4 4A - Thursday, February 21, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaify@umich.edu ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR Pretty bad for patients, pretty good for industry profits:' Allison Zieve, an attorney for the petitioners, discussing her defeat in a Supreme Court case that makes it more difficult to sue producers of medical devices, as reported yesterday by The New York Times. CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I Dude, you'veg HD-DVD just lost the Well. I wouldtry to stop help me. Im in some Hi-def War, and I just aldg mportantinvestment serious hot water. bought 10,000 HD-DVD decisions based on home opies of Transformers. mov eboxaranddhenput What should I do? a new addition on your 7d b eta When only the story matters 4 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. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a criticallook at coverage and content in every section oftthe paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. 7R, H E _011.Y Family matters New policy eases burden of parenthood, but more to go eing a full-time student is hard. Being a full-time student and a new parent is even harder. Rackham School of Grad- uate Studies recognized the difficulty students face in pur- suing an education while starting a family, and recently announced its Graduate Student Parental Accommodation Policy to ease the strain on new student parents. Offered to both male and female students, the policy allows students who are soon to be parents, including those adopting a child under six years old, to still be con- sidered full-time students while affording them six weeks leave with extended deadlines on assignments. While this policy eases the hardship, the services offered by the University after this six- week window will really show its commitment to helping new par- ents who happen to be students. hen Orlando Magic cen- ter Dwight Howard took off his jersey to reveal a Superman costume on Saturday night, he had every single one of the 17,961 fans packed into New Orleans Arena in the palm of his t hand.He could have tripped on his shoe- laces and fallen, IMRAN and yet the people would swear they'd SYED seen him fly. All-Star Satur- day Night, a raucous event during the National Basketball Association's All- Star Weekend, features the storied slam-dunk competition. As the sports media congregated in New Orleans, all week it buzzed about Howard, the 6-foot, 11-inch giant with the agility of a man half his size and bulging biceps that would put even Shaquille O'Neal to shame. Though a player as tall as Howard generally lacks the leaping ability of truly spectacular dunkers, he was the consensus favorite. After scoring a perfect 50 on his first dunk, Howard emerged with a Superman costume and cape to attempt his second dunk. He lined up at mid-court, dashed toward the rim, caught a bounce pass from a teammate and took off from just inside the free- throw line, a veritable missile bearing in on its target. Some people may not have seen what happened next - but it didn't matter. As the crowd and the com- mentators on TNT exploded in cheers before Howard even landed, it was impossible to mistake it: This was the greatest dunk in history. Never mind that it didn't actually happen. Though Howard received another perfect score, replays showed that the ball was slipping from his hand and onto his wrist as he attempted the dunk. Feeling the ball slip, Howard simplythrew it through the hoop with- out his hand ever touching the rim. In previous dunk contests, such a "dunk" may not even have counted, and the judges would definitely dock points due to the fact that you have to actually dunk the ball in a dunk contest. But not this time. Not for Howard. Not for what this story had become. And so it was that Dwight Howard revitalized the dunk contest, the NBA, sports and America itself. There it is, all neatly packaged for you to consume - the little inconveniences of fact and truth filtered out for convenience. But what does that matter? It was just some trivial dunk contest in some- thing as meaningless as sports. Surely a little embellishment by the media makes no difference? Perhaps not, but consider that this is exactly the same thing the national media has always done with presidential campaigns, and this whole media narrative thing becomes a pretty serious hurdle. In his 1993 book "Out of Order," Thomas Patterson outlined a now classic argument, decrying the media for its obsession with forecasting and anointing winners and losers. Pat- terson stressed that the media has become the main stage of political discussion, a role it was never meant to serve. The media wants to tell a story, and it will do that, often regard- less of the facts. For this love of a solitary, definitive narrative that makes the real world easy to understand - and sell - the media is willing to simplify complex issues of ideology, theory and cir- cumstance into 30-second pieces consumed with all the trouble of a two-bite brownie. So it is that Barack Obama is the candidate of change, never mind how much he has diluted his message. John McCain is a maverick, never mind that he has been a puppet of the Bush administration on some of the most important issues of the day. Hill- ary Clinton has the experience, never mind that she simply doesn't. Mike Huckabee is crazy because he doesn't believe in evolution, never mind that, as Daily columnist Karl Stampfl point- ed out last week (Republicans and your tuition, 02/11/2008), he's actually the Republican most friendly to education and students. This is something you must all know by now: You shouldn't just believe what you