4A - Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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JACOB SMILOVITZ
EDITOR IN CHIEF
RACHEL VAN GILDER
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
MATT AARONSON
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.
Allaboard
Officials should finalize Detroit to Ann Arbor rail line
Any new infrastructure that will help the environment,
students or the economy is an opportunity that should
be taken advantage of. And a new construction plan
developed by the federal government encompasses all three of
these categories. The new public transportation - a railroad
that will run between Ann Arbor and Detroit with stops in the
neighboring areas - will benefit students and residents as they
move between Ann Arbor and Detroit, for business and pleasure,
without excessive cost. This new route of transportation is easy,
cheap and environmentally-friendly, and officials from both cit-
ies should do everything possible to ensure that the plans comes
to fruition.
This is a time when we are reminded
of the common humanity that we all share:'
- President Barack Obama speaking about the earthquake that struck Haiti lat
Tuesday afternoon, as reported yesterday by the New York Times.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU
WhaelaProe, you set up a camera
, How do yoa ulmp from jw and stars recordin
From what i gather. ts j sending mass emails to being semester welcome ideos
u someone wo semds out the President of a major It's pretty simple, really.
mass emails aot swine flu unersiy
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In defense ofEnglish
o words like "blogosphere" umich.edu) and search "careers." about the English major were. Some,
and "truthiness" offend you? Loads of alumni careers will come however, will continue to insist on
When someone says to you, up - why, English majors secured the uselessness of the degree. These
"I'm gonna hit jobs with such fascinating titles as people are known as parents. And a
you up fo' sho'," do "Volunteer Organic Farmer," "Yoga handful of students will remain firip
you feel the need Instructor" and "Elementary School in their belief that declaring in Eng-
to hit THEM up Teacher." And how do you think they lish is a waste of time. I feel sorriy
(with your fist)? got them? That's right: the ability to for these people - who occasionally
In today's column quote Shakespeare. e-mail me - and their utter inability
we will explore Another argument in the non- to write well.
the intense debate English major's repertoire is: "Look,
over the future of I, and by I'I mean 'my parents,' don't
the English lan- want to spend $80,000 to graduate illustrious
guage - a topic WILL without any job prospects." The job
that our genera- GRUNDLER This seemingly insightful com-
tion finds, needless ment might make the layman nod prospects of an
to say, extremely his head in agreement, but the Eng-
boring. So let's not lish major knows, through extensive English degree.
explore it. Instead, I will attempt to reading, that the layman is usually
defend what many University stu- wrong in most stories, and ends up
dents love to hate: the English major. dying. What most people who employ
I will soon declare myself among the above argument fail to realize Consider this message I received
the ranks of the English majors, and is the abysmal state of the economy from "Alyssa": "Hey, why are you an
I'm surprised that many students scoff these days. Just what do you think English major? Your crazy!"
at the concentration. There are a lot goes through the head of an employer Did you catch her mistake? Yes, it's
of misconceptions that non-English when he or she sees a recent gradu- in the second sentence: "Your." One of
majors have about the English major, ate of the Michigan medical or law the hallmarks of good writing is suc-
such as confusing the word "miscon- school, or someone with a degree in cinctness. Brevity, especially on .the
ception" with "abortion." economics? "Oh, I'm going to hire Internet, is crucial. If Alyssa knew
One of the greatestcmisconceptions Mr. Fancy College Kid who's going to anything about prose, which of course
is: "I can't believe there aren't any pre- want a million bucks in stock options she doesn't, she would have known to
requisites to the English major!" alone? I don't think so!" But what shorten "Your" to "Ur." If you have
There are currently, in fact, three happens when that same employer any sort of eye for composition, you
prerequisites: English 297 (Intro- needs a janitor, or someone to feed see these mistakes all the time.
duction to Poetry), English 298 the office goldfish? That's when the Take a look at this e-mail I received
(Introduction to Literary Studies) English major will get hired, because from "Bryan": "Yo, why do you write
and English 299 (Coping With Your the employer knows that the Eng- for the Daily? There salary for coluni-
Future: Poverty and Loneliness). lish major knows that money is not nists is terrible!"
