4 - Tuesday, September 16, Zoos p r The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu 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 solely the views ofttheir authors. FROM THE DAILY Branching out Dearborn, Flint campuses blooming under new attention dramatic campus transformation is happening at the Uni- versity of Michigan - only, it's not happening here in Ann Arbor. With record-high freshmen enrollment, a new residence hall housing and potential plans to expand its athletic and recreational facilities even further, the University's Flint cam- pus is in the midst of a complete campus overhaul. It's about time. The University's two satellite campuses in Dearborn and Flint have been, at best, overshadowed by the Ann Arbor campus and, at worst, neglected by it. Building these two satellite schools into rivals of the Ann Arbor campus will give two struggling Michigan cities a much-needed boost. While freshman enrollment increased slightly at the University's Dearborn cam- pus, this year's changes have been especial- ly dramatic at the University's Flint campus. Largely because the campus opened its first residence hall this semester and also because of new recruitment efforts, fresh- man enrollment shot up this year to 909 students. Compared to last year's class of 626 freshmen, this was a 42-percent jump in freshman enrollment, the largest in the school's history. This year's changes, however, are just one part of the master plan for the Flint cam- pus established in 2004. That plan hopes to expand the Flint campus beyond its tradi- tional base of commuter students. By 2010, the campus hopes to add another 800 stu- dents for an overall headcount of 8,000 stu- dents. And eventually it hopes to hit a total enrollment of 10,000 students, with rough- ly 25 to 33 percent living on campus. As the opening of the new residence hall shows: If you build it, students will come. Regrettably, a lot of what is happening now is playing catch up. When the Univer- sity's Flint and Dearborn campuses were founded in 1956 and 1959, respectively, the plan was for them to rival the Ann Arbor campus. But unlike the University of Cali- fornia system, which also branched out with satellite campuses around the same time but now has nearly a dozen reputable schools to show for the effort, the Univer- sity of Michigan's campuses in Flint and Dearborn never became much more than commuter trade schools for the all-impor- tant auto industry. Whether you want to blame the Universi- ty for poorly planning its satellite campuses or the state for not committing the neces- sary resources (sound familiar?), the simple truth is that the Flint and Dearborn campus- es don't hold a candle to the roughly 41,000 student-strong Ann Arbor campus. But the latest attention being paid to the Flint campus and the Dearborn campus (which expanded its freshmen class slightly to an estimated 960 students) is long overdue. Flint and, to a lesser extent, Dearborn are cities ravaged by the same economic reli- ance on the auto industry that has recently crippled metro Detroit. Revitalizing these campuses will help invigorate these cit- ies with a proven formula: Pump the city full of consumption-happy young people, attract high-tech industry with the promise of a highly educated workforce and watch the economy blossom. That's largely the formula here in Ann Arbor, and thanks in large part to it, the city has been insulated from Michigan's seven-year recession. Rebuilding Michigan's economy after a half century of reliance on the auto indus- try will take time. And rebuilding the Uni- versity's Flint and Dearborn campuses after nearly a half century of second-class status will take time. But both have a fate that is intertwined and dependent on a consistent commitment from the state and the University. This time they shouldn't miss the opportunity. It's a good thing for the market. You don't want to replace capitalism with socialism." -Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co, explaining why the Federal Reserve made a wise choice when it decided not to bail out Lehman Brothers, as reported yesterday by The Washington Post. HARUN BUILNA E-MAIL HARUN AT BULJINAH@UMICH.EDU You So ORG? Rethinking revisionism W hen Howard Zinn first centuries of political autonomy, has no The key text of my American Culture published "A People's His- national cultural identity. class was Thomas Bender's "A Nation tory ofthe United States" in Hmm. Really? Many would argue Among Nations," another piece of lib- 1980, many saw it as that point, but whoever organized the eral revisionist history in which the a way to give voice course had no time for opposition. Like author argued that U.S. history should to all those who Zinn's "A People's History,"the point of be viewed in a more fragmented but had been sidelined the course wasn't to presenta fair dis- interdependent sense, as opposedtothe throughout Ameri- section ofits subject, butto presentonly typical nationalistic view with which- can history. In other the side that apparently mattered. His- let's face it - most countries' histories words, it was a way tory has always done that; it's certainly are viewed. It was one of many texts to fill in the cracks no different from what traditional his- we read in the class that attempted to left by the Anglo- tory has been doing since the first per- erase the notion that the United States male-centric histor- BRANDON son sat down at acampfire to tell others has its own identity. ical texts taught in aboutwhat happened in the past. So what makes Bender's