of course this would do nothing to address the underlying problems with leadership on student government. I think MSA can come out from this a better assembly, but it will take more than the outing of one person. I challenge MSA and those on the body that are under fire to complete a year-long commu- nity service project that engages the insulted communities on campus. A complete solution to this endemic problem will not come from me, but from the university community's dis- course. In the coming days, will we take the opportunity to grow and learn from this inci- dent, or will we squander it? Stuart Wagner The letter writer is an alum and aoformer member of MSA and LSA-SG. Transgender rights issue must not be stifled platforms, most of the problems with MSA would become far clearer than any edito- rial could make them. From lofty campaign promises with no basis in the terrestrial to recycled propos- als that sound good butwon't getanywhere, candidates for MSA get away with a lot of fluff while seeking election. Once they'are on the assembly, they become part of a body that is supposed to be a public repre- sentation of the students but is more often an exclusive club of inaction and complete isolation from the student base. There are good representatives and leaders on MSA, of course, but they should not be the few exceptions. Students should attend MSA meetings on Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m. in MSA Chambers on the third floor of the Michi- gan Union. Going to MSA meetings should be a regular activity for students who care about campus. Knowing that the students are directly watching their every move, MSA representatives will think twice about how they can best serve the student body through thoughtful leadership. If students were more involved in MSA, it would have more incentive to represent the student body well. Contrary to popu- lar belief, MSA is important, and it does take action to help students. How much it helps students, though, is not only up to the assembly - it's also up to you. ND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU less than absurd: Mak was not trying to raise funds, invite students to attend an event or have a bake sale, as is the goal of most Diag- related events. Rather he was commenting on a social issue that he feels very strongly about and that is largely ignored. I fail to see how standing out on the Diag would have changed the fact that the trans- gender community is up against extreme odds, as is devastatingly obvious in the need to have a national day of remembrance to commemo- rate those who took their own lives. The lack of attention the nationals day of remembrance was given only points to the need for more attention to be paid to the transgender com- munity so that more lives do not meet such a tragic end. This is a problem stemming from our own society. I congratulate Mak on his bravery for raising this issue in such a public forum and sincerely hope that many others will follow his example. Stephanie Lennon LSA senior Governmentfor sale Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the minority whip, announced on Nov. 26 that he would resign from the Senate by the end of the year. Lott isn't under fire for anything, but instead, he is leaving to pursue an exciting and rewarding career as a lobbyist. Congress recent- ly passed a law that extends the period ROBERT that ex-congress- SOAVE men must wait before becoming lobbyists from one year to two years: Lott can be exempt from that law if he leaves before it takes effect on Jan. 1. The fact that a leading senator would so readily jump ship to pursue a career in lobbying reflects a danger- ous trend among our elected officials toward a practice that is fundamen- tally undemocratic. Lobbying took a place in Ameri- can politics during the infamously corrupt reign of President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877). The name refers to the lobby of the Willard Hotel, where Grant went to smoke cigars because his wife would not let him smoke in the White House. People who wanted to influence policy decisions soon realized that this was an ideal place to approach the president. Today lob- bying is more commonly applied to private groups who bribe Congress with money and gifts on behalf of special interests. Though lawmak- ers once considered it demeaning to become lobbyists after leaving office, in recent years this stigma has com- pletely vanished. Why would someone want to exchange a prestigious position inside the government for a job influenc- ing it from the outside? The reason is that lobbyists can make more money, especially insiders who know the leg- islative system as well as Lott. This may be good news for talented ex- congressmen, but it is an unfortunate consequence for the health of democ- racy. Lobbyists make Congress more dependent upon money from elite groups and more detached from the voices of the voters. For proof of the ill effects of lob- byist groups on legislative decisions, Michigan residents need look