The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - 7A
BUSH
From Page 1A
ter."
However, the brother of former
U.S. president George W. Bush
and the son of former president
George H. W. Bush stressed the
importance of limiting criticism
to policies, not people.
"I've had a front row seat
watching presidents and I don't
like it when they attacked my
brother, I don't like it when they
attacked my dad," Bush said.
"Campaigns should be about big
things and big ideas. I don't like it
when we personalize it and trivi-
alize it."
Bush also criticized several
tenets of the president's econom-
ic policy and contrasted him with
Romney, whom Bush said has
much needed business acumen.
"Mitt Romney was made for
SEPT. 11
From Page 1A
Jankowski said the purpose of
the event was to honor the vic-
tims in an apolitical atmosphere,
even though the Republicans
sponsored the event.
"This event is supposed to be
non-partisan, it's not about any
human division that we have, so
it shouldn't be about our political
affiliation, race or our gender or
anything like that," Jankowski
said. "We're all Americans and
we're all affected by it."
LSA senior Sarah Huston, a
naval ROTC member who also
contributed to planning the
event, said she was impressed
with the level of support the
event received from students
and the ROTC in the past two
years.
POSITIONS
From Page 1A
means they will have to be offi-
cially approved next week, as
an effort to prevent any further
postponements in student gov-
ernment business and provide an
additional week to vet the nomi-
nees.
"What that means is that we
will be approving this person
for one week to give the execu-
tive nominations committee
more time to write their recom-
mendation," he said. "(But) that
will allow these people to begin
their work right away."
Parikh added that CSG's lack
of an executive board made it
difficult to reach out to stu-
dents, particularly freshmen,
during Welcome Week. Howev-
er, he said CSG will continue to
make an effort to connect with
students they missed now that
the positions have been appoint-
ed.
"I think through our social
media efforts and our new
engagement strategies we'll
make up on all that lost time," he
said.
Parikh said he felt strongly
about the qualifications of the
nominees, and Osborn and Han
spoke to the assembly about their
candidacies. Kibler had a written
statement read aloud, as he was
not able to attend the meeting.
Two other executive positions,
chief programming officer and
this job," he said. "He's a practical
man; he's actually done things in
the real world."
Bush said specifically the argu-
ment surrounding wealth distri-
bution is flawed.
"The debate shouldn't be that
we want to redistribute wealth.
The debate ought to be how do
you create a climate where more
prosperity and more wealth is
created where everybody has a
chance to be successful," Bush
said.
He warned attendees that
increasing the government's debt
and continuing to borrow from
countries such as China would
lead to hyperinflation and high
interest rates, crippling America's
future leaders.
"It is possible for the first time
in American history, the next
generation will have less oppor-
tunities than what was afforded
the previous one," he said. "I
know that you all know that that's
not the kind of America that we
want."
He added that the Obama
administration has made it chal-
lenging for Americans to success
through unnecessary regula-
tions and the implementation of
policies that fail to encourage
growth.
"The rest of the world is not
nearly as complacent as we are,"
Bush said. "And it's time to have
political leaders that lift our spir-
its up and bring the energy and
vitality to making policy so that
we can restore American great-
ness."
He ended the 10-minute
speech by urging volunteers and
supporters to continue cam-
paigning for the final two months
of the presidential election.
"This is going to be a close elec-
tion," he said. "Michigan is going
to be a close election."
"S wasn't sure how the dona-
tions were going to go over and
it actually went over really well,"
Huston said. "We raised a couple
hundred dollars last year, and a
lot of it was students. They've
been very supportive and it's
nice to see that."
Huston added that about
half of her battalion visited the
memorial over the course of the
day to assist with the event and
pay their respects.
LSA junior Russ Hayes, the
internal vice chair of the College
Republicans, said the vigil was
designed as a time for individual
consideration of the attacks and
the people they influenced.
"I've seen a lot of folks stand-
ing and reflecting and I think
that's the important thing,"
Hayes said. "It's a great opportu-
nity to remember."
LSA senior Talia Horwitz
visited the memorial on her
way to class during the day and
returned for the vigil Tues-
day night. She said the display
inspired her to give more con-
sideration to those who were and
are still influenced by the events
of 9/11.
"I've never really taken a
moment to think about who has
been affected, but right now I
want to take that time to reflect,"
Horwitz said.
LSA sophomore John Borger,
an Army ROTC member, attend-
ed the vigil Tuesday night. He
said it was an important time to
show appreciation for members
of the U.S. military who still
serve overseas.
"It's important for us to
remember what we all woke to
that morning, what the soldiers
sacrifice for us day in and day
out," Borger said.
VOTER ID
From Page1A
times, votes as someone else or
votes despite knowing that he or
she is ineligible.
