Since State News Opinion Editor Drew Harmon, who first endorsed the Healthy Michigan Initiative in an editorial, “Missed Merit,” (SN 7/18), then later admitted that he was in fact, a smoker in his column, “Smokers know it’s bad, leave us in peace,” (SN /18), I will concede, in this spirit of candor, that I am the proud recipient of the sum of $2,500 on account of my passing the 1999 MEAP test.

But in addition to this slight conflict of interest, the endorsement is rather misleading. For it leaves the reader with the miraculous hope that Lansing will find a way to keep the scholarship program if the initiative passes. In the midst of a massive budget deficit, this sets a new standard for irrational exuberance.

What’s more is that if the scholarship program goes, so does the only incentive for taking the MEAP test. Instead of having the possibility of receiving $2,500, I am reasonably certain that the new incentive will be as a requirement for graduation. I would also add that, when I started at MSU, tuition was $152.25 a credit hour.

Starting in the fall, freshman will be paying $179.50 a credit hour, an increase of 18 percent in just two years. In Michigan, anything more than 25 percent is considered usury. The importance of that $2,500 scholarship cannot be underemphasized.

Joe Bruno
civil engineering junior