Another popular declaration, important in life. What's important Now, in this example one can see
especially among students of a scien- in life is experience - the experience - oh, nothing appears wrong. My
tific persuasion, is: "What can you DO that comes from reading and writing, mistake, Bryan. I'm out of examples,
with an English major?" thinking and traveling, philosophiz- but I hope you've developed a little
The same thing one can do with a ing and not doing too much study- more respect for the English major,
Biology major, or a Sociology major, ing. Hopefully this experience will and literature in general. Excuse me,
or a Chemistry major, or whatever: someday translate into a best-selling I'm going to fo' sho' go read some
try to get them drunk and then - no, novel or, better yet, a screenplay, and Hemingway.
sorry. What I meant to say was, you - ha-ha - who's rolling in it now?
can do a lot. Just go to the English At this point, most people should - Will Grundler can be
Department's website (weluv2read. realize how wrong their assumptions reached at wgru@umih.edu.
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In December, the federal budget allocat-
ed $3.5 million dollars for the construction
of a rail system that will be built between
Ann Arbor and Detroit. The rail line plans
would stop along the way in Dearborn -
the site of a University satellite campus -
Ypsilanti and Detroit Metro Airport. The
cost of a round-trip ticket is projected at
about $6 or $7. Though some progress is
expected to be made by October, the bud-
get for the train has not yet been finalized.
The train is good news for the economies
of Ann Arbor and Detroit. With people able
to move easily and cheaply between the two
cities, there is the potential for an increase
of new consumers in both markets. Stu-
dents and area residents would be able to
go to Detroit more frequently, increasing
patronage to city businesses and entertain-
ment like sporting events and concerts. In
turn, residents from the Detroit area would
be able to travel to Ann Arbor for the exten-
sive art and dining scenes.
And the new rail line should decrease
the amount of highway commuter traf-
fic between the cities. According to Ann
Arbor City Councilman Carsten Hohnke
(D-Ward 5), roughly 60 to 70 thousand
commuters travel to Ann Arbor by car
every year. The planned rail system would
drastically cut that number. And fewer
cars on the road would mean lower carbon
emissions. The proposed railway would
offer a cheaper, more environmentally-
friendly option for commuters who work
in both cities.
The train will also help University stu-
dents making the trip to Detroit. Detroit
offers many learning experiences for stu-
dents. The many University-run outreach
courses and student volunteer programs
offered each semester would flourish under
this expansion, which would make travel
between the cities cheaper and hassle-free.
And, with greater access to new forms of
transportation, additional outreach classes
with greater student involvement could be
added and explored in each department.
And the University's large out-of-state
student population would have another
affordable transportation option to reach
Detroit Metro Airport. Out-of-state stu-
dents can't always be accommodated by
the Michigan StudentcAssembly-sponsored
AirBus, which only runs a limited number
of days surrounding University breaks. The
train would offer students another option
for about the same price. And though the
stops for Ann Arbor haven't yet been deter-
mined, the University and MSA should
work with city officials to ensure students
have easy access to the train.
The construction of a rail line between
Ann Arbor and Detroit should help encour-
age travel between the cities in an envi-
ronmentally-friendly way. The train would
also encourage economic ventures in both
cities, and Ann Arbor and Detroit officials
should make sure it happens for the ben-
efit of both cities.
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, William Butler, Nicholas Clift, Michelle DeWitt, Brian Flaherty,
Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Alex Schiff,
Asa Smith, Brittany Smith, Radhika Upadhyaya, Laura Veith
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
WANT TO BE AN OPINION CARTOONIST?
E-MAIL RACHEL VAN GILDER AT RACHELVG@UMICH.EDU
ERIKA MAYER
The (de)faults of Wolverine Access
"Gay and Greek" raises
campus LGBT awareness,
but misses important point
nity pledge should feel obligated that they must
reveal their orientation to fellow brothers as a
contingent for initiation. However, if the Greek
system continues to raise awareness of these
issues, it will only help to raise the comfort level
for an individual to come out when they are pre-
pared to do so.
TO THE DAILY:
As a former member of the Greek commu- Jeremy Berkowitz
nity during my four years at Michigan, I was Alum
very pleased to read Nicole Aber's article in The
Statement (Gay and Greek, 01/13/2010). While Allowing smokina
I look back at my college years and realize thatatndor
I began to recognize then that I was gay, I didp
not come out until three years after I gradu- poses an unnecessary risk
ated. I am happy to see that the Interfraternity
Council and Pan-Hellenic Council have worked TO THE DAILY:
to make the system more aware of LGBT issues Robert Soave writes that "an important
and friendlier to the gay and lesbian community. principle is at stake" in the recent smoking
I would like to raise one point that I think ban in his recent column (Michigan's morality
the author failed to address. Individuals often police, 01/05/2010). He's right.
