Opinion

SHOHAM GEVA
EDITOR IN CHIEF

CLAIRE BRYAN 

AND REGAN DETWILER 
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

LAURA SCHINAGLE
MANAGING EDITOR

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

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the University of Michigan since 1890.

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, January 25, 2016

I

f you were anywhere near the 
Michigan League over Martin 
Luther King Jr. Day weekend, 

you likely noticed 
hordes of high 
school 
students 

running around 
in suits. What 
was going on? 
Had the career 
fair come early? 
Was the Univer-
sity 
of 
Michi-

gan 
promising 

admission to the 
best-dressed 
minors?

Not quite. That weekend, more 

than 600 high school students trav-
eled to Ann Arbor to participate in 
a Model United Nations conference 
called MUNUM. For four days, they 
assumed the roles of diplomats and 
world leaders from different coun-
tries, and debated and attempted 
to resolve some of the world’s most 
pressing issues.

The day after the conference 

ended, dozens of rightfully angry 
people gathered in Ann Arbor to 
demand justice for Flint. In the eyes 
of the protesters, justice seemed to 
imply that Michigan Gov. Rick Sny-
der (R) be recalled due to his com-
plicity in the Flint water disaster. 
Other calls for justice have included 
reparations for the damage to the 
property and people affected by the 
lead-tainted water.

But money and personal conse-

quences for the officials deemed 
responsible are necessary — but 
insufficient — components of justice 
for the nearly 100,000 people who 
were poisoned by their government. 
Justice is a dubious concept when so 
many people have been subjected to 
immeasurable long-term harm.

The closest thing to justice that 

our state can deliver to the city of 
Flint, aside from monetary compen-
sation — aid in dealing with long-
term consequences of lead poisoning 
and punishment for the complicit 
officials — certainly includes policy 
reforms to prevent a similar situation 
from happening in the future. That’s 
where our government officials 
would be best served by taking a les-
son from the idealistic high schoolers 
who flooded Michigan’s campus for 
the MUNUM conference.

At MUNUM, I directed a com-

mittee of about 80 high school 
students, and challenged them to 
reform a global trade agreement 
that requires almost every country 
in the world to adopt and enforce 
copyright, trademark and patent 
protection laws. If that issue sounds 
a bit dense, that’s only because it is. 
International trade law isn’t exactly 
a topic of casual conversations — 
especially among high schoolers.

But there is an important reason to 

discuss this issue — the law in ques-
tion often restricts low-income coun-
tries’ abilities to provide affordable 
life-saving drugs to their citizens 

during health crises. Powerful, devel-
oped countries claim the agreement 
is necessary for economic reasons. 
Low-income countries often counter 
that it prioritizes company profits at 
the expense of human health.

The students in my committee 

debated this issue as if it affected 
them personally. They came to a 
resolution far more comprehen-
sive than anything I’ve seen sug-
gested elsewhere, least of all by 
the U.S. government.

The reason they were so effec-

tive in representing the interests of 
other people affected by an issue they 
probably hadn’t thought about before 
seemed to be their ability to empa-
thize. Empathy is a skill Model UN 
tries to cultivate, prompting students 
to totally assume the mindset of dip-
lomats with a national identities dif-
ferent from their own.

If there’s any single thing I could 

point to as a cause of the Flint water 
crisis, it’s the complete failure of 
Michigan leaders to empathize with 
the people they were appointed to 
serve. But this lack of empathy doesn’t 
necessarily stem from a personal fail-
ure on the part of our leaders (though 
that certainly may have played a role).

Rather, this total failure to 

understand and advocate for the 
interests of Flint residents is sys-
temic, and therefore susceptible to 
repetition. It’s called Public Act 4, 
a 2012 law that strengthened the 
power of emergency managers. In 
2012, Gov. Snyder remarked that 
“these new laws recognize the vital 
importance of financially stable, 
economically vibrant communities 
to Michigan’s future.”

But by enhancing the authority of 

leaders far removed from the people 
they serve, it lowered the likelihood 
that these leaders would adequately 
value the interests of the people they 
were appointed to represent.

