4A - Monday, March 18, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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C Michigan 4:3a16'l
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MELANIE KRUVELIS
and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR
ANDREW WEINER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
No pictures should have been sent
around, let alone ever taken."
- Trent Mays, one of the two high school football stars from Steubenville, Ohio who was convicted of
raping a minor, said to the victim and her family, according to The New York Times.
A true badge of honor
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.
Consequential inaction
Congress needs to compromise and pass a budget
ensions in Washington, D.C. continue as the new federal
budget is crafted. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the chairman
of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, again
authored a proposed budget that would drastically lower domestic
spending and, if implemented, could widen income inequality among
Americans. The Obama administration vehemently disagrees with
the GOP's tactics in balancing the budget and prefers limited cuts
and higher taxes. Chances of a compromise look slim with disagree-
ments remaining unresolved at recent meetings. In order to pro-
mote economic growth, Congress should avoid many portions of
the Ryan plan - especially those involving government spending
- as negotiations continue. Most importantly (and perhaps obvi-
ously), the consequences of not passing a budget last year highlight
the need for Congress to pass a full budget.
I
On March 13, University President Mary
Sue Coleman traveled to Capitol Hill to
emphasize the negative effects of the recent
cuts brought about by the automatic spending
cuts called sequestration that are beginning
to take effect. The prospect of the across-the-
board cuts was meant to pressure lawmakers
to compromise on spending cuts - which did
not happen. "I urge Congress and the presi-
dent to come up with an alternative to across-
the-board cuts in the current sequestration,"
she said. The University estimated last month
that sequestration could potentially cost the
school $40 million in research funding. Many
other programs throughout the state and
University face severe threats of defunding in
the coming years as well.
In February, the officials at the White
House estimated each state's expected losses.
Michigan is slated to lose approximately $22
million in primary and secondary education
funding, $5.9 million in environmental fund-
ing and $1.7 million in job-search assistance.
Other programs such as child care, nutrition
assistance for senior citizens, law enforce-
ment, public health and military readiness
are likely to endure cuts under sequestration,
as well.
These predicted impacts hit closer to home
when examining the estimated cuts for the
University of Michigan. According to The
Office of the Vice President for Research, the
federal government supplied Michigan with
67 percent of the college's overall research
budget of $1.24 billion during the 2011-2012
academic year. With no budget compromise in
Congress, the University could prospectively
lose a large chunk of its research funding.
Sequestration will also cut $10 million from a
very integral part of the U-M Health System.
Cuts to work-study and Pell Grant programs
could dramatically harm lower-income stu-
dents. Overall, the cuts have the potential to
drastically change the way the University and
its health system operate inAnn Arbor.
The government will be forced to make
drastic cuts in government spending through-,
out the nation if-a decision is not rea hei.
The massive funding cuts to various federal
programs will affect nearly all U.S. citizens.
Congress and the Obama administration must
immediately reach a compromise to avoid this
possibility. If not, all of us will face large con-
sequences in the coming years.
have a love/hate relationship
with sleep.
During
the week, the
desire to sleep ,
is an enemy that
threatens my
academic suc-
cess. Yet on the
weekends, sleep
is a rejuvenating
force that makes MICHAEL
me feel glad to SPAETH
be alive. I'm cer-
tainly not the
only one who feels this way.
Sleep is our perpetual frenemy,
especially in college. Most of the
time, we think of sleep as a foe to
be conquered. We treat all-nighters
as badges of honor - great victories
of willpower and resilience over
temptation and resignation. Just the
other day, I saw a Facebook status
proudly proclaiming the completion
of a paper at 5 a.m. We believe that
the physical desire to rest and relax
is a sign of personal weakness rather
than a biological necessity.
This mindset extends into the
workplace. As the world moves
at a breakneck pace and the stack
of work grows larger and larger,
people feel a need to "push harder
rather than rest," according to Tony
Schwartz, the chief executive offi-
cer of The Energy Project. Writing
in The New York Times in February,
Schwartz said that the "prevailing
work ethic in most companies" is
that "downtime is typically viewed
as time wasted."
We've come to accept the notion
that in order to accomplish a greater
amount of work, we need more hours
in the day - and to have more hours
in the day, we need to sacrifice more
hours of sleep. However, despite
societal demands to push ourselves
as much as possible, sleep depriva-
tion is terrible for us. A recent study
found that "the activity of hundreds
of genes was altered when people's
sleep was cut to less than six hours
a day for a week," according to the
BBC. Additionally, "heart disease,
diabetes, obesity and poor brain
function have all been linked to sub-
standard sleep" in studies over the
years, theBBC reported.
A lack of sleep is also bad for busi-
ness. As Schwartz noted, "a recent
Harvard study estimated that sleep
deprivation costs American compa-
nies $63.2 billion a year in lost pro-
ductivity."
So how much sleep should we
get? "It seems getting six to eight
hours of sleep everyday probably
confers the least risk of cardiovas-
cular disease over the long term,"
said Rohit Arora, the author of the
study and the chair of cardiology at
Chicago Medical School.
