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4 - Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
AVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
GARY GRACA ROBERT SO
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position ofthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Drawing the line
City's new anti-graffiti ordinance unfairly targets victims
ndicating that it is going to take a hard line against local
vandalism, the Ann Arbor City Council passed an anti-graf-
fiti ordinance last week. But the surprising thing about this
ordinance is that it doesn't target those who spray paint buildings
with graffiti - instead, it punishes the owners of those buildings.
This new ordinance is an ill-conceived method of dealing with
city crime - punishing property owners is an unfair tactic that
does nothing to confront the real culprits, graffiti artists. Graf-
fiti isn't even a major problem for the city, and this policy is an
unnecessary approach to dealing with it.
At its meeting on Jan. 19, the City Coun-
cil passed an anti-graffiti ordinance that
requires property owners to clean up the
graffiti on their property or risk being
charged a fee. The ordinance, which will
take effect in 90 days, gives property own-
ers a time limit for removing the graffiti -
seven days if the removal notice is given to
them directly and nine days if the notice
is mailed. The city of Ann Arbor will then
remove the graffiti if the property owner
does not comply and the owner' will be
charged the bill for the removal service.
This ordinance is a revision to an earlier
draft, which included a stricter timeframe
and a heftier fine. In the original proposal,
property owners would have been given
two to four days to clean the graffiti or risk
paying a fine of up to $500.
Proponents of the policy argue that
property owners should be forced to clean
up graffiti because it detracts from the
city's image and encourages more painting
on surrounding buildings. By mandating
quick cleanups for graffiti, the ordinance
aims to beautify the city while eradicating
vandalism.
These may be admirable goals, but it just
isn't clear that this law is necessary, given
that graffiti just doesn't really seem to be
a major problem facing the city. After all,
graffiti simply isn't widespread in Ann
Arbor. But even if local occurrences ofgraf-
fiti truly did constitute an epidemic, this
plan for dealing with it is deeply flawed.
Under the new policy, property own-
ers are expected to spend their money,
time and effort cleaning up an act of van-
dalism that was not their fault in the first
place. Punishing property owners isn't the
right way to fight graffiti. And it's unfair.
Property owners are the victims, and they
shouldn't be held responsible for these
crimes. There maybe good reasons for why
property owners wouldn't decide to clean
up the graffiti on their own - they could
be on vacation, unable to afford it or simply
unwilling to clean it up. The city hasn't jus-
tified requiring the owners to pay for the
damage done to their buildings.
If the council is so concerned about
graffiti in Ann Arbor, it should construct
a policy that actually addresses the prob-
lem. Punishing the victims of graffiti does
not deter future crime. City Council should
find a way to go after the perpetrators, not
the victims, if it wants to decrease graffiti.
Ultimately, the city's anti-graffiti ordi-
nance is both misguided and unnecessary.
Even if graffiti was a widespread problem,
the people who commit acts of vandalism
are the ones who should be held responsi-
ble for it. By punishing victims, the city is
only adding insult to injury and assigning
blame to the wrong party. This ordinance
should be replaced with a more reason-
able policy that respects the rights and
interests of the city's property owners and
actually takes a meaningful stand against
graffiti.
Had I known somebody was listening, I
wouldn't have used language like that."
- Rod Blagojevich, responding to a question on the television show "The View" about his
use of foul language in recorded phone calls, as reported yesterday by CNN.
ELAINE MORTON ( T E C E-MAIL ELAINE AT EMORT@UMICH.EDU
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Breeding entitlement
was perusing MSNBC last Fri- The final version that was eventually lights incertain campus areas. Every
day when I stumbled across an passed by the assembly expressed election cycle, students are promised
Associated Press article (Wall regret for the loss of life in Gaza and that MSA will be listening to their
Street's entitle- called for the American Movement concerns and addressing them. MSA
ment culture hard for Israel and Students Allied for is supposed to be our voice to the Uni-
to shake, 01/23/09). Freedom and Equality to show a doc- versity on tuition, health care, hous-
The basic point umentary about six Jewish women ing and a host of other issues.
of the article and six Arabic women who come MSA members may protest being
was that CEOs of together peacefully. considered part of a culture of enti-
banks and other There are those who believe that tlement, but the evidence is against
executives on Wall MSA's resolution did not go far them. For the ultimate example, look
Street have been enough, and that the assembly should
making too much ROBERT takestrongerstances onthisissue and
money for too long other such international crises. But
a time. Even as the SOAVE these people need to understand that A closer look at
nation's economy fanciful resolutions calling for the
spiraled downward end to wars that MSA has no influence w hat s wrong
and their companies began tanking, over are a waste of time. Eight dollars
many of these executives refused to of every student's tuition goes to MSA w ith MSA.
