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4A - Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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 of their authors.
FROM T HE DAILY
Service comes first
Students should give back to the community year-round
Yesterday, the nation honored the legacy of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. He may always be most remembered as
a passionate fighter for civil rights and equality, but he
was also concerned with volunteerism to improve everyone's life.
In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Barack Obama and
the King family asked Americans to participate in a National Day
of Service. Whether you participated or not, there's no reason to
limit King's spirit of community service to one day a year..All peo-
ple, especially the students who worked tirelessly to elect Barack
Obama, should transition their efforts to activism and work toward
a better community.
King was an adept community organizer
who successfully harnessed his supporters
to work toward greater goods. With this in
mind, it was suggested that Martin Luther
King Jr. Day be recognized as a National
Day of Service. This way, King's legacy
could inspire people to recognize this day
as one in which everyone should give back
to their community in some meaningful
way.
It's certainly worth recognizing the
amazing things that volunteer efforts on
campus have accomplished in the past few
months. Obama's campaign mobilized stu-
dents in a more substantial way than any
other campaign had in decades. Students
believed in the good that an Obama presi-
dency could do for the nation, and they
volunteered their time and energy to help
elect him.
Now that these efforts have been suc-
cessful, the responsibility of healing
the nation cannot be solely placed upon
Obama's shoulders. Campus activism must
be maintained in order to make our com-
munity a better place. It's up to us not to
lose sight of our goals now that such suc-
cesses have been achieved.
Throughout his presidential campaign,
Obama spoke of asking Americans to do
more to serve their country than simply
expecting good to come as a right of citi-
zenship. That passion should be re-direct-
ed toward cleaning up parks, helping the
homeless or any other job that will help
out communities around us. It is a continu-
ation of the work that Obama was encour-
aging his supporters to do all along.
There are plenty of places in the Ann
Arbor community that could benefit from
increased community service. Things as
simple as an hour at a soup kitchen or vol-
unteering at a daycare can do immeasur-
able amounts of good. volunteering can be
done right now and will produce immedi-
ate results for society.
A National Day of Service is a great way
to honor King's call to make the country
a better place for everyone. But we don't
need to wait for next January to start vol-
unteering again. Students must channel
the spirit of activism that propelled Obama
and continue our efforts to improve the
country, starting with the Ann Arbor com-
munity. Though it may only be officially
recognized one day of the year, there is no
reason why we can't treat every day as a
National Day of Service.
Shhh!"
- Joe Biden, silencing his wife after she said Barack Obama gave Biden the choice of
being either secretary of state or vice president, as reported yesterday by the Chicago Tribune.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I OUT T STRE E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU
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What qualifies the GSIs
S everal years ago, during a rath- strate English-language proficiency. boundaries between us and our stu-
er difficult office hours meet- Department training sessions often dents.
ing, a student told me that I are a term-long course. In addition, This focus is important to under-
wasn't qualified to any GSI who grades an upper-level stand. Because GSIs are students s
teach political sci- writing course or teaches introducto- well, are close to the age of under-
ence because I was ry writing must go through semester- graduates and are something of a
earning a Ph.D. in long training courses at the Center middleman between students and
English. for Learning Research and Teaching. professors, boundaries tend to blur.
Theonlyproblem Beyond formal academic qualifica-
with this challenge tions and training, many GSIs have
was that the stu- relevant life experiences that help Get to know your
dent was wrong: I enrich their teaching.
was indeed earning PATRICK Three of my fellow GSIs had jobs instructors. They
a Ph.D. in political O'MAHEN as either community or political
science. This par- organizers before they came to grad m ight surprise you.
ticular student had school, which has influenced how
definitely earned they think and teach about politi-
the C- grade over which she was ques- cal mobilization and participation.
tioning my teaching qualifications. Another worked for a major polling By limiting the amount ofpersonal
However, there does seem to be firm, which comes in handy when information and access we give to our
a lack of knowledge among many you're talking about how public students, we give ourselves author-
undergraduate students about the opinion and voting works. Many of ity and autonomy as GSIs. My rela-
qualifications of their Graduate Stu- my colleagues who have taught the tionship, role as a parent and other
dent Instructors. Every term, I ask popular Arab-Israeli Conflict course aspects of my personal and profes-
my sections what they know about have an extensive background in sional life really aren't any of my
the background and qualifying pro- the Middle East. One spent a year in students' business. Also, by having
cess for GSIs. Almost without excep- Egypt on a Truman scholarship and designated office hours and e-mail
tion, I get blank stares. is proficient in Arabic. The second response times, we give ourselves
Here's a tip: on the first day of class, has lived in both Egypt and Israel the ability to say no to students who
askyour GSIs aboutctheir background. and is proficient in both Hebrew and ask for unreasonable appoint entsr
It's unwise to directly challenge their Arabic. The final one has studied in expect e&mail responses 24 touls
competence, but it's fine to express Egypt and Syria extensively, is fluent a day or call us on our personal cell
curiosity about their experiences. in Arabic and is pursuing research on phones when we haven't handed out
Although I can't answer questions how the social networks of Christian- our number.
for my colleagues, I can comment on and Muslim shopkeepers might affect Butifwebuild thebarriers between
the general qualifications for your religious tensions. our students and ourselves too high,
GSIs: theygained admissionto agrad- When I told several of my stu- then we might neglect to share some
uate program at the University, usu- dents about the activities of those of our personal experiences and
ally a top 10 program in the country GSIs, their mouths dropped open research interests that do have rel-
in a given field. Most departments are in surprise. Why don't more under- evance to the subject we teach. Some-
highly selective and admit less than graduates know about the depth of times those stories and information
15 percent of applicants. The great their GSI's qualifications? Often, it's illustrate a concept clearly or spark
majority of them teach in something because GSIs don't tell them. interest in our field. In short, they
closely related to their field - this I suspect our training influences help education.
term, I have sections in Introduction our decision not to talk about our . And then, perhaps, fewer students
to American Politics, not Shakespear- qualifications, previous experience or will tend to wonder about their GSI's
ran Dramatic Conventions. research relevant to teaching. When qualifications.
GSIs also go through multiple I took both the CLRT and my depart-
training courses before they enter ment's training course, facilitators Patrick O'Mahen can be reached
the classroom and have to demon- emphasized creating professional at pomahen@umich.edu.
Fraud behind thefractions
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.
T
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
University should abandon
outdated animal testing
TO THE DAILY:
As a cardiologist and senior medical adviser
with the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine, I want to refute incorrect statements
quoted in your article ('U' under pressure for dog
testing, 1/14/2009) and clarify why PCRM oppos-
es the University's use of live dogs from Michigan
animal shelters in lethal trauma training classes.
The University Health Service falsely claims
that the majority of Advanced Trauma Life Sup-
port courses use animals. In truth, however, the
University of Michigan is one of the last institu-
tions in the country continuing this outdated
practice. In an ongoing nationwide survey of
ATLS courses, it was found that over 90 percent
of researchers exclusively use non-animal meth-
ods, such as cadavers or human patient simula-
HARUN BULANA
tors. In fact, the American College of Surgeons,
which accredits all ATLS programs, endorses the
use of simulators.
We oppose the use of dogs and other animals
in ATLS courses not only because it is inhumane
but also because it is not the best way to teach
participants how to treat acute trauma injuries.
The procedures taught in the University's ATLS
course include cutting into the airway, inserting
chest tubes, and sticking needles in the lungs,
heart, and abdomen. The anatomy is so differ-
ent in dogs that the techniques must be revisited
later - when human lives may be on the line.
The University's students deserve the most
advanced trainingmethods available. That means
immediately replacing the use of live dogs with
superior, human-based methods.
John Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C.
The letter-writer is a senior medical research
adviser with the Physicians Committeefor Respon-
sible Medicine.