hear. Instead you should take the trouble to understand it for yourself But do any of us both- er to cut through the inane fallacies emerging each night from the CNN "Election Center" or its equivalents on Believe it or not, the truth actually matters Fox News and MSNBC? The 24-hour cable news cycle is something our generation will always live with: We had better learn to understand how to slice through it while maintaining that most basic tenant of democracy - political awareness. The national media may have said that the Michigan primary didn't mat- ter, but I know it mattered to voters like me. It also mattered to me that, if Huckabee was the only frontrunner to raise his hand and profess disbelief in evolution, he may well have been the only one who didn't lie. Little things like the truth should matter to you, too. lmran Syed was the Daily's fall/winter editorial page editor in 2007. He can be reached at galad@umich.edu. 0 It's difficult to harshly criticize the new policy. All too often, prospective parents must choose between having a family and pursuing a career, but these two options shouldn't be mutually exclusive. Rackham's new policy gives students the option to combine an academic career with a family life, eliminating the difficult and unneces- sary "either/or" decision. By reaching out to student parents, the policy also works to remove the stigma that so often accompanies a student pregnancy and creates a more welcoming atmosphere for students with children. This will in turn increase the University's ability to attract graduate student instructors with differ- ent experiences. Before the new policy's proposal, GSIs risked losing their insurance coverage if they required maternity leave or needed to support a spouse in child delivery. This kind of harsh penalty is unacceptable. Perhaps the best aspect of the policy is that it applies equally to men and women. The days of women staying home to cook dinner and raise the kids are as outdated as corsets and dowries. Men are now more involved in the parenting process, and Rackham should be applauded for its efforts at gender equality. But as progressive as Rackham's policy sounds, the University's work on support- ing student parents is far from over. The responsibility of caring for a child requires more than a six-week commitment. While Rackham supplements the policy with other resources like workshops and online expla- nations of the policy, the greatest benefits will come from concrete resources to ben- efit both parents and children, like afford- able child care centers. By providing affordable and flexible day care, the University can show its commit- ment to students beyond the six weeks given in the policy to new parents for leave. Of those who use the University's childcare centers, some have complained that the University's-current childcare centers offer limited hours with a limited number of slots. Expanding this service would greatly benefit employees and students. To truly serve the needs of student parents, the Graduate Student Parental Accommodation Policy must provide more long-term, concrete resources for parents to use. Six weeks may be enough time to com- plete assignments in extended deadlines, but it is not enough time to meet the chal- lenges that come with parenthood. 40 0 SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Harun Buljina, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, lmran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. MIKE EBER E From ivory towers to politics City should respect impact of students However, everyday conflicts are more common than random assaults. Having access to handguns could prove dangerous in those situations. Does Shiafer think that Many tenured professors on campus will tell you that being a professor is one of the most comfortable, if not rewarding, jobs a person can have. From an American per- spective then, it would seem odd for a pro- fessor to leave the comforts of collegiate life to try leading a struggling democracy. This is exactly what Ross School of Business Pro- fessor Jan Svejnar did. Despite the fact that Svejnar narrowly lost the race for the Czech Republic's presidency, he serves as an exam- ple for how professors can take their superi- or problem-solving skills into elected office. Beyond Svejnar, I was even more amazed to hear from my friend and former gradu- ate student instructor, Kan Takeuchi, about professors making the leap. Some may remember Kan for teaching Japanese at the University while earning his doctorate in economics. Now, returningto his almamater in Japanto workas a finance professor, Kan's ambition no longer rests in academia. Like many other Japanese professors, he aspires to springboard into a political career using his academic success. It is the norm in Japan for professors to use their titles to become public commentators in the local media, and then build a reputation from that position to become a dependable and intelligent leader. When Kan told me this I chuckled at the irony. Compared to America, where it seems that there are more real-estate agents in politics than career academics, being a pro- fessor is more of a red flag than a something to publicize. We ask, "How can some person high atop an ivory tower ever relate to the American on the street?" And this is precisely the problem. Excluding Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama from the equation, only 27 of the 533 members of Congress can boast any time as full-time college or university professors. Some of the more notable academics include Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). Michigan Rep. Vern Ehlers earned a doctorate in nuclear