4A - Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com

4A - Wednesday, September12, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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diiigan Bat*y
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TIMOTHY RABB
JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ADRIENNE ROBERTS ANDREW WEINER
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.
FRTTH E DA ILY
Educate to protect
Community effort can guard against sexual assault
A s students' e-mails are flooded with crime alerts as of late, inci-
dents of sexual assault have dominated the subject lines. Many
students, especially those new to campus, are feeling unset-
tled by the three incidents of alleged sexual assault that have happened
in the last 10 days. In light of the incidents, the University should take
time to re-educate students on its policies on sexual assault, its defini-
tion of sexual assault and ramifications on committing such an offense.

Necessary separation

n 2013 Saudi Arabia is plan-
ning to complete a new indus-
trial center open exclusively
to women near
the city of Hofuf.
The hope for
this center to
provide oppor-
tunities for the
many educated
women in Saudi
Arabia who are MRY
having trouble
establishing GALLAGHER
careers in the
male-dominated
workplace. At this point, 60 per-
cent of Saudi college graduates
are women but 78 percent of those
women are unemployed due in part
to complicated policies that make
it simpler to hire men. For exam-
ple, women are not allowed to deal
directly with the government and
are required to use a male colleague
as an in-between. In such an envi-
ronment, a man-dominated work-
force isn't surprising.
Many in the international com-
munity, however, are questioning
the effectiveness of establishing
a separate industrial center for
women. For one thing, it's possible
that this separation might enable
even more gender discrimination in
work environments outside of the
center. The center would, however,
continue to be gender-integrated.
As we all learned back in mid-
dle school when studying the civil
rights movement, "separate but
equal" rarely works out to actu-
ally be equal. More often, one sepa-

rated group is made to be inferior.
The working conditions in Hofuf
will not be entirely equal to those
in other parts of Saudi Arabia and
this presents two potential prob-
lems. If the women's industrial cen-
ter is superior to others across the
country, men will be denied access
to a real chance for economic devel-
opment, allowing women to pull
ahead economically. And, if condi-
tions in Hofuf are inferior, women
may feel as though it is the only
employment option available, forc-
ing them to settle. This is especially
a concern if potential employers
take the attitude that if women
have their own place exclusively for
them, they can go there to work and
not take jobs that men need to sup-
port their families.
On the other hand, this separate
industrial center could provide
much-needed opportunities for
Saudi women. Experienced work-
ing women will have a chance to be
immediately in charge of their own
businesses instead of fighting for
years to break Saudi Arbias strict
the glass ceiling. Even in America
women are struggling to make it to
the top levels - only 39 companies
out of the Forbes 100 are headed
by female CEOs. Having their own
center, free from at least internal
gender discrimination, if not from
their society's underlying inequali-
ties, will open up new opportuni-
ties for women at top levels.
Even if this separate but equal
solution doesn't quite follow the
principles of feminism and civil
rights, at least it gives women who

want the chance to perhaps become
financially independent . A simi-
lar compromise was reached in
America before the top universities
began allowing women to enroll,
with the formation of exclusively
female college such as Smith and
Bryn Mawr Colleges. These schools
enabled women to prove that, given
the right resources and opportuni-
ties, they can do just as well as men.
As a gender-segregated industry is
not seen as a permanent solution
but a stepping-stone on the way to
gender equality across integrated
workplaces.
Compromise
may ultimately
lead to greater
opportunities.
In an ideal world, women would
not have to fight to prove they are
worthy of equal employment. How-
ever, this is not an ideal world, and
sometimes less-than-perfect solu-
tions are necessary to address the
issues at hand. Industrial centers
like the one outside Hofuf are an
imperfect compromise, but they are
a compromise that may ultimately
lead to greater opportunities for
Saudi women.
- Mary Gallagher can be
reached at mkgall@umich.edu.

