4A - Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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GARY GRACA ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors.
Missing the election
Students should care enough to vote in MSA elections
his year, students returning to campus after Thanksgiv-
ing break might have been surprised to discover that the
Michigan Student Assembly was holding its fall election -
if they noticed at all, that is. According to the Daily, only 3,565 out
of 39,671 students voted. That's a shame, because after a semester of
contentious MSA issues that affect the lives of students, the cam-
pus population should have felt compelled to vote. Responsibility is
twofold - MSA must do more to remind students of the election
and encourage participation, and students must demonstrate to the
University administration that they care about the way this campus
is governed by holding the assembly accountable in elections.
What American people did not bargain for
was another four years for one of the key
architects of the Bush economy."
- Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), commenting on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's
confirmation hearing for his second term, as reported yesterday by CNN.
ADRIAN CHOY |
E-MAIL ADRIAN AT AWCHOY@UMICH.EDU *
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Chill out on global warming
The MSA Compiled Code sets timetables
for the elections, which are held each fall
and each winter semester. Due to a con-
flict between these timetables and MSA's
delayed selection of an election director,
the assembly was forced to push back the
election to the day after Thanksgiving
break. in addition, MSA was unable to get
a link to the online voting site placed on
the desktops of all campus computers as
it had planned. The result was an election
that garnered roughly 9 percent student
turnout - a slight drop from last fall's 9.6
percent - despite an expectation of higher
turnout from MSA leadership.
The day after Thanksgiving break was
certainly a less-than-ideal time to hold the
election, resulting in decreased last-min-
ute campaigning on the Diag that typically
serves to remind students to vote. Though
it's true that MSA was in a bind over when
to hold the election, the assembly should
make sure this doesn't happen again in
the future by picking an election director
earlier, if necessary. And the fact that the
voting links on campus computers never
materialized doesn't exactly speak well for
voteroutreach efforts, either.
That said, students shouldn't be waiting
for flashing neon lights that give them step-
by-step instructions on how and when to
vote. Students should feel a responsibility
to express their opinions of MSA's actions
and whether or not they approve of its
members and leadership. MSA can hardly
be expected to listen to students' needs or
fight for students' interests when it is only
accountable to 9 percent of campus. And
MSA will be more empowered to stand up
to the administration if they have student
votes to back them up.
After all, this semester was an impor-
tant one for the assembly, which dealt with
several issues directly relevant to students.
The revelation that for years MSA has been
appointing students to the Department of
Public Safety Oversight Committee rather
than holding campus-wide elections as
required by state law is something students
should be speaking up about. This commit-
tee is intended to be students' strongest
check on the University police system, and
its mismanagement over the last decade
should be getting students' attention. And
the fact that the University administration
looked the other way with regard to this
committee only strengthens the need for
students to vote.
That's not to say that students only have
reasons to be upset with members of the
assembly. Their support of state Sen. Liz
Brater's (D-Ann Arbor) Good Samaritan
bill - which would protect students from
getting minors in possession in instances
where they need to call for help on behalf
of friends who were drinking - was instru-
mental in assuring the bill's passage.
The point is that good or bad, MSA is
making decisions that effect students and
ones should care about. But the assem-
bly won't have a reason for its decision to
reflect campus's sentiments until students
vote in MSA elections in considerably larg-
er numbers.
ust before the onset of a win-
ter that some forecasters pre-
dict will be one of the coldest
in decades, a new
scandal is rocking
the global climate
change debate.
Last month, an
unidentified com-
puter hacker broke
into a server con-
taining private
emails from the
Climate. Research CHRIS
Unit at Britain's KOSLOWSKI
University of East
Anglia. The con- _
tent of the emails,
many skeptics of climate change
claim, is a smoking gun, proving the
existence of a conspiracy by lead-
ing British and American climate
researchers. Certain emails seem to
point to the researchers' deliberate
misrepresentation of climate data and
desire to suppress conflicting opin-
ions. The scandal is fueling the fire for
those who argue that climate change'
caused by humans is at best, shoddy
science and at worst, a giant hoax.
The University of East Anglia has
launched an investigation into the
matter. Phil Jones, director of the Cli-
mate Research Unit there and author
of several of the leaked e-mails,
announced Tuesday his intention to
voluntarily step down from his posi-
tion during the inquiry.
