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

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
4A — Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan, Jeremy Kaplan, Ben Keller, 

Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Kit Maher, Madeline Nowicki, 

Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, 

Kevin Sweitzer, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, 

Stephanie Trierweiler, Hunter Zhao

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

As soon as I heard the news, I immediately 

dialed my grandparents to let them know 
— we like to keep each other up to date on 
current events, lest we both fall too deep into 
our respective “bubbles.” Upon answering 
the phone, however, my grandmother beat me 
to it. “Scalia is dead!” she happily informed 
me. Happily.

As our conversation progressed, I began to 

realize that her detestation of Justice Antonin 
Scalia was deep-seated and, quite honestly, 
justified. It’s pretty easy to see why a woman 
who grew up in the Jim Crow South would 
take objection to a Supreme Court justice 
who claimed in court that he was “just not 
impressed by the fact that the University of 
Texas may have fewer (African Americans). 
Maybe it ought to have fewer.”

Still, I have a moral problem with celebrating 

the death of any human being — especially one 
whose only crime was disagreeing with me (on 
about every topic imaginable, but that’s beside 
the point). In America, we pride ourselves on 
freedom of speech. Underlying this concept 
is the idea that free speech guarantees all of 
our nation’s voices are heard and valued, on 
both sides of the political spectrum. When I 
recognized that Justice Scalia’s views weren’t 
outliers in our greater contemporary society — 
that is to say, many Americans shared the same 
values he stood for and defended — I began to 
at least wonder if maybe he did deserve a spot 
on the bench.

Cultures do, however, change a lot over 

time. When Justice Scalia was nominated by 
former president Ronald Reagan in September 

1986, the American political landscape was 
vastly different than its current-day form. In 
1986, the same year Scalia was appointed, the 
Supreme Court of the United States upheld 
an anti-sodomy law that banned homosexual 
acts in the state of Georgia. Today, however, 
a majority of Americans support same-sex 
marriage (in comparison, just 35 percent 
supported it 10 years ago).

These numbers seem to suggest that Scalia’s 

presence on the court, while maybe it made 
sense when he was appointed, didn’t make 
sense in 2016. However, that argument ignores 
the reality that 39 percent of Americans still 
do not feel that same-sex couples should be 
allowed to marry. While that is 11 percent 
shy of a majority, it stills shows that a large 
section of U.S. citizens hold views that Scalia 
defended. Without him on the court, would 
their voices have been heard and considered. 
It’s not that I think basic rights should be left 
to the tyranny of the majority, but at the end of 
the day, we do live in a democracy where these 
issues are discussed. 

All of this is to say that despite the vitriol 

surrounding Justice Scalia, he was not the 
boogeyman we often paint him to be. Rather, 
he is a product of our democracy, and all he did 
was ensure that all of our country’s voices were 
heard. At the end of the day, I try not to forget 
that just because I didn’t agree with many of 
Scalia’s core tenets, others did agree with him. 
And they have just as much of a right as I do to 
be represented on the bench.

Jason Rowland is a senior editorial page editor.

 In defense of Scalia

Connecting in the winter

S

houtout 
to 
all 
current 

freshmen: 
You 
missed 
a 

couple of really hard winters, 

and we got a 
taste 
of 
what 

those 
winters 

felt like this past 
weekend. Those 
who’ve been at 
the 
University 

for a year or 
two 
might 

have 
a 
better 

understanding 
of 
what 
I’m 

talking 
about 

— 
that 
bone-

chilling, 
soul-

sucking, wind-chill-induced cold. 
For students who moved to Ann 
Arbor or the state of Michigan 
from far away, this kind of winter 
weather probably feels like a 
never-ending nightmare.

Subdued by the winter chill, I 

find myself turning to my cell phone 
and laptop for distraction, and I 
know I’m not alone in this. When 
we’re trapped inside on frigid 
days (such as this past Saturday, 
with wind chill registering in the 
negative teens and 20s), I find 
that human communication takes 
second place to whatever new 
things the Internet has to tell me. 
It becomes all too easy to curl up 
under a blanket, turn on Netflix and 
tune out everything else.

