4A - Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
4A - Wednesday, January 26, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandailycom
SIMON BORST
E-MAIL SIMON AT SIMKA@UMICH.EDU
STEPHANIE STEINBERG
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MICHELLE DEWITT
and EMILY ORLEY
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
KYLE SWANSON
MANAGING EDITOR
Find your inner entrepreneur
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.
W M (
Banish the ban
'U' needs a better solution for smoking concerns
The plans for the University's campus-wide smoking ban are
officially coming to fruition. The Smoke-free University Ini-
tiative Report - released Monday - details plans to carry-out
and enforce the ban. While University officials seem optimistic about
the future of the ban,it's actually an expensive and overbearing policy.
There are avariety of smoking rules in place on campus that are unen-
forced. And with the plans mentioned in the report, it seems that the
new rules will likely make little difference in creating a smoke-free
environment on campus. The University should rethink how it will
implement the smoking ban and make the rules less arbitrary.
University President Mary Sue Coleman
first announced plans for a smoking ban ini-
tiative in April 2009. The ban would extend
to all three University campuses. After a year
andahalfofplanning, theUniversityreleased
its official plans on Monday that explained
how it would implement the ban, according
to a Jan. 24 Daily article. The report included
14 points about where smokers could smoke
on University grounds. Smoking is prohibited
in all University buildings and specific Uni-
versity sidewalks. Smoking is also prohibited
in University parking structures, unless the
smoker lights a cigarette inside his or her car.
The ban is set to take effect on July 1, 2011.
The rules outlined in the report are over-
bearing. To expect students - who aren't
full-time Ann A/bor residents - to distin-
guish sidewalks that run adjacent to pub-
lic roads and sidewalks that run adjacent to
private roadsjis unrealistic. And if a person
is foup spoking on the non-smoking side-
walkd. " her they're ware or unaware
of theiritrxgression - tre is virtually no
punishment. No tickets will be issued, and
no arrests will be made. The only realistic
outcome is that the smoker's friend or some-
one in the vicinity will mention it. This is not
implementation worth a $200,000 plus ini-
tiative.
Not only is the initiative largelyunenforce-
able, it fails to recognize that there are smok-
ing regulations in place that are unenforced.
The University already has strict guidelines
about smoking near campus buildings, but
rarely, if ever, is the regulation made obliga-
tory. The University should have examined
why those rules weren't functioning properly
before they decided to implement a far more
pervasive set of restrictions.
Despite the University's good intentions to
make the campus a healthier environment,
it has no right to tell smokers they cannot
smoke. Smoking is legal in the state of Michi-
gan as long as a person isn't smoking inside
a public place. If those guidelines are effec-
tively implemented throughout the state, the
University shouldn't create its own separate
rules. And though second-hand smoke is
dangerous, forcing people to quit smoking
because they have nowhere to legally smoke
on campus is unfair.
While the University is its own commu-
nity, its purpose is to prepare young adults to
enter into the real world where, like it or not,
people smoke.
50 million. That's how much
Google paid Nathan Stoll of
Stanford University and his
team to acquire
their search-
engine company,
Aardvark. My
business team
eagerly takes
notes as we hear
his story. The
next day, anoth-
er team talks to ERIK
a senior execu- TORENBERG
tive at Comcast,
inquiring about
the market for interactive TVs.
We're in ENGR 409, a two-week,
one credit course offered through
the University's Center for Entre-
preneurship.
The CFE, formed in 2008, offers
a growing number of courses and
resources available to all students
interested in business and entre-
preneurship. ENGR 407 hosts a
weekly lecture series that invites
accomplished entrepreneurs to
speak. Most students don't know
about these opportunities. Fewer
know that the Engineering label
is misleading - anyone can take
advantage of the classes offered by
the CFE.
Let me stop you before you steal
your friend's great idea and imag-
ine mass amounts of money flow-
ing into your bank account. Though
"The Social Network" might lead
you to believe otherwise, a great
idea plus start up money doesn't
necessarily equal profit. My other
CFE class, ENGR 520, debunks this
myth, teaching us how to identify
whether our ladder (our idea) is
leaning against the right tree (mar-
ket validation).
Some more debunking: While it
might be inspiring to hear how suc-
cessful entrepreneurs turned their
passion into alucrative reality, most
entrepreneurs don't have such suc-
cess. But you just don't hear those
types of lectures. How often do you
hear an adult say that following his
passions screwed him over in the
long run?
Don't let this deter you. Not
everyone can be a wealthy entre-
preneur, but everyone can be a bit
entrepreneurial. At the recent LSA
career fair, a recruiter told me he
was seeking students who display
an entrepreneurial spirit. He meant
he wanted a student who generates
productive ideas, effectively leads
groups and knows how to make
things happen.