book more schools. Since then, CONRADIS But that's the problem. Wasn't the legitimate than a traditional history revisionist history point ofrevisionistchistoryto revise his- textbook? Nothing - in fact, it's even has become a com- tory for the better? Instead, what was less legitimate.Allhistorians have their mon practice on bothsides of the politi- initially supposed to be a way in which cal spectrum. historians could explore the points of But have historical texts been better view that were too often ignored by for it? Stepping into any bookstore and textbooks - while still justifying its It's a war on looking at shelves lined with countless, label as history - has done nothing interchangeable history books with but flip the coin. Now we are being history - so pick barely concealed political agendas, I'd taught an equally one-dimensional, have to shake my head. In fact, I'd even hollow form of history, only told from your side. go so far as to say we're worse off than a different side. (And don't even get me we were 30 years ago. started'about the inherent paternalism My first full-fledged encounter with of mostly white male writers like Zinn revisionist history came last fall, when recording history through the "per- agendas, their political views, but the I signed up for a course called Ameri- spectives" of blacks, Native Americans truly good ones try their best to pres- can Culture 100: Rethinking American and women.) ent as accurate and fair an illustration Culture. Its liberal agenda was made And the problem has only been as they can. Books like Bender's, and very clear in its syllabus: This was a exaggeratedin recentyears. Now, con- courses like American Culture 100, do course designed to deconstruct various servatives are getting in on the trend, nothing but present opinions through "myths" about America, including the and what was once a matter of dispute narrow viewpointsthat do little to help "myth" of "American Exceptionalism," between historians has turned into a us understand history's complexities. a popular term used to mean exactly literary war. For every liberal, politi- Revisionist history has done noth- what it says: that, in comparison with cally correct book like the aforemen- ing to improve the way in which his- the rest of the world, the United States tioned "A People's History," there's tory is taught and,.more importantly, is an anomaly. a conservative, politically incorrect understood. All it has done, in fact, is Despite its overarching agenda, book like "A Patriot's History of the confused everything: Now we have however, American Culture 100 was United States" by Larry Schweikart. to choose which histories we think very much a history course. We talked These "he-said, she-said" history are more legitimate. Not an easy about immigrants. Wetalked about the books are the equivalent of liberal and task, really, when most history books building of the Statue of Liberty. But conservative elitists throwing stones today appear tobe more like political no matter what we discussed, all of the at each other. propaganda. facts were overshadowed by the class's But what really bothers me ishat, in blatantly political stance that the some circles, these books are actually Brandon Conradis can be United States, despite more than two considered legitimate historical texts. reached at brconrad@umichedu. 4 a I r i I I EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Harun Buljina, Emmarie Huetteman, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, lmran Syed SHANNON KELLMAN k V W PN T A glimpse of the forgotten Every person has a moment that trans- forms that person and forever creates a small, inalienable piece of that person's personal- ity. Often, these watershed moments happen early in life, before the adult mind is fixed in its world views. My moment didn't come with a gradua- tion or a move to a different city. Mine came with the physical combination of a cow, my body and a brick wall. My life took a on a new meaning when I was hit by acow in Jaisalm- er, India. I love to travel. Having been to most coun- tries in Europe, I thought I was an experi- enced traveler. I never really experienced what could be called culture shock, though, until I traveled outside Europe. On this particular trip, I was backpacking through northern India with my sister for three weeks. I dealt relatively well with the dirt, the food and the hysterical driving in Mumbai and Delhi. I was even OK with the teenage schoolboys following around me and mysister - a blonde and a redhead who stuck out like Yankee fans at Fenway Park. But I wasn't prepared for the cows barrel- ing down the streets as we walked. My sister was, and jumped out of the way. I was caught looking down. The cow pinned me between its two horns and violently shoved me into the nearby brick wall. It was at that moment that Ilost it. I couldn't take everything that India had thrown at me. I couldn't understand how billions of people lived like this - and I wasn't even seeing the worst of it, because I was living in hostels like an American princess. I was sick, tired and dirty, and I wanted to go home. It took me three weeks oftellingthe hilari- ous story of getting hit by a cow to all my friends back home for me to realize the hor- rid truth of my thoughts: I could go home. I had a place far different than the world many Indians wake up to every morning. My life is free of disease, hunger and war. I don't live in constant worry about how I'm going to get my family through the next day, not to men- tion the next week or year. I had