4A - Wednesday, March 25, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com E-MAIL ANGELA AT AHCHIH@UMICH.EDU 74L e fittc4t'6rga n .+ai[ ANGELA CHIH Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu GARY GRACA ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors. FR 'M THEDlY Opening the door Diverse viewpoints have value in the academic world Y ou may remember the Patriot Act - President George W. Bush's overzealous, freedom-curtailing response to national security threats. The act resulted in many prom- inent intellectual voices being kept out of the country based solely on their personal ideologies. But last Wednesday, in a letter to the Obama administration, the American Civil Liberties Union joined with other civil rights and free speech groups to protest these McCarthy-esque ideological-exclusion policies left over from the Bush administration. It's imperative that the Obama administra- tion overturns this prejudiced protocol in favor of promoting tol- erance, academic freedom and diversity. Fun, fearless and flawed Ideological-exclusion policies were authorized as part of the Patriot Act under the Bush administration in 2001 to pre- vent the immigration of people with cer- tain ideological values. The logic behind the policy is that these people have beliefs that make them dangerous. But in prac- tice, prominent intellectuals seeking to visit American universities and confer- ences have been turned away at the border for no good reason. Last Wednesday, doz- ens of organizations, including the ACLU, the Center for Campus Free Speech and the National Education Association, sent a letter to administration officials detail- ing their opposition to these policies. The ACLU's letter also requests a re-evaluation of cases already decided under this poli- cy, including one scheduled for court this week. Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss intellectual who is Muslim, was invited to speak at the University of Notre Dame but was denied-entrance to the United States in 2004. Adam Habib, a South African politi- cal critic, was also denied a visa in 2007. If the only difference between citizens and intellectuals who have been turned away is that one holds an American passport and the other does not, this standard is clearly wrong. In the name of academic freedom, these intellectuals must be allowed to enter the nation, or we won't be able to benefit from their intelligence, insights and, yes, criticism. This sort of isolationist behavior is detri- mental to society. To increase understand- ing of different cultures, the government has to lead the way in fostering open debate. Listening to and accepting criti- cism from people with different beliefs is the only way to increase our understand- ing of others. By censoring these views, the government effectively discriminates against those with different beliefs, add- ing fuel to the fires of extremism - which actually can be dangerous. Closing our borders to diversity only increases igno- rance and fear. It's the role of universities to provide students with access to ideological per- spectives that they might not otherwise encounter. This is an impossible mission to fulfill if the government so strictly screen applicants to enter the U.S. based solely on ideology. In order to create students who are truly well rounded, universities' right to sponsor controver- sial speakers and teachers must not be infringed so drastically. Not everyone who criticizes America is a danger to our nation. The Bush admin- istration's assumption that everyone who criticizes America is dangerous was clum- sy and offensive - and Obama must revive America's international image by discard- ing this discriminatory practice. For eight years America's borders have been closed and America has suffered. It's time to open our borders and our eyes to the rest of the world, including those who challenge our views. Cosmopolitan's continued pop- ularity in the modern age as a "woman's magazine" has long mystified me. Despite the gener- alized testimonies of douchebaggy pick-up-artists, women are an extremely varied group of people - shocking, I know, especially consid- EILEEN ering we comprise half the freaking STAHL planet. So until recently, I was completely clueless as to what univer- sal womanly trait Cosmo's marketing team could be cashing in on. After some careful thought, I've realized that Cosmo could be craftier than it looks. Rather than a superficial love of shoes, the magazine may actually be catering to a deep-seated biologi- cal and emotional urge among women that even I subscribe to. The thing is, Cosmo doesn't handle this in the most stellar way. I should mention my legendary love-hate relationship with Cosmo. I eagerly devour each new issue so that I can rant about how it isn't fit to be used for kindling. My main beef with Cosmo is that it claims to be for fun, fearless, independent women and yet devotes a huge amount of space (sev- eral feature articles and an entire section called the "Man Manual") to the capture and keeping