4A - Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0
4A - Thursday, January 26, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom S
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ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER
JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ANDREW WEINER JOSH HEALY
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.
kMF
Making the call
The 'U' should implement medical amnesty
The University is likely not the only college in the coun-
try faced with the problem of underage drinking. To
address the issue, the state of Michigan upholds a law
that states an intoxicated minor seeking medical aid for an
underage victim of alcohol poisoning can be convicted for
Minor in Possession of alcohol. As a result, students often
ignore medical emergencies to avoid getting into legal trouble.
A new proposal put forward by the Central Student Govern-
ment calls for the implementation of medical amnesty at the
University, which would allow students under the influence
to call authorities to help others without fear of punishment
for doing a good deed. The implementation of this initiative
would allow students to respond quickly to emergency situa-
tions, seek help for others and ultimately save lives.
What has happened in recent years, we were
told a rising tide would lift all boats, but the
rising tide has lifted all yachts."
- Billionaire Warren Buffett said yesterday in an interview with
ABC News about growing income inequality in America.
6
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dents, it's easy to get million owed and Adidas has stub- Adidas apparently h
in our campus bubble bornly refused to chip in. Furthermore, in doci
not know how the Uni- This comes out to roughly $642 respondence with th
ion, per worker. That is more than 1,071 enforcing our Code oft
ion, hours of unpaid work when one das repeatedly lied abo
oad- makes $0.60 an hour - nearly five ment in the PT Kizone
onal months' pay if they are working Put another way: t
eight hours per day. wrote a rulebook, At
that These are enormous numbers. It's one of those rulesa
ften impossible to picture the difference administration refuse
our between $1.8 million and $1.8 bil- Adidas for its actions.
a lion, 10,000 people and 100,000 peo- Adidas has obviousl
son. YONAH ple or 1,071 hours and 10,071 hours. Code of Conduct.
that LIEBERMAN If we focus on the numbers, it's easy
bout to get lost.
Let's focus on the families. Adi-
assrooms and lecture das' unwillingness to ante up has W hen
going to make a tangi- had a tremendous impact on these . .
. Education is a crucial people that are likely relying on just lniversit3
rarely is it immediate- one person for their total income. the ld
litical action. Since that person is already making wor I
s the rare opportunities less than a dollar an hour, these fam-
ond the bubble all the ilies are hardly livinglives of luxury.
lnt. Imagine for a moment only one I call on Adidas topa
is a Nike and Adidas of your parents worked. Then, for lion owed to the PT K
ed in Indonesia - yes, reasons beyond their control, they ees. But I doubt that a
way across the world. stopped receiving a paycheck for company will be pers
iversity has an athletic work they had already done. But they piece. I want to use my
'act with Adidas, hun- continue to go into work instead of get figures closer to ho
s, hoodies, hats, jerseys trying to find another job out of fear In light of these clew
pes of apparel seen on of being fired. Nearly four months call on our administrat
ens of times every day later, there's still no paycheck. condemn Adidas' inact
this one factory. Now what? How can your fam- company that they are
kers.are being paid only ily pay rent? How can you afford to the University's code a
r. Is that wage fair? No. pay your heating bills? Forget about Adidas pays these worm
in developing nations going out to No Thai. Forget about are owed.
rld are being paid that buying Johnny Depp's new DVD. Our University ha
n less. So why is PT And definitely forget about going to tional reputation base
'tant? our public University. ics and integrity. Wh
to the Workers Rights Now imagine how our campus world listens. When
last January, the 2,800 can help these workers on the other world accepts the stat
e factory were abruptly side of the world. You could be walki
ere never paid $3.3 mil- Our University's multi-million the Grand Canyon and
y mandated severance. dollar contract with Adidas is the in Adidas University
than 10,000 workers largest in the nation. Since 2001 flex that economic mu
embers are suffering. we have had a thoughtful and com- of struggling workers
January, three of the prehensive Code of Conduct that is side of the world and1
hat used the factory, meant to ensure that all of the Uni- versity to live up to its o
Textiles (a Nike subsid- versity's apparel suppliers follow a enforce its own code.
Dallas Cowboys (who, basic ethical standard.
h, make college appar- Part of our Code of Conduct is - Yonah Lieberman
ed to pay about half of that suppliers need to comply with at yonahl@umich.
e. But there is still $1.8 local labor law, something that on twitter @Yo
as not done.
.mented cor-
he committee
Conduct, Adi-
ut its involve-
factory.
he University
didas violated
and now the
s to penalize
ly violated the
our
y acts,
istens.
CSG President DeAndree Watson
described medical amnesty as a "huge accom-
plishment" for the University that would give
students an incentive to seek help. A resolu-
tion in support of the medical amnesty pro-
gram was put forth and approved at the CSG
meeting Tuesday night. While the resolution
calls for the immunity of underage drinkers
attempting to help others, it has other pro-
visions, including online alcohol education
classes and meetings with the University's
Counseling and Psychological Services.
