4A - Thursday, February 7, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
74C idiCgan 4il
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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0
ANDREW GROSSMAN
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GARY GRACA
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
GABE NELSON
MANAGING EDITOR
The Department of Defense is like the
world's biggest supertanker."
-Defense Sec. Robert Gates, speaking about the U.S. military's inability to change course quickly or continue
operations without an influx of resources from Congress, in his Congressional testimony yesterday.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I ' CUT T ,A S'IR E
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at
coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor
with questions andcomments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu.
Post-graduation education
U' must learn from mistakes with commencement
A fter more than a month of outrage from seniors and a lot
of backpedaling by the University, there's good and bad
news. The good: Graduation won't be in Ypsilanti. The bad:
It won't be at Michigan Stadium. With two remaining venues for
Spring Commencement, the University did exactly what it should
have done months ago: assemble acceptable options and provide
students with a compelling excuse for why the Big House is out of
the running. However, it is important that neither students nor the
University forget that both solutions are consolation prizes, neces-
sary only after the University botched the original planning. And
they were agreed upon only after student input was sought.
The Union Wendy's should be
shut downl For too long has it
contributed to the slaughter of
bovines! The new Stack Attack
has two grilled, all-beef patties
for only $1? OBSCtNE
Arrogantly ignoring positive
trends throughout the burger
industry, the Union Wendy's
food is extremely tasty, and the
service is ridiculously fast! It
must be stopped
P STIPTilEE
PI[RIT SLAU ETEI
cjc
Dear Union Wendy's Employees,
Thank you from the bottom
of my heart for making your
Wendy's an oasis in the fast
food desert that is Ann Arbor.
With undying love,
Chris Koslowski
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Love is cheap
While the news that commencementwon't
be held in a city that many students have
never even visited - let alone feel attached
to - is certainly welcome, there weren't any
winners after last week's announcement.
The simple fact is that it should have never
gotten to this point.
what the University did to students was
insulting. First, it forgot about them in the
supposedly well-planned stadium construc-
tion project. Then, it blindsided them with
the announcement (not the option) of hold-
ing graduation in an unacceptable venue,
Rynearson Stadium. And finally, it tried to
come out of the whole thing as the savior,
surveying students, sympathizing with
their anger, explaining itself and offering
two better options: Elbel Field and the Diag.
But these aren't landmark victories. They
are desperate settlements.
Granted, Elbel Field and the Diag are both
good options, and students should weight
these alternatives carefully. The Universi-
ty's explanation for why the Big House is no
longer an option is also understandable. Any
reasonable person would probably agree
that dodging 80 foot-deep craters to get into
the stadium is not safe for guests and filling
them in with 40 semi-truck loads worth of
asphalt is not good for the environment.
However, the way the University haphaz-
ardly solicited input from students - con-
ducting flawed surveys and meeting with
very few student representatives - was
questionable and months late. You didn't
need to be a statistician to notice that the
surveys asked questions that were mislead-
ing and in many cases unnecessary. For
example, on the survey it asked how impor-
tant issues of accessibility were. But the
bottom line is that any graduation venue
has to be accessible by law - why would it
matter what students think? Further, a sur-
vey question asked students to select what
the most important factor in a graduation
is, offering a choice between having eight
guests at the ceremony, being at the cer-
emony in person and having the ceremony
on campus. Yet, these options aren't mutu-
ally exclusive.
Even after this problem, the fact that
it took the University so long to supply its
explanations and final options illustrates
how little analysis it did before choosing to
hold commencement at Eastern Michigan
University, not how hard it worked to rec-
tify the situation.
The University must learn from this expe-
rience and mend its tattered relationship
with students. It must stop discounting the
value of public discussion. The University
might have avoided all of this mess had it not
suppressed opposingvoices and rammed its
plans through the approval process. That
approach barely worked with adding luxury
boxes to Michigan Stadium. It didn't work
with commencement, and it's not the way
the University ought to do business. If the
University had been up front with students
after it realized that graduation couldn't be
held at the Big House, it could have avoided
the embarrassment of a planned ceremony
at EMU. It could have saved itself the time
and money it spent planning and replanning
graduation too.
Believe it or not, students can be rea-
sonable and understanding if they aren't
deceived and marginalized. The University
has a lot to learn. Next time, it should try not
to make the survey misleading.
Since John Edwards dropped out
ofthepresidentialrace lastweek,
. have come around to what
is apparently the
cause of my genera-
tion: I now support
Barack Obama.