Failure to empathize may sound 

like a pretty squishy explanation for 
what has surely become one of the 
most costly and highest-profile gov-
ernment-made catastrophes of the 
Snyder administration. But the entire 
concept of American democracy is 
derived from the idea that the most 
effective and just leaders are those 
most able to understand, relate to and 
advocate for the people they serve.

Emergency managers almost by 

definition don’t fit these criteria. 
They are supposed to override local 
interests with the goal of taking 
tough but necessary austerity mea-
sures that elected officials are some-
times too fearful to impose. This 
is deemed necessary, and may be 
appropriate for addressing budgetary 
concerns in a strictly financial sense. 
Public Act 4 gave emergency manag-
ers power over most noteworthy city 
operations, and even the authority to 
renegotiate contracts.

In Flint, the state had far more 

power than should’ve been neces-
sary to restore fiscal solvency. This 
power is, in the most direct and fun-

damental sense, what caused the 
Flint water crisis.

It’s hard to imagine local leaders 

who wouldn’t react promptly to yel-
low water flowing out of sinks, show-
ers and fire hydrants throughout their 
city. It’s even less likely that local gov-
ernment would have failed to respond 
immediately to concerns over lead poi-
soning, the effects of which will con-
tinue to impact their city for decades, 
long after state officials have turned 
their attention to other issues.

But for nearly two years, more than 

8,600 children in Flint have been 
exposed to water with elevated lead 
levels, irrevocably raising their risk 
of learning, behavioral and attention 
disorders. Despite knowing about the 
issue for months, the state failed to 
acknowledge or resolve the problem.

They continued to deny the lead 

concerns until 38-year-old Flint 
pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Atti-
sha studied data on the blood lead 
levels of child Medicaid beneficia-
ries in Flint, and repeatedly alerted 
state officials that the numbers 
were extremely high.

The Flint water crisis has since 

become a national controversy. Every-
one from Cher to Ben Carson has 
weighed in. President Barack Obama 
has declared a state of emergency. Sny-
der himself has even admitted that he 
and his administration had failed the 
people of Flint.

The state has promised money 

and profusely apologized for their 
mismanagement of the water cri-
sis, but state leaders have yet to 
produce adequate solutions to 
the problems they created. The 
city still lacks adequate plans and 
funding to compensate victims 
and create special education and 
juvenile corrections programs for 
the more than 8,600 children now 
statistically more likely to need 
these facilities.

I’ve seen no evidence that those 

plans are in the works. Soon, the 
24-hour news cycle will find some-
thing new to talk about. Cher, Bernie 
Sanders, Ben Carson, Michael Moore 
and the other celebrities who have 
thrust Flint into the national spotlight 
will focus their attention elsewhere.

But the people of Flint will be liv-

ing with the impacts of this govern-
ment failure long after the bottled 
water donations and news trucks have 
stopped showing up in their town. 
The state officials, reporters and out-
of-town advocates can all move on as 
soon as it’s convenient for them to do 
so. Those affected by the poisoned 
water don’t have that luxury.

No amount of restitution or ret-

ribution can change that basic fact. 
Justice for Flint requires that the 
state honor the legacy of the city and 
people it so monumentally failed by 
preventing a repeat incident else-
where. To do that, our legislators 
must reform Public Act 4.

—Victoria Noble can be 

reached at vjnoble@umich.edu.

Justice for Flint

E-mail Dan at Danct@umich.EDu
DAN PARK

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan, 

Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, 

Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, 

Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, 

Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe, Hunter Zhao

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

“H

istory is written by the vic-
tors” was perhaps Winston 
Churchill’s most well-known 

quote. Like many great 
quotes, 
it’s 
one 
that 

expresses a grand idea 
succinctly and elegantly: 
Those who win write not 
only their own history but 
also everyone else’s. While some apply this 
only to war, it extends to any type of conflict. 
When any two groups engage in competition, 
there are, by default, always winners and los-
ers. From sports, to grades, to social situations, 
someone always has an edge.