Medical amnesty initiatives are becoming
increasingly popular on college campuses. Cor-
nell University found that there was an increase
in calls for alcohol-related emergencies after
the implementation of the program. Without
the fear of being issued an MIP, more students
are taking prompt action to help a friend. Fines
and community service time - the general
consequences of an MIP - are often insuffi-
cient deterrents for students who have access
to alcohol. More importantly, fear ofsuch puni-
tive measures is certainly not worth the life
of another student. Medical amnesty policies
help students distinguish their own situation
from the condition of a fellow student in need
of medical attention. According to a 2009 arti-
cle in The Heights, Boston College's student
newspaper, medical amnesty programs have
been implemented at more than 90 other col-
leges and universities in the country.
University policies like the mandatory
AlcoholEdu course for incoming under-
graduates are only beneficial to an extent.
Students remain likely to make reckless and
ill-informed decisions, as shown by a 2007
University Student Life Survey, in which 52
percent of undergraduates reported that they
participated in binge drinking and 69 percent
reported that they had taken care of a drunk
person. The University should have a policy
that ensures the safety of students who are
dangerously inebriated as well as those who
look out for them.
Unfortunately, binge drinking is common
on many college campuses. Though under no
circumstances is such behavior encouraged,
any student attempting to aid another should
not be punished, regardless of their blood
alcohol content. A medical amnesty policy
would ensure a more timely reaction on the
part of an intoxicated student's peers and
would result in less hesitation before the vic-
tim is transported to a hospital. The Univer-
sity should implement the medical amnesty
policy because the safety of students needs to
be at the forefront.
ay the $1.8 mil-
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multinational
uaded by this
energy to tar-
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ar violations, I
ion to publicly
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nd ensure that
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ng in Paris or
d see someone
apparel. Let's
scle on behalf
on the other
urge our Uni-
ownvalues and
can be reached
edu. Follow him
nahLieberman.
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RON AND DENISE LANCE I
The origins of a tradition
There's no right way to
experience museums
TO THE DAILY:
I would like to respond to what I thought
was an extremely condescending and acutely
insulting article by Lauren Caserta, "Context
adds an extra dimension to experiencing art,"
on Jan. 23. The article paints her readership
of Michigan students as a bunch of philistines
who need to be led up the steps of a museum
or auditorium by the nose. Of course context
changes the way a work of art is perceived
and understood. Tomes have been written
and paintings have been painted since the
17th century that throw into question the
very accuracy of perception, a viewing con-
text in itself. At the Paris Salon, paintings
that were thought inferior were placed way
up high so that they touched the ceiling, and
the superstars placed at eye-level.
Furthermore, Caserta ignores the 20th
century efforts made by artists like Allan
Sekula, who in the series "Aerospace Folk-
tales" created viewing spaces complete with
potted ferns and recorded audio that added
meaning and therefore dismantled slightly
the framed photographs from their seem-
ingly exalted position. Instead, I think that
Caserta sides with the arbiters of the Salon in
defending the institutional right of museums
in shaping our viewing experience, and that
she is all too impressed by the ritual and for-
malities of experiencing culture that these
authorities dictate. Did the author of this
article ever stop to think that art is not limit-
ed to the high art that is finally selected to be
in these highly exclusive arenas? And what
is to say about artists who consciously reject
such settings, such as sound-artist Max Neu-
haus's needle-in-a-haystack "Times Square"
sound, literally a low-pitched sound which
occupies a carefully sonically delineated
space near a subway exit in Times Square?
When Caserta sees a group of people huddled
around something, does she immediately
follow the "social prompts" that "[provide]
the cues that tell you you're looking at some-
thing that's meant to be meaningful?" Didn't
the Dadaists kill the idea of "meaning to be
meaningful" with automatism? Or with this
statement has Caserta brushed off their con-
tribution to art historycompletely?
Caserta makes me believe that we go to
museums as some kind of bourgeois obli-
gation, in search of something to say at
the next dinner party, or to experience a
commodity - "even the day-long museum
pass you paid for makes you feel as though
you're looking at something special." Fur-
thermore, the white walls, the "Hey! I'm in
a museum!"vibe as bearing on the meaning
of a work, is only applicable to the last 100
or so years of art making and falls into what
Robert Smithson-called 'the secular ambush
of art.' Before, say, the titanium backdrop
for early modernist works at Stieglitz's 291
gallery, works of art were NOT intended to
be placed in such deliberately hollow and
context-LESS vacuums. Malevich empha-
sizes this distinction himself when he dis-
played (originally, and not the way Caserta
described) "Black Square" for the first time
in 1915 in the corner of a ceiling, the place
traditionally reserved in the home for Chris-
tian idols, and thereby nullifying it. But the
dogmas of the past are only replaced by new
ones. The leaders of the French Revolution
founded the Louvre as a museum in 1793 so
that they could hold on to all the sumptuous
art objects they confiscated from church-
es and at the same time quarantine these
sacred objects in a meaningless void: the
museum as we know it today.