no fur- ther than the 6 percent service tax increase that was passed by the state legislature on Oct. 1. The lobbyists certainly made their mark on the list of services that dodged the tax: The absence of sporting events from the list of taxed services reflects on the strength of that lobby, and the inclu- sion of the carpet cleaners reveals its weakness. It should be obvious that janitorial, fortune-telling and house- sitting services were included on the list because these services are not wealthy enough to buy an effective lobby. The culture of lobbying keeps the wealthier services relatively safe from governmental interference, and everyone else foots the bill. Thankfully, the unfair service tax won't go into effect because it was wisely repealed on Dec. 1. Though the smaller service industries in Michi- gan are temporarily safe, they never shouldhave foundthemselvesinsucha position at all. Representative democ- racy means that our elected officials should be paying attention to what the voters want, not what wealthy special interests want. And voters should be outraged that the government can be bought by wealthy lobbies. Congress has made numerous attempts to reform lobbying practic- es, but cunning ex-congressmen who know the ins and outs of the system always eventually circumvent these EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: half-hearted laws. Unfortunately, Congressmen have little reason to worry about the influence of lobbyists, because they are the ones benefiting from this systematic bribery. Lobby- ist groups provide significant financial support to lawmakers who vote their way. If voters somehow manage to overcome the lobbyist group's support and throw out the corrupted lawmak- er, this individual can simply become a lobbyist and make even more money. The very fact that Lott would rather be a lobbyist than an influential senator is proof that the lobbyists are winning - proof that the government is for sale. Lott moving into the group that has the real power. The expansion of a government that is no longer accountable to voters is a frightening thought. Sadly, voters may never be able to take back the demo- cratic process from wealthy special interest groups. The best thing to do now is to scale back the size of the gov- ernment by any means necessary. Lott should be ashamed of him- self for cashing in on the influence of wealthy elites on the government. Our elected officials should stand up to special interests on our behalf, not abandon us in order to give and take bribes on behalf of special interests. If representative democracy is con- verting to a dollar-driven tyranny of the elite, we need to challenge the system before it gets completely out of our control. Robert Soave can be reached at rsoave@umich.edu. 0 4 Coleman ignores legitimate needs of disabledfans TO THE DAILY: What is it about disabled people that turns students and faculty members into hateful and discriminatory monsters? While University President Mary Sue Coleman preaches sus- taining and developing diversity and foster- ing a campus climate that values everyone in the community, she doesn't include those of us who are disabled in her philosophy. As a disabled person, there are more than 15 buildings on Central Campus that I cannottake classes in because they have no elevators and I cannot use the stairs. And I have never been to a football game because I can't get a seat. Cole- man has said that building more handicap- accessible seats at the stadium would be a waste of resources because "it doesn't make sense to reserve hundreds of additional seats for dis- abled fans when the University" has never had more than 95 requests for wheelchair-acces- sible seats at a single football game (Coleman: 'U' Can't Comply with ADA, 11/28/2007). Of course we don't request seats. The first three times I requested one I was told that it was impossible to get one. So I gave up. And by the way, not all people who are disabled are wheelchair-bound. Coleman uses semantics, substituting "repairs" for "renovations" to get away with discriminatory practices and ignor- ing federal law. So while we are thinking about ousting Michigan Student Assembly President Zack Yost, I would suggest ousting Coleman. Ruth Barken LSA senior 4 Emad Ansari, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Jon Cohen, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa JOHN OQUIST VE ON YOU R E TO THE DAILY: Ted Byrne's letter last week (Transgender peoplemustmakethemselves heard, 11/30/2007) written in response to another letter from Cayden Mak regarding the recent Transgender Day of Awareness (Daily fails to do its part for awareness, 11/26/2007) was appalling. Byrne's letter is a blatant personal attack and should not have been printed. Mak was discussing issues surrounding a group that already faces immense odds. He should be commended for his efforts to bring forward these issues. Byrne's statements that Mak should have taken to the Diag to raise awareness are no ' Ill .G TY TO 'el r~ O k Q 5 f 4 4