of men. The number of techniques devoted to "man snaring" is depressingly ridic- ulous, offering advice ranging from the decent (don't sleep with him on the first date) to the cringe-worthy (if you want him to call you back, always wear high heels) I can't imagine how a Cosmo Girl can be fearless when she's constantly analyzing her boy- friend's "hand holding technique." So I was very surprised to find myself agreeing with the majority of an April 2009 article "The 50 Best Relationship Tips Ever." Some of them were fairly obvious but nonetheless true, like number 24, which pointed out that men don't have a psychic mind-reading mechanism to know what you want for your birthday. Others were more poignant, such as "deliver an ultimatum to geta commit- ment only if you're prepared to walk away." I thumbed through the rest of the magazine, as well as a few back issues I've kept in order to write this very column, and realized the articles I could get behind were all devoted to relationships, not dating. It was then I realized that Cosmo's boy craziness is marketed to the "female" desire for a healthy rela- tionship. There is a small but vocal group among feminists that claim this yearning is artificial and wrong, and that the only women who sub- scribe to it have been duped by the conniving minds of patriarchy. Actu- ally, it's quite real and has its basis in evolutionary biology. Since women carry and nourish a baby, finding a man to protect her while in this vul- nerable state meant the difference between life and death for a woman and her offspring. Men, on the other hand, could take the "quantity over quality" approach. Of course, that raises the point that there's also an "evolutionary basis" for your boyfriend to impregnate the entire cheerleading team, so let me stress that evolutionary biology just explains why we think about rela- tionships more than men, not that we're the only ones who want them. Actually, I'm of the opinion that most emotionally mature adults will ben- efit from spending their lives with someone else. Having a good partner in life means more than just compan- ionship or having a live-in pickle jar- opener. Another humanbeingsharing your life means that you will always have someone who offers you unique insight on your shared experiences, providing a fantastic opportunity for new perspectives and personal growth. Those who enjoy such a beautiful connection tend to con- sider themselves lucky, and not just women in relationships with men. In fact, when you take homosexual rela- tionships into account, there doesn't have to be male involvement at all. My love-hate relationship with Cosmo magazine. So I'm fine with Cosmo wanting to help ladies maintain their. relation- ships. What I have a problem with is their apparent obsession with find- ing a man right now, which perme- ates the magazine so much that even the "Single Girl's Bible" usually fea- tures some how-to-land-a-dateable- guy advice. While relationships are lovely, it obviously isn't healthy to want to get into them like your life depends on it. Seeing as most rela- tionships end in failure, people who are only happy when they're dating can count on being miserable a lot. Plus, if you're not comfortable with the person you are when you're sin- gle, when you do get into a relation- ship you won't exactly offer the other person a lot of growth opportunities. I dated a guy at a similar point in my life, and all I could do was glibly agree with every (often questionable) point he made. I maintain that Cosmo has a lot of room for improvement, both in terms of its man craziness and its diet pill advertisements every ten pages. But perhaps because tm now dating someone wonderful myself, I realize that women shouldn't feel ashamed for wanting advice on making their relationship a success, and Cosmo is sometimes good at offering that. Now if they'd only sort through their dependency issues. - Eileen Stahl can be reached at efstahl@umich.edu. 6 6 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, Erika Mayer, 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. L ET TE T E TSEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU Columnist's film criticism Daily fails to properly cover should be based on logic women's gymnastics win As the Michigan Student Assembly examines its future on campus, the Daily would like students to voice their opinions on what should be a part of its agenda. E-MAIL YOUR IDEAS TO ROBERT SOAVE AT RSOAVE@UMICH.EDU 0 TO THE DAILY: Upon picking up Tuesday's copy of the Daily, I was disappointed to see yet another half-thought- outfilmcriticismbyBlakeGoble (Playingfor keeps, 03/24/2009). What irritated me was not so much the list of films but rather his arrogance and dis- respect for his readers. In the article, he names the best sports films ever made. He bases these claims on four rules which are seemingly picked at random: "No Kevin Costner films. No Boxing films..." He offers no reason for dismissing sports classics like "Field of Dreams", "Million Dollar Baby" or "Raging