Folk art does not become art when a cura-
tor plucks a weathervane off of a barn and
puts it in a museum. It was a piece of art with
a story and a meaning and a purpose all the
while. I would like to read Caserta's article
and be excited about a work of art in a way
that would naturally incline her reader to
make the trek out to the museum and con-
sume the exhibition from the bottom up.
However, what we have here is a prescrip-
tion for the correct way to experience art and
that, I strongly believe, is entirely up to the
individual. And if you just think that muse-
ums are so novel and amazing, then you need
to get out more.
Eleanor Dumouchel
LSA senior
These days the "Blues Brothers Dance" is every-
where Michigan sports seem to be. And isn't it great
fun to see everyone, including sports greats like
Denard Robinson, having such a great time going crazy
for those brief minutes? No doubt it has quickly become
the latest in a long history of Michigan traditions.
Traditions are truly wondrous things, andhavingleft
the Ann Arbor campus ourselves almost 35 years ago,
it's become ever more curious to us just how they seem
to acquire a life energy all their own. But how many
people really know how this zaniness got its start?
Sadly, we believe that all too often, after a few short
years, no one remembers. Classes graduate and no one
pauses to commit the story to writing. Far too many
of today's deeply rooted traditions lack what journal-
ists might call the "back story" on how they came to
exist. For the past few years, we've had the pleasure
of watching a new tradition be born at the University,
and watch it spread across the various sporting events.
This time, however, we felt that the "back story" should
be written down and documented.
The birth of the "Blues Brothers Dance" mania is
recent enough that many people know its genesis is
rooted in Yost Ice Arena with the Michigan hockey
team. Go to any Michigan hockey game and it's the
highlight of the second intermission - it has been for
several years. In the past year or so, the Big House
has been rocking as the band blares out the song and
throngs of students and even arena staff and the crowd,
pump their fists and dance with delight. But just how
many remember how and when it started? Well, here's
that answer.
The atmosphere in Yost on any Friday or Saturday
night the hockey team is in town has long been unique.
Just ask the parents of any visiting team's goalie. The
cheers are special, the student body is bursting to let
off steam and the Hockey Pep Band has always been
more than willing and able to spice up to the mixture.
But in the 2008-09 season, a core of the student sec-
tion seated in Section 18 added a new member, and it
brought something new to Yost. The hockey cheers
have long colorful histories, but this new group kicked
their game up a notch as they began egging on the band
and its newly dancing director to add even more fre-
netic accompaniment to the antics. Visiting goalies,
parents and referees are the long-standing targets of
the student section.
The experience of being in Yost at game time is spe-
cial to those who follow Michigan hockey. Even the
Wall Street Journal took notice, voting the crowd in
Yost one of its notable "best." But this small core of
students worked hard each night to arouse and involve
others around them, and with their success came the
participation of even the working event staff. The pep
band had long played a spirited rendition of the Blues
Brothers song, but it became the channel of this ener-
getic student group for some newly invented craziness.
The new "Blues Brothers Dance" was introduced into
the student section repertoire by one student who con-
vinced his brother and others seated around himto join
in during this 2008-09 season resurgence. It shortly
became an event with a life of its own, and thankfully
intermission lasts only 20 minutes, or there would be
no telling to this day just how long it might go on.
Who were these kids? Well, the hard core member-
ship includes Jeff Lance and Mandy Siegle (an alumni
hockey pep band member). The important new ingre-
dient in 2008, however, was Kevin Lance, Jeff's young-
er brother. It was Kevin who introduced the punching
hand motions and the rest of the dance routine to the
Blues Brothers music the pep band had long been play-
ing. In the earlier versions, there were words to the
dance but they were soon dropped due to the frenzy
taken on by the dance itself. In those first days some
called it "Punch the Giant" as coined by Kevin, its cho-
reographer. It was quickly way beyond being identified
with any one person, however, and the effort of this
small initial core was swallowed up as all of Yostbegan
to feel that rush the minute the band fired up the tune.
Looking back, I wonder if perhaps this is what hap-
pened with so many of Michigan's other fine traditions.
After all, some one individual had to do it for the first
time, and many of those names are now lost to us. From
Yost, it took only a couple of seasons for the dance to
find its way to the Big House in a big way on the shoul-
ders of the band and some of these same hockey danc-
ers. There is no question the Big House and Crisler
Arena versions are fun, but for purists there is nothing
like the original being belted out in Yost by the hockey
pep band and the fans in Section 18.
Ron and Denise Lance are 1976 University alums.
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