4A - Monday, October 13, 2008 T Mhna - hi d o
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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4e ffichitian g3at*lu
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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.
Facing up to the past
University must resolve dispute with Saginaw Chippewa
rfhe University has often been heard touting its dedication
to minority issues. There is one issue, however, on which
the University seems to be dragging its feet. The Saginaw
Chippewa tribe has continued to pursue its grievance with the Uni-
versity over the repatriation of cultural artifacts. With the faculty
now pushing for a stronger effort to resolve this issue in some way,
the University needs to realize the importance of this issue and put
it at the top of its agenda.
The Saginaw Chippewatribe argues that "culturally unidentifiable" artifacts if both
the University possesses 1,428 remains and the University and the Saginaw Chippewa
artifacts found on land belonging to the agree to have them returned?
tribe's ancestors. Tribal historians have The point is that the University shouldn't
backed the claim that these remains are just sit on its hands. The University has
affiliated with the group, and the group little to gain from holding on to these
first contacted the University in November objects, since many of them have served
with its claim about the remains. The Uni- little research purpose. And considering
versity denied the claim. The tribe then that the University repatriated remains
unsuccessfully reissued its demand at a in 2005 to the Whitefish River band of
Board of Regents meeting in March. Canada in a similar case and many other
In both appeals, the University has coun- universities, including Michigan State and
tered the Saginaw Chippewa's demand by the University of California at Berkeley,
citing the federal Native American Graves have repatriated artifacts, these conflicts
Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. can be resolved.
The law requires the University to return If the University doesn't find a way to
all "culturally identifiable" remains to solve this, though, it has a lot to lose. As
Native American tribes. But the Universi- it stands, the University's stance appears
ty maintains these artifacts are "culturally insensitive, especially when you consider
unidentifiable," and returning them would that the objects in question aren't merely
be illegal even if the University wanted to. spearheads and utensils, they also include
Here's the catch: The University is pur- human remains that the tribe wants to
suing the laziest course of action. Since the bury. Many members of the Saginaw Chip-
tribe spoke up at March's Board of Regents pewa tribe say they're direct descendants
meeting, no effort has been made to re- of those whose remains the University is
examine the remains and verify (or firmly reluctant to return.
refute) the tribe's claim for rightful owner- In the face of this call for action from
:ship of artifacts held by the University. within its own ranks, the University
This is where the executive committee should have no alternative but to exam-
of the University faculty's governing body, ine tribal claims and resolve the matter.
SACUA, has taken issue. The group is now Continuing an apathetic stance will only
asking the University's lawyers to consid- antagonize Native American groups and
er what other options the University has. needlessly prolong an issue that continues
For example, can the University return to stain the University's image.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh,
Brian Flaherty, Matthew Green, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke, Shannon Kellman,
Edward McPhee, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Matthew Shutler, Robert Soave, Eileen Stahl,
Jennifer Sussex, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Margaret Young
A SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
NOTA"LE QUOTABLE
I think McCain will carry Indiana.
But if you are fighting for Indiana,
you are in trouble:'
- Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), commenting on Republican presidential candidate John McCain's
chances of carrying that state, as reported yesterday by The Los Angeles Times.
JASON MAHAKIAN E-MAIL JASON AT MAHAKIAJ@UMICH.EDU
i
~1
// /
r.N~
High hopes for high court
Michigan is stuck in a rut.
Whether it's our state's
economyoritsgovernment,
innovation has been
absent, and the
consequences are
visible everywhere.
But our propensity
toward stagnation
isn't limited to the
economy; it seems
to pervade every-
thing in the state. BRYAN
The justice sys-
tem is no excep- KOLK
tion. In May, the
University of Chi-
cago Law School published a paper
called "Which States Have the Best
(and Worst) High Courts?" Michigan
ranked dead last.
While there are a variety of meth-
ods for determining the effectiveness
of a state's Supreme Court system,
this analysis was unique in its use of
three ranking factors: the total num-
ber of opinions issued each year, the
number of times a court's opinions
were cited in rulings by other states
and the degree to which judges ruled
independently, defined by how often
they didn't vote in blocs by party
affiliation. Out of the 52 high court
systems (Texas and Oklahoma both
have two), Michigan placed 40th in
opinion output, 42nd in out-of-state
citations of opinions and 52nd - by
a wide margin - in independence of
justices.
Two particular problems afflict
our judicial system: how the system
works and the people who work with-
in it. Systemically, the problem is our
illogical method of electing judges on
a non-partisan ballot after political
parties have nominated them. Candi-
dates are funded by and grounded in
a political philosophy that the actual
ballot doesn't mention.
