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4A - Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

4A - Thursday, October 24, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

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VIRGINIA EASTHOPE

E-MAILVIRGINIAAT VCEHOPE@UMICH.EDU

Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
MELANIE KRUVELIS
and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR

ANDREW WEINER
EDITOR IN CHIEF

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.
FROM THE DAILY
New York, New York
Regents trip to NYC further diminishes students' involvement
he University's Board of Regents is planning a private "strategic
planning session" in New York City for Jan. 16 and 17 of next year.
In place of the monthly public meeting, the regents will meet with
leaders of other prestigious higher-education institutions, as well as with
potential donors. This trip is part of the University's zealous fundrais-
ing effort for its new capital campaign, Victors for Michigan, that kicks
off in November. With fundraising as the focus, the public sessions that
are open to students and faculty will now be decreased, once again, to 10
meetings instead of the usual 11. While the trip addresses the University's
growing need for private fundraising as well as other administrative func-
tions, it further diminishes students' already limited involvement with
the regents, especially during this crucial presidential selection process.

Ni00
Afailedjustice system

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A similar meeting was held last January
in California with leaders from University
of California, Berkeley and Stanford among
others, to gain insight from a system going
through similar financial strain. This time,
issues -- such as the possibility of a nega-
tive 2014 fiscal year attributed to the mass of
newly insured patients under the Affordable
Care Act, $800 million spent on the Epic Sys-
tem and $750 million spent on the new C.S.
Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtland-
er Women's Hospital - will be addressed.
The trip also coincides with a donor event
held by the University's most recent prolific
benefactor, real-estate tycoon Stephen Ross.
These looming concerns necessitate that the
regents tofocus on fundraising and discover-
ing new sources of revenue. This especially
holds true because Michigan has cut invest-
ments for public universities by 32 percent
since 2008, which in part caused significant
increases in tuition rates, thus putting a strain
on maintaining academic excellence. With this
drastic loss in state revenue, it's imperative

that the regents fundraise from private sources
- a responsibility they have effectively taken
up. However, the regents' role shouldn't be pri-
marily focused around fundraising, especially
when it comes at the expense of involving the
community in the board's functions like the
presidential search process.
The 10 public meetings are the only inter-
action students can have with the regents.
The need for student involvement should be
accentuated by the fact that the University is
in the midst of selecting a new president. Yet,
there is no student voice that actively advises
the board, let alone the Presidential Search
Committee. On top of that, the University
never specified why the trip is private instead
of public.
The lack of public funding has forced the
Board of Regents to take upon the crucial
duties of fundraising and therefore, the sub-
sequent to trips to California and, now, New
York. But while these trips and efforts are jus-
tified, they should be coupled with transpar-
ency and other avenues for student feedback.

have a running joke with the
opinion editors of The Michigan
Daily that they never use the
titles I send in
with my articles.
when i finished
my last piece, I
titled it "Fuck
the Police" as
a joke - it was
not meant to be
used in print or JAMES
online, but that's BRENNAN
the title that ran.
That being said, I
am not blaming
my editors for a title that may have
offended some. I wrote it, I sent it
in and, therefore, any offense taken
or any anger generated should be
directed at me and only me. Further-
more, this is not an apology. I don't
just stand by the Daily, my editors
and my title, but I stand by the legiti-
macy of the phrase "fuck the police."
When the rap group N.W.A.
released their infamous song in1988,
they were not trying to be contro-
versial or attract attention. "Fuck
tha Police" expresses much of the
outrage felt by the Black community
in post-civil-rights America, where
racism and discrimination has large-
ly shifted to the "colorblind" crimi-
nal justice system.
As I stated in my previous column,
my criticism and distrust for police
is not rooted in a hatred for individu-
al police officers, the overwhelming
majority of whom are decent people
of integrity. My distrust in police is
rooted in a hatred for the policies
that dictate their actions. .
As Michelle Alexander describes
in her book, "The New Jim Crow,"
federal, state and local policies
incentivize and enable police to dis-

proportionately criminalize Black
men in urban areas. Though minori-
ties and whites use drugs nearly the
same rate, more than 80 percent of
"stop-and-frisks" by police in New
York are of Blacks or Latinos. Police
perform as many stops on Black New
Yorkers as there are Black people in
New York. They assume guilt rather
than innocence, filling required quo-
tas instead of helping people in the
most crime-ridden areas. This seems
to be the norm in most of the United
States, where the prison population
has more than quintupled in the last
30 years, with nearly half of those
incarcerated being Black.
While other factors play a role in
the racial disparities of the criminal
justice system, the majority of the
blame still falls on the shoulders of
police. By focusing on quotas, tar-
geting poor, African American areas
and failing to address the inherent
anti-black biases in individual offi-
cers - including officers of color
- police overwhelmingly target
minorities for arrest, throwing them
into the merciless depths of the
criminal justice system. The high
sentences and overwhelmed attor-
neys don't help, but the fact of the
matter is once you're in court, your
chances of getting away without a
conviction are slim no matter who
you are. Once someone is arrested
and charged, the turning gears of
 the criminal justice system are hard
to stop.
After the shooting of Trayvon
Martin, dozens of individuals wrote
testimonials about "the talk" that
Black parents often feel compelled to
have with their sons. My father had
a similar sit down with me a handful
of times as a teenager, but he never
had to tell me that the color of my