Over Labor Day weekend, three incidents
of sexual assault were conveyed to DPS. The
police reports describe Asian males with the
same approximate height. On Friday, another
incident of suspicious touching was reported,
and the description of the individual resembles
that of the previous incidents.
Sexual assault prevention education must be
made a priority on campus. While SAPAC runs
workshops for incoming freshmen each year,
there should be follow-up sessions for upper-
classmen that reiterate this information. The
definitions of sexual assault need to be clear,
so students can correctly identify incidents of
sexual assault.
At the University of Montana, every stu-
dent is required to watch a video about sexual
assault definitions and consequences. Students
are subsequently required to earn a perfect
score on an accompanying test. The Univer-
sity of Michigan should explore options like
these to ensure the serious prevalence of sexual
assault on college campuses isn't passed over.
Students also need to take advantage of the
variety of safety measures provided by the
University. There are many resources offered
to help protect student safety as well as assist
survivors. Safewalk and Ride Home are options
that help students get home safely at night.
There are also Blue Light systems across cam-

pus, through which students immediately con-
nect to authorities in cases of danger.
Finally, the University's Office of Student
Conflict Resolution offers a service to report
sexual assault to the University without hav-
ing to speak to the police about the incident.
If a person is found responsible for commit-
ting sexual assault, the University will enforce
sanctions and consequences that it believes
are appropriate for the situation. All students
should be aware that a multitude of resources
are available to them.
According to SAPAC, sexual assault is "any
form of unwanted sexual contact obtained
without consent and/or obtained through
the use of force, threat of force, intimidation,
or coercion." There is still confusion among
students as to what exactly sexual assault is,
especially following the recent crime alert
description of "suspicious touching." SAPAC's
definition is comprehensive, but it needs to
widely distributed so students and the Ann
Arbor community are aware of what exactly
constitutes sexual assault. Students should be
clearly reminded on a regular basis that sexual
assault is not tolerated at this University.
Sexual assault is a serious matter that can't
be taken lightly. The University community
should act to re-affirm this stance and ensure
student safety on campus. {

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Take time to reflect

here's a palpable energy
coursing through Michi-
gan's campus during these

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Kaan Avdan, Eli Cahan, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein,
Patrick Maillet, Harsha Nahata, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts,
Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Caroline Syms
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KEVIN TUNG|VIEWPOINT,
The ramifications of revenge

first few weeks
of September.
We have new
classes, new
professors,
new places to
live and new
friends. We're
excited about
the many
opportunities
that the new
school year has

MICHAEL
SPAETH

The 2,977 American flags displayed on the
Diag Tuesday represented the victims of the
tragic terrorist attack eleven years ago. The
ceremony put me in a pensive and emotional
mood. As I took a moment of silence to honor
the victims, I started to think how this tragedy
affected America's foreign policy in the subse-
quent years.
The terrorist attacks shed light on the fun-
damental problems of decisions made in an
effort to protect our national security. To take
action against the injustice done to the inno-
cent Americans, the government decided to
use invasive military measures. Hundreds of
billions of dollars were spent every year on mil-
itarism, and endless troops were sent to Iraq,
Afghanistan and the Arabian Peninsula. The
government seemed to make sure that every
last penny of our military spending possessed
as much hatred and desire for revenge as we
did on the day of the attacks.
These military actions were taken suppos-
edly to promote democratic ideals in militarily
weaker, politically more chaotic and less eco-
nomically stable countries. To the government
that made such decisions, it was only logical
to instill new political ideals in a community
after seizing military control of the communi-
ty. This logic was flawed, yet it was brilliantly
concealed by a number of excuses, creating a

delusion fueled by war propaganda that out-
right lied to the American people. The wars in
the Middle East were carried out for dubious
motives. Invading countries out of revenge
- which possibly caused today's preemptive
military mindset - as opposed to spending
that military money on defense to strengthen
the United States as a nation, is not beneficial
in attempting to protect national security.
Outrageously enough, the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan were, in my opinion, unconstitu-
tional. Even though Congress authorized the
use of military force in the Middle East, the
wars were never formally declared.
Not only are U.S. troops still in the Middle
East, but the government has not reduced
military spending. More money is still being
used to strengthen national defense than build
infrastructure, better the education system or
stimulate the economy. This huge amount of
money spent was borrowed from other coun-
tries - with China as the biggest lender.
We spent money we didn't have and spent
it on military invasions where American lives
were lost, allso we could promote democracy
in places where the people did not ask for
help. There has got to be something wrong
with this picture.
Kevin Tung is an LSA junior.