Bull." Was he merely trying to be a contrarian? Not only is his list illogical, but he flaunts his unrivaled arrogance: "Don't like the rules? Tough. I don't have to justify them." Apparently, the Daily's film criticism has shrunken to the level of two middle school kids arguing on the back of a bus while on their way to school. I can hardly fault Mr. Goble for having personal tastes, but as a film critic, his articles should have some sort of coherency and govern- ing logic. Examining the work of any good film critic, one will discover this logic. When a critic provides no rational for their judgements, they become merely a snob. And that's the last thing I want to read. Taylor Stanton Music junior TO THE DAILY: I was disappointed to open my copy of the Daily on Monday morning to find no mention of the 17th Big Ten Championship title won by the women's gymnastics team. Under the lead- ership of coach Bev Plocki, this team has won the last three conference titles. With much of the team starting their sea- son recovering from surgery, the Wolverines entered the competition this past weekend in Champaign as the underdogs. But the entire team stepped up to score a season-best 197.075 when they needed it most. This victory was highlighted by individual wins from Trish Wilson, who scored a 9.95 on the uneven bars, and Kylee Botterman, who scored a 9.95 on floor and came in 2nd all around. Both Wilson and Botterman returned this season from major injuries. Yet there was no mention of these feats anywhere to be found in the Daily. These girls deserve to be recognized for their incredible determination and for refusing to ever change their goals. So I send them my highest congratulations - and the Daily ought to be ashamed that it didn't beat meto it. Scott Bregman LSA senior MSA CAMPUS SAFETY COMMISSION VIEWC Lobby for car one of the most prominent complaints from the stu- dent body in recent years has been the lack of action about poor street lighting in some off-campus neighbor- hoods. Although there haven't been many visible results to date, the Michigan Student Assembly has been working diligently on the issue for months. We are optimistic that we will all begin to see brighter streets by the end of this semester. It has been a difficult problem to fix, due in part to both a lack of funding in the city budget and the inherent dif- ficulties with navigating the city bureaucracy. Through our efforts, we are close to finalizing the installation of additional city streetlights in the neighborhood south of Hill Street. These lights will reach some of the darkest areas, such as the triangle intersection of East University, Oakland and Tappan streets. While the new city lights will undoubtedly make the streets safer, the MSA Campus Safety Commission is committed to doing much more to ensure that students have a safe way to walk home every night. Doing so will require help from all of you. The MSA CSC has launched a project to ensure that every off-campus house and apartment building is equipped with an automatic porch light that turns on by itself at night and off in the morning. These lights will act as a deterrent against home invasions, especially during breaks when many houses would ordinarily be completely dark. Additionally, these lights will contribute to making the streets brighter and safer. Imagine how much of a differ- ence would be made by installing lights in the front of each house. After securing the funds to provide property owners npus lighting and management companies with the light sensors at no cost, the MSA CSC contacted a number of them through the mail to ask for support in our efforts. A meeting in the fall with a large contingent of local landlords and prop- erty managers regarding the lighting issue encouraged MSA's belief that we would get a sizable buy-in for this project. Sadly, this was not the case. It has now been over a month since we sent letters asking for participation and we have only received one response, albeit a very positive one. Dan of Dan's Houses has committed to installing the sensors on nearly 75 properties located in off-campus neighborhoods. So we are reaching out to students to ask for their help. We now need you to lobby your landlords and manage- ment companies to participate in this project. We need you to call, e-mail or visit your landlords to voice your concerns about dark streets and to tell them that you want an automatic porch light from MSA. Ensure landlords that the cost to them is nearly noth- ing - we provide the sensor for free and your landlord puts it on an existing socket and bulb. All landlords are required to do is send an e-mail to campussafety@umich. edu and the sensors will be ordered and delivered to them as quickly as possible. Please take one minute out of your day to reach out to your landlord so that we can truly take a step toward making the night bright. Students with questions about this project can e-mail the MSA CSC at campussafety@umich.edu. This viewpoint was submitted on behalf of the MSA Campus Safety Commission.