4A - Friday, November 6, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU 1l e ticl igan i[y CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Greetings feolks Due to popular demand, Out to Pasture" wilnow delight you wi the joys of the seasos e o xaci L3 o ~6aAa&.90 0~ ~ That's right In ain unprce- dented move in comi srp history we will be fetning 100% Christmas music lyrcs for the next two months! 6tti Ill So sit back, relax, and enjoy orcompletc lack of nnir a wy a Because if there's a gray to a beat a beloved tradition to a death well doit GARY GRACA EDITOR IN CHIEF b AF A C tia . V 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. Progress makes perfect State must continue to lead on stem cells, marijuana reform year after the historic election of President Barack Obama, the verdict may still be out as to whether he's living up to expectations. But for voters in Michigan, this year's Elec- tion Day marked another important one-year anniversary - the state's approval of ballot initiatives legalizing medical marijuana and expanding stem cell research. While these progressive mea- sures were intended to provide relief for the chronically ill, they are affecting many residents of Michigan in positive ways. A year after their approval, positive developments are occurring on both the stem cell and medical marijuana fronts - and Michigan must continue to be a leader on these issues. In last year's election, Michigan became the 13th state to allow certain patients with specific medical conditions to use marijuana. With permission from a doctor, patients gained the legal right to cultivate and use marijuana to help relieve their symptoms. But the legalization process has not been seamless - with some users still facing unjust legal repercussions - nor has it provided a method for users to obtain marijuana short of growing it themselves or using approved sources. Supporters of medical marijuana rallied in Lansing in early October for clear regulations to make use easier. In addition to removing legal hurdles to medical marijuana use, the state gov- ernment needs to make sure it doesn't fall behind other governing bodies that are beginning to adopt even more lenient mar- ijuana policies. Marijuana usage should be legal, for medical and non-medical rea- sons, and public sentiment is slowly but surely turning in favor of such a position. Indeed, supporters in California are pre- paring to launch a ballot initiative cam- paign calling for total legalization.{Even the U.S. Justice Department is is shift- ing opinion, announcing last month that federal officials wouldn't arrest patients following state laws regarding medicinal marijuana use. Michigan is ahead of much of the coun- try in legalizing a safe, already widely practiced behavior. But the state can do even better. Michigan should continue to push the envelope, allowing users to obtain marijuana more easily and eventually aim- ing for total legalization. And while Michigan can be said to be at the head of the pack on marijuana reform, the state is even stronger on stem cell reform. Last year's Proposal 2 lifted restrictions on stem cell research, instant- ly making Michigan competitive with other states in a promising field of study that has the potential to cure diseases and save lives. And as a sign of the state's prog- ress, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced on Oct. 15 that Detroit would be the site of the 2010 World Stem Cell Summit. The event will be co-hosted by the University, Michigan State University, Wayne State University and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Michigan must keep its place at the fore- front of stem cell research. Aside from the obvious benefit of saving lives, increased stem cell research brings the best minds to our universities and the state. This will create jobs and expand the state's indus- tries intocutting-edge research and devel- opment fields, facilitating an economic transformation. One year after the passage of these bene- ficial and progressive amendments, Michi- gan stands at the forefront of important social and economic changes. State policy must continue to push the envelope on these issues in the years to come. ND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU other states and countries. Additionally, these items are not displaced because they are "redundant or conventionally uninteresting to the museum." Items are kept in storage for many reasons. Some are not stable enough for display and need to be kept in cli- mate-controlled settings. Others are not a part of the Kelsey's current thematic display. Some are currently being used by researchers or are under repair. While I understand Syed's dissatisfaction with 19th and early 20th century antiquities laws and, in fact, share his view, his argument about returning items to their countries is lost in the random list of complaints that he seems to have. Syed moves from the concentration of wealth at the top of society to the fact no one ever uses these artifacts, detours to a comment about "colonialist advances" and then somehow ends with a demand for recognition that an archae- ologist somewhere might have gotten an artifact under less-than-ethical circumstances. What is Syed's real complaint? That the Kelsey has too many artifacts in storage? That the Kelsey should give everything back, except for the things they're using, the things they loan to people, or the things other people use? Or that colonialism is bad? Syed would be well-served by researching his topic and focusing his argument. Com- plaining about a lot of different things on a similar topic doesn't indicate a valid argument about any of them. Lisa Lark School ofEducation Sophomore year slump C onventional wisdom says that has been assigned to you by the many free resources for help with that freshman year is the big University? Most of the big decisions career choices, roommate crises, transition year for college are made for freshmen with little clash selection and many of the other students leaving wiggle room. With Resident