Opinion
JENNIFER CALFAS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH
and DEREK WOLFE
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER
MANAGING EDITOR
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, March 20, 2015
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton
Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul,
Anna Polumbo-Levy, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke,
Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary
Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
D
uring this school year,
unlike during others I’ve
spent as a student at the
University,
I’ve
found
campus
sentiment to be
overwhelmingly
shrouded
in
politically correct
rhetoric.
In
an
article regarding
my
connection
to Judaism and
Israel
I
wrote
last
October,
I
received
two
comments
in
which readers accused me of
justifying the killing of 1,400
Palestinians
during
Israel’s
incursion in Gaza. This was in no
way what I’d been arguing, and I
believed the comments had been
completely taken out of context, in
order to confirm the readers’ biases
that a Jewish student commenting
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
would always side with Israel.
In order to avoid any more mis-
conceptions, and frankly, in order to
cover my ass, I rewrote the sentence
that had prompted any accusations
against my social consciousness. On
a larger scale, this was a disturb-
ing reality to me. People reading a
politically charged article often-
times take a somewhat ambiguous
line from a piece and morph it into
what they want it to mean in order
to display their moral superiority.
In this day and age, social aware-
ness seems to have become a status
symbol. All over the Internet, people
post comments on media platforms
that attempt to highlight an author’s
lack of political correctness. But are
these comments really attempting
to educate the writer, or are they
purely assuaging the commenter by
publicly exposing what might seem
to be evidence of moral superiority?
This is an omnipresent issue not
only online, but also in conversations
held on campus regarding racism,
sexism,
cultural
appropriation,
rape culture, etc. The social issues
that hold such a deep significance
in contemporary society are spoken
about, but in such politically correct
terminology that those who are
unaware of certain realities are
stifled from actually delving into
conversation. Being called out is
a powerful educational tool. But
it should be done tactfully, rather
than preached, because exposing
someone’s
ignorance
oftentimes
promotes an unnecessary power
dynamic between those who are
educated about an issue and those
who are not.
Let us use Jesse Klein’s arti-
cle,
“Relative
Wealth,” as an
example.
Her
piece was unin-
formed
and
offensive. How-
ever, did read-
ers think that
her views were
founded
upon
knowledge
of
economic
dis-
parity in Amer-
ica? If so, they shouldn’t have. An
article like hers was founded upon
ignorance, and although I originally
believed that the piece shouldn’t have
been published, it garnered both
harmful and beneficial responses.
Personal attacks on Klein were made
within the slew of 348 comments
that she received. These, of course,
were unnecessary and perfectly
exemplify the use of a comment as a
status symbol. A comment demean-
ing the writer, while highlighting
one’s own sensibilities, is done self-
ishly. On the other hand, a response
like Jenny Wang’s was completely
appropriate in that it opened a forum
for discussion, without admonish-
ing Klein. What Wang offered was
perspective, which is truly the only
teacher of social awareness.
After Klein read hurtful responses
to her piece and experienced what I
can only imagine was the inclination
to regress into a hole for the rest of
eternity, she bravely came out with
another article, much more clearly
articulating her original point. In her
response piece, she wrote, “Online,
my naïve perception of wealth was
called the ‘Problem with America.’
In the real world, there are a lot of
problems with America which, with
any luck, can be fixed by learning
from a few mistakes.”
So, Klein is an example of positive
reformation after having been called
out. Although her situation was
extreme, the responses proved to be
enlightening. But, what about the
responses that were purely motivated
by negativity and public recognition?
There is a clear argument for polit-
ical correctness
and making the
politically incor-
rect
aware
of
their
mistakes.
But,
as
Klein
pointed
out,
problems
are
fixed by learning
from such mis-
takes. I’m proud
of my University
that in recent
years, students have become much
more aware of the social and politi-
cal issues that maintain inequality.
But not everyone is aware of these
realities, due to a lack of perspective.
Ignorance, however, should not be
confronted with judgment.
So, to those who are judgmental
of the politically incorrect, be
sensitive. To those who are unaware
of the depths of social issues in
America, educate yourself. A 600-
word Daily article written by a
student in a social theory class isn’t
going to educate you about white
privilege.
Expanding
yourself
beyond the familiar is what will.
Political correctness is a Band-
Aid — it assuages those who extend
it, and it frightens those who don’t
understand it. So hopefully the PC
trend leaves us, and what replaces
it is education, discussion and the
search for perspective.
— Abby Taskier can be reached
at ataskier@umich.edu.
The border
I
was a newborn. Outside the
house, the first one my parents
had ever owned, sat the white
stork: “Welcome
home,
David!”
The
door
was
freshly
painted
bright
red,
the
grass just starting
to
become
its
impeccable green
that early May.
