It seems tests to the First Amendment never sleep. Michigan’s Asst. Attorney General Andrew Shirvell recently was interviewed on CNN about his blog, “Chris Armstrong Watch.” The blog describes Armstrong, president of the University of Michigan’s student assembly, as a “RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST, RACIST, ELITIST, & LIAR.” It appears in all-caps on the website as well
I recently was captivated by an interview Anderson Cooper conducted on CNN with Michigan’s Asst. Attorney General Andrew Shirvell. Shirvell, a University of Michigan alumnus, runs a blog devoted to smearing Chris Armstrong, current president of the University of Michigan’s student assembly, because he is gay, and accuses Armstrong of advocating a “deeply radical agenda” at U-M.
After I graduated from high school and began college, I realized my day-to-day routine would change dramatically. First of all, I cannot believe I ever went to class everyday at 8 a.m. Second, I realized I no longer had exercise built right into my daily schedule like I did in high school. I had to figure out on my own how I was going to make exercise part of my daily routine.
Overcrowding in Ingham County jails has pushed officials to adopt a more financially and socially friendly alternative to serving traditional jail time. The alternative is rooted in restricting movement without incarceration using tether bands.
I found some of my favorite kind of advice in The New York Times today. A bunch of graduate students from across the country banded together to give underclassmen tips on what they should do during their undergraduate years.
With more than 46,000 student spots to fill in the Spartan pie each academic year, MSU has taken to harvesting fruit outside of state lines. In last year’s freshman class, 20.9 percent of MSU students were not from Michigan — the highest percentage this decade.
Tradition. Hard work. Exhilarating. I will stake my diploma that any current or former member of the Spartan Marching Band will use these words, and others like them, to describe their time spent in the band.
A short while ago, I listened to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon speak of the things we all need to think about as members of the university community. She focused on something we habitually put on the back burner — a burner that in many cases has been turned off. This focus was on a very simple word: responsibility.
Even though some might be slightly older and have different goals than undergraduates, graduate students still are part of the student body here at MSU. In other words, they still need the kinds of programs and spaces the university provides for underclassmen.
There is a proportional relationship between how lame politicians are and how lame the discussion becomes on cable television. This mathematical truth is most evident in a midterm election. Along with unrealistic promises and yelling comes a media culture that encourages bad behavior.
State Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade, said it all with a simple and single “nay” concerning the ban on the synthetic cannabinoid K2 last Thursday. Amash hit the nail on the head when he wrote in his Facebook status that despite health concerns, using the substance constituted a victimless crime and that banning it should not be the government’s priority.
At MSU’s nationally televised football game against Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish band made a spectacular presentation at Spartan Stadium.
Few people enjoy the required classes of most universities, but I never would have expected to be so disgusted by a required class that I wanted to, well, write a letter to the editor.
The economy is a very touchy subject. It evokes emotions. Blame for the economic downturn points to every source save the epicenter of the cause: the government.
As things go these days, everyone is demanding accountability from the government. The ratio of money being spent to actual results isn’t exactly in a place where people feel they have gotten a good return on their tax dollars.
No speech, especially speech deemed offensive, should be silenced through coercion or intimidation. Its message must be allowed to succeed or fail based on its own merits. If that kind of speech legally can be silenced, then there is risk of a universal silence.
What does 25 feet mean? Is it how far we’ve walked to the cafeteria before remembering the ID left behind in our room? Is it the distance when we realize we’re higher off the ground than we originally thought? Or is it the length of the mythical sea creature haunting our dreams?
Ann Arbor businessman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder seems to have charmed potential voters with his outsider appeal. In the latest poll released by Lansing-based polling firm EPIC-MRA, Snyder has 53 percent of the vote and the Democratic candidate, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, has 29 percent. The reasons for the separation stemmed in part from Snyder’s business experience.
On Tuesday, The State News published a letter from English senior Phil Digby (“Lineskipper.com represents prevalence of bar culture,” SN 9/21) wherein he called all MSU students the “dregs of society.”
A few days ago, I sat with a fairly large number of volunteers for the kickoff of the fall MSU Community Charitable Campaign, or MSUCCC, a campaign that raises almost $600,000 each year for primarily local charities and civic groups close to MSU’s campus.