Notice how such skills are differ-
ent from those exemplified by good
students. Being a student trains you
to accomplish predefined tasks and
to game a certain system. Entrepre-
neurship requires gaming a differ-
ent system - the market, in which
the grading rubric is blurry. You
can't become innovative by study-
ing its definition from a PowerPoint
slide. You develop such skills by
pursuing self-designed projects
and learning from your mistakes.
CFE creates such a space, showing
that entrepreneurship isn't only
about hi-tech start-ups. It's also
about assessing what value you can
provide and how you can provide it,
regardless of your major or skill set.
Ben Casnocha, entrepreneur
and author of "My Start-Up Life",
believes that entrepreneurship is a
lifestyle. In his book, he says that
he believes in "thinking different,
challenging the status 4uo, striving
for impact, and generally maintain-
ing a commitment to carve your
own life path and not outsource
that vital task to anyone else like a
parent or professor." These attri-
butes describe Henry David Tho-
reau, Gandhi and Bill Gates. Their
goals might have been different,
but they all demonstrated entrepre-
neurial abilities in achieving them.
Let's define the student entre-
preneur. He isn't only interested in
building businesses. He's also the
political science major who starts
a political organization, using it
as a platform to connect thinkers
from other disciplines. She's the art
major who sets up her own exhibit,
inviting artists from outside the
area with the intent to enliven Ann
Arbor's art community.
The time for
students to take
risks is now.
He plays the student card: Stu-
dents would be amazed at what
they can achieve by cold calling
people in positions of power and
saying "I'm working on this project.
Could you offer any help? I'm a stu-
dent from the University of Michi-
gan."
Most of all, the student entrepre-
neur acknowledges that the time
for taking risks is now, that the cost
of failure - for flip-flopping ideolo-
gies, experimenting and pursuing
all sorts of projects - as a student
will never be lower.
In ENGR 409, we learned to con-
clude our "elevator pitches" to cus-
tomers with a call to action. Here's
mine: The University presents
unparalleled resources to think like
an entrepreneur, but it's too easy
to miss these opportunities. If this
column has piqued your curiosity,
let's talk about how we can be a bit
more entrepreneurial in our Uni-
versity lives.
-Erik Torenberg can be
reached at erikto@umich.edu.
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Aida Ali, Will Butler, Eaghan Davis, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer,
Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga,
Teddy Papes, Roger Sauerhaft, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner
DANIEL LUKS I
In defense of Israel
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No more text-aholics
As 2011 begins, no conclusive peace settle-
ment in the Middle East has been reached.
In 2010, the world witnessed a historic
10-month settlement freeze put in place by
the Netanyahu administration. Over the past
year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has taken extraordinary steps to show his
commitment to the peace process and his
desire to see peace in his lifetime.
The Middle East peace talks - which
took place in September of this past year -
failed because of the Palestinian leadership's
demand that all of their preconditions be met
and their refusal to recognize the Jewish
state. Israel was more than willing to negoti-
ate with the Palestinian leadership in hopes
of achieving a new lasting peace agreement.
Israel didn't make demands in advance that
would cause the peace talks to fail because
the Israeli leadership is willing to support an
agreement that would allow Israeli citizens
to live in peace.
Like Yonah Lieberman (March for an
inclusive Israel, 12/10/2010), I too am a Jew.
I was raised to believe in justice and equality
for all and that it's just as important to speak
of these principles as it is to put them into
action.
Similar to any state, Israel isn't perfect.
In the face of extraordinary circumstances
Israel does the best it can to provide justice
and protection for all. Unlike the Palestinian
territories, Israel provides religious, politi-
cal, gender and sexual freedom for everyone.
There's a reason that the gay pride march in
Israel takes place in Tel Aviv and not in the
Palestinian territories. 6
The recent statement by a small grotp of
radical rabbis informing Israeli Jews not to
sell property to non-Jews was met by fierce
criticism from the prime minister. Netanya-
hu was in total opposition to this statement,
while just this past September, Khaled Abu
Toameh from the Jerusalem Post reported
that the prime minister "reaffirmed the
death penalty for any Palestinian found
guilty of selling land to Israelis."
There's a reason that people of any religion
or beliefcan purchase land and own property
in Israel - whereas in many Arab countries,
Jews would be barred from any property
ownership.
A few thousand miles to the south of
Israel, a terrible situation has been going
on in Sudan for many years. In an effort to
flee the violence, many Sudanese attempted
to seek refugee in Egypt. While they were
permitted into the country, these refugees
lacked any form of rights and faced persecu-
tion from the Egyptian government. Only a
few weeks ago in December, The New York
Times reported 23 unarmed Sudanese men,
women and children refugees were shot and
killed by Egyptian police for refusingto leave
a public park. Where did these refugees then
attempt to flee? The answer for many of them
was Israel.
I'm proud of Israel for what it stands for
and for her many accomplishments. Israel
strives to attain a fair and equitable peace
agreement even in the face of such hatred
and violence. Israel has tried time and again
to make peace with the Palestinian people,
but each time is met with resistance from the
Palestinian leadership.
While Lieberman is quick to blame Israel
for any human rights violations, he neglects
to acknowledge the citizens of southern
Israel, whose human rights are violated on
a daily basis. These Israeli citizens continue
to live under the fear of constant rocket and
mortar fire.
As the only democracy in the Middle East,
it's easy to criticize Israel. Israel has a gov-
ernment that is fully accountable to its citi-
zens and is willing to admit when it makes
mistakes. Unfortunately, articles like Lieber-
man's attempt to paint a false picture of a
homeland that has provided justice and ref-
uge to so many.
Daniel Luks is a senior in the Ford School of
Public Policy and a member of the Committee for
Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
When I got my first cell
phone at age 16, I kept
receiving text messages
intended for the
person who had
the phone num-
ber before me:
"Hey, girl, want
2 go 2 the mall
@ 6?" No, I don't
want to go to the
mall at six, and RACHEL
I'd appreciate it VAN GILDER
if you stopped
asking.
After about a week and a half of
getting messages for the prior owner
of the number, I got so annoyed with
them that I simply had the phone
company turn off my phone's text
messaging capabilities. Almost six
years later, I still don't have texting.
And while this occasionally causes
some miscommunication when
people say, "Oh, I texted you that
I would be late," I'm still glad that
I don't have texting. It seems like
more trouble than it's worth.
It's not the idea of texting that
bugs me. A quick, easy way to pass
along a short message can be very
useful. That's why I love e-mail so
much. The problem is that people
abuse text messaging. It's like they
can't pull their fingers from the key-
pad, even when they're behind the
wheel or interacting with someone
in real life.
Texting while driving is now ille-
gal in Michigan - making it one of
30 states with a similar ban. Shortly
before the law was signed into effect,
the Ann Arbor City Council consid-
ered making texting while driving
illegal here in the city. The Federal
Transportation Department is now
encouraging automotive makers to
fund public service announcements
about the dangers of driving dis-
tracted, accordingto aJan. 21 article
from Reuters.
Texting while driving is extreme-
ly dangerous. In fact, doing almost
anything while driving is a bad idea.
Everybody knows they shouldn't
drive drunk. But drivers also
shouldn't eat or talk on the phone
while they drive. Some people go as
far as applying makeup while driv-
ing. Tasks like these - and texting
- demand attention to fine motor
control and decrease attention to the
road. This increases the likelihood
of an accident.
Everyone has heard how dan-
gerous it is to drive distracted, and
yet people still seem to do it. I'll be
the first to admit that I've made a
call while driving or scarfed down
some fries from McDonald's behind
the wheel even though I know I
shouldn't. But texting is a whole new
level of dangerous. No matter how
much texting practice you have, you
still have to devote too much atten-
tion to the phone and not enough to
the road. Just put the phone away.
People should get their texting
under control - and not just while
they're driving. Texting shouldn't
be used to hold a long, complicated
discussion - especially when the
person texting should be paying
attention to their real-life surround-
ings.
Most often when I say that I don't
have texting, people tell me it'sgreat.
They say that it's so easyto just shoot
someone an e-mail when you're in a
place that you can't talk, like class.
But students shouldn't text dur-
ing class, as I have to tell the high
school students at the school where
I'm currently student teaching. No
matter how sneaky you think you
are as you text beneath the desk, it's
still noticeable and pretty rude to
the instructor and your classmates.
It shows that you're not invested
in the class. If you don't want to
listen to the teacher, just don't go
to class. And since texting can be
used to cheat on tests and quizzes,
it's even more concerning that stu-
dents have no problem whipping
out their phone in the middle of a
lecture hall.
People just can't
pull their fingers
from the keypad.
The worst thing is when people
text during dinner. Iunderstand that
everyone is busy, but when I'm shar-
ing a meal with someone, I expect
them to keep their attention on me
and our other companions. Hope-
fully, they wouldn't answer a phone
call during dinner in the midst of a
conversation. Why would they hold
a full conversation with another per-
son via text messaging when they're
supposed to be connecting with the
person across the table? If you need
to text, please leave the table and go
into another room.
I love the idea of being connected
all the time - of always being able to
contact anyone. But there has to be
a limit. There has to be a time when
we put the phone away and fosus on
what's going on in front of us. Some-
times that's simply the safe thing to
do (like during driving) and some-
times it's the polite thing to do.
So don't text me, OK? I won't get
it anyway.
- Rachel Van Gilder was the Daily's
2010 editorial page editor. She can
be reached at rachelvg@umich.edu.
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