Bye bye, Borders Jack's Hardware, located on e-reader, it isn't the sole slayer of Packard Street, always has inter- the noble animal that was Bor- esting signs. After receiving a ders. Jeff T. Wattrick, a writer on shipment of soil at the turn of the blog MLive, criticized Albom the season: for not mentioning the decline "Yep that is of libraries. As Wattrick points dirt, not rock out, both the Troy and Highland salt." After Park libraries closed their doors the closing of this year. Josie Parker, director of Borders: "Buy the Ann Arbor District Library, Local or Bye reveals on her blog that millages Local." are being redirected, taking tax- Mitch payers' dollars through a loophole Albom wrote VANESSA and out the door. a pretty nos- RYCHLINSKI So as the "big-box" bookstores talgic piece close their doors and companies about the begin liquidating, I wonder if loss of the Michigan bookseller. I people will notice, or care. Mitch agree with Albom that today's cult Albom criticizes our generation of instant gratification ensures for failing to "snap up the latest that reading books is simply not great read - unless there's a cer- high onthe prioritylistthese days, tain vampire or wizard attached." with wide varieties of entertain- An Associated Press article also ment found on the television and points a finger "to a new gen- computer - Netflix for the former, eration of readers who'd rather Facebook for the latter. Borders browse on an electronic book or has been done in by online book- tablet computer than turn the sellers and products like e-read- page of a paperback." Ouch. ers. A co-worker recently hawked its benefits: "But it's so easy to hold! And so is turning the pages, Se ti and they actually even look like Sent entality the ones in abook!" I'm sorry, but are we so lazy wont save the that we can't physically hold onto w ritten word. and turn the pages of a book? Call me Arnold, but leafing through actual pages doesn't especially try my strength. Granted, e-readers I protest the dewy-eyed remi- do seem to be convenient in some niscingthatblames myagegroup - ways, and I'll admit I've briefly if anything, the blame ought to go imagined myself owning such a to adult customers who switched gadget. As my coworker says - allegiances. The demographic "You can take it anywhere!" with the money to buy a product But then again, I'm pretty sure is the elder one. I also protest the you can take a real book pretty assertion that Wattrick makes - much anywhere too. Hey, maybe that the bookseller's bankruptcy is even more places (i.e. the bathtub). not "a blow to literature." The only reason e-readers are This situation requires more popular at all is because they're than a lament about the loss of another useless gadget that people "magic" and deserves more than didn't think they needed. Elec- a cynical blow-off. Sentimentality tronic readers attempt to create a will not save the printed word, and niche and then fill it - they want the symptoms caused by instant you to suddenly notice the "incon- gratification should not be brushed venience" and "hassle" of books. aside. Enough people need to pos- It reminds me of those infomer- sess the correct civic priorities - I cials for making perfect pancakes, mean, really owning them. It's or doughnuts, or what have you not enough to have one's heart in - the e-reader is essentially the the right place - people need to critical kitchen item that will fix put their dollars and ballots in the the cooking problems you never right place as well. This means knew you had. I won't even go into takingthe time to go to abookstore all the nasty complications that instead oforderingon Amazon and come from ownership of e-books. spending money on actual books One fun fact: as the technology instead of electrons. develops, file formats can and will become inaccessible over time. Vanessa can be reached Though I certainly hate the at vanrych@umich.edu. Monday, August 1, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 5 Affirmative action revisited Affirmative action has been controversial for years, especially at the University of Michigan. Phi- losophers here such as Elizabeth Anderson and Carl Cohen, along with sociologist Patricia Gurin, have written books arguing for and against it, consider- ANNA ing whether CLEMENTS its dangers outweigh its benefits, and investigating what those pros and cons really are. Now that it's being considered to no longer be prohibited, we can explore its risks and advantages. Will affirmative action, as Carl Cohen indicates, simply manifest as sheer racial preference? Or will it function in a way that enhances the potential of society, as Eliza- beth Anderson and Patricia Gurin prophesy, by using integration to break down barriers blocking blacks and other minorities from opportunities? An education at the University can be viewed as a scarce resource, as Cohen alludes to in his essay in The Civil Liberties Review titled "Honorable Ends, Unsavory Means." He states that "when a resource is in short supply (such as seats in a university), and some by virtue of their race are given more of it, others by virtue of their race get less." Viewing education inthis way may be helpful in deciphering the social costs and benefits that exist due to the exclusive nature of university admissions in general. However, claiming that "systems of preferential admissions do not integrate, they disintegrate" might not be supported by premises that point to the scarcity of education. Furthermore, it doesn't support the conclusion that affirmative action is inadvisable. Anderson examines the com- pensatory and integrative effects of affirmative action and argues for it based on the latter of the two rationales. Both in the courses she teaches and in her written work, she depicts the ways in which pref- erential admissions policies decon- struct current barriers to minority advancement, thereby efficaciously promoting a fairer, more demo- cratic society. Segregation is a bar- rier to democracy; it isolates the various interests of certain groups so that the broader public fails to incorporate them when making decisions. Thus, policies favoring the admission of a wider variety of students into an institution also function to support democracy by diminishing the aforementioned isolation of interests. The proposal that banned affir- mative action for the past five years has been declared unconstitutional by a federal court of appeals; it might well go on to the Supreme Court and be reinstituted there. Therefore, it is crucial that we at the University and among the general public, continue to discuss policies of affirmative action, and critically examine the rhetoric supporting and opposing it. Is it a form of dis- crimination, condemnable under laws and values that reject using personal characteristics such as race and gender in making hiring and admissions decisions? In "Defending Diversity: Affir- mative Action at the University of Michigan," Professor Gurin examines the effects that diver- sity in the student body has on individual students' learning experiences. She includes a selec- tion of testimonies written by Uni- versity students on how diversity has affected their learning expe- riences. Based on those accounts as well as on her own specula- tion, she concludes that "students' experiences with racial and ethnic diversity have far-reaching and significant educational benefits for both learning and democracy outcomes, and that these benefits extend to ... non-minorities and minorities alike." Thus, by treat- ing educational diversity as a pub- lic good, she demonstrates how affirmative action policies do not just redistribute resources to the disadvantaged, or save certain groups from the segregation that has been imposed upon them due to centuries of racism; but rather, affirmative action has the poten- tial to help every student become a more capable citizen. Gurin cites University politi- cal scientist Profesor Arlene Sax- onhouse, who discusses debates that took place in ancient history over diversity's impact on democ- racy in her book Fear ofDiversity. According to Saxonhouse, Plato argued that a homogenous soci- ety is the most beneficial system for an effective democracy to take place within, whereas Aristotle advocates for equal relationships It's crucial that we continue to discuss it. among people of diverse back- grounds as a way to let democracy thrive. In the United States, how- ever, almost nobody would dare assert that diversity is a drawback to an institution. It's one of this country's central tenets. How else would capitalism have thrived here for so long if we did not value multiplicity or diversity? In order to have true, functional competi- tion, differences are critical. I am not writing this in order to out professors' political persua- sions. But it's important, while in an institution such as this one, to be aware not only of the content that is being taught in courses, but of the backdrop over which the ideas interact. If affirma- tive action is put into place, what changes will we observe? Is educa- tion the resource over which to be fought, as Cohen assumes, or is it a public good, strengthening both communities and the democratic process? Determining how we are to view diversity is crucial in deciding whether and how to insti- tute affirmative action policies. Anna can be reached at asiobhan@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Letters are edited for style, length, clarity and accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu.