4 4 - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Ep Midigan Bat*1 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 oftheir authors. Remains shouldn't remain In addition to closing exhibit, 'U' should give back artifacts M uch has changed since museum dioramas depict- ing Native Americans alongside dinosaur fossils first premiered fifty years ago. Though acceptable at the time, today there is little doubt that such displays are cultural- ly insensitive and misleading. The University's Natural History Museum is correcting a wrong by removing a one such exhibit from its museum. Administrators also have the means to right a second wrong by aggressively investigating the rightful owners of human remains and Native American objects being held by the University and returning them to their owners. 4 The Natural History Museum, situ- ated opposite the C.C. Little bus stop, announced on September 12 that it will close a 50-year-old Native American Diorama exhibit by the end of the year. The closure comes in response to prolonged concerns raised by both Native American and non-Native American visitors about the exhibit's accuracy and appropriate- ness. The exhibit depicted scenes of Native American life using dioramas that were placed in a museum filled with pre-historic artifacts like fossils and dinosaur bones as though the indigenous people were part of pre-historic fauna, too. By choosing to remove the exhibit, the museum authorities have finally acknowledged that these dioramas were insensitive. This is certainly a positive development, although the display will still remain open for the rest of the year as part of the LSA theme year to discuss the evo- lution of museums and their contribution to University life. The University is right to acknowledge and discuss the insensi- tive representation of Native Americans in museums and popular culture and to eventually put an end to a misleading por- trayal of Native American culture. But any measure of praise the University may deserve for finally deciding to close the exhibit is certainly squandered by its continued ownership of cultural artifacts that belong to Native American tribes. University administrators have been cal- lous toward requests by several tribes for the return of certain artifacts - including human remains and other funerary, sacred and cultural objects. The University still holds more than 1,900 artifacts on the grounds that it's not possible to identify whom they belong to, which is a condition of returning artifacts under the Native American Graves Protec- tion and Repatriation Act of 1990. Despite repeated protests and well-supported claims made by the Saginaw Chippewa tribe to 1,428 of those artifacts, the Uni- versity has avoided a re-examination of the issue. The University's current efforts haven't been good enough, and it should feel com- pelled to make a better effort to determine the origins of these artifacts so that they can be returned. Keeping the artifacts indefinitely is a disrespectful approach, especially considering that these artifadesa include human remains that the tribes want to bury properly. University administrators often claim to value cultural sensitivity and undWrst~ii"n- ing showcased by closing the diorama exhibit. But they need to act on these val- ues and take proactive steps to repatriate Native American artifacts currently in its possession. We haven't been good at cutting when we add. We just add' - Robert Massa, vice president of communications at Lafayette College, on the responsibility of colleges for the rising cost of tuition, as reported yesterday by The New York Times. ELAINE MORTON E-MAIL ELAINE AT EMORT@UMICH.EDU I t leiy cdOn't Wher C sSal caeoreirC -ba w'e oa I a Wild 1 anMos Blissfield blues T here's a town about an hour eight people or more living in a room Aid - a group that does exactly what south of Ann Arbor, almost at no larger than a college dorm room. its name suggests - told me that the Ohio border, called Bliss- They work long hours as long as there Michigan generally has been bet- field. It's a small is work to be done and then they ter about migrant worker rights than farming com- move on. Ina single year, they may go other states. But with the state's bud- munity like hun- from Florida to Georgia to Michigan get crunch, resources for migrant dreds of others several times to till, plant, weed, trim workers are being scaled back. Such in Michigan and and ultimately harvest. services are of course the first to go, across the coun- We visited during the daytime, so considring migrant workers won't try. You've never most of the workers were out in the be around to avenge their rights at heard of this fields. We did get to walk through the ballot box. place, and there's some of the housing units and chat And so that leaves the rest of us to really no reason with those that remained behind - decide their rights for them. The first you should have. IMRAN either to take care of the children or step of course is to know that this But Blissfield, SYED because there simply wasn't enough situation exists. Michigan has a work to be done that day. dirty little secret. They mostly spoke Spanish, so we You wouldn't know it if you were communicated through translators. just passing through on the highway. We asked them questions like how M ichigan has Even if you took that exit, perhaps to they liked Michigan and how their get gas or to hit the McDonalds, and working and living conditions, com- m igrant workers wandered further downtheroad than pared to other states. These were the normal, you wouldn't find anything right questions, but something was in its backyard. out of the ordinary. Endless fields missing. of corn give way to apple orchards, You see,thisisn'tyourtypicalwork- which are fleetingly obstructed by ers' rights situation. If there were gas stations, diners and farmhouses. violations, these migrants wouldn't But beyond knowledge, we need Fields of peppers , are intertwined know. They've never known fair con- accurate perception. Surely there with turquoise cabbage patches, all in ditions so anything better than the are those who would wave their fists the shadow of magnificent red barn- absolute worst must seem like a relief. and demand that these migrants be houses and other small white build- They make a minimum wage, have sent back to where they came from. ings that seems to blend in almost their housing paid for and have plenty Perhaps some of them are illegal seamlessly. of laws to protect them. But of course immigrants, though some certainly Almost. Upon a moment's reflec- it's never that simple. were not. But such ignorantly nativist tion though, those white buildings, The law requires runningwater, but outrage ignores an important truth: neatly tucked in around the fields and some workers we talked to were quite These workers use up literally no the road, do stand out. I wondered amused by thatconcept. The law regu- resources while doingnecessary, pro- what those buildings were when I lates how many people can live in those ductive jobs that others simply would first came there. But I already knew housingunits,butinmostinstances we not do under those conditions. the answer - it's why I made my trip found about twice the limit crammed Seeing migrant workers living and to Blissfield with Farm Worker Legal in there. The law requires that the working so close to Ann Arbor brings Aid in the first place. Those buildings workers get minimum wage, but they the immigration debate home. It's are barracks. are often paid by how much they do clear that we need these people, and In those buildings - the largest of (by the bushel during harvest, for it's time we stopped pretending oth- which were designed to hold about 50 instance) and not by the hour, making erwise. people - were crammed nearly twice it nearly impossible to discern if they that many migrant farm workers. are being compensated fairly. - Imran Syed can be reached Entire families were here, sometimes An intern at Farm Worker Legal at galad@mich.edu. CLARK RUPER | Don't make health care mandatory 4 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Ben Caleca, Brian Flaherty, Emma Jeszke, Raghu Kainkaryam, Sutha K Kanagasingam, Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Harsha Panduranga, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Laura Veith COLLEGE DEMOCRATS Students need quality care Many of us know by now that 46 million Americans do not have health insurance. Lost in this figure, however, are the 13 million young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who are uninsured. Few people associate health care with students, and most students do not even think about health care until it directly affects their lives. But young adults represent a dispro- portionate number of the uninsured, and they stand to gain from President Barack Obama's health insurance reform proposals in numer- ous ways. Two weeks ago, after months of debate in Washington and across the country, Obama delivered an address to Congress in which he clearly outlined the basic elements that health insurance reform should include. One of the central components of Obama's plan is a health insurance exchange, which would make health care more affordable by increasing competi- tion in the market for individual coverage. The health insurance exchange would be a market- place where individuals and small businesses shop for the best option from all of the par- ticipating plans. All the plans that participate in the exchange would be required to provide a minimum level of coverage to ensure quality of care. The health insurance exchange would benefit students since many students will be dropped from their parents' insurance plans upon graduation and will be forced to shop the individual market for coverage. The eco- nomic downturn has strained many employ- ers and forced them to make tough cutbacks to survive, and one of the first benefits to suffer cuts has been health insurance - over 12,000 people lose their health insurance every day. Many new employees in entry-level positions, including recent graduates, are increasingly left without access to quality, affordable health care. An insurance exchange is a market-based approach that would help young adults afford individual coverage and help small businesses provide coverage to their employees. Obama has also proposed requiring insurance com- panies to cover students under their parents' health care plans until age 26, thereby buffer- ing students in their transition from school to the job market. Obama's reform proposals would not only expand access to coverage but also prevent insurance companies from abusing their power to the detriment of their patients. Under cur- rent law, for example, insurance companies are able to deny coverage to people who have pre- existing conditions or drop people's coverage when they are sick and need it most. But under Obama's plan, insurance companies would be prohibited from doing either of those things. Health insurance