Sooner or later, we have to accept
that we need more sleep than we're
getting right now. Unfortunately, the
frenetic pace of the workplace isn't
going to slow down anytime soon.
One solution to this problem is to
work in 90-minute intervals. "Dur-
ing the day we move from a state of
alertness progressively into physi-
ological fatigue approximately every
90 minutes," Schwartz explained.
He cited research conducted by
Florida" State University Prof. K.
Anders ricsson,-who has found
that "the best (elite) performers
typically practice in uninterrupted
sessions that last no more than 90
minutes. They begin in the morning,
take a break between sessions, and
rarely work for more than four and a
half hours in any given day."
Another solution is to sneak in a
nap during the day. Some employers
actually encourage their employees
to take naps during the workday.
Google's "energy pods" and The
"Sleep makes us more produc-
tive, more creative, less stressed and
much healthier and happier," Ari-
anna Huffington said on The Today
Show. "I grew up thinking that if
you work around the clock, you are
going to be more effective, and I
realize that is not true."
"If you need an extra two hours
sleep, getting a half an hour is good,
and it helps," Dr. Steven Feinsilver
said in the same segment.
I'll admit that it's difficult to get
enough sleep each day. However, if
we aren't getting enough sleep, it
may be a sign that our course loads
are simply too heavy or that we're
involved in too many extracur-
ricular activities. We also might
be spending too much time using
social media and other websites. In
other words, recurring exhaustion
is a sign that we need to better pri-
oritize our schedules and our lives
in general.
We're hurting ourselves by turn-
ing sleep into our adversary. We
need to embrace sleep and recognize
its benefits for our academic success,
health and general well being. A
good night's sleep, not an all-night-
er, is a true badge of honor.
- Michael Spaeth can be
reached at micspa@umich.edu.
Huffington Post's "nap rooms" are
two examples of companies rec-
ognizing the increased productiv-
ity that can come from well-rested
employees.
Sleep is not our
adversary. We
need to embrace it.
0
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Jesse Klein,
Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald,
Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman,Sarah Skaluba,
Michael Spaeth, Luchen Wang, Derek Wolfe
EMMA MANIERE IIVQ T
A discriminatory health policy
On March 14, the Michigan Senate Health
Policy Committee heard testimony regarding
Senate Bill 136, the Religious Liberty and Con-
sciousness Protection Act. If passed, the bill
would "allow a health facility to assertas a mat-
ter of conscience an objection to participating
in a health care service, and decline to partici-
pate in that service." Such objections are most
often issued in relation to abortion care or other
reproductive health services. Associating "con-
science" with not providing a service inherent-
ly neglects the fact that those who do provide
those services may also be ethically driven.
With this bias favoring moral objections over
moral participation, how can this bill really be
about "consciousness protection?" Instead, it's
an ill-begotten maneuver that threatens to sub-
ordinate patient care.
This is not to say that I believe health care
providers should be forced to provide ser-
vices to which they object. In fact, providers
and institutions are already protected by the
Church Amendment. This policy prohibits the
government from requiring health care provid-
ers or institutions to perform or assist in abor-
tion or sterilization procedures against their
moral or religious convictions, and further pro-
tects discriminationagainst such conscientious
objectors. With these basic provisions in place,
the Michigan law seeks to expand protections
from abortion and sterilization services to any
practice, including the removal of a life-sus-
taining device. The bill ensures that providers
who support objections have legal recourse,
extends moral objections to "health care pur-
chasers" and applies to education institutions.
The bill additionally mandates that medi-
cal facilities "adopt and implement a policy to
address situations in which a health provider
had an objection to participating in a health
care service as a matter of conscience." Writ-
ten requests for accommodation and a process
for granting or denying accommodation are
suggested. However, objections will be disre-
garded if a "public health emergency" arises,
no other provider is available to provide the
requested service-or the request is based on the
patient. Of course these stipulations are sub-
jective and are especially relevant to abortion
care, considering that 87 percent of counties in
the United States lack an abortion provider. If a
privately practicing OB/GYN in the upper pen-
insula refuses to provide abortion care and the
nearest clinic is a nine-hour drive away (consid-
ering costs of travel, lodging, taking time off of
work/school and possibly child care), does that
mean that "no other provider was available to
provide that service?"
One way to remedy this problem might be
to offer insurance subsidies to physicians who
practice in rural areas, an incentive offered
in Norway. Another option might be tele-
medication, though House Bill 5711 outlawed
this in Michigan. Finally, though providers
are protected from discrimination, perhaps
the accommodation process should be car-
ried out proportionally to the demand for the
services that would be denied to patients. For
example, the reasons offered for objection
to dispensing birth control by a pharmacist
employed by the only pharmacy in a small,
rural town should be more thoroughly exam-
ined than a pharmacist with a similar view-
point who works in an urban area littered
with options. When opting to decline a ser-
vi, health care providers must reckon with
the ramifications of their decision in order to
ensure patient care is not subordinated.
Finally, I wish to contextualize this bill.
Last year, the bill was dropped after the addi-
tion of an amendment that protected patients
from discrimination based on status - race,
religion, national origin, sex, sexual prefer-
ence, etc. In its current state, SB 136-offers
no comparable definition. Thus, it seems fair
to assume that this bill will be abused as a
mechanism to refuse not only abortion care
and sterilization, but also in-vitro fertiliza-
tion or HIV/AIDS treatment. Not only does
this bill threaten to subordinate patient care,
but, by its very nature, also threatens to per-
mit discrimination.
Emma Maniere is an LSA sophomore.
LAUREL RUZA W
youMICH is back this year with
a platform that focuses on tangible,
achievable goals that will affect the
lives of students on campus. Our
presidential candidate, Business
and LSA junior Michael Proppe, has
served as Central Student Govern-
ment's speaker of the assembly for a
year and is the president of his busi-
ness fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. LSA
sophomore Bobby Dishell, our vice
presidential candidate, has served
as an LSA representative since
November and is the vice president
of recruitment for the Interfrater-
nity Council Executive Board. As
CSG members and leaders of student
organizations, Proppe and Dishell
understand that CSG works best
when it works for the lives of the
students. We aim to help with your
student organizations, your campus
community and your academics. We
have already begun work on many of
the initiatives laid out in this View-,
point and cannot wait to continue
this work during the 2012-2013 aca-
demic year.
Student organizations are the
lifeblood of this campus, and CSG
should do everything it can to aid
and empower them. Allocating
fuboding to student organizations
is one of the most important func-
tions of CSG, and one of the ways
CSG can make an immediate dif-
ference in the lives of students.
However, this year, the Student
Organization Funding Commission
has a smaller budget to work with
and many organizations that have
consistently relied on financial sup-
port from CSG are not getting fund-
ed. As president, Proppe will veto
any budget that does not allocate at
least 50 percent of CSG's revenues
to the Student Organization Fund-
ing Commission.
youMICH also will create a Stu-
dent Organization "Sorting Hat"
survey to help match incoming stu-
dents withgroups on canpus.At ori-
entation, new students will be able
to indicate their passions, interests,
organizations they were involved
in during high school and types of
organizations they'd like to join in
college. Organizations can ipdicate
what types of profiles match what
they're looking for, and CSG will put
new students and organizations in
touch with each other. Finally, our
proposed Student Org Network -
which will consist of issue-specific
meetings of leaders, members of
CSG and University administrators
- will result in an unprecedented
level of activism, enthusiasm and
engagement at Michigan. Organi-
zations can collaborate with each
other, tap into CSG's resources and
work with administrators to make
their goals a reality.
The MCard is the key to unlock-
ing the campus community. It gets
us into buildings, exams, sporting
and social events, dining hall and so
much more. But when you're leaving
the tailgate for the football game, it
can be a minor headache to find your
phone, keys, ticket, wallet and, oh
yeah, your MCard. We're working on
an MCard app to eliminate the need
to carry your MCard by incorporat-
ing it right onto your smartphone.
The campus community extends
beyond the immediate campus,
though - there are 43,000 students
at Michigan, and more than 30,000
of them live in neighborhoods off-
campus. Too often, we wake up
to a University crime alert telling
us that one of these students was
assaulted on his or her way home
late at night. Students are not being
provided the safety they deserve.
Our proposed off-campus bus route
is a practical solution to this seri-
ir focus is you
-ous problem. We will work with the
Department of Parking and Trans-
portation Services to ensure a bus
stop within a few blocks of every
major student neighborhood.
The 24-hour cafe in the UGLi has
been a huge success and important
part of academic life on campus.
This is a win for students - more
caffeine to fuel those late-night
cram sessions. This is also a win for
the University - a profitable way
to get students studying longer and
harder. We propose extending this
to the MuJo Cafe in the Duderstadt
Center on North Campus. The caf-
feine-starved engineers and artists
on North Campus deserve the same
round-the-clock support that Cen-
tral Campus students enjoy.
Finally, CSG has done well in
supporting, student entrepreneur-
ship this year, and we want to keep
that work going. We have proposed
creating a five-year combined Bach-
elor's and Master's in Entrepreneur-
ship program that will be housed in
a residence hall. This will give the
innovative and courageous students
at Michigan a University-supported
platform on which to thrive.
We hope these ideas excite you as
much as they excite us, and we are
always open to feedback. Our focus
never leaves you, and our presiden-
tial, vice presidential and repre-
sentative candidates will work to
develop CSG to its full potential.
As students at the nation's premier
public university, our student gov-
ernment should be second to none
when it comes to helping the stu-
dent body. We have selected pas-
sionate, hard-working candidates
who genuinely want to bring to
fruition all the things you want to
see improved.
Laurel Ruza is an LSA sophomore.
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