It’s cold, and everyone has the 

excuse of being burnt out after 
fall 
semester. 
That 
shouldn’t 

be an excuse to forgo making 
connections, but it often is. I’m not 
necessarily talking about phone 
conversations — I mean those 
person-to-person interactions that 
happen at random when you’re 
walking 
across 
campus, 
those 

times when your eyes meet and 
you smile at someone you don’t 
know. Instead of giving those 
interactions a chance to happen, 
the cold weather offers an excuse 
to watch our feet instead of trying 

to care about others. We keep our 
shoulders hunched as we rush 
between classes, trying to spend as 
little time as possible in the snow 
and wind. Hoods are pulled up; knit 
hats and headbands shield our eyes. 
Earbuds block out the sound of 
slush crunching underfoot. People 
don’t stop to exchange smiles with 
the strangers they pass.

This past weekend, I did my best 

to bury myself in assignments and 
make the time pass by tidying up 
my space. It always feels good to get 
homework done well before it’s due, 
but what makes more of a dent in my 
day is visiting with my family. When 
it gets really cold, the same barrier 
that restricts conversations in the 
middle of the Diag seems to hang 
over the house, making everything 

a drag. When I’m already curled up 
on the couch, the last thing I want 
is to face the wider world — even 
if that just means my dining room. 
It can seem like too much effort to 
start a conversation.

But often, time spent talking that 

way lights up the cold and snowy 
air outside and helps the day to go 
by a little faster. Coming together 
over meals forces us to spend time 
together, even if we’re just sitting 
side by side and reading — it gives 

us a chance to acknowledge one 
another, and the work that goes into 
preparing our food means a chance 
to drag ourselves away from our 
screens and back into the world.

On campus, I’ve had other 

little interactions that gave richer 
meaning to these winter weeks. I 
stopped by the office of a professor 
I took a class with in the fall; asked 
a girl who’d slipped and fallen on 
the ice if she was OK; encountered 
someone who’s doing the New 
England Literature Program this 
coming spring and got to tell her 
that I was in her place one year 
ago. When I have a dollar in my 
wallet and a minute to spare on 
my way from one class to another, 
I stop and buy a Groundcover on 
the corner of South U and East U. 
My phone stays put away while I 
cross campus, which means I’m 
looking up and watching what’s 
going on around me. If the wind 
isn’t blowing so hard that I need 
my hood up, I do my best to smile 
at everyone I pass.

Not everything about winter 

is good, but not everything is 
terrible, either — as with anything 
else, there’s a give-and-take. With 
two decades’ worth of Ann Arbor 
winters already behind me, I look 
for the things that make winter 
beautiful: the snow-covered Arb 
and frozen Huron River, sunsets 
in purple and gold, the number of 
times people return my smiles. The 
cold bothers me as much as anyone 
else, but there are other things 
to focus on; temperature isn’t 
the single thing that defines this 
season. Good food and pleasant 
company can help to break up the 
monotony of gray days. Spring 
always comes again, so we might 
as well enjoy the months leading 
up to it — and maybe even forge 
some new friendships along the 
way.

Susan LaMoreaux can be 

reached at susanpl@umich.edu. 

“We keep our shoulders 

hunched as we rush 

between classes, trying 

to spend as little time as 

possible in thew snow 

and wind. People don’t 

stop to exchange smiles 

with the strangers 

they pass.”

SUSAN 

LAMOREAUX
JASON ROWLAND | OP-ED

C

ollege students are perhaps some of 
the most educated and opinionated 
voters in the country, as we exist in a 

sphere of constant debate 
and idealism (and political 
memes, too). However, we 
often focus on the larger, 
more dramatic political 
theaters — federal and 
international governments 
— and end up ignoring the 
equally important local 
politics of the areas and 
states in which we reside.

Zachary 
Ackerman, 

recent 
University 
of 

Michigan graduate, Ann 
Arbor City Council member, and former Daily 
columnist, who was kind enough to sit down 
for an interview with the Daily, defies this 
phenomenon. He serves as a great example 
of how to get involved in local politics. At the 
age of 22, Ackerman was the first University 
student to be elected to a spot on the Ann 
Arbor City Council in 23 years when he took 
office this fall. He ran a fierce campaign and 
was elected, in part, because he went door to 
door launching a ground campaign to get to 
know voters on a more personal level.

