4A - Wednesday, September 19, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4A - Wednesday, September19, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com 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. FRtM TPED lY Conveniently healthy A farmers market on campus is beneficial for all reshmen will find the dreaded "Freshman 15" hard to avoid when self-serve ice cream and cookies are read- ily available in dining halls. Step outside of the resi- dence halls, and fast food chains can be found at every turn. Central Student Government has taken major steps to provide students with nutritious options for food by organizing their very own farmer's market on campus. As students struggle to seek out healthy food options, the convenience and accessi- bility of CSG's farmer's market is a positive initiative in pro- moting healthy eating and sustainability. Students should take full advantage of this opportunity, and CSG should continue to provide students healthy and affordable alternatives to the typical college diet. On Thursday, Sept. 13, CSG held afarmer's walking distance of central campus - finding market in the Michigan Union's courtyard, a good variety of fresh produce has come to in collaboration with University Unions, Uni- require asbus or car. A central location is espe- versity Catering, University Health System, cially useful for underclassmen. University Housing and Residential Dining The University's farmer's market, along Services. The farmers market offered fruit with their AA counterparts, promotes sus- and vegetables from local Michigan farms and tainability. Produce is from local farmers, also offered cooking displays from University thus less resources are wasted as compared chefs. Students were given free samples and to buying from out-of-state or from other recipes to try on their own while local farm- countries. Teaching students how to cook ers discussed crop challenges and shortages with local produce is a further step toward a to educate students on sustainability. sustainable lifestyle. The farmers market accepted payment with A farmer's market on campus makes Blue Bucks, giving cash-strapped students an healthy eating a realistic option. As stu- opportunity to use their meal plans on natural dents have incredibly busy schedules, fast and unprocessed foods. Blue Bucks are regular- food is sometimes the only option for meals, ly accepted at certain on-campus restaurants so it's good to see students take initiative to such as Panda Express, Wendy's and Taco Bell promote nutritious eating habits. Now that - not exactly the healthiest choices. s the option is available, students should take For lost college students, walking is the advantage of this as much as possible. With primary mode of transportation. Grocery the lifestyle of a college student, sometimes shopping can become somewhat difficult for it's hard to eat healthy, but a campus farmers students without a car. Since the closing of market makes it that much easier for students White Market - the only grocery store within to do so. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Kaan Avdan, Eli Cahan, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Patrick Maillet, Harsha Nahata, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Caroline Syms More than just a minority The events in Libya this past week once again pushed a' minority to the forefront of national dia- logue. Tensions flared in the Middle East as anti-American protests mani- fested in multiple countries. And then, just as the HARSHA news cycle was NAHATA dying down from NAHATA_ this, a Newsweek cover entitled "Muslim Rage" pushed Islam back into the spotlight. On Sunday, Sept. 16, I was at a summit for the Coalition for Tuition Equality. The summit included rep- resentatives from a wide variety of organizations on campus, and CTE took the opportunity to engage us in a dialogue about social justice. We were asked to talk about what social justice means to us and what issues of social justice we notice around campus. When this question came up, one of the girls in my small group - Zeinab Khalil, President of the Muslim Students' Association - made an interesting point. She mentioned that whenever anything Islam-related happened around the world, people automatically expected MSA to comment on it or in some cases condemn it. In many of these instances, the events are far removed from the students involved in MSA - they're happening on the other side of the world. But still MSA was held to a different standard, being treated not just as a student group, but as something more - as some sort of a corporation or coun- try that was obliged to apologize or condemn or respond to huge nation- al and international political events. This really struck me. I under- stand why MSA is in this position. Being a minority, they're ina unique position to have an opinion on these issues that people want to hear. But, at the same time, it seems people are forgetting that there's more to MSA as an organization - there's more to people than their minority status. I'm Indian, and I remember whenever the caste system used to come up in Social Studies or His- tory classes, teachers and classmates would always look to me for a com- ment. Even now, in political discus- sions, whenever