Down the street,
on the corner of
Mack
Avenue,
was
the
local
grocery store, the
Village Market, alongside a doctor’s
office and a bank. This block of
neatly lined houses was my whole
world as a young child. A world that
included little more than the arms
of my mother I rested in, the yard
I crawled in and the street I played
on. My world was flat, and across
that corner at the end of the street
was the edge of the map.
I was seven. I had the new
freedom of a bike and more energy
than my mom could put up with
inside my house, so I discharged
it by pedaling around. I rode to
friends’ houses, to the park, to
baseball games. If my wheels
could carry me there, I went there.
Everywhere, that is, except across
Mack. When I hit Mack or Alter
Drive, I reached the end of my ride
in that current direction. I had
reached the edge of the map.
This was no rule anyone told me.
No signs were posted. You hit Mack
or Alter and you turn left or you
turn right. There was no straight.
These streets are the border of my
bubble of a town and Detroit. This
is where the suburb meets the city.
Where the neat rows of houses and
lawns give way to a neighborhood
of blocks with abandoned homes,
overgrown grass and charred wood
left behind from a structure gone
up in flames, neglected roads that
haven’t been repaved in years. This
is not the downtown Detroit of
renaissance and revival; this is the
rawness of the outskirts, the real-
ness of the desolation, the reality
of the economic and racial divide
that relegated the city into ceaseless
recession. If you go straight through
those border streets into the city,
you risk popping the bubble.
I was 13. I wore a basketball uni-
form emblazoned with a falcon on it,
the mascot of my parish. Our church
was on Mack Avenue, my team
a mix of kids
from either side
of that street. I
had grown up
in a completely
homogenous
school
on
my
side of street,
and here I was
on my first team
that
didn’t
fit
this
uniform
lack of diversity
I knew. The thought never crossed
my mind; the new uniform was the
one we wore. The team won every
game that season.
I was 16. It was a cold December
Saturday morning, trunk of the car
loaded up with bags of gifts piled
all the way to the roof. We stopped
at the light on Mack and drove
through. We stopped at houses with
porch steps crumbled in disrepair,
houses
neighboring
boarded-up
properties and at doors with iron
bars across them. We walked into
homes with the gifts and bags of
food; homes with families and
children
who
decorated
their
houses for the holidays the best
they could, ecstatic, cheerful and
thankful. I had left the bubble
to go over to where I once would
never venture and found that the
human spirit is identical in the most
opposite of places and situations.
It’s easy to see the border as a
statistic of inequality, as a line of
socioeconomic divide, as a contrast
of black and white and of different
hues of lifestyles. Long and com-
plicated history has created these
invisible walls. The same history
has caused us to forget that the
other side is filled with the same
human emotions, the same lives
and the same desires, only trans-
formed across a couple of streets.
The suburb forgets that the people
merely across the street deserve
the same good education, the same
safe streets and the same privileges
because they are people. The dif-
ference of socioeconomic status
and tax revenue
is
merely
the
result of the sys-
tematic societal
inequality that
is
evident
all
around,
some-
times
blocks
away.
I’m now 20.
Some
things
move
forward,
like
the
gorgeous, brand new baseball field
built where cracked and abandoned
tennis courts once decayed a mere
two blocks from the border. Others
hinder any progress: a fatal shooting
a block north of the new field, and
another shooting merely a week
earlier of four kids from across the
border, right before Christmas; one
lost her life. There are problems
that cannot be fixed with simple
solutions.
The
border
remains
dangerous, a stark juxtaposition
and symbol of a world riddled with
inequity, the bubble suburb trying
to escape from this reality for years
until it realizes that the bubble it
subsists in is only figurative.
I was lucky to be encouraged
to explore, to learn that there is
no
graffiti-filled
concrete
wall
between the cities that must come
down. Instead there exist walls of
a different kind, walls that society
has built up for years; we sometimes
fail to notice they exist. These
walls, too, must be torn down.
— David Harris can be reached
at daharr@umich.edu.
DAVID
HARRIS
ABBY
TASKIER
I
n September 2014, the Daily requested documents from the
University surrounding the Department of Education’s Title IX
investigation, falling under the purview of Michigan’s Freedom
of Information Act. These documents include, “written complaints,
e-mails from administrators and witness statements, among other
documents.” After negotiations and communication spanning over
four months, the Daily paid one of two $445 installments for a
fraction of the originally requested documents. Two months later,
the University has not only failed to provide the documents, but
also has not released a timeline estimating when it might provide
them. This is not acceptable. Although the University is not legally
required to release any sort of timeline, Frank LoMonte, executive
director of the Student Press Law Center, said in an interview with
the Daily that this process “really should not take months.” While
not illegal, it is unethical and dubious of the University to decline
releasing a timeline in addition to the documents themselves.