reform would ensure that the people who need care the most have access to the coverage that they need at a price they can afford. Comprehensive health insurance reform is urgently needed to control skyrocketing costs of care. Health insurance premiums have doubled since 2000, but real wages remained stagnant during that time. Without reform, the cost of an employer-sponsored health care plan is expected to rise dramatically. This increase would hit young adults hardest, as they work in entry-level jobs and often bear a debt burden from higher education costs. Whether or not students follow politics, they clearly have a vested interest in the ongo- ing health care debate. Last November, young Americans showed that they can make an impact on the direction of our country. The thousands of students that worked on Obama's campaign last fall and the millions of young people that voted for him played a vital role in his victory. This fall, students should follow the health care debate closely and mobilize to support the President's proposed reforms. As the reform effort continues, young people should consider the crisis of increasing health care costs and think about their own prospects after college with regard to health insurance. Then, stu- dents should make their voices heard. Students and all Americans should also consider the question of morality. Is it right for a nation as wealthy as ours to allow its citizens to go with- out the health care they need? This viewpoint was written on behalf of the University's chapter of the College Democrats. One aspect common to most of the health care reform proposals currently being considered by Congress is a government mandate that all individuals must have health insurance. If individuals are not covered by their employ- ers, they will be forced to buy a private plan or possibly to buy into a government plan, or "public option." There are many relevant questions in this debate, including: Who are the currently uninsured, why are they uninsured and why must we force them to buy coverage? Proposals in Congress might solve the "problem" of the uninsured, but will it have any real benefits? And is this the best way to fix the problem while still recognizing each individual's autonomy to make their own choice? The consensus among politicians and political com- mentators is that approximately 46 million Americans are uninsured. Of that number, the largest identifiable group is young people, accounting for around 13 million. They are recent college graduates. They are students in between undergraduate and graduate school and young professionals in their first or second jobs. They are entre- preneurs taking risks while they are young and have no one to account for but themselves. I belong to this group. I am 23 years old and have cho- sen not to purchase health insurance. Four months ago, I left a job that included employer-provided health insur- ance to work for a start-up nonprofit called Students for Liberty. The organization is young and I took an entrepre- neurial risk when I decided to come on board. I took this risk with full knowledge of the decision I was making. My income at my new job is not great: roughly $25,000 a year, which doesn't get you very far in Washington, D.C., where I live. But with good budgeting, I could afford a private health insurance plan if I wanted to. I am simply choos- ing not to purchase one. For many young professionals, this is a rational deci- sion. Young and healthy individuals receive very little benefit from health insurance. Why pay for insurance that we do not use? We choose to use our little disposable income on other investments such as our own savings and personal health. I would rather spend money on my gym membership and a healthy eating plan than health insur- ance, and I consider myself fortunate to be in a position where I can choose to not buy insurance that I don't want and don't need. I, for one - and many other recent gradu- ates in my situation - don't want to be forced by the gov- ernment to buy a product with little discernible benefit. The common rebuttal to my claim is that young people like me are part of the current problem. We don't buy insurance, and then when we get sick, we go to the emer- gency room, get treated, don't pay our bills and run up the cost for everyone else. We are taking risks and asking everyone else to pay for it. I agree that this is a problem with the status quo that needs to be fixed. My solution is to change the laws that require hospital emergency rooms to treat everyone. I will gladly sign a waiver stating that no hospital is obli- gated to treat me. If I am unable to pay for a hospital's service, than it should be able to turn me away just like any other business. This leaves very clear options in the consumer's hand: (1) buy insurance, (2) save enough to pay for your care on your own, or (3) take the risk of opt- ing out of insurance with full knowledge of that risk. The government should not force young people to buy insurance - it should allow us to make our own choice and to do what is best for ourselves based on our own judgment. Those advocating a government mandate do not think we are capable of making that choice and want to make it for us. I, for one, reject this authoritarian, nanny-state view of the government's role in society, and I know that I am not alone. Clark Ruper is a University alum and the Program Manager for Students for Liberty. 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 tothedoify@umich.edu. 4