The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 - Tuesday, February 8, 2011 4- Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com ELAINE MORTON E-MAIL ELAINE AT EMORT@UMICH.EDU eA'irlN-l /bor$E'f yAou K(NOW lTHE t)EFINrThCON of A NUISfAA/C5?' ThW1N~ o '. T"thS MiDE- MJ s L 'e 1T'll CLFtSS I TfRESP/+SSfNC ON My W EKGN, AtNt CAtUSINEI ME PAtIN A N SUFFE IC1A VOKA Y- Nor ELPIN f 0 STEPHANIE STEINBERG EDITOR IN CHIEF MICHELLE DEWITT and EMILY ORLEY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS KYLE SWANSON 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. Doubling up on diversity State needs minority grads with science degrees University President Mary Sue Coleman has kept the Uni- versity's focus on a buzzword here on campus - diversity. Recently, Coleman was in Lansing to celebrate the growth of the Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation initiative, which aims to increase the number of minority students who graduate with bachelor's degrees in math, science, technology and engineering. Increasing minority representation in universities and emphasizing math and science education are important to the future of the state. University leaders should continue to develop and enlarge the MI-LSAMP while making tangible efforts toward achieving its objectives. Officials from the University of Michigan, engineering are important sectors to Michi- Michigan State, Wayne State and Western gan's - not to mention the United States' - Michigan founded the MI-LSAMP in 2005. progress. President Barack Obama made these The program's goal was to double the num- subjects a priority in his State of the Union ber of bachelor's degrees earned by minority address, calling for "100,000 new teachers" students in math and science-related fields. in these fields and emphasizing that they are According to a Feb. 3 Daily article, this com- a priority for America to be a global competi- mitment was reiterated, and the program tor. In Michigan, graduates in science and expanded to include nine Michigan communi- technology could help provide the state with ty colleges, including Washtenaw Community the boost that it needs to make the transition College. The current yearly rate of increase of from a manufacturing-based economy to a minority students earning bachelor's degrees green technology hub that will fuel the future. among the four founding universities is 28 Producingstudents who are employable in the percent, but this number -'though better than 21st century is one of the University's main many other schools over the same time frame responsibilities and a promise it's upholding - will have to improve to meet MI-LSAMP's through programs like MI-LSAMP. aims, according to Coleman. The University is doing its part by giving It's encouraging that Coleman and leaders studentsthe toolsto do well through programs of other universities are setting high standards like MI-LSAMP. Students should reciprocate for stu Universgityisupholdi'gits aking use of the resources proyided and pledg 'versity, by fostering arich-inteHellepursuing employment in the state of-Michi. tual enient for students- and-providing-g an. Whether through greater diversity in exposure Ito colleagues of starkly contrasting the workforce or economic improvement, backgrounds and experiences. But recognizing increased underrepresented minority gradu- the presence of underrepresented minorities ation rates in the fields of math and science is and facilitating their academic success goes beneficial for all Americans. beyond the classroom and into the workplace MI-LSAMP's sponsors should be applauded by preparing students to succeed and contrib- for their efforts - the goal of doubling minor- ute to an ailing Michigan economy. The MI- ity graduation rates in math, science, technol- LSAMP demonstrates that the University's ogy and engineering by 2015 seems attainable dedication to diversity doesn't end when stu- because of them. These efforts should be sus- dentsenroll,but continues throughgraduation. tained as the University continues its efforts Additionally, math, science, technology and to promote diversity on and off campus. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Will Butler, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Melanie Kruvelis, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Teddy Papes, Asa Smith, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner f S f 1 Afresh initiative Healthy food is expensive. Penny for penny, a bag of baby carrots is going to cost you about the same as a combo meal from Taco Bell. When healthy, unpro- cessed food is up against fast food one-on-one - say, an apple ver- sus a small order of fries from M RY McDonald's - DEMERY there's more in question than just the immediate deliciousness of the fries. The apple probably costs as much, if not more. Realistically, this makes the choice of healthy food over fast food improbable and infre- quent for many consumers. This speaks to a major discrepan- cy in America. By now it's no secret that the economy works against most Americans. Not everyone can afford to choose broccoli over a burger. In our country today, the high cost of produce is enough to turn millions away from the farm- er's market, sending people back to