4A - Thursday, September 5, 2013

Op Fl 101

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Heartbreaking slowness

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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 T HE DAILY
Thank you, Mr. Ross
Moving forward, development focus must be financial aid
Going even beyond the generous recent donations from
Charles Munger, Penny Stamps and Helen Zell, Stephen
Ross donated $200 million to the University this Wednes-
day. Ross is now the largest individual donor in school history with
a total of $313 million gifted, and the funds will be split between the
business school that bears his name and the Athletic Department.
The donation will be used to renovate and build facilities for the
business school, including study spaces for students and a career
service office, and to expand scholarships for Business students.
The Athletic Department will be developing spaces for its 31 teams,
building new athletic stadiums and creating academic resources for
athletes to succeed in the classroom.

n Aug. 23, a physicist by
the name of John Main-
stone died. He was 78 years
old. During
his lifetime,
he held an
appointment
as a lecturer
in physics at
Australia's
University of
Queensland BARRY
for more thanB
50 years, he BELMONT
helped raise
three daugh-
ters with his wife and he oversaw
the world's longest running labora-
tory experiment, the famous "Pitch
Drop Experiment" - an experi-
ment whose critical moments he
never had a chance to witness.
The experiment began in 1927,
years before Mainstone was born,
and sought to prove that some sub-
stances that appeared to be solids
- in this case a petroleum deriva-
tive referred to as "pitch" - may,
in fact, be highly viscous fluids. To
prove this, some of this pitch was
placed ina funnel and allowed to
settle, and eventually, it dropped
through the bottom - much like
water through a faucet, albeit
about a billion times slower. The
first drop of pitch fell more than
10 years after the beginning of the
experiment. The subsequent seven
drops took 8.3, 7.2, 8.1, 8.3, 8.7, 9.3
and 12.3 years to fall, respectively.
It has been more than 13 years since
the last drop and physicists around
the world wait with bated breath
over a live-streaming webcam.
Why? Well, in the 86 years since
the beginning of the experiment, no
one has seen a drip drop. Not even
Mainstone, its caretaker of 52 years.

To have so fully devoted one's
life to one thing and never see it
come to full fruition is nothing
short of existentially devastating
to many of us. As physicist Halina
Rubinsztein-Dunlop, a colleague of
Mainstone's, noted, "John's death
is particularly sad as ... he did not
see a single drop fall."
But perhaps the point of the
experiment - to watch pitch drop
- isn't the point of the experi-
ment at all. Perhaps it's not just an
experiment in watchingstuff move
slowly - though this does have
important ramifications in fluid
dynamics, continuum mechanics
and tribology. Instead, maybe this
experiment is a profound expres-
sion of the difference in scales
between human beings and
their surroundings.
Simply put, we are middle-sized
primates on a middle-sized world
capable of observing middle-sized
things. So much is beyond our scope
- the size of an atom, the weight
of a sun, the smell of dark matter,
the taste of a black hole, the sound
of the continents moving - that it
wouldn't be an exaggeration to say
we perceive next to nothing at all.
Just about every sound our spe-
cies' ears have heard has fallen
between 20 and 20,000 Hz, a
woefully small margin incapable
of hearing the tides or appreciat-
ing a dog-whistle quartet. Every
sight our species' eyes has seen has
come from electromagnetic waves
approximately 390 to 700 nano-
meters in length, a sliver less than
0.00000000000000000001 per-
cent the spectrum of waves we can
currently measure. As nature made
us, we are blind, deaf and dumb in
a very real sense.
That we have found out the

extent of our ignorance is perhaps
the crowning achievement of sci-
ence. Through careful observation,
objective reporting and sharing
what we learn, we've been able
to develop a knowledge base and
methodology powerful enough to
predict the movement of stars tril-
lions and trillions of miles away
simply from the light they left
billions of years ago. It's power-
ful enough to make instantaneous
communication across the planet
nearly trivial and strip atoms of
their electrons. We have come a
long way since the savannah.
So much is beyond
our scope - we
perceive next to
nothing at all.
Mainstone's missed drops are
only buta few in the bucket of stuff
we miss in our universe. If John
Mainstone's death is sad for miss-
ing these, we might weep every day
for all that is seen and unseen. We
might also well up in gratitude that
such people exist, willing to face
down nature and watch it work.
Though we were not equipped to
do so, we have equipped ourselves.
With patience, perseverance and
cunning we have equipped our-
selves to study the invisible.
We've split the atom, seen stars
explode and seen rocks flow, and it
was all because of people like
John Mainstone.
- Barry Belmont can be reached
at belmont@umich.edu.