take salary cuts or scale back their so that its members can administer
luxurious lifestyles. The problem, the to student's immediate needs, not so
article insists, is: "a deeply ingrained that they can pretend to be ambassa-
culture of entitlement at financial dors to the United Nations. no further than MSA's website. The
companies." MSA's continuing disregard for last project that the website lists as
This had me thinking about how students' wishes is evidence that the being completed is Michael Moore's
a culture of entitlement develops. assembly subscribes to a culture of visit in September of 2004. The
Feeling entitled means you think you entitlement. website lists the minutes of meet-
deserve something simply by virtue Though they may not be award- ings up until fall of 2008, when even
of being you, and a culture of entitle- ing themselves lucrative salaries like this information runs out. So even if
ment is one where everyone who is Wall Street CEOs, they have awarded MSA was accomplishing things that
part of the gang automatically feels themselves the right to ignore their students care about, they wouldn't
like they deserve something, too. But actual jobs. They don't feel the need have a way to check and see what the
when did these powerful people start to work on student issues, they don't assembly was doing. The fact that
feeling entitled as a group? care to explain themselves, and they MSA presidential candidates have
As I was pondering this, I started don't feel a responsibility to uphold been promising to fix this website
thinking that maybe the culture of any of the promises they make to for years is proof that they think they
entitlement starts earlier for these their constituents. never have to.
people. And then, as I reflected on We elected these representatives How long does this go on before we
the actions of the Michigan Student to accomplish a job. Only nine per- have to stop questioning the actions
Assembly, I realized that there is a cent of the student body voted, and of MSA representatives and start
similar culture of entitlement sur- we didn't realistically have a diverse questioning MSA as an institution? If
rounding the University's own stu- selection of candidates because of the the assembly is not serving the needs
dent government. Michigan Action Party's dominance of students and is instead acting as
Most students on campus should in MSA, but MSA's current represen- a breeding ground for a lifetime of
by now be familiar with MSA's his- tatives were still hired by us. In the entitlement, when do we say enough?
tory of not accomplishing anything same sense, they should work for us The federal government is now
that its representatives promise to do and feel accountable to us. punishing Wall Street CEOs for their
when they are running for election. If they did feel accountable, they reckless careers. When and how will
Most students should also be aware would have to spend time handling we do the same to MSA?
of what MSA has been up to lately: our issues - and there are plenty for
many hours of their January 13 and them to address. Every election cycle, Robert Soave is the Daily's
21 meetings were dedicated to debat- students are promised thatsomething editorial page editor. He can be
ing a resolution on the crisis in Gaza. will be done about the lack of street- reached at soave@umich.edu.
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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. Letters are edited
for style, length, clarity and accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily.
We do not print anonymous letters.
Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu.
EMILY BARTON | V I
Homegrown innovation
Picture your basement or garage. Picture
your high school science lab. Now merge the
two scenarios, but without the image.of your
teacher leaning over and explaining how to use
a Bunsen burner. According to an article pub-
lished last month by the Associated Press, peo-
ple around the country are conducting their
own amateur genetic research in an effort to
better understand the field and come up with
ways to bring the science community closer
to finding cures. In Massachusetts, a group of
amateur researchers is collaborating in a com-
munity lab, complete with a freezer bought
from Craigslist, that will keep bacteria alive.
Other individuals are purchasing lab equip-
ment to set up in their kitchens or garages.
Tinkering in the science and engineering
fields is not unknown - as the article pointed
out, Apple and Google both began in a garage.
Even though many of these amateurs have
undergraduate biology degrees, most don't
have the qualifications required to work in
actual research labs.
The thought that anyone with enough curi-
osity could potentially cure Parkinson's or find
a vaccination for juvenile diabetes is an encour-
aging one. Such widespread research will allow
more people to find science accessible and
allow people without monetary constraints to
do research for the sake of research.
But critics are afraid that the implications of
an experiment gone wrong could result in the
spread of disease or other biohazards. Before
the stem cell ballot initiative allowing Michi-
gan scientists to derive their own embryonic
stem cell lines passed in November, critics of
the proposal claimed the ballot language was
too ambiguous and did not provide enough reg-
ulations. They were right to raise the issue: part
of the initiative says no state laws can restrict
stem cell research and the resulting therapies.