South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is mentioned, all heads auto- maticallyturn my way. For some rea- son, I'm expected to have thoughts to share with my peers on all things India-related. The same can be said for the shootings in Wisconsin. While they were a truly tragic event and many Sikh communities took the initia- tive to speak out on their own, many others also were expected to, by the rest of us, simply because they were the minority that was affected. And in many cases minorities do have a unique opinion on cer- tain social and political issues, especially those that affect them more directly. But, that's not to say they have an obligation to talk about these issues every time they come up or even an obligation to be knowledgeable about them. Being a minority is only one part of some- one's identity. We all have varying likes and dislikes and diverse inter- ests. Another student at the CTE dis- cussion, Brock Grosso from Stu- dents Organizing Against Prisons built on this point. He emphasized how the burden of explaining social injustices and educating people about these issues tends to fall on the minorities affected. It's true - we look to those who are disad- vantaged to educate us about the problems and barriers that they face. We expect Muslims to raise awareness about Islamophobia, Sikhs to educate people on hate crimes or Hispanics to fight the immigration battle. Being a minority isn't synony- mous with being the face of an issue. Just because someone comes from a background that has ties to an issue doesn't oblige them to be an expert on the topic by any means. Yes, being of a particular minority gives one a unique perspective on issues that more directly involve that minority. And yes, often minori- ties share a personal connection to certain issues that can't be found among others. Should they share their unique perspective? Absolute- ly. But that doesn't mean they have to be singled out whenever that issue comes up. Being a minority isn't synonymous with being the face of an issue. Awareness of social justice issues and political concerns isn't just the responsibility of the minorities. Regardless of who these issues are impacting, we all have an obligation to be aware of what's happening in our societies and communities. And if we ever want to make progress in solving these issues, we all have to make efforts to engage in learning about them. Minorities do come from back- grounds different from the gen- eral population - that's why they are considered a minority. But we often forget that that's not all they are. Whether it's a racial minority, ethnic, religious or socioeconomic - being a minority is only one char-0 acteristic of identity. And while most minorities don't mind discuss- ing that aspect of their identity, it's not something they should auto- matically be expected to talk about any time an opportunity comes up. - Harsha Nahata can be reached at hnahata@umich.edu. WANT TO JOIN THE MICHIGAN DAILY? There's only two mass meeting left: Tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 19 and Sun- day, Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Learn more about how to apply for each section, and talk with managing editors about the process of becoming a Daily staff member. Votefor 'Change' a the podium Politicians' Speak: Have you heard the now infa- mous "47 percent comment"? Harsha Nahata analyzes what Romney said, and how it affects you. Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium - SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM Smoking ban brings privacy pros and cons into question TO THE DAILY: I read the editorial regarding the smoking ban with interest. No such thing existed when I was a student at Michigan in the 1970s. I began to smoke cigarettes when I was a soph- omore. I managed to quit the New Year's after my son was born in 1984. I've seen the progression from warning labels to the first smoking restricted areas, to smoke-free workplaces, to cities banning smoking in all restaurants, to cities banning smoking altogether. The stance taken by The Michigan Daily is notable for its altruism and for the values that guide the editorial board. Of course, this is the way the world should work. Freedom and choice is better than no freedom and no choice. Self-enforcement is better than peer- enforcement. A world without stigma is better than one with stigma. But, that isn't how the world works. As a nation, we've been struggling with this ques- tion for 50 years, going back to the early '60s when the Surgeon General first publically announced smoking's health risks. We're all educated. And we're all free ... mostly. And smokers behave like addicts. The Daily proposes the expense of dollars and resources in an effort to reduce or elimi- nate smoking, which are designed to affect this voluntary behavior. Hardly seems fair to the non-smokers. And, it won't work. It never has. I only managed to quit when I put myself in a position in which I had no choice. I couldn't smoke. I found the lack of choice to be the only effective means of quitting. Freedom, no mat- ter how precious, was the enemy of the effort. Absent a pricing solution that's beyond our control, forced abstinence may be the only guarantee of achieving the desired result. I think the