I am an MSU alumnus and a Vietnam infantry veteran. On Nov. 14, I gave a short address to the MSU Board of Trustees. The gist was that MSU could avoid budget cuts, program eliminations and department consolidations by teaching conflict resolution.

The United States spends the majority of our tax dollars on "defense." We then give more to the Pentagon (to line the pockets of the mega-rich "defense" and "rebuilding" corporations and the banks) than we give to education.

I find it curious that MSU, one of the world's great institutions of higher learning, supports death and destruction as a method of conflict resolution. It is the least cost-effective method. If MSU President M. Peter McPherson is so concerned about "liberating" people, he should start with those seeking an education and help liberate the United States from its addiction to war.

This might come as a shock to McPherson, but you can't bomb and blast your way to "education."

Arnold Stieber
1969 graduate