i

I
I

Most importantly, the University com-
munity owes a serious debt of gratitude to
Ross. Asa private citizen, he has done more to
advance higher education in recent years than
the Michigan state legislature, whose job it is
to support Michigan's public universities.
Undoubtedly, this donation will be a huge
benefit for business students and athletes. But
Ross's program-specific donation is part of a
growing trend among donors of supporting
already well-funded programs or initiatives
that help a select few of a vast student body.
Lastyear, the Athletic Departmenthad amas-
sive $124.5-million budget that went under-
utilized, as the department left $1.3 million
on the table. The Business School budgets
for about $26,000 for each of its students,
compared to approximately $18,000 per LSA
student. These programs' wealth should not
be held against them, but there needs to be
focus on how donors can impact the greatest
number and most vulnerable populations on
campus.
Late last May, the University announced
plans for the next major capital campaign.
The development drive, to be chaired by Ross
and launching this November, pinpointed the
priority for all incoming funds as expanding
financial aid for students. But considering
the yearly tuition increases that create unim-
pressive socio-economic diversity by pricing
out students from lower-income families, the
expansion of financial aid is more than a pri-
ority - it's a need.
During his successful campaign to the Uni-

versity's Board of Regents, Regent Mark Ber-
nstein proposed that a single-digit percentage
of each donation the University receives
should be set aside automatically for financial
aid. That proposal should be policy. The Uni-
versity has a robust development office that
meets the needs of each donor by designing
individualized donation plans. But that office's
efforts must shift from nudging donors toward
financial-aid donations to clearly articulating
that financial aid is the number-one item the
University needs in order to live up to its repu-
tation as aleader in diversity.
Asking donors to broaden the impact of
their funds isn't unheard of: New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gifted more
than $1.1 billion to Johns Hopkins University,
with donations supporting a wide variety of
campus needs. According to The New York
Times, Bloomberg's contributions include
not only a school of public health, a stem-cell
research initiative and library expansions,
but also "20 percent of need-based financial
aid grants." The University's donors need to
be encouraged to follow Bloomberg's model
and look at the core missions of the school.
The University should rightly be proud
of the Business School and the University
athletic program - the students and staff
involved are our friends and peers - and of
the fact that the school inspires passion like
Ross routinely displays. But moving forward,
building the best Michigan means supporting
diversity, and that means supporting finan-
cial aid for the widest array of students.

CHECK US OUT ONLINE
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STEPHEN YAROS I
My second freshman year

All college students remember their fresh-
man year. They remember the excitement,
the nervousness - the feelings of total possi-
bility and complete fear. It's a unique experi-
ence. It's as joyous as nerve-wracking and as
exciting as terrifying. It's great, but only if it
happens once.
I came to the University a year ago as a
transfer student prepared to continue my
education in full stride. I had been a college
freshman once and even a sophomore. I had
endured all of the wonderful and not-so-
wonderful experiences that went along with
those years and learned from them. I had
become a capable and successful student able
to maneuver through the arduous maze that
is college life. I was ready.
When I came to this fine school, I expected
to continue my glorious path to straight As
and an excellent undergraduate degree with-
out skipping a beat. I had already endured so
many late nights studyingthat I knew it could
get only easier. I knew what study routines
worked; I had eliminated my mistakes and
trained myself to think at a collegiate level.
I was ready. I was going to be a junior in col-
lege, and I was goingto act like it.
I was wrong. I was a freshman all over again.
At first, I wasn't sure what was happen-
ing, and I wasn't willing to consider any-
thing worse than just first-day nervousness.
But then it became first-week nervousness,
after that first two-week nervousness. After
walking around campus for several weeks
camouflaging my many inquiries with an
omnipotent fagade, I finally gave in. I had
been so successful at my previous institution
that I had forgottenthe troubles that new and
exotic situations can cause.
I wanted to have it all together on my own,
but I didn't. I didn't know where things were
on campus, wasn't used to running on Michi-
gan time and certainly didn't understand
what kind of workload was in store for me.

I was a freshman, and hadn't figured it out
until just then.
Now, that isn't to say I hadn't received a
fine education from my previous university,
or that I didn't have the mental capacity to
handle classes at the University of Michigan
- but I didn't feel like a junior college stu-
dent. I needed to ask questions, to make mis-
takes and to do things twice.
And so I sought outhelp from others - even
those students at the University that were
younger than me - and decided to do what
was necessary to be successful. The tipping
point finally came when I realized that my
success was more important than my pride.
So ask questions. That goes for not only
transfer students and freshmen, but also
for sophomores, juniors, seniors, fifth-year
seniors and anyone else enrolled in a class.
College is hard, and although this University
is one of enduring quality and tradition, it
will not hesitate to vigorously challenge and
discourage its students. From time to time,
we all find ourselves feeling and acting like.
freshmen. It's painful and inevitable. Stu-
dents should not and must not combat these
instances with begrudging disregard, but
rather take them head-on. Students need to
embrace the moments when they feel like
freshmen and take a second to ask a ques-
tion or look something up. Spend extra time
double-checking and triple-checking things,
because in the end, it's worth it.
Now that one year has passed, it's much
easier for me to see where I went wrong and
what I should have done. I made it through my
firstyear and came out the other side smarter,
more qualified and with a simple message of
hope. It does get easier. If you work hard, suc-
cess is on the horizon, so keep at it. And to all
of the transfer students out there: Welcome
to your second freshman year, and good luck.
Stephen Yaros is an LSA senior.

