0 (). a 0 pinior 4A - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 4Jb t*Iiiian Ea Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe 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 criticallook at coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. F rMIT H E DALY 7- Edgar Awards We'll give you a fucking award to write home about Back when J. Edgar Hoover, that infallible defender of our constitutional rights, was playing dictator and spying on Americans as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Daily's editorial page handed out the Edgar Awards annually to individuals and institutions best embodying his many admi- rable characteristics. Of necessity, we revived the tradition in recent years. NOTABLE QUOTALE What particularly galls me is the lack of quotation marks." -Author J.K. Rowling, responded in court, in the case to block publication of a Harry Potter lexicon by Michigan publisher, RDR Books, as reported yesterday by the Times Online. Endoftheyear tough ts thought I would use my final institution for years and have long- given the story more perspective. It column of the year to give standing relationships with sources, also showcased one of my pet peeves: some advice about ways the something that is not easily done by the use of a semi-anonymous source Daily can improve students only here for four years. where it's not needed. In the story its news cover- The other kind of sources are those one person was quoted only by first age. who may not have knowledge about name. The Daily should not use anon- The Daily's day- how the University operates but can ymous sources except in extraordi- to-day coverage of provide insight into little-explored nary circumstances. If someone does current events is areasofcampuslife -groups like veter- not want his or her name in the paper top-flight. When a ans, non-traditional students, students in a regular news story, the reporter breaking story hits, with disabilities and ethnic minorities. should find someone else to quote. By the Daily throws For example, the furor over the addi- quoting this person anonymously, the all it can at the tion of wheelchair-accessible seating article unintentionally made it seem story, whether it is PAUL H. at the Big House should have naturally shameful that a student would want a shooting on cam- JOHNSON led to stories about how the Univer- their full name in a story about gay pus, the presiden- sity as a whole accommodates people issues, when there are plenty of open- tial primary or the with disabilities. Stories about litiga- ly gay students on campus willing to highs and lows of a sports season. tion regarding whether the University talk frankly about their experiences. That said, I think the Daily needs can legally provide health insurance to to do more to develop sources out- same-sexcouples could havebeenused side the traditional orbit of student as a stepping-off point to better cover- Things the Dally leaders and administration offi- age of gay and lesbian issues. StoriesL Dal cials. Many stories feature the usual about Proposal 2 could have led down can improve upon suspects, from the leaders of the a similar road. Michigan Student Assembly to the One way to look for stories off the * University administration. This leads beaten path is to take run of the mill in the future. to a persistent sameness on the front stories that appear in the paper reg- page and a lack of diversity - not just ularly and use them as a launching racial and ethnic diversity, but also a point for a broader piece. The Daily The fact remains that the Daily is lack of diversity in the types of sto- covers a lot of stories about speeches one of the finest student newspapers ries in the Daily. When the Daily does given by prominent people who visit in the country, made all the more write about those groups - in this I campus. Some are worthy, but others remarkable by the fact that it isn't include not just minorities, but the could be used to examine an issue in supported by a journalism depart- groups like the Greek system as well more depth. ment like many student daily news- - the resulting stories don't cover as For example, take the article papers. Much like my alma mater's much ground as they could. "LGBT advocate discusses sexual- college newspaper, the Cornell Daily There are two kinds of sources that ity in the workplace" (04/03/2008). Sun, this means the staff tends to the Daily will find useful. One is the Instead of doing an article solely have to re-invent the wheel each year kind of person with knowledge of about the appearance of the head of because much institutional memory how the University operates who can the Human Rights Campaign, the is lost when seniors graduate. It's a point reporters in the direction of big article could have been about how challengeI know the Daily's staff