the fast food drive-thru. In terms of your health, this may not make a lot of sense, but choosing fast food certainly seems more cost efficient. Lowering the often inhibiting cost of produce is one of the first steps on the road toward better shealth-for- all. -Access- to food - rather than processed ingredients - shouldn't be a luxury. All citizens should be able to afford healthy food, regardless of their socioeco- nomic status. Unfortunately,there's not a whole lot consumers can do to change this. Making produce more affordable to the masses is some- thing that big companies must do. In an unexpected move, Wal- Mart has made making healthy foods affordable its priority. In January, the company announced a plan to lower the price of produce and to cut fat, sugar and salt lev- els in its store brand called Great value. In addition, Wal-Mart said it would encourage other manufac- turers, like Kraft, to do the same. It's not an empty public relations promise since the company has deadlines. Although far away, Wal- Mart wants everything in place by 2015. Admirable and progressive, this is a move that isn't character- istically Wal-Mart - a company better known for its poor treatment of employees and displacement of locally-owned stores. When I first read about Wal- Mart's initiative, I was almost instantly dismissive. I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Like many Americans, I don't care for the way Wal-Mart treats its employees. The company's signature swoop into small towns, displacing locally-owned stores, is unsettling enough to keep me away from Wal-Mart, however low its prices may be. But Wal-Mart's new initiative is a start. It's hard to deny the impor- tance of good-health-for all Wal- Mart pridesitself on its low prices and caters to millions of Americans, offering the opportunity - perhaps more than any other superstore - to help change our eating habits. And that's just what Wal-Mart is addressingwiththis newplan. Even First Lady Michelle Obama agrees. She was involved in planning the project and has, for the first time, publicly supported a single compa- ny. Such an endorsement is mean- ingful, especially since Obama is so invested in nutrition and fighting the obesity epidemic. Healthy food needs to be affordable for all. Nationwide, - Wal-Mart sells more groceries than any other store. Not surprisingly, it's also one of the biggest purchasers of food in this country. These two facts alone grant Wal-Mart a significant amount of power. Wal-Mart has the ability to - and does - shape the nation's eating habits. With this power comes responsibility. Despite its past failures, Wal-Mart is tackling the obesity epidemic in a constructive way. This alone makes me - an avid anti-Wal-Mart girl - want to reconsider my opinion. Any company that addresses the obesity epidemic on such alarge and well- considered scale deserves notice. -Mary Demery can be reached at mdemery@umich.edu. *I 0 In defense. of guns SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Daily disregarded the rights of embryos TO THE DAILY: A human being is a person regardless of how small he or she is or how he or she is conceived. We are deeply concerned by the blatant disregard for the rights of the unborn in the recent Michigan Daily editorial about abortion (Insuring the choice, 02/03/2011). Embryology asserts that human life begins at conception. Furthermore, the Univer- sity prides itself in its campaign to "Expect Respect" from all in spite of one's physical appearance, level of development, environ- ment or degree of dependency. Just as we consider a newborn infant as precious as any adult, sotoo must we also recognize that those in the womb deserve the same funda- mental human rights that we possess. According to a 2009 CNN poll, more than 60 percent of Americans don't support the funding of abortion through taxes. The Daily argues that a woman should have the right to choose what she does with her body. Shouldn't the majority of Americans who find taxpayer-funded abortions repugnant have the right to choose not to be involved? Claire Levis is an LSA sophomore, Benjamin Meyers is an LSA junior, Carmen Allen is an LSA sophomore and Michael Haines is a Rackham graduate student. This was written on behalf of Students for Life. The 'U'failed to help the disabled after the storm TO THE DAILY: In regard to the article on snow travel for disabled students (Snowstorms make campus travel difficult for disabled, 2/4/2011), I'm a freshman with a disability, and I have tried various avenues to expedite the cleaning of street corners and crosswalks. The sidewalks were well cleaned, but when I got to the crosswalks I couldn't cross. So, I began contacting people. First, I con- tacted my hall director, and she alerted the snow plow company, and they told me they would get right on it. Then by late Thursday morning nothing had been done, so I con- tacted disability services and spoke with the director, Dan Measel, and he gave me the snow plow number to call, but he didn't dial them himself. I asked myself why he was ask- ing me to dial when he is the director of dis- ability services. I preceded to call the snow plow company myself, and they told me they would get on it as soon as possible. On Friday, many street corners and cross- walks were still a barrier of hardened snow or a pool of slush that was impossible to get through. I even got stuck twice for a few min- utes each time, but luckily a couple of nice pedestrians helped me. It isn't easy when my wheelchair alone weighs approximately 500 pounds. This poses a dangerous situation, should my chair tip over, and with low tem- peratures I could have been frostbitten. After all, if classes are going to be in session during a blizzard when half the state is shut down, at least have the crosswalks clean. Rohit Kapur LSA freshman y father lives a pretty safe life. He's an engi- neer from a small town with four children and a wife. He rarely encoun- ters serious dan- ger, but he has a permit to carry a concealed weap- on. My older , sister also has a concealed RACHEL weapon permit. VAN GILDER After she turned 21, she took the class to obtain a CPL - a concealed pistol license - with my father and my brother. Because they took the time to learn to use a weapon prop- erly and followed the law, there's no reason why they shouldn't be trust- ed to carry it. In Michigan, it's legal to carry a weapon openly. Concealed weap- ons are regulated by state law. Currently, individuals with CPLs aren't permitted in areas such as school grounds, college classrooms and dorms, sports arenas and hos- pitals. Legislation has recently been introduced in the Michigan Sen- ate to loosen restrictions on where concealed weapons can be carried. The proposal has some flaws, but it's based on a solid concept. Adding firearms to any situation isn't auto- matically going to increase safety, but trusting qualified individuals with those firearms might. In a Jan. 31 editorial, the Michigan Daily argued that the proposed legislation should be thrown out (Rethink gun legislation, 01/31/2010). The editorial argued that adding more firearms to a dangerous situation makes things worse, not better. The Daily said in its editorial that the shooting in Tucson, Ariz. in early January was causing peo- ple to think rashly. But as horrible as that event was, it wasn't the true impetus for the legislation. As the Daily also noted, the sponsor of the proposal, Sen. Mike Green (R- Mayville), sponsored similar leg- islation in 2000. People have been debating the range of the Second Amendment for decades. There are legitimate debates about where individuals' rights end and the con- cern for public safety takes over. It's clear that there are some places that firearms shouldn't be allowed. The Daily was right when it pointed out that schools are one such place. Allowing weapons to be in close proximity to so many children isn't a wise decision. And, of course, we shouldn't hand out firearms willy-nilly to any Tom, Dick or Harry on the street. Some gun restrictions can be reasonable - like asking those seeking a CPL to provide proof of residency and not be a convicted felon or mentally unstable. These restrictions don't step on Second Amendment rights. They simply ask people to approach these rights responsibly. But there are good reasons to relax concealed carry restrictions, some of which are unreasonable - like the ban on firearms in stadiums and arenas. In these settings, there are people we trust with weapons - police officers, for example. We trust these individuals because they've been trained to protect the public and use a weapon conscien- tiously." People with CPLs also undergo some education - they must com- plete a course in gun safety to apply for a license. Typically, the people who choose to complete the course are people who know how to use a weapon. My father and sister, for example, have military training. And my father has been using firearms for a few decades. Admittedly, this doesn't compare to the training cops get, but it shows that these individuals are thinking critically about the use of a weapon and their obligations as a citizen - that they're approaching their rights with a sense of respon- sibility. I once asked my father why he got a CPL. After all, the most dan- gerous situation he faces is rush hour traffic. He explained to me that he made the decision because it's better to have some people who know how to use a weapon in a potentially dangerous situation than simply allow one dangerous individual to hurt as many people as he or she can. Violence shouldn't be considered taboo. The concerning weapons are the ones that are illegally obtained - either bought illegally or stolen - or illegally concealed by unstable individuals. There's only so much that can be done to limit those weapons, but we can trust stable, legally-certified people to help pro- tect public safety. It's easy to think that maybe the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 would have led to less loss of life if someone had been able todis- able the shooter sooner. Not every- one with a weapon can be trusted, but it's better to know that some people - like those who take the concealed weapons training course and know how to use their weapon - are ready totake the responsibil- ity to protect their fellow citizens. Violence isn't always the answer, but it shouldn't be taboo either. - Rachel Van Gilder was the Daily's editorial page editor in 2010. She can be reached at rachelvg@umich.edu. 0 0 i