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Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Eric Ferguson, Jesse Klein,
Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald,
Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba,
Michael Spaeth, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
WILLIAM TOMS I VIEWPOINT
Blood, semen and Craigslist
A scanner authenticates my handprint as I'm ush- were positively dignified. I once attended a charity
ered briskly into Booth C. A spring-loaded lancet jabs auction at the Meadow Brook Hall, a mansion built by
my fingertip and my arm is passed under an ultravio- the widow of automotive maven John Francis Dodge.
let beam, revealing a watermark known only to staff This fertility clinic, nestled in an affluent Detroit sub-
members. I lie down on a contoured vinyl bed as a urb, featured neither the Dodge mansion's valet, nor
tourniquet is tightened against my bicep, wincing as its platters of marvelous port-glazed duck caaps.
the needle enters my arm. Blood fills the adjoining With that in mind though, it's still worth retelling as
tube like mercury in a thermometer, terminating at a it was the second time in my life I have ever experi-
softly-whirring machine with a passing resemblance enced such overwhelming deference and discretion in
to a reel-to-reel deck. I'm told that under no circum- the same day.
stances am Ito fall asleep. Fortunately, the confidentiality agreementsigned in
Allow me to pause. the clinic's wainscot-paneled drawing room not only
This isn't the memoir of a CIA officer, nor is it an prevents me from disclosing anything more than the
expose on a narcotics ring. This is a grubby clinic on tasteful Ansel Adams prints on the wall and the com-
the south side of Ypsilanti, and this is my first day as a plimentary beverages provided by the secretary, but
for-profit medical donor. also relieves me from the tired, euphemistic winking
For the last month, I've traveled across southeast and nudging required to describe the experience in
Michigan engaging in every legal donation service, print. It's exactly what you think it is. The compen-
study and trial available to me inan effort to shed light sation is highly competitive. The genetic criteria are
on an increasingly popular practice among college stu- highly restrictive, and the list of forbidden activities
dents faced with meteoric increases in tuition and liv- in your "off-hours" is equally so. Far from a frat-boy's
ing expenses. Nothing is off limits: Blood, sperm and dream, it was the most professional medical appoint-
even the electrical activity of your prefrontal cortex ment of my life.
can been commoditized. If you've read this far with arched brow and mouth
The hunt begins every morning on Craigslist, home agape, then you're neither alone nor entirely unjusti-
to dozens of cash offerings for body fluids, cooperation fied. For the same reason that we recoil at museum
in pharmaceutical trials and in one standout case, the exhibits describing the Middle Passage or at insurance
eggs of "extraordinary young Jewish women." From tables describing the price of reattaching a dismem-
here I place a handful of cold calls, pack my schedule bered finger, we humans intrinsically reject placing
to the limits of medical ethics and begin the lengthy a price on a pound of flesh. My experiences have vio-
process of peddling my flesh. lated every cultural and religious norm on the books,
The scene above takes place on Friday, my designat- and even the most "progressive" individuals manage
ed dayfor plasmadonation, though callingit a donation at least one furtive grimace per minute when we talk
is playing fast and loose with the definition of philan- about this. However, despite the unflattering respons-
thropy. This is the sale of vital fluids for cash - plain es, what I do, and what students all across the country
and simple. While the company clearly makes a pitch are doing, is fully voluntary and non-coercive.
in their pamphlets for "heroes," the process is uncer- So if you're in good health, have a light walletand can
emonious and - like many programs angled toward manage to suppress your basic urges (for volunteerism),
low-income clients - professionally condescending. then you too may sleep soundly with a petty collegiate
Knowing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administra- fortune, knowing that elements of your body are stowed
tion doesn't approve any "paid-donor" specimens for in anonymously-labeled refrigerators across the coun-
life-saving operations, the experience left me feeling try. I may not continue donating, but for the record, I
slightly cheapened, and though the $50 provided by did pay this month's rent with the dividends.
the receptionist did help put my mind at ease, I still
didn't feel likea hero. William Toms isma senior at the
By comparison, my Wednesdays spentselling sperm University of Michigan-Dearborn.
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