In a time when human-initiated
global warming is supposedly Gospel
truth and passing legislation meant
to battle climate change is one of the
primary concerns for governments
around the world, this scandal adds a
touch of doubt to the issue's purport-
edly airtight science. Governments
and organizations, including the Uni-
versity of Michigan, should use this
doubt as an opportunity to ensure
that fear is not the motivation behind
their environmental programs.
I've been a man-made global
warming skeptic for years. I could
go on and on about how warming
isn't necessarily a bad thing, and how
sunspots - dark spots on the surface
of the sun - probably impact our cli-
mate more than humanity's green-
house gas emissions. But before you
boo me for ignoring "science," killing
polar bears and dooming my progeny
to some apocalyptic future, I want to
concentrate on a factor which all too
often motivates the fight against cli-
mate change. That, of course, is fear.
Every year, Al Gore, Ted Danson
or some other politician or celebrity
warns us that we only have 10 years
left to save the world from environ-
mental destruction. We're fed images
of glaciers melting and animals suf-
fering. We're told to drive hybrid cars
and use compact fluorescent light
bulbs or else rising temperatures will
raise sea levels and cause widespread
famine. We're made to fear this loom-
ing climate crisis, and that fear is
supposed to motivate us to conserve,
buy and vote in accordance with what
the so-called experts tell us.
I'm completely in support of
reducing pollution, conserving our
resources and protecting Earth's
creatures. It's our moral responsi-
bility, it makes economic sense, and
it's just nice to live in a clean place.
But using fear to push this agenda is
wrong. Fear causes us to make hasty,
expensive decisions, to make sacri-
fices we don't need to make, to ignore
legitimate counterarguments and
concerns and to rely on government
to placate our worries.
If you believe that we only have 10
years until the Earth fries, you should
be afraid. But if you're like me and
believe that gradual, continual mod-
ernization ofoutdated forms of trans-
portation and energy creation will
ensure a lasting harmony between
people and our environment, you
should allow this latest climate scan-
dal to remind you howsome are using
fear to push action.
organizations like the Univer-
sity have spent millions of dollars
on "green" projects. Administrators
believe the impact and the example
set by these initiatives are worth the
investment. I may not agree that the
results of these projects justify the
expenses, but I can respect the Uni-
versity as long as it makes educated
environmental policy decisions. If
fear of a climate crisis is the motiva-
tion behind the University's actions,
however, I cannot maintain that
respect.
Climate changetc
hysteria WOn't do
us any good.
Some might say it's best to havesa
healthy dose of fear in order to avoid a
scenario in which the climate drasti-
callychanges and it's too late forus to
make a difference. Even if such a dev-
astating change is bound to happen,
I have yet to encounter any evidence
that we could do something to stop it.
Others might argue the East Anglia
climate scandal is just a big misinter-
pretation. Still, we should realize just
how much passion, terror and rage
the climate change issue inspires. In
order to appropriately address our
environmental concerns, we need to
detach from our fear of destruction
and take a long, smart look at the big
picture. On climate change, we need
to chill.
- Chris Koslowski can be
reached at cskoslow@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emily Barton, William Butler, Ben Caleca, Michelle DeWitt,
Brian Flaherty, Emma Jeszke, Sutha K Kanagasingam, Erika Mayer,
Edward McPhee, Harsha Panduranga, Alex Schiff, Asa Smith, Brittany Smith,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Laura Veith
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
Arguments against minaret
ban oversimplified the issue
prejudiced. We should always be wary of latent
human rights violations, but they are often the
symptoms of an underlying pathology.
Danny Fries
MICHELLE DEWITT |
Who cares if Tiger is in trouble?