Though becoming an elected official is a 

daunting task, starting much smaller can also 
be rewarding. Ackerman has done exactly that, 
working as an intern for a local candidate Pam 
Byrnes campaign to be a representative in the 
U.S. House in 2014. Needing signatures from 
citizens for a petition to get Byrne on the ballot, 
he had to stand outside of the Jackson Post 
Office on tax day in freezing temperatures. 
During those hours, he met a diverse group 
of people who illustrated an important part of 
local politics.

The first man he met drove up in a 

pickup truck, covered in the trappings of a 
construction worker or carpenter. This man 
had no interest in politics, so he didn’t sign the 
petition that Ackerman was offering. He went 
into the post office, sent what he needed, got 
in his truck and left. However, for some reason 
he returned and gave Ackerman a handful of 
hand warmers, and signed the petition before 
leaving again.

Next, there were three women, who when 

he stepped forward and asked them to sign, 
declined, as they supported Republican 
candidate Tim Walberg in the race. They were 
about to go on their way when Ackerman 

noticeably shivered, and in that moment, they 
agreed to sign, saying they would do it if it got 
him home sooner.

Finally, another man wandered up to the 

post office. He listened intently, and very 
earnestly wanted to get involved. However, 
when Ackerman offered to let him sign, he 
made several unintelligible marks on the paper 
that wouldn’t count as a signature. Despite 
being illiterate, this man was trying valiantly 
to be involved in the political process.

In each of these cases, the decision of 

these individuals to get involved depended 
on an emotional response, not an ideological 
urge. These interactions illustrate why 
local politics is so important: They make 
us realize our personal and emotional 
connection to politics, and allow us to be 
easily involved. If you knew your vote on a 
proposal would perhaps save you a flat tire 
in the future, because it would have passed 
a road repair bill, would you have used it? 
If you realized you could influence state 
politics by volunteering in a campaign that 
might help improve the schools in your 
area for your children, would you do so? If 
becoming representative could help better 
improve your life and the lives of those close 
to you, why not become one?

Sadly, in a country with low voter turnout 

in every type of election, local elections 
have the worst voter turnout of all. This fact, 
paired with distrust of both the government 
and the parties that compete to run it, leads 
to a democratic process in a severe state of 
disarray, where few people seem to want to 
answer these questions.

While I am not arguing we turn inward 

and ignore the role that national elections 
have, focusing on local politics can have just 
as profound an impact. Each of us can answer 
those questions in our own little, unique ways. 
We can answer them by voting, volunteering 
or serving. We can answer them by running 
for office, or working to help a city council 
member get elected. Or we can do so by a much 
simpler action, such as filling out a petition for 
a statewide or national issue. We can change 
our campus, our hometown or wherever we 
may live in the future by participating in local 
politics. By changing that little bit we can on 
an individual basis in the places we live, we 
can, together, change a lot. 

Connor Kippe can be reached 

at conkip@umich.edu.

Valuing activism in local politics

CONNOR
KIPPE

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Introducing Your Michigan

The University of Michigan is 

a community full of diverse ideas 
— of brilliant, compassionate and 
kind students. Most importantly, 
the University would not be the 
place it is without you. Student 
input and advocacy make this 
place the amazing university it is. 
Without your voice and work, this 
campus wouldn’t be the special 
place that it is for our generation 
of students and for the next 
generation of Wolverines.

That’s why we write today 

to announce our candidacy and 
express how excited we are to 
hear your voice, your ideas and 
your beliefs. As a new party, Your 
Michigan wants to create an 
atmosphere in Central Student 
Government where all students’ 
narratives and ideas are not only 
heard, but supported as well. We 
understand the limits of Central 
Student Government, but believe 
in the limitless nature of student 
activism here at the University. 
Join us as we work toward tangible 
change — as we shape effective 
and innovative policies that better 
every student’s experience.

