The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com v r Monday, November 26, 2012 - 5A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycomW S Monday, November 26, 2012 - 5A UMHS From Page 1A Martoma, a portfolio manager at CR Intrinsic, a unit of the SAC Advisors hedge fund. Officials at POT From Page 1A Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo and Flint - voted to decriminalize marijuana in various capacities. In the city of Ann Arbor, pos- session of marijuana is decrimi- nalized and punishable with a $25 fine, with no jail or proba- tion. However, University Police enforce state law on campus property. State law regards pos- session of marijuana as a misde- meanor, punishable by one year in jail and up to $2,00 in fines. Most recently, the Commit- tee for a Safer Michigan, a group pushing for legalization, started a petition to put a proposal on the 2012 state ballot to legalize mari- juana. Though the group collect- ed 50,000 signatures, it fell short of the about 323,000 required for a ballot proposal. Thomas Levine, an attorney with Cannabis Council and direc- tor of the committee, said the main reason the campaign failed was due to a lack of funds, as opposed to lack of interest. "I don't-think it was a sign that people were not ready for this - it was just a matter of being able to pay petitioners so we're going to be revisiting this in 2016 and we're going to be raising money between now and then," Levine said. However, Michael Traugott, a political science and commu- nications professor, pointed out that the unwillingness of voters to amend the state's constitution in other policy areas in the recent election, in which all six ballot proposals were defeated, may show that voters have trepidation with altering the document. "I don't think that given the outcome of the 2012 election, that many people are going to be willing to amend the state consti- tution to allow the sale of mari- juana," Traugott said. While some college students have expressed excitement about the possible legalization of the popular drug, Traugott said Michiganders shouldn't expect to see much progress on the drug's legalization anytime soon. "I think the progress on this is going to be very slow given that the federal government still objects to legalizing marijuana for general consumption," Trau- gott said. State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) also presumed that a more likely path for marijuana legal- ization is through citizen peti- tion and local initiatives, though he noted it's an issue he would be willing to discuss within the state Legislature. LSA-SG From Page 1A elections are focused on receiving abroad range of ideas from a spec- trum of new members. She added that only one representative is seeking re-election, though many of the candidates have already served appointed positions. "This is an extremely good thing, to be able to get fresh ideas and fresh voices," Burns said. LSA-SG is working on increas- ingawarenessregardingitspolicies and creating improved platforms for student discussion, including town hall meetings for students to voice their ideas. Building a Bet- ter Michigan - a student group partially comprised of members of LSA-SG dedicated to improving campus facilities - is holding the first such gathering on Dec. 6. Burns added that future town halls would deal with campus pol- icies such as medical amnesty - whichgrants studentsunder21the ability to seek medical assistance for themselves or an intoxicated friend without receiving a minor the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission have deemed it the largest insider trading scheme ever caught by federal authorities. Gilman signed a non-prosecu- tion agreement with prosecutors and has agreed to cede $234,000 "I'm certainly willing to talk about improving our marijuana laws ... and willing to bring those ideas to (the) Legislature," Irwin said. "But do I think there's going to be a majority of legislatures who are going to support that move in the short term? Probably not ... I think by and large politi- cians ... don't want to take on con- troversial issues." Irwin said he supports legal- ization because he feels it could lead to a long-term reduction in drug usage as a result of proper regulation and education on the drug, alluding to the success in reduction of smoking in America. "If you look at cigarettes over the last 30 to 50 years, you now see cigarette use has declined pretty precipitously because of a concerted information campaign to communicate with people what the dangers are of tobacco use," he said. "Look at how much more successful that strategy has been in terms of reducingtobacco use than for instance the drug war has been in reducing mari- juana use." On the federal level, President Barack Obama has previously stated that he has no intention of legalizing the drug. The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy maintains that use of pot is harmful, and that its legalization would increase use, encumber the criminal justice system and fail to increase tax revenue because of higher social costs. At the heart of some state struggles to legalize marijuana is the constitutional dilemma that would put state law at odds with federal law, making the status