These competitions are often construed as 

being completely fair, as all participants engage 
in the same task, meaning one shouldn’t, hypo-
thetically, confront any more difficulty than 
another during the task. However, this doesn’t 
take into account that people are shaped by 
their previous experiences, which are different 
for each person. These experiences are often 
dependent on social identity, with privilege 
and social capital playing a large part in life. 
The challenges I have faced as a white male of 
high socioeconomic status are profoundly dif-
ferent (and overall, lesser) than those faced by 
any person of color.

In certain aspects of society throughout his-

tory, privilege has resulted in overrepresenta-
tion of certain groups over others, one of the 
most privileged groups being males in leader-
ship positions. We can see this effect across a 
number of professions: in education, business, 
the military and often government as well. 
This overrepresentation in the present leads to 
overrepresentation in history, and contributes 
to the prevalence of buildings and monuments 
dedicated to men.

While you can see this all over, on gov-

ernment buildings or sports stadiums, it is 
especially apparent in institutions of higher 
learning. Regarded as a bastion of liberalism, 
you might think the University of Michigan 
wouldn’t hold true to this common practice. 
And to a degree, it doesn’t, with four residence 
halls named after women (Martha Cook, Alice 
Lloyd, Mary Markley, Helen Newberry, Betsy 
Barbour) and one academic building named 
after a heterosexual couple (Betsy and Bob 
Beyster Building). However, there is current-
ly no academic building named solely after 
a woman. And given that the University has 
more than 500 buildings spread over North, 
South, Medical and Central campuses, the 
buildings listed above constitute a paltry sum.

Many feminists know too well the ways 

in which women have been erased from his-
tory, and in response, they have created the 
aptly named “her-story,” in opposition to “his-
story.” However, you can’t really construct 

buildings for the express purpose of naming 
them after women, which would be the physi-
cal equivalent of writing her-story. While you 
could rename current monuments and build-
ings, this is met with fierce resistance.

That being said, three members of LSA Stu-

dent Government — budget allocations com-
mittee chair Nicholas Fadanelli, President 
Jason Colella and Vice President Reid Kloot-
wyk — may have found an opportunity to rem-
edy this problem. With construction underway 
for the new Biological Sciences Building, and 
no name currently assigned to it other than 
“Biological Sciences Building,” there is an 
opportunity to have an academic building at 
the University named after a woman. Colella, 
Klootwyk and Fadanelli sought to bring about 
this change by writing a resolution and trying 
to pass it through student government. What’s 
more, they have a perfect candidate to name 
the building after: our former University Presi-
dent Emerita Mary Sue Coleman, one of only 
two former University presidents who do not 
have a building named after them.

Mary Sue Coleman has been one of our 

most respected and distinguished former 
presidents. She earned many awards while in 
office, including being named one of the top 
10 college presidents in the country by TIME. 
And even after leaving her job as president 
of the University, Coleman has continued to 
give the school a good name. Since her depar-
ture, she has served as the president of the 
Association of American Universities and 
was appointed by President Barack Obama to 
help launch one of his initiatives. And these 
are just a few of the accomplishments she has 
achieved so far.

As Fadanelli stated in an e-mail exchange 

with the Daily, “The fact that the University of 
Michigan does not have an academic building 
named solely after a woman is not only shock-
ing, but it is also shameful. We, here, strive to 
push for diversity and inclusion in every field 
of study, and the lack of an academic building 
named after a woman does not send the image 
or the message that I believe the University of 
Michigan should.”

LSA Student Government will be voting at 

their Jan. 27 meeting on this resolution that 
would put pressure on the University to name 
the building after Coleman. Following LSA 
Student Government’s consideration of the 
resolution, they will urge Central Student Gov-
ernment to do the same.

I believe naming a building after a distin-

guished woman such as Mary Sue Coleman 
will start the University on the right track, and 
maybe even rewrite a little history itself.

—Connor Kippe can be reached 

at conkip@umich.edu.

Writing women into history

CONNOR 
KIPPE

When news of the Flint water 

crisis broke national headlines, I 
couldn’t believe the reports I was 
reading. The citizens of Flint had 
been drinking river water con-
taminated not only by lead, but 
also with E. coli and trihalometh-
anes, for more than an entire year. 
Worse yet, they essentially were 
poisoned in order to save the city 
money. Every article brought new 
testimonies — new tragedies — 
from victims of the crisis.

This isn’t something that fami-

lies in Flint can simply recover from. 
There is no bouncing back: Lead poi-
soning, at any threshold, will cause 
irreversible damage to the body. 
Children from Flint are the biggest 
victims, given that lead exposure 
results in effects reduced IQ, anti-
social behavior or immunotoxicity, 
to name a few. The most haunting 
images from this catastrophe are 
those featuring “elected” officials 
proudly toasting with cups of tap 
water to celebrate the switch from 
the Detroit water system to the Flint 
River. It’s so haunting because it is 
the same people captured in those 
photos who would turn a blind eye 
the next week to an unending stream 
of public complaints, jugs of putrid 
brown water brought to city council 
meetings and widespread outbreaks 
of skin lesions/hair falling out.

Returning to Ann Arbor after 

Winter Break, I hesitated briefly 
at the thought of drinking a cup of 
water from the faucet. I kept ask-
ing myself whether or not I could 
trust the tap water after reading 
about the tragedy unfolding just 
a one-hour drive away — a ridicu-

lous thought in hindsight. Review-
ing the depravity and failure of the 
Flint city government and Michi-
gan state government didn’t give 
me any sense of reassurance. It only 
made me more skeptical and cyni-
cal about whom to trust. Never-
theless, I’m very certain my water 
isn’t contaminated (to the extent 
of Flint’s), but the question still lin-
gers in my mind: What if the water 
here is poisoned, and I just continue 
to drink?

The University of Michigan is Gov. 

Snyder’s alma mater; he received 
not only his bachelor’s degree, not 
only his master’s degree in business 
administration, but also his juris doc-
tor degree here nearly 33 years ago. It 
is disturbing — no, humiliating — to 
know that the man at the epicenter of 
the Flint water crisis walked through 
the Diag, sat in one of the Angell Hall 
auditoriums or took a stroll through 
the Law Quad.

Why do I mention his attendance 

at the University of Michigan? Well, 
to be frank, it boggles my mind that 
someone like him could come from 
this school — my school. The evi-
dence for Gov. Snyder as an active 
villain of the crisis couldn’t be any 
more clear or well documented: 
Unconscionable 
shortcuts 
were 

taken, warnings were ignored or 
even refuted, and action was, and 
still has been, limited. Believe it or 
not, part of the University’s mission 
statement is “to serve the people of 
Michigan … and in developing lead-
ers and citizens who will challenge 
the present and enrich the future.” 
Though he is not completely to 
blame, Gov. Snyder, as an alum, has 

failed the mission of the University 
of Michigan, given what has unfold-
ed in Flint. The community of Flint 
has been devastated from his admin-
istration’s inaction and negligence. 
There is simply no excuse for what 
has happened.

As a current undergraduate stu-

dent here at Michigan, I can’t help 
but wonder how Gov. Snyder came 
to be able to make the unfortunate 
decisions he makes today. Was it 
during his first four years at Michi-
gan that he began valuing money 
over the lives of children, was it 
when he began to work at Irvine 
or was it when he returned to Ann 
Arbor to create Ardesta LLC?

The 
University 
of 
Michigan 

shouldn’t be attributed to the mis-
takes of our governor. However, if 
men like Gov. Snyder can come from 
schools like the University, perhaps 
our degrees should begin requiring 
all students to take a course in eth-
ics and morals. This might make it 
more difficult later on to devalue 
human life. While I recognize it 
is idealistic to say starting salary 
shouldn’t matter, our institution 
needs to reaffirm that our degrees 
mean we are not only educated, but 
also committed to the public good. 
If the world of money after college 
will try to corrupt us, our education 
should serve as a deterrence. Some-
where along the way, Gov. Snyder 
forgot about what it means to be an 
alum of the University of Michigan. 
Somewhere along the way, he began 
to drink poisoned water.

Hunter Zhao is a member of 

the Daily’s Editorial Board.

Gov. Snyder, Michigan alum

HUNTER ZHAO | OP-ED

VICTORIA
NOBLE

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