The Michigan Daily - michiaandailv.com 4A - Monday, October 24, 2011 4A -Monay, ctoer 2, 211 Te Mchien Dily mihieadaiv'. C 4C i~hl3n~aij Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MICHELLE DEWITT STEPHANIE STEINBERG and EMILY ORLEY NICK SPAR EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS 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. Imran Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com. 'OMTHE LDALY Protect consenting adults Sex with of-age students isn't a criminal offense Sexual relationships between high school students and their teachers are inappropriate, but they are legal in Michigan if the student is 18 or older. A proposed bill would make such relationships a criminal sexual offense, regardless of the student's age. The bill is the type of government interference in the lives of Michigan adults that wastes taxpayer time and money and should be voted down immediately. Michigan's age of consent is 16. But if 2006 for having sex with an 18-year-old male the partner is in a position of power, which student. Both consented to the act, but because includes doctors and teachers, the age is raised the male was a student, the teacher faced to 18 years old. The current law protects minors charges but ultimately was not indicted by the from advances from teachers; while also allow- jury. ing adults to make their own decisions. Bringingforward charges of criminal sexual This proposed bill violates the individual assault is an extremely serious matter and to rights of Michigan adults. The government equate this to a consensual, sexual encounter should in no way be involved in the sexual between two adults is absurd. Additionally, encounters between consenting adults. Rela- prosecuting these types of cases is costly for tionships between an adult teacher and a minor the state. Charging someone with sexual mis- student must be investigated by the school dis- conduct in a consenting relationship is an inap- trict because of the disruption to the school propriateuse ofthe state's money and resources environment they cause. But relationships and something Michigan must avoid. between adult teachers and adult students With a staggering 11 percent unemployment should not be considered a criminal sexual rate in Michigan, it is shameful that Congress offense. is wasting time discussing this bill. While There should undoubtedly be systems to many conservative legislators campaigned on deal with such issues, but these should origi- the premise of concern for Michigan's econo- nate from the school and not the state's legal my, these types of bills do nothing but cost the system. Teachers should not have sex with statemoneyitdoesnothave. If Republican Gov. their students, regardless of their age. But ifa Rick Snyder wants to affirm his commitmentlto teacher enters into a consensual sexual rela- prioritizing Michigan's economy, he needs to tionship with a student over age 18, the issue veto this invasive bill. should be handled within the school district, Teachers should not have sex with their and notbe punished as a criminal offense. students, but a sexual assault charge for acon- In 2003, Texas adopted a law similar to sensual sexual relationship between adults is Michigan's proposed bill. Under the law a unnecessary. The current law is sufficient, and 25-year-old female teacher was arrested in this bill should not be signed into law. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Teddy Papes, Timothy Rabb, Vanessa Rychlinski, Caroline Sims, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner BRITTANY SMITH | V IN Obama's wins and losses FROM THE PUBLIC EDITOR I Institutional voice T o complete a discussion that began in my previous column, I begin with a fact that often surprises readers: The unsigned editorials printed on this page do not always represent the opinions of The Michigan Daily's editorial board or editorial page editor(s). Every paper has unsigned edi- torials, which are discussed and drafted by its editorial board and printed and backed by the edito- rial page editor(s) and perhaps the paper's publisher. They are under- stood to be the opinion of the paper as an institution, and they define the public perception of the paper more than anything else. For example, while The Wall Street Journal has some of the most comprehensive, visionary and creative news reporting and coverage of any newspaper in the world, it's regarded in liberal circles as a useless puppet of the Republican Party. That's because it has the most notoriously con- servative institutional voice of any major newspaper in America, as reflected in its editorials. A similar quandary afflicts The New York Times. Ignoring its intrepid reporting the world over and its unmatched literary and arts commentary, conservatives routinely pan the Times as a lib- eral rag because of its editorials. It's not fair that any newspaper as a whole should be vilified (or, for that matter, beloved) simply based on what its editorials say, but that is the reality for the Journal and the Times. And it's the reality for papers in all corners of the country. Cities such as Chicago (with the Chica- go Tribune and the Chicago Sun- Times), Washington D.C. (with The Washington Post and The Washington Times) and Detroit (with the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News) all have their "liberal paper" and their "con- servative paper." Regardless of the quality of those newspapers' sports, news and arts coverage and commentary, many readers