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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
. GARY GRACA
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FRTE DAILY
Billof Rights 101
University should recognize professors' free speech rights
It's the job of professors at the University to broaden opinions
and stimulate discussion. As a result, students should be able
to assume their professors have the freedom to speak open-
ly. In their capacity as educators and public servants, professors
have a right and responsibility to express their opinions freely. But
due to recent legal decisions in which professors at other colleges
have suffered punishments for speaking out against their uni-
versities, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs,
the faculty's governing body, has initiated efforts to stop similar
issues from ever becoming a problem here. As SACUA prompts
discussion, the University should be aware of the importance of
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
This is not culture. This is not custom.
This is criminal:'
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, commenting on the situation in Afghanistan where people receive
death threats for teaching women to read and write, as reported yesterday by CNN.
ROSE JAFFE E-MAIL ROSE AT ROSEJAFF@UMICH.EDU
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professors' right to free speech.
Among other recent cases limiting
professors' First Amendment rights, the
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
reprimanded Prof. Kevin Renken after he
spoke out against how the administration
used a grant from the National Science
Foundation. Renken felt that his vocal
opposition was justified because the issue
was one of public concern. The Seventh
District Court and U.S. Appeals Court for
the Seventh Circuit supported the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin administration's actions
against Renken. The court decided that
Renken's opinions were not protected
under the First Amendment because he
was acting as a professor - a government
employee.
Renken's case sets a dangerous prece-
dent for other universities - one that could
infringe on professors' rights to speak out
against their administrations. All profes-
sors have a right to academic and intel-
lectual independence - more than that,
professors have a responsibility to their
profession and their students to share
these opinions. Turning a critical eye to
university affairs is every professor's duty
when a university administration makes a
poor decision. The ability for faculty mem-
bers to speak up is one of the safeguards
for ensuring that a university is running
properly and ethically.
Though there has not been any such
legal action at the University of Michigan,
cases like Renken's have prompted the fac-
ulty to start a conversation with the Uni-
versity about guaranteeing that the speech
problems faced at other academic institu-
tions will not develop on this campus. To
avoid any potential conflicts, SACUA will
present a report on the issue to the Board
of Regents. The discussion will hopefully
ensure that faculty members' opinions will
not jeopardize their relationship with the
University.
The faculty's concerns about the issue
should prompt an appropriate response
from the regents. The University needs to
recognize that academic freedom is pivot-
ally important to the student body and the
administration. That doesn't necessarily
mean a policy overhaul is called for, but it
does mean that the University should be
open and available to responsible dialogue.
If the University wants to maintain its
commitment to a climate of academic free-
dom, professors must feel free to voice hon-
est opinions. If professors have to worry
about losing their jobs when they speak
out against the administration, a healthy
academic climate can't exist on campus.
The regents should signal their support
for basic intellectual freedom after SACUA
makes its report. The University's academ-
ic climate must be one based on freedom,
not censorship.
Sorry, sports fans
0
Being more of the artsy and
emotional type, I've never
cared much for sports. I'm
the person who
will be completely
oblivious that a
Super Bowl has
occurred until
weeks after the
fact (although
I sometimes
become aware -
of it based onE
the average level EILEEN
of testosterone STAHL
in TV commer- _
cials). I remember
being excused from a question on a
10th grade geometry test because it
assumed I knew the rules of football.
In fact, I am still trying to figure out
what a "down" is.
Of course, back in high school,
I was the kind of person who was
extremely proud of their lack of
sports knowledge. If you told me you
liked sports, I would give you a look
as though you were currently in the
process of molesting some sort of
farm animal. That was me - except
after I'd self-assuredly sneered some-
thing about sports fans being Nean-
derthals, I would expound at length
about the latest episode of "Dragon
Ball Z."
Fortunately, like most people who
don't consider paint chips a major
food group, I realize that the per-
son I was in high school was about
as mature as your typical reality
television contestant. My contempt,
however, has been replaced with
confusion. Sure, I still don't care for
sports and don't feel there's anything
wrong with that, but when I see
people I care about huddled around
a plasma TV,I have to wonder: "Why
don't I like doing that?"
High School Me would have
argued it was because sports are
"a stupid waste of time" and then
promptly return to six straight hours
of "leveling up" in a video game that
primarily consisted of being mur-
dered by crabs. Let's face it: most
hobbies are stupid wastes of time.
