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4 - Friday, October 14, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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STEPHANIE STEINBERG
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MICHELLE DEWITT
and EMILY ORLEY
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
NICK SPAR
MANAGING EDITOR
66 NOTABLE QUOTABLE
...it was actually the reason that we fought the
revolution in the 16th century, was to get away from
that kind of onerous crown if you will.'
- Texas Gov. Rick Perry responding to a question about rights of states at an
event at Dartmouth College on Tuesday, as reported by CBS News.
Move in the'green'direction
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.
FROM THE DAILY
Respect allidentities
National Coming Out Week promotes tolerance
Members of the LGBT community in the United States
military can now be open about their sexuality since
"don't ask, don't tell" was repealed last month, but they
still face major inequalities in our society. Events like National
Coming Out Week remind us of these issues and the necessity of
equal rights for every citizen. This week is a reminder of the impor-
tance of being understanding and respectful of different sexual ori-
entations and lifestyles.
4
I
Today is the fifth day of National Com-
ing Out Week. The celebration has grown to
a nationwide event since it started in 1988.
National Coming Out Day, which kicks off
the week each year, is celebrated throughout
the country. At the University, the weeklong
event was celebrated with a rally on the Diag
on Monday, as well as other events held by
the Michigan Student Assembly and student
groups in supportof LGBT students and their
allies on campus.
Over the past year, the media has been
awash with stories of horrific bullying and
attacks on LGBT students. But bullying that
happens on a daily basis, and may seem harm-
less to some, often goes unnoticed. Across the
nation, nine out of 10 LGBT middle school
and high school students have been harassed
at school, according to statistics from the
National Youth Association. And more than
a third of LGBT youth have attempted sui-
cide at some point. These students are also
more likely to suffer depression than het-
sexual students. Events such as National
Co.uing Out Week draw n cessary attention
tV .n issue that can pose a legitimate threat
to young people in America.
While Ann Arbor is generally considered
a socially progressive city and the University
a free-thinking institution, it's still inipor-
tant to remember and respect the difficulties
LGBT students can face. Even in the most
positive environments, a stigma still exists
around LGBT issues. Michigan has some of
the strictest laws in the country banning gay
marriage and limiting same-sex partner ben-
efits.
If LGBT individuals continue to be mar-
ginalized by American laws, events like
National Coming Out Week will continue to
be important to advocate for equal rights.
This week is an opportunity to create a sup-
portive environment for LGBT students, so
they may be proud of their identity. And it
reminds all students that they must be cogni-
zant of how they speak and behave.
But the support for LGBT students
shouldn't end after this week. It's important
to continue to build a tolerant environment
throughout the year. The Spectrum Center
is open year-round to provide assistance and
open forums, and this supportive mentality
should spread throughout the University. All
students should have access to resources that
help them with any personal identity strug-
gles. And if there is a problem, they should
have a safe place to seek help. The University
must provide a safe and secure environment
for all students.
The University has been touting the phrase
"Expect Respect" to encourage students to
be conscious of the way they act toward each
other. The message of National Coming Out
Week shouldn't be limited to just one week
of the year, but should instead have influence
across campus every day.
very Monday night, I bring
down an overflowing recy-
cling bin to the edge of my
driveway. A year
ago, I would have
considered this a
significant act in
helping to pre-
serve the envi-
ronment, but
with a brother
working in the LEAH
sustainability POTKIN
and green engi- _
neering field, I'm
realizing quickly
that a blue bin full of recycled bot-
tles and boxes simply isn't enough.
Thus, in this age of green and sus-
tainable living, it is vital that every-
one, students included, go above and
beyond to protect and save the envi-
ronment. The blue bin alone won't
cut it anymore.
University President Mary Sue
Coleman recently released a new
sustainability initiative in a speech
outlining the University's 14-year
plan for sustainability. Some of the
plans include installing solar pan-
els on North Campus and replacing
regular cars and buses with hybrid
ones, with the laudable goal of cut-
tingcthe University's greenhouse gas
emissions by 25 percent by 2025. As
ambitious and meritorious as the
University's plan is, its ultimate suc-
cess may very well depend on the
involvement and commitment of
students. Because when it comes to
saving the environment, we're more
than just tuition payers, we're ener-
gy consumers and conservationists.
Not to mention, with Ann Arbor
ranked one of the leaders in green
initiatives, the least we Wolverines
can do is live up to our reputation
and work as hard as our beloved city
does. Students on and off campus
must try their hardest, and move
into this era of sustainability armed
with blue bins, energy-efficient light
bulbs and acan-do attitude.