However, my
support for Obama
comes not for his
brilliantly stirring
orations of the need
to rise and bring IMRAN
about change: SYED
Rather, I have stud-
ied him as deeply as
is possible (in a non-stalker way), and
come to realize that I admire the man
Obama really means to be, even if elec-
toral pressures forbid him from ever
talking about it.
What exactly that is isn't the issue
here. The real issue is: Have you, the
Obama youth army, done your home-
work before laying your eternal elec-
toral allegiance before the largely
unproven, though undeniably promis-
ing, fresh force that is Obama?
If experience is a guide, then I'll bet
that most of you haven't. I'll bet that
you support Obama with the same
blind fervor that brought college kids
to rally, campaign and blog for How-
ard Dean four years ago - only to be
absent from the process when the
eventual Democrat nominee John
Kerry needed them.
Iadmit, your excitement is notewor-
thy. Even though the complete wash
that was Super Tuesday still leaves
Obama as a slight underdog, college
kids everywhere can taste victory,
and they swear that this is the time of
something unprecedented. The paral-
lel that is often raised by overzealous
young politicos is that of Bobby Ken-
nedy - all that the next generation
could have beenhad he not beenkilled
in 1968. Not since then, letters to the
editor have said, have young people.
been so excited by politics.
That's partially correct. Except-
ing the brief blip that was the Dean
Machine, the last time college kids
made noise during a presidential
election was in 1968. However, those
OD'ing on the Obama Kool-Aid (and
there are many of you) should con-
sider that the commotion and chaos
at the '68 Democratic National Con-
vention was not out of a passion for
Bobby Kennedy. The hell raisers
- among them the infamous Chicago
Seven, which included former Michi-
gan Daily editor Tom Hayden - were
actually protesting the unfair process
by which the Democratic party gave
the presidential nomination to Lyn-
don Johnson's vice president Hubert
Humphrey instead of the anti-war
candidate, Eugene McCarthy.
Bobby Kennedy has become a leg-
endary figure, and while he was an
unabashedly bold idealist, let'sremem-
ber that his legend grew considerably,
by the hero worship that followed his
death. In life, Bobby was a promising,
though far from perfect candidate. He
entered the race late and splitthe large
anti-war faction that had been backing
McCarthy. Before and after his death,
the youth vote was with McCarthy.
This example matters because it
shows that a lot of us haven't learned
our lesson. This is the first time many
of us are actively engaged in a presi-
dential campaign so it's understand-
able we'll make mistakes. But let's
get one thing straight: Barack Obama
doesn't need your hero worship.
I know, I know; change is in the
air; you can feel it, you can taste it
and Common is talking about it. But if
you're on the Obama bandwagon just
because it's cool, please hop off.
Read Obama's first book, "Dreams
from My Father," to understand
exactly how he feels about those who
support important causes without full
knowledge of what they're doing. In
talking about his uninformed adora-
tion as a youth of figures like Malcolm
X and Nelson Mandela, Obama is crit-
ical of his own intellectual laziness.
He overcomes those initial -delu-
sions of social consciousness to even-
tually gain insights most of us cannot
fathom, but that was only after years
of work and a monumental struggle of
self discovery. Take the time to learn
about that part of this great man. Or
better yet, learn about any of the many
fascinating parts of Obama's experi-
ence that the vapid 24-hour horserace
coverage will never discuss.
Go learn about Obama's faith -
how he found it and how many unique
experiences he has had with religion.
Learn about his efforts to organize
disadvantaged communities in Chi-
cago and the significance of the mixed
results they achieved. But don't simply
try to read about this on his'website;
The evils of the campaign have forced
Barack Obama
doesn't need your
hero worship
Obama to mute some of the most
admirable facets of his character. The
real information is in his books, in
deeper news articles and in the scat-
tered words of all those who knew
him back then.
It's perfectly fine to be inspired by
what Obama says. But that inspira-
tion must translate to reason, belief,
resolve and action - not blind venera-
tion. Let's not relegate Obama to the
vain hippy pipe dreams that put icons
like Malcolm X and Che on the same
vintage T-shirts that have now begun
to feature Obama. He's much bigger
than that, and we shortchange our-
selves by not exploring the depths of
his greatness.
Imran Syed was the Daily's fall/
winter editorial page editor in 2007.
He can be reached at galad@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Emad Ansari, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh,
Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels,
Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Imran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha,
Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300
/ words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. All submis-
sions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters
to tothedoily@umich.edu.
