Opinion
JENNIFER CALFAS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH
and DEREK WOLFE
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER
MANAGING EDITOR
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Tuesday, March 24, 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
T
his past Saturday morning I
thought it would be nice to
have a kitten, so that after-
noon I went to the
humane
society.
This is something
my mom might
call
“impulsive
decision-making,”
but as it was she
called it “being
spontaneous”
—
probably because
she’s the one who
drove me to the
animal shelter.
Adopting a kitten right now
would be a bad idea for a multitude
of reasons: my apartment doesn’t
allow pets, I’m leaving the country
in four months, and I’m allergic to
cats. But I really wanted one. And
that was more than good enough for
my mom, because it’s the first thing
I’ve actively wanted in a long time.
Let’s back up to last Friday, which
is when I told my therapist that the
only thing that made me feel okay
was being with animals. It’d be nice,
I said, to spend time with something
alive and mildly social that didn’t
require any conversation. I thought
a dog might be good, or maybe a cat,
since they aren’t as loud or such
persistent mouth-breathers. “So go
get one,” she said. Like it was just
that easy. Animals could be very
therapeutic, apparently.
When I recounted this interac-
tion to my mom, thinking she would
also laugh at the oversimplification
of how to solve my problem, she sur-
prised me by agreeing that I should
just get one. She already had her car
keys in hand. That’s when I realized
just how desperately the people
in my life wanted to help me. That
they’d try anything — even jump-
ing in the car to go adopt a cat that
didn’t make any sense for me to
bring into my life. It reminded me
of something of which I was already
painfully aware: my problem affects
the people around me.
I have struggled with depression
for years now, which is something
that I try to be very open about.
But it gets harder to discuss frankly
when I’m in the throes of it. It’s a
kind of recurring nightmare that I
can only comfortably recount when
it’s long over. So when my attention
started slipping early in the semes-
ter, I just tried not to think about
it. It got harder to ignore when I
began barely making assignment
deadlines, then handing in assign-
ments late, then not handing them
in at all. I don’t really want to talk
about what depression feels like.
Too many people already know the
experience. But the effect is some-
thing that looks a lot like apathy,
and leaves the people who care not
knowing how to help.
So I got in the passenger seat of
my mom’s car and my 15-year-old
sister hopped into the back, imme-
diately speculating what kind of
kitten would be best for me. She
thought, most importantly, it ought
to be a girl. My mom said to just pick
a nice one. We got to the animal
shelter 15 minutes before it closed
and passed the cages of anxiously
yowling dogs to a room where they
kept the kittens, a room where
they kept a kitten. All of the cages
were empty except for one, where
one kitten had pressed itself to the
back wall, nearly invisible in the
shadows. The sign said her name
was Pumpkin.
Kittens aren’t usually born until
spring, it turns out, but we weren’t
immediately deterred by the lack
of selection. My sister cooed and
wiggled her fingers inside the
cage, which surprisingly did rouse
Pumpkin’s interest. My mom asked
a volunteer if we could hold the kit-
ten, and she said no. It had bitten
someone and we would have to fill
out a lot of paper work, but there
were some older cats in the front we
could look at.
So we went to the front. There
was a room with free-roaming
cats lounging on the benches, and
in a litter box was the largest cat
I’ve ever seen. He was shaped like
a meatloaf and took up the entire
box. When we entered the room he
tried to raise himself, but gave up
the task when his heft proved too
much to lift. I looked at my mom
and
grinned.
“Absolutely
not,”
she said.
We pet some lazy cats and my
sister took an obscene number of
Snapchat videos, but eventually we
had to leave empty-handed. I felt a
little disappointed and a lot itchy (I
really am allergic to cats).
When we got back in the car,
my mom looked sadder than I did.
“Now really isn’t a good time for me
to get a cat anyway,” I said. She nod-
ded, but I still felt badly. She said she
and my sister would keep looking
while I was at school, and while I
realized I had gotten over the whim
of getting a new pet, I still told her
that was a good idea. I felt I had to
let her continue the obsessive kitten
search, because while she couldn’t
cure my depression, she could abso-
lutely scour the Internet for kittens
for sale in Michigan.
The hard thing about recovering
from depression is that it’s hard to
take care of myself when I don’t nec-
essarily feel I’m worth taking care
of. Yet I allowed myself to get swept
up in the cat mania because my mom
hoped a cat could cure me, and if I
couldn’t make myself happy, I could
at least try to make her happy. The
fix might not be as easy as adopt-
ing a new pet, but maybe that’s how
recovery works sometimes: you try
to help the people who care to help
you, even if you can’t help yourself.
—Sydney Hartle can be reached
at hartles@umich.edu.
C
entral Student Government elections will be held March
25 and March 26, with candidates from The Team, Make
Michigan and the Defend Affirmative Action Party all vying
for positions on CSG. As the representative body for students at the
University, CSG must take on the pressing issues facing the University,
its administration and its students, as well as incorporate voices from
all students on campus. Sexual assault, mental health and diversity
are crucial issues on campus. All of them must be considered and
dealt with by CSG under its next administration. Inclusivity and the
mobilization of student groups must also be a focus of CSG. While the
parties present platforms that seem to tackle these points, only one
party and its candidates have the experience and inclusivity needed
in order to practically take on these issues. With reservations, The
Michigan Daily’s editorial board endorses The Team.
Heading The Team’s ticket are LSA junior
Will Royster and LSA sophomore Matt Fidel,
running for president and vice president,
respectively.
Royster
has
no
previous
experience on CSG, but currently serves as
academic concerns chair for the Black Student
Union. Fidel is an LSA representative for CSG
and previously sat on the Social Responsibility
Committee for the now disbanded Sigma
Alpha Mu fraternity. In an interview with the
editorial board, it was evident Royster and Fidel
are passionate leaders, dedicated to bettering
the campus community. They stressed the
importance of increasing diversity on campus
and the need for cross-collaboration on campus
to tackle the most important issues students
face. This is reflected in The Team’s platform.
Additionally, plans to increase on-site
recruitment programs for underrepresented
communities
and
to
move
the
Trotter
Multicultural Center to a more accessible
location would be welcome in beginning to
address diversity issues. Initiatives to make
CSG more transparent and a larger presence
on campus, such as creating a coffee cart in
Mason Hall staffed by CSG representatives, a
text-message hotline to voice concerns and an
opt-in interactive newsletter are respectable
initiatives that should be carried out.
But what separates The Team from the other
parties is a developed, tangible plan to expand
mental health services on campus. Royster and
Fidel intend to work with the administration to
bring Counseling and Psychological Services to
both North Campus and residence halls. While
the Wolverine Support Network has launched
with a successful start, it simply cannot
replace
professional
counseling.
Making
mental health services more accessible could
lead to more students who need counseling
getting care. If this were the only thing The
Team accomplished in the next year, it would
certainly be a successful term.
That said, the editorial board has reservations
about The Team’s platform, stated goals and
ability to command the executive branch of
CSG. Their platform, while calling for the
prevention of sexual assault on campus, does so
via the expansion of education for faculty and
staff. This expanded education does not cover
the most important segment of campus: the
students. The Team relies on the student groups
and organizations that already exist on campus
to continue the education process of students
with regard to sexual assault and sexual assault
prevention. In addition, The Team’s support
of the “Companion” application targets only
a small aspect of the sexual assault issue —
attacks at night by strangers — as a significant
portion of sexual assault take place in the home
of the survivor or the perpetrator. During their
interview with the editorial board, Royster and
Fidel provided lackluster plans for crucial issues
on campus. When asked about issues surrounding
Greek life at the University, Royster stated that
the implementation of programs to focus on the
standards of brotherhood and scholarship are
necessary for dealing with the perceived issues
with Greek life. This plan lacked in detail and,
thus, practicality. Another lacking area of The
Team was their stance on diversity. While The
Team posits practical and informed courses of
action when dealing with issues of diversity, these
plans largely avoid the issue of diversity outside
of race, namely with regards to the LGBTQ
community. The Team appears to have focused on
a diversity of candidates as opposed to a diversity
of ideas, leading the editorial board to have issues
with the plans put forth under their platform.
Finally, the actions of the recently disbanded
Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity on their ski trip and
Fidel’s subsequent handling of the issues raises
questions about his ability to lead during trying
times. In an interview last month about the ski
trip, despite knowing it would be possible to
decline comment, The Team’s campaign manager
Jacob Abudaram, an LSA junior, refused to
continue the interview with Fidel and the Daily
until the reporter promised not to ask Fidel’s
personal involvement in the incident. This event
is concerning and not respectable conduct for
potential campus leaders.
LSA junior Cooper Charlton and LSA
sophomore Steven Halperin lead Make Michigan
in this election. Charlton is currently president
of the University’s Student-Athlete Advisory
Committee and Halperin is a current LSA
representative. Under the current leadership
of Public Policy Senior Bobby Dishell, Make
Michigan has put several notable programs
into action, such as need-based ticket prices for
financially disadvantaged students, maintaining
the Night Owl late-night bus service and
beginning the Wolverine Support Network.
However, this year’s platform offers either
small-scale or ineffective policies that fail to
recognize larger issues that face the campus.
While Charlton’s record working with University
administration and receptiveness to critical
feedback give us faith in his leadership abilities,
problems with the platform begin with the ideas
for increasing diversity and combating sexual
assault. Make Michigan intends to implement
SEED faculty training, a for-profit program
which educates faculty members on inclusion.
However, the Program on Intergroup Relations
already exists. While IGR is currently designed
for students, it promotes a similar agenda to SEED.
Therefore, it would be wiser to use resources the
University has to develop a program for faculty,
as redundancy is not needed. Furthermore, while
increasing on-campus lighting to promote a safer
atmosphere for students walking at night is a
worthwhile effort, as it may make students feel
safer, it does not effectively combat the culture
that surrounds sexual assault — something that
urgently needs to be addressed.
Lastly, Make Michigan touts a new Student
Honor Code that will transcend the existing
individual school codes; however, the Statement
of Student Rights and Responsibilities is already
in place — a fact addressed in a previous editorial.
