Monday, July 25, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 5 "I don't think there's any issue with it whatsoever." -Maj. Gen Jeffrey Buchanan, on whether alterations of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy would affect operations in Iraq. HOLLY RIDER-MILKOVICH I Campus safety DOUG GALANTE E-MAIL DOUG AT DGALANTE@UMICH.EDU 2m SO l_ No T-Pain, no gain Recently, the Department of Public Safety issued three campus safety crime alerts to inform Uni- versity of Michigan community members of sexual assaults near the campus. While these types of stranger assaults are not common on our campus or in Ann Arbor, members of our community may have concerns about their safety or may have experienced emotional distress related to reading news stories about the crimes. It is important to remember that while sexual assaults do occur on the U-M campus, the vast major- ity of those assaults occur between two people who know each, rather than by a stranger. Research con- ducted by the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Justice tells us that 90 percent of college students who experience sexual assault on campus know their perpetrator as a classmate, a friend, a significant other, or an acquaintance. In order to reduce sexual assaults on our campus, we must focus on translating our shared institutional commitment to "cre- ate and maintain a respectful and inclusive environment that provides the support and oppor- tunity necessary for each mem- ber of our community to prosper and achieve" into effective action when we see opportunities for potential harm. Violence preven- tion experts refer to this strategy as "bystander intervention." We think of it as looking out for each other and taking responsibility to help if we encounter troubling situations or if someone is doing something to or with another per- son that just doesn't feel right. While the actions we take will change from person to person and from situation to situation, if we each commit to moving from watching with concern to taking action, we will make our com- munity safer and bring to life our Michigan values ofcivility, dignity, diversity, education, equality, free- dom, honesty and safety. Until that time comes we have a responsibil- ity to survivors of sexual assault to listen to them, believe what they are saying, support them in ways that they choose and connect them to the resources they need to heal. The Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through our Crisis Line (734-936-3333). SAPAC pro- vides support and assistance to survivors of sexual assault, inti- mate partner violence, sexual harassment, and stalking in the U-M community. Our services also are offered to the family members, and supporters of survivors. We offer individualized crisis inter- vention and academic, legal and medical advocacy. We provide survivors with information to help them make informed choices and we sup- port survivor healing. U-M com- munity members also may make an appointment to mget with an advocate in person by calling 734- 998-9368. Everyone is welcome to stop byour office to speak with our advocate on call Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. SAPAC's office is locat- ed at 715 N. University Ave., Suite 202 on the second floor. If you have additional con- cerns, would like more informa- tion, or simply want to talk about your experience, SAPAC is here for you. As we approach our 25th year of service to U-M students, SAPAC is committed to promot- ing healthy relationships, teaching non-violence and equality and sup- portingsurvivor healing. Together we will foster a respectful and safe environment for all members of the University of Michigan com- munity. Holly Rider-Milkovich is the director of SAPAC. A couple of weeks ago a col- league at the Daily sought to cap- ture our generation's zeitgeist by lightly com- paring us to a rapper, call- ing us "Kids of Cudi." The title of the column stuck with me. I thought the theme of the NICK article was a BRINGARDNER sweeping gen- eralization, and a rather discouraging one. We shouldn't try to be the kids of Cudi, entitled young people consuming in excess. We can do better than that. If anything, we should strive to be the sons and daughters of T-Pain. If you think about it, T-Pain is the ultimate badass. If Andy Sam- berg could choose only two peo- ple to accompany him on a free boat ride, T-Pain would be one of those people. In the big single that launched his career, "Buy You A Drank," he assumed we knew him before he was even really popu- lar, saying, "I'm T-Pain, you know me..." Well, it doesn't matter if we knew him before the song because we certainly know him now. He's a hugely successful recording artist, and although the title of his first album, Rappa Turnt Sanga, might confuse some, he can actually sing. T-Pain knows how to play the game. First, he added Auto-Tune pitch correction to his voice, which was (and still kind of is) the fad in hip hop and other popular music. It became his signature and his name is synonymous with the effect. It propelled him to superstardom, so much so that he got in bed with Apple and created an app called "I Am T-Pain," a portable Auto-Tune apilication. Rather than advertis- ing that the program will auto- tune your voice, it says it grants you the privilege of sounding just like T-Pain. Forget what you think about all the people who bought the app - or what that says about our generation - T-Pain is mak- ing a lot of money from it. Rappers nowadays get their hands on all types of entrepreneurial endeav- ors. Mogul is a word commonly used now for rappers like Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Nelly, who, while con- tinuing to produce music, seek to broaden their horizons by creating their own record labels, owning restaurants and basketball teams, or developing fragrances and cloth- ing lines. They're finding success through several business ventures, which is commendable no matter how you look at it. We should all be more like T-Pain. And it's not just because he stacks paper to the ceiling and gets honeys. No. He, like so many other rappers and performers, is living his dream of being an entertainer. He went after what he wanted and got it. Unfortunately, many would see his success as selling out, dress- ing ridiculously and producing subpar music. However, I don't, view changing one's image solely as conforming. In some cases, it can be more like rebirth, redefining oneself according to his or her own choices. With shrewdness similar to Lady Gaga, T-Pain is able to do whatever he wants and act howev- er he wants to attract fans. He has carefully crafted his image to get attention because attention earns him money. And I don't know why people are so quick to denounce his music as trash. Has every art- ist in the history of music produced instant classics? Certainly not. Plus, I bet you can't avoid bopping your head and moving your feet to his song's catchy beats. And to be quite honest, that's more or less the point of the music. He went after what he wanted and he got it. There's nothing wrong with trying to be more like a rapper. T-Pain's not a caricature of some silly rapper stereotype and he's not an inept hack pawning off hor- rible music. Nope, he's successful. Maybe rappers and performers like him are consuming in excess with fast cars and fast women, but they certainly earned it first. Whether we think they deserve it or not is irrelevant. The Kids of Cudi come from their middle to upper-class environments without any regard for who earned that money, who provided them with that lifestyle. Sons and daughters of T-Pain seek to innovate within the structure of the game, carving out a niche for themselves and finding success on their own terms. The ubiquitous "rags to riches" stories within the rap community are actually good examples of how ambition can get you anywhere you want to go. So don't hate, emulate. Nick Bringardner can be reached at njbring@umich.edu.