Our current problem, though, is
worsened by the judges sitting on the
Supreme Court.
Back to the University of Chicago
study: Michigan judges were clearly
the least independently minded in the
country. The researchers measured
this by first identifying the politi-
cal affiliation of each judge and then
observing the degree to which they
broke with their party by making dis-
senting opinions. Our fair state really
managed to stand out. Michigan's
justices were so driven by partisan
thinking that the statistical divide
between second-to-last Indiana and
Michigan was equivalent to the total
difference between all five top states.
Our current majority bloc consists
of four conservative judges known
as "the Federalist Four." One man -
then-Gov. John Engler - appointed
each of them. On a court of seven
justices, these four are bound to win
when they stick together, which they
almost always do.
Though each of the four needed to
win a public election after appoint-
ment, their incumbent status pro-
vided them a huge advantage - one
that helped each of them win. While
party affiliation isn't mentioned on
the ballot, incumbent candidates do
get a tag after their name that states
"Justice of the Supreme Court." If I
knew nothing about either candidate,
I would certainly be tempted to go
with the one who was already there,
the status quo. And it requires little
stretch of the imagination to suggest
that a majority of voters have no idea
of the differences between the two
justices currently running.
But we should learn the differ-
ence. Justices are elected for fairly
long terms (eight years), and this year
we have an opportunity to break up
the "Federalist Four." Chief Justice
Clifford Taylor is the incumbent run-
ning against Diane Hathaway of the
Wayne County Circuit Court.
In an unscientific pollby Michigan
Lawyers Weekly, subscribinglawyers
gave Taylor the lowest overall rating,
ranking him lowest in knowledge of
law, preparedness, efficiency and
thoroughness. Thanks to Engler, Tay-
lor got his foot in the door, and voters
have unknowingly let him stay.
It is impossible to say whether
replacing Taylor with Hathaway will
invigorate the Supreme Court with
Michigan's judicial
woes can be fixed at
the voting booth.
the independent thinking it current-
ly lacks. But the status quo is pretty
bad. We need to- cast an educated
vote to decide if that is what we want.
Supreme Court elections are non-
partisan, at the very end of a long
ballot and not included in a straight-
ticket vote. Find out the strengths
and weaknesses of each candidate
and then make it to the end of the bal-
lot in November.
My personal politics lean toward
one particular option, but over and
above that, the buzzword of the year
- change - continues to have a nice
ring to it. Let's de-stagnate Michigan.
Bryan Kolk can be reached
at beakerk@umich.edu.
0
Obama's pro-choice views
go against message of hope
well with anyone
keep your head uj
Just think abo
vided those of us
tom-feedingathle
TO THE DAILY: the chuckling den
When Barack Obama came to Indianapolis in Rich Rodriguez,
May, I attended the rally. The atmosphere was himself, is about t
electric when he took the stage. He spoke about football-crazed st
his tremendous hope for our country, and about lege's most storie
creating a brighter future for our children. As It's OK, thoug
a Democrat, I was captivated by the positive just the storm bet
message of change he articulated so eloquently. come of this. Soc
Yet in the back of my mind, a nagging conflict for Big Blue.
persisted. I found his message utterly contra-
dicted by his support for legalized abortion. Oscar Borboa
Last year Obama cosponsored the Freedom The letter writer is
of Choice Act. However well intentioned he University.
may be, this bill would invalidate many state
and federal restriction on abortions, potentially
including partialbirth abortions. Killing a baby Wolverine
while it exits the womb is simply not something wt
a civilized society allows. Abortion of all vari- W th highs
eties is an utterly undemocratic practice. It
denies an entire class of citizens the most basic TO THE DAILY:
t of civil liberties. After being a
It is said that you can evaluate a society by seeing Michigan1
the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens. challenge the tear
Since Roe v. Wade we have denied the most Colerain High Sc
innocent and powerless members of society the Last week, Mic
mostbasic of all human rights, the right to sim- Championship SE
ply live. No other civil right is possible without team will be fort
the right to life. I didn't make this up: It's in the in next week's rat
Declaration of Independence.
I don't see any hope for this nation when Allan Payne
< we allow the dehumanization and destruction Cincinnati, Ohio
of our most vulnerable citizens. To create a
brighter future for our children, we must first
allow them to be born. The change I most want
to see, Obama will not bring. The change the
United States needs most is an end to legalized
abortion. My vote is with the Republicans. By
recognizing the humanity of the disenfran-
chised and supporting the protection of the
powerless, Republicans are being more demo- LETTER
cratic. Readers are en
who bleeds those colors. But
p, Michigan.
ut how much joy you've pro-
who attend schools with bot-
tics programs. Not to mention
izens of West Virginia. Coach
a shining example of loyalty
to find out just how much this
ate trusts him to carry on col-
d tradition.
h. It will get better. This is
Fore the calm. Some good will
mewhere, Ann Coulter weeps
a senior at Loyola Marymount
scouldn'tcompete
chool teams
long-time Michigan fan and
lose today to Toledo, I hereby
m to play Elder High School or
:hool in Cincinnati.
higan was No. 63 in the Bowl
eries computer ratings. The
unate if it is ahead of Podunk
:ing.