E-MAIL HARUN AT BULJINAH@UMICH.EDU
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n recent weeks, the financial The problem arises when I can't go to
world has been rocked by a scan- the bank and claim my own money.
dal involving professional inves- When you buya stock or bond, you
tor Bernie Madoff. exchange an available good - money
Madoff lost as much - for the expectation of a future
as $50 billion of his good. In order to claim money from
investors' money your asset, you have to find a willing
and even caused a buyer. But with bank deposits, you
few nonprofit asso- . never exchange anything with the
ciations to close bank. The money is still your prop-
their doors. Mad- erty, and the bank simply guards it
off's embezzlement for you or facilitates transactions. If
scheme, however, everyone were to claim their proper-
pales in compari- VINCENT ty, there would not be enough money
son with the $7 tril- PATSY to satisfy the demand.
lion scheme being In the Madoff scandal, inves-
perpetrated by the tors were being paid using depos-
U.S. government via its from later investors. As long as
the fraudulent bank loaning policy there remained a constant flow of
known as fractional-reserve banking. new funds, the pyramid scheme kept
in fractional-reserve banking, bank working. But when the current finan-
managers are constantly deceiving cial crisis hit the economy, many
their clients, buying property and investors withdrew their funds and
other assets with what amounts to the system collapsed.
counterfeit money. Fractional-reserve banking works
There are essentially two roles the same way, using guarantees from
for banks: making loans and act- the Treasury Department and soci-
ing as warehouses to store money. etal pressure to, retain faith in banks
A fractional-reserve bank will only and preserve the existing system.
keep a portion of your money in your This deception is just as fraudulent as
account and will loan out the rest. Madoff's scheme. As soon as people
The basic reason why this is an ille- lose faith or withdraw their funds,
gitimate form of business is because the system collapses.
the banker attaches a false receipt to The typical argument in favor of
your money. It is akin to a person pay- fractional-reserve banking goes as fol-
ing me to draw them a square circle. lows. Suppose an entrepreneur builds a
This being impossible, I'm not deliv- bridge and he sells access to the bridge
ering on their request as promised to 1000 people, even though only 100
and have therefore committed fraud. people can cross at any one time. But
In a normal business, the own- since only 50 travelers cross each day
ers know approximately when they on average, there's no traffic prob-
have to pay workers and when they lem. If, however, some treacherous
will receive payments from clients. Visigoths were to attack and everyone
If owners owe $1 million on a cer- attempted to flee,thebridge's 100-man
tain date, they will try to rearrange capacity would not be sufficient to sat-
their funds so that they can pay off isfy demand. Since banks knowrough-
their debts. With fractional-reserve ly how much money will be taken out
banking, this strategy is impossible. and are not afraid of Visigoths, they
Although the assets come in regular- can estimate how much money they
ly in the form of loan payments, the need to have at all times.
bank deposits can't be anticipated. But the difference between this
example and fractional-reserve
banking is that with the bridge you
are paying for access, not ownership.
I can't go and claim 300 bricks of the
bridge. When you pay a cover charge
to a bar, you don't own some section
of the bar. Use and ownership are two
different things, and this method of
banking constitutes fraud.
Why the U.S.
Treasury is just
as bad as Madoff
The alternative and superior sys-
tem is to have 100 percent reserve
banking. The two functions of banks,
underthissetup,willbekeptseparate.
If a person wishes to save money, they
would investinsomethingresembling
a certificate of deposit. This would be
an investment because the saver can-
not claim his actual good before a
certain amount of time has elapsed.
In order to purchase goods, there
would be a separate checking account
where you would pay for the bank to
hold your money. One hundred per-
cent reserve banking may seem more
complicated than fractional-reserve
banking, but it's the only good way to
protect against crises where everyone
tries to withdraw their investments.
Fractional reserve bankers are
essentially counterfeiters. They buy
more goods than they can pay for
under the pretense of government-
sponsored stability. Traditionally,
counterfeiters would be on the run
from the U.S. Treasury Department.
With fractional-reserve banking,
though, it's the Treasury committing
the crime.
Vincent Patsy can be reached
at vapatsy@umich.edu.