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Happy birthday,
Great Communicator
TO THE DAILY:
Yesterday was the birthday of one
the greatest Americans of our time
President Ronald Reagan. In his 2002
book, "Letters to a Young Conserva-
tive," Dinesh D'Souza, who was a policy
analyst in the Reagan administration,
described Reagan as a cheerful, for-
ward-looking man who always appre-
ciated the effectiveness of humor. But
beneath his jovial nature, Reagan was
a determined president and was not
afraid to take on the biggest idea of the
20th century: collectivism. Reagan was
the first to say "Government is not the
solution. Government is the problem."
As president, Reagan sought to stop the
growth of welfare state at home and
dismantle the Soviet empire abroad. He
accomplished both.
Because of the Reagan administra-
tion's policies and decisions to cut taxes,
America saw an economic boom. The
annual deficit not only vanished, there
was also a budget surplus. Many claim
this was caused by the Clinton admin-
istration. However, it was the economic
growth stemming from policies in the
Reagan Era that proved to be the cause
of the treasury's tax boom.
Reagan today is seen as the hero of
the conservative movement. He was
successful because he was confident
and stood firm on his moral ground, not
letting the rough politics of Washington
D.C. dismantle him. He also didn't care
what the political elites said about him
nor wish to win their approval. The only
people Reagan sought to satisfy were
the American people.
Ronald Reagan, thank you for win-
ning the Cold War, reviving the U.S.
economy and invigorating the Ameri-
can spirit.
Sarah Ledford
Engineeringjunior
The letter writer is the chair of the University's
chapter of YoungAmericansfor Freedom
Date auction a missed
opportunity for Daily
TO THE DAILY:
I'm disappointed that the Project
Suyana Mardi Gras Date Auction was
not covered in The Michigan Daily. The
members of our group worked many
hours organizing this event, and I feel
that a lot of the good we did went unno-
ticed.
Instead, when I picked up the paper
Tuesday, all I saw was the half-page
picture of Barack Obama's barber that
covered most of the page above the fold.
What was not on the front page or in the
paper at all was a mention of the Proj-
ect Suyana Mardi Gras Date Auction,
a unique event that was considered by
some to be the one of most diverse, cre-
ative and compelling charity events this
campus has seen in years.
There was no mention of how Michi-
gan football punter Zoltan Mesko punt-
ed beads into the crowd of more than
400 people; no mention of how a date
with Stella Binkevich, chief of staff in
Michigan Student Assembly, was auc-
tioned off for $530; no pictures of the
beautiful green, purple and gold balloon
arch that stretched across the stage; no
mention of how the event was hosted by
14-year college senior Johnny Lechner,
the real-life Van Wilder; no mention
of how the event was broadcast live on
CollegeHumor.com; and no mention
of how the event featured some of the
University's most diverse student lead-
ers and performance groups.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to
go to Chicago to get my hair cut by
Obama's barber - I have to look good
for my Valentine's Day date that I won
at the auction.
Reda Jaber
LSA senior
The letter writer is executive director of
Project Suyana and head coordinator of the
Mardi Gras DateAuction
class when progress was being made? tion location while only one major anti-
More importantly, while the pros- war student group exists on campus
pect of holding graduation at Eastern Like many, Eber jumped on the band-
Michigan University was distasteful (I wagon and wrote off this generation,
also sent an e-mail or two voicing my which is his loss.
annoyance), it was not on the same level Students may not be occupying build-
as, say, protesting the draft. Sending ings as often as their parents did, but
letters to the University administration many more are involved in other activi-
was an appropriate type of discourse for ties to change the world for the bet-
expressingdiscontent about commence- ter. Too bad this isn't good enough for
ment. I am relieved that there was no Eber.
major march because it would have
been disheartening to see hundreds of Max Eddy
people show up to protest the gradua- LSA senior
+
Lack ofprotest caused A
by lack of necessity
TO THE DAILY:
In his recent viewpoint about the
failure of online activism and behav-
ior to effectively translate into action
(Uploading lazy activism, 02/06/2008),
Mike Eber was way off the mark. While
he blames the Internet for a lack of stu-
dent participation in protests, I would
suggest that he look beyond the recent
graduation debacle. In my four years at
the University I have witnessed numer-
ous demonstrations and displays of pub-
lic outcry. People do care.
Given that, one would posit that the
reason so few people showed up for the
Maize OutMarchthatEberwas involved
in was not because students are lazy but
because there was no reason to show
up. Even before the Daily announced
that graduation would be held at either
Elbel Field or the Diag, which made
moot the march's main goal of forc-
ing an on-campus commencement, the
University's administration had already
shown signs of capitulation. Why miss
RIELA STEIF
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