I know many students are regi-
mented in their recycling and
energy-saving routines, but I see
too many water bottles thrown
in trash cans and lights left on in
houses to not address these seem-
ingly minor issues. Because, really,
at a school with more than 25,000
undergraduates alone, every light
switch left on makes a huge dif-
ference. I'm a college student, I'm
lazy and I'm guilty of committing
sustainability crimes too. But howI
see it, if we can pull all-nighters and
easily careen from pre-game party
to pre-game party before trekking
on to the Big House on foot, we can
handle searching for a recycling
bin that might be outside our line
of vision. Not to mention, turn-
ing down our thermostats a few
degrees and taking the time to go
upstairs to turn off the lights left on
in the rush to get out the front door.
And the bathroom, my friends,
is no place to forget about the envi-
ronment either. In fact, there are
important environmental decisions
to be made every time you excuse
yourself to the little girls or boys
room here on campus. First, are you
actually going to flush the handle up
for liquid;waste.and:down for solid
waste? And second, are you really
going to use a super-speed, high-
tech hand dryer when there are
water-absorbing paper towels there
too? Well, Yes. You have to. Every-
one has to. The University is taking
a stance and making changes, and
it's important that the student body
does the same. We should be grate-
ful that the University offers us so
many eco-friendly options, and we
should be eager to take advantage
of them at all times. Note - new
recycling bins like the ones in North
Quad even have an opening shaped
for bottles to make the process vir-
tually foolproof!
Take advantage
of eco-friendly
options at the 'U.'
Other small steps students can
take to help the University make a
big difference include using refill-
able water bottles, switching to
energy-efficient light bulbs and
walking to places instead of driv-
ing (not only good for the environ-
ment, but good for your health too!).
So although we can't all go around
installing solar panels, we can and
should go around milking these
new green accessories for all they're
worth. So keep those blue bins over-
flowing and toilets flushing in the
right direction because a flush in
the right direction doubles as a step
in the, right direction-the green
direction, that is.
- Leah Potkin can be reached
at Ipotkin@umich.edu.
0
A
_ HE ED ITOR SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM
-the Everyday Spirituality: Chris Anderson explores the idea that
being positive isn't always necessarily a good thing.
po U Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium
4
Students for Life stand up
for the rights of the unborn
TO THE DAILY:
Students for Life is a social justice group.
Not political. Not religious. We're here to con-
front a social justice issue that would other-
wise remain disregarded on campus.
If, as Daniel Chardell claims in his column
(Abortion is notgenocide, 10/11/2011), he spent
nearly two hours on the Diag, he would have
heard our justification for the dehumaniza-
tion-based parallel between the unborn and
Holocaust victims. And if Chardell had spent
a portion of that time perusing the display, he
would have read one panel that said, "Com-
parable is not identical." Abortion's existence
today is due largely to ignorance, not the
shoveling of the innocent into gas chambers.
Certainly the millions of deaths in each case
deserve equal attention, but while pro-choice
advocates aren't ending the mass extermina-
tion, they are not Nazis.
Chardell assumes that Students for Life
Calling the Diag exhibit
insulting is accurate
does not understand the "much larger soci-
etal issue" of unwanted pregnancies. We
beg to differ. The central problem isn't that
unplanned pregnancies are occurring but that
we're cultivating a culture in which we'll sac-
rifice a human life to make ours more conve-
nient. Sure, we could devote all our time and
resources to prevention, but then who will
advocate for the unborn? Somethingstill won't
change: The unborn still won't have rights,
society still won't care and innocent lives still
will be sacrificed when the condom breaks.
Minimizing abortion isn't ending it altogether.
So excuse us for our radical idea that the
life created from a broken condom still has
the same value as the millions lost before it.
Students for Life doesn't care what you do
with your sex life. You can sleep with whom-
ever you want, whenever you want, however
you want - until a third person enters the
picture. And, yes, we're the same radicals
who at that point expect you to take responsi-
bility for procreation.
Carmen Allen
LSA junior and president of Students for Life
tion to abortions (quite frankly, the correct
term would actually be "homicide"), Chard-
ell's piece drew attention to what I view to be
a very common phenomenon in 21st century
American culture, which is the casual and
rather insulting manner in which we view and
discuss atrocities of the human past.
I would expect such disrespect from uned-
ucated individuals who didn't know better,
but I am shocked that an educated group of
University of Michigan students who pride
themselves on their love and support of the
human race were insensitive enough to display
pictures of corpses of African Americans and
Jews without any regard for the feelings of
their fellow students, faculty and staff. If you
want to condemn abortion, fine. Just don't do
it at the expense of others whose histories you
couldn't possibly begin to grasp.