choose to read only the paper whose insti- tutional voice reflects their own opinions. One of the best examples of that reality may have come from right here in Ann Arbor. This liberal bubble had one daily newspaper - The Ann Arbor News - and, judging by its editorials, it was a "conservative paper." The Ann Arbor News actually endorsed George W. Bush in 2004. Five years later, the newspaper folded. (With its departure after 174years, Ann Arbor became the first signifi- cant American city to lose its only daily newspaper.) And that brings us back to the Daily - which, incidentally, is the closest thing Ann Arbor has to a daily newspaper these days. While the foregoing discussion has shown that institutional voice matters, it's a special challenge at the Daily. Its editorials officially reflect all that this paper has seen, done and said in its more than 122 years of existence. But that official ideal is mostly a fantasy. Unlike all those other papers, a college paper like the Daily loses a significant chunk of its staff every year, and brings in brand new replacements, who have everything yet to learn. This reality has drastic consequences for the paper's insti- tutional voice. The Daily has no editor or publisher who remains in the newsroom for more than a few years. Everyone who learns what this paper is and should be about leaves shortly after gaining that special understanding. And so this paper has a policy of looking to its past opinions and drawing on "Daily precedent" for current editorials. It's an imperfect process, not only because those engaging in the exercise are inex- perienced, but also because Daily precedent is itself somewhat nebu- lous and imprecise. Most of what the editors regard today as the Daily's institutional voice was created dur- ing the student revolutionary days of the 1960s and during a somewhat turbulent time for this paper in the late 1980s. All that came before and after is de-emphasized inthe "Daily precedent" equation. None of this should be taken to mean that Daily precedent is unim- portant. Institutional voice is obvi- ously a great asset and the closest thing to a legacy that a newspaper can have. The challenge for Daily editorial board members and the editors is to ensure they cultivate, refine and strengthen that insti- tutional voice. To those few Daily staffers charged with the respon- sibility of maintaining this paper's institutional voice, I stress the seriousness of this task and the importance of putting in all the time and effort it takes to ensure a sharp, informed and meaningful advocacy of the issues that matter to this institution. Regardless of its massive annual staff turnover, this paper has built up a reputation as a champion of students and anunflinching believ- er in the greatness of the Universi- ty, this state and in sensible liberal causes everywhere. That is "Daily precedent" in a nutshell: It's what being an idealistic college student at a state university is all about. -The public editor is an independent critic of the Daily, and neither the editorial board nor the editor in chief exercise control over the contents of his columns. The opinions expressed do not necessarily constitute the opinionof the Daily. Imran Syed can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com 4 JEFF ZUSCHHLAGEE-MAIL JEFFAT JEFFDZ@UMICH.EDU Midterm Study Strategies #1: The Planner #2: The "Friend in Need" #3: The Creative Writing Major and then I'l st200AM What? Oh, yeah, I had a to 3:30AM Uh, yeah, could you, uh, midterm once. When do you help me on chapters 10-65? plan to eat That would be great. That To what, now? and sleep? would be just great. I'll It was weird. be your best friend forever. FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. KEVIN BUNKLEY I Alumni Association is failing you 4, a President Barack Obama's scorecard for the first two years of his presidency is an unbalanced combination of wins and losses. Considering the promises he made, his prog- ress hasn't been satisfactory, largely because of the many political hurdles he has con- fronted. Obama is "winning" by keeping his prom- ise to monitor the financial services industry as well as his promise regarding health care. Because Obama was able to get the majority vote of Congress, he could sign a bill into law that gives 32 million uninsured Americans access to health care and expands Medicaid - a current government health insurance pro- gram. While it is understandable that Obama's relationship with Wall Street is strained because of the controversial bailout and stimulus package, the pledge that he made during his campaign to give tax cuts for all Americans - except those who fall into the top 5 percent of the income bracket - has gone unfulfilled. Obviously, Obama believes that this tax cut extension for all but the wealthy could help stimulate the United States economy. As is the case with much of the socially progressive legislation Obama wants to pass in the House, he is receiving a lot of pushback from fiscally conservative Republicans and Democrats who want tax cuts for everyone, including those within the top 5 percent. The consequence of such debate is the suggestion by House Republicans for either decreased funding or no funding for social programs like the Labour Relations Board, Planned Parent- hood and Obama's recent Race to the Top Edu- cation Initiative. An issue all Americans seemed to have agreed upon was the assassination of terror- ist Osama bin Laden. However, there is little