4A - Monday, October 13, 2008 T Mhna - hi d o The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com C I 4e ffichitian g3at*lu 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. 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.