0
TO THE DAILY: LSA senior
To call Rick Durance's response to the
Swiss minaret ban a poor attempt at capturEnviron
ing the empathy of every bleeding heart on Eninr
campus would be an understatement (Minaret
ban in Switzerland is unjust toward Muslims, apprecialL
12/01/2009). It is not wrong to question this
decision, but his manner of questioning it is TO THE DAILY
misguided. The Daily dic
The minarets are used to give loud religious the members of
announcements of prayer times to a public that promotingclean
is not uniformly Muslim. It is quite a triumph a photo of them
that the Swiss decided to use the most demo- reassuring to se
cratic solution rather than simply ban these working individ
announcements outright. How can Durance environmental,
claim that this is a "travesty of democracy" hope to see mor
when it is democracy in its purest form? The With the inte
injustice was not the banning of the minarets, in Copenhagen
but rather the use of the minarets as a platform that we spread
for public announcement. our campus. A
While Durance claims that any number of is making sure t
religious and intellectual freedoms have been letter-writinga
infringed upon, he should keep in mind that that environme
the Swiss are only responding naturally to what doing will help I
they feel are infringements on their own free- rebuild our econ
doms. A better way to address the ban would be
to question why the Swiss voted for it, rather Karla Cordero
than dismiss the results of the vote as unjust and LSA sophomore
ental coverage is
3d, needed
F:
id an excellent job of covering
f Repower America who were
energy on the Diagby running
on the front page Nov. 20. It's
e the Daily covering the hard-
duals who devote their time to
advocacy at the University. I
e coverage in the future.
rnational climate negotiations
starting Dec. 7, it is important
awareness of these issues on
younger generation of voters
their voices are heard through
and other media. The work
ntal activists on campus are
keep Michigan beautiful and to
omy for future generations.
Those of you who risked your safety and sanity at shop-
ping malls in the early morning hours of Black Friday
may have missed the most significant news story of last
weekend. No, I'm not talking about nuclear weapons in
Iran or the effect of holiday travel on the environment. I
am talking about Tiger Woods's mysterious car accident.
Talk about a hard-hitting news story.
With all of the media coverage of the incident, he must
have been seriously injured, right? No, not really. He hurt
someone else, then? No, he just hit a fire hydrant and a
tree. Are the rumors that his wife found out he was having
an affair and attacked him with a golf club true? Though
anything is possible, these have yet to be confirmed.
So, why should anyone care about this? They shouldn't.
Woods's so-called "indiscretions" are irrelevant. The
media onslaught that came in the wake of this event
forced me to question society's priorities. The sad truth is
that Woods is not the first professional athlete to be cor-
rupted by an affair z- rumored or factual - and he cer-
tainly will not be the last. Though intriguing, the sexual
escapades of a professional golfer really aren't the public's
concern.
But when the American media gets their hands on
something this juicy, they just can't help themselves.
The societal obsession with celebrities seems to be in
overdrive lately. There is no such thing as a low profile. If
you are even remotely famous and you dare to sneeze in
public, someone is going to talk about it. I get the feeling
thatthe producers ofmorningtalkshowswakeupeveryday
praying that Octo-Mom is pregnant, that Balloon Boy actu-
ally flies away in a balloon and that Adam Lambert humps
another man's face in public. I'm pretty confident that Matt
Lauer would sacrifice his first-born child to go through the
spectacle of Michael Jackson's death all over again.
America loves a scandal, and Woods's situation is the
best kind: The fall from grace. What is interesting about
an attractive, young, wealthy, champion athlete, philan-
thropist and low-key guy? Nothing. But toss a banged-up
Escalade, an alleged affair with a stripper and an alleged-
ly angry wife into the mix, and now we have a story. There
is no reputation too clean to tarnish. With hard work and
perseverance anyone can be made to look like a total jerk.
By looking at the incident from this perspective, it's
absurd. But America still tunes in. Public attention has
been focused on Woods even more intently than when
he's playing golf. Woods released a statement apologizing,
taking responsibility and asking for privacy, but of course
the prying still hasn't stopped. Everyone wants to know
more and they need to know now. And the media is aware
that whoever reports this information first, wins.
But with all the craziness going on in the world, the
preoccupation with Woods is a shame. There are many
important and significant things happening on the planet
right now. Conflict in the Middle East, the global econo-
my and the environment - these things are relevant and
require our attention. Time magazine, in its November
issue, termed the past 10 years the "Decade from Hell."
It's true that life in America hasn't been fun lately. But
buying into the media-induced distractions of celebrity
gossip won't make life better. We need to focus on the
realities that affect our day-to-day lives if we are ever
going to fix them, no matter how unpleasant they may
be. Incidents like Woods's might provide us with distrac-
tions, but they are distractions we can't afford right now.
Students, especially, need to be wary of falling into
the bottomless pit that is the celebrity obsession culture.
Much of the task of making the world suck less will very
soon fall to us, and knowing how many seasons of VHl's
Tool Academy that Jamiee Grubbs - Woods's alleged
mistress - appeared in probably won't be relevant.
Michelle DeWitt is an LSA sophomore.
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