can stories and may or may notturn out to gay and lesbian students approach meet. I would like to thank the Daily be sources quoted in the paper. These the job search. Do they come out? Do for finding a place for me here, and are the sort of sources The Ann Arbor they stay in the closet? These events, I would like to congratulate all the News and the Detroit Free Press used like the HRC speech, are generally graduating seniors and wish them to break stories about the Univer- announced withsome advance notice, luck in whatever they do next. Have sity this year, including allegations of and with a little reporting the story a great summer, everyone. favoritism towards athletes and the could have been about the transition hiring of a new football coach. Again, to the work world for one particular Paul H. Johnson is the Daily's both papers benefited from hav- group of students. public editor. He can be reached ing reporters who have covered the Further,morereportingmighthave at publiceditor@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, Imran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. The best adviceI never got And so we present the fifth annual Edgar Awards: " The Charlton Heston "from my cold, dead hands" Edgar goes to the University administration for stonewalling wheel- chair accessibility concerns raised by the Michigan Paralyzed veterans of America. Heston was fighting for rights, the Univer- sity was denying them - it's hard to decide who did more to make the Constitution cry. * The Kwame Kilpatrick Edgar for hanging onto political office after an embarrassing scandal stemming from use of an electronic device goes to Michigan Student Assembly Rep. Tony Vulaj for getting re-elected to the seat he had resigned after being convicted of two felo- nies. Apparently career-ending scandals these days must involve hiring expensive hookers. The Defend Affirmative Action PartyEdgarformaintainingthe semblance of democracy in a pre-determined election goes to the "Uncommitted" option on the ballot for the Michigan Democratic pri- mary. If only DAAP were as reasonable as "Uncommitted." * The FEMA Edgar for timely respons- es to urgent situations goes to the Univer- sity for its new emergency alert system. Almost a year after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, students now have a way to learn about campus crises in less than the 10 hours it takes a campus-wide e-mail to cir- culate. Text messaging is fine, but it would be better if President Coleman just stood on the roof of the Union and yelled, "The bad guys are coming!" * The Guns N' Roses Edgar for most anticipated comeback goes to the Michi- gan men's basketball team. If we have to bet whether "Chinese Democracy" will come out before the basketball team makes the NCAA tournament, we're going with "Chinese Democracy." Coach Beilein, you didn't know what you were getting into. Welcome to the jungle. * The Rodney Dangerfield "I don't get no respect" Edgar goes to the Grad- uate Employees' Organization for its one-day walkout. Overused, ineffective and mildly comical. Do those words to describe GEO's walkouts or Dangerfield's catchphrase? You decide. ® The Don Imus "nappy-headed ho" Edgar for sensitivity goes to former MSA President Zack Yost for his Facebook group mocking another MSA representa- tive's Asperger's syndrome. Don't worry Zack, Imus got his show back. * The Pike masturbator Edgar for embarrassing oneself in public goes to former MSA Rep. Kenny Baker for attempting to use an offensive Facebook group as a political springboard. Too bad Baker forgot that he wasn't wearing any clothes, either. * The Hillary Clinton Edgar for cling- ing to the past goes to Hash Bash. Remem- ber when Hillary was the frontrunner, man? It seemed, like, totally ... what's that word ... inevitable. Yeah, inevitable. Wait, what are we protesting for again? " The Michigan State University Police Edgar for ruining students' fun goes to Michigan Sta- dium's ushers for throwing out Hot Dog Man during this year's Michi- gan-Oregon game. Flying beer bottles / are dangerous, but whoawas ever hurt by a flying hot * The Beaner's/No Thai!