City should respect impact of students
To the Daily:
I agree with the observations by some people in Sara Lynne Thelen’s article about how Ann Arbor unfairly targets students when giving trash violations (Near campus, a dirty war over garbage, 02/18/2008). I received a trash violation last December after my housemates and I left Ann Arbor for the holidays. When we returned, we could do little but grudgingly pay the $160 fine. Instead of fining us for what turned out to be our neighbors’ garbage on our lawn, the Ann Arbor Police Department could have issued us a warning to clean it up, which we would have gladly heeded.
Blatant anti-student policies harm the very people who give Ann Arbor its vibrancy. Without the University and its students, Ann Arbor would be another bland suburbia. When students graduate, many stay, giving companies like Google a reason to relocate here. Without the University and its graduates, could Michigan count Ann Arbor as one of few bright spots in this bleak economy?
Finally, I took issue with Ann Arbor resident Cynthia Nixon’s horrendously sexist comment that, “We just don’t feel that young boys can maintain a historic house.” Rather than cowardly unleashing the police on the neighbors she clearly does not respect – raising the already absurd cost of living – she should work with them to maintain a neighborhood everyone can enjoy.
Andrew Bracken
Business senior
A solution loaded with possible hazard
To the Daily:
In his letter to the editor Tuesday, Marshal Shlafer suggested that we would be safer from the threat of random shooters if people were allowed to carry concealed handguns on campus (An armed campus is a safer campus, 02/19/2008). If a campus shooting ever happens at the University, I’m sure it would end quicker if more students were armed.
However, everyday conflicts are more common than random assaults. Having access to handguns could prove dangerous in those situations. Does Shlafer think that deadly weaponry would never be used inappropriately? This is a suggested cure that is worse than the disease.
Scott Hanley
School of Information
Pay the money you owe, Rodriguez
To the Daily:
Rich Rodriguez, it’s time to start acting like a Michigan Man – or even just a man. You owe West Virginia University $4 million. You owe it not because you signed a contract but because you said that’s what you would pay. As a law school student, I understand the contractual argument you made. From a legal perspective, it might even be clever. But you’re not a lawyer, and you’re not a regular defendant. You aren’t going to gain anything by contesting your obligation.
The first thing you learn in law school is to think about the repercussions of legal action. I understand that you don’t want to pay $4 million, but even if you win this lawsuit, you still lose in the long run. Because of your actions, you have no right to complain when a verbally committed Michigan recruit breaks his pledge and goes somewhere else. Why should an 18-year-old keep a non-binding promise to play for you when you wouldn’t keep a legally binding promise to West Virginia? And when you recruit in the future, how are the players and parents supposed to trust you when you make promises? I sure wouldn’t, not now.
Looking at this from a purely financial perspective, you will still lose this case. Even if you can reduce the buyout, your legal fees will cost more than any reduction. It may even end up costing you more than $4 million in the end.
And what about that closure you keep asking for? I see you on ESPN, asking for the West Virginia fans to leave you alone. They’re not going to do that, especially not with an open lawsuit. Be a man, and pay up. You don’t seem like the great coach and great man you once did – not now, not like this.
Adam Pence
Alum