Even though critics have a valid concern,
it's not legitimate enough to shut down these
amateur geneticist labs. Genetic engineering
requires a lot of background knowledge just
to know where to begin, and I think it's safe to
assume that anyone interested in setting up a
garage laboratory would be interested enough
to take the time to understand what they are
doing. There's also the matter of purchasing
equipment and understanding how to use it.
While theoretically anyone could give it a try,
the thicker the amateur's wallet, the easier it is.
Will amateur experimentation result in a
cure for cancer? Who knows? But the more
people there are thinking about the problem
and looking at what is required to come up
with a solution, the better. And maybe it will
get more people interested in science and tech-
nology - people who might otherwise assume
they wouldn't have the time. Maybe someone
will see something that piques the interest of
someone else, who can then consult someone
else and voil: a new community fostering sci-
entific discovery.
- ------------
Emily Barton is an associate
editorial page editor.
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Gaza conflict has a reason to be MSA should stop wasting time on
included in MSA agenda irrelevant resolutions
TO THE DAILY:
It should be noted that the "blame" for the resolutions
concerning Gaza does not fall squarely with MSA but with
the students and community members who asked that these
resolutions be considered and passed. While purely local
concerns such as muggings and street lighting obviously
need to be (and are) discussed at MSA meetings, the idea
that MSA should not look beyond the boundaries of Ann
Arbor to international concerns is nonsensical.
On our diverse campus, many students have been affect-
ed by the Gaza conflict, and their concerns should certainly
not be ignored. Richard Kallus and Jeremy Borovitz wrote
in last Wednesday's Letter to the Editor (MSA should spend
time on more relevant issues, 01/22/2009). "We realize the
situation in Gaza and Israel affects students on this campus
emotionally and that many have family and friends in the
region, but MSA representatives were elected to deal with
campus issues, not international ones." But it is contradic-
tory to admit that the issue affects many members of our
campus and then to say that it must not be a campus issue.
My mind is boggled by the idea that after students stood
before the assembly and stated the impact that the Gaza
conflict has had on them and asked for MSA to take some
action, several MSA representatives were still somehow able
to assert that the issue was not a student concern and-that
they should be discussing things like lighting and Dance
Marathon instead.
What, then, is the definition of a "student concern"?
Should MSA only be permitted to address issues that don't
extend beyond the borders of Ann Arbor, no matter how
students might be affected by it? We should realize that the
word "international" implies "broad in scope" as opposed to
"out of our scope" and that the more our students are affect-
ed by an issue, the more - not less - MSA should do to sup-
port them and address that issue.
Malvika Deshmukh
LSA junior
TO THE DAILY:
Hamdan Yousuf's impassioned defense of the MSA
resolution on the Gaza conflict (Standing up to injustice in
Gaza, 01/26/2009) demonstrated a fundamental misun-
derstanding between Yousuf and detractors of such reso-
lutions. Yousuf repeatedly claims that the humanitarian
crisis in Gaza is a relevant issue to University students. I
don't think anyone would disagree with that claim. Then,
after several lines of unnecessary rhetoric, he states that
the University's history of social activism and protest
demands that we not be "deaf to the pleas of suffering
Gazans." Again, this was not the point being contested by
detractors of MSA's decision. The issue in contention is
not the relevance of the Gaza conflict to the student body:
it is the relevance of MSA, as an organization, to the con-
flict in the Middle East.
I have not read MSA's resolution. No one I know has
read MSA's resolution. It will not cross the desks of Ban
Ki Moon or Barack Obama. I doubt even Mary Sue Cole-
man will look at it. MSA is not an authority on Middle
East conflicts, nor is it a moral or intellectual authority
on campus or elsewhere. It is puzzling why MSA believes
its mandate includes drafting resolutions on complex
global conflicts. Certainly, when MSA election time rolls
around, no one is campaigning on issues of social justice
or global poverty. The only things that are ever promised
during elections are cheaper book prices and better light-
ing around campus. As far as I can tell, there hasn't been
dramatic progress on either front.
So, instead of wastingtime and energy with resolutions
that have no real or even symbolic impact, please consid-
er justifying the destruction of countless forests for your
endless neon campaign flyers by focusing on problems
which are within the scope and jurisdiction of a univer-
sity student government.
Matthew Brunner
LSA senior
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca,
Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke,
Shannon Kellman, Edward McPhee, Matthew Shutler,
Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder