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.
LAURA SCHINAGLE
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MELISSA SCHOLKE
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
DEREK WOLFE
MANAGING EDITOR
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
4
Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION
FROM THE DAILY
Modifying the MIP
Legislation would transform the MIP into a civil infraction
T
he proposed Senate Bill 332 would change underage posses-
sion of alcohol to a civil infraction. Referred to as a “minor in
possession,” or an MIP, underage possession of alcohol is cur-
rently a misdemeanor crime. The bill would retain the fees associated
with MIPs — up to $100 for the first violation and $200 for the second
violation— and the third violation would then be considered a mis-
demeanor. However, the first and second violations would no longer
involve jail time or a criminal record. Additionally, this bill would limit
the ability of law enforcement officials to require breathalyzer tests
from minors they have reasonable cause to believe have been drinking.
Instead, law enforcement officials would only be able to request that
minors submit to the exam. The benefits of this bill are clear. It would
prevent young people from being denied scholarships, college admis-
sion and job opportunities because of a youthful mistake, and allow
the re-allocation of resources currently being used to process MIPs in
court. Although this bill would lessen the consequences for underage
drinking, it retains enough consequences to be similarly preventative
as the current law.
Senate Bill 332 was intro-
duced by Sen. Rick Jones (R–
Grand Ledge) in an effort to
stop MIP cases from clogging
criminal courts. Reducing MIP
cases would allow for police
officers, prosecutors and judg-
es to use their time for other
more pressing concerns. Par-
ticularly, the legislation would
allow police officers to work to
make their communities safer
and reduce the amount of time
they need to spend as witnesses
to these cases. However, some
MIP cases would still be mis-
demeanors, such as those that
include the purchase of alcohol
using
fraudulent
identifica-
tion and any violations past the
second civil infraction. This
would prevent courts from
being hindered but still demon-
strate that underage drinking
is taken seriously. Addition-
ally, it should be noted that
in 2013, the counties with the
highest amounts of MIPs were
all counties containing major
public universities. Two of the
top four counties are home to
Michigan State University and
the University of Michigan.
Clearly, MIPs largely affect col-
lege students, who are partici-
pating in the widely accepted
and practiced social activity.
Although underage drink-
ing is illegal, the current status
is too harsh of a punishment to
impose when the behavior is
so prevalent on college cam-
puses. We need to ensure that
those students caught break-
ing this law aren’t stuck with
a criminal record and won’t be
prohibited from student loans
and scholarships as a result of
this infraction. By doing so,
the proposed legislation pro-
tects students’ futures from
being permanently impacted
by a short-term indiscretion.
Rather than funnel students
into the criminal justice sys-
tem, more educational efforts
should be extended to curb
S
itting on a yoga mat with our
feet dangling over the edge of
the dilapidated, wooden frame-
work of the balco-
ny attached to my
apartment, my best
friend and I pon-
dered the rapid-
ity with which the
culmination
of
assignments, proj-
ects, all-nighters,
exams and trips
across
the
state
had propelled us to
the summer before
our senior year of college. The boom-
ing strains of house music from across
the street mingled with each laugh
and anxious thought that infused the
humid, summer night around us. We
discussed everything from jobs to
relocating to the shared sense of inde-
cisiveness we’d both need to overcome
to eventually make these decisions.
We delved deeper into the future, try-
ing to imagine separate timelines for
all the goals and accomplishments we
hoped were awaiting us in the loom-
ing expanse of uncertainty ahead.
Although the notion of strategiz-
ing and plotting out our lives may be
appealing and offer some reassur-
ance, there’s absolutely no guaran-
tee that our prospective goals and
achievements will occur in sync with
some defined schedule we attempt to
craft during our undergraduate years.
Obstacles are inevitable. Extenuating
circumstances may someday lead our
personal and professional ambitions
to conflict, forcing the prioritization
of one over the other. For a great deal
of women, the reality of this potential
scenario is reinforced during discus-
sions about maintaining an effective
balance between personal and profes-
sional life and trying to “have it all.”
An article by Liza Mundy in The
Atlantic titled “Playing the Granny
Card” suggests the recent surge of
highly ambitious female politicians
and officials — Hillary Clinton, Eliza-
beth Warren, Ruth Bader Ginsberg
and Elizabeth Merkel to name a few—
who are seeking or holding leadership
positions of immense clout in their
60s is due to the notion that women
are “often held back in midlife by
domestic responsibilities” and “are
in many ways suited to shift into high
gear at a later age.” Women — due to
discrepancies between the methods
by which they are evaluated in com-
parison to their male counterparts —
assume positions at a more advanced
age. While only 4.8 percent of Fortune
500 CEOs are women, those who do
eventually advance to the position are
around the average age of 52.8 years
old. The overwhelmingly larger por-
tion of male colleagues usually does
so around the age of 50.2. The trend of
older women in public office is further
supported by the fact that the median
age for female representatives in the
U.S. House of Representatives is 59.1.
While it’s both extremely extraor-
dinary and inspiring to see that a
woman’s ability to make a substantial
impact upon society isn’t constricted
by her age, the accompanying notion
that female accomplishments may,
then, need to be delayed until a wom-
an’s domestic duties are concluded —
whatever she chooses those to be — is
concerning. Some positions in cer-
tain fields, to an extent, will always
require the immense knowledge and
experience acquired by a practicing
individual of an advanced age. Action,
however, should be taken to assist
women so they don’t need to wait until
their 50s, or even their 60s, to consider
A solution past due
MELISSA
SCHOLKE
drinking behaviors in underage stu-
dents. Additionally, by diminishing
the potential for punishment, the
modified law may prevent students
who may have already acquired an
MIP from adopting more danger-
ous habits or re-locating drinking to
unsafe settings simply out of a fear of
facing further criminal consequences.
As anti-drinking enforcement efforts
increased on campus during Welcome
Week this past year, for example, an
increase of drinking behavior was
seen in off-campus housing where
these behaviors are far less monitored.
Additionally, rather than instill-
ing students with a fear of incurring
criminal charges, fines and a multi-
tude of potential future consequences,
the legislation emphasizes the idea
that drinking is largely a public health
issue. More effort needs to be directed
at advocating responsible and safe
drinking habits in college communi-
ties. The bill — by removing the conse-
quences of criminal charges — removes
deterrents that may prevent students
from seeking medical assistance if
a drinking problem does exist. Cur-
rently, a medical amnesty law exists in
Michigan that protects any minor from
receiving an MIP for seeking medical
treatment for alcohol poisoning for
either another minor or for themselves.
However, if minors are unaware of
this medical amnesty legislation, the
diminished consequences offered by
this bill could further reassure minors
that they won’t face criminal charges
solely for seeking treatment.