$ut despite this revelation, I can
never seem to care about sports and
still find watching a bunch of people
fighting over a ball about as exciting
as professional nose-picking.
Oddly enough, I have fond memo-
ries from when I was small of my
dad taking my friends and me to
games at Tiger Stadium and the
Palace of Auburn Hills. I remember
clinging to his hands as the stadium
seats dwarfed my tiny body. I wasn't
entirely sure what was going on but
there seemed to be someone named
Cecil Fielder whom everyone was
very enthusiastic about, so I decided
to be enthusiastic, too. When Cecil
hit something called a "grand slam,"
I was one of the first ones to stand up
and cheer with my buddies.
It was the social aspect of sports
that I once enjoyed, and I think a lot
of their appeal is linked to this. Why
else would "Super Bowl Party" be in
our cultural lexicon? I'd throw my
heart into watching those games -
and I think that's the reason I can't
enjoy them anymore.
I realized this when I remembered
a story my dad once told me. Back
in the 1960s and '70s, there was, in
my father's words, sort of a Tigers
"dynasty". For years, the five or six of
them played the same positions inthe
outfield. They were local celebrities.
But when the Tigers traded away one
of those stars, the dream team was
unceremoniously broken up.
"And not two days later," my dad
told me, "there he was, playing for
the other guys! And that just ruined
it for me. How could I get into sports
after that?"
People like me
just don't get
your obsession.
Then it hit me: I have no say over
what goes on in sports. With a video
game, I can make my little dude kill
crabs better. What happens in a book
will be the same every time. But
sports are uncertain - I can't make
the players run faster or catch better,
and I'm sure as heck not rich enough
to buy a team and influence its deci-
sions. As I get older, I become more
sensitive and paranoid and can no
longer stand the risk of getting too
involved in things I can't change.
Which is not to say that I think
your love of sports is dumb. In fact,
I commend you for not being so anal
that you demand control over every
tiny aspect of your life. But I think
an enjoyment of sports is out of the
question for me because I can't get
emotionally invested in what I can't
control.
This could also be why I can't bring
myself to get too absorbed in politics,
which is probably not something I
should admit as an opinion columnist
af the Daily, as they could cut off my
column at any-.
- Eileen Stahl can be reached
at efstahl@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca,
Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke,
Sutha K Kanagasingam, Shannon Kellman, Jeremy Levy, Edward McPhee,
Matthew Shutler, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder
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 tothedoily@umich.edu.
TAYLOR JOHNSON AND KRISTIN GODDARD I VIE INT
Stem cells save lives
I
I
LET T ERi
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Embryonic stem cell research is an issue
that has been on the minds of Michiganders
for many months now. After the battle to pass
Proposal 2 in the last election, we've all had a
longer opportunity to consider this issue than
most people in the U.S. On Monday, President
Barack Obama lifted the restrictions on fed-
eral funding for stem cell research. This move
will once.again bring the issue to the forefront
of American politics. As the debate heats up
again, it is important to understand the science
and the reality of stem cell research.
Since the creation of a human embryonic
stem cell line in 1998 by University of Wiscon-
sin researcher Dr. James Thompson, there has
been an ongoing debate regarding the ethical
use of these cells. A stem cell has the extraor-
dinary potential to develop into various cell
types, providing the basic recipe for life. These
starter cells are found in several places within
the body, most notably as embryonic and adult
stem cells. Research continues to be conducted
on adult stem cells, but the scientific under-
standing of these cells remains less advanced
than that of embryonic stem cells.
While embryonic stem cells have the poten-
tial to become any of the 220 different cell
types, adult stein cells are restricted in their
differentiation to only a handful of those types.
Many researchers believe that embryonic stem
cells hold the answers to solving some of the
most debilitating medical conditions, including
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease and diabetes.
But since proper funding has not been allocat-
ed to this field of research, U.S. scientists have
been lagging behind in the worldwide effort to
uncover these solutions.