EILEEN ST te aeVIEh dtOiNT
HipsterlabDel shouldn'tstick
0
The need to slap a label on every
single person is getting out of hand.
The other night, while telling a bad
joke involving baked goods and a
great deal of profanity, I was accused
of being a hipster. The punch line
was a tough one to follow unless you
strongly grasp irony, and while sev-
eral people in my group of acquain-
tances gave a chuckle, one girl turned
her nose up at me. Her voice dripping
with sarcasm, she growled, "Wow,
you're so ironic. You trendy little hip-
ster you."
Color me confused, because I'm
about as non-hip as a person can get.
I mean, for God's sake, I have a col-
lection of plastic dinosaurs in my
bedroom. Since when does that make
a person hip? And since when have
hipsters been able to corner the mar-
ket on concepts like irony? So either
I'm a hipster without knowing it, or
people have an obsession with tack-
ing on labels that don't exactly fit.
For those of you who are living on
the moon rather than campus, people
tend to give the bare-bones definition
of hipster as someone with a hoity-
toity taste in independent music.
These are the cats who can explain
the difference between the "elec-
trosonic" and "shoegaze" genres,
plus list 99 reasons why your favorite
band sucks. But increasingly, "hip-
ster" indicates an entire lifestyle. It's
claimed that they dress a certain way
(thrifty), live a certain way (vegan)
and even think a certain way (dog-
eared copy of "Catcher in the Rye").
This, coupled with hipsters' reputed
sense of entitlement, means that
everyone else is supposed to revile
them. God knows you don't want to
be called a hipster, you stuck-up jerk.
Just go and ask someone who, for
all intents and purposes, is a textbook
example of a hipster. You're likely
to get similar answers: "God no, I'm
not one of those." "Maybe I like this
band, but I'm not like them." "I think
I'd kill myself if people thought of
me like that." So should we believe
them or the people who are branding
them? Are these hipsters some sort of
snobby hive mind, or are they indi-
viduals expressing their beliefs and
interests?
The answer is clear -like all labels,
hipster just doesn't fit.
I would like to think that group-
ing people into convenient stereo-
types had gone out of style in high
school, but apparently that's not the
case. I can't even count how often I
hear people sneering .about fraterni-
ty brothers and sorority sisters, as if
the simple act of wearing a polo shirt
somehow automatically lowers one's
IQ by about 20 points. But some of the
smartest and hardest-working people
I know are involved in Greek life. The
truth of the matter is that there is
almost a compulsion to stereotype.
We want to feel special. Other-
wise, we wouldn't waste so much
time categorizing everyone else. In
high school, there's a myriad of social
groups that we construct for our-
selves: the jocks and the nerds, the
preps and the punks. Certainly some
types of people tend to stick together,
but how many do that based on label ,
rather than personality?
And while we tend toput others in
groups and sneer derisively at them,
we categorize ourselves. Because
let's face it, it's much more time-effi-
cient to look at a person's clothes and
friends and smack them with a label.
It's also an easy way to feel inherently
superior to someone.
But I think the obsession with
belonging to - or distancing yourself
from - a particular group can have
detrimental effects on what you get
out oflife. Consider the movie "Juno."
When I discussed it with people who
knew about so-called hipster culture
they sneered. "God, it was trying too
hard to be quirky. It's a trashy hipster
movie." But those who were unfa-
miliar with hipster counter-culture
thought it was cute, and took the
quirky humor at face value.
I'm not saying you're shallow if
you didn't enjoy "Juno." I'm saying
that some people get carried away
with assuming everyone belongs to a
particular group. So don't judge just
because someone has horn-rimmed
glasses or an ironic T-shirt. It's start-
ing to feel like a war zone out here;
labels are flying in all directions, and
I'm afraid they'll start to stick.
Eileen Stahl is an LSA junior.
S TO THE EDITOR:
couraged to submit letters
Elise Aikman
LSA freshman
Smaller schools can takejoy
in the Wolverines' misery
TO THE DAILY:.
My, how the legion of maize and blue must
feel now? A three-point loss at the hands of
mighty Toledo University, I'm sure, does not sit
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.