Advi- decisions a Wolverine has to make on home for the first -- - sors and academic counselors thrust a day-to-day basis. There is a study time. It's impos- upon them, new students can almost abroad group on CTools, professors sible to ignore the put themselves on autopilot. that double as advisors, and, if you hype about mov- 4 But come sophomore year, paren- actually take the time to look, more ing from high tal and staff support subsides while information on Wolverine Access school to college, course lists become daunting. There than you could possibly imagine. and every home- is no longer an obviously laid out yel- ward-bound frosh low brick road for students to follow. is interrogated For the first time since their arrival Second-years about it during his LEAH at the University, many sophomores are or her first visit PTI are expected to make important like the m d l home. Parents POTKIN decisions on their own. I may know middle ask nervously and my way from East Hall to the Mod- family friends ask ern Language Building better, but' children of college. cordially, but the adjustment to col- aside from that, I think freshman lege is on everyone's mind. year enhanced my partying skills For me, freshman year was filled more than my decision-making ones. Another option is to form our with new faces and new opportu- The truth is that the transition own means of support through peer nities, and my infatuation with my from coddled freshman to self-suffi- groups. Today, I got an e-mail from dream university lasted all the way cient, independent sophomore isn't my sorority announcing the forma- from Welcome Week through final as easy as one might expect, and the tion of e-mail groups for each popu- exams. I hardly ever thought about challenges and growing pains may lar major. This provides a supporting the transition. But I'm finding that make it the most emotionally difficult network of peers who likely share my sophomore year is much more of of the college years. I'm not trying similar academic struggles. And, a struggle. For me and for many oth- to understate the challenges facing once again, this resource is free. ers, sophomore year is the real tran- overburdened upperclassmen, who After recognizing the resources sition year. as juniors are forced to address press- available to me, I trust I will be able Sophomores are like middle chil- ing scholastic decisions and as seniors to make much more effective deci- dren - somewhat ignored, but seek- must start planning for the real world. sions when choosing my classes for ing the attention that, in this case, is But somewhere in the mix of every- the winter semester. And though it usually centered on incoming fresh- thing, sophomore year gets lost. And will surely take me the remainder men and upperclassmen. But upper- with nowhere to channel their anxi- of this school year - perhaps longer' classmen already have two years of ety, many sophomores end up wan- - to fully make my transition to life experience under their belts and are dering, seeking direction without the as an independent college student, self-sufficient by necessity. obvious guideposts that facilitated this Thanksgiving, I will be the one On the other end of the spectrum, most of their previous travels. at the dinner table asking the ques- freshmen have yet to cut the cord So, what's a troubled sophomore to tions and seeking advice. While I binding them to their homes. Parents do? Maybe the answer lies in learn- may have soared through fresh- still do everything in their power ing to seek out the help and guidance man year without a glitch, the road to check up on their babies-turned- that was so readily handed to them in is still filled with many bumps, and young adults and help them adjust to the past. As I started to realize that attention and guidance are still very the college routine. I wasn't going to be spoon-fed help much appreciated. What's so hard about signing up for and started looking for it on my own, a few classes from a list of required I realized that resources and support -Leah Potkin can be reached courses or moving into a dorm room are available. In fact, the school has at ipotkin@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Jamie Block, Ben Caleca, Nicholas Clift, Michelle DeWitt, Brian Flaherty, Emma Jeszke, Raghu Kainkaryam, Sutha K Kanagasingam, Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Harsha Panduranga, Alex Schiff, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Laura Veith NICHOLAS CLIFT | A broken B.S. detector 0 6 0 Rich Rod's coachingfails to encourage team to be great TO THE DAILY: I have to be honest and say I was not a fan of Rich Rodriguez when he was hired. Iam an avid defender of Lloyd Carr and I think he was forced out too soon. But that is neither here nor there. On Monday, Rich Rod was quoted as saying, "I mean, I want everybody to have patience. I don't have much of it, but I wish our players would" (Warren and Graham look off the field for defensive answers, 11/02/2009). What does Rodriguez mean by this? Does it mean Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor should have more patience running the football? Should Tate have more patience in the pocket or should the defensive backs be more patient on routes so as not to get beat deep? To me, he is saying that the players should wait to return to Michigan's dominance and that the players need tobe patient till he has his "type" of players in there. Bu, that's bullshit. Why should Brandon Graham have to wait for Michigan to return to a powerhouse? It's his senior year. He has three games left in his Michigan career, and his coach is telling him to be patient? I think Rich Rod is sending his team the wrong message by saying that. The talent is there to be winning - the Notre Dame game proves. that - but Rodriguez is telling them to wait? He should want his players to want to win right away, go to the Rose Bowl and com- pete for a National Championship. This may not mean a lot coming from just an average student, but I say to the players: Don't be patient or wait for it - go get it. Win your last three games and beat Ohio State. I sure hope Rodriguez doesn't tell you to be patient when that game comes around, because you guys have earned it. Matt Kautz LSA junior Syed mischaracterizes the practices ofKelsey Museum TO THE DAILY: It is clear from Imran Syed's most recent col- umn that he didn't attend the Kelsey Museum opening and that he didn't speak with any Kelsey staff members (Hoarding history, 11/02/2009). While it's true that the vast majority of the Kelsey's collection is kept in storage, by no means are these items being "hoarded" or are "concentrated in the hands of the elite few." The Kelsey Museum is open to the public, and its col- lections are used by researchers across campus and indeed across the world. Pieces from the Kelsey's collection are on display in museums in The Internet has knocked America's B.S. detector askew. Americans are so used to attributing the national stench to Washington that we haven't noticed our own steaming piles - the premature, poorly informed politi- cal conclusions we've all been jumping to. In gaining the freedom to explore all the views the Web has to offer, we also have new power to see only those ideas consistent with the conclusions we've already made. But the crap is starting to hit the fan. Those bad, smelly conclusions are dividing America. We should have first smelled it during the national health care debate. During Congress's summer recess, we saw images of extremists shouting over others at town hall meetings to discuss health care. Their rude interrup- tions suggest that gears are grinding somewhere within our old democracy. When people become so frustrated that they see no worth in the views of their opponents, something is wrong. And it's not just those already on the fringe who are growing more extreme. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in May, just as the health care issue was moving to center stage, shows that the political parties, are more starkly different than ever. In two years, the percentage of Republicans who believed that government regulation of business does more harm than good rose from 57 percent to 75 percent. Over the same time peri- od, the proportion of Democrats who agreed sank from 57 percent to 41 percent. Divisions grew similarly across a variety of issues, with what Pew defines as the "aver- age difference between the opinions" at its highest since measurement began 22 years ago. There's nothing inherently smelly about disagree- ment, but the growing contrast can't be explained by the personal nature of health care or economic recovery. Instead, division has grown because the ideas Americans are exposed to are less diverse, and decisions made while cut off from the broader realities of issues are stinky ones indeed. The Internet, hailed by some as the tool to diversify our information intake, has done much the opposite. Provided with millions of Web pages, most prefer using the Internet to tailor the information they read. It's a phenomenon renowned Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein spoke about when he visited the University last December. According to the Daily on Dec. 12,.2008, Sun- stein argued that the Internet tends to lead people into isolation "from the variety of beliefs and opinions needed for rational political discourse." With plenty of sites like the Huffington Post and political blogs to choose from, people are getting better and better at avoiding acciden- tal encounters with opposing viewpoints. When opinions are never exposed to the sanitizing power of daylight, they tend to grow uglier. In one study Sunstein conducted, conservatives and liberals were sepa- rated into two groups and asked to discuss political issues. Over the course of the study, people in both groups devel- oped more extreme views. They were isolated from the whole debate and thought their conclusions were reason- able. In other words, their detectors were knocked askew. Impressively, New York Times columnist Thomas 4 Friedman made my point about growing extremism with- out a single allusion to feces. He compared the current poisonous political environment in this country to that in Israel in the days leading up to the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitznak Rabin in 1995. Rabin, who was ready to trade land for peace with Palestine as part of the Oslo Accords, was portrayed by some right-wing Israelis as a treasonous Nazi until one Israeli extremist ended Rabin's life. "The parallels to Israel then and America today turn my stomach," Friedman wrote in a Sept. 29 New York Times column. With so many Americans isolated from exposure to opposing ideas, the division is crippling national debate. When it comes to health care and fixing the economy, we must choose to be exposed to ideas we find contrary to our own. Otherwise, compromise will remain elusive and urgent issues will continue to be left unresolved. It's time to recalibrate our collective crap sensor, start reading the blogs we disagree with and bring moderation back to the national debate. Nicholas Clift is an Engineering freshman. U libraries offer many resources for students' use TO THE DAILY: This is a gentle reminder from your friends at the University of Michigan Library in response to the coverage of the copyright infringement case against the local shop Excel (Excel Test ,rep loses lawsuit overcopyright infringement, 10/30/2009). The University Library acquires through purchase and license a phenomenal range of materials available to University stu- dents and faculty. Many materials are available electronically through our website. All of these materials are legally available for your aca- demic needs. Before seeking copies through a course pack, take a moment to see if we have what you need. Our librarians can help you in person at any of our locations, and of course at www. lib.umich.edu. For copyright guidance, go to www.lib.umich.edu/copyright. Kathleen Folger and Melissa Levine University ofMichigan Library staff i "1 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. a