/Quickie Burger Edgar for offending the deli- cate sensibilities of students goes to the South Quad Hall Council. It's only a mat- ter of time before every restaurant on cam- pus is called "Food" and every residence o hall T-shirt simply says "Hooray for everyone!" * The J. Edgar Hoover Edgar for uneth- ical, incompetent investigations goes to The Ann Arbor News for its four-part series on athletics and academics at the University. Privacy is really not a big deal. And who needs ethics, anyway? * The Perez Hilton Edgar for "I hate it so much, but I can't stop reading" goes to The Michigan Daily. It has sudoku. And Crime Notes. And, well, that's about it, but what else are you going to do in your econ class? WANT TO BE AN OPINION COLUMNIST DURING THE SUMMER OR FALL? E-MAIL GARY GRACA AT GMGRACA@UMICH.EDU n less than two weeks, I will sit among my peers in a black cap and gown, marking the completion of my college educa- tion. After spending four long years as a cog in the bureau- cratic machine that is the University of Michigan, living for 4 the weekends and dying inside, I feel justified in pass- ing on some words ARIKIA of advice for those MILLIKAN who still have a long way to go. The University administration cares about two things: money and reputation. Sometimes it's necessary to remind it that its reputation is riding on your education. This is your education - make what you want of it. The system will work for you if you force it to. You can cus- tom-build your major, opt out of pre- reqs and talk your way into classes that are supposedly full. If you're not satis- fied with your situation, explore your options. You always have options. In terms of education, one might think the best way to go is the most commonly trav- eled route: Math 115, Math 116, Orgo I, Orgo II, blah, blah ... But I have found that the most learning occurs on the unconventional paths. Learning is hard when you don't like or care about what you're doing. In situations like this, your confidence is liable to take a hit. You might encoun- ter people who will make you feel worthless for not jumping through as many hoops as the person sitting next to you is willing to jump through. Don't buy into it. In high school, you might have been good at everything. In college it's rare. Instead of interpreting failure asa hor- rible event, look at it as a sign that you need to find something else to do. Be grateful that you found out when you did, if it's not already too late. It's never too late. It's OK to get a C. It's even more OK to take a W. Grades are often apoor way to mea- sure intelligence (although if your future employer hasn't caught on, you may want to be careful with this one). Shit happens; you might not see eye to eye with your GSI; your super-keen bullshit detector might turn energy into apathy. Detach yourself from all previ- ous meaning of the letters A through E, and instead ask yourself if you learned somethingthat inspired you. There's a good chance you will learn more from socializing than you ever could in a classroom. Don't become so obsessed with perfection that you for- get about the talents that have already brought you this far in life. It is OK to be smarter than your peers - and your instructors. It hap- pens, and it happens often. There are a lot of people in the world who just don't fucking get it. Take what they say with a grain of salt, and don't be afraid to tell them what you think. Take 400-level classes. Don't think the numerical value in the hundreds slot of a course number should corre- spond to the year of college you are in. It's an intimidationtactic,becausethey think that freshmen don't get it. But if you're feeling intellectually stifled by your weed-out classes, take one of these for a change. They're not neces- sarily harder, they're just better. And they're taught by - gasp - real, live professors. Chalmers Knight. As cold as this institution may seem sometimes, know that there are people here who want to help you. Chalmers is one of those peo- ple. He is often identified by the term "academic advisor," but I have come to know him as a philosopher, life coach and something of a psychic. You've probably already learned that college requires a certain level of mas- ochism. You will stay up all night com- pleting tasks thathave neither purpose nor meaning; you might spend days surviving on caffeine alone; you could experience stress at levels that cause your body to react as though you are a prisoner of war. But the one thing you must never sacrifice is your sanity. There is always a way out of unten- able situations. Once you get out, you will be smarter and more equipped to deal with the bullshit that people will throw at you in the future. I'm not say- ing you should take people's shit, but I wish someone had told me this four years ago. next time it's presented you'll be able to recognize it when you see it. That's learning, too. The last thing I can tell you is this: It's worth it. It has to be worth it. Sub- tract where you were when you first set foot on campus from where you are now. The total mental difference - whether it's information from books or love or the conversation you had at 5 a.m. inyour friend'sbasement - is why it's worth it. Arikia Millikan is a Daily associate editorial page editor. She can be reached at arikia@umich.edu. I 4 4 ALEXANDER HONKALA E-MAIL HONKALA AT QUATSCH@UMICH.EDU Clive LA , HONKALA! -Fj, s iS your J SS , cor aon E) Al Y l del AM, ROSE JAFFE E E-MAIL JAFFE AT ROSEJAFF@UMICH.EDU t'iomore. jewids 0 0 Mo:e HooKJ no M o c t > f (o I . -- K 4 4