Unfortunately, this failure of the University
to make records available to the public is
consistent with past behavior. In 2011, the
Daily published a special report showing that
the University charges hefty fees for open
records requests, which sometimes can be
well over $1,000 — far more expensive than
fees charged by other Big Ten schools.
Not only does the University make
the attainment of documents under the
purview of FOIA difficult by hiking up
the fees for document requests, but it also
lacks an official policy for preserving public
records. The legality and morality of this is
questionable, if not doubtful. This problem
emerged earlier this academic year, when the
Daily submitted FOIA requests for e-mails
to and from former Athletic Director Dave
Brandon
immediately
following
former
football kicker Brendan Gibbons’ permanent
separation from the University for violating
the Student Sexual Misconduct Policy. In
this case, the University could not fulfill the
request because the e-mails — which are
public record — had been deleted due to the
lack of a records retention policy.
These problems find their origins in both
systemic practices within the University
and in the details of the state’s FOIA
requirements. The Michigan Freedom of
Information Act requires the public body to
respond to requests for documents within
five business days, but this response can
simply state that more time is needed before
the documents can be released. It does not,
however, require the public body to specify
exactly how much time is needed.
In addition, the bill states that public bodies
may charge requesters fees “for the necessary
copying of a public record for inspection
or providing a copy of a public record,” and
that they may charge additional fees if not
doing so would result in “unreasonably high
costs” for the public body. These terms are
vague and ultimately give public bodies the
discretion to determine the cost of obtaining
the requested documents. This ambiguous
legislation could have led to the unreasonably
high costs demanded of the Daily.
Fortunately,
earlier
this
year
the
Michigan legislature passed changes to the
bill, effective July 1, that will amend these
problems. Such changes require public
bodies to release a timeline, albeit non-
binding, for the documents’ release, and
also cap fees at 10 cents per page prepared
for release.
Although these changes are commendable,
the problem still remains: the University is
not being transparent about its practices and
procedures. Even though their practices are
not currently illegal, withholding information
from the public and from students is morally
concerning, regardless of whether it be
because the records are poorly organized or
the records reveal incriminating information.
In light of all of these events, it is absolutely
imperative — for ethical reasons and for
the sake of re-earning students’ trust — for
the University to provide the documents,
or at least a timeline for the release of the
documents that were requested two months
ago, with or without legislation mandating
the University do so.
Unsurprising behavior
University has failed to provide documents requested through FOIA
FROM THE DAILY
There are problems
that cannot be fixed
with simple solutions.
The PC trend
NATHANIEL MACANIAN | VIEWPOINT
Awaken Ann Arbor
When was the last time you took a second
to reflect? From the day we step into our
freshman dorm rooms, we’re taught that
college students should be busy, booked and
stressed from the moment they wake up to
the moment they fall asleep. Here in Ann
Arbor, we especially feel a need to maximize
all of the great resources Ann Arbor has to
offer, oftentimes sacrificing our personal
comforts and mental health in the process.
Ultimately, what these self-induced pressures
often result in is a tunnel-vision view of our
real priorities.
Few are aware of the biological benefits of
engaging in meditation. Studies conducted at
the University of North Carolina and Wake
Forest University concluded that mindfulness
techniques consistently displayed improved
cognitive abilities, and even higher GRE
scores. Additionally, MRI studies have
shown that enlarged hippocampal and right
orbito-frontal regions in meditators were
associated with enhanced memory capacity
and affective experience, as well as emotional
regulating abilities.
Meditation and Zen habits are gaining more
traction in our culture every day, and for good
cause. Other similar studies have shown that
meditating 20 minutes for just four days result-
ed in improved test scores than control groups.
Big questions are hard to answer and
even harder to ask. Awaken Ann Arbor is a
relatively new student organization dedicated
to helping students learn how to meditate,
find a more meaningful purpose in their lives,
and grow spiritually without emphasizing
dogma. Awaken’s weekly meetings aim to
foster a more spiritually minded student body
on campus, and offer a community of like-
minded individuals to learn from sharing
meaningful life experiences every week.
These processes are a workout for your
brain, and getting started is the hardest
part. Awaken Ann Arbor provides certified
instructors who guide group meditation
sessions for all levels, and the dialogues that
follow connect students with the knowledge
and resources needed to help maximize our
potential here at the University of Michigan.
All ages, skills, and perspectives are
encouraged to join us at Awaken’s meetings
every Sunday at 12 p.m.
Remember, the best time to plant a tree was
20 years ago. The next-best time is today.
To get involved, e-mail Will Ellis at elliswil@
umich.edu.
Nathaniel Macanian is an LSA junior.
In this day and age,
social awareness
seems to have become
a status symbol.
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