read some of Mahatma Gandhi's writ- ings while I was in India, but I hadn't under- stood his true meaning. He dreamt of an India that could rule and feed itself, which would live up to its power as a distinct nation. As I read, I slowly began form a different vision of what I wanted and what I could do. As I walked down the streets, I was awed by the way Indians lived. Indians live in har- mony with each other, most of the time. But when they don't, they don't have a refuge from their lives. And much of the world has forgotten about them. Jaisalmer is 70 kilo- meters from the Pakistani border. My hotel room faced west, and my sister and I won- dered whether we were watchingthe sun set over Pakistan or India. Gandhi didn't want there to be a divided India. He saw India and Pakistan as two nations that started as one, and should have always been one. The British drew a line in the sand along religious bound- aries, but it didn't work, and isn't working. In the meantime, those in power all over the world have forgotten about the people liv- ing on less than $1 a day. The moreI read, the more I wanted to help and get involved. Watershed moments aren't meant to be clear or instantaneous. I didn't come to a great epiphany about the world or the India when I was there. I just grew up a little. Major events often shed light on overlooked parts.of the world, but it's when the world isn't looking that those places most desper- ately need our attention. I try now to be more aware of those people who aren't as lucky as I am and help when I can. I hope that's all Gandhi would've wanted from a Jewish girl from Chicago. Gandhi may not have been so happy that I had a big steak when I got home. Yeah, I'm more of a do-gooder now, but I didn't say I was above revenge. Shannon Kellman is an LSA senior, Lack of Sept.11 commemoration on campus disheartening TO THE DAILY: I was disheartened to walk through the Diag on Thurs- day to find no mention or commemoration of the Sept 11. terrorist attacks that occurred just seven years ago. There were representatives from all walks of college life - from environmentally friendly groups'to the College Demo- crats to the Michigan crew team - inhabiting the Diag Thursday, all nonchalantly brushing aside what should have been a day of national mourning. I understand the point Imran Syed made in his column Thursday (The seventh September, 09/11/2008) that Sept. 11 has been politicized in recent years, and that on a lib- eral campus, in an election year, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon don't exactly make for good talking points. But how many students didn't even realize what day it was? How can we as a University ignore an event that inextricably changed the way we live, for whatever reason? We owe it to ourselves and to the victims ofthat terrible day not to let it wash away into the back of our minds. Jeremy Borovitz PublicPolicy senior Profile of Stevie Brown's play nothing but feel-good fluff' TO THE DAILY: I appreciate upbeat, feel-good stories about athletes, but Nate Sandals's piece on Stevie Brown Thursday was nothing but fluff (A second start, 09/11/2008). Fans' atti- tude about Brown's play are justified after lackluster performances in two games. I don't doubt Brown's work ethic or likeability. But Brown's part in Miami's 58-per- cent completion percentage and 205 passing yards and his dropped interception off a deflected pass in no way show that he was "catchingup to game speed" or that "the stage appears to be set for a breakout game" as Sandals supposed. SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU My disappointment doesn't stem from Brown's perfor- mance, but from the fact that Sandals would write a piece lacking substance in a season full of storylines. ChristianMontgomery LSA senior Marching band should say Bye, bye, bye' to boy band tribute TO THE DAILY: As a University alum, I was disappointed, having sat through a rain storm, to watch Michigan's performance in South Bend, Ind. Like most Michigan fans I sat in utter disbelief as I watched player after player hand the ball over to an inferior opponent. There were some glimmers of hope forthe future, though. We appeared to have found our tailback of the future in Sam McGuffie, Steven Threet has taken the lead in the quarterback race and Threet found a go-to receiver in Greg Mathews. Though the play of our beloved Wolverines was painful, along with the rain-soaked wooden bleachers, the straw that broke my back was the performance of the band at halftime. As a former member of the Michigan Marching Band from 1988-1990, the band embarrassed me for the first time in my life. A tribute to boy bands - areyou kiddingme? The entire stadium, Notre Dame and Michigan fans alike, was laugh- ing at that performance. When a (typically drunk) female Notre Dame fan unloaded every bad boy band joke in the book on me, I couldn't respond because I agreed with every degrading comment she made. That was the worst thing Ihave seen the Michigan Marching Band performin the 22 years I have followed it. How did the upperclassmen and rank leaders let the leadership pick that show? Have you no pride? I can't walt for the Madonna tribute when we play Michigan* State and the Milli Vanilli show when we play Ohio State. I know most of you are thinking, "it's just the band," but after watching the first half of that game, that boy band crap was like salt in some painful gapingwounds. Sandip Kothari Alum 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 submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu.