Saturday, September 21, 2024

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Commentary

COMMENTARY

Weekend brings 10,000 student activists together

This past weekend, an estimated 10,000 young men and women from campuses nationwide attended the third biennial Power Shift conference. It was the biggest movement building training and strategy session ever, according to Ethan Nuss, co-field director for the Energy Action Coalition, and 42 of the attendees were our very own MSU Spartans.

COMMENTARY

Private sector fed on TALF bailouts

Fellow Spartans, are you hard up for cash? Have college expenses barely left you with enough money for booze at the end of the week? Well, I’m here to tell you your troubles are over! I’ve got the opportunity of a lifetime here, and I’m prepared to let you in on the ground floor!

COMMENTARY

ASMSU must work harder to engage with students

“Student engagement” is mentioned as an ASMSU goal every year. And, each year it is lost in the shuffle of events and falls to the bottom of the to-do list. By allowing this to happen, we lose our greatest resource — students.

COMMENTARY

The crossroads of power and truth

I want to welcome you to a world where power and control have created truth. A world you already might know well. Where clashes over money and religion and society’s inner workings have created a global Hobbesian leviathan with ever-present epilepsy — a seizing giant of scattered information.

COMMENTARY

Rhetoric only adds to problems

President Barack Obama’s inclusive tone was part of his appeal to Independent voters in the 2008 presidential election. Obama referred to common causes such as energy independence as collaborative efforts that would need people of different parties to come together.

COMMENTARY

Cutting foreign studies programs isolates US

Higher education international programs should be just about the last sector to suffer federal funding cuts. In an increasingly globalized world, foreign relations absolutely are vital to successful American economic growth. College students, businesses and even government officials need to be trained in international language and culture.

COMMENTARY

Look out for Moodle swings

ANGEL has been a hassle for most current MSU students at one point or another during their college careers. However, with news this week that a new alternative to ANGEL — Moodle — is being considered by the university, I began to think of a world without the frustrating foibles ANGEL often has provided.

COMMENTARY

Columnist off the mark when it comes to Civil War

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln, having led the nation through a year of bloody war, wrote, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”

COMMENTARY

The tragedy of modern slavery

It only was a few years ago as a college freshman that my classmates and I were outraged by the artfully depicted injustice in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — a book commonly found on the reading list of most high school or college students. As part of the discussion, my professor posed the question, “Has slavery been abolished?”

COMMENTARY

Politics requires balls, not testes

Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman on a major party ticket during the presidential election of 1984. She died two weeks ago, leaving behind the legacy of a shattered glass ceiling. In her obituary, The New York Times proclaimed she had “ended the men’s club of national politics.” Still, it took another 24 years for Sarah Palin to be next.

COMMENTARY

Dialog key to enforcement, stronger community

Students under the age of 21 sneaking, tricking and haggling their ways into bars should be no surprise in a college town. And last year’s 10 reported violations of bars serving underage and inebriated individuals seems low, if anything

COMMENTARY

Civil War reminds us to ask ‘why?’

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the shelling of Fort Sumter that began April 12, 1861, the event that started the American Civil War proper. This week’s Time Magazine cover story “The Way We Weren’t,” mentions some interesting facts about the collective memory of the war in the minds of the public.

COMMENTARY

Government funds for students lack

Michigan’s government has hit students’ wallets with blow after blow. Officials have stressed the importance of students receiving higher education and yet have eliminated any measures that make such an education affordable and therefore attainable. They don’t seem to understand how much students need this help.

COMMENTARY

Revised street vendor policy good for everyone

East Lansing never will be as vibrant and eclectic as New York City, but its new street vendor policy might be a small step in that direction. East Lansing City Council recently passed a resolution to allow local businesses to set up street vendors and sell merchandise.