Stem cells are often donated to research as
a result of in-vitro clinics' surpluses. In-vitro
clinics have provided thousands of hopeful
women and couples with the chance to be par-
ents. This opportunity typically is achieved
by creating several embryos in the laboratory
and transferring two or three to the women in
the hopes that one will survive. It often takes
months and multiple attempts for an egg to sur-
vive. Regardless of the outcome, the unpredict-
ability of the human womb most often results
in an excess number of embryos. Similar to
the fate of the transferred embryos that didn't
survive, these embryos are discarded or frozen
indefinitely. Either way, these cells are no lon-
ger used - unless they are donated to stem cell
research.
Despite the important medical break-
throughs that could come from embryonic
stem cell research, the Bush administration
was committed to slowing this progress. The
ban imposed by President George Bush in 2001
limited federal funding only to existing embry-
onic stem cell lines, all of which were contami-
nated. This has proven to be a major hindrance
to researchers across the nation - especially in
Michigan, where the ban was compounded by
strict state laws regarding embryonic stem cell
research until Proposal 2 passed in 2008.
Nations around the world have been advanc-
ing their understanding of embryonic stem
cells, while researchers in the U.S. have been
limited by restrictive policies. But thanks to
Obama's recent decision to make embryonic
stem cell research more financially viable, the
U.S. has an opportunity to expand research in
this critical medical field.
Taylor Johnson and Kristin Goddard
are members of the Roosevelt Institution's
Center on Health Care Policy.
An immediate appeal to keep strong advocate o
ability and even in
tuition affordable for students energy from space
Just after the ti
of a world run by
TO THE DAILY: power not only sh
As of late, there have been many articles and editorials He is memorialize
regarding the financial crisis and its impact on students. ing helped George
I appreciate the opinion offered by the Daily in its recent enormous energy
editorial (Unreasonable costs, 03/02/2009) that urged the tists, Tesla said, "
University not to pass the baton of fiscal responsibility ate each one accor
onto the students once more. The present is the
As an out-of-state student, I knew what I was facing worked, is mine."
financially when I made the decision to come to the Uni- A bust of the in
versity. But I also know that I - and the student body as Electrical Enginee
a whole - cannot and should not have to bear the burden the early 1990s. Co
of another huge tuition increase to maintain the Univer-
sity's bottom line. Maureen Campb
If Provost Teresa Sullivan is reading this: I love this University library;
school. I love this town. I came to Michigan for a reason.
Please don't make me go back home because the Univer- Difference
sity can't or won't get creative with its budget.
Madeline Conway tojustify C
LSA freshman
TO THE DAILY:
Tesla's innovative contributions Last Monday, S
opportunity on tI
to science are often overlooked and were excited
Arch, by Ulrich's.I
of 8:30 and 10:301
TO THE DAILY: the audacity to r
Devon Thorsby's recent article (Speaker pushesfor electric board.
cars in the United States, 03/05/2009), stated that Michael What gives tha
Granoff of Better Place described using electricity "in a way right to remove os
the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison never why someone wos
could have envisioned." Well, Franklin and Edison might diverse, forward-
not have imagined electric vehicles, but one man - almost pro-life studentsn
forgotten by history - did: Nikola Tesla. All I want to k
We owe to him our alternating current system and many Diagboard's quest
other things thathelp run our modern world. In a time when if they used guns?
resources were treated as limitless, Tesla pondered the
future of humanity in relation to the planet's finite resourc- Lauren Bennett
es and realized the dangers of overconsumption. He was a LSA junior
f hydroelectricity because of its renew-
magined utilizing the power of "cosmic"
urn of the last century, Tesla conceived
free, wireless electricity, which would
ips at sea but also electric automobiles.
ed in two statues at Niagara Falls, hav-
e Westinghouse harness Niagara Falls'
in 1896. Speaking of his fellow scien-
Let the future tell the truth, and evalu-
rding to his work and accomplishments.
eirs; the future, for which I have really
nventor was placed in the atrium at the
ering and Computer Science Building in
nsider stopping by to say thank you.
ell
staff
of opinion isn't enough
'ensorsh4p or theft
tudents for Life paid for an advertising
he Diag. We turned our Diag board in
to see it just outside the Engineering
However, some time between the hours
p.m. this past Wednesday, someone had
emove (and thereby censor) our Diag
at person the idea that they have the
ur paid advertisements? I am confused:
Iuld take down our Diag board at such a
thinking, open-minded university? Do
not have the right to free speech, too?
now is the offender's response to our
tion: "Abortion: Would it bother us more
I
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e