bipartisan agreement on whether the recent assassination of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was justified. The contro- versy surrounding the approved killing of al- Awlaki stems from his American citizenship, his suspected affiliation with a terrorist group and, most importantly, the premise of the Fifth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment is significant in this debate because it states that no American can "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with- out due process of law." The amendment pro- tects al-Awlaki as an American citizen. The fact that Obama has not made a public state- ment that acknowledges his authorization of the execution speaks to his struggle to recon- cile the same debate with the American public. During the 2008 campaign, Obama's plat- form included his promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. Obama also made an effort to distin- guish himself from his opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), by communicating his dis- dain for the surge - a strategy that McCain was fond of pursuing. The stance Obama took during the 2008 campaign regarding the war on terror is a stark contrastto his advances for the surge once in office. While he announced last week a withdrawal of all troops from Iraq by the end of December, Obama's platform on war strategy was too ambitious during the time of the 2008 election. Though some U.S. citizens are expecting Obama to acknowledge his inability to follow through on his deadline, some U.S. citizens might have been satisfied to hear him at least acknowledge that his promise has not been kept. U.S. citizens have observed that prog- ress isn't being made on this issue, but some believe his losses have been offset with the reversal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The nation is split with people who under- stand the issues that Obama must resolve - such as those he inherited from the Bush administration - and those who do not. Obama's supporters are beginning to real- ize that his presidency is indeed unprecedent- ed, but is in no way as glorious as they had anticipated. Perhaps his wins and losses in the past 34 months speak loudly of how his oppor- tunities for improvement and proof of achieve- ment are characteristic of a historical moment this country finds itself in: A time with a social and political economy that reacts very strong- ly to a tightened purse. Brittany Smith is an [SA senior. The often repeated phrase among the University of Michigan family is that a Michigan degree opens doors. That still holds true even in these difficult eco- nomic times, but a message to all current and future alumni: Your Alumni Association is failing you. Hear me out. In the big city where I live, there are thousands of Michigan alumni. I see maize-and-blue shirts all the time. But do all of those people know about the existence of the rest of us and that we might need jobs? In my experiences, the answer is an overwhelming no. The local alumni chapters are ill equipped to handle the volume of new graduates that move to their cities each year. It's almost a microcosm of the employment situation for all college graduates, not just the alumni coming out of Ann Arbor. Most studies about unemployed college graduate figures peg the number at 7 percent nationwide, which is alot bet- ter than youth unemployment as a whole right now. After speaking to a few of the officers of my city's club, my fears that we are mostly on our own have been confirmed more than once. Yes, they use technology to connect alumni in a certain city, but when I question them why I can't access the Facebook page, I get an electronic blank stare. When I suggest an e-mail list- serv to easily identify open jobs at companies run by alumni, no one knows what that is. InCircle, the asso- ciation's main networking tool, is filled with outdated information and lists of irrelevant companies that are so thin you can see through them. Recently, I contacted four different people at orga- nizations I applied for a job at. All of them wrote back to say they hadn't worked there for years (though one at least offered to still help in any way he could). The few networking events that are held each year have an entrance fee on top of other expenses incurred while doing the activity, which I get, but it's not exactly easy for someone who can't find a job to leak money just to get into the door when there's no guarantee of the real payoff - a lead on a job. This is not the same as feeling shut out or ignored because all alumni I have encountered are beyond help- ful. It's just unfortunate that there is no way for all of us to reach one another when we need help the most, and the University Alumni Association is at the forefront of the list of places that have become complacent. To bor- row part of an overused phrase from our football coach, this is Michigan, and the Alumni Association can do bet- ter than this. Even if we are a bit on our own, don't give up. I haven't. I carry business cards around with me for those times when I see a matching Michigan T-shirt in a bar or at an office. Our degrees may not open the same doors as they used to, but they open doors none- theless - sometimes when we least expect it. Just be aware that those degrees entitle us to more than we may be receiving from the University itself. Kevin Bunkley is an alum and former Daily opinion staffer. 0 0 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@michigandaily.com I