Your 
Michigan’s 
executive 

team, Thomas Hislop and Cam 
Dotson, have the leadership skills, 
experience and love for the maize 
and blue that CSG needs today. We 
are committed to changing the 
culture of student representation 
that currently exists, and ensuring 
that 
all 
experiences 
on 
this 

campus are appreciated, heard 
and considered. Our experience 
has taught us how to govern 
effectively, but it has also shown 
us that change is needed.

Join us as we revitalize the 

Maize Rage and move the upper 
bowl student section to the center 
of the court so that students are 
more connected and united during 
basketball games. We are working 
with the Athletic Department to 
create a revamped Maize Rage 
that is both financially feasible 
and 
brings 
students 
closer 

together. We are not blindly 
promising more lower bowl seats, 

but rather thinking creatively as to 
what seating arrangements allow 
for the best student experience 
possible. 
As 
the 
University 

prepares to welcome our new 
athletic director, Warde Manuel, 
it is imperative that our campus 
leaders ensure student input is 
considered and that the student 
experience 
at 
athletic 
events 

continues to improve.

Join 
us 
as 
we 
engage 
in 

meaningful 
discourse 
about 

sexual misconduct on campus. 
We want to advocate for more 
peer educators in extracurricular 
clubs, athletic teams and Greek 
organizations. We want to expand 
the 
Panhellenic 
Association’s 

very successful Peer Educator 
Program so that more groups have 
a resource that can educate them 
on this important issue and help 
in their times of need. This will 
create a bridge between student 
groups and the Sexual Assault 
Prevention and Awareness Center, 
so that students who want to learn 
more or need support have an 
easy path to SAPAC’s incredible 
resources.

Join us as we foster dialogue 

between 
CSG 
representatives 

and students through town-hall 
forums 
with 
student-dictated 

agendas. In the past, students 
have voiced their concerns that 
CSG is not transparent enough. 
We want students to feel that we 
are a resource for them and truly 
represent them. Your Michigan 
will 
empower 
students 
by 

creating town-hall forums that, 
on occasion, replace the formal 
CSG meetings. These forums will 
promote a productive dialogue 
between 
elected 
officials 
and 

students who want their voices to 
be heard but who are turned away 
by the formal format of the weekly 
CSG meetings.

Join us as we create a more 

diverse university of tomorrow by 
supporting student organizations 
that do amazing work in nearby 
urban 
communities. 
President 

Schlissel recently commented on 

increasing the amount of minority 
representation on campus, and 
Your Michigan is dedicated to 
assisting 
in 
that 
process. 
As 

the 
administration 
works 
to 

increase 
minority 
enrollment, 

Your Michigan wants to assist 
and support the organizations 
doing great work in surrounding 
communities by subsidizing these 
programs’ 
traveling 
expenses, 

and show these students that 
the University is an attainable 
destination for any motivated 
student.

Join us as we establish a new, 

centralized mentorship program 
for 
incoming 
international 

students to ease their transition 
into 
this 
rigorous, 
new 

environment. 
Our 
program, 

“Welcome 
hoMe,” 
will 
ease 

international students’ transition 
to this major American public 
university. The program is rooted 
in the concerns of international 
students who often arrive and feel 
isolated or disjointed from the rest 
of the student body. It is incredibly 
important that we provide these 
fellow Wolverines support just as 
we do for other students through 
programs such as Leaders and 
Best. Our centralized program 
would provide a group of trained, 
dedicated 
mentors 
to 
any 

international student as soon as 
they arrive on campus.

Join us. It’s your time, your voice 

and your Michigan. These are just a 
few of our ideas, as we continue to 
advocate for a safer, innovative and 
empowering campus. Our platform 
is far from finalized; we want to 
make sure that you have a chance 
to deliver feedback, to give your 
thoughts and to make an impact. 
Feel free to reach out to us through 
social media, and make sure to come 
join Your Michigan this Thursday 
at 7 p.m. in the Ross School of 
Business room R1240. Your voice 
matters, and we want to make sure 
it is heard on this campus.

Cam Dotson and Thomas 

Hislop are LSA juniors.

CAM TOSON AND THOMAS HISLOP | OP-ED