Fred Woodhams, a spokesman
for the Secretary of State, said
the ID requirement has helped
non-citizens confused by elec-
tion laws avoid deportation by
restricting them from breaking
U.S. law by voting.
Woodhams referenced a
Kalamazoo man who allegedly
ran into difficulty obtaining U.S.
citizenship because he illegally
voted in the past. He cited such
examples as part of the reasoning
for the push for the citizenship
question.
"Non-citizens who cast a ballot
can face serious legal problems,
including deportation," Wood-
hamssaid. "At the very least it will
cause problems if they ever decide
to become naturalized citizens."
He noted that the absentee
law vetoed by Snyder would have
made election laws more consis-
tent.
"We know that there were
some non-citizens that registered
to vote, and these people may not
be aware that they're not legally
able to cast a ballot in Michigan,"
Woodhams said. "The (citizen-
ship) check box is a simple way
to make sure everyone is aware
of what the state and federal laws
are."
Opponents of stricter voting
laws, including Robert McCann,
a spokesman for Michigan Sen-
ate Democrats, say stricter ID
requirements will adversely dis-
enfranchise minorities and the
poorbecause theydo nothave the
resources to obtain valid photo
identification.
"The voter ID laws being
pushed by Secretary of State Ruth
Johnson and legislative Republi-
cans are based solely on a political
agenda, not some phony altruistic
goal of fighting election fraud,"
McCann wrote in a statement.
McCann added that he believes
the lawswould do little to combat
voter fraud in the state.
"These laws are written and
lobbied for by extreme special
interest groups across the coun-
try who have no shame about
taking away our most fundamen-
tal right to vote in order to fulfill
their political agenda," he wrote.
"Thankfully court after court
has ruled them unconstitutional
along the way."
However, Woodhams dis-
missed the notion that the laws
would disenfranchise voters and
said the citizenship box is a "very
simple, easy to answer question."
"It's a simple yes or no ques-
tion. People certainly know if
they're a United States citizen or
not," Woodhams said. "It's not at
all confusing to anyone. The only
people that are affectedby this are
people who should not be voting."
Twelve states have passed
stricter identification laws since
2011 alone, according to the
National Conference of State
Legislatures. Pennsylvania's Act
18 was recently thrust into the
national spotlight for being con-
sidered by some organizations,
including the National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Col-
ored People, as especially harsh.
Under the law, Pennsylva-
nia voters must present a valid
driver's license, military ID, col-
lege ID, a local or county govern-
ment employee ID or a photo ID
from a state health care facility.
In addition, a valid ID must have
an expiration date, a feature some
universities do not include on
their cards.
Pennsylvania's law was chal-
lenged in court in August, but was
ultimately upheld. It will be tried
in front of the state's Supreme
Court on Thursday.
The Brennan Center for Jus-
tice, a non-partisan public policy
and law institute at the New
York University School of Law,
reported that as much as 10
percent of the nation's popula-
tion does not have, and will not
receive, the necessary documen-
tation needed to vote under new,
more restrictive laws, such as the
Pennsylvania statute. In some
minority groups, that percentage
is believed to be even higher.
Additionally, News21, a stu-
dent-journalism initiative at
Arizona State University's jour-
nalism school, released a study
in August that found voter fraud
investigations often find little evi-
dence of actual fraud.
The study found just 10 inci-
dents of voter impersonation,
which indicates that fraud might
occur once for every 15 million
voters.
News21 did note, however,.
that absentee voter fraud is much
more common than voter imper-
sonation fraud. Among absentee
ballots analyzed, 491 cases were
identified as fraudulent.
Voter fraud and identification
laws have become divisive issues
in this year's presidential elec-
tion. LSA junior Alexandra Brill,
chair of the University's chapter
of College Democrats, said the
group believes it's important that
all citizens are able to cast their
ballot for the candidate of their
choice.
"We applaud Governor Sny-
der's decision to veto this year's
repressive voter-ID laws in Mich-
igan and fear that other states'
recent efforts to pass similar
bills would prevent citizens from
exercising their right to vote,"
Brill said.
LSA junior Russ Hayes, the
internal vice chair of the Uni-
versity's chapter of College
Republicans, wrote in an e-mail
interview that voter identifica-
tion is an issue that transcends
party politics. However, he noted
many opponents fail to see the
importance of stricter policies
in ensuring legitimacy in the
upcoming election.
"As evidenced by the Gover-
nor's veto of this summer's voter
ID measure, people on both sides
of the aisle have fair disagree-
ments on a.divisive issue," Hayes
wrote. "What we do know is that
you need a photo ID to drive, go
through airport security, and get
into Costco. To paint support for
reasonable photo ID laws as sup-
port for voter suppression goes a
little overboard - what it really is
is concern about the integrity and
validity of our elections."
student general counsel, have yet
to be filled.