phys- ics before assuming the chairmanship of the Calvin College physics department. Hardened skeptics explain academia's absence in elected office as a phenomenon attributable to professors being too smart or too enmeshed in political sausage making. A tenured university position is too comfort- able of a job to throw away for the campaign trail. On the other hand, critics also con- tend that scholars serve a more useful role as advisors to elected officials, leaving the politics to politicians and the policy to the experts. Why leave this division of political labor to people who later disavow the scholar- ship these topics like some politicians treat global warming as if it is a pagan deity to be forgotten? American democracy is for everyone. The experiences of Congressional leaders range from Rep. Heath Schuler (D-N.C.), a former Washington Redskins quarterback, to Rep. Eugene Price (D-N.C.), a Duke University political science and public policy professor. Part of the American mystique is that any- body can be an elected leader. It is in Amer- ica's best interest to have a wide variety of professionals in positions of leadership. And if the professional expertise of our elected leaders reflects the solutions they bring to government, then the American people may be better off having fewer executives in elected office. Call me an academic elitist jaded by the aura of a prestigious degree, but America can stand to be a bit more like Japan in this regard. Beyond the "Vote or Die" initiatives that normally entice college students to vote, a more academic array of candidates might do the trick. As one student remarked of Obama's experience as a constitutional law professor, "He actually seemed to take everyone's point of view seriously. If he could bring that to bear in the internation- al level with foreign dignitaries and heads of state, I think that would put us in good standing with the rest of the world." Mike Eber is an LSA senior and a member of the Daily's editorial board. TO THE DAILY: deadly weaponry, I agree with the observations by used inappropriate some people in Sara Lynne Thelen's gested cure that is article about how Ann Arbor unfair- disease. ly targets students when giving trash violations (Near campus, a dirty war Scott Hanley overgarbage, 02/18/2008). Ireceived School ofInformation a trash violation last December after my housemates and I left Ann Arbor Pay the moi for the holidays. When we returned, Y we could do little butgrudgingly pay ou owe R the $160 fine. Instead of fining us for yo o e what turned out to be our neighbors' garbage on our lawn, the Ann Arbor TO THE DAILY: Police Department could have issued Rich Rodriguez, us a warningto clean it up, which we acting like a MicE would have gladly heeded. even just a man. Yo Blatant anti-student policies harm ginia University $4 the very people who give Ann Arbor it not because you: its vibrancy. Without the University but because you sai and its students, Ann Arbor would would pay. As a lam be another bland suburbia. When I understand the c students graduate, many stay, giving ment you made. F companies like Google a reason to spective, it might eN relocate here. Without the Univer- you're not a lawyer, sity and its graduates, could Michi- regular defendant. gan count Ann Arbor as one of few to gain anything by bright spots in this bleak economy? obligation. Finally, I took issue with Ann The first thing: Arbor resident Cynthia Nixon's hor- school is to think rendously sexist comment that, "We just don't feel that young boys can maintain a historic house." Rather than cowardly unleashing the police ARIELA STEIF on the neighbors she clearly does not respect - raisingthe already absurd cost of living - she should work with them to maintain a neighbor- hood everyone can enjoy. would never be ly? This is a sug- worse than the ey driguez it's time to start higan Man - or u owe West Vir- million. You owe signed a contract d that's what you w school student, ontractual argu- rom a legal per- ven be clever. But and you're not a You aren't going y contesting your you learn in law about the reper- cussions of legal action. I under- stand that you don't want to pay $4 million, but even if you win this lawsuit, you still lose in the longrun. Because of your actions, you have no right to complain when a verbally committed Michigan recruit breaks his pledge and goes somewhere else. Why should an 18-year-old keep a non-binding promise to play for you when you wouldn't keep a legally binding promise to West Virginia? And when you recruit in the future, how are the players and parents sup- posed to trust you when you make promises? I sure wouldn't, not now. Looking at this from a purely financial perspective, you will still lose this case. Even if you can reduce the buyout, your legal fees will cost more than any reduction. It may even end up costing you more than $4 million in the end. And what about that closure you keep asking for? I see you on ESPN, asking for the West Virginia fans to leave you alone. They're not going to do that, especially not with an open lawsuit. Be a man, and pay up. You don't seem like the great coach and great man you once did - not now, not like this. Adam Pence Alum (o) ~ Andrew Bracken Business senior A solution loaded with possible hazard TO THE DAILY: In his letter to the editor Tues- day, Marshal Shlafer suggested that we would be safer from the threat of random shooters if people were allowed to carry concealed hand- guns on campus (An armed campus is a safer campus, 02/19/2008). If a campus shooting ever happens at the University, I'm sure it would end quicker if more students were armed. O' .c IA\ Al