to offer. But this is also a time for
reflection - most notably, Tuesday's
eleventh anniversary of 9/11.
Our moments of meaningful
reflection are usually confined to just
a handful of designated days every
year. But we'd be much better off
if we reflected on our lives and the
world as a whole for 30 uninterrupt-
ed minutes every day.
In an era of constant multitask-
ing, it's refreshing to engage in deep
thought for a few minutes every
day without distractions from tech-
nology and social networks. As
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology Prof. Sherry Turkle wrote in
The NewYork Times in April, "these
days, social media continually asks us
what's 'on our mind,' but we have lit-
tle motivation to say something truly
self-reflective." Thirty minutes is
long enough to allow for meaningful
reflection, but not so long that there
isn't enough time to finish homework
or socialize with friends. Everyone
can find 30 free minutes in their day
if they cut out some time devoted to
using Facebook or surfing the Inter-
net. Introverts can silently reflect
on their own, while extroverts can
reflect aloud with their friends.
Engaging in this type of reflection
has been extremely valuable for me
throughout the past few days because

it has helped me begin to piece
together a broad conceptual frame-
work for my own life and the world
as a whole. Particularly during the
school yearwe get so preoccupied
with due dates and socializing that
we become completely consumed by
the situations immediately affecting
our lives. As a result, many ofus don't
frequently think deeply about our
greatest life ambitions, the current
state of our world or the world we
would like to see.
The process of reflecting on this
large framework is like writing a
paper for class. As I write, I frequent-
ly stop and ask myself one simple
question: "What is the point of my
paper?" After I'm able to mentally
summarize the entire paper in one
or two short sentences, the writ-
ing process becomes much easier.
Everything else - body paragraphs,
specific points, individual quotes - is
simply supporting evidence that fits
into the overarching framework of
my paper.
Obviously, life is much more com-
plicated and inherently contradic-
tory than a paper's thesis statement.
But we can still come up with some
basic framework for our lives. Do
we want to bring people joy? Do we
want to fight social inequalities? Do
we want to push the boundaries of
existingknowledgeWhen we reflect
and come up with some kind of over-
arching framework for our lives
- even if it's imperfect - decisions
that used to be much more difficult
simply become supporting evidence:
career choices, lifestyle choices, class
choices and so on. As a result, the
process of evaluating our own lives
and the world around us becomes a
little easier. And it isn't good enough
to conceptualize this framework only
a handful of times every year. Like
in classes, constant repetition and
re-evaluation is crucial for remem-
bering and understanding our life

philosophy on a deep level.
But we shouldn't reflect on just
our own lives every day. We also
need to think about how the world as
a whole appears to us - and what we
want the world to look like. Is there
too much inequality in our society?
Do we want a well-educated citi-
zenry? Do we want vitriol or civility
to dominate our political discourse?
Set aside 30
minutes for
clarity and
perspective.

We don't need to come up with
the answers to all of our questions
in one day. But we need to be think-
ing about these kinds of questions
every day. Reflection gives us a clar-
ity of mind and purpose that can
easily be lost in the immediacy and
constant distractions of 21st-cen-
tury life. If we consistently remind
ourselves of our evolving, matur-
ing perspective on our lives and the
world, we'll be able to use our limit-
ed time much more effectively and
our experiences will be even more
fulfilling. With a broad framework
in mind, we actively steer our lives
- and the world around us - in the
direction we want, instead of sim-
ply being dragged along.
This school year has just begun.
Let's take some time to reflect on
where we've been, where we are
right now and where we're going
- even if we can't figure it out in
a day. Facebook can be remain un-
checked for a few more minutes.
- Michael Spaeth can be
reached at micspa@umich.edu.

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@TheFiscalTimes North Quad is one
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Have you ever tried to get a seat at
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#DormLife
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-@michdailyoped

University has robust mental health
resources availablefor students
TO THE DAILY:
As representatives of the Department of Psychiatry
and the Psychiatric Services at the University of Mich-
igan Health System, we applaud The Michigan Daily
for publishing Kaitlin Williams' personal statement,
"I struggle with mental illness" on Sep. 3, 2012. We
want to respond directly to Kaitlin and everyone who
understands how she feels.
Thank you, Kaitlin, for having the courage to share
your story. While Psychiatric Emergency Services
(PES) and other services on campus don't always get it

right the first time, we do our best to try to get the right
help to the right person at the right time. We know, as
you are learning, that there are treatments that work,
and that those who struggle with depression and other
mental illnesses do not need to suffer.
We are always here to help you and everyone who
reads and resonates with your message. Call 734-936-
5900 at any time, or just come to the main emergency
entrance of University Hospital on East Medical Cen-
ter Drive.
Gregory Dalack, Rachel Glick and John Kettley
Chair of Department of Psychiatry, Medical Director,
PES and Clinical Director, PES

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