Daily is asking, or addressing, the wrong question. Isn't the real question one of cost and benefits? Is the societal cost of the ban worth the results? Is that loss of freedom worth the benefits of a smoke-free campus? I think that's the only question, because the voluntary versus non-voluntary question has been settled. All laws that restrict our freedoms should be viewed in this light. Consider laws that restrict drinking, freedom of speech, mari- juana consumption or cigarettes. As a society, we must place a very high value on personal freedom and only enact laws that restrict those freedoms when the benefits are clear and well-articulated. Only then are we able to makea decision based on the principles of a free democracy. Is the cost of the ban worth the expected benefits? Tough question. Jim Bush 1978 University alum We've been in school for two weeks now, and the initial excitement that accompanies coming to Ann Arbor for anoth- er school year is beginning to be tempered by the reality of school. Even in the short time E since school started, we've FERGUSON all undoubtedly heard about the impending presidential election. Elections always bring an air of excitement to the fall season, but this specific election is particularly important and relevant to college students. Nov. 6, 2012 will be our opportunity to exercise a right that people all over the world have died for and continue to fight for. It's the time we have a voice in choosing who will hold what is arguably the most powerful office in the world; it's our chance to point the country in a direction of our choosing. For the first time in our lives, we will be able to exercise one of the most fun- damental rights guaranteed by the American system - the rightto vote. In this country, voting isn't just "pretty much a big deal"- it's prob- ably the biggest deal regarding gov- ernance that Americans have ever received. Every few years, Ameri- can citizens have the option of kicking out the sitting members of legislature and the chief executive and installing other people in their places using votes. Such a regular transfer of power, controlled by the citizenry, simply doesn't exist in many other countries around the world. Our version of democracy extends to the legitimacy of elec- tions as well. Unlike many countries, there is virtually no one saying that our elections are illegitimate. When you vote for a candidate, you are effectively saying that you would rather have that candidate represent you in government than anyone else on the ballot. Every one of these candidates has some kind of framework that specifies how he or she will behave in office. Political parties are a part of that framework, providing a lens for voters to look at candidates through. We therefore have both the person and the party platform to consider when deciding how to cast our vote. Ourvoting sys- tem is designed to result in the elec- tion of officials who are qualified to do their job and represent the largest possible segmentof society. The way our current government and elected representatives have been acting leaves the voters wanting more. Theoretically, our fellow Ameri- cans have elected to office people who represent themselves. If so, why does Romney have so much support as a deficit reducer when he lacks a specific plan to tackle the issues most central to our budget crisis? Why is budget sequestration, a measure that will probably throw our economy into another reces- sion, being discussed by members of Congress as an acceptable or even preferable alternative to budgetary compromise? And why did Obama sign a potentially unconstitutional measure allowing an indefinite detention of Americans on Ameri- can soil? It's imperative that those of us who are new voters keep all aspects of our candidates in mind as we decide who to vote for in this elec- tion, no matter how uncomfortable that may be. We can't change who is on the ticket in November this late in the election season, and as a result, some voters may end up per- ceiving their ballot as a long list of choices between lesser evils. If that situation arises, we, as new voters, should seek compromise by voting for a candidate who represents us better than the other candidates, and in the future help nominate candidates who will do a better job of representing our generation in the government. If you dislike government for any reason, vote to change it. 0 0 Neither presidential campaign is paying attention to this state, since its electoral votes are very likely to go to President Obama. That should be completely irrelevant to voters of any age. Voting isn't just about put- ting someone in the White House for a four-year period. Voting is about having your own voice heard on the local, state and national lev- els of government. If you're a newly eligible voter and having such a voice doesn't appeal to you, think of one thing you dislike about gov- ernment in America. If even one thing comes to your mind, where's the sense in passing up your first opportunity to do something 6 about it? - Eric Ferguson can be reached at ericff@umich.edu. 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. --the 0 web(T)MD: Apple's iOS 6 is avlailable today. Does it actually matter? Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium I pA