of the popular street drug fairly murky. Experts say that until the federal government takes on the controversial issue, states and municipalities will face difficul- ties in enforcement. The confusion is rooted in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court deci- sion in Gonzales v. Raich that ruled that, by the power of the commerce clause of the U.S. Con- stitution, federal officials have the power to enforce federal mar- ijuana laws even if it is considered legal locally. Public Policy lecturer Craig Ruff said the decision in Gonzales v. Raich has created a headache for prosecutors and law enforce- ment officials as they try to rec- oncile the chnging local policies with the federal interventions. "A local policeman in Seattle could avert his or her eyes from seeing someone smoke mari- juana on the street, (but) on the other hand there could be a Drug Enforcement Agency official standing right next to the city cop and the DEA official says 'Oh I'm in possession charge - and the University's sexual misconduct policy. A draft of revised protocols was released in October, and fol- lows requirements established by the U.S. Department of Education requiring that colleges instigate investigations of reported acts of sexual misconduct, as well as lower their burden of proof. The platforms of LSA-SG can- didates indicate that some of the issues important to future repre- sentatives include increasing the quota of printing pages for LSA students and making more classes from other University colleges available to LSA students. The election ballot also asks three questions of voters, which include whether or not ROTC stu- dents should be allowed to regis- ter early, whether the LSA Course Guide should allow students to search for classes scheduled dur- ing a particular time slot. It'll also ask students ifthey'reaware of the state of Michigan's adaptation of the Medical Amnesty Act. Burns said LSA-SG will use the responses of students to fuel future project development. toward settling the case. His lawyer, Marc Mukasey, acknowl- edged that he will be cooperating with prosecutors and the SEC. Daily News Editor Adam Rubenfire contributed to this report. doing to arrest him,"' Ruff said. This ability of the federal gov- ernment to intervene also applies to the Michigan Marijuana Act of 2008, which allows use of the drug for medicinal purposes. Ruff said even with this limited law, state and local officials have found that enforcement and regu- lation is challenging. Opinions on marijuana reform are somewhat divided along par- tisan lines, with 53 percent of Democrats, 30 percent of Repub- licans and 49 percent of Inde- pendents supporting the drug's legalization, accordingto the Pew Research Center "There is a partisan divide ... but it's also a cultural divide," Ruff said. "People who are very religious, many of whom live in rural areas ... are very concerned that marijuana could lead to poor health behavior and could lead to a person being tempted by other harder drugs." Ruff noted there is also divide in support among demograph- ics and geographic areas. Ruff explained that urban areas are generally more favorable to the legalization, partly due to greater exposure to the drug. "The fact that crime is higher in cities makes a lot of urban resi- dents say 'Why are we wasting precious law enforcement dollars chasing after people who are, you know, smoking one cigarette a day of marijuana when in fact we have rapists and murderers and robbers on our streets?"'he said. Yashinsky said opinions inAnn Arbor, East Lansing and other college towns with a high popula- tion of youth voters are not rep- resentative of the views in other parts of the state, adding that in neighboring Oakland County, elected officials are resisting the Medical MarijuanaAct of 2008. "You'd be surprised if you never made it out here (to Oak- land County) and spent your time in Lansing or Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti or Grand Rapids even where you're used to seeing some dispensaries there's nothing like that here ... I think that's indica- tive of the social aspect." Yashin- sky said. Ruff also pointed to a clear age gap, with the majority of the younger generations supporting legalization and retirees gener- ally opposing it. Yashinsy said the dispropor- tionate influence older residents have on politicians given their heightened tendency to donate to campaigns contributes to the resistance some politicians have taken to the issue. "People who get the ear of their congressman are by and large the people that are over 65," Yashin- sky said. "A lot of times administrators don't respond to student initia- tives alone, and they want to see the data behind it," Burns said. "We hope to get a lot of student response." LSA sophomore Kendall John- son, the candidate running for re-election, came up with the idea last year to hold student debates for prospective candidates. She said despite low attendance, this year's debate was "a great oppor- tunity for constituents to let students know what they are pas- sionate about and what they are running for." Johnson also emphasized the importance of increasing student involvement during elections, including getting students to LSA- SG events in order to increase voter turnout. "I just hope that we can con- tinue to be all that we can be and continue to represent the students and make changes to them that are beneficial," Johnson said. "I hope that (LSA) SG continues to keep its name out there to make collaborations and grow as an organization.", UNFINISHED From Page 1A came against teams who posted a combined 40-56 record. The Wolverines were favored in all of their victories, they were the underdog in every loss. So, simply put, Michigan performed to expectations. But that doesn't leave anyone feeling better. Team 133 had four chances to make a state- ment. They couldn't make a single one; they couldn't beat any team worth its salt, save the miracle victory over North- western. Things could have gone much differently. Two plays either way could have seen Michigan finish at 10-2 or 6-6. Last-second vic- tories over Michigan State and Northwestern could just as easily have been losses. And then there were inju- ries. Standout cornerback Blake Countess was knocked out of the season opener with a knee injury and never returned. Redshirt junior tailback Fitzgerald Tous- saint missed the last game of the season after injuring his left leg against Iowa. Senior quarterback Denard Robinson sustained an ulnar-nerve injury against Nebraska and never threw another pass. He scampered for a 67-yard touchdown in Columbus CSG From Page 1A bylaws and CSG's governing documents in its attempt to put the question on the ballot, in addition to other more general violations. The non-binding ballot ques- tion asks if graduate students would like RSG and other graduate student organizations to look into the possibility of seceding from CSG. However, if such a vote does occur, it's unlikely the results will imme- diately be made public. CSG represents every stu- dent on campus, and individual schools and colleges have their own student governments. In September, RSG voted to cre- ate an exploratory committee to investigate student interest in graduate student secession from CSG. At the time, RSG president Michael Benson said an all- graduate student government, which would split the represen- tation of more than 40,000 stu- dents on campus into two major student governments, could also resultinthe splitting of the $7.19 student fee that students pays each semester. Secession could result in CSG losing hundreds of thousands of dollars it typically receives annually. CSG alleges in its suit that RSG - which submitted the question on Nov. 15, 12 days before the start of the election - did not follow its own rules or CSG's rules for when a ballot question needs to be submitted for inclusion on the ballot. According to the CSG Com- piled Code segments cited in the suit, ballot questions must be submitted 25 days prior to the election and the RSG bylaws cited in the suit state that ballot questions must be sent 14 days prior to an election. "Twelve days is simply not enough time for adequate cam- paigning to take place," the suit states. "Furthermore, this smoke and mirrors approach by the RSG board to place the lan- guage on the ballot on its first read, while violating the dead- lines, almost amounts to elec- tion fraud." CSJ chief justice Ryan Ger- sovitz, a University Law School student, said in an interview Saturday that discussion of the injunction is speculative at this point, but if CSJ isn't able to ren- der a decision by the time the election commences, the results of the poll could be withheld pending CSJ's decision. "We'll probably talk with the parties and figure out the best thing to do," Gersovitz said. "I on Saturday, his first touchdown in 355 minutes of game time - to recap, Robinson, whose 91 touch- downs are a Michigan record, wentjust eight minutes short of not scoring for half a season. But maybe performingto expectations wasn't so bad. What if Michigan just isn't built yet to compete with the nation's elite? Perhaps the Wolverines, by coming within a touchdown of beating teams like Ohio State and Notre Dame - and even Nebraska, with a healthy Robin- son - were outperformingtheir talent level. Now, no one inside Schem- bechler Hall will agree with that. But look at this. Alabama's offensive line and entire defen- sive corps is NFL-bound. Notre Dame has future top-20 draft picks like Heisman Trophy- candidate Manti Te'o. Ohio ~ State, Nebraska? They're simply more talented from top to bot- tom, though there certainly are outliers. Who from Michigan's senior class will hear his name called in the NFLdraft? Robinson, surely, though who knows when or at what position. Jordan Kovacs? Will Campbell? Roy Roundtree? Kenny Demens? There are plenty of guys who might well geta tryout with an NFL team next summer, but the only surefire draft pick in this can only speculate, but maybe that would just mean that instead of enjoining (the ques- tion) being on the ballot, we would enjoin the release of the results until after so thatrway we could have the hearing on Tues- day or Wednesday for instance, which would give Rackham a little more time to prepare." Gersovitz said withhold- ing the results of a vote would ensure that if CSJ sides with RSG, midterm ballot results would still include responses to the ballot question, rather than removing the question entirely and