choose to stay in the closet not because they are Some jobs - firefighting, for example - are
afraid of telling other people, but because they unavoidably dangerous. People who take those
are still confused about who they are and are jobs have to face the risks. But ifa risk can be
simply not ready. Some individuals realize their eliminated, the employer is legally obligated to
orientation at a certain point in their lives and do so. An employer can't invoke "private prop-
quickly become comfortable with who they are. erty" or "freedom of choice" when deciding
However, for others (including myself), coming whether to expose his employees to unneces-
out is not a light-switch moment. It can entail a sary risks - any more than the owner of a pri-
thought and reflection process, and even some vate restaurant can bar health inspectors from
situational avoidance that might stretch over a his private kitchen.
period of months or even years. The owner is not the only stakeholder in an
I understand the concerns of individuals economic entity. Employees, customers and, for
who feel they may act disloyal to their frater- some purposes, even the general public, have
nity brothers by hiding their sexual orientation. legally protected rights which can impinge on
Membership in a fraternity involves a spe- the owner's freedom. Get used to it.
cial bond among its brothers. Yet, coming-out
involves very personal and complicated issues Eric Ebel
for an individual to grapple with. No frater- Alum
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 fothedaily@umich.edu.
Over winter break, I realized that the University
doesn't always have valid justifications for its actions.
Don't get me wrong, I love this school. But I don't under-
stand how it can sometimes be so illogical. And as I sat at
my computer, it was becoming apparent to me that this
was one of those times, and that the Wolverine Access
defaults are all wrong.
All I was trying to do was check my grades. I'm an hon-
ors student, and I might be just the slightest bit obsessed.
But there are other people out there like me - I know it.
Yes, I click the "View My Grades" button about 20 times a
day, but you know you do, too.
After frantically clicking the button and awaiting
posted grades with baited breath, I noticed that when
the page loads, I had no grades. Then I realized that Wol-
verine Access was considerately displaying my grades for
Winter 2010, even though I had obviously yet to set foot
in a single Winter 2010 class. But there Wolverine Access
was, reminding me that I had no grades for next semester.
As amusing as it may be, it's actually really freak-
ing annoying. Every time I checked my grades, I had to
change the semester. There was an unnecessary scroll-
down menu and button click standing between my grades
and me. And I did not appreciate it. Honestly, who thought
it was a good idea to have the default be such a pain in the
you-know-what? Is there some IT guy sitting in a roomby
himself laughing at all the students? Probably not, I have
to remind myself The Wolverine Access man is not out
to get me.
But I thought to myself, "Calm down. If you start
freaking out before you even find your grades your par-
ents might take back all of your Christmas presents." But
maybe there is a reason for these incipient, frustrating
settings. Logically, all of the defaults on a website should
be the same.
Hypothetically, the textbooklist feature should display
textbooks for my Winter 2010 schedule. After all, they're
both under the Enrollment tab. And a textbook list for
the coming semester would actually be useful since I like
to order my books in advance. Alas, Wolverine Access
showed the book list for the semester that just finished.
Shockingly, I wasn't going to order books for classes I've
already taken. IfI didn't buy them while I was taking the
class, I'm sure as hell not going to read them after it is
over.
Luckily, I'm not quite as distraught checking my text-
book list as when I'm checking my grades. But by this
point my stubborn nature had kicked in, and it's really
just about the principle of the matter. Who sets these
defaults? Whoever it is should seriously reconsider their
career choice. Default settings are supposed to make your
life easier. And at the moment, they are set to the option
you would never choose. No one needs to view last semes-
ter's textbook list and next semester's grades.
In the long run, these issues aren't that important.
I will get a good education and I love being at the Uni-
versity. But they certainly don't advertise the Universi-
ty's lack of logic in the college brochures. On tours they
don't point out that checking your grades is going to be
more irritating than taking the classes themselves. Or
that the brightest minds at the University can't devise an
online textbook list that makes sense. And that's probably
because with all the things that the University hasto han- 4
dle, these little things fall through the cracks. But quite
frankly I'm tired of clicking the stupid Change Semester
button.
Erika Mayer is a senior editorial page editor.
The Daily is looking for a diverse group of strong, informed, passionate writers tojoin
the Editorial Board. Editorial Board members are responsible for formulating
and writing the editorials that appear on the left side of the opinion page.
E-MAIL RACHEL VAN GILDER AT RACHELVG@UMICH.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION.
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