skin made me a target for police. He
never once mentioned that police
wouldlookatmewithextrascrutiny,
assuming I'm a criminal because of
my hair, and he never had to empha-
size that because of the way I choose
to dress, I have to remain calm and
move slowly or I may catch a bullet.
Individual police officers are not
bad people, just like any other group
of Americans. But like everyone else,
they follow their boss's orders and
act on imperfect, human impulses.
The only differences between police
and everyone else are their badge,
their gun and their authority to use
both. No law enforcement body will
ever be perfect,but with one in every
three Black men in America going to
prison, the United States criminal
justice system has proven itself an
utter failure.
Even as a privileged, white male I
will never be able to see a police offi-
cer or squad car without being over-
come.by anxiety - I cringe trying
to imagine what goes through the
heads of my friends of other identi-
ties in the same situation.
These feelings do not highlight
something wrong with us, but rath-
er point out the massive flaws with
police in America. Police policies are
a driving force for racial and social
injustice, and this was evident long
before N.W.A. released their infa-
mous anthem.
Until law enforcement shows
that its true interest is in promoting
public safety rather than attacking
people of color, me and countless
others will continue to say it loud,
say it proud, and say it with plenty of
justification: Fuck the police.
- James Brennan can he reached
at jmbthree@umich.edu.

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I

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, James
Brennan, Eric Ferguson, Jordyn Kay, Jesse Klein,
Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Aarica Marsh,
Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Adrienne Roberts,
Paul Sherman,Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
DEREK WOLFE |WPON
A venture for adventure

The enigma of Guantanamo Bay

I want to travel. To Europe. To Asia.
Anywhere.
Well, maybe not Ohio.
But, it's just so expensive. I mean, we're
talking thousands of dollars per trip out of
the country.
So, let me ask: If you could travel anywhere
in the world for free, with the only catch
being maintaining a blog and collecting some
research - maybe - would you do it? I sure
would.
And that's exactly what a new website,
called Trevolta, floating around my Facebook
newsfeed is trying to accomplish.
By using crowdfunding - a fundraising
strategy where donors can pitch in how much
or little money they want - Trevolta aims to
offer people the opportunity to travel at the
expense of generous friends and sponsors
"who are looking for extraordinary, unique
and unforgettable trips which will be fol-
lowed and shared by hundreds of thousands
of people." And in return for their donations,
the travelers will complete "specific tasks to
be performed along the trip."
Trevolta's success is questionable and
remains to be seen, but I believe in its mis-
sion, and I think that's what will keep it
around for good. Although Ihave to question
why someone would pay for me to have an
incredible experience if they could afford to
go themselves. But, OK, let's say it does work
and there are those people and companies out
there willing to fund these trips. Then this is
a truly extraordinary opportunity.
It's always tossed around that "you should
travel while you're young." And I can attest
to that.
In the summer between my freshman
and sophomore year of high school, I spent
35 days traveling across the western United
States. I backpacked in Yosemite National
Park, played capture-the-flag in Goblin Valley
State Park and climbed to the top of Angels
Landing in Zion National Park. And while it
certainly didn't come cheap, I learned much
more about myself and what this country has
to offer than at any other point in my life.
I became more mature, more independent

and realized despite the amount of time I
spend in front of technology, my greatest
memories have been when I was farthest
away from it. It was life changing in the best
possible way.
More people need to have this experience.
And it doesn't just need to be through a study-
.abroad program. Travel, even without having
to go to a classroom, has the potential be as
impactful on a person as a college education.
Put simply, traveling teaches. Imagine the
feeling and lessons from completing a climb
of Mt. Everest or a scuba dive through the
Great Barrier Reef.
And I guess that's why I think Trevolta
will work. It has the feel of a scholarship -
perfect for giving the college-aged student
that breathtaking - while - educational
experience, he or she wouldn't have been able
to have without this opportunity.
And it's important to note that Trevolta and
the sponsors aren't just throwing out money
for these trips. Getting your trip funded takes
effort. Your trip page needs to be fully detailed,
including a video pleading your case - so I
would bet that vaguely titled "Vegas Trip"
probably wouldn't rack up funds.
What I like most about Trevolta is that
it promotes altruism - a culture of unself-
ish giving - in what feels like a very selfish
world. Laws are being enacted purely based
on self-interest. The government was shut
down because some people couldn't accept
defeat. And it seems like nearly every day you
find out about how someone scammed thou-
sands of people out of money.
These crowdfunding sites give me hope
that we are better than what the media often
portrays. That even though I don't under-
stand why someone would pay for my trip to
climb Half Dome, someone is paying for my
trip to climb Half Dome. That even though
school supposedly teaches us to be indepen-
dent, critical thinkers, it's OK to get help and
support from others.
Now, can someone teach me how to book
a flight?
Derek Wolfe is an LSA sophomore.