delaying a vote until next semester. He added that if CSJ sided with CSG, it would most likely state that the question wasn't "properly" put on the ballot, and RSG would likely alter the question for next semester's ballot. Still, Gersovitz stressed that this case has no bearing on whether or not graduate stu- dents will able to secede. "None of these claims are say- ing that Rackham can't secede," Gersovitz said. CSJ is only scheduled to have a closed-door meeting on Monday, but Gersovitz said the group isn't planning on schedul- ing the hearings at that time. "Part of it will be (dependent on) how prepared the Rackham Student Government is," Gerso- vitz said. "If the Rackham Stu- dent Government is ready and prepared to go ASAP, then CSJ will as well, but we haven't got- ten a chance to get in touch with them." On Saturday night, Benson declined to comment on wheth- er or not RSG would able to respond to the suit by Monday, noting he still has to contact other members of the RSG exec- utive board. At its Nov. 15 meeting, RSG unanimously approved the inclusion of the secession ques- tion on the ballot. RSG also held a vote to endorse voting "yes" on the question, and the resolu- tion to endorse the question was voted down. "That was defeated, with the argument being as the sponsors of the election we wantto keepa neutral approach to the student body as an organization and let the students make up their own minds," Benson said. "The ques- tion itself, the ballot question, was approved unanimously." Benson said as of Saturday nightthat he hasn't yet received any communication from CSG or CSJ other than an e-mail regarding the injunction to CSJ. "We're the respondents in this so I think we'll certainly hear from CSJ (Sunday) or Mon- day, but I haven't received an senior class is a quarterback who certainly won't play quar- terback at the next level. That's not to take anything away from the talent on Michi- gan's roster, it's to emphasize the caliber of opponents the Wolverines battled against - and lost to. In two years, the talent level on the Wolverinesideline will be different, vastly different. Though Michigan coach Brady Hoke's metric for success - a Big Ten championship - won't necessarily change, perform- ing to expectations will look different. Then we'll be able to adequately judge the Michigan coaching staff for how it has shaped the team. If Michigan lost these same four games two years from now, then there would be reason to panic. Not now. Not yet. Is 8-4 a disappointing record? Sure it is. It always will be at Michigan. But each loss was a legitimate loss. Michigan didn't give away any game, per se, it just didn't steal any ban- ner matchups either. They had every opportunity to beat the best, but they're not quite there. Not yet. Nesbitt can be reached stnesbitt@umich.edu or on Twitter at @stephenjnesbitt e-mail from them," he said. Though CSG filed the injunc- tion six days before the election, Law School student Jeremy Keeney, chair of the CSG rules committee, said the filing was not done out of malice. "We could've waited until Sunday, but we did have every- thing ready to go by Wednesday and we wanted to make sure that both the Rackham Student Government and the CSJ had enough time to thoroughly read through all of the complaints and respond to them so that RSG has a fair shot at this," Kee- ney said. He added: "We're not trying to do anything under the cover of darkness. We want to make sure everyone's on the same page here and hoving forward." Gersovitz said this hearing would be different from the court proceedings that lasted for 12 hours, severely delaying the election last March. Though RSG sent the ques- tion 12 days before the start of the election, the election is described as taking place on Nov. 27 through 29 in the suit, meaning that RSG sent the question 14 days before the end of the election. The lan- guage in RSG's bylaws cited by the suit does not make clear at what point in the election bal- lot questions need to be submit- ted 14 days before. While RSG would still be in violation of the CSG Compiled Code, the suit does concede that "CSG has plenary authority to regulate the petition deadline." The suit also alleges other violations unrelated to the ques- tion's filing date. It argues that RSG has parts of it bylaws at odds with the governing docu- ments of CSG and that consis- tently vacant seats in the CSG assembly set aside for Rackham students is a violation of the University of Michigan Student Body Constitution. LSA junior Lukas Garske - who had been working on the issue with members of the CSG executive board, including Law School student Jeremy Kee- ney, Business junior Michael Proppe, the assembly chair, and Rackham representative Patrick O'Mahen - said the injunction was a response to these viola- tions, not to RSG's intentions. "We're not trying to dis- qualify them on any technicali- ties here," Garske said. "There's multiple violations - they've modified their constitution in an attempt to gain supremacy over the all-campus constitu- tion; they've failed.to collabo- rate with CSG by failing to fill the Rackham seats on Central Student Government." DON'T WANT TO WRITE A PAPER? ARTICLES ARE MUCH MORE FUN. E-MAIL RAYZAG@MICHIGANDAILY.COM TO JOIN US.