Simply put, the Make Michigan platform does not
add up to the potent leadership and initiative that
is essential to successful CSG governance.
Leading the Defend Affirmative Action
Party — which is tightly linked to minority
rights advocacy group BAMN — are LSA
junior Keysha Wall and LSA sophomore Katie
Kennedy running for CSG president and CSG
vice president. The party is passionate about
systemic issues, such as racism and bigotry, and
wants to increase diversity and transparency
on campus. While these are urgent concerns
of the University, the party is too focused on
a single issue, and therefore lacks the breadth
of experience and knowledge required of CSG
leadership. This is on top of the fact that both
candidates lack experience working with
University administration — a must-have for a
student representative.
The Central Student Government should
incorporate all student voices to effectively
represent the entire student body on campus.
All parties’ platforms voice student concerns
but do not properly establish programs that will
effectively combat these issues. The Michigan
Daily’s editorial board is endorsing The Team
because their platform most thoroughly
addresses issues of diversity on campus by
working with student groups such as the Black
Student Union; issues of mental health by
expanding CAPS to more locations; and issues
of sexual assault by providing faculty training.
Despite our endorsement, we urge The Team
to expand its initiatives to combat sexual
assault culture on campus, including education
programs for student organization. The Team
must work to repair the negative perception
surrounding Fidel as a result of Sigma Alpha
Mu’s dissolution and the fraternity’s handling
of the issues stemming from their ski trip.
The Team presents ideas and claims to be
inclusionary of all ideas and groups. This must
persist should they win office.
Vote The Team candidates Will Royster
and Matt Fidel for CSG president and
vice president.
Vote The Team
The editorial board endorses Will Royster and Matt Fidel
FROM THE DAILY
— Republican presidential candidate and Texas Senator Ted Cruz said to a three-year-old girl at
a recent campaign event in New Hampshire.
“
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
The world is on fire. Yes! Your world is on
fire. But you know what? Your mommy’s
here and everyone’s here to make sure the
world you grow up in is better.”
Why I joined The Team
At first glance, a token seems like
a valuable thing. A token is a symbol
of importance, wealth and worth. A
token is not light — it seems to carry
some weight. But the truth is that
tokens are only symbols of worth;
they don’t hold any real value. Too
often on this campus, my identities
have been tokenized. My brownness
and my gender have been used to
“diversify” a room of campus lead-
ers. My voice, my experiences and
my feelings have been swept aside
by people who promised they would
listen — those I trusted to validate
my narratives. For them, my physi-
cal presence was enough to fill the
quota for diversity in the room,
nothing more.
As this year’s CSG election sea-
son approached, I didn’t have
any desire to be involved in cam-
paign politics. I was content with
the work I am doing with student
leaders and administrators from
across campus. We have made great
strides to promote interfaith collab-
oration, combat sexual violence and
increase campus accessibility this
year. But still, I felt uneasy about my
decision to stay out of all the elec-
tioneering. I knew that I couldn’t
stand by and watch another year of
typical campaigns. I needed to take
part in changing the culture of CSG
elections. I wanted to support can-
didates who honestly live out their
values; candidates who serve with
humility, strive to develop a deep
understanding of the issues that
face our campus and are willing to
fight for change; candidates who
focus on the well-being of the stu-
dent body. I wanted to support can-
didates who truly value my voice
and the voices of my peers.
Before this school year, I didn’t
know Will Royster or Matt Fidel.
When I first spoke to them about
their candidacy, I questioned their
desire to get involved in CSG at the
executive level. I wanted to know
about their track records on cam-
pus — what had they accomplished
so far? I asked about their motiva-
tions for running — were they in it
for the right reasons? After some
long conversations, I decided I
had to join The Team. There was
no longer any doubt in my mind.
I am constantly inspired by Will’s
humility and desire to improve
the campus climate. With Will,
it’s never about him; it was always
about The Team. Will’s genuine
desire to listen to all narratives,
as well as his selfless leadership,
makes him the ideal candidate
for student body president. I am
thoroughly impressed with Matt’s
work in the social justice realm
on campus. His thoughtfulness,
open-mindedness
and
genuine
compassion
undoubtedly
make
him the right choice for the next
vice president.
The Team’s party leadership and
representative slate are some of
the most outstanding people I have
worked with on campus. As I enter
every meeting for The Team, I am
embraced with warmth and love.
We say “there’s a place for everyone
on The Team” and we mean it.
Polls are open at vote.umich.
edu Wednesday, March 25, and
Thursday, March 26. I hope you’ll
choose to join The Team.
Meaghan Shokar is an LSA junior.
INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? POLITICS? SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK’N’ROLL?
Check out The Daily’s editorial board meetings. Every Monday and Wednesday at 6 p.m.,
the Daily’s opinion staff meets to discuss both University and national affairs and write
editorials. E-mail tothedaily@michigandaily.com to join in the debate.
MEAGHAN SHOKAR | VIEWPOINT
I almost bought a cat last weekend
SYDNEY
HARTLE