W ith many U.S. citizens
focused on the after-
math of the govern-
ment shutdown
and debt ceiling
battles and the
Affordable Care
Act, the illegality
of Guantanamo
Bay Detention
Center has been
pushed to the A
back burner.
There are still LEVINE
164 prisoners
being detained
at Guantanamo. Oddly enough, 86
of these prisoners have been told
they're cleared for release - some as
long as five years ago - yet they're
still incarcerated. These men are
held without being informed as to
why and have been given no notice
or hope of trial. The ongoing tor-
ture at Guantanamo Bayviolates not
only the principles of the Constitu-
tion through the Sixth and Eighth
Amendments, but also basic human
rights and the Geneva Convention.
The Guantanamo issue has not gone
away; it has just been swept under
the rug. The inhumane torture is
real, current and must be stopped.
In March 2013, details of a hunger
strike began leaking out of the pris-
on walls. The reason the prisoners
went on hunger strike "is disputed,"
according to The New York Times,
but in transcripts by several pris-
oners, they explain that they were
offended when the guards stormed
their cells, tore their belongings
apart and engaged in the sacrile-
gious and disrespectful act of rifling
through their Korans. Addition-
ally, several prisoners reported they
were striking because they were
cleared for release, yet are still being
held. To combat the hunger strike,
the guards have taken it upon them-
selves to physically force the prison-
ers to eat. Twice daily they enter the

prisoners cell, strap them to a chair
- reminiscent to an electric chair
- and force an invasive catheter
down their noses to their stomachs,
scratching their innards along the
way, before pumping liquid food into
the prisoners' stomachs. The tran-
scripts report that the men expe-
rience immense pain. A graphic,
animated video created by two Brit-
ish journalists depicts force-feeding
scenes from the transcripts.
Force-feeding of this nature is
considered cruel and unusual pun-
ishment and would likely not be tol-
grated within the continental U.S.
prison system. But these aren't the
only forms of torturethat the prison-
ers experience. Reports outlined by
the Center for Constitutional Rights
explain beatings, solitary confine-
ment and other disgusting torture
methods. How is our government
getting away with this abusive pun-
ishment that is inflicted on people
who may or may not even be respon-
sible for any terrorism? The answer is
that they shouldn't be.
The Sixth Amendment of the
United States Constitution prohib-
its holding prisoners without telling
them the nature of their accusation,
and it also provides for a "speedy and
public trial," which obviously these
prisoners have been denied. The
Eight Amendment provides for no
use of cruel or unusual punishment.
Guantanamo, however, originally got
beyond these parameters through
loopholes. In 2002, the Bush admin-
istration proclaimed that Guanta-
namo Bay, based on its geographical
location, could be considered outside
of U.S. legal jurisdiction, and thus
outside of the U.S. protections for
prisoners. The "enemy combatants"
of the global War on Terror were to
be kept and tortured there - and no
one could save them. According to
the Center for Constitutional Rights,
U.S. military intelligence officers
have been reported as saying, "You

are inaplace where there is no law -
we are the law."
But what aboutinternational laws
designed to protect prisoners from
this type of punishment through the
Geneva Convention? Interestingly
enough, the Bush administration
strangely claimned that the Geneva
Convention did not apply to the U.S.
conflict with al-Qaeda. The U.S.
Supreme Court, however, disagreed.
The Boston University News Service
writes thatin four separate cases, the
Court, "held that international law
applies to Guantanamo detainees,
that they cannot be held indefinitely
without trial, that constitutional
habeas corpus protections.apply to
them ... " Furthermore, Article 3 of
the Geneva Conventions was upheld
for all individuals in conflict. Thus,
fair and humane treatment must be
given to the prisoners at Guantana-
mo - see Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. So,
while this battle seems to have been
legally won, that was seven years
ago. The government has still not
abided by these decisions and the
men continue to sit in Guantanamo,
being tortured daily.
Contrary to public opinion, this
*debate has not grown cold. In May
2013, President Barack Obama
promised to take steps towards clos-
ing Guantanamo by transferring
cleared detainees to other countries,
yet four months later he has yet to
fulfill this promise. On Oct. 7, 2013,
the ACLU and other humanitarian
organizations sent a letter to the
President, urging him to close the
prison and end the torture. Guan-
tanamo Bay has become an enigma:
a legal quagmire of embarrassing
and disgusting violations of human
rights that has been stealthily avoid-
ed since 2002. The Supreme Court's
decisions must be respected and the
torture must be stopped.
- Maura Levine can be
reached at mtoval@umich.edu

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