In addition to nominating
executive positions, the assembly
also voted on the chair and vice-
chair positions of the resolutions
committee and the ethics com-
mittee.
LSA senior Andrea Alajbe-
govic of OurMichigan defeated
LSA"sophomore Sarah Goomar
of youMICH for the vice chair
position on the executive nomi-
nations committee in the semes-
ter's first competitive election for
a committee position.
Business from last spring's
election was discussed yet again
as the assembly resolved stale-
mates for assembly represen-
tative seats in the Rackham
Graduate School and the Taub-
man College of Architecture and
Urban Planning.
When none of the students
involved in either tie attended to
indicate their interest in holding
an assembly position, the seats
were declared vacant.
A second Rackham assembly
seat was also made vacant after
Jennifer Dibbern resigned from
her position as the vice chair of
the executive nominations com-
mittee and as assembly represen-
tative.
According to fellow Rack-
ham student and representative
Patrick O'Mahen, a former col-
umnist for The Michigan Daily,
Dibbern is no longer a student at
the University.
Dibbern, a two-term represen-
tative, was previously dismissed
from her position as a Graduate
Student Research Assistant in
the College of Engineering last
fall, before changing her academ-
ic discipline.
The Graduate Employees
Organization, the union for
graduate student instructors and
graduate student staff assistants
at the University, organized a
rally and press conference in
January alleging that Dibbern
was dismissed due to her involve-
ment in GEO.
While two of the 10 Rackham
representative seats have been
declared vacant, O'Mahen said
only two Rackham representa-
tives attend meetings and just
three Rackham students regis-
tered to run for the open seats in
the March 2012 elections.
While six of Rackham's repre-
sentatives do not go to meetings,
their seats have not been vacated,
which raises the number of rep-
resentatives required to meet
quorum - defined as half the
number of standing representa-
tives. If the seats are not vacated
soon, the assembly could have
difficulties making quorum and
holding meetings.
In an interview after the
meeting, CSG assembly speak-
er Michael Proppe, a Business
junior, said in the upcoming
weeks the assembly will look
to vacate assembly seats whose
holders do not attend meetings.
Proppe added that currently,
several Rackham representa-
tives have already acquired eight
absences and they will be eligible
for removal by accruing four
more.
Despite a handful of early
vacancies and soon-to-be vacan-
cies, Proppe said he was con-
fident that attaining quorum
would not be a problem this
year. He added that representa-
tives who have already missed
meetings have typically been in
contact with him regarding the
absences.
VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS CURRENTLY IN EFFECT
NON
PHOTO
RUSH PSI U RUSH PSI U
OPEN HOUSE
Today Wednesday, September 12, 7-10 p.m.
FOOTBALL SUNDAY
(open house)
September 16, 12N-5 p.m.
1000 Hill Street
RUSH PSI U RUSH PSI U
PHYSICS
From Page 1A
He explained that while his
second project wasn't ideal, he
still had enjoyed his experience
traveling to China.
"The techniques I learned for
electron microscopywere all new
to me, too," he said.
LSA junior Mary Hemmeter
also traveled to Hefei, where she
researched String Theory, an idea
based on the notion that elemen-
tary particles, such as electrons,
exist as one-dimensional, oscil-
lating objects, like the strings of
aguitar.
Though Hemmeter did not
face equipment struggles while
researching, she said she strug-
gled to keep up with the gradu-
ate-level work in the program as
an undergraduate student.
"They didn't really have a proj-
ect for someone at my level," she
said. "And I would ask for help,
but the professor wasn't always
available."
She added that the graduate
students were friendly, but often
had poor English skills or didn't
know enough about String The-
ory to help her. Despite her diffi-
culties, she said she still enjoyed
her visit to China.
"I didn't get a good 'research'
experience, but I did learn
things," Hemmeter said.
She added that the additional
activities provided by the Uni-
versity particularly added to her
experience. Hemmeter chose to
partake in optional Mandarin
classes and also enjoyed travel-
ing to places such as the Huang-
shan Mountains in eastern
China.
Wagner and Hemmeter agreed
that transportation within China
was challenging, and both resort-
ed to taking pictures of Chinese
characters to communicate their
desired destinations to taxi driv-
ers.
While the students experi-
enced difficulties with their
research projects, Hemmeter
said she was satisfied with the
program as a whole.
"I think it's worth doing," she
said.
LIKE THE DAILY? THINK YOU CAN
MAKE US BETTER?
JOIN US.
COME TO OUR NEXT MASS MEETING
TONIGHT!
7:30 P.M. AT 420 MAYNARD ST.
seniors, set up your future now!
Work for Peace Corps, then get
financial assistance from grad schools.
Apply by September 30th
peacecorps.gov/apply
campus Office: 734.647.2182 or peace.corps@umich.edu
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