Christina Lawson
LSA senior
ALEXANDER HEPPERLE I
To the bitter end
In a freak chance of fate, with the help of friends and
financial aid dollarsthat were supposed to go toward pay-
ing off my rent, I got to attend game 4 of the Tigers-Yan-
kees playoff. I really couldn't believe it even as I walked
up to the stadium. The giant Louisville Slugger bats signi-
fied the entranceway, and a stone cat protected the gate
from above. I was there. At Comerica Park, a place nearly
every person in Southeastern Michigan has memories of
regardless of whether they like baseball or not.
But this was no ordinary game, and no ordinary oppo-
nent. This was the American League Division Series, and
this opponent was none other than the New York Yan-
kees, also known as The Bronx Bombers and The Evil
Empire. The single-most winning team in all of baseball
with 27 world championships compared to the Tigers'
measly four. What chance did we stand? This is the team
of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle, Alexander
Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and now, sadly, Curtis Grander-
son. However, this is no ordinary city with no ordinary
sports fans. This is Detroit, and what the Tigers mean to
us is more powerful than any words Ican write down.
Anyone who is familiar with the entertainment indus-
try should know the reputation of Detroit: We are known
as one of the absolute best concert towns with some-of
the craziest sports fans out there. Who else throws octopi
ontotheiceathockeygames?Whoelse'sfootballteamhas
never won the Super Bowl for as long as there has been
a Super Bowl, yet sells out almost every game? Nobody.
One of my friends at the Tigers game asked me why this
was, and I didn't even need to think twice. I turned to
him and said, "When you've got nothing, you've got noth-
ing to lose." And most residents in Michigan don't have
much to lose anymore. The graduation rate for Detroit
Public Schools hovers around 60 percent. The unemploy-
ment rate for the state stands stagnant at 11 percent and
was as high as 15 percent in July 2009. Almost every sin-
gle family I knew growing up in Westland, Mich. (about
20 minutes outside of Detroit) worked for the Big Three
automakers. We all know what happened to them, don't
we?
The University and the state of Michigan are two dras-
tically different things. If you don't know this yet, it's
about time you stepped outside the bubble of Ann Arbor
and had a beer or two with a midnight shift line worker
or a McDonald's shift manager. I looked around at the
stadium and felt one powerful thought echo in my head
- these are my people. I heard the conversations around
me bring me back to a time when I wasn't attending an
elite university - a time when I myself was working at
a fast food restaurant and trying to keep my tank of gas
off empty.
I listened tothe conversationaround me:"Man, Ihad to
cut out of work two hours earlyto be here, but I wouldn't
miss it for the world!" "I hear you brother. The transmis-
sion on my Jeep gave out on the way here. It's stranded
on 96 as we speak - took a $60 cab ride to see the game!"
A man sitting next to me was wearing an Ernie Harwell
"EH" patch sewn into his ratty cap stamped with the old
English letter 'D' and I commented on how great Ernie
was for the team. He replied, "This was my dad's hat. We
used to have season tickets back at old Tigers Stadium.
Get this bro, he died the same day they closed the doors.
Last thing I heard him say was, 'What a shame."' Yes, I
was at home.
The bottom line is yes, we lost the game, but this isn't
the first time Detroit was on the losing end of things.
That game was about more than baseball. It was about
loyalty. About the small taking on the large. About hope.
In the bottom of the ninth and down nine runs, as all
hope seemed lost, the man next to me stared ahead - his
friends already gone - and spoke to himself barely loud
enough for me to hear the words that personify the spirit
of Detroit, "We will stay to the bitter end." Truer words
have never been spoken.
Alexander Hepperle is an LSA sophomore.
TO THE DAILY:
I believe that Daniel Chardell summed up
last week's Students for Life exhibit very well
when he described it as insulting (Abortion is
not genocide, 10/11/2011).
Due to the graphic nature of the display,
I chose not to go near the Diag last Monday
and Tuesday and therefore, had to rely on
others to tell me about the visuals that were
on display. I learned from Chardell's column
that photographs of Holocaust victims and
inaccurate allusions to genocides were pre-
sented along with the images of fetuses, as
were pictures of lynching victims as I later
discovered.
Besides calling attention to the fact that the
use of the word "genocide" is incorrect in rela-
6
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Aida Ali, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Patrick Maillet,
, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily OrleyTeddy Papes,